Browser game · movement practice
Strafe Trainer
Practise Quake movement: bunny hopping, strafe jumping, air strafing, ramp jumps and surfing. A speedometer and a guide under the crosshair show when you're gaining speed.
New to this? Press Tutorial below for guided lessons in the game, or read the full tutorial.
Settings and best times are saved in this browser. Sensitivity matches Quake's, so your usual number should feel the same.
Technique
How to go fast
Quake caps your speed only in the direction you're pressing. Push at an angle to the way you're already moving and the cap barely applies, so every frame adds a little more speed. Ground friction takes it away again, so stay in the air.
Bunny hop
Jump again the moment you land. You skip friction completely, so you keep all your speed between jumps.
Space held, or scroll the wheel just before landing
Strafe jump
For Quake 3. Hold forward and one strafe key, and turn the mouse smoothly toward that side. Swap both the key and the turn each jump to go in a straight line.
W+A turning left, then W+D turning right
Air strafe
For Quake 1, and CPMA turns. Let go of forward, hold only a strafe key and turn the same way. You gain speed fast and can curve sharply.
A turning left, or D turning right
Circle jump
To start a run fast. Run forward, then swing the mouse about 90° while holding a strafe key and jump partway through the turn.
W+D while turning right, then Space
Ramp jump
Run up a ramp and jump at the top. Outside Quake 3, the jump adds to the ramp's upward push, so you fly higher and further. Land on a slope going your way to keep the speed from the fall.
Try the kicker on the Ramps map
Surf
Ramps steeper than about 45° can't be stood on, so you slide. Hold the strafe key toward the ramp, never forward, and move the mouse toward the ramp to climb or away from it to dive.
D with the ramp on your right, A on your left
The guide
Reading the bar
- Green means you're gaining speed with the keys you're holding. Keep the crosshair in it.
- The white line is the best angle, where the green is brightest.
- Turn too slowly and the green fades out. Turn too fast and you cross the sharp edge by the white line, and stop gaining.
- The yellow arrow shows the direction you're actually moving.
The faster you go, the more the zone moves away from your direction of travel, so you have to turn harder to keep gaining.
Physics
Four rule sets
All four use 800 gravity, run at 125 ticks a second and use Quake 3's collision, so slopes steeper than about 45° are slides, not floors. What changes is how much control you get in the air.
| Quake 3 (VQ3) | CPMA | Quake 1 | Surf (Source) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Run speed | 320 | 320 | 320 | 250 |
| Ground acceleration | 10 | 15 | 10 | 10 |
| Friction | 6 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| Air acceleration | 1 | 1, or 70 strafing | 10, capped at 30 ups | 150, capped at 30 ups |
| Air control | None | Steer with forward alone | None | None |
| Jump | Sets 270 up | Adds 270 | Adds 270 | Adds 302 |
| Best technique | Strafe jump | Both | Air strafe | Air strafe, surf |
Controls
Keys
- WASD Move
- Space Jump
- Wheel Jump, one tick at a time
- Mouse Look and turn
- R Restart the run
- Esc Pause and change settings
- N Skip a step in the tutorial