Movement

Moving with the Keyboard
Move your character with the WASD or arrow keys - your choice. The left/right directions rotate your character. You can strafe by holding Ctrl, or with the QE keys.
 * To Jump: Press the spacebar.
 * To Crouch: Press X.
 * To Sit: Press C.
 * To Auto-Run: Press [NumLock] to start and stop auto-run.

Mouselook and Camera Control
EQ2 gives you a free mouse cursor, so you can click on screen elements or world objects. You can "mouselook" by holding down either mouse button. If you've used [NumLock] to auto-run, then you can use the mouse buttons to look around and steer while auto-running.
 * The left mouse button lets you look around without changing your character's direction.
 * The right mouse button lets you look around and also changes your character's direction.
 * Holding both mouse buttons down makes your character walk forward.


 * Tip: The mousewheel zooms your camera in and out. If you zoom in all the way, you'll enter first-person view.

Combat Lock and the Camera
When you're auto-attacking, your character is locked facing his target. This feature is called auto-face. Moving sideways will only make you circle around your target. This can be disorienting for new players, so experiment with it in your first few battles with your new character.

While auto-attacking, you can still look around with your left mouse button, but the right mouse button won't let your character face away from his target. If you want to break off from your target, either stop auto-attacking, or use the forward/back keys to turn away.


 * Tip: If you really dislike "auto-face", you can disable it in the Alt+O Options Window.

Running Speed
All characters in EQ2 start with the same running speed, regardless of their stats.
 * A variety of buffs and mounts can improve your running speed dramatically - but they're not cumulative. The fastest modifiers improve your run speed by about 60%.
 * If you are overburdened from carrying too much weight, then your running speed will be drastically reduced.
 * You can choose to walk (rather than run) by holding down the Shift key while moving.

Sprinting
All characters get the ability to sprint. When sprinting, you run about 50% faster than usual, and can usually open some distance from any pursuing enemies. Sprinting slowly drains your power bar. When your power runs out, you'll stop sprinting for at least 10 seconds, and you'll have to regenerate power before sprinting again.

Climbing
Certain special walls can be climbed in EQ2. All characters can climb these walls, and you don't need any special skill to climb them. Climbable walls are usually marked by evidence of previous climbers: dark scrapings and iron spikes. Occasionally they take the form of a ladder or net. To climb these walls, just walk up to them and press your nose against them; you'll switch to climbing mode automatically.
 * You can't start climbing if you're engaged in combat. In this case, you'll have to /yell to break your encounters first (see the  Combat section for details).
 * When you start climbing, all monsters will break off their attack automatically. This can be a handy way to get away from troublesome enemies!
 * You can jump at any time to disengage from the wall (but the fall might hurt).

Swimming
You'll automatically start swimming when you enter deep enough water. When you enter water, you'll stay on the surface as long as you look horizontally. To dive, look sharply downward and press forward. To return to the surface, look sharply upward and press forward. There are a lot of monsters to be fought underwater in EQ2, so eventually you'll probably want to breathe underwater. Several classes get spells to breathe underwater (such as ), and Frogloks can breathe underwater naturally. You can craft items like that bestow underwater breathing, or buy them from other players. At later levels, you can quest for the.
 * Your swimming speed is determined by your Swimming Skill. It starts off very low (unless you belong to certain water-friendly races), and improves with use.
 * While underwater, a "Breath" indicator slowly ticks down. When you run out of breath, you'll lose health every second until you drown.  Get back to the surface to take a breath!