The new Losing Tactic: DEFENSIVE Sentry Camping

Battleborn Battleborn Competitive Multiplayer Discussion
#16

I actually had my first rage quit due to this recently.

I was a squishy rath but knew we lost center, so I used the shards I was saving for my gear to build the shock turret up to tier two and force the team out the center, and would’ve worked. I go for the assassination on their support alani, (she was at 10%) and got focused on and died. When I watched the kill cam and map I realized my team did not move an inch from behind their safe haven sentry and push them back EXCEPT FOR MY ALANI who saw what I was trying to do and tried to offer assistance. It happened three times to the point that I just quit the game and got off Battleborn.

I recently have been seeing an increase with this in PUG. It’s like the players want to stay alive long enough to lose. They don’t try to push for shard control, they don’t try to take out shock turrets to try and get it up for use to take control of center, they just safely stay behind the turret, living long enough to just surrender. And like you said, this is level 100’s that’s doing this.

#17

Its not the defense OF the sentry that irks me. Thats just common sense. Its when everyone just hides AT the sentry. I had a Toby yesterday who flalt out refused to engage. After he got blown out of the high ground, he tried to camp the turn…then the tunnel…then the healstation…and finally the accelerator. And being the tank, no one else save me was willing to flank. They wouldn’t go any further than he would.

And best of all, no one would vote for a surrender. Zero kills, a few deaths, no progress, but no surrender.

#18

I got 2 games in a row with that nonsense. They gave the other team the middle position without question and we were pinned back the whole game. it was horrible. Then when I was able to get some kills and some space, I found myself the only one pushed forward with everyone else still hanging out by the damn sentry. I’m surrounded by 3 enemy people with our minions and I look at the map and everyone else is still sitting there. It was pretty amazing.

#19

I enjoy playing as El Dragon but he’s such a late bloomer that if your team can’t advance at all then you’re screwed.

#20

This is odd, never seen someone complain about dominating the other team. Nonetheless they’re probably there because you managed to maintain control of mid and thus they can’t push as heavily but most teams will try to push back once they have the necessities to do so. I’ve been in situations like this and if none of my teammates can’ push as well then I tell them to hold off as long as they can until I reach lv 10 (As Orendi with her mutation). I can usually push the team back depending on how it all turns out and if we’re lucky then we end up winning. Was able to do it a couple of times and remember, if they end up camping in their base it’s probably because your team was able to keep control of the battlefield.

#21

Aggressive behavior is KEY to almost all PvP multiplayer. Camping defense is usually an invitation for disaster.

It’s not a 100%/0% thing, but solidly 80/20 or better in the 11 years I’ve been playing various shooters online, some competitively. It’s one thing to move TO an objective destination, and having arrived there ahead of your enemy, to camp it and prepare to defend. Some game modes in some games kinda make you do that. But in Incursion here?

Naw, bruh. Learn to push, learn to clear out the enemy’s minions, learn to defend your own, and learn to get that enemy sentry knocked the f*** out like Deebo. Learn to keep the enemy off the thrall, and to keep control of them yourself. Learn how/when to shard farm. And most of all, LEARN TO CLEAR THOSE ENEMY MINIONS OUT!

If you can do that, you’ve at least got a reasonable shot at winning. If you can’t, then either the enemy is worse at it than you are, or you’re gonna get ROFLstomped.

One thing to forget, though? Surrender. Disregard that function and play the match out. You never know how long it’s gonna take to find another one…

#22

I’ll also add this other piece to Incursion:

It seems like most players, and I unfortunately put myself in the boat sometimes too, forget that at each choke point there are 2 OTHER paths. We all just pile up at the minion road and tickle each other.

Some of the most masterful defeats I’ve suffered have been from teams that make use of a concerted flank of 2-3 people at key times. My heart sinks when I see it, and it’s such a simple thing to do, and I know that more often than not my PUG is about to be spanked.

Let’s all try to remind ourselves and teammates about these other paths…it might get some people off those defense choke points to help reclaim the center.

2 Likes
#23

JC, this isn’t a tactic I see when I WIN. It’s a tactic displayed during a slow, painful LOSS. And yes, going defensive, is great when you plan to counter…but if you are waiting for someone ELSE to launch that counter, and they’re waiting for you…

#24

It’s always been like that. Any time one team is making progress the other team just sit around their sentry in complete safety and takes potshots at them until they lose. It’s why I don’t play Incursion.

#25

That’s a bad strat sitting there though minion waves get cleared easier by the attacking team and eventually if those people defending don’t push the attackers get a huge level advantage and overrun them

#26

You can’t overrun them at their sentry though. They have a perimeter of turrets and a sentry that’ll nuke you. They’ll still lose the sentry, but it’s not really a fun win for you, either. Then at the second sentry they can just snipe from the ledge outside of their spawn and walk inside if you damage them at all. Again, you’ll kill the entry, but it makes for really terrible, frustrating gameplay.

#27

and many BB picks are total wimps when they are pushed back because thye can’t get levels, weak as ■■■■ push, need shards or can’t move as quickly to mount an offense.

#28

SO, other than practicing and getting to know the maps (let’s face it, Paradise and Overgrowth) in solo/private, I have yet to dip my toes into the waters of Battleborn PvP. Are you telling me that players can just STEP back into their protected base, willy-nilly? Like, whenever they choose?

OK, that right there is a crock of horse s**t! THAT needs to be stopped most rikki-tik! That’s a one-way door; roaches go out, but they don’t go in (unless they teleport or respawn). No rounds pass through, and NO ONE walks back in. You come back on a (virtual) stretcher, or not at all. PERIOD.

Sorry, but I consider that dishonest and an exploit. You get your sorry @$$ out there and fight, or switch to Pokemon Go where it’s safe. This? This is a f***ing war, homegirl…

#29

If PvP, you can retreat back through the wall of your base and back to the ship for health, or teleport back if you can go for long enough without taking damage. It’s usually not a problem, since the actual objectives of the game are so far away that you can’t really camp by your door and shoot anybody, and so if you wanted to camp by it you wouldn’t be able to complete the objective. However, in Incursion, the second sentry has a ledge just outside of your spawn that people can sit on and snipe down from. In order to get to them, you have to cross the killing field containing their sentry while they snipe down at you. If you DO get up to them, they can just take a couple of steps and get back inside.

#30

I’ve played like this a few times, when the other team is in full HAM mode.

Let them overextend. You can wipe up half the team with sentry supporting fire, and then push.

Sure, always staying with your sentry is a losing tactic, but falling back and letting an over-aggressive opponent try to push in without minions … that’s just good strategy.

#31

Yes but …

Yes, but the “doorway” for this is usually WAY back away from the action.

The only time you’re even remotely close to that threshold is while attacking the final sentry in incursion, but attacking the players really isn’t the goal anyway. If the opponent want to retreat, fine. Pound the sentry.

#32

This isn’t about overextending. it isn’t even about the tactic of trying to draw an enemy out, or pulling them into a trap.

Whoever these players are, they’ve totally forgotten that the goal is to get PAST the enemy, to their sentry. They hide, avoid fighting, and generally try to do NOTHING that puts them at risk of dying. In my previous example of a Toby hiding further and further from the front line, the DPS and heals, were hiding behind walls or by the middle/friendly thrall camp. As soon as they took ANY kind of damage in a trade, they bolted for the healstation, or went into hiding to Back.

THAT’S the new nonsense pervading BB at present.

#33

Maybe it just been lucky, but I have seen anything like that. Really, the trend I’ve been seeing is the exact opposite of that.

I’m seeing more and more teams playing SUPER aggressively. Rushing straight in and sentry diving players right off the bat.

#34

Sometimes playing defensively in the base, waiting for the proper opportunity, is the right play. Although it may not be the most enjoyable experience to participate in or against, doesn’t mean it isn’t the right move. If the team with mid control is good, it can be hard to push out.

The alternative would be feeding, allowing the other team to get in an even more advantageous position. But as you’ve said OP, it is a losing strategy if used for too long.

A team can only turtle for so long without allowing sentry damage. As soon as their sentry takes damage, the defensive team is playing against the clock and must break out and deal more damage to the other teams’ sentry than theirs took. Just be patient and they will eventually come to you, surrender or lose.

#35

Zen, I’ve said repeatedly, that this ISN’T a case of people taking that strategic option. They’re not playing defensively. they’re hiding. I know, because I kept trying to get out of the box. I’d go over the thrall camp or through the tunnel and try to get some distance between me and the enemy, to come around from the back, hopefully spurring people to do likewise.

In the former example with a Toby, he just never left the base…PERIOD. Once he got pushed out of the perch by the shock turret, he never left sentry zone again for that game. The others would wait till I was engaged WITH enemies, cut off from them before they would start moving out to help. I know this, because after I died, I would watch them run back INTO the base and go back into hiding rather than trying to push further out.