How to get better at tower control

[Spiderface]

I don't usually play tower control because I seem to be terrible at it and it just frustrates me to no end so I was hoping for some tips... like which weapons are good, which ones aren't, what gear should you wear and general strategies.

 

[SupaTim]

1st - always start with a weapon you are comfortable with. You COULD try "meta" weapons for each mode, but if you are unsure/uncomfortable with the weapon you will not be successful. So, pick a weapon that you are good with already and play to its strengths.

2nd - If you want to use a meta weapon, blasters are ridiculous because they can take out people on the tower easily. The Lunas and Rapid Blasters are especially good. The splat roller and krak-on are good because you can stalk the tower and take out people hiding on it. The splat offers the suction bomb, which is solid for making squids get off the tower, and the killer wail which can dislodge people as well. The krak-on gives you beacons, which you can put on the tower to help people jump or absorb hits to help you push, and the kraken which is really good at loafing around the tower (best on maps without water). Personally, I like the .52 gal and custom dual squelcher. The gal has great splatting power, a wall, and the wail (which I find really useful in TC). The CDS is great at support and map control, beacons if you have to get on the tower, and the wail. I'd stay away from the short range shooters unless you are already awesome with some.

3rd - if you aren't good at riding the tower then don't. It is really important to splat the enemies, so you need at least two people off the tower, taking people out. I love this role as oftentimes enemies are focused on the tower and are easy to splat. Keep an eye on the squids up top: if they have 0-1 squids up, jump on the tower ASAP. More people on the tower the faster it goes. BUT Don't push if you don't have to - protect your lead. A small lead being defended is better than an unneeded push that ends in a wipe.

Good luck!

 

[jsilva]

Seconding Tim H's great advice ... if you're not sure how to help your team push the tower from the tower itself, think about defending your teammates who are on the tower.

A couple of other things:

1. If you're on the tower, try and anticipate angles enemies will be shooting at you from and move to make it more difficult. Even if you only delay getting splatted for a few more ticks on the clock, that could be all that's needed to win.

2. If your team is behind and it's nearing the end of the game, try not to leave one teammate on the tower by themselves if they're being attacked.

 

[Vitezen]

The first step to building skill is to recognize weaknesses. If you want to get better at tower control, first start by playing support for your team. Watch what other support members are doing. See what areas are important. See when people ride the tower, and what weapons they use when doing it. Don't get on the tower unless, based on your experience, you decide this is the time to do so.

By acting more passively and focusing on what other people are doing, and how it leads to success and failure, you can see what behaviors you should emulate or avoid more clearly than if you were solely examining your own actions.

 

[GreenSpiny]

Kind of like in Rainmaker, there are people who prefer to ride the tower and people who prefer to take out enemies ahead so the tower can advance. Both are important. It may not be wise to take the tower until some enemies have been splatted, but it all depends on the situation.

A steady stream of super jumps can force the tower forward, even when your allies are being splatted. It's risky but often worth it. Consider running stealth jump.

If there are no enemies on the tower, you can simply touch it to send it back to the center (or end overtime). No need to stand on it more if you think an enemy will jump down and splat you.

Use your specials carefully, the tower is an easy target and it's very simple to gain an advantage with one. Invincibility specials are great for pushing, while others force enemies off the tower (notably Killer Wail).

And then, blasters. You don't need to run a blaster, but they have a niche here.

 

[BlackZero]

How to get better at Tower Control

1. Stop losing
2. Start winning
3. ???
4. Profit

Personally, I prefer long ranged weapons to shoot people off of the tower so that melees can get on. They're better at defending themselves in tight spaces than shooters are. From there, just escort the tower and keep an eye out for Chargers. It helps if you ink a path that the tower will follow to slow enemies down and make sure you can keep up.

 

[Elecmaw]

The stages more or less determine what weapons i'll pick for TC. I love Splatterscope but if something like Alfonsino is in the rotation, i'm picking Tentatek.

Killer Wail is very strong in this mode, along with Sprinkler. Wail forces enemies off the tower while Sprinkler can be attached to the tower to help it ink turf (and charge your special) along the way. All damaging bombs are useful here as they can easily force enemies off the tower or be used for trapping inklings about to climb on top of the tower. If you really need Ink Mines, this is the mode where they'll be slightly useful.

Short-ranged weapons will likely be everywhere here, expect to see a ton of Blasters/Sloshers/Tentateks. You can join in or get ahead of the curve by picking a Charger/Jet to outrange enemy teams, but you'll have trouble staying on the tower yourself.

Don't push too hard. It's tempting to go for knockout when you have less than 20 points left to go but if you keep SJing to the tower and getting splatted the enemy team will only get free specials allowing them to claim territory and push in kind. Only SJ if your team have clear control over the Tower, and even then you still have to be very careful. You can always pack Stealth Jump if you still want to try directly SJing to a tower, the SJ-ing delay might actually become useful into tricking the enemy team for a moment that the tower is actually cleared.

That being said, do everything you can to push the tower if you can still claim the lead with it. Even if you're gonna die, if you only have 3 points to go it's better to sit it out and gain the lead for the team. Likewise, if the enemy is about to gain the lead do everything you can to force them off the tower asap. Really, unless you're trying to flank you should focus on the tower at all times.

And of course, you can use the tower in the center to block out enemy fire, most notably enemy chargers.

 

[beehives]

Use long range weapons like heavy splating, dual sqeulcher,jet sqeulcher, and blasters.
also choose if you going to defense or attack basically kill off the other team or get on the tower

 

[DekuKitty]

1. Use Luna Blaster
2. Equip Quick Respawn gear.
3. ???
4. Profit.
(@BlackZero already used this meme but I did it anyway)

 

[BlackZero]

If you want to be really cheap, you can always use a weapon with the Bubbler or Kraken specials. Save them until you're on the home stretch, then activate them for a few seconds of invincibility right before the goal. This also works for stealing the tower, or trying to get the tower through a major ambush point.

 

[Laniv]

What I do is use either Suction Bomb(Rush) to drive opponents away, or Ink Mines to keep opponents off.