Strategy: Protect your Rollers!

[FatReuniclus]

During the Testfire I noticed how incredibly boss Rollers are for claiming territory. I also noticed that they can get easily shredded when faced with ranged enemies, or rather, any enemy without his/her back to them. I propose that if you find an intelligent Roller user (spreads ink wisely) and you have a basic Shooter, you may just want to watch their back so they can ink up some land. Who knows, it could win your team the match.

In any case, it should at least be a legitimate strategy with friends. What do you think?

 

[FatReuniclus]

Ah, wait, I realized just now that I changed the title so it no longer fits into gear, right? Can somebody move it to "strategies", if there is a place for those.

 

[Dalmane]

During the Testfire I noticed how incredibly boss Rollers are for claiming territory. I also noticed that they can get easily shredded when faced with ranged enemies, or rather, any enemy without his/her back to them. I propose that if you find an intelligent Roller user (spreads ink wisely) and you have a basic Shooter, you may just want to watch their back so they can ink up some land. Who knows, it could win your team the match.

In any case, it should at least be a legitimate strategy with friends. What do you think?

Yup, this is right. During the demo, I would pretty much act as a bodyguard for Rollers with my Splattershot Jr. We'd cover the map with our ink and when a fight breaks out, I use the Bubbler instantly, protecting the Roller while he runs over EVERYONE and I just shoot from close to mid range.

 

[Protox]

Totally agree with this. another Roller could possibly work but having a Splattershot Jr with you has more versatility as to how you can claim parts of the map while protecting a Roller

 

[Sunflower]

I agree, something else you can do is have somebody(most likely a Splattershot Jr.) follow you around in squid form, so you could surprise opponents while taking them out easily. (sorry if this is mostly redundant)

 

[FunkyLobster]

that's what i've been saying since prerelease and been theorycrafting for competitive teams

using a roller is going to be a great benefit to your team because of the insane ink coverage, but a disadvantage to yourself because it hinders your mobility and range. even if you can roll it as fast as you can walk, you can't shoot ink in a straight line ahead of you and swim up it, which is a net loss in the amount of time saved getting from point a to point b. you can only flick ink so far with it, as well, so tapping ZR is only really effective if someone's running at you

so if you want to use the roller and be aggressive, you need to set up ambushes or come in from behind and surprise people. but generally since it's job is to claim territory and not to kill, you should leave that up the rest of your team.

roller users, in competitive play, will probably have someone with a more adaptable weapon like a shooter vaguely close to them for protection; sort of like a team bouncer. they'll also have to communicate pretty heavily with their team to notify threats to them.

in casual play like on turf war or low level ranked battles, if you're using a roller, stick to the flanks. if you're NOT using a roller but see someone who is, stay somewhere close to them and shoot people running at them. that's all you really got to do

 

[Lyn]

That would be neat, although I'm not sure how it will work since I don't know if you can actually join friends or not until August. Not to mention the lack of voice chat which makes communication without 3rd party software near-impossible. :(

 

[suavevillain]

This is what i plan to do. Rollers have a very important role and should be protected.

 

[Astral]

That would be neat, although I'm not sure how it will work since I don't know if you can actually join friends or not until August. Not to mention the lack of voice chat which makes communication without 3rd party software near-impossible. :(

I believe you can still join friends online games, you just cant make private matches until the August update. I'm just hoping they decide to release this update earlier like what they did with the second Mario Kart 8 DLC

 

[Snowboar]

I don't think you should have "rollerS" but just one Roller per team and try to protect that person in teamfights. (by shielding or zoning enemies)

 

[Citanul]

Don't you sacrifice a lot following a roller around constantly? That person could be somewhere else spreading ink with less overlap on yours or covering the opposing team's ink. You'd build more super for the supporting guy with a Bubbler too that way.

I still think it's a good combo though (especially that Bubbler combo), so maybe the play is spread out individually to paint at first but meet up at another point in the map with specials charged up? Depends on the map (and what part of the map you're on) though too. The narrow platforms of Saltspray Rig make it a bit inefficient for the Shooter player since the Roller covers the whole walkway by himself, but the more open areas on that map could be good for teaming up.

 

[FatReuniclus]

I see now that would really only work with a good player to follow. Unless you luck out pretty good, it might be better to let them waste their time alone.

 

[Nukichuu]

the best team set up may be: 2 Rollers and 2 "Defenders".

 

[Kayeka]

I personally see the roller as doing their job just behind the frontlines; within reach of their allies for protection, yet capable of helping out on pushes and defending.

A roller and shooter entering the enemy's territory on an unguarded flank can also cause way more damage in Turf Wars than one or two rollers by themselves.

 

[Smooth Criminal]

Some of the best teams I went up against during the Testfire guarded their Rollers with at least one person with a Shooter.

Smooth Criminal

 

[Kris]

idk. 1 Roller, 2 splatter guns, and 1 charge gun. 1 or 2 splatter guns lead. Only 1 stays near the roller, and the Sniper supports anywhere but front.



either way I'm going charge gun :D

 

[bluekentuckyboy]

On the subject of rollers, I wonder if they dynamo roller will be worthy to choose over the standard roller. The direct said something about it protecting from attacks so that might help out the suitability of rollers.

 

[Vayu]

On the subject of rollers, I wonder if they dynamo roller will be worthy to choose over the standard roller. The direct said something about it protecting from attacks so that might help out the suitability of rollers.

From what I've seen, it really isn't.
When they say that weapon is slow, they mean it's SLOW, you can not kill a shooter with that weapon unless you catch them from behind, so it deflecting enemy fire hardly matters when you're so slow the enemy can run circles around you (Hence avoiding the shakeoff) or stop firing at you.
Even being attacked from the front you get killed before you can shake off the Dynamo Roller. It is far slower shaking off a Dynamo Roller than it is shaking off a regular Roller.

 

[<π.]

I honestly am starting to feel like rollers won't be that powerful at high levels. Going to have to actually wait till I play the for another 100 or so hours though to see whats going on though.

 

[Marie]

It sounds a bit hard to do, I'd be spread out so we can cover more land honestly..