WE GONNA MAKE IT RAIN NOW: Or, how I play Support

I've been playing a lot of support lately and I think I have a strategy down. I play a firebase-heavy style.

General Strategy:
Set up a firebase right outside the enemy base, where it can both hold a bot lane and ambush pros on their way out. Once you've established a position, airstrike turrets, heal bots for juice and go kill turrets and pros, and get those bots to the moneyball. I generally leave the moneyball damage to the snipers and tanks, unless I've got juice or it's overtime.

It's almost always beneficial to roll with a heavier class if possible. The only thing more dangerous than a dual minigun is an overhealed dual minigun. Useful for scaring enemies away and drawing fire while you hack your turret. If you bite off more than you can chew and you're about to die, hide behind a tank and heal him up. They're pretty good shields, too.

Weapons:
Heal/Hurt Gun: Heal bots/turrets/teammates for juice. Hurt enemy blackjacks if you need health. If you can dodge an enemy pro's attacks for a few seconds, you can kill some weaker ones with it, but generally the shotgun is nicer. Good to finish off anyone with a sliver of health left, though. Don't waste time trying to shotgun someone who's almost dead, just use the hurt gun and get the sure kill.

Shotgun: Totally underrated. If you find yourself cornered and have to fight your way out, this is what you do it with. The left trigger grapple is weak, but it throws people off and sets up to a shotgun blast nicely. It's good on bots, though. Don't try to shoot a bouncer, or hurt gun him. Just grapple it and be done.

Firebase: Place the firebase in a good spot and claim your territory. Anyone who steps foot in that territory should die. Always keep it hacked and overhealed. When an enemy pro walks up, he has to decide if he wants to kill you or destroy the firebase. If he chases you down, use your hurt gun to keep your life up and make him draw fire from it. If he goes for the turret, just keep healing it. A fully healed turret with a constant healing stream can outlast almost anything. If an enemy gunner or tank deploys, shotgun them. If someone is pounding on it, lob airstrikes at them while they stop to reload. If they have to avoid for a few seconds, that's all you need to get the turret healed back up. Eventually they'll either die or give up.

Airstrike: Death from above. Run, look up, jump, and press B to lob an airstrike across the map. Any time you see an enemy firebase up, hit it. If someone gets too close for comfort, use airstrikes to force them to retreat, then ambush them as they come back with the shotgun. Throw one airstrike behind and one in front of the enemy. Worst comes to worst, use airstrikes to cover your own retreat. I shouldn't have to tell you how to hit stuff that's under cover. Know where to drop them to kill turrets covered spawn rings. Toss them under bridges to catch enemies off-guard. Toss one right where a jump ring lands a second before an enemy uses the jump ring.
Endorsements: I'm not 100% satisfied yet but lately I've been using
Gold: Rate of Fire - Works wonders on the shotgun, and buffing the heal/hurt gun is nice so that you can overheal your firebase when it's being shot at.
Silver: Armor - Survive face-stabs. 'Nuff said.
Bronze: Skill recovery - Good for more hacks and airstrikes.

Upgrade order:
I don't have a solid order, but I usually do something like this:
Firebase 2 (start)
Hack 2 (start)
Airstrike 2
Passive 2
Airstrike 3
Hack 3
Firebase 3
Passive 3

Sometimes I switch up the level 3s based on necessity. If the firebase is getting action, upgrade hack 3 first. If I need health, firebase 3, etc.

Class Matchups:
Assassin: If you hear the hum, see the dust cloud, or just think it's a little bit too quiet, whip out your ghostbuster gun and repeatedly tap left trigger. You'll light up any assassins in view. Once you know where she's at, give her a faceful of birdshot.

Assault: If you see him out of view of your firebase, try to lure him back to it. You can sometimes get a shotgun kill if you're sneaky, but with the charge and fly you probably won't be able to kill him if he figures out what's up. Hurt gun is sometimes better, and if worst comes to worst, tag him with an airstrike.

Gunner: Like the assault, but slower. Get his attention then hide behind a wall. Use the 3rd person view to ambush him a second BEFORE he pokes his head around the corner. Pop out and shoot him once with the shotgun. Run behind him before his minigun spins up and hit him again. If he survives the second shot, jump over the slam and hit him one more time. Gunners are so much fun to shotgun.

Sniper: Long airstrikes all the way. You can take him with the shotgun but the SMG can even the odds. Bomb his traps if he keeps putting them in predictable spots. Most of the time when I engage snipers they're trying to destroy my firebase so I just use the hurt gun to distract them while the firebase finishes the job. Either that, or just find something to hide behind and try to outheal him on the firebase. Just beware sniper's passive 3 explosive damage, and stand back from the turret.

Support: Don't let him get close enough to bomb your firebase. A good support can hit it from way off anyway but a lot of people don't realize their airstrike range. If it comes down to one-on-one, be the first one to pull out your shotgun. I find that since I roll wiithout speed, I can't reliably out-hurt-gun supports any more. When I used speed I would just stay outside shotgun range and it worked pretty well.

Tank: Stick him with an airstrike. Seriously. I've shotgunned a few tanks in my day but it's suicide unless he's already hurt. Stay near your firebase. A lot of tanks will chase you and get mowed down. If he attacks your firebase, just keep healing it. If you get blinded, either keep healing your firebase or using the hurt gun on him.


Level Strategy:

Lazerazor:
I have 2 main firebase spots in lazerazor. Most attractive is under the center ring right outside the enemy's base. If you get a good spot you can cover both bot lanes, half of the middle courtyard, and a lot of the upper bridges. Use the middle glass for cover if any enemy pros show up. A lot of times they'll follow you in a circle around the annihilator and forget you have a firebase up.

The other spot I like in lazorazor is the tunnel on the far right hand side. You can put the firebase near the back for bot lane control or about halfway up where it can see both sides at once. I like to put it so that it's only halfway visible to enemies coming in the door from their spawn. Far enough out that a tank can't get close enough before he dies.

Grenade 3:
Stick the firebase behind one of the bridges to claim territory and lock down a bot lane. Beware ejectors, though. A nice spot is on top of the bridge around that little wall from the bot spawn. Enemies trying to leave the base won't see it until it's too late, and they can't snipe it from the spawn ring.

Ammo Mule:
I'm a big fan of controlling the middle room. Make it very hard for the opposing team to get to the annihilator, juice, etc. I like to stick a firebase in one of the side doors to keep that bot lane down. In the very beginning of the match, if it looks like everyone's rushing the dome, drop your firebase at the entrance closest to your spawn and hack it from outside. Then move it in later once you've got control.

Steel Peel:
My favorite firebase spot on steel peel is on the bridge outside the enemy spawn, where the jump pad goes. There are a few places I like to put it: on either side of the door (out of sight from below) is good. On the left (your left, not your opponents') is nice but on the right it actually looks down and can hold a lane about halfway up, as well as killing anyone on the bridge. If you want to hold both lanes, put it in between both entrances (still up on the top bridge) on the bevel on the edge, so it angles down. It won't hit pros right as they hit the bridge but if they run right they'll die.




So yeah, use the firebase to claim your area then destroy bots and turrets until you win.

Re: How I play Support

"Alright guys! I've singlehandidly walked the bots in and taken down their ball. Unfortunately, I'm a Support, so I can't really do too much damage to that ball without Juice. Can someone shoot it? Please? Please? It's about to go back... ****. I hate you guys."

Facepalm.

Re: How I play Support

I see someone hasn't tried the shotgun on the moneyball.

Re: How I play Support

or just tagging it with the hurt gun until your teammates arrive

Changed the title to make it more obviously a guide.

If the moneyball's down and I don't have juice I'll hit it every few seconds with the hurt gun to keep it down and drop airstrikes under the spawn exits. If you really want to be a ****, set up a firebase right under the spawn. A lot of people aren't sure where to airstrike to hit it, it will shoot at the moneyball until it dies, and it pisses everyone off.

Re: How I play Support

people who want a support to single handedly babysit the bots on their way to the enemy base, take down the turrets, escort them into the base, and drop the ball.... are ****s which i hate.

and THEN they expect you to shotgun the ball from outside the firestorm of a base (as the base is surely filled with enemies now), those are the true award-winning ****s you rage quit because of. lolz

Re: How I play Support

What I meant is, the shotgun does insane amounts of damage to the moneyball.

Re: How I play Support

Shhhh, Lief! Don't want to give away my trade secret!

Re: How I play Support

Does no one know this? :|

Re: How I play Support

no smart people anyway?