I've been having lots of trouble in Lockdown lately. I suck at using my Flourish. I suck with the WRH. I suck with any medium-speed sword (brandish, Levi, etc.). I suck with Polaris. I suck with Sentenza. I even suck with my trusty Valiance.
I've begun trying haze bombing with Voltaic and Shiver, but I'm still sucking. I'm pretty good at PvE in T3, but for some reason, I can't seem to do very well in LD at all.
What am I doing wrong? :(
You'll just get frustrated when you give your all and still lose. It's good to mess around and have fun once in a while. It doesn't matter if you die because you were just fooling around. After a long break from Lockdown, I always fool around the first few games, so that I don't get frustrated. Try something new! Use shard bombs, play guardian or recon (assuming your a striker), troll people with iron slug or FoV, run around weaponless and kill people with fire or water balls. Remember that Lockdown is supposed to be about having fun!
Take a break, come back when it's fun again. You do better when you're having fun.
To know how your weapon works against others...
Like Flourish Vs. WRH, the strength of the Flourish is being quick, WRH has advanced mobility with the dash. If you can successfully hit a WRH user before they can initiate the dash, they quite literally just sit there swinging a slower Gran Faust. Of course, skill with said weapons should be taken into account before you go head to head with anyone.
Knowing your enemy and exploiting their weaknesses (quite literally)...
Armor statuses make a difference (Defense, I doubt it except a few shots against specific guns), especially freeze and shock which severely hinders their mobility. Chances are when you go against a Chaos user, they're weak to both these statuses, so carrying weapons that deal said statuses will make them easier to deal with. The more status weakness they have, the more damage you could possibly deal to them. Also take note of how they play, do they come straight at you or do they make big circles before diving in? If you recognize how they fight, you can intercept them before they get a chance to attack.
Most of all, have fun playing LD. If you're not having fun, you more likely than not, will not do well. Don't follow what I'm saying word for word though, there's no way to get better looking at text, you'll have to continue playing, if possible, against people that give you a lot of trouble so you get better, so next time you fight that Skolver that only has a GF and Valiance, it'll be like, "Hey! I know this guy just stands back and shoots Valiance a bunch rather than come at me with his slow GF, maybe I could circle around where he's shooting and slash him so he pulls out his sword instead!", not just damage farm that one guy with Azure Guardian on so you think you're good, but you already know that. Also, a good player knows that they damage, kill, and cap. Not just one alone.
So get out there, and good luck :)
@Thinslayer
You have a life, thats what you are doing wrong. Oh, definitely that. You're missing your ASI VH UVs too.
Tbh though, your loadout sounds pretty lame and generic. Might I recommend creating a hybrid lpadout, or something that not everyone and their mom uses?
I say you should try brandish charge spamming first. It was how I started LD (Divine veil and vog ftw o_e). Once you get used to charge usage, you can link that by dashing at enemies right after to add some swings.
For flourishes, adapt to a sneaky style, like me underhanded tactics. When in a fight, ALWAYS go down below enemies. Due to the screen angle, they won't see you. Wait for them to dash down, then slap them and retreat. Do not charge after them. Let them leap into their own graves.
For Warhammer... well... I use AT and dash around till I make contact.
For polaris, walk dodge around in circles while firing the gun. Always retreat backwards and never fire any two bullets in the same general direction.
Oh, and hide behind bushes. Usually I end up doing that, making people waste a hit, and I retaliate right after they fail their first attack.
If you suck at using weapons, maybe try not using any weapons....
Seriously, just try dodging attacks and seeing how long you can stay alive for. You might not get much damage but you might cap some points and distract the enemy. There's an indirect correlation between your ability to evade death and your suckiness with weapons.
a hello from a fellow LD noob
I agree with dutch-oven, try not focusing on your damage dealt and rather focus on dodging.
also, what class do you prefer? what armor do you have?
this may sound like heresy, but if you are somewhat crazy, you could try using a MSI med set (mercurial, merc demo, BKC), striker class and fast guns (AP, sentenza, carbine). with this set your main goal is to run, dash and boost around enemies while wearing them down with your guns. if you are close to a point, try capturing it by mainly boosting around on it. this will allow you to annoy the hell out of anyone you are fighting, while feeling like speedy gonzales on a sugar rush.
This is why Utrex quit. His tier 2 lockdown fame sunk to the graveyard and he deleted his knight.
The first thing two things you need to do are:
1.Play lockdown for a long time. It took me six months to get the hang of lockdown.
2.Read some guides.
These combined will help you develop an understanding of combat in lockdown.
Next, you will need to find a weapon that suits you. The weapon I found that revolutionized lockdown, the game, and even possibly my life as a whole was the Sealed Sword. I love mine. You basically have to "get" the weapon you use. Heavy swords, IMO, are the best to start out with.
Now, you have to decide where you want to expand your skills. Are you a bomber? Maybe a gunner? Do you prefer to pull out a toothpick and shield cancel as recon? This area is extremely important. Also, the tier you want to practice you skills in matters too. For sword+striker, I recommend tier 2. For everything else, do tier 3.
Then, have fun. You play a lot worse when you aren't.
0) Don't be afraid to use the service I provide (OOO certified AT).
1) The reason you suck at PvP even though you are great at PvE is the fact that PvP enemies can predict you. The AI for monsters are pretty generic. It doesn't take long for a player to see the patterns of attack. In PvP, attack patterns are much more diverse and can vary at the whim of your enemy.
That being said, the most important skill for PvP is adaptability and meta-prediction. You must be able to out-predict your opponent (in real time) to successfully hit them without being hit yourself. The only way to hone this skill is practice.
2) When you're playing Lockdown to improve, it is actually better to NOT try so hard to win. Instead, devote more mental efforts toward identifying patterns in enemy movements. The ideal lockdown player would be able to quickly find a counter-strategy to any attack pattern they see.
The typical experienced player has difficulty changing their style in a short time span (partially due to habit and fast pace of the game). However, their style is probably very hard to counter, which is why they are using it so much. Being a newbie to LD, you have the advantage of not having a fixed style ingrained into your brain. Think of it more like blitz-chess than real time combat. Keep calm and make decisive, not impulsive attacks.
3) Another valuable skill is the ability to gauge your opponent's strength and the state of the game. Sometimes running away to heal/cap is more productive than fighting a battle that you will lose anyways. There are three things you can do when confronted with an enemy:
Flee: Run away/retreat whenever you face a threat you know you can't beat or stall. Focus on capping instead.
Fight: Go all out, if you think you have a decent chance of winning the fight. Remember to take your current health into account. Also consider what is gained by winning the fight (Is he a key player to the opposition? Will you be able to cap a point afterwards?)
Stall: Stalling is fighting the opponent while putting safety first. Used whenever the situation calls for you to flee, but the overall game situation calls for you to fight. For example, if your team is winning in points, but the tide is turning against you, stalling would be a good idea. Basically you should stall threats you need to bump off, but can't.
4) When one class is not working, change to a different one! Lots of people stick to the same shield class for the whole game. In practice, if you keep on getting mauled as striker, being recon or guardian may be more productive. You'll find that some opponents die easily when you're a certain class but are unbeatable when you're another class.
5) Take advantage of the element of surprise, whenever possible. Super important in T3. You can easily knock off 50% (if not all) the health of an enemy if you get the jump on him. When you approach an area of potential combat, approach it slowly from below.
You're not attending my classes, that's what you're doing wrong.
Classes and additional player tips will be put once or twice a week in this forum and (soon) on my blog. Keep an eye out for it.
Quick tip: It can never hurt to watch other people play, you might learn a thing or two. Also pay attention to your timing, it's important.