Support Firebase/Airstrike Placement

I have been playing a few games as support lately, and I have noticed that a well-placed firebase can be game over, even against experienced players. I have also noticed that well-placed airstrikes can give you easy kills without getting yourself killed at the same time.

This is a thread to talk about firebase and airstrike tactics. Please post your favorite strategies concerning firebases and airstrikes.

One of my favorite strategies is on Laser Razor. I upgrade to firebase 2 and hack 2, then I exit my base using the right side. I run all the way to the enemy side of the map and set up the firebase under that little "tunnel" that has an opening to the enemy base. There is a little, obtuse corner that is still under the protection of the "tunnel", but the firebase can take out enemy pros and bots with ease. From the same "tunnel," you will often hear pros using the ejector, shooting, and whatnot from above (you can also try to watch them go up the jump pad and guess their position). I like to guess where they are and throw an airstrike under their expected location. You will get a ton of kills from that tactic alone.

Spunky Cola arena is also a great place to airstrike. A lot of pros like to hide in that passage that you can get to across the center bridge. There is another "passage" that goes under the upper passage that you can place airstrikes in and watch the kills come to you. Placing airstrikes properly will get you a lot of kills.

Grenade III is a good place for firebases. I like to rush over to the enemy side and set up a firebase so it can shoot their bots right out of the spawn. Watch out for assassins.

On Steel Peel there are several good locations for firebases. If playing offensively, I like to run to that little "wrap around" bridge area that leads you to the enemy base. I like to place firebases in the bend or as close to their base as I possibly can. You can try to airstrike the enemies as the come out of the spawn room or you can strike their bots. Either way, you are causing damage. If you need to retreat, let your firebase take care of enemies while you heal up. If your firebase is dead and you need to retreat go to the little circular room and hide behind the corner. When the enemies come after you, ground zero them.

Many of the firebase locations you have described aren't too much more than a "pro-distraction".

Lazerazor: If you put the firebase there, it won't control a lane. The enemy bots will be past midfield and I would just let you sit there while I push the other lane.

Grenade III: That thing would be up for 30 seconds MAX against experienced players.

Steel Peel: Don't do that. Again, I've watched supports do that and go 1-3-9 against my team. They are little more than a distraction. PLEASE DON'T CAMP YOUR FIREBASE.

My firebase strategies for each map against experienced players:

Place as offensively as possible while helping to control a lane. When my team pushes past it, I move it up until it is shooting a downed Moneyball.

All of these locations have worked very well for me. Maybe I didn't describe the locations correctly. Part of my strategy is to lay the firebase down somewhere, overheal it, overheal my bots approaching the firebase's location, then roll into the enemy base with a stream of bots behind me. After i get enough cash, I build Longshots and Gapshots like crazy. Eventually, the enemy base is getting rained upon with exploding shells.

Another big part of my strategy is healing the main slayers. On Steel Peel, I will take a gunner or tank with me and overheal them while I keep "pushing my firebase foreward". Eventually, we push our way into the enemy base, I hack an enemy turret, and it is game over for the other team.

On Laser Razor, I like the mentioned locations because enemy pros are so interested in pushing foreward that they don't check their own bot lanes until it is too late. I also like to heal gunners at the spot as well because I can use them to push enemies back while I airstrike turrets, bots, and jackbots. Thus increasing the chance that my bots will reach the money ball.

I don't play support like the average person. I might eventually make a guide on my playstyle. My fighting style is mainly bot control and ambushing. I don't really camp too much. The support has so many different ways to make money, so you need to know how to use all of those rescources to your advantage. For me, my firebases are there to take down any hurt pros and weaken their bots. I lay down a firebase and go run off somewhere else until end-game. Most of my money comes from gapshots, longshots, and airstrikes-- not my firebase.

By the way, you can push another lane all you want, but eventually you are going to have to face the fact that my bots are pushing into your territory and getting closer to your money ball. There are two lanes to control, not one. My firebase, longshots, and overhealed bots will occupy your pros for a while, buying me time to build turrets and do whatever I need to do. Using that time, I could easily run into your lane, strike and ejector your bots, then return to my lane with more cash to build/upgrade Longshots. I have done that to many other support players more than once. If my firebase dies, oh well. I run silver skill regen. You can expect another firebase to be built in 20 seconds or less. A good team will have to be able to get past my airstrkes if they plan to reach my firebase while/if I am camping next to it.

Much better! I Support this! ^^^

Pro Tip: Gapshots > Long Shots.

steelpeel: 2.2 firebase goes inside the middle circle, behind the glass wall on the enemy's side of the middle. kills bots and is virtually invisible to enemies. the enemy doesnt realize their bots arent making it and it takes a while to wonder why, and at the same time annoying juice-boosting assassins get shot up. its usually risky getting there, and once its gone its usually not a smart place to keep putting it.

lazorblazor: when the enemy has the bot lanes cleared for their bots, and you have no turrets, a good clutch spot for a 2.2 firebase is just outside your moneyball glass and to the right. where the very short glass wall sticks out and a turret nub is at, you place your firebase just at the end of the short glass wall protecting the nub. it will kill both bot lanes, and a rokkit on the nub will help. shaveice works too.

spunky: a good initial spot to put a firebase is just thru your side tunnel under the wall, and behind the spunky can. it will kill bots and isnt immediately visible. can be airstruck, but isnt always seen easily. once its gone its advised to move it elsewhere tho.

grenade: on the inside of the middle overhead ramp, it will kill the bot lane and any enemy that jump pads up, and not be as easy to airstrike/snipe/walk-up-to

Thank you. One thing I hate about gapshots is that they are temporary. At the beginning of the game I build gapshots until my team is easily holding the middle ground. Towards the end of the game, I build a mixture of both gapshots and longshots. I do this because all it takes is one juiced pro to enter your base and you lose all of your money you spent on turret upgrades. Once your team is beating the enemies back, the enemies probably won't be able to juice at all. This basically means that your turrets are safe. A gunner or sniper can take out your turrets, but if they are stuck in their base, they won't be able to take your turrets down. Gapshots are 100$ and I think they do about as much damage as a longshot, but they die too easily imo. I build gapshots until the enemy team is pushed back, mostly because I expect the gap shots to die anyway and they only cost $100. After the enemy is contained, I build, upgrade, and hack longshots for their longevity.

in my opinion, gapshot congo lines are as cheap as assassin juice-boosting.

but, they both are also equally preventable. just kill gapshots, end of story. the assassin or the tank can do that, if not every other class.

Gapshots are taken out in 2 sniper shots.

Gapshots are insanely powerful on spunky. They can be very good on grenade or lazerazor depending on the opposing team, and I never use them on ammo mule or steelpeel because they never seem effective. That's just me though.

Some of this stuff is trade secret man! I'm not going to reveal tactics, people will figure it out eventually and then you gotta find a new one ;]

I will reply to this though:

There is more to be said about being a nuisance and distraction than meets the eye. Frustrating the other team to distraction will often win you matches when your team is outmatched. The support is really good in this role (so is the assassin). I've gone negative many many times by continuously going back to drop a FB, get a few regular kills, and heal some teammates in the area.. just to die and repeat it over again. If you can keep the enemy team from being able to root down, just as they are preventing you from rooting down, then all is good. The best 2 examples of this are probably GIII on the upper walkways and esp. Spunky on the upper bridges @ the non-glass walls just outside the opposite team. If you can hold the tide by being a repeat pest that means they're in the same position. It's not total map control but can mean just as much. Holding off the push, esp on that map, can mean everything. If it forces it into OT, be prepared for it, and you can often sneak the win... but hopefully someone is pushing your bots and someone is taking out their rockits while you are sacrificing yourself to distract the enemy.. otherwise, it could be all for naught.

@mute: I agree completely. The Support's role is right in the name. Your job is to support the rest of your team's efforts to push into the enemy base. What form that support should take varries by map, teammates, and opposition. It is likely that I enjoy playing support precisely because I could care less about stats or how many times I die, but I find that keeping the enemy on its toes and from camping down in a controlling position is invaluable. Nothing ensures a loss like the opposing team taking control of the middle, or the area right outside your base. The rest of the game usually consists of waves of your teammates' clones going to slaughter.

In a sense, the Support's offensive job (and yes, he has defensive base-building, team healing roles as well) is to "keep them honest". Sure, certain firebase placements will get your firebase killed in about a minute. But during that minute, you are forcing the other team to concentrate on it. It is a threat that must be answered. To the extent that it is not, you get great bot and pro kills. To the extent that it is, you've wasted their time and made them skittish about that location. Have played against teams with 2 active firebasing supports, I can say that it is VERY frustrating to know that even once you take out an obviously placed firebase, another one is being deployed. Failing to deal with them is usually not an option, even when they are killable.

IMHO, the best thing you can do with your firebase is cut off a bot lane, or possibly even both if the map allows it. That said, the other team will want to destroy it as priority number one, so you need to stay at or ahead of it and get your teammates to do the same. Keep them overhealed and the fight winds up at their base. Using this tactic, you don't even have to worry about keeping your base turrets healed/hacked, since there will be no enemy bots threatening your ball.

Have a few key locations on each map. If you get your firebase down and hacked in one of these locations and then lose it, don't run right back to put it in the same place. The enemy team will be looking for it, and will already know what worked to kill it the first time. Mix it up and keep them guessing.

Like someone else said, exact placement can be kind of a trade secret, although I'll throw a bone out in that department. On Steel Peel, if you can sneak through the middle and get inside the enemy's left doorway, you can put your turret down such that it can shoot the bots immediately as they spawn, yet cannot be shot directly from the money ball area (where snipers like to camp), and cannot be shot from the middle of the board. The spot is inside the left doorway... draw an imaginary line from the right inside corner of the doorway to the right outside corner (the edge of the glass), and throw your firebase right on the midpoint of that line. Once you've got that firebase down, your bots will start pushing in to the enemy base, forcing the enemy pros to focus on them while you throw airstrikes and hopefully your teammates pour in behind you to finish the push. The right doorway has a similar spot, but it's less protected from enemy pros who can stand back on the walkway to their elbow and get a shot at it.

Oh, and one other fun tidbit of info for new guys who may not know this yet. You can place your firebase on ledges and on the thin bottom edge of an open window. Examples of this are the little glass walls around the top ring of steel peel, windows at the top of the front walls in the base on Laser Razor, windows on the outermost walls on Grenade III. Look around, there are a few other spots like this too. These spots are more open to direct fire from enemies, but are more protected from support airstrikes, because anything other than a direct hit usually either hits the top of the wall when inside a window, or hits the ground below the little walls.

I joined five minutes into a game on grenade 3 and went 19-??-11. I ended up being the MVP if I remember correctly. I got my kills by throwing airstrikes in a specific spot. Let me explain:

A favorite spot for snipers to camp on is that little ledge that sticks out in front of their base. If you get about halfway across the arena and throw an airstrike as hard and as far as you can, you can land it on the wall underneath the ledge. The airstrike will come down and kill anyone on or near the ledge.

I used this tactic more than once and it was hilarious. I killed the same sniper 3 times. If you throw the airstrike as low as you can get it, they won't hear it coming. The enemy sniper was fuming and saying "OMG, a support just killed me from long range with an airstrike."

Yeah, I've done that a bunch.. one of my favorite kills..

Have I taught you all nothing.

So far the answer is yes, what you mean?