Being the center of enemy attention/Focusing Fire on that one good player

[aceofscarabs]

One thing I noticed in Splatfest and Ranked Battle is that sometimes if you're too effective at ensuring your team is winning, the enemy will start to specifically target you to try and impede you and take back the win.

During the Transformers Splatfest, I recall being such a fierce brush ninja that the high-level Decepticons eventually started gunning hard for me, even putting off my lower-leveled teammates to focus on me first. Somehow I'm still able to score extremely high despite them defeating us.

Previously in my last foray into Ranked (since I mostly play Turf War), during several rounds of Tower Control I actually attracted a lot of enemy attention after my extremely effective Suction Bomb play kept dislodging the enemy from the tower (and splatting enemies near the grating bridge right at the center of the map) - from a certain point in that series of battles in the same 'room' some of the enemy players would specifically gun for me, even when I'm not rallying the team to me on the Tower!

I wonder, have any of you ever considered the specifics of gunning for specific squids for a constructive reason? Have you ever found yourself becoming the target of the enemy team? Let's talk about such things in this thread.

 

[LMG]

Well, my cases are not like yours, but a few times I've pulled the attention of a single enemy towards me to help an ally, like making a Kraken chase me towards the center of the map instead of my ally that's retreating towards our base (and away from other allies), or making a sniper focus on me so an ally in distress can escape

 

[SupaTim]

Yes, I think it happens quite often. I notice it when there is a skill gap between my teammates and myself. So, I'll get three or four quick kills but my teammates don't push, or are clumped. Usually two or three of the other team will attack me while my team kinda sits around or goes on a wild goose chase for the last opponent.

We often lose those...although sometimes it IS my fault because I get all hyped on adrenaline and make stupid decisions. Sometimes.

 

[Elecmaw]

I know i'm being a good charger when enemies start dumping inkstrikes on me.

 

[GerbilCrab475]

I know i'm being a good charger when enemies start dumping inkstrikes on me.

Or when they use ink strikes just to take out a sprinkler that's out of aerospray range (I love Flounder Heights for this).

 

[aceofscarabs]

I know i'm being a good charger when enemies start dumping inkstrikes on me.

Once I had several opponents aim all their inkstrikes at me when I was being a brush ninja on Kelp Dome. Was funny to see multiple inkstrike markers pop up behind me as I advanced, hahaha, 's kinda like being bombarded by Octostrikers.

 

[Wonderf]

It's a mental thing where, if someone is carrying their team, then they'll become the priority target for when skirmishes happen, because that carry is the most likely person to wreck havoc on the other team. I don't know about you guys but when someone is constantly taking objectives and kills, I like to try and shut them down, stop them from progressing, halt their momentum and win the game. It's always fun when people target you, makes you think harder and make some epic plays ;)

 

[aceofscarabs]

Or maybe the guy just managed to land three touchdowns with the Rainmaker in the last few games, so the other players still in the same 'room' know to STOP HIM when he goes anywhere near it.

 

[Wonderf]

Or maybe the guy just managed to land three touchdowns with the Rainmaker in the last few games, so the other players still in the same 'room' know to STOP HIM when he goes anywhere near it.

That post reminded me of this...

 

[Phobos]

I do this - if it's very clear that the opposing team is being carried by one very good player, then I'll often forgo to the primary objective in a bid to take them out, since it often happens that the rest of the team crumbles during the time it takes the good player to respawn, which can make it very difficult for them to regain momentum. However, if it's clear that I wouldn't stand a chance then I adopt the opposite strategy and stay the hell away from them.

 

[Misery]

I had this one happen yesterday in Turf War on Moray, a map I really dont like but was tolerating at the time, where I was using the Heavy Splatling from above, and basically just keeping constant control over that center zone for a long time, and turning and popping anyone that came up the ramp at me, while my teammates did whatever it was that they were doing.

About 2 minutes in, an Inkstrike and 2 Killer Wails just converged on my exact spot all at once; I wish I had a screenshot of it.

I thought it was highly unnecessary though, really. I pretty much stood in one spot the whole match...

 

[aceofscarabs]

Wow, all at once? That's kinda extreme. Last week when I brought a Heavy Splatling to a Splat Zone match in Bluefin I covered the left side of the Zone while my E-Liter teammate covered the right, and towards the end someone made it close enough to try and shower me with Stickies from the flanking side, and as I repositioned, two more squids came after me right as we won by knockout. Admittedly my suppressing fire DID splat a number of them several times...

 

[PHYTO-1]

I had this one happen yesterday in Turf War on Moray, a map I really dont like but was tolerating at the time, where I was using the Heavy Splatling from above, and basically just keeping constant control over that center zone for a long time, and turning and popping anyone that came up the ramp at me, while my teammates did whatever it was that they were doing.

About 2 minutes in, an Inkstrike and 2 Killer Wails just converged on my exact spot all at once; I wish I had a screenshot of it.

I thought it was highly unnecessary though, really. I pretty much stood in one spot the whole match...

well to be fair that is a very popular spot to strike/wail. anyone jumping off from spawn will get caught in the wail or have to trudge around after the strike.

i have had the displeasure of having two killer wails aimed towards me. but luckily i run quick superjump. PEW! im outta heeeere!

 

[aceofscarabs]

Whenever I take over the role of being the team brawler in Rainmaker I tend to be the one who eats the Splat Bomb so the Rainmaker Bearer doesn't. It's kind of the inverse of being deliberately targeted by the enemy, hahaha.

Also earlier in Arowana Mall I ended up focusing on the enemy sniper because they were somewhat competent and had the flanking position. Had to splat them with a Suction once too, stuck it over them so they couldn't see it until it went off.

 

[Joseph Staleknight]

Usually when there's a really powerful Charger on a stage practically tailored for them (especially E-Liters on Moray Towers), they're usually at the top of my hit-list because their skills can lock down my team before they can make much of a move toward enemy territory. Whether the team can get the chance to do so depends on whether or not the other players can use the opportunity to wreck us as well. Usually though, I end up focusing on them so much that the other players use the opportunity to take us down or otherwise steal turf from under our noses. Needless to say, those E-Liters are pretty vital there.

 

[aceofscarabs]

Usually when there's a really powerful Charger on a stage practically tailored for them (especially E-Liters on Moray Towers), they're usually at the top of my hit-list because their skills can lock down my team before they can make much of a move toward enemy territory. Whether the team can get the chance to do so depends on whether or not the other players can use the opportunity to wreck us as well. Usually though, I end up focusing on them so much that the other players use the opportunity to take us down or otherwise steal turf from under our noses. Needless to say, those E-Liters are pretty vital there.

True dat, snipers can be really threatening if given the chance to find a good spot to pick your team off from. One of the things I've been wanting to practice more is getting my Suctions to land just outside the FOV of a sniper, but close enough to splat them when it goes off.

Even in Turf War, I occassionally run into reasonably skilled snipers. With a brush the method of attacking them is completely different, gotta sneak up on them or outrun their aim and zero in on them, forcing them to fall back or break out their subs.