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Something that's been bothering me with the Guild Wars 2 controls is that there seems to be no way to deselect a target if you have a target selected. From looking at the list of control bindings there doesn't appear to be any way to do that.

In Guild Wars 1 there's a target self that's bind to the f key by default that can serve this purpose. However, GW2 does not seem to have a target self in the list of key binds either.

Is there even a way to do this that doesn't involve killing the target?

For those wondering why I want to have to no target selected during combat, many of the skills work slightly differently if a target is selected. In particular, many of the skills will go in the general direction you 'point' at if no target is selected. However, if a target is selected then the skills will go towards that target instead.

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3  
I think I remember one of the mouse clicks on the ground will cause you to untarget – spartacus Jul 19 '12 at 22:11
ESC or click on the ground. ESC does work, if you have a target selected, it deselects it. If you don't have a target selected, it brings up the menu. – Rodolfo Sep 7 '12 at 19:43

5 Answers

up vote 6 down vote

Left-clicking on the ground is the most reliable way to deselect all targets.

ESC deselects any selected targets, but if nothing is selected you will bring up your menu (can be annoying mid-combat).

There is also a key binding to target the nearest ally, which will select yourself if no other allies are around. This is useful if you are having trouble finding a patch of ground to click on. This key is not assigned by default, so look for "Nearest Ally" under Targeting in Options->Controls.

You can also select the next closest target using TAB, in case you do actually want to direct your spells towards a different enemy then the one you current have selected. Then again, a left-click on the target works more reliably if multiple targets are in view.

There is also a Guild Wars 2 printable keyboard layout to help you visualize the default key bindings.

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This is a very long way of saying ESC or left-click the ground. – DavidYell Sep 5 '12 at 21:51
up vote 3 down vote

You can click on the ground to deselect your target.

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Guess we'll find out. Last bwe is about to start :) – greatwolf Jul 20 '12 at 16:31
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Yep, I can't wait! I started trying out a Mesmer a couple hours before the last one ended, and I was having fun. Can't wait to get back to it. Have to decide whether I want Warrior or Mesmer as my main. – SaintWacko Jul 20 '12 at 16:33
In most MMO's this feature is called "Sticky Targeting" in this case you would want it disabled if it is and option and is turned on. – Adanion Jul 20 '12 at 18:48
Hm, I don't know if I already have the option enabled or what, but I can click on the ground to untarget. – SaintWacko Jul 20 '12 at 19:21
It's enabled by default, very convenient way to deselect everything. – Sadly Not Sep 14 '12 at 21:42
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up vote 2 down vote

Click on any bare part of the ground to deselect.

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This does not provide an answer to the question. To critique or request clarification from an author, leave a comment below their post. – Jupotter Sep 5 '12 at 21:55
I don't understand why you think that doesn't answer the question. I had the same question a few days ago and that seems to be the easiest way to deselect a target. – Brian Sep 5 '12 at 22:13
Sorry if it wasn't clear, this is a canned comment from the review system. In addition to being fairly short and not complete compared to others answer, this answer doesn't bring anyhting that wasn already told in another one. On this site, we prefer to avoid duplicate content. – Jupotter Sep 5 '12 at 22:16
The answers that were already stated are incorrect though. What this answer brings is conciseness and correctness. Tapan Zee's answer says how to select things and change your controls, but it does not answer the question of how to deselect things. SaintWacko's answer gives the correct method of deselection, but says that you have to turn on an option to do it, which is incorrect. Aeo's answer is based on other games and is simply incorrect. – Brian Sep 6 '12 at 14:24
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Then, I'll admit I was wrong. If your answer is the right one, it'll be upvoted to the top anyway. Maybe I judged it a bit hastly. – Jupotter Sep 6 '12 at 14:56
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up vote 1 down vote

Most, if not all MMOs I've played allow you to deselect your target with the ESC key. I seem to recall Guild Wars 1 doing this as well. Likely the same here.

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Unfortunately that's not the case. Pressing esc will just bring up the menu :( – greatwolf Jul 20 '12 at 16:31
That really is unfortunate. I use it so often elsewhere, I'd probably be lost without it. – Aeo Jul 20 '12 at 16:40
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not for me, if I have something selected and press ESC, it's deselected. If I don't have anything selected, ESC brings up the menu (if I remember correctly) – Rodolfo Sep 6 '12 at 15:30
Yes, as @Rodolfo said, ESC key works just as I expected it to. I finally gave in and got Guild Wars 2 yesterday and ESC key deselects exactly as I expected it to. – Aeo Sep 9 '12 at 18:21
I think this was changed in one of the recent patches. It didn't use to do that during bwe and stress test. – greatwolf Sep 20 '12 at 5:38
up vote 0 down vote accepted

As of the latest build, the quickest and most direct way to unselect a target is to bind the Lock Autotarget to an easily accessible key on your keyboard.

Despite what the tooltip might suggest, tapping the assigned key will untarget anything you are currently targeting.

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