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Animation canceling is ending an auto-attack's animation early by giving a new order the moment the attack has launched, or by casting an ability that resets your attack timer. It turns dead time after each hit into movement or damage, and it is the input underneath kiting, short trades and every attack-reset combo.
What it is
An auto-attack has two parts. The windup is the stretch where your champion must stand still while the swing or shot plays, and the attack launches when it ends. After that the attack timer keeps counting down until your next attack is allowed. You may give any other order during that second part with no penalty, so the animation you still see playing is only decoration. Cutting it short by moving or casting is what players call an animation cancel.
Be clear about what a move order does and does not do. It never makes the next attack come sooner, because the attack timer decides that. What it gives you is the freedom to use the recovery time for something else, such as stepping out of range or starting a spell. The mistake that costs damage is giving the order too early: a different command before the launch interrupts the windup and the attack never happens. There is also a one-tick grace period just before the launch, about 0.03 seconds, in which the attack can no longer be cancelled.
The second tool is the attack reset. Certain abilities set the attack timer back to zero when you cast them. Used during the recovery they remove the remaining wait, so a new windup can start at once. That is a real damage gain: hit, cast, hit again with almost no gap. Used during the windup, a reset cancels the attack you were making and delays the next one, which is a loss. Resets come with their own animations and sometimes a fixed dash, so the order of your inputs matters as much as the ability itself.
How to do it
- Learn where the launch is
Watch your champion in the Practice Tool against a dummy. For a ranged champion the launch is the moment the projectile leaves; for a melee champion it is the moment the hit lands. Everything before that point is windup, and you must keep still through it. Watch for the projectile leaving or the hit landing, and nothing earlier.
- Add the move order after the launch
Attack, wait for the launch, then right-click the ground. Your champion drops the rest of the animation and walks. Compare it with letting the animation finish: the next attack timer does not change, but you have moved a few steps for free. Repeating this for every attack is the basis of kiting.
- Use resets in the recovery, not before
Several abilities reset your attack timer, for example Riven's Broken Wings, Fiora's Bladework, Vayne's Tumble, Sivir's Ricochet, Trundle's Chomp and Yorick's Last Rites. Land an auto, then press the reset once it has launched, then click the target again. Cast too soon and you throw the current attack away; cast on time and the next windup starts straight away.
- Click the target right after the reset
A reset only helps if the next attack starts at once. Broken Wings, for one, orders an attack on the target it hits, but do not count on that from every reset. After the cast, click the enemy yourself so the new windup begins that instant, instead of waiting for the game to pick a target.
- Account for fixed dashes
Dashes with a set distance, such as Tumble, still take their full travel time before you can attack. That delay can be cut by ending the dash early, for instance by dashing into a wall or in place when the ability allows it. At high attack speed such a dash can make you slower than a plain auto, so judge it by feel.
- Cast through empowered windups where allowed
Some empowered attacks have a windup that cannot be cancelled. Camille can cast her other abilities during the windup of Precision Protocol's attack without losing it. Other champions cannot, so press the spell only after the launch, and do not expect the same trick on every empowered auto.
Watch it
What to watch for: From 1:46 the video shows how to do the cancel, followed by why it works at 3:33 and the exceptions at 4:29.
Video: The Universal Animation Cancel (MUST WATCH) — Vapora Dark
Common mistakes
- You move before the attack launches. The windup is interrupted and no damage is dealt; watch for the projectile or the hit first.
- You press a reset in the middle of the windup. It cancels the attack you were making, so cast it after the launch.
- You cast the reset but forget to click the enemy. The saved time is wasted; click the target straight after.
- You recast a buff-style reset while it is still running. Sivir's Ricochet only resets the timer when its buff was not already active, so wait for it to end.
- You treat every dash as free. Fixed-distance dashes delay the next auto; learn which ones to cut short.
Practice drill
- In the Practice Tool, pick a champion with a reset such as Riven or Vayne. Attack a dummy, press the reset right after the launch, click the dummy again and count how many attacks you land in ten seconds. Repeat with the reset pressed before the launch and compare the numbers.
- With any ranged champion, attack and move after every projectile for a minute. Success is a steady rhythm in which your champion never stops once the projectile has gone, and never walks before it.