Updated 25 October 2026. Facts on this page come from minecraft.wiki, community sites named in the text and the live Artemis PvP server; sources are listed at the bottom.
Sprint Knockback and W-Tapping
A hit while sprinting deals extra knockback and ends your sprint. W-tapping, also called sprint resetting, means letting go of W and pressing it again after each hit so your next hit is also a sprint hit. Chaining sprint hits while the opponent is pushed out of reach is the core of a combo.
What is a sprint-knockback hit?
minecraft.wiki: a melee attack made while sprinting deals extra knockback and cancels the sprint. In Java it plays its own sound, needs the attack meter at 84.8% or more, and wins over a critical hit if both would happen at once. Spears cannot do them. The extra knockback stacks with the Knockback enchantment, but not against things immune to knockback, such as a player holding up a shield.
What is W-tapping?
Because a sprint hit ends your sprint, the next hit would be a normal, weaker push. W-tapping fixes that: tap W (or release and press it again) right after a hit to start sprinting again before your next hit. minecraft.wiki's PvP glossary lists it as W-tap (sprint reset); the Bedrock guide uses the same name for starting another sprint after hitting.
The goal, in the guide's words, is to hit the opponent up and out of their 3-block reach, let them land, and hit them again before they can answer. That loop is a combo; see combos.
What are S-tapping and S-holding?
- S-tap: quickly tap S after a sprint hit to back off a little, so you keep good spacing for the combo and do not drift into their reach.
- S-hold: hold S to escape a combo; you take a lot of knockback and fly far away, which breaks the chain but makes you easy to crit.
The Bedrock guide adds A-tap and D-tap: tapping sideways after a hit to change the angle, a sideways version of the W-tap.
How do you W-tap well?
- Stay as close to the edge of your 3-block reach as you can.
- Keep your aim level; vertical aim swings break combos.
- Tap W after every hit.
- Watch for jump-resets and hit-selects, which cut your knockback; see jump reset and hit select.
- Against a shield, sprint hits push nothing; disable the shield first in 1.9+ (shield techniques).
Does W-tapping work on ArtemisPvP?
Frequently asked questions
What does W-tap mean in Minecraft?
Restarting your sprint after each hit so the next hit is also a sprint-knockback hit.
Why does my sprint stop when I hit someone?
A sprint-knockback attack always cancels the sprint; that is why players W-tap.
Sources
Every fact on this page was checked against these pages; the wording is ours.