Kiting

To Kite or kiting is a combat tactic of a player character keeping a mob or another player at a certain distance, usually out of melee distance but within ranged attack, and luring the pursuer toward your direction while dealing damage at the same time. This is a tactic best suited for classes who deal most of their damage from range and are weak in melee range. Mages and Hunters are probably the classes who rely on this technique the most.

Warlocks who are specced for Curse of Exhaustion can also use this technique to kite mobs, provided that the target is not immune to slowing effects. It is difficult, but not impossible, to kill certain mobs this way if they are immune to Fear (a tactic that can work against enemy officers in Alterac Valley.)

Shamans can kite mobs with their frost shock. All ranks of frost shock reduce movement speed by 50%, so it may be better to use lower ranks of the spell if mana is a problem.

The term comes from the fact that the player character is pulling along a trailing mob in the same manner a person flies a kite.

Caster Kiting

1. Snare or root the mob from range
2. Attack mob from range until mob enters your melee range (or range you feel comfortable with)
3. Use snare or root (generally melee range snare/root)
4. Run back to range
5. Repeat

Hunter Kiting

Jump-Kiting

1. [Arcane Shot] the mob from range
2. Run from the mob until Arcane Shot refreshes, staying at range distance
   • You may need to employ [Aspect of the Cheetah] to stay ahead
3. Jump, turn a half-circle in the air, use Arcane Shot, turn back and continue running
   • Alternately, you can complete a full rotation rather than turning back.
4. Repeat

Skirmish Kiting

Much easier is to simply run sideways ... that way the mob will remain "in front" of you, even though you are running away from them. This is because "in front" is defined as a full 180° arc.

1. [Arcane Shot] the mob from range
2. Run sideways from the mob until Arcane Shot refreshes, staying at range distance
   • You may need to employ [Aspect of the Cheetah] to stay ahead
3. So long as they are just within the 180° arc facing forwards you can hit them with Arcane Shot and continue running
   • Every now and then you might need to take a few steps forward, turn 180°, and run the "other way" (which is in the same geographical direction, if that makes sense)
4. Keep running

Additionally, the hunter can drop a [Freezing Trap] or a [Frost Trap] if the mob looks to be gaining ground.

Kiting in instance

Some instances have mobs that cannot be crowd controlled. It is better if the tank can double tank the mobs or if the group has an off-tank to handle one. However, if both options are not feasible, a skillful hunter is the best at kiting one of the mobs. Nevertheless, given the limited space inside an instances, as well as the important of keeping aggro of the kited mob so that it will not turn to your healer, kiting in instance is much harder than in open area.

1. Put down a [Frost Trap] under your feet.
2. Cast [Aimed Shot]/ [Steady Shot] when the tank is pulling, immediately followed by a [Distracting Shot] to ensure maximum initial threat on you.
3. Cast [Concussive Shot] to slow down the mob.
4. Start running away from the kited mob, but be careful not to run into another group of mobs!
5. Cast [Arcane Shot] and [Distracting Shot] whenever their cooldown ends to maintain consistent threat gain, otherwise your healer may pull aggro by healing the tank. Cast them using the jumping technique or run sideways technique mentioned above.
6. Similarly, repeat [Concussive Shot] whenever you can.
7. When the mob triggers your Frost Trap, setup a new one.
8. Use of [Aspect of the Cheetah] here depends on your playstyle. Although it lets you run faster, if you get one hit, you will be dazed and this probably means death in heroic or raid instances.
9. Sometimes mobs that cannot be CC'ed with other means can still be stunned. Therefore, when the mob get close, a Beast Mastery hunter can order his pet to intimidate the mob, followed with an immediate wing clip, so that he will have time to get into range again.
10. When the group finished the other mobs and is ready to pick up your kited target, you can lure it back to your group, or simply feign death if you are sure the tank can pick it up quickly.

Additional Notes

• Snaring spells are useful for this tactic since they keep the pursuer at a certain distance. Although rooting abilities fill this requirement, the slowing movement effect from snaring spells last longer than rooting spells. Moreover, snare effects do not risk the chance of breaking if the target get any damage unlike most rooting spells.
• This tactic requires room to run. If you don't have the room due to adds or environmental restrictions (ie you are indoors), you will not be able to kite since you will be unable to gain the range you need.
• Since you will be running around a lot, be careful of adds.
• For long kites as a Hunter, using a lesser rank of [Arcane Shot] can save mana.
• In World of Warcraft, mobs will run back to their spawn area if they are kited too far without taking damage. They also regenerate to full health and mana once they return. So when kiting you will want to damage them consistently in order to maintain the mob's interest.
• A video exists which apparently shows a group pulling a Devilsaur from Un'Goro Crater to Crossroads in The Barrens by way of a complex kite.
• There is also a video of Lord Kazzak being kited to Stormwind, in order to wreak havoc on the city. Unfortunately, Kazzak is no longer kitable, being chained (one can also say that he can't be kited because he now resides in Outland; though, of course, his replacement is highly likely to be chained as well). Another example of raid kiting is Azuregos kited to Orgrimmar, here.
  • Note that kiting (raid) bosses to heavily populated areas such as faction capitals, most likely resulting in a large number of characters being unwillingly involved (in an encounter), is a punishable offense in the eyes of Blizzard.