#9

not to start an argument but thats probably why people went to overwatch more because its easier to get into and from what ive played of the beta its pretty easy to kill someone with basically any character. i just want battleborn to have lots of players and i feel like overwatch took alot of people away. but yea OP learn the characters + and - and change your tactics according to how you play them and be smart about your gear

1 Like
#10

Dude. You sound exactly, I mean EXACTLY like me. Right down to the, I should try that guy syndrome.

First off, here is a thread with some very basic tips.

Secondly, the thing to know about Battleborn is that every character can be great (ok, maybe some a little more great than others). The trick is to find one that works FOR YOU and the way you play.

I urge you to keep trying different things. One of the first characters that started to click for me was Kelvin, because he’s tanky, he has great AoE (so you don’t have to be perfect at keeping track of enemies) and because he has excellent escapability if you get into trouble. For you it might be someone else, and there’s a good chance it will be someone you don’t think you will like.

Thirdly, once you start to have a feel for a couple of characters, go back and revisit characters you tried previously. You will probably discover that they feel different now because your skills have grown.

3 Likes
#11

2 of the 3 you mentioned (Marquis and El Dragon) are fairly tricky to use in PVP. I’m not great at the game myself but I’ve gotten a lot better. You might try using someone that’s very basic and more friendly to new players like Rath but you gotta be very aware regardless of who you’re using of location and situation. I’ve improved over the past few days with Caldarius based on a tip a buddy gave me about gear. Sometimes it’s just a little tweak here or there that helps. You can add me if you’re on PS4 if you want and I’ll try to help. I’miss working on getting better myself.

1 Like
#12

When I first played this game, I was a great Miko. Then release, I wasn’t even getting many assists. Tried Orendi, and I began to do a tad better. Got her to 15, and tried a melee. I hate melees. Having to be in the battle. Ugh. Then I tried Phoebe. I’m able to pull off things I never thought possible and my heart is racing after it. It’s really about finding your character. You really seem willing to give it your all, so I’d recommend giving the other 20ish characters a spin. Once in PVE, once in private, then once in a real match. It’ll take a lil while, but chances are you’ll find them pretty quick. And it’s usually someone you’d never suspect. And it’s certainly worth it. Every character plays differently, and more fun than the last.

3 Likes
#13

I believe there is a school of sorts here in the forums. I don’t remember the details, so hopefully someone who knows more about it can explain it to you.

Most of what you mentioned here can be attributed to a lack of situational awareness. Try to know where on the map you, your allies, and your enemies are at all times, and look up at the minimap when you are close to corners or have an enemy behind you. This will help with backing up into an ally or getting flanked by an enemy. Map awareness is really important for Marquis as you literally have tunnel vision while zoomed in. You don’t have to constantly be looking back and forth between the game and the map, but just try to glance up at it every once in a while.

As for ults not firing or skills going on cooldown, I’m not sure what you mean by that, but if you are hit with a stun, knock up, pull, silence, etc. your skill will go on cooldown as if you had used it. Also, your alternate attack button will cancel your skills (without putting them on cooldown) if you miss an opportunity or accidentally pressed a key or button.

There is a lot more info I could go on about, but it takes a while for me to organize my thoughts into paragraphs. Hopefully someone else will expand on what I’ve said.

1 Like
#14

First and foremost, If you are on PS4 and need some tips, feel free to add me PSN: Timocracy.

Second and second most, there are a ton of other people who want to help newer players learn, you can find them here:

As for basic tips, everyone else has provided some really solid advice. :slight_smile:

I’ll just give you this: don’t get discouraged, and don’t feel like a burden. This is a tough game to pick up, and we’ve all been there. :slight_smile:

7 Likes
#15

Great timing.

1 Like
#16

Ha! :slight_smile:

#17

Any game mode. I generally don’t make it a point to go after kills, but if I get attacked, I usually die. It’s like everyone that attacks me does 5x normal damage while I always barely scratch them.

#18

Very rational, thank you for your thoughts. It is true what you said, all of it, and I will try to take your advice as much as I can.

#19

That does happen often enough. However, at the time of writing my post, I was playing Caldarius, and my ult got cancelled 3-4 times for no reason. I’d hit F, he’d fly up, then suddenly appear back on the ground with the skill on cd. Maybe somebody CC-ed me while I was up there, but I never saw it.

I haven’t mentioned that I’m on PC.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful posts. I’ll stick with it and try harder.

#20

If you hit something on the way up it cancels

Caldarius can be hard if you haven’t alrdy mastered positioning

4 Likes
#21

Caldarius is one of the last characters I’d recommend to play as. He’s not necessarily complicated, but take incredible skill to do well with. I’d recommend someone like Orendi, her skill trees have a lot of synergy and she’s easy to use but takes practice to be great with. And, in general, avoid Jennerit. Rath is okay, but the rest are complicated underdogs.

4 Likes
#22

I’ve discovered that the right skill choices in the helix can really make a difference based on play style. For instance, I was doing just OK with Benedict. I switched to his faster rocket speed skill over the reload and increased my kills. Pretty much nobody picks that skill. I think if you are finding no luck, try switching skills.

1 Like
#23

A few tips I have that I haven’t seen anyone list. Leveling up is more important than purchasing your gear, most characters will benefit from a 0 cost shard generator and cost reduction so that they can level up faster than waiting till later in the game to purchase stronger gear. I normally run a 0 cost shard generator and 0 cost build reduction on my characters when I want to do really well, then I also equip 1 legendary for that character. Most characters rely quite a bit on getting their helix choices over that 10% damage increase that you want to buy and most characters have a damage increase in their helix anyway.

This will help your team early game and level you up faster than the other team usually. The point is to get to lvl 5 faster than the other team, at which point you have your ultimate, then you save up for your legendary equipment. because turrets and buildables get less effective the longer the match goes on its ok to buy your legendary equipment around lvl 5-6. So for the first few levels your goal is to buy as much as possible to level up and kill as many minions as possible. With players until you are level 5 it is mostly pointless to kill anyone anyway (respawn times early in the game have very little impact), unless it is a very safe kill, so just try to do enough damage to get players away from you.

6 Likes
#24

Oh another high level tip, that honestly I didn’t want to share because it is something you learn eventually but isn’t stated anywhere. You get experience from turret kills and assists that you purchase. So if you are playing meltdown a good tip for starting a match is to gather shards and buy a turret then switch sides and kill those minions. This helps you level up quicker and with the suggested 0 cost shard generator and 0 cost buildable reduction you should always have enough shards to buy the first turret (maybe even upgrade it sometimes). Try these tips out and see how you do, now that I posted these tips though expect your teammates/opponents to be using them as well. Happens all the time for me I suggest something for a game then I see it everywhere and have to come up with new strategies.

3 Likes
#25

Thanks for the tip! I usually do something like this when I’m playing Miko.
I am confused, though, by the phrase ‘0 cost’. Are there really items with 0 cost, or do you simply mean grey low cost items?

#26

Yea there are items that have 0 shard activation cost. They are going to be white/grey rarity items with a negative stat. For the shard generating gear your optimal choices for the negative stat is going to be -14% heal power or -21% reload speed. I suggest taking the negative reload speed for most characters and the heal power for people who reload (Melka, OM) Miko unfortunately has terrible options all around for a 0 cost shard generator. For the buildable cost reduction you have the same options for the negative stats. You can get these by buying the common gear loot boxes and are well worth buying them until you get the max rolled stats for the cost reduction and shard generation.

And you want the 0 cost ones because you can buys those the second you can move your character. I have activated it and had around 60-70 shards before the gate was even open and I have had up to 540 shards before even running into a player (Mind you 540 shards with the cost reduction is almost enough to buy a turret and upgrade it). Having an upgraded turret on the very first wave of meltdown can really shut down a lane.

4 Likes
#27

If you can’t tell, I really can’t promote turrets and other buildables enough. But I hadn’t thought to give the piece of advice that makes the turrets matter. Fight try to fight around your turrets and protect them if you seem them getting destroyed, they do a lot of damage early game. Once you get to level 5 you can ignore this tip a bit because again turrets get less useful the longer the game goes on so don’t rely on them as much in the later portion of the game. For the marquis out there just try to scare them away or keep their focus off the turrets, he is a nuisance.

1 Like
#28

Okay, let me reassure you: You are NOT an idiot. :slight_smile: The game is unlike nearly any other shooter on the market.

The problem that I’m seeing from your post, is that you’re starting with the game, trying to learn Melee tanking. hands down, that is the hardest position to play. Melee DPS can pretty much bail on a fight, but tanks get all the attention once they’re exposed and vulnerable.

Caldarius is equally tricky, as would be Mellka. They’re both hybrids, able to dance in and out of a fight fast. But it’s knowing WHEN, when to make the big entrance or exit, that makes and breaks players.

I’m going to break down some suggestions for other characters to try, based on what I think you want. It’ll be a long list, but it should help.

At this point, I would recommend NOT going Melee tanks. It’s far harder, and less forgiving of mistakes than being a ranged one. Now, if you want to learn Melee DPS, El Dragon is right up your alley. Save his Clothesline, not for a new attack, but for the single most FRUSTRATING ESCAPE MECHANISM IN THE GAME!!! Sorry. :slight_smile: if you want to get used to tanking, I’d recommend ISIC or Monty to start with. Both are very robust tanks, that can deal with being hit, and deal out a lot of hits on their own. You need to learn how to initiate a fight, and sustain yourself for a bit, either until the enemy runs, or your healer gets to you. At that point, decide whether you want to back off or try and get the kill. DON’T always try and get the kill. Your job as a tank is to start the fight on good terms. Let a DPS get the kill, live to get the assist, and you’ll have a more prepared team for the next enemy.

As for alternate DPS characters, you could try someone like Oscar Mike. Don’t let the CoD influences fool you; he’s the best pusher and one of the best ranged DPS’s in game. At level 2, pick up the Fragcendiary Grenade Mutation, and just watch the world burn. Another character I would recommend as a learning tool, is Whiskey Foxtrot. Again, the gun shouldn’t delude you. He’s a cross between Oscar Mike and Marquis. He doesn’t get Marquis’ big crits and punishing AoE effects, but he can be a good tool in learning how to reverse a fight and capitalize on it. I would personally recommend shying away from Orendi and Benedict at THIS point. You need the fundamentals first. They both have a very…unique playstyle. Some people will grasp it instantly. I’m two months old with BB, and I’m STILL trying to work out how benedict’s DPS works. :slight_smile:

One last thing: keep running the PvE content. it’s great for leveling your player rank, good for leveling specific characters, and is the best way to get more gear items. Don’t focus on Legendaries yet. Just get lots of blue and purple loot, and try to avoid keeping anything with red text; that’s a negative mod, that affects any characters who equip that item with shards. You want more items, because it will give you more build options, and let you take different roles for the same characters(A DPS Galilea, a soft-tank Rath with so much lifesteal that his vampire non-festish will be a flat out lie…) Treat the PvE as a laboratory of sorts. Go there to try out different Helix combinations, and see how they interact. It’ll serve you a lot better than trying to trot out an untested character into PvP. Once you have your build idealized(remember, it worked against bots. SOME things won’t work against players) take it to PvP and see where you stand.

1 Like