Animation canceling simply put is inputting an alternate command such as a movement or ability. To overwrite the animation of the one in progress. This works on all Basic Attacks and almost every ability that doesn't have a cast time or channeling. It is also the very basis of proper kiting and DPS on an ADC or with AAs in general.
Thank you for reading.
Automated Riven6 votesNo .. you dont know what your talking about .. riven is the only champion who can animation cancel and its a bug that she gets to keep cause favoritism.. dont you read the boards?
edit **THIS POST IS SARCASM **
xevi2 votesWhile I'm partly sure you're being a bit sarcastic, 
is just the main abuser of animation cancelling with 
being close second.
OP is right on the matter.
Automated Riven5 votesmeh riven probably has the most animation cancels in her kit, but damn near every champ in the game can utilize animation cancels tistana is pretty notorious for casting all her abilities while she is in the middle of rocket jump. fiora has a few sweet ones. hydra can be cast with a whole host of abilities masking the animation. the only reason that rivens are most well known is cause mastering the animation canceling is the only way she is able to be played without just being terrible. altho fioras is probably my favorite in the game.
AirKingNeo2 votesThis whole "Riven favoritism" is a myth. Nothing has proven it either. She would just be unplayable garbage without animation cancels. She's only strong because she's resourceless. Plus plenty of champions have animation cancels.
Ekko can animation cancel his Q with his E. Varus can animation cancel his E with his Q. Kled can animation cancel his remount with his unmounted Q. Fiora can animation cancel her Q with her W. Master Yi has attack animation cancels with his Q and W. Camille and Jax can animation cancel attacks with their Q and W respectively. Darius has an AA animation cancel with his W. Kayle's entire kit but her Q can be animation canceled by literally any command. Every champion can perform AA cancels (but Kalista). A lot of champions have flash animation cancels.
Automated Riven2 votesthe sarcasm -------
your head-------
edit technically fiora cancels her w animation with her q but whatever.
AirKingNeo1 votesNo, Fiora cancels her Q by casting W during it skipping the animation of the end for her Q and she begins her W.
Automated Riven1 votesOh. I thought you were talking about how fiora can cast her q-w and complete q animation while being immune to cc and essentially using her w just while moving.
GULAG 4 U1 votesKha'zix can turn his spells into instant cast mir air, Riven's not really alone.
Yasuo posses a couple of ones, and I'm pretty sure you can cancel aatrox's Q by dying : ^)
Automated Riven1 votesSigh. Hang on let me fix my original post cause I was pretty damn sure that the wording made it obvious it was sarcasm.
dunder kill2 votesYou kind of lumped animation canceling and AA resetting into the same thing, which they're not.
Professor Ward14 votesYou kind of lumped animation canceling and AA resetting into the same thing, which they're not.
ehhh aa canceling would still be canceling an animation
Eedat2 votesnot AA canceling, AA reseting
Danjeng1 votesAA canceling would be stopping an attack completely (which removes the animation, since an attack isn't happening anyway. AA reset, you mean.
Anidan4 votesNot necessarily. Proper kiting has you remove the backswing of your auto-attack so you can move earlier. It's vital in MOBA kiting and chasing, where you auto-attack, wait just long enough for the attack to land and immediately move afterward to do it repeatedly. You're outright cancelling the backswing to move earlier. It's effectively the same as removing the end lag from your attacks in a fighting game. It's definitely cancelling part of the animation of an auto-attack.
An AA reset is also often used during the backswing of the AA to end it prematurely for the same reason as you'd use it to kite, but to reset the auto-attack timer so you can hit again immediately rather than move. AA-Q (during AA backswing)-AA is vital for champions like Nasus and Ezreal, and also other champions who have abilities that function similarly but on different keys, like Jax. Resets are not cancels, but due to how animations function in this game an AA reset can also cancel the attack, which means you can use it to cancel the backswing and immediately hit a second time in quick succession, generally much faster than you normally can.
ChaddyFantome6 votesYou kind of lumped animation canceling and AA resetting into the same thing, which they're not.
AA resetting is animation canceling..but with the animation of the AA instead of an ability..in which case it si often used with an AA ability anyway.. Dont see why they can't be lumped together.
Asayake 5150glow1 votesAA resetting is animation canceling..but with the animation of the AA instead of an ability..in which case it si often used with an AA ability anyway.. Dont see why they can't be lumped together.
They can't be lumped together for 1 reason -
She is unique in that her Q is both an auto attack reset and it's animation must be canceled with a move command (as opposed to any other auto attack reset). The reason why Riven needs animation canceling more than most is that canceling her Q animation heavily speeds up her combo. Riven's auto attack reset isn't actually canceling her auto attack animation as an auto attack reset would.
Automated Riven2 votesrivens q is not an aa reset. you cancel the aa animation with the q and it acts as a psudo aa reset. but it is not an aa reset. the only reason that rivens q even acts as a aa reset is cause you can cancel the q animation.
Asayake 5150glow1 votes[{quoted}](name=Automated Riven,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=poOfBdlE,comment-id=0000000100000001,timestamp=2017-01-19T05:01:19.245+0000)
rivens q is not an aa reset. you cancel the aa animation with the q and it acts as a psudo aa reset. but it is not an aa reset. the only reason that rivens q even acts as a aa reset is cause you can cancel the q animation.
Don't think you know shit about Riven, then. Seriously, ask Adrian, Dekar, Box Box, Viper, or /r/rivenmains.
Automated Riven1 votesit acts as an aa reset. but it is not a aa reset. Examples of aa resets are things like jax w shyv q mundo e. things that reset the aa timer and aa again. rivens q is Tecnically an aa reset of sorts as in it resets the aa timing. but it can only be abused and used to function as such if you can also cancel the q animation. Its also the hardest "aa reset" in the game to even use.
Asayake 5150glow2 votes[{quoted}](name=Automated Riven,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=poOfBdlE,comment-id=000000010000000100000000,timestamp=2017-01-19T23:27:48.976+0000)
it acts as an aa reset. but it is not a aa reset. Examples of aa resets are things like jax w shyv q mundo e. things that reset the aa timer and aa again. rivens q is Tecnically an aa reset of sorts as in it resets the aa timing. but it can only be abused and used to function as such if you can also cancel the q animation. Its also the hardest "aa reset" in the game to even use.
Adrian's on the boards now, ask him.
Canceling the back end of an auto attack animation is not resetting the auto. Example, Rav hydra. It is often used to cancel auto attack animations, but it's not an auto attack reset, as it does not reset your auto attack timer. Jax W Shyv Q Mundo E and Riven Q all reset her auto attack timer. After Q'ing you can instantly auto attack again. That's because her auto attack timer was reset - aka, auto attack reset. Riven can aa again instantly after Q'ing, it's what lets her bypass attack speed. It's not the Q animation masking the delay - else canceling the Q animation would do nothing early game.
Automated Riven1 votesyes and no. the ONLY reason it can bypass attack speed is because of the fast combo. if you dont use the fast combo aa q aa q aa q is slower then aa aa aa. it does reset the attackspeed timer. but at the same time it does not fuction as a traditional aa reset.
Asayake 5150glow1 votes[{quoted}](name=Automated Riven,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=poOfBdlE,comment-id=00000001000000010000000000000000,timestamp=2017-01-19T23:40:12.661+0000)
yes and no. the ONLY reason it can bypass attack speed is because of the fast combo. if you dont use the fast combo aa q aa q aa q is slower then aa aa aa. it does reset the attackspeed timer. but at the same time it does not fuction as a traditional aa reset.
Just because it's not a traditional auto attack reset doesn't mean it's not an auto attack reset, which I thought was the point you were trying to make.
Eedat2 votesNot exactly. You can reset your AA timer without canceling an animation
ChaddyFantome1 votesNot exactly. You can reset your AA timer without canceling an animation
Not that this really counters my point or anything, but for the sake of my curiosity,
....Such as?
Eedat2 votesyou can animation cancel to AA reset, but you dont necessarily have to.
For example, you can complete the AA animation for Darius and still reset the AA timer with his W afterwards
ChaddyFantome2 votesyou can animation cancel to AA reset, but you dont necessarily have to.
For example, you can complete the AA animation for Darius and still reset the AA timer with his W afterwards
...that's exactly what i described tho.
Eedat1 votesBUt you said
AA resetting is animation canceling
Which its not. It sometimes can be cause by animation canceling, but isnt limited to it
ChaddyFantome1 votesBUt you said
Which its not. It sometimes can be cause by animation canceling, but isnt limited to it
Explain to me how it isn't when the fundamentals behind it is literally you canceling the animation with your Auto attack reset.
Automated Riven1 voteshe is saying that you reset your auto attack timer by casting w. so if you press s. and then cast w you have successfully reset your auto attack without canceling any animations. bloody useless if you ask me.
JustJayson1 votesAA resetting is animation canceling..but with the animation of the AA instead of an ability..in which case it si often used with an AA ability anyway.. Dont see why they can't be lumped together.
Auto attack reset is done off an ability. Auto attack animation canceling is done by attack move commands. You will never be able to cancel an auto attack animation by right clicking and auto attack then moving, you will likely just cancel your auto attack completely or the character will move after the animation has finished.
ChaddyFantome1 votesAuto attack reset is done off an ability. Auto attack animation canceling is done by attack move commands. You will never be able to cancel an auto attack animation by right clicking and auto attack then moving, you will likely just cancel your auto attack completely or the character will move after the animation has finished.
Yes that's fine and good. My question is, why the distinction? Regardless of either case, you are executing it by cancelling an animation.
Silencega2 votespeople in league complaining about mechanics that are literally fine. riven is pretty tame compared to high skill cap champs in other games, and she is only really playable with the aa cancels to boost her damage. have you tried playing her without any cancels at all? her auto attacks are padded out by quite a bit her animations are kinda long actually and she is still as squishy as a mage. if they kept her exactly the way she is, but removed her cancels, she would be one of the worst champs in the game to lane as. the burden of knowledge here isnt even that high, if you do a simple google search of riven you can find that she has multiple ways to animation cancel. if you have a problem with it just play yasuo and do it back or something lol.
the real problem is people are not in the know on how she works, get salty because they get killed by her, and then cant stop qqing, while she snowballs doing the same fast combo youve seen her do 300 times now. she only has what 3-4 useful non situational combos?
like if you are new and get shy'd for the first time fine. but if you are still complaining in 2017 as an old player that you got killed by fast combo, honestly you need to do your research, or change your tactics.
deadlychuck1 votesTrue, which is ironic that they'd prevent it on 
by having his basic attacks have a cast time. Yet riven doesn't get it for a much higher impact move.
Meep Man1 votesAnimation canceling simply put is inputting an alternate command such as a movement or ability. To overwrite the animation of the one in progress. This works on all Basic Attacks and almost every ability that doesn't have a cast time or channeling. It is also the very basis of proper kiting and DPS on an ADC or with AAs in general.
This is called Orb Walking for AAs, which is slightly different, but the same. The form of animation cancelling commonly found on Riven is slightly different in how severely it increases champion damage and slightly with how it works, but is by definition overall the same as well.
MunchCrunchLunch1 votescanceling animation is combining two abilities in one ability's animation. almost every ability has a delay and animation. canceling animation makes the delay and the animation on one of them basically happen same time as the first. its not a legitimate thing its just a coding side effect but it was kept i guess. nobody released riven and told people that animation canceling is a thing
GULAG 4 U1 votesAA cancelling works with movement too btw
Sire Hippington1 votesThere's a slight bit more to it, and it works especially on abillties with casttime.
Every animation consists of 3 parts: The windup. The resolve point The backswing.
The resolve point is the point where damage, cc or whatever actually get applied or the projectile actually is lounched. The _windup _is what happens befor that, and for spells it is also known as 'casttime'. The backswing is what comes after the resolve point is for aesthetics only.
An important thing to note is also that animation canceling has nothing to do with AA resets, atleast not directly. Even if you cancle the backswing of your AA, your next AA won't **resolve **faster. The time between two AA RESOLVES is fixed by your AS. What animation caneling does is allowing you to use the time in between two AAs more effectively, like weaving in spells or repositioning.
AA resets are a different mechanic of specific skills, mostly empowered AAs, mobillity tools and some AA steroids, like Nauts W. Some abillities have partial resets, which only resets some % off the attack timer, mostly AA steroids and mobillity tools.
Now some people might say 'bu-bu-but riven!'. Yea, riven combines resets and canceling. Her Qs partially reset the AA timer which was ment for her to feel more fluid and normaly has not that much impact because the Q animation is somewhat long, so you can't use the reset that well. However, if you animation cancle, you can now use the reset to it's full potential.
