Guide is in quotations as most of it is common sense but also because a lot of it is my opinion, possibly fallible and open to change. ---------------------------------------- As a support-heavy player, Ive been noticing (and becoming enraged upon seeing) more and more supports placing their firebases in ineffective or unsuitable areas and not relocating them as the game progresses. Ive also seen supports act very stupidly with their firebases, healing it when an air strike is coming or not bothering to hack it when its obviously out of range. So if anyone is noticing that their firebases dont last long or dont seem to be effective, please take the following advice. Anyone who has some extra ideas or critiques, please join in; 1; your base has limited range Very very limited range in fact. Many players think that because something is in line-of-sight it means its a target for a firebase. As a general rule, an unhacked firebase has a range only a little farther than the supports shotgun. If placed on the top bridges of steelpeel, an unhacked turret will only be able to hit targets that are almost underneath it. Either find somewhere where the base can hit close bots/pros, or better yet, HACK IT. 2; your base, even when hacked, can still be vulnerable snipers and gunners Having your base placed in an area with a good long line-of-sight might make it more effective, but it also means itll be much more easy for gunners and snipers to take it out from range. The ideal place for an offensive/harassing firebase is; in a place where it can do some damage to lanes, close to corners and insets in walls so that ranging is difficult, but far enough away from the corner that its difficult for pros to close in on it. EXAMPLE: In LazerRazor; head left into the little tunnel next to your base. Dont put your firebase close to the opening in your base, as its too far from the other end and can be ranged by snipers etc. Dont put it right in the far opening, as while its a good spot for bot kills its at risk of being taken out from nearly across the map. Instead, put it close to the angle in the wall on the left; when hacked it willstill be able to hit bots, but no pro will be able to range it easily and its far back enough that they wont be able to close on it either. I find this spot among others to be ideal for defense and lane harassing. Another example is in grenade 3; dont deploy your firebase on top of the bridge, at first deploy it in the groove between the bot spawn and the jumppad at an enemys base. If hacked, anything in its line of sight is a target and will destroy enemy bots. The only real effective way is to air strike it. 3; air strikes are your firebases worst enemy Air strikes will take out a firebase 100% of the time if the firebase is in its area of effect. Its more effective at taking out firebases than any other normal method. Not all ideal locations can prevent air strikes, but there are ways to minimize the risk; Deploy under bridges. This is quite obvious but its still surprising how many people plop their offensive or defensive firebase in the middle of nowhere when theres a nice overpass nearby. Effective air strikes (specifically ones that are deployed JUST outside of the overpass) can still take out these firebases, but its tricky to pull off an accurate shot with incoming fire, and early in the game the opponents air strike might not have a large AOE. Deploy next to, but not ON bridges. If you need to deploy on high ground, dont do it with open ground below you (IE on a bridge) deploy on solid structures. The reason is this prevents a very easy toss of an air strike just under the bridge, and forces the enemy support to make a more calculated shot. Deploy in less overt areas. Plopping your firebase on the bridges in steelpeel might get you some bot kills, but itll also get you noticed by the whole team. If you find youre taking too much heat up there, deploy in the middle of the openings on top. The firebase wont have a view of any of the opponents base, but it will destroy anyone attempting to retake the bridges. Itll also not such an obvious target. Above all; if an air strike is coming, dont linger. People are usually smart enough to stay out of the rang eof the strike but are sometimes dumb enough to think that healing/overhealing it will save it. It wont. Stop healing it and either flee or setup for your counter. 4; the game has a back-and-forth motion, and so should your firebase. The firebase faux-pas that I can stand the least but see the most is the lonely firebase. Its sitting somewhere out of the way, maybe even in a really good position, but its doing nothing. Thats either because our team is no longer pushing in that area or we dont need it to supplement our defences anymore. I cant count the number of times when our whole team has beaten back the enemy from our base and weve been pushing in on theirs for some time and could use some extra help, yet when I respawn or head back to base I see a firebase sitting next to out money ball collecting dust UNLESS youre saving up your money or skills for a push or strategy you want to try, use EVERYTHING you have at all times. Its so simple and applicable to all players. If youre wasting something, then its obviously not helping you. As far as I see it, there are 5 main places a firebase should be depending on where the game is heading, and it should be moved to the appropriate pace as soon as its current location is either safe or about to be overrun. A tip would also be to wait until your hack skill is about to come back before relocating, so you can hack it the second you deploy: a; interior defense: This is the end of the line. Enemies are pouring into your base and you desperately need to protect the money ball. Deploy the firebase inside and away from open areas to try to beat the attackers back. b; exterior defense: Your ball is up and you still have some turrets, but enemies harassing you from outside your base is still a problem. Deploy just inside your base in open areas and under a walkway to help defend against bots and pros. c; lane harassment: Your base is essentially safe and you need to push some lanes. Deploy close to a lane in as safe an areas as you can, and try to keep your base safe by engaging enemy pros and healing it. d; holding ground: your team is trying to assemble outside an enemy base or trying to keep a certain areas clear of pros. Deploy your firebase behind walls and out of clear view of snipers and other out-ranging classes so that you have a safe fall-back position. e; base harassment: youre going into a final push and need some cover fire to push bots and kill pros. Deploy as close to the base as you can, preferably under a bridge (looking towards the enemy base on LazeRazor, the left side under the bridge is ideal) and overheal it to help keep the pressure on. Lastly, some of my favourite places to place my turret that I feel are overlooked somewhat; SteelPeel; while holding the bridges above an enemy base is effective (yet cheap) its difficult to hold that area early in the game. With a level 2 hack, place your firebase in the middle area, underneath the large circle on the right side. Placing it behind a pillar, it wont have a view to the enemy base (and so cant be ranged) but it will be able to kill bots and pros on either side of the main area, and on the upper right where resistance can be expected. Airstrikes are a reduced threat but still effective if upgraded. Grenade III: Under bridges is always a solid choice, behind bridges to surprise pros isnt all that effective since a support needs only to look around the corner or take the top route to throw an air strike. I sometimes like to put it in the tucked-away area between an enemy bot spawn and jump-pad, as its impossible to range it when hacked and not an obvious threat. LazeRazor; under the left bridge close to the enemys base, or when defending, on the top left of our base closer to the jump-pad. The last one isnt ideal versus snipers or supports but other classes have a hard time dealing with it. Lastly, and what I think is the perfect spot, on the left lower side in the tunnel in our base, in the angle on the left wall. Hard to get it out of there. ----------------------------------------- Any opinions/comments/insults, go ahead
This needs to be read by anybody and everybody whose new and wants to play as support. This is the most comprehensive guide for firebases on the site. Very well written and very helpful!
Thanks for the detailed and helpful guide! What are your thoughts concerning when it is appropriate to attend actively to your firebase, vs. when it makes sense to drop/hack/heal and then run off to do things elsewhere?
One other suggestion: If a Support is in a one-on-one, dont deploy your FB right in front of you..... it takes about 2-3 shots of a Sniper Rifle (other weapons take them out fairly fast aswell) to take out when you do that, and you've just given yourself a nice big cooldown for no benefit. Remember, when it is still in deploying stage its weak as **** and you cant heal it. EDIT: Doesnt even have to be one-on-one, DONT deploy where it can get shot right away!
Another quick warning. When you do deploy, be careful not to throw it out "sticking" it to an ally pro or bot. When you do that, it does not deploy and you have to wait for the cool down. Has happened more than a few times to me in the heat of battle. Also, I find leveling my hack to 3 gives me more to work with than leveling the firebase to level 3. Hack is used on other turrets and unless your camping around your firebase, the heal aura is not as useful as a level 3 hack. IMO of course. Great guide btw, lots of info I wish I'd known before I started using support.
i have some cheeky secrets your missing but i'll never tell hehehe only because there map specific and im sure ppl will learn in time... but an awesome guide none the less very very well done congratulations good to see there are other competent dedicated support out there
I think you just reminded me of some things I should have put in there; Yeah, I hate it when I'm too close to an object and end up throwing my firebase into oblivion, but I STILL have to wait for the cooldown Also with the upgrading, that's exactly what I do. I never bring my firebase to level 3 anymore, as the extra little health thing isn't too useful. Thanks
acctually the whole health thing no being useful..i know of 2 assaassins on my team who would say differently..AGAIN its all about what and how your using it. My turret is like a halfway house for my assaassin buddy and even my HG as it makes for less of a withdraw from forward pushes and some quick protection plus im usually around to overboost em anyways basically what im saying is ppl can and will find uses's for every level of perk in this game just cuz u think a lvl 3 turret in non esseential does not make it so. i know it sounds funny but an assassin/engineer teaming up is a scary sight when done properly
oh BTW i dunno if any else has experienced this or if its a glitch or overboosting or what....but i have had my turret survive airstrikes that were dead centre but only if they were lvl3 turret with shields but this could have been a bug or glitch...but i have personally watched it be bombed while i was boosting it to come out unharmed weird eh?
