What is "fake cast"?

[Banderal]

I've seen this mentioned in a few threads about healing, and I'm not sure I understand what this means. I know it's something you are supposed to do so that the other guy wastes his interrupt. I thought maybe it was casting something else, and hoping they mistook it for the "big heal" - but it tells them right there on the screen what you are casting, so that makes no sense to me.

 

Is it something that could apply to non-healers as well? For example, a sniper has some long-cast high-damage abilities (ambush?). Would this concept be useful to them also?

[Atramar]

snipers are immune to interrupts (excluding cull out of cover), so no, won't be useful to them.

fake cast purpose is that in the heat of battle, you have no time to read and think, you recognize skills by animations.

But, trigger happy semi-skilled player, who will get exited over killing a healer, will most likely interrupt first casting ability thinking 'now I got that bastard', while he interrupted my healing scan.

 

by semi-skilled player, I ment skilled enouth to use interrupts AT ALL, but not expierienced enouth to recognize on the spot which abiliti is used.

no disrespect there.

[Banderal]

Ah I got it. So it is casting something else, and hoping they are not skilled/aware enough to realize they are interrupting the wrong thing. Thanks!

[Atramar]

Ah I got it. So it is casting something else, and hoping they are not skilled/aware enough to realize they are interrupting the wrong thing. Thanks!

 

pretty much.

usualy works.

funniest ones are when I see marauder/sentinel stopping revage/master strike to use interrupt on diagnostic scan...

but counting on other player to be bad is plain wrong and can cost you dearly

[Bockiee]

Fake casting is when u start casting en cancel the cast after like 0.2 sec.. the enemy sees a casting bar and want to interupt it so he is using an interupt ability before he notice the cast and canceled and wasting his interupts

[Uvirith]

Fake casting is when u start casting en cancel the cast after like 0.2 sec.. the enemy sees a casting bar and want to interupt it so he is using an interupt ability before he notice the cast and canceled and wasting his interupts

 

This.

 

You dont cast somthing else. You cast the real thing, but interrupt yurself by moving before the enemy can use his interrupt. That way he wasted his interrupt and youre free to cast.

[Atramar]

Fake casting is when u start casting en cancel the cast after like 0.2 sec.. the enemy sees a casting bar and want to interupt it so he is using an interupt ability before he notice the cast and canceled and wasting his interupts

 

I was doing it wrong all this time....

 

But then, how you know, he actually interrupted and wasted his interrupt?

[Banderal]

So a fake cast starts a global cooldown cycle, right? You are in essence wasting a global cooldown to avoid the 4-second-can't-use that the interrupt would result in? It's sort of like a game of chicken, then... where you are trying to end your heal just before their interrupt hits, and they are trying to wait until they are sure you are not fake casting before throwing that interrupt?

[Altheran]

So a fake cast starts a global cooldown cycle, right?

 

The global cooldown starts but cancels as you stop casting. In the case of channeling, you would suffer its full duration.

[Kawabonga]

I was doing it wrong all this time....

 

But then, how you know, he actually interrupted and wasted his interrupt?

 

you see the interrupt animation ^_^

Anyway, if you're fake casting your big heal, if the player that's on to you is good, he will interrupt... The latency and ping makes it virtually impossible to detect a fake cast. If he doesn't interrupt good for you, high chances are he never will. If he does waste his interrupt good for you again, you successfully tricked someone to use their interrupt on nothing (even though on their screen you were still casting)

[Atramar]

you see the interrupt animation ^_^

Anyway, if you're fake casting your big heal, if the player that's on to you is good, he will interrupt... The latency and ping makes it virtually impossible to detect a fake cast. If he doesn't interrupt good for you, high chances are he never will. If he does waste his interrupt good for you again, you successfully tricked someone to use their interrupt on nothing (even though on their screen you were still casting)

 

Ah, I get it now. nice one, thanks, I like to learn

[TUXs]

So.....what's the actual point of wasting time fake casting? It's not like any of us only have 1 skill we use (besides smashers)...even if we are interrupted, can't we simply cast another attack?! This just seems like a waste of effort to try to "trick" someone...

 

Or is this mainly a "heal" trick?

Edited April 3, 2013 by TUXs

[SOULCASTER]

So.....what's the actual point of wasting time fake casting? It's not like any of us only have 1 skill we use (besides smashers)...even if we are interrupted, can't we simply cast another attack?! This just seems like a waste of effort to try to "trick" someone...

 

Or is this mainly a "heal" trick?

 

Well it depends on WHAT you're fake casting. For instance if you are a healer, lets say, you shouldn't just be casting something that you HOPE they interrupt. What I like to do is cast something they HAVE to interrupt...but also something that IF they interrupt, its not game breaking for me. And made them waste their interrupt now on a poor ability.

 

For instance on my healer commando at times, lets say I want to get a heal cast off, but I think the guy is going to interrupt it. Sure I can cast a different heal first, see if he interrupts it, and then cast the heal I want. But instead, I'll cast conccussive-charge (8-sec stun/mez) on him. Now he is forced to either interrupt it, or be stunned. Same for sage healer, which is easier to fake cast on since it has more casting heals.

 

Its not that your casting an ability that you don't want to use. Because that'd be dumb... its just that you're casting something you think they will interrupt, but if they dont' hey thats ok you still used that ability now.

 

For DPS commando for instance, I sometimes don't just spam grav-ground. Because they will interrupt it. I sometimes will switch between grav-round and charged bolts. One after the other. This way if one gets interrupted it never messes up my rotation because I just alternate to using the one ability over and over. By having 2 abilities constnatly alternated, interrupting them is less effective than when im spamming one, and it gets interrupted and now i have a second or two delay to find the next ability i want to fire.

 

If that makes sense to you. Thats what fake casting is about. Fake casting is really a tactic mostly healers do. But dps commandos/mercs can also use it at times. And its something you're only going to do when its like a 1v1 or you're getting focused by one player. If its an 8v8 and you're free casting in the back, you're not going to try and fake-cast anything, because no one is paying attention to you.

Edited April 3, 2013 by SOULCASTER

[Altheran]

For instance on my healer commando at times, lets say I want to get a heal cast off, but I think the guy is going to interrupt it. Sure I can cast a different heal first, see if he interrupts it, and then cast the heal I want. But instead, I'll cast conccussive-charge (8-sec stun/mez) on him. Now he is forced to either interrupt it, or be stunned. Same for sage healer, which is easier to fake cast on since it has more casting heals.

 

In the case of Concussive charge, I don't consider it a fake cast.

 

I don't, because if we consider fake casting "forcing the opponent to use his interrupt for an unimportant cast, or forcing a void use", Concussive Charge wouldn't be eligible as letting this one slip would be actually worse for him, and interrupting it would be the wiser move for him, so making the use of his interrupt not wasted at all and he best move possible (unless he didn't realised he was immune to CC).

 

In fact it would even contradict your first paragraph :

Well it depends on WHAT you're fake casting. For instance if you are a healer, lets say, you shouldn't just be casting something that you HOPE they interrupt. What I like to do is cast something they HAVE to interrupt...but also something that IF they interrupt, its not game breaking for me. And made them waste their interrupt now on a poor ability.

Because if they interrupt something they "HAVE TO" interrupt, then it's not a trick play, it's the normal flow of event.

Edited April 3, 2013 by Altheran

[Neoforcer]

This is why good players do not use interrupts at all to stop a cast bar we use low resolve cc abilities and knock backs. A healer with no resolve can be interrupted With low slash and never put my interrupt on cool down.

 

Healer cast the second cast bar heal knock back now the healer is in big trouble. A healer cast his big heal with a cast bar I use my interrupt then. By this time the healer is dead and his fake out failed. Do that every time and you will never fake some one with this tactic.

[Emencie]

Fake casting is a hold over from those games where there were a lot (and I mean a lot) of skills that can be used to completely decimate a caster from Reflection, Interruptions, Purges, spell Conversions and more! Casting a spell openly could mean devastation to the caster. In some of those older games an interrupt shut down your ability to cast spells or at least a school of spells. So having a heal interrupted pretty much meant death.

 

In SWTOR because interrupts only shut down a single skill it is easy for healers who have 4-6 heals to just use another one. so it's not nearly as important as it was in other games.

 

While everyone in this thread is correct I would simplify it to say that fake casting is anytime you make a target use their interrupt so you can cast something else without fear of being interrupted. There are many ways to accomplish this from casting an unimportant skill, interrupting your own cast or casting a skill that they have to interrupt But we wont see great usage out of this till post 2.0... Why? because of the GCD + cast time + low interrupt lockout. right now Fake casting can give you 1-2 seconds on a cast that otherwise would have come 1-2 seconds later. And while in many situations that is key most of the time it doesn't make that much of a difference. I expect this to change in 2.0 thanks to alacrity. A lot of healers use their own CC, Speed boosts, and LOS to get their heals off because of this. And with a tank partner or a second healer you can just about ignore interrupts all together.

 

I should say though I'm a new healer so seeing it first hand very recently. Most of my experience with SWTOR healers comes from killing them / Protecting them.

[SlimsPicken]

This is why good players do not use interrupts at all to stop a cast bar we use low resolve cc abilities and knock backs. A healer with no resolve can be interrupted With low slash and never put my interrupt on cool down.

 

Healer cast the second cast bar heal knock back now the healer is in big trouble. A healer cast his big heal with a cast bar I use my interrupt then. By this time the healer is dead and his fake out failed. Do that every time and you will never fake some one with this tactic.

lol yeah...thats all well and good for the best shutdown spec there is in the game- deception. But not many builds have a nice low resolve mez like low slash to use.

 

Most builds rely on knockbacks and true interrupts or their 4 second stun. having that additional 4 sec mez is a luxury only assassins/shadows specced mid tree enjoy. Not to mention melee interrupt on a 8 sec cooldown, and ranged interrupt is 12 sec, so only melee classes have true lockdown potential when interrupting healers.

 

But I agree on the advice of not blowing your true interrupt too early if you have your KB and 4 sec stun off cooldown you should be able to pressure a healer into submission if you save your true interrupt and time it on a must cast power once the healer is already pressured and low health.

[Hamatula]

In SWTOR because interrupts only shut down a single skill it is easy for healers who have 4-6 heals to just use another one. so it's not nearly as important as it was in other games.

 

it is true...

 

it is still fun to juke for personal satisfaction.

[Zunayson]

Oh?

 

I thought a fake cast is when you do the ability, then move to stop casting. Since internet connection and human reflexes aren't instantaneous (Interrupts also have a lot of lag in this game due to animation), many players would use their interrupt after the ability has been interrupted by the caster, meaning the interrupt is on CD and the player can now freecast.

[TUXs]

Well it depends on WHAT you're fake casting. For instance if you are a healer, lets say, you shouldn't just be casting something that you HOPE they interrupt. What I like to do is cast something they HAVE to interrupt...but also something that IF they interrupt, its not game breaking for me. And made them waste their interrupt now on a poor ability.

 

For instance on my healer commando at times, lets say I want to get a heal cast off, but I think the guy is going to interrupt it. Sure I can cast a different heal first, see if he interrupts it, and then cast the heal I want. But instead, I'll cast conccussive-charge (8-sec stun/mez) on him. Now he is forced to either interrupt it, or be stunned. Same for sage healer, which is easier to fake cast on since it has more casting heals.

 

Its not that your casting an ability that you don't want to use. Because that'd be dumb... its just that you're casting something you think they will interrupt, but if they dont' hey thats ok you still used that ability now.

 

For DPS commando for instance, I sometimes don't just spam grav-ground. Because they will interrupt it. I sometimes will switch between grav-round and charged bolts. One after the other. This way if one gets interrupted it never messes up my rotation because I just alternate to using the one ability over and over. By having 2 abilities constnatly alternated, interrupting them is less effective than when im spamming one, and it gets interrupted and now i have a second or two delay to find the next ability i want to fire.

 

If that makes sense to you. Thats what fake casting is about. Fake casting is really a tactic mostly healers do. But dps commandos/mercs can also use it at times. And its something you're only going to do when its like a 1v1 or you're getting focused by one player. If its an 8v8 and you're free casting in the back, you're not going to try and fake-cast anything, because no one is paying attention to you.

 

Thank you for the detailed explanation. My Commando and Vanguard both run Assault, but I can see where this could be helpful for Gunnery or healing. I like your idea of rotating charged bolts and grav too, that could certainly be effective come 2.0.

[PerinnAybara]

IT matters more since classes like marauders have 6 second interrupts. In addition to short range interrupts + stun, they can prevent you from casting a cast indefinitely for a while.