Who to FOCUS on -_-

Ok something that I saw when I was playing a game recently and i just thought i should mention it b/c it bothered me so much.
If your playing a team game... or you have multiple targets your attacking... the general rule of thumb is to kill the one that will die the fastest. in a game like custom hero arena where spells and abilities have a large potential to turn a game around you want to focus down and eliminate the easiest target first. this applies when playing against summons, images, or just mutiple players. why :? well logically in terms of attack a player deals the same amount of damage at red health that they do at full health. the same logic applies to spells. a weak player that is easier to kill but can cast spells farmspells like a shiton should be your target first b/c the longer their alive, the more spells they can cast, whereas a tanky auto attacker going to deal consistent dmg (save crits passives buffs ect) no matter what the situation. no matter what the balance of auto attacking or spell casting is, these theories still apply as the faster you eliminate 1 teammate or summon, the less damage you will take over all as apposed to softening them all up or attacking the strongest hardest to kill target. UNLESS you have holy armor and they have wolves or summons always abide by these rules. you will have the greatest chance of success

While writing this i noticed that people are going to probably say "well what if the guy is being cheesy and running away and hiding?" in this situation, let them run. if they leave the fight through ww to hide or lose aggro, let them b/c they are taking themselves out of the fight. also abidding by the same logic, if your opponent is very good at kitting then you must take that into factor when deciding who the hardest player is to kill. as at its basic level this principle is pretty much your best way of deciding who to attack. when the game progresses in skill levels it becomes a different story, because various factors of players reaction and micro must also be taken into account in order to calculate how difficult it is to kill a player

i know this seems like common sense to some of you but i've honestly been in more games (clan and pub) where people have done the exact opposite with absolutely no logic behind their thinking.

You dont just focus the easiest to kill you focus the most dangerous easiest person to kill.

You see I could focus the level 3 too fucken stupid to buy any items demon hunter but why focus him when I can kill the not as nearly but still fucken stupid level 5 dark elf rushing the axe weapon.

i have to broadly disagree with much of your statements, as.. yeh know... they are all situational.

I agree with sharky, that you should kill the biggest threat who can be easily killed; down first. When you are playing pool; and have 6 balls on the table; if 1 of them is right next to a hole, and you can easily hit it in, you should save it for last, or close to last. If you are in a position where you dont think you can get any of the other balls in; then you go for that one, to continue your turn. Ignored uber weak guys; the guys who will die in seconds and deal no damage. However; a ranged AGI with 1500 HP and 1500 damage; should be killed first if there is someone like that in the game; and the tank should be killed last.

You argue that if someone on the other team wants to "run" then you should "let them". Not sure if I ever want you on my team in a 2v2. You need to get that kill 95% of the time. If there are 2 of you; corner and kill him. why? As you said... Skills are a very powerful part of the game. Generally the first person you should kill is the guy with all team abilities; who heals his allies, casts AoE nukes; has auras, ECT. If he is alive; he is helping his ally. You dont think he will sneak in and get a cast off; then run away again? Unless it is announced and agreed apon, DO NOT DROP AGGRO FOR ANY REASON! The best thing to do in a team game is get the other team to get everyone on your team down 3/4ths of the way. It doesnt matter how low your HP is, it doesnt change your DPS.

i'll agree that focus fire as a concept blows in most games, but will agree with glorn that it is more situational than piss is stating. although i guess if you have to start somewhere it is a lot easier/faster to figure out who has the lowest level/hp/armor than it is to determine who is the most 'dangerous' AND easy to kill. That's like level 5 team play where as Piss's statement is more like... level 2 team play. I will add one caviat though that does always apply... KILL GLORN FIRST, unless Soul happens to be playing, then kill him first! usually its a good plan, and in the few instances its not, that way you can lose and still say yea but at least i killed that dbag glorn/soul.

lmao; you have no idea how true that is verti. In 6v6 games, like KOTH; I will have 4 guys trailing me to every corner of the map; while we 5 cap their team... but someone eventually kills me... and it is all worth it.

Ive learned though; in team games, I convince an ally or two to share unit control; so when I die, I am not really dead...

sneaky bastard! im actually pretty sure you could play on 2 laptops on two accounts and 2v2 any 2 other people and win. without playing 2v1 with one dude just chilling in the base.

sorry when i said let them run i didn't mean it in terms of anyone who would just run to the otherside and hide like a ostrich with his head in the ground. i mean people who decide to windwalk and wait out the fight.

I'll agree that there should be a balance (and i think thats what i meant to say w/o actually saying it) and when the game progresses towards the late game and people get really big items then it becomes a slightly different story and you have to evaluate by threat but this is mainly applicable to the early game where the first 2-3 duels can really make a difference. if anyone on the other team doesn't get any great items and your level 20 and one opponent (the level 15 darkranger) decides "hey ima get an axe~!" fine kill him before you their spells can definitely make the difference. even passive procs like ele mastery can make a gigantic difference when you"ignore them". also you guys are assuming that the broad who decides to go weapon is not gonna be easy to kill. I still say in early game and even the mid game, if people are within 4 levels (which is a pretty large range) of you and they have spells to cast (which they almost always do) then its most logical to kill them all first.