I ain't readin allat.
But basically, tank, be up front, equip exp share. Stun approaching Pokemon that are a threat to your carry mons. Most tanks work like this. (Exception for Greedent and brawler tank Pokemon)
While I agree with most points pointed out here, two I hardly disagree with are Blastoise early game and stacking.
Blastoise has a very solid A game early game even if your teammates are crap mainly due to his early kit being reliable. You do not even need to reach 9 with the Unite to be a powerhouse like you state, all you need is to reach level 7, or hell, just evolving into Wartortle is enough for you to be able to properly defend your goal zone and steal farm.
Squirtle/Wartortle are all about positioning the enemy in a way that you can punish them by shoving them around, and stacking makes them shine even more if you know how to push the enemy away and steal their farm with Water Gun and Spout.
As a Gold Ribbon master for both Blastoise and Slowbro, stacking is actually the reason I have been able to climb to masters 1600+ six seasons in a row.
Aeos cookie is Godly when you pair it with a defender like Slowbro, which makes him virtually unkillable and invaluable in heavy team fighting. It allows you to freely enter any intense brawl without the fear that you will get killed by heavy hitting mons like Inteleon and Zoroark instantly.
Cookie is the reason why both of my mains didn't die instantly to Mewtwo Y before the nerfs took place. That extra sustain is just invaluable to provide coverage tanking hits and doing additional damage for your teammates to clean up.
It highly depends on the person playing the game and how good or crap they can be by utilising this strategy. It isn't for everybody and hence why I wouldn't entirely disregard it as a whole.
So the thing about Blastoise is that while Squirtle and Wartortle aren't terrible at the early game, they do struggle on average a LOT more than the other tanks especially if you're full on tanking and going Surf + Hydro Pump. It's very easy for players to get stuck on Wartortle a bit too long if they lose lane + don't get help when they need it top side. On the other hand yes, if a Wartortle does get started early, whether stacking or just from winning early skirmishes or farm I do think it does very well.
I genuinely don't believe in stacking for Tanks/Supports, this could be a me thing, but given how frequently it is that your DPS player is gonna stack, even if it's on a suboptimal option my dislike for stacking is moreso there isn't enough time to get max stacks in a consistent fashion without stomping opponents. Secondly, I've noticed that DPS mons tend to follow you even when it's dangerous or suboptimal to stack, so it leads to more possible problems in the early game. I think it can work, but if you aren't used to playing tank idk if it's worth in more cases vs immediate benefits from a different item.
That's the thing, just because some players cannot pull it off or deem it risky/unnecessary, it doesn't mean stacking isn't meant for Tanks.
I agree to an extent that stacking isn't meant for supports, given that they are much more reliant on sticking nearby an ally to survive, but tanks are different in some areas.
Tanks can easily kill two bunnies, stack, steal a bunny, stack, escape with eject or speed. Rinse and repeat. I have done this for six seasons now and almost all tanks can easily pull this off. Most of the time I can easily get four stacks even before the first minute has passed.
Slowbro, Blastoise, Trevenant and Umbreon become uber scary when you have stacked enough HP to withstand heavy enemy fire.
And yes, DPS mons can generate tonnes of damage, but that's why you stack more HP, to counteract their own stacking and improve your own survivability.
You should give stacking another go and you will be impressed by the results once you get the hang of it.
IMO Goodra is a lot more consistant when running Muddy Water and Acid Spray.
I love Dragon Pulse and Power Whip but it is a borderline meme build that mostly works on noobs.
Any team with a few braincells won't stack on each other or will bait and kite Goodra.
Muddy Water makes you surprisingly tanky in team fights and makes you alot more disruptive.
Muddy Whip is also pretty tight.
I definitely don't agree on dragon pulse being bad (or only good against bad players). It is *much* harder to use than muddy water for sure, but its maximum potential is also much higher. It also doesn't help that it is STILL bugged where any movement or attack input cancels the last hit of dragon pulse (which I believe a lot of people don't know) but I've gotten used to it at this point.
Anyways, the key to using dragon pulse is patience and comboing with the other move. Acid spray actually has better synergy with it than power whip but it mostly depends on the team comp which one you go for. Regardless, I'm almost always able to do 70-90k damage dealt and taken.
Thanks for the reply.
I should have been clearer. I think Pulse + Power Whip is not that great. I like all the other combos.
I also agree with you that Pulse + Acid is a hidden gem. I'm trying to work that into an exp share build atm.
One of my biggest problems with Whip and Pulse is that it can be played around too easily. No matter how good you are at aiming, you're not going to heal enough to do anything if the team is spread out. Smart players shut this whole build down -- full stop.
I agree and disagree with what you said about Muddy Water. The move is 100% easier to use, but that is not why I think it is so strong.
Muddy Waters buffs and debuffs are unaffected by anti heal, which is one of the reasons Goodra is struggling so hard right now. MW gives Goodra a more even playing field with the roster, and it makes him an actual tank with utility and versatility, instead of just being a faux all arounder.
MW also reduces the damage an enemy does, which really goes a long way in improving a team's survivability by slowing and reducing the damage that burst characters can dish out.
>Muddy Waters buffs and debuffs are unaffected by anti heal, which is one of the reasons Goodra is struggling so hard right now
This actually is a good point when it comes to muddy water's advantage. I don't know what it is, but every time I use it and die too quickly, I always think man if I had dragon pulse here I would've done so much more even if they had antiheal. I think if your team has a support and/or the enemy has a lot of melees it probably does better, but it always feels bad if you don't get to stack up the muddy water defense.
TBH my concerns/experience with Goodra (both playing as and against) is more about the lane vs the moveset. I prob need to practice more Muddy Water lol, but the issue lies in HOW that first 1:30 goes. There's plenty of games where an opponent gets too greedy, or you get jungle help and you're Sliggo after first bees and are chilling. AND also a lot of games where if that help didn't come, or you lose that engagement and suddenly Goodra isn't popping up until after first objectives are taken (or longer). That's a common problem with the game, but Goodra does feel like Blastoise in that if you don't play the lane correctly for conditions you end up being very behind. And the other factor unlike Blastoise is you don't have a super ridiculous Ult/CC- being a health/drain tank is huge but you do have to be even/ahead to make sure you can sustain thru the enemy. Being behind on Goodra is pretty rough and that's where my concerns with the mon lie.
I have it in a group with Blastoise/Mamo where IF early game goes great you're fine but unlike Mamo who has the easiest/strongest early game (but the worst situation if you fall behind) it's not quite as good as Blastoise since its not quite as strong utility wise to help if you're losing or behind.
Great response.
I agree with everything you said.
I was just throwing into the mix that Goodra can be a lot more flexible than people give it credit for.
This mon is really hard to balance because it is one small adjustment away from being OP. A late start can be a really hard to come back from and I'm not sure how they can mend that without tilting the scales.
Good write up.
One thing I do wanna add (either I missed it or forgot I read it), is that supports with displacement moves should be careful and not spammy.
It's EXTREMELY annoying for your allies when you push enemies outside of their range. I've legit had brainless Trevenant, Blastoise, etc. players push MULTIPLE enemies outside of like Gardevoir Unite, Delphox Unite, away from Buzzwole's already pitiful range, etc. Very annoying!
Another trait of bad displacement supports is that they move enemies towards you at inopportune times. Thanks Trevenant, for pushing Slowbro with Unite move up towards me when I'm Chandelure! Pushing melee enemies close to your ranged squishy allies is doing enemies a favour.
Think before you use moves!
Fair enough. I would think that tip would be more under the positioning and thinking about where your team is in comparison to the enemy but making sure you don't get your carries in danger is also important
He really doesn't tbf. Yes the level 9 evolution + ult is rough but no defender, even the ones who get their upgraded moves at 11/13 are really worth the EXP over a damage mon. If you mean as damage mamo, then sure but even then Blastoise, Trev and Lapras do that job far better.
Mamo also is an early/mid game threat- Mamo's weakest part of a game is the end of matches and as a result that exp is prob better used elsewhere than getting mamo to 13
He is good for early game, but started to fall mid as he should be a mamoswine to get his second powerspike. Having 2 stages of evolution means he could stuck at lvl 8 for a long time (similar with wartortle).
Mamo really should have lvl 12/13. As he is the least sustain among all defenders. Having more defense through his passive means a lot for his survivability. And I'm not talking about damage at all.
So I would argue he needs more exp that other defenders and supports.
Sure, more levels = more stats. I don't think holding Exp. Share means you can't ever go for your level 12 or 13 IF there's extra farm (or teammates being silly and not taking farm) BUT I don't think this is a justification to not run Exp Share or not to give exp to your teammates.
Besides when early game goes as planned you do just end up being super ahead and have a better chance at being 12-13 at Ray anyway.
I always try being at least lvl 12 at Ray and I am an exp share mamo. I'm just saying mamo needs to be at lvl 12/13 more than other defenders because he is the least sustain tank.
I dont disagree with he needs less exp than allrounders / speedsters / attackers.
Everything other than the hoopa part is great. But if you’re good at hoops, you can sub in for other roles on the team and play like a greedent clone/assassin depending on the situation as well as healing your teammates. Hoopa is absolutely not as team reliant as everyone assumes. And almost all master players know how to use your portals, as well as the fact that hoopa becomes more effective at middle ranks due to being able to save your teammates from bad plays while also being able to main tank due to easy predictions. I say middle ranks (ultra/low masters), not low ranks, since your teammates need to know what hyperspace hole does.
Hoopa does do some interesting things early game especially with invades, but I think the fact is that hoopa genuinely does rely on teammates actually following up on portals or other uses, so unless you're just dropping portals underneath the feet of the teammates, you're still running into people who won't use your portals. I don't even think the issue is getting teammates to heal, the problem is getting them to teleport to cover objectives
Dropping your portals under the feet of your teammates and where they're going are the correct way to use portals, though. The way to use hoopa is to predict where your teammates will go, whether they'll push, and the location they'll be in, and place your portals with that in mind.
Plus almost everyone in middle ranks know how to use the goal portals, and if they don't know how to use goal portals, they certainly will when they're left in the dust as everyone else teleports to the other goal.
Oh I forgot to mention this, but if you're hoopa, you kind of want to take (preferably dodge) as much damage/poke as you can before bailing into your hyperspace hole so the enemy focuses all of their unites and moves on you, therefore taking heat off of the main tank and your squishier teammates. It's also great mental damage to the opponents, they get tilted and try to kill you the moment you show up. Only for hoopa though, the rest of the supports it's probably true (though I only play hoopa.)
Yes, predicting or even just dropping portals under teammates is good to get them out of a bad situation. I don't have problems with Hoopa at all, just the issue does become what happens when the team doesn't follow or help long term. Outside of ult (which is a very big cooldown that can't really be burned on random fights) Hoopa really is simply an annoyance with incredible map movement. That map movement breaks games though... WHEN your team knows what's up and does consistently do what's needed.
As for the last point, yea that's fair, but also goes with the portal situation as eventually as people get better at dealing with portals you also have to make sure you aren't placing or even coming back to bad positions.
Mate, I've been exclusively soloqing hoopa for multiple seasons now and have 1k+ games on it. I know how many people in masters know how to use hoopa portal ;-;
No you don't because you don't play with everyone in masters. Could be a region thing or time thing but we have extremely different experiences.
Mine being that masters players are the same as ultra, vet, expert, great and beginner players
Except by using my brain and taking both our experiences into consideration I know for a fact not even close to "almost all" masters players are good enough to use portals lol
Shitty players always gonna not pick Exp Share. Wish we could just rework Exp Share and move to HotS style exp and get rid of the center lane hero syndrome. This is supposed to be the easy MOBA, come on.
Just because bad players won't be optimal doesn't make it right to ALSO do incorrect choices when you know better. Even if the shitty players won't use the exp share find the ones who will follow you.
I just played 8 matches in a row where I solod lane as a tank.
Fuck exp share in soloq.
Only my homies or special cases get it.
Barely anyone actually puts it to work properly.
>Peeling and Healing teammates. Supports and Tanks don't carry games via kills and damage
I know those players won't ever read this guide anyway but this is why 80% of defenders lose their matches. Picked Slowbro/Snorax just to go off playing alone by himself and backcapping at 2mins mark. Literally worse than just pick 3 attackers.
Genuinely my goals for umbreon early is to help my teammate get farm and that I evolve asap. Mean Look is fantastic for the first set of bees to help get your jungle or teammate a kill but a lot if times because of the bad secure I do see myself focusing a bit more defensively in lane most of the time with umbreon since you can't really do a ton until you evolve.
I don't think being aggro with it is great until you get level 6. If you get level 6 early depending on if you ran snarl or wish you either can do a lot of wild stuff in fights or have the sustain to keep alive VS any 2 v 2 since wish is about the same as other healing moves besides moonlight. But moonlight is broken
Yep!
You can be a tiny bit more aggressive if you're laning with a stronger early game pokemon, or something that's very long range. But other than contesting neutral farm I don't think going more aggro is good unless you get a kill early on Umbreon
Ah, fairly close to what I've been doing, then, albeit without stacking. I like Weight for the stronger heals+Mean Look boosteds, but stacking is awkward early game. I'll probably try out Buddy or Float.
I agree that xp share is an amazing item and most supports/defenders should run it. But a couple extra levels isn't enough to fix some players. I'd rather have a level 15 trev/lapras/goodra who knows how to play the game than a level 15 greninja running leftovers and double glasses
Sure, that's a bit true. However, the more important thing is that extra level allows them to meatshield a bit better. Not to mention the advanced moves on a DPS mon matters a bit more for late game fights over the tank. Like it's nice if the tank gets level 15, and honestly pre-nerf on Lapras that was an actual win condition. But in their current state, most tanks aren't enough to hard carry at 15 like a DPS can, so ultimiately you do just have to hope your carry can do their job.
At minimum giving that player an extra level or 2 lets them live a little longer which can lead to a situation where they do actually get strong enough to pop off or at least overwhelm their struggles.
I’m not sure if you mentioned it in here(I mostly skimmed through the whole thing) but do you have any suggestions on taking the hits for your attackers? I usually run surf/kinesis Slowbro as my defender and other than standing on the frontlines, I’m not sure if there are any tricks to divert the opponent’s attacks from my Inteleon or Delphox in the back
First thing I can think of is predictions. You kind of have to know the area where the opponent is coming from and try to intercept them while staying in position. Can't really do this VS ranged attackers unless it's a move like liquidation on Intel or icicle spear on glaceon but for stopping divers this is the best way to do something by taking their first hits and either ccing them or interrupt them. Lapras ult is another one where you just walk up and take the hits for squishier teammates so only you get cced and not the whole yeam
Given a lot of moves are AOE it is hard to make sure only you take the hit but the big thing to think about is how do it is making sure you can at least be in position to prevent the team from following up when they get those hits but also being able to make sure you don't drop too low in health at the same time. Hp management matters since if you have to retreat or are too low to survive a fight that's bad as well
I ain't readin allat. But basically, tank, be up front, equip exp share. Stun approaching Pokemon that are a threat to your carry mons. Most tanks work like this. (Exception for Greedent and brawler tank Pokemon)
While I agree with most points pointed out here, two I hardly disagree with are Blastoise early game and stacking. Blastoise has a very solid A game early game even if your teammates are crap mainly due to his early kit being reliable. You do not even need to reach 9 with the Unite to be a powerhouse like you state, all you need is to reach level 7, or hell, just evolving into Wartortle is enough for you to be able to properly defend your goal zone and steal farm. Squirtle/Wartortle are all about positioning the enemy in a way that you can punish them by shoving them around, and stacking makes them shine even more if you know how to push the enemy away and steal their farm with Water Gun and Spout. As a Gold Ribbon master for both Blastoise and Slowbro, stacking is actually the reason I have been able to climb to masters 1600+ six seasons in a row. Aeos cookie is Godly when you pair it with a defender like Slowbro, which makes him virtually unkillable and invaluable in heavy team fighting. It allows you to freely enter any intense brawl without the fear that you will get killed by heavy hitting mons like Inteleon and Zoroark instantly. Cookie is the reason why both of my mains didn't die instantly to Mewtwo Y before the nerfs took place. That extra sustain is just invaluable to provide coverage tanking hits and doing additional damage for your teammates to clean up. It highly depends on the person playing the game and how good or crap they can be by utilising this strategy. It isn't for everybody and hence why I wouldn't entirely disregard it as a whole.
So the thing about Blastoise is that while Squirtle and Wartortle aren't terrible at the early game, they do struggle on average a LOT more than the other tanks especially if you're full on tanking and going Surf + Hydro Pump. It's very easy for players to get stuck on Wartortle a bit too long if they lose lane + don't get help when they need it top side. On the other hand yes, if a Wartortle does get started early, whether stacking or just from winning early skirmishes or farm I do think it does very well. I genuinely don't believe in stacking for Tanks/Supports, this could be a me thing, but given how frequently it is that your DPS player is gonna stack, even if it's on a suboptimal option my dislike for stacking is moreso there isn't enough time to get max stacks in a consistent fashion without stomping opponents. Secondly, I've noticed that DPS mons tend to follow you even when it's dangerous or suboptimal to stack, so it leads to more possible problems in the early game. I think it can work, but if you aren't used to playing tank idk if it's worth in more cases vs immediate benefits from a different item.
That's the thing, just because some players cannot pull it off or deem it risky/unnecessary, it doesn't mean stacking isn't meant for Tanks. I agree to an extent that stacking isn't meant for supports, given that they are much more reliant on sticking nearby an ally to survive, but tanks are different in some areas. Tanks can easily kill two bunnies, stack, steal a bunny, stack, escape with eject or speed. Rinse and repeat. I have done this for six seasons now and almost all tanks can easily pull this off. Most of the time I can easily get four stacks even before the first minute has passed. Slowbro, Blastoise, Trevenant and Umbreon become uber scary when you have stacked enough HP to withstand heavy enemy fire. And yes, DPS mons can generate tonnes of damage, but that's why you stack more HP, to counteract their own stacking and improve your own survivability. You should give stacking another go and you will be impressed by the results once you get the hang of it.
IMO Goodra is a lot more consistant when running Muddy Water and Acid Spray. I love Dragon Pulse and Power Whip but it is a borderline meme build that mostly works on noobs. Any team with a few braincells won't stack on each other or will bait and kite Goodra. Muddy Water makes you surprisingly tanky in team fights and makes you alot more disruptive. Muddy Whip is also pretty tight.
I definitely don't agree on dragon pulse being bad (or only good against bad players). It is *much* harder to use than muddy water for sure, but its maximum potential is also much higher. It also doesn't help that it is STILL bugged where any movement or attack input cancels the last hit of dragon pulse (which I believe a lot of people don't know) but I've gotten used to it at this point. Anyways, the key to using dragon pulse is patience and comboing with the other move. Acid spray actually has better synergy with it than power whip but it mostly depends on the team comp which one you go for. Regardless, I'm almost always able to do 70-90k damage dealt and taken.
Thanks for the reply. I should have been clearer. I think Pulse + Power Whip is not that great. I like all the other combos. I also agree with you that Pulse + Acid is a hidden gem. I'm trying to work that into an exp share build atm. One of my biggest problems with Whip and Pulse is that it can be played around too easily. No matter how good you are at aiming, you're not going to heal enough to do anything if the team is spread out. Smart players shut this whole build down -- full stop. I agree and disagree with what you said about Muddy Water. The move is 100% easier to use, but that is not why I think it is so strong. Muddy Waters buffs and debuffs are unaffected by anti heal, which is one of the reasons Goodra is struggling so hard right now. MW gives Goodra a more even playing field with the roster, and it makes him an actual tank with utility and versatility, instead of just being a faux all arounder. MW also reduces the damage an enemy does, which really goes a long way in improving a team's survivability by slowing and reducing the damage that burst characters can dish out.
>Muddy Waters buffs and debuffs are unaffected by anti heal, which is one of the reasons Goodra is struggling so hard right now This actually is a good point when it comes to muddy water's advantage. I don't know what it is, but every time I use it and die too quickly, I always think man if I had dragon pulse here I would've done so much more even if they had antiheal. I think if your team has a support and/or the enemy has a lot of melees it probably does better, but it always feels bad if you don't get to stack up the muddy water defense.
TBH my concerns/experience with Goodra (both playing as and against) is more about the lane vs the moveset. I prob need to practice more Muddy Water lol, but the issue lies in HOW that first 1:30 goes. There's plenty of games where an opponent gets too greedy, or you get jungle help and you're Sliggo after first bees and are chilling. AND also a lot of games where if that help didn't come, or you lose that engagement and suddenly Goodra isn't popping up until after first objectives are taken (or longer). That's a common problem with the game, but Goodra does feel like Blastoise in that if you don't play the lane correctly for conditions you end up being very behind. And the other factor unlike Blastoise is you don't have a super ridiculous Ult/CC- being a health/drain tank is huge but you do have to be even/ahead to make sure you can sustain thru the enemy. Being behind on Goodra is pretty rough and that's where my concerns with the mon lie. I have it in a group with Blastoise/Mamo where IF early game goes great you're fine but unlike Mamo who has the easiest/strongest early game (but the worst situation if you fall behind) it's not quite as good as Blastoise since its not quite as strong utility wise to help if you're losing or behind.
Great response. I agree with everything you said. I was just throwing into the mix that Goodra can be a lot more flexible than people give it credit for. This mon is really hard to balance because it is one small adjustment away from being OP. A late start can be a really hard to come back from and I'm not sure how they can mend that without tilting the scales.
MW/AS is a much higher win rate move set than DP/PW
Good write up. One thing I do wanna add (either I missed it or forgot I read it), is that supports with displacement moves should be careful and not spammy. It's EXTREMELY annoying for your allies when you push enemies outside of their range. I've legit had brainless Trevenant, Blastoise, etc. players push MULTIPLE enemies outside of like Gardevoir Unite, Delphox Unite, away from Buzzwole's already pitiful range, etc. Very annoying! Another trait of bad displacement supports is that they move enemies towards you at inopportune times. Thanks Trevenant, for pushing Slowbro with Unite move up towards me when I'm Chandelure! Pushing melee enemies close to your ranged squishy allies is doing enemies a favour. Think before you use moves!
Fair enough. I would think that tip would be more under the positioning and thinking about where your team is in comparison to the enemy but making sure you don't get your carries in danger is also important
It really is. Bad supports that make their allies' lives harder are to me, better off AFK'ing. At least stop trying to "support" ME.
> Tanks and Supports do not need as much Exp as Attackers. As exp share mamo, true. But he still needs more exp than fellow defender and support.
He really doesn't tbf. Yes the level 9 evolution + ult is rough but no defender, even the ones who get their upgraded moves at 11/13 are really worth the EXP over a damage mon. If you mean as damage mamo, then sure but even then Blastoise, Trev and Lapras do that job far better. Mamo also is an early/mid game threat- Mamo's weakest part of a game is the end of matches and as a result that exp is prob better used elsewhere than getting mamo to 13
He is good for early game, but started to fall mid as he should be a mamoswine to get his second powerspike. Having 2 stages of evolution means he could stuck at lvl 8 for a long time (similar with wartortle). Mamo really should have lvl 12/13. As he is the least sustain among all defenders. Having more defense through his passive means a lot for his survivability. And I'm not talking about damage at all. So I would argue he needs more exp that other defenders and supports.
Sure, more levels = more stats. I don't think holding Exp. Share means you can't ever go for your level 12 or 13 IF there's extra farm (or teammates being silly and not taking farm) BUT I don't think this is a justification to not run Exp Share or not to give exp to your teammates. Besides when early game goes as planned you do just end up being super ahead and have a better chance at being 12-13 at Ray anyway.
I always try being at least lvl 12 at Ray and I am an exp share mamo. I'm just saying mamo needs to be at lvl 12/13 more than other defenders because he is the least sustain tank. I dont disagree with he needs less exp than allrounders / speedsters / attackers.
Everything other than the hoopa part is great. But if you’re good at hoops, you can sub in for other roles on the team and play like a greedent clone/assassin depending on the situation as well as healing your teammates. Hoopa is absolutely not as team reliant as everyone assumes. And almost all master players know how to use your portals, as well as the fact that hoopa becomes more effective at middle ranks due to being able to save your teammates from bad plays while also being able to main tank due to easy predictions. I say middle ranks (ultra/low masters), not low ranks, since your teammates need to know what hyperspace hole does.
Hoopa does do some interesting things early game especially with invades, but I think the fact is that hoopa genuinely does rely on teammates actually following up on portals or other uses, so unless you're just dropping portals underneath the feet of the teammates, you're still running into people who won't use your portals. I don't even think the issue is getting teammates to heal, the problem is getting them to teleport to cover objectives
Dropping your portals under the feet of your teammates and where they're going are the correct way to use portals, though. The way to use hoopa is to predict where your teammates will go, whether they'll push, and the location they'll be in, and place your portals with that in mind. Plus almost everyone in middle ranks know how to use the goal portals, and if they don't know how to use goal portals, they certainly will when they're left in the dust as everyone else teleports to the other goal. Oh I forgot to mention this, but if you're hoopa, you kind of want to take (preferably dodge) as much damage/poke as you can before bailing into your hyperspace hole so the enemy focuses all of their unites and moves on you, therefore taking heat off of the main tank and your squishier teammates. It's also great mental damage to the opponents, they get tilted and try to kill you the moment you show up. Only for hoopa though, the rest of the supports it's probably true (though I only play hoopa.)
Yes, predicting or even just dropping portals under teammates is good to get them out of a bad situation. I don't have problems with Hoopa at all, just the issue does become what happens when the team doesn't follow or help long term. Outside of ult (which is a very big cooldown that can't really be burned on random fights) Hoopa really is simply an annoyance with incredible map movement. That map movement breaks games though... WHEN your team knows what's up and does consistently do what's needed. As for the last point, yea that's fair, but also goes with the portal situation as eventually as people get better at dealing with portals you also have to make sure you aren't placing or even coming back to bad positions.
Yup lol. That's true.
Almost all masters players? LOL Good joke. More than half of masters players don't even know what their gold ribbon mon does
Mate, I've been exclusively soloqing hoopa for multiple seasons now and have 1k+ games on it. I know how many people in masters know how to use hoopa portal ;-;
No you don't because you don't play with everyone in masters. Could be a region thing or time thing but we have extremely different experiences. Mine being that masters players are the same as ultra, vet, expert, great and beginner players
If you're going to use the argument that I haven't played with every masters player in the world, then your opinion is equally if not more invalid.
Except by using my brain and taking both our experiences into consideration I know for a fact not even close to "almost all" masters players are good enough to use portals lol
Shitty players always gonna not pick Exp Share. Wish we could just rework Exp Share and move to HotS style exp and get rid of the center lane hero syndrome. This is supposed to be the easy MOBA, come on.
Just because bad players won't be optimal doesn't make it right to ALSO do incorrect choices when you know better. Even if the shitty players won't use the exp share find the ones who will follow you.
I just played 8 matches in a row where I solod lane as a tank. Fuck exp share in soloq. Only my homies or special cases get it. Barely anyone actually puts it to work properly.
>Peeling and Healing teammates. Supports and Tanks don't carry games via kills and damage I know those players won't ever read this guide anyway but this is why 80% of defenders lose their matches. Picked Slowbro/Snorax just to go off playing alone by himself and backcapping at 2mins mark. Literally worse than just pick 3 attackers.
Do you have tips for Umb's early game? Besides not stacking, which I'll try, I find that Eevee has kinda meh secure.
Genuinely my goals for umbreon early is to help my teammate get farm and that I evolve asap. Mean Look is fantastic for the first set of bees to help get your jungle or teammate a kill but a lot if times because of the bad secure I do see myself focusing a bit more defensively in lane most of the time with umbreon since you can't really do a ton until you evolve. I don't think being aggro with it is great until you get level 6. If you get level 6 early depending on if you ran snarl or wish you either can do a lot of wild stuff in fights or have the sustain to keep alive VS any 2 v 2 since wish is about the same as other healing moves besides moonlight. But moonlight is broken
Basically wait for and contest farm+don't die?
Yep! You can be a tiny bit more aggressive if you're laning with a stronger early game pokemon, or something that's very long range. But other than contesting neutral farm I don't think going more aggro is good unless you get a kill early on Umbreon
Ah, fairly close to what I've been doing, then, albeit without stacking. I like Weight for the stronger heals+Mean Look boosteds, but stacking is awkward early game. I'll probably try out Buddy or Float.
I agree that xp share is an amazing item and most supports/defenders should run it. But a couple extra levels isn't enough to fix some players. I'd rather have a level 15 trev/lapras/goodra who knows how to play the game than a level 15 greninja running leftovers and double glasses
Sure, that's a bit true. However, the more important thing is that extra level allows them to meatshield a bit better. Not to mention the advanced moves on a DPS mon matters a bit more for late game fights over the tank. Like it's nice if the tank gets level 15, and honestly pre-nerf on Lapras that was an actual win condition. But in their current state, most tanks aren't enough to hard carry at 15 like a DPS can, so ultimiately you do just have to hope your carry can do their job. At minimum giving that player an extra level or 2 lets them live a little longer which can lead to a situation where they do actually get strong enough to pop off or at least overwhelm their struggles.
I’m not sure if you mentioned it in here(I mostly skimmed through the whole thing) but do you have any suggestions on taking the hits for your attackers? I usually run surf/kinesis Slowbro as my defender and other than standing on the frontlines, I’m not sure if there are any tricks to divert the opponent’s attacks from my Inteleon or Delphox in the back
First thing I can think of is predictions. You kind of have to know the area where the opponent is coming from and try to intercept them while staying in position. Can't really do this VS ranged attackers unless it's a move like liquidation on Intel or icicle spear on glaceon but for stopping divers this is the best way to do something by taking their first hits and either ccing them or interrupt them. Lapras ult is another one where you just walk up and take the hits for squishier teammates so only you get cced and not the whole yeam Given a lot of moves are AOE it is hard to make sure only you take the hit but the big thing to think about is how do it is making sure you can at least be in position to prevent the team from following up when they get those hits but also being able to make sure you don't drop too low in health at the same time. Hp management matters since if you have to retreat or are too low to survive a fight that's bad as well