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How to circle strafe in Wardogs

The circle strafe keeps your guns on a target while you stay moving. Each control has one job in the orbit, and the orbit falls apart when any of them stops.

Updated 2026-09-28

What each control does

Hieb, ProLosco and GhostGaming all describe the same division of labour:

ControlJob in the orbit
Yaw (pedals)Keeps the nose on the target.
RollKeeps you on the circle. More roll pulls you round faster.
PitchSets the distance.
CollectiveSets the height. Pulse it rather than holding it at full.

Hieb's image: think of the rotor disc as a dish whose low side must point at the target at all times, because that tilt is the only thing pulling you round the circle.

How to enter and hold it

  1. Slide past the target, yaw toward it, and roll in (Hieb).
  2. Start with a wide circle. Tighten it by lowering the crosshair and rolling in.
  3. A tighter or faster orbit needs more yaw, more pitch-down and more collective.
  4. Too close: ease the collective and back off. Too slow: close in.
  5. Do not hover over the target and point down; you will overfly it.

Cologne TM's version of this is "turning about a point", his favourite drill and, he says, the hardest: keep a tower off the nose while you circle it at a constant height, speed and radius. He says it carries straight over to minigun and rocket aiming.

ProLosco adds an aggressive variant for defended targets: circle almost overhead with lots of roll and little yaw. You cannot hold it for long, but CIWS guns struggle to track straight up. Hieb notes the same blind spot overhead for the Talon.

The failure to watch for

Target fixation. With your eyes on the target, the height quietly bleeds away. Check your height as often as the target.

The drill

Circle the truck at 60 to 100 m, 20 to 50 m up and 30 to 100 km/h, with the nose on the target for at least 80% of one full lap. Dropping below 10 m while circling fails the run.

Fly the target orbit drill All drills

Related drills

Gun runPut five rounds into each of five targets.Hover taxiSlide 200 m sideways along a line without seesawing.Under the radarCross a SAM-covered valley without a 3 s lock.

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