A new roll shifting strategy with varying stroke and varying step was investigated.Two characteristic parameters including cat ear height and gap contour smoothness were introduced to assess the effect of shifting strategy on roll wear,and the relation between characteristic parameters and shifting strategy was established.Both varying stroke and varying step can reduce cat ear height and gap contour smoothness,so the shifting strategy with varying stroke and varying step is better than the one with either varying stroke or varying step.Based on the effect of shifting control parameters on characteristic parameters of roll wear,the selection principle of these shifting control parameters was gained.A case study was conducted to validate the proposed roll shifting strategy,reducing uncontrollable quartic loading gap contour,improving strip profile and extending rolling length of a rolling campaign.