Any tips for ranking to S+?

[Xehias]

I’ve been in S+ for a little while and ranked down today from messing around too much with weapons I’m not very good with. Because I’m so used to S+ now, I’ve noticed very big differences in the way S and S+ players, well, play. Here’s a couple of them, and some advice:

• S ranks don’t push fast enough when the enemy team is down two, three or even four players. You really have to react quickly. Get the zone, climb on the tower, grab the Rainmaker, even if it’s not your role (unless you’re certain someone is going to do it for you—but as a rule, don’t count on your team in solo queue). Always, always remember the objective above all else.
• Map control switches around a lot, and is more “absolute” than in S+. By that I mean that there are fewer spots of the other team’s ink. I feel like map control is overall easier to break in S, because really it’s more like ink control. The players aren’t actually there to defend the ink. Also, sometimes a team succeeds at breaking through without inking their side of mid and starts settling down on the enemy’s side, where they have to defend, all the while leaving enemy ink behind them. I guess this is okay if the match is about to end in your team’s favor, but if the enemy team manages to kick yours out of their side or sneak around, then you’ll be in serious trouble. If you have map control, you’re at a huge advantage, so don’t bother too much about inking small patches of ink, focus on the major paths and wide areas, and sneak around regardless of the weapon you’re using. If you’re on the defensive and they have map control, try inking as much as you can and coordinating Specials to break through. And of course, never leave enemy turf behind you.
• I’ve seen people just hanging out in mid even though they should have been going forward—we weren’t on the defensive, we were pushing! It’s vital to understand the ebb and flow of Ranked modes, that is, when you should be attacking and when you should be retreating. And also, it’s extremely important to realize what you need to do in order to push ahead. Getting a full wipe is ideal and works on any map, of course, but waiting for that to happen is far from a good idea. Take Bluefin Depot Rainmaker: you generally don’t want to push ahead if you don’t have control of the enemy team’s upper platforms, because they can very easily repel you from there. Same for Moray Towers.
• People tend to waste Specials, using them at the wrong time. Specials should generally be used to push or defend, not during stalemates.
• You can pick up the Rainmaker and run it solo to the goal in S, but it won’t happen so easily in S+. That’s because S ranks tend to leave it unattended, hoping for someone else to pick it up. This is a recipe for disaster, as an opponent could sneak through and score points very easily.
• S ranks either underestimate or aren’t familiar with how to counter some of the more unusual weapons, such as the Rapid Blaster Pro or the Rainmaker.
• S ranks make dangerous super jumps a lot more often than S+. My best tip here is: don’t super jump. Do it only when whatever you’re super jumping to is surrounded in your own ink and there’s a lot of room between it and the front lines.
• S ranks rush into enemy turf without thinking. Don’t overextend, and don’t take needless risks. Don’t trade when you’re on the defensive, it’s completely useless.
• Situations where the enemy team is pushed back into its base unable to do much are way more common. I think this simply has to do with S ranks not being as good as reversing map control.
• S ranks don’t know the best paths to push the Rainmaker. For example, don’t take it through the right on Walleye, it’s slow and difficult to get through.

Whew, I typed a lot more than I expected. If this sounds like I’m being harsh on S ranks, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to say S ranks are bad players, far from it. This is just a “what sets S+ rank players apart from S rank players” type of list. I hope it’ll be helpful!

 

[Cezo]

*laughs in S+ 53*

 

[KannaMango93]

I’ve been in S+ for a little while and ranked down today from messing around too much with weapons I’m not very good with. Because I’m so used to S+ now, I’ve noticed very big differences in the way S and S+ players, well, play. Here’s a couple of them, and some advice:

• S ranks don’t push fast enough when the enemy team is down two, three or even four players. You really have to react quickly. Get the zone, climb on the tower, grab the Rainmaker, even if it’s not your role (unless you’re certain someone is going to do it for you—but as a rule, don’t count on your team in solo queue). Always, always remember the objective above all else.
• Map control switches around a lot, and is more “absolute” than in S+. By that I mean that there are fewer spots of the other team’s ink. I feel like map control is overall easier to break in S, because really it’s more like ink control. The players aren’t actually there to defend the ink. Also, sometimes a team succeeds at breaking through without inking their side of mid and starts settling down on the enemy’s side, where they have to defend, all the while leaving enemy ink behind them. I guess this is okay if the match is about to end in your team’s favor, but if the enemy team manages to kick yours out of their side or sneak around, then you’ll be in serious trouble. If you have map control, you’re at a huge advantage, so don’t bother too much about inking small patches of ink, focus on the major paths and wide areas, and sneak around regardless of the weapon you’re using. If you’re on the defensive and they have map control, try inking as much as you can and coordinating Specials to break through. And of course, never leave enemy turf behind you.
• I’ve seen people just hanging out in mid even though they should have been going forward—we weren’t on the defensive, we were pushing! It’s vital to understand the ebb and flow of Ranked modes, that is, when you should be attacking and when you should be retreating. And also, it’s extremely important to realize what you need to do in order to push ahead. Getting a full wipe is ideal and works on any map, of course, but waiting for that to happen is far from a good idea. Take Bluefin Depot Rainmaker: you generally don’t want to push ahead if you don’t have control of the enemy team’s upper platforms, because they can very easily repel you from there. Same for Moray Towers.
• People tend to waste Specials, using them at the wrong time. Specials should generally be used to push or defend, not during stalemates.
• You can pick up the Rainmaker and run it solo to the goal in S, but it won’t happen so easily in S+. That’s because S ranks tend to leave it unattended, hoping for someone else to pick it up. This is a recipe for disaster, as an opponent could sneak through and score points very easily.
• S ranks either underestimate or aren’t familiar with how to counter some of the more unusual weapons, such as the Rapid Blaster Pro or the Rainmaker.
• S ranks make dangerous super jumps a lot more often than S+. My best tip here is: don’t super jump. Do it only when whatever you’re super jumping to is surrounded in your own ink and there’s a lot of room between it and the front lines.
• S ranks rush into enemy turf without thinking. Don’t overextend, and don’t take needless risks. Don’t trade when you’re on the defensive, it’s completely useless.
• Situations where the enemy team is pushed back into its base unable to do much are way more common. I think this simply has to do with S ranks not being as good as reversing map control.
• S ranks don’t know the best paths to push the Rainmaker. For example, don’t take it through the right on Walleye, it’s slow and difficult to get through.

Whew, I typed a lot more than I expected. If this sounds like I’m being harsh on S ranks, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to say S ranks are bad players, far from it. This is just a “what sets S+ rank players apart from S rank players” type of list. I hope it’ll be helpful!

Thanks @Xehias. I appreciate the tips and advice. I'll keep these in mind for when I start up ranked again. :)

A couple of questions I have:

• In general, how do I know the best path to push the Rainmaker? I know it varies depending on what map I'm on, but what should I generally look for? (Also, are grated pathways good or bad for stages like Camp Triggerfish and Hammerhead Bridge?)
• How can I get myself familiar with countering weapons I haven't seen/aren't familiar with?

 

[Green Waffles]

• In general, how do I know the best path to push the Rainmaker? I know it varies depending on what map I'm on, but what should I generally look for? (Also, are grated pathways good or bad for stages like Camp Triggerfish and Hammerhead Bridge?)
• How can I get myself familiar with countering weapons I haven't seen/aren't familiar with?

-In general? The shortest route, so long as it doesn't go directly iin fron of their spawn point. That hardly does your question justice, I know ^_^; but it's all I can think of barring a full rundown of each map.
BUTT it does segway nicely into answering the second bit about camp triggered and bridge-place. Grating is bad, for the same reason it is bad for any kid or squid, however the generally best routes on both aforementioned maps require going across that dreaded n man's land, simply because on camp, you only other option is walking straight towards their spawn (why hello there, enemy charger! I would love to play laser ta-AAGHGRGKY) and on hammerhead, your only other option is down a narrow hallway(It's like walleye warehouse... but worse)

-Well aside from just encountering exotic weapons out in the wild yourself... I dunno xD I think thi is part of why I have such luck with brushes and ink mines and suchwhatnonsense. People don't-know/forget how to fight against them(i can't remember the last time I saw bomb sniffer outside of goofy private match) and I cheese it xP

Yew gawta pluayem ahl m8, liek mii! That's how I do it anyways.
If that doesn't sound appealing(you have to play weapons that make you cringe at some points), maybe look up high rank videos/streams of these weapons?

 

[KannaMango93]

-In general? The shortest route, so long as it doesn't go directly iin fron of their spawn point. That hardly does your question justice, I know ^_^; but it's all I can think of barring a full rundown of each map.

What about Moray Towers? (Gotta learn more about my most dreaded stage ever... ._.) That stage is an uphill climb... (sniper, don't you da-*#&^@!)

 

[ThatOneGuy]

• S ranks don’t know the best paths to push the Rainmaker. For example, don’t take it through the right on Walleye, it’s slow and difficult to get through.

Yeah, but neither do S+ players. On Mahi-Mahi, my team always tries to push it through their snipe, instead of going through the islands, which is much easier and gets you more points by doing so.

Grating is bad

On camp, any flanker that tries to flank me on the cat walk dies when I see them. They got sniped, because they slowed themselves down on that grate.

Knowing how to counter weapons especially the weird ones is pretty simple. You should probably try to play them, or try to figure out what they do.

Still, there are some match ups that are naturally difficult for some weapons. Like the dynamo vs a squiffer. The dynamo has about the same OHKO range, with massive coverage. Meanwhile, the squiffer is going to have to flank if they want to get the kill.

 

[Green Waffles]

Like the dynamo vs a squiffer

That triggered me

That stage is an uphill climb

heh, nvm I'm fine now =P

Never have I felt a stage that requires team wipe before pushes quite like a-moray.
The fastest way is up their sniper perch and then up their quarter pipe ramp to the goal post...

But the "safer" way is up that mile long wall at their zone.<<<Take this route unless you just got a complete wipe.
Not only is it "generally" safer (just be sure no enemies can ink the wall and splat yo booty before you finish the climb) but also it will jump your score from 70~ish to approx. 44 the second your squid crests to land on the top, as opposedd to 60~ish if you go up to their sniper perch. Due to the high chances of stalemate on this map, every inch counts.

Spoiler: Seeeeeecreeeeeeet

 

[Xehias]

Thanks @Xehias. I appreciate the tips and advice. I'll keep these in mind for when I start up ranked again. :)

A couple of questions I have:

• In general, how do I know the best path to push the Rainmaker? I know it varies depending on what map I'm on, but what should I generally look for? (Also, are grated pathways good or bad for stages like Camp Triggerfish and Hammerhead Bridge?)
• How can I get myself familiar with countering weapons I haven't seen/aren't familiar with?

You’re welcome!

For Rainmaker, it’s really just a matter of learning the best paths for each map via trial and error (or reading about it/watching videos!). There’s only so many maps, so it shouldn’t take that long. Of course, in a real match, you may have opportunities that require you to use a less-than-optimal path, and you shouldn’t ignore them just because it’s not the ideal choice in other circumstances. If you want to figure out the best paths on your own, try turning your thinking around: what gave you trouble in Rainmaker matches? What made you go “oh no, don’t you dare go through this path”, and why did you think that? Was it because nobody was there to defend at that time, or because you knew it would force you in a difficult position to defend from, or because the enemy team was able to score points very quickly? All of these things?

An example of a bad path to take is the enemy’s right side on Walleye Warehouse. It’s a good spot to camp the Rainmaker late-game if you have the lead, but actually going through there to score points is a lot more difficult. Besides, the enemy’s right side is your right side, and your right side has that narrow corridor, which just so happens to be a great pathway for the Rainmaker carrier. On that map, you don’t want the Rainmaker to be on your right side because that’s where the fastest, most overwhelming offenses can happen. The left side, on the other hand, is ideal for pushing. There’s even a small box propped up against the wall separating the enemy’s corridor from the rest of the map on which the Rainmaker carrier can stand and right-side peek. I once had a game where I stayed on that box for a good chunk of the match waiting for an opportunity to advance, and successfully splatted anyone who tried to get near me.

Specifically on Camp Triggerfish, everyone takes the grated path over just rushing straight toward the enemy’s spawn. To be honest, I’m not 100% sure why that is, but my best guess is that it’s because there’s no cover whatsoever and any long range weapon can just get you from the higher platforms connected to their spawn. For Hammerhead Bridge, again, everyone favors the grates. Now, I’ll admit I don’t even know if there’s an alternate path to the goal on this map. If there is, I’ve never seen it being used. Generally, when Hammerhead Rainmaker is in rotation, people take out their favorite Run Speed builds and just use the grates.

As for countering unusual weapons, short of encountering them in matches, you could try to seek out players that use them and ask them to do a couple matches against you. Once you’re done, make sure to ask them questions like, “what did I do that was difficult for you to counter?” “Did I do anything that made me especially vulnerable and that you could easily punish?” If that’s not a possibility, you should simply try them out for yourself. See what other weapons give you trouble, and how; figure out what the weapon is really good at accomplishing, and what it struggles with; take note of the positions you find yourself in naturally. When you go up against someone who uses that weapon later, you can use all this knowledge to your advantage.

For my example of the Rapid Blaster Pro, they really struggle when enemies get too close, so they absolutely have to keep their distance. As soon as anyone gets too close, missing a shot or relying on the blast radius isn’t an option: they have to either direct or die. A collected Rapid Pro user could probably still direct you even if you got all up in their face, but if you have Defense Up or haven’t taken any damage, there’s nothing they can do to defend themselves (assuming you didn’t miss them). Another huge weakness is movement. Since you really want a ton of Damage Up for your directs to hit for 99.9 damage, it’s likely that the Rapid Pro will have sacrificed gear slots that could otherwise be dedicated to Swim Speed or Ink Resistance. On top of that, the way the main weapon shoots ink in a very narrow, straight line makes its escapes very predictable.

When it comes to the Rainmaker, a lot of people are content to simply pick it up and swim to the goal mindlessly. This can work wonders; however, there’s a lot of neat tricks you can pull off by actually using the weapon. Snapping your shots is really great, of course, and can surprise people. Aiming your shots upwards will allow them to travel further and even over walls, which can be deadly even if you’re expecting it. An amazing spot to do this is found on Camp Triggerfish. Say the enemy team started to head to your team’s right to go for the grates, and you stopped them there. Now you want to go to the opposite side of the map to make your own push, but first you need to make sure it’s safe to move ahead. From that general area, you can take the Rainmaker and shoot upwards diagonally to your right so that the tornado goes over the walls and lands right on top of anyone trying to come up through their main pathway’s ramp. It’s excellent if your team is already preventing them from coming up, because you can guess where they are and force them to either retreat or walk into danger head-on.

…I didn’t mean to type that much, but here you go! Can you tell I’ve been enjoying using the Rapid Blaster Pro on Rainmaker lately? :p

 

[ThatOneGuy]

That triggered me

Was I wrong in that assumption?

I'm sorry but, I don't play much squiffer, but I would think that match-up isn't the best for the squiffer.

Specifically on Camp Triggerfish, everyone takes the grated path over just rushing straight toward the enemy’s spawn. To be honest, I’m not 100% sure why that is, but my best guess is that it’s because there’s no cover whatsoever and any long range weapon can just get you from the higher platforms connected to their spawn. /QUOTE]

Why people use the catwalk on your left is because you can easily use wall weapons to block on-coming fire from your front. And if your opponents want to flank, they'll either have to go through mid and attack from behind, or get on the grate with you, which can be punished easily if the flanker is seen. Not to mention, the cover the bridge gets is valuable to stop *most chargers* from hitting you from their spawn ramp (if you're good you can hit the feet of people trying to abuse this). Still, I'd say pushing directly to their spawn is a good option, but it poses too much risk. Pushing to their spawn is definitely the fastest way to do it, but you'll probably either need to wipe them or allow one to live with your team still intact.

 

[ThatOneGuy]

On a side note, knowing when to push in Rainmaker is key. Since comebacks happen so frequently in Rainmaker, you should have caution and you should never give up in Rainmaker, as mistakes aren't nearly as punishing as they are in say Tower Control or Splat Zones.
In Splat Zones, say you died in the zone, which helped your opponents gain the zone and gave them map control. Now look at your timer, you have a penalty time now. So now you've got a penalty time, opponents with map control to their favor, and the opponents are making a push, all at the same time.

In Tower Control, let's say your team died pushing the tower to 30. Your opponents now have control over the objective and are pushing back your progress. But, it'll take some time before their counter starts going up because you pushed them back far enough for some of your team to respawn. Not nearly as punishing, but still bad.

Finally, in Rainmaker, say your team pushed to 30 and your team dies. The opponents now have to pop the rainmaker shield, and take the rainmaker back into mid. But this time, an opponent has to get rid of their weapon, get vulnerable and marked in order to push their objective.

Obviously, none of these things are good, but it just shows you the comparison and price of dying in these modes.

Still, that all matters to what weapons you use or enjoy using.

 

[Green Waffles]

Oh no, it was spot on. xD You just mention dynamos and squiffers in the same sentence and I get flashbacks.

I hate Dynamos when I'm playing squiffer.
Imagine dueling another e-liter, except the other e-liter's shots are 4 times as wide and could arc over cover

Edit: Aaaaaah I forgot my green silly text thar. Blasted internet, can't use ma' tone of voice to make more apparent what is silly

 

[KannaMango93]

Oh no, it was spot on. xD You just mention dynamos and squiffers in the same sentence and I get flashbacks.

I hate Dynamos when I'm playing squiffer.
Imagine dueling another e-liter, except the other e-liter's shots are 4 times as wide and could arc over cover

Edit: Aaaaaah I forgot my green silly text thar. Blasted internet, can't use ma' tone of voice to make more apparent what is silly

Lol, same. Sometimes I can counter them by splatting them before they get the chance to splat me (since Dynamos have that lagging start-up animation). But the moment I miss, it's lights out for me...

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Trust me, confronting a dynamo head on is probably: the worst thing you could do ever.

Because if you miss, its a trade for the dynamo. Most of the time, you should try to kill them with kraken or bubbler, snipe them or out range them.