Would like advice from A+ Rollers

[Dama624]

I've been trying to reach A rank using my Krack-on Roller all week, but I haven't been able to move past B+. I always seem to be hovering around the 50% range...

Given this, I'm assuming that I'm simply not playing well enough to carry myself and my team to A. But every time I die, I just can't think of what I could've done better... especially so if it's something like I turn a corner and suddenly get hit by an Inkzooka.

I have a lot of questions about how to play a better Roller, but my biggest question to the high ranking Rollers is: how do you deal with enemy gunners, especially when they push your team past the Splat Zone? Even if I try to go around the sides to get people, I can't reach any of them (the entire area is their color), and if I try to roll towards anyone (as a surprise attack, I'm not dumb enough to roll towards gunners face-first), they simply turn around and kill me immediately. This is especially awful given the prevalence of extremely hard-hitting guns on Ranked (gals, Blasters), so I'm not actually sure what I can do as a Roller.

I'd appreciate it if any high rank Rollers had some tips on how to play Ranked, and I'd especially appreciate it if any of you guys have some good match footage of A+ Rollers (preferably both wins and losses, so I know what to do when I have an advantage and I know what to do when my team gets pushed).
...I really don't want to give up and believe that guns are simply just superior in Ranked...

 

[Youngster Skaymore]

Bump

I'm interested in this

 

[Zonderion]

I am interested in this as well...

 

[Eclipsc70]

This topic interest me as well, though I tend to use the Ink Brush. I run into similar problems sometimes but since the brush is so fast I can manage to avoid a lot of fights. What I tend to do though, when I use the Krack on, is push with the Kraken special, then attempt to secure the area to a degree. after that I play the control game, either that or sneaking up on your opponents with ninja squid and such helps a lot. I hope this little bit helps out possibly

 

[TheMH]

While I'm not playing a roller myself, I am interested in this too. Maybe it has something to do with the roller itself? Krak-on lacks range and range is probably the most crucial stat in ranked. Most times I have seen a roller player in B+ and A- ranks (highest lobbys I've got so far) with dynamo or gold dynamo roller, but that might as well be coincidences, as I did not play a lot in these ranks yet.

 

[Hinichii.ez.™]

Patients is key. Also using the camera to look around corners is a good strat.

What are your main abilities?

I can't remember the name of two rollers who stream a lot right now... but they stream at least once a day, maybe every other day. Be checking on squidboards to catch them.

 

[Dragonuto]

Look at Tarolg He's an B+/A- Roller, maybe his stream can give you some tips

 

[Hinichii.ez.™]

Look at Tarolg He's an B+/A- Roller, maybe his stream can give you some tips

He was A+ at one point right? I know his stream title was something about A+ today.

 

[Seleir]

guys i`m an A- roller users, if someone wanna have some suggestion PM me.
I try to reach A+ as well

 

[Zonderion]

guys i`m an A- roller users, if someone wanna have some suggestion PM me.
I try to reach A+ as well

Do you have any tips for us?

 

[River09]

I'm not a roller user but from my experience with other roller users (almost to A-) flinging is something used much more than actual rolling. If an opponents at mid-range, flinging is safer than charging ahead.

 

[UnLucky]

Only time I actually roll anyone is by accident, or when jumping down on people. The fling kills in one shot, so you don't really have to wait until you can kiss your enemy and hope they don't shoot you. Since you're rolling, you can squid jump to get a bit of momentum, too. Remember you can start rolling in the air on a super jump, so couple that with Stealth Jump and you might get some surprise kills. Otherwise, you can just start painting right away, even if only to escape. Even if it's slower than the brush, you're still faster than walking or shooting players.

And with Krak-on, you gotta be looking out for some choice Beakon placements.

 

[flc]

I'm not really an A+ roller (I used dynamo a fair bit when I was approaching A+ but that was more because of the maps than because I actually main it) but basically what makes rollers effective is their ability to win fights without ever being shot at

so you want to be approaching from an angle where people are not looking at you. how you get to this position is up to you--either make your way slowly across the map yourself until you're in a nice position, or use your teammates' ink to get you into such a position. if someone is shooting at you, there is a very good chance they will kill you before you get your ink off and there's no guarantee you would even get them as well.

so really, it's just the golden rule of shooters taken to an extreme. shoot at people who aren't shooting you back.

positioning is probably the hardest part and to be honest I'm still not sure how to get a dynamo roller into a good position, but that's part of the point of the weapon. as long as you avoid people who are watching you and act quickly and decisively (either run away or evade and engage, don't sit around if someone knows where you are), you should be able to get yourself into good situations more often than not

also, while you are a relatively low-value team member (in the sense that losing a roller is rarely a problem), don't throw yourself into three people unless doing so will directly win you the game while you and they are respawning.

as for skills, cold-blooded or ninja squid are both reasonable choices (cold-blooded being better on rotations that favour the 96gal over the 52gal like mackerel and arowana, and ninja squid being better on rotations that favour large open skirmishes like blackbelly and walleye). special saver & special rate up are probably your best bet for krak-on considering how incredibly powerful kraken is. dynamo does well with primary saver and ink resistance.

again though, I'm not an expert on rollers, I just used them for a bit and pulled my weight in A rooms, so I might be completely wrong on this

 

[Rhode]

Your goal, as a roller, is not to really mow down enemies. It's literally to conceal yourself, pressure crowds, and clean up the mess after the opposing team falls to 2 or 1 remaining.

You will get splatted, a lot. Even if you take down your opponent, you probably will end up going down yourself, in a lot of cases. Being very smart in your movements will mitigate this, however this is the downside of being a close-combat weapon. I would suggest the following for abilities;

Ninja Squid is nice to have so the opponents can't see you coming, however I've found it more useful in Turf Wars than in Splat Zones simply because there is a significantly less opportunity to be concealed or flanking your opponent. Ink Resistance Up is a must have for a close combat weapon that will be getting into their faces, wilst being undetected. Defense Up will help you take one or two hits. For a close-combat weapon, this is also a must. Those are the three main abilities I would be utilizing.

For sub abilities, I would suggest doing a 2/2/2/3 ability spread. Ink Saver (Main), Quick Respawn, Quick Superjump, and 3 of Swim Speed Up.

 

[Mondrae205]

is ink resistance up necessary? You aren't going to be walking through enemy ink since you autospread. Also no one mentioned the use of secondaries. I mysef am not a pro so I cannot help but would like to seem some discussion on that.

 

[BrTarolg]

Hi im tarolg

im pretty much always mid A with roller (ive been trying to push to A+ forever lol, i'll probably get it tmr)

Firstly, have a backup plan for arowana mall (especially if it is paired with the warehouse) - personally i switch to the splat roller here and go a totally different loadout

Secondly, never try to fight head on, it doesn't work. Jumping from high up, hiding around corners, running away and baiting, placing beacons, defending key areas etc.
Fighting head on basically loses to everything except aerospray and splatshot jr without bubble

 

[PremiumFootwear]

I recently started using the krak on roller in ranked after seeing someone talk about it in another thread, and I made this really long post on there, I'm going to just paste some of that in here to give some ideas about how I played with it. A disclaimer, I'm a B+ player that normally uses the jet squelcher in ranked, but I did decently well with the roller, and I use it all the time in turf war. Anyway, here's my thesis paper:

"I'm chronicling my kraken roller adventures on arowana mall today in splat zones, My starting rank was B+ 20, I ended at B+ 0. My first match was a close loss in overtime, I personally went 12-6 and succesfully held the anchor role. Match two, we won by knockout and I went 10-6 with a slightly more developed strategy. Just for fun, let's throw in my other maps too. Lost in overtime on blackbelly skatepark by 60 points, I went 11-5. Lost a second match in overtime on blackbelly skatepark by 19 points, I went 7-8. That match was much closer, and my team consisted of one other roller, a kelp splatterscope, and a splattershot pro. I don't really remember my teams from the first three except that there was the same kelp splatterscope and two splattershots of various types.

So, after playing these few matches, I want to say that the roller isn't as bad on arowana mall as I thought it was going to be. What I did on that map is hold the back hallways, I spent most of my time on the enemy hall, splashing down on the hill by swinging the roller. I would often go back and check the hall to see if any enemies were coming, if they were I would pop out, ambush, and kill them. Then repaint the hall. I also put several beacons on the hall hiding behind the potted plant there. When I got my kraken special, I would charge down into the zone, kill any enemies, swim up onto the opposite side, and clear out that back hall if enemies were there. Often they were. So I played a sort of risky aggressive anchor role and it paid off the second match once I got the hang of it.

On blackbelly, I couldn't really think of one particular thing I should be doing, so I was sort of all over the map. I would go up to the upper area that overlooks the halfpipe and place 3 beacons there before moving on. My teammates used these often, and if I saw the enemy clear them out I knew they were camping and dealt with them. I used my kraken to clear out the middle, including the top platform, and also cross the map to check on the other side. I tried not to go directly into the zones, and more of less splashed them from the side before getting back to the same ol. My goal was to keep as much of the map painting my color as possible while clearing out the enemy whenever they tried to camp. I was very mobile and it worked decently. But that strategy is very unrefined and needs more work. I couldn't get the enemies if they were camping from their base area for example, and that hurt me and my team because it made it hard to control the zones."

I also played saltspray rig some that day, and that was probably the toughest map for me as a roller. I think that was because as someone who normally uses a ranged weapon, I always want to be up high, but with the roller I should probably be doing something else. I had some success camping on the enemy side and taking them out when they went to get up top, and I also always tried to get beacons down in the back area on there. In the end though, my performance on saltspray with the roller was poor at best. I need a good strategy for that map.

I hope all of this helped some, I'm not a player that normally uses the roller, so my playstyle may be a little odd or I might have made some poor decisions as a result, but I felt like I was doing pretty well overall. Any criticism is appreciated though, I'm looking to improve my roller as much as you guys are.

 

[BrTarolg]

So i got A+99 with roller recently, and it wasn't too hard after all lol

Really the key is managing yourself in tough situations - you lose head on to every other weapon. But the roller by far the best weapon in the game for jumping people up ledges/juking corners/pillaring etc. so really make good use of that

In situations where you have no outs to play this kind of aggressive juking style you're in tough luck - especially with the kraken. But you can still paint a decent area and help your team do a "safeish" push. The moment your team does some kind of breakthrough - either a super, capturing the point or some kind of hero play, that's your chance to go in and do a lot of damage whilst everything is a mess. It requires really good timing and patience

Krakens in general are only strong in 2 spots. The first one is just as you are about to die and your opponent has slightly overcommitted to attacking you, making them an easy kill. The second is during extremely messy fights where your opponents can't possibly keep attention on everything at the same time leading to some very strong backdoor situations

 

[Nihabz]

Rollers are very passive aggressive. You don't want to try to aim for kills but instead aim to cover as much ground as possible for your teammates to utilize for quick travel or as a means of escape when your threatened by other players. If kills do come your way from my experience it's mostly been due to my opponents not knowing their within my kill range or mainly because of the kraken special. Rollers definitely serve more of a supportive role in ranked battles than an aggressive one. As long as your not charging headfirst at people, you and your team should do fine with a roller on it.

 

[WydrA]

Patients is key.

Only if you're a doctor or a dentist lol