Rainmaker: let's talk strategy.

[Reset Bomb Jigglypuff]

I feel like camping with it is an insanely risky strategy, because if they splat you and they get it, that's almost always an auto-loss, or at least a lot of ground lost.

 

[Hinichii.ez.™]

It depends on the map, if you want to camp. And even if you do, the losing team gets their specails redicliously fast, so it's pretty hard to even camp, when the other team has strong specails to spam at will. Rainmaker imo, is more of a casual mode.

 

[Hitzel]

The fundamental strategy for gametypes of this nature works naturally in Rainmaker: Control the area, slay the enemy, push the objective, repeat. Really basic, but really effective.

Camping with the Rainmaker will always be effective to run the clock at the very end if you are winning. That's simply how it works.

Camping with the Rainmaker all game works right now because people don't understand that the Rainmaker has an anti-camping mechanic built in. People see the Rainmaker camping and try to go kill the Rainmaker, that is the OPPOSITE of what you want to do.

If the enemy camps and you leave the Rainmaker alive, its timer counts down and the Rainmaker explodes and respawns in the middle of the map, so just be patient, paint the map, and pick it up when it respawns.

If you kill the Rainmaker, it falls to the ground and shields up. The Rainmaker will NEVER respawn once that happens, and if the enemy lets you kill the Rainmaker in a difficult-to-retrieve place, like an awkward catwalk or the crane on Saltspray rig, it is extremely difficult to break the shield and get the Rainmaker back, and if you don't do it you lose.

But that can all be avoided if you just don't kill the camping Rainmaker.

So yeah, use the basic fundamentals of Control, Slay, and Push. Don't fall for Rainmaker camping cheese.

*Edit*

To the post above mine, @HBSF° Hinichii.ez.™ Rainmaker is definitely not a "casual mode," it's just bad for solo queue (because it demands so much team coordination, which should tell you something).

 

[BeanYak]

Rainmaker is definitely not a "casual mode," it's just bad for solo queue (because it demands so much team coordination, which should tell you something).

I could not agree more, I think that rainmaker is, by far, the best mode in the game right now in terms of competitive potential, creativity, and sheer fun because of it's diversity. Also, does anybody have the specifics on the anti-camp mechanism on the rainmaker? How much time, how much movement effects it, etc.?

 

[Kaliafornia]

I agree that rainmaker camping is a bad idea, unless there is less than 20-30 secs on the clock then having the person with rain maker continuously hide while on the move is a good strat since the timer on that is like 45-60 secs.

Idk if I would say rainmaker is casual but I do notice it shares some similarities of some of the things people complained about Turf with. Although I have done pretty well in solo queue with it, playing with A+/S. I have for some odd reason been put in all B rooms and I've noticed more overextending and lack of map awareness in those rooms.

 

[Krozo]

There is definitely a balance, but I think it is viable for competitive play. I haven't got to play it much, but it's very creative.

 

[TheMH]

Also, does anybody have the specifics on the anti-camp mechanism on the rainmaker? How much time, how much movement effects it, etc.?

From what I've seen so far, the rainmaker's timer speeds up drastically if you retreat into your own section of the map. It's not an issue, once it blows up, though.

 

[AnchorTea]

Here's what you should REALLY do with the RainMaker.

Never, ever, ever focus on getting kills with the RainMaker. Heck. only shoot it when you want to go up walls when your teammates are busy picking dandelions and blowing them. You should always be focusing on is getting a priority in the score. Even if you die. It takes almost just as much time for the other team to get the RainMaker than your team. Unless one team is smart enough to place a Sprinkler or uses a special or one team has a Splatling user somewhere in the background or one team gets one or more of their teammates splatted. The plot twist is that since your team is at an advantage, it will take longer for the other team to get an advantage. Meaning that if the RainMaker holder is dumb, or he is actually doing the right thing and advancing to the goal. You have a higher chance of splattering him or her (probably her since most Ranked players are "female")

 

[Splooshi Splashy]

I myself would only dare camp with the Rainmaker in my hands if my team has the point lead within the last 30 seconds or so, and we've Splatted the entire opposing team before attempting it. Actually Splatting the entire team becomes more difficult post-Bubble-Burst, the longer the survivors remain, especially if said survivors are running Tenacity for the increased Meter gain for their Specials whenever their teammates have been Splatted. Said difficulty continues rising if the survivors remain long enough for their fallen comrades to return to the front lines with them. If the entire enemy team is splatted, it's more likely that my whole team will be making a beeline rush towards the goal space, which is where I'd usually be hustling towards anyways, especially if we don't have the point lead.

Since viewing the in-game instructions and testing out what would happen if the Rainmaker's timer were to reach 0 before even stepping foot online, I've respected the timer put on the Rainmaker, because upon impact, anyone on your team that's around you will get Splatted, especially the Rainmaker holder, and the explosion radius is quite large too. The biggest casualty that can come from the Rainmaker timer reaching 0 is if your entire team's close enough to you to be within that explosion radius and there's more than 10-ish seconds left in the match. I'd mention having the point lead, but I'm certain whole teams would only try to camp with the Rainmaker in their hands if the Rainmaker holding team had the point lead. As the in-game instructions and TheMH have said, the speed of the timer drastically quickens the closer your Rainmaker holder is to your own base. I've not done the testing on how fast the timer goes down, but I'm not willing to take that risk online just yet, since my teammates will likely count on me to hustle over to the goal space as quickly and bravely as possible, and I'll use Squid-powered short hop slight charge shots to make paths for myself if none of my allies are nearby to help achieve that goal.

In reality, regarding the timer, after several (over 20+) matches in the mode, the odds of getting Splatted by the opposing team before the full minute is up is practically guaranteed to happen over 50% of the time, often before even reaching the 30th second, especially if you're like me and use the allotted minute to hustle over to the goal space as quickly and bravely as possible, with the intent of scoring the point lead for your team to withstand enemy advances. While I would love to just go from center stage all the way to the goal space in 1 fell swoop, I wouldn't consider that possibility to be too likely to happen, so I'll settle for and even take solace in having any point lead over the other team if possible.

I'm also not sure how much of your overall movement speed is reduced by holding the Rainmaker, but I'd imagine that running Run & Swim Speed Ups would help counteract the movement penalties incurred by holding the Rainmaker, as would Ink Resistance Up if you're wanting to use Squid-powered short hop slight charge shots atop enemy Ink when you're charging ahead by yourself.

Thank you Hitzel for informing us about the power of camping in this mode and a counter-strategy to it. I myself wasn't even aware that such a tactic would even be viable in this mode, so next time, I'll definitely be on the lookout for such a strat. However, in the "With Anyone" type of setting, without voice chat, I'm not sure how we can inform our allies of this strategy, for their most basic instinct is to rush down the Rainmaker holder and attempt to steal it for their team. We've only got "Booyah!" and "C'mon!" as our D-Pad Sonor commands, and I don't think they're descriptive enough for folks to get our desired message. In the Private and Squad Rooms, there's no such concern there, due to the enabling of voice chat with outside tools like microphones, smartphones, and Skype. Of course, in locals that will likely have separate Wii Us nearby to your teammates, you can just straight up mention this (counter-)strategy to your in-person teammates, so long as the opposing team doesn't hear about it and take action for it.

AnchorTea definitely hit the nail right on the head regarding the role of the Rainmaker holder. He pretty much described my key focus as the Rainmaker holder, namely HUSTLING over to the goal ASAP, using approach route mix-ups between the multiple available routes (if available) and speedrunning methods like Squid-powered short hop slight charge shots whenever possible to maximize the point lead for my team.

EDIT: I also want to support AnchorTea's point about not focusing on Splatting people with the Rainmaker, because if you're like me and you're hustling towards the goal space with a technique like Squid-powered short hop slight charge shots, said slight charge shots will NOT Splat folks in 1 go. The power of those slight charge shots is quite low, and I think it takes 3 of those shots to Splat the majority of folks (said number has not been confirmed yet, by the way), which is far too slow for it to be a safely viable method of Splatting folks. Plus, any time spent trying to Splat folks is time NOT spent hustling towards the goal.

 

[1o2]

FOR THOSE SAYING CAMPING ISN'T THAT GOOD: Camping on Saltspray Rig at the huge top area does not trigger the Rainmaker's "DON'T RETREAT" mode. Please tell me a way to effectively counter camping at the top with the Rainmaker versus a competent team.

Anywho, Rainmaker is a pretty bad mode for Solo Queue, and I personally feel like it should be left as an unranked gamemode. Sure there are situations where the Rainmaker holder can be a God and just push by himself (I've seen this before), but there are also situations where the Rainmaker goes the slow route/inefficient route and you struggle to get any ground covered. I find it amusing how Nintendo made a gamemode that demands heavy team work/coordination, but has such bad options to coordinate a team.

 

[Krozo]

Here's what you should REALLY do with the RainMaker.

Never, ever, ever focus on getting kills with the RainMaker. Heck. only shoot it when you want to go up walls when your teammates are busy picking dandelions and blowing them. You should always be focusing on is getting a priority in the score.

So agree with this. I would add shooting it when the whole team is coming back from spawn on certain maps. But it isn't fast enough to use as a weapon in a lot of cases.

 

[Efuramu]

Okay, so I'm sorta terrible at Rainmaker but was wondering if having a teammate break off from the group and making a route for their team if they were to get the Rainmaker is wise at all. Many people that I've played with seem to just rush off and try to either defend/attack/bait/get the Rainmaker but when they get it, there is no path for them to make their escape with the weapon and they end up being an easy splat. This was apparent when I was playing in the Kelp Dome and the entire central area was covered in the opposing team's ink.

 

[SkyBlue]

Disruptors give the person holding the rainmaker a ton of trouble.Well they give anyone trouble, but when the person holding the rainmaker already only has the options of charging and shooting, or walking/squidding, disruptors come in to limit their movement more.

Rollers are still the most fun to disrupt ^w^

Having a disruptor on your team would help take care of enemies that grab the rainmaker. Helps in taking out all who get disrupted, but yea.

 

[GameGalaxy64]

At the beginning of the match, splat your opponents while they are trying to break the shield. This can be risky though if they break the shield before you splat them for the shield can kill you.

Playing very stealthily, say, with an Octobrush, is great at getting kills. I average around 10 per game and have managed to get 22 once.

Having a lot of Swim Speed Ups is useful.

The Heavy Splatling can kill the shield on a full charge if it's worth anything. Since it has such a large range, you may be able to break the shield before the opposing team has a chance to get to it.

 

[SupaTim]

Something I've found helpful: at the start of the map, many players on both teams simply rush the rainmaker and try to compete on who can break the shield first. Simply go around and pick off the players who are focused on the rainmaker for easy kills. Obviously only works in the lower ranks, but if you're working your way up the ranks it can allow your team a good first push to either win outright or get a low enough distance to win at the end.

Also, I do think that being patient in regards to grabbing the RM and inking a path for the rainmaker are essential. I've been guilty of this myself: grabbing the RM before my team was there and no path. It makes getting splatted very easy. Pushing without your team in the last 30 seconds is fine if you need to, but pushing just to push your counter down isn't always the best strategy.

 

[jason1637]

Stay in the lead and make sure the othet team does not make a path. Also ink up all the shortcuts.

 

[SpaceCanary]

Whoever has the rainmaker just needs to GO. FAST. Distance is crucial because it brings the fight to the opponents' court, making it hard for them to turn the tides. Everyone else, though, should tag along in the Rainmaker's wake. Once you meet your opponents, have the Rainmaker fall back and let the shooters deal with them, because they don't need to charge their weapons and may have less range.

If anyone wants practice being the Rainmaker, it's a lot like Squiffer combat. It's a good way to train outside of Rainmaker mode.

 

[StaffofSmashing]

Splash Walls clip rainmaker shots and block the shield explosion. Since almost universally everyone considers the 96 Gal Deco one of the game's best weapons, combining its long range with a wall at the beginning of the match will almost guarentee a well deserved splat.

The Rainmaker itself has 2 purposes. A. Clear out a space in front and B. Hold ZL and forward, turning as needbe. The Rainmaker is NOT an Inkzooka, so stop treating it like one. You're team needs to assist you. Also E-Liter.

 

[Reila]

Rainmaker imo, is more of a casual mode.

People really love throwing this word around.

 

[DaisyFan]

If you lead and the enemy giving a last huge pressure, i do recommend at least one member to reset the RM so you can keep a good distance. it does save a lot of time.