Spiral Knights - Arsenal Podcast Discussion: Lockdown

Arsenal Podcast Discussion: Lockdown - Map Specific Strategies

15 replies [Last post]

Tue, 03/26/2013 - 13:08

Latisan-Sklay

We continue our podcast discussion on Lockdown with map specific strategies.

First of all, just to get this out of the way, I (Latisan) do have a reason why I'm ordering the discussions in this way. I think that it will make the most sense and keep us from repeating ourselves the most often. Stick with us, eh?

Ok, here are some prompts to clarify "Map Specific Strategies":
• What are some Lockdown techniques that you use based on map structure? Example: attacking from below a person so they can't see you.
• Are there any maps that cause you deviate from your normal class? Why? Example: switching from striker to guardian on Furnace to defend your team as they head for the water.
• Is there anything key that people should know about a given map? Example: There is a Slush Puppy in Avenue.
• What strategies do you employ to capture points/find enemies with the least resistance IN GENERAL? What strategies do you employ to capture points/find enemies with the least resistance ON ANY SPECIFIC MAP?
• What's your favorite map? Why?
• Is there anything you notice about specific maps in general? Example: Games on the Stadium map seem to always be blowouts for me - one team destroys the other with little resistance.
• What's important to know as each class about... choke points, capture points, spawns, environmental hazards, pickups (snowballs, water, rockets, etc.), etc.? This is a wide and varied question.

Of course, you can input other things outside of what's asked here. Let's get cooking!

Wed, 03/27/2013 - 04:29

Redblades

I have strategies, but it really depends on who is on my team. If I have like Bacon, Reqy, Huntr, Canozo, Tmdals, Icegill on a team, we really don't need a plan because all of these players can take out half the enemy team by themselves. I would just tell them to cap, which, all of them being experienced gvg players, I wouldn't need to tell them.

Wed, 03/27/2013 - 04:33

Fleet-Miss-Gun

Place a 5* vortex in the

Place a 5* vortex in the center in the reactor map, so your enemies got pulled into a SHOCK trap.

Also the only useful pickup is water for extinguishing fire.

Wed, 03/27/2013 - 05:01

Doctorspacebar

Node 53120 is credit to team

In Stadium, a skilled Bomber can hold the chokepoint just south of the Heart Pad/Team Barrier to keep the other team away from the lower point nearest them; nobody ever takes the lower route between the two points.

In Caves, and really anywhere else with a central Heart Pad, Recons can catch anyone at the heart pad by surprise. Combo with a Storm Driver charge for maximum enjoyment.

Wed, 03/27/2013 - 05:48

Dmatter

I like forest because of

I like forest because of simplicity.
In reactor, you can easily keep people out with mist bombs in the 2 bottom points, if you place them right.
If your waiting for something, wait out of the usual place, not right next to it. (Recon in reactor)
You never need to extinguish fires. If someone's on the top, they had to have extinguished one.
No matter where, always recon to the opposite bottom one first. They will have left by then and it will be an easy capture.
Always go the low way.
Try to break only one block when breaking through a wall.
There are rockets in the very bottom left and right of stadium, usefull for surprises.
Try and avoid the middle as often as possible in stadium, go for the other teams bases.
Not a map hint, but never continue going in the way you cloaked.
I might post more.

Wed, 03/27/2013 - 10:29

Sir-Greenlink

I don't have too much to say

I don't have too much to say about maps really. Here's what I've managed to come up with:

- The best thing you can do is just play for a while until you get to experience all of the maps. That way you can plan strategies around them. You may find that different gear will work better on certain maps e.g. because of the space available.
- If you have available trinket slots, it may be worth bringing status resistance trinkets to maps with the corresponding status grates; they can be a pain if you get caught in them as they will often lead to your demise.
- Try to use the status grates against the other team. This is one of those situations where running away from a fight can be a good idea.

Fun fact: throwing water at a knight will cure it of all statuses, not just fire.

Wed, 03/27/2013 - 10:38

Tohru-Adachi

None.

Polaris and Flourish is only needed.

Oh and ASI/Freeze/Shock res.

Wed, 03/27/2013 - 12:05

Canozo

ASI res?

Wed, 03/27/2013 - 12:49

Canozo

• What are some Lockdown techniques that you use based on map structure?
Try to setup a strategy depending on the map before the game begins (For example on Furnace, Two players top, The rest bottom, two players rush to their home base). Health pads are very useful, if there are no enemies around, use them, and be careful not to get caught by surprise. Always try to grab people by surprise, for example if one player is capping a point alone, I would charge my valiance and get a nice hit on them so I have less trouble later, When strikers are rushing out of spawn, they usually waste all of their boost and when they are out of spawn they have no boost, so its a good chance to grab them by surprise, Always try to throw fire pots at Chaos/Black kat users, If you are on a 1v1, 1v2 or 1v3 situation with no Guardians, a snowball can save your life, never use rockets, they deal less than a bar of damage.

• Are there any maps that cause you deviate from your normal class? Why?
No, at least not in my case. I always play striker because you can get around the map in seconds.

• Is there anything key that people should know about a given map? Example: There is a Slush Puppy in Avenue.
On Furnace, if you stand in the lava spawning blocks and the lava spawns, you wont get any damage and the lava will fail to spawn, you can use this whenever you see lava is about to spawn, and save a couple seconds of you getting the water.

• What strategies do you employ to capture points/find enemies with the least resistance IN GENERAL? What strategies do you employ to capture points/find enemies with the least resistance ON ANY SPECIFIC MAP?
In General, if you want to find enemies, always check the Map, the points status and your teammates healths, If you see one of your teammates gets all of its health drained up and then you see a dot disappear from the map, you can tell there are a lot of enemies there. When you die, use the killcam to guess the future location of your enemies. Always check points (even if you have them capped) that your teammates are not caring about, there might be a sneaky recon/striker slowly capping it. If you want to capture points, always come from the bottom, try to catch your enemies by surprise, use Valiance/Alchemers charged attacks on enemies capping the points to get them damaged by surprise, if youre a striker, rush to them and get one or two hits with your strongest sword.
In specific, Always try to water the lava on Furnace if you can (The one that blocks the Top point), even if theres just one square of lava. Ignore the Puppy on avenue, most of the time its not active. Ignore the spikes on Gardens, they dont do much damage if you have the right gear. On Snow maps, Snowballs are deadly, always use them if you get the chance.

• What's your favorite map? Why?
Facility, Its a wide open map, simple, big, and you can get around from one point to another easly with striker.

• Is there anything you notice about specific maps in general? Example: Games on the Stadium map seem to always be blowouts for me - one team destroys the other with little resistance.
I hate 2:1:2 Point maps (Like Stadium and Downtown), most of the times, one point gets left behind and its the perfect opportunity for the other team to Backdoor, and its so hard to get a strategy working on this maps.

• What's important to know as each class about... choke points, capture points, spawns, environmental hazards, pickups (snowballs, water, rockets, etc.), etc.? This is a wide and varied question.
Im just going to talk about Striker here, as Ive mentioned it before, always try to catch enemies by surprise, check empty places, try not to go where everyone goes if you want to kill some people.

Wed, 03/27/2013 - 21:29

Klipik-Forum

Too big

-I switch to striker from guardian when I play on facility, since it's so big that guardians can never get to the action in time. This happens on stadium too sometimes, but not as much.
-I also switch on Frost(lag)bite, because of the map layout. I never actually liked that map, first because it lagged and later because if the layout. It's the only map with the points in a line, but the way it's designed makes it frustrating to play on. All three points are wide open on the bottom, leaving defenders and capturers vulnerable to blind attacks. The freeze traps make it almost always a waste of time to go thru the middle lane, and snaking around the top or bottom takes barely less time and results in slower gameplay. Not to mention, the whiteness of the map (especially in the zone of a bright-color team) makes it hard to see the enemy sometimes.
-a good way to get really high damage is sit on a midmap heal pad. I saw a guildie get 6k damage in T1 doing that.
-rockets are not quite as useless as they seem, you can use them for knockback and flushing recons off points.
-snowballs are barely ever worth it, since you have to stop to pick them up and again to throw them.
-charging down the center lane of Furnace with a charged brandish at the start of the game will almost always net you a few kills. The rest of furnace is full of tight choke points too, so Brandish charges are actually really good there.
-gardens is the easiest map to spawn camp on. Also, if you wear full Wolver/Jelly, you can walk right through the spike traps and barely feel a thing. Not that breaking down the 5-block thick wall on the other side is really worth it, but might as well if someone else broke the wall for you.
-for some inexplicable reason, ruins is a good map to get a lot of caps on. Maybe it's the proximity of the CP's.
-Ramparts is awesome. No explanation required.
<(^_^)>

Thu, 03/28/2013 - 12:40

#10

Doctorspacebar

Node 53120 is credit to team

One thing to do in Furnace is spam crowd control around the water globes near Point 2. Toss a globe at the fire on your side when you get a moment, take Point 2, and hold the water area, and you've got Point 2 for free.

Mon, 04/08/2013 - 16:29

#11

Latisan-Sklay

Boop.

Mon, 04/08/2013 - 17:27

#12

Klipik

Can there also be a discussion about how the new UI affects LD?

Tue, 04/09/2013 - 05:27

#13

Latisan-Sklay

Yep.

Sure.

Fri, 04/19/2013 - 11:26

#14

Latisan-Sklay

Working on the shownotes, which reminded me...

This is your last chance to contribute...

PS - If you don't feel like typing, you should call us instead. (678)322-RSNL

Fri, 04/19/2013 - 18:33

#15

Klipik

early-game things

I bring a loadout with a fast-shooting gun (in my case blaster line) to maps like gardens and mines with debris in the way of the first points and main routes, so I can get that first cap that half second faster. Might not make a difference in the long run, but every little bit can help. I usually switch back to a normal loadout after the first death.

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Arsenal Podcast Discussion: Lockdown - Map Specific Strategies