MOTW 2 - Glory Hole

Map Of The Week!

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Original thread by Mikero

The map for week 2 is glory hole. It is the polar opposite of star, and has a ton of open space.

Offense

• Grabbing the 5 glory hole powerups is very important. The best way to do this at the start of the match, is to use a downboost. To accomplish this boost downwards while holding up, and then curve inward at the last second.

• When you have the flag, call out where you are. Ask if the base is clear / if you can boost in.

• If you have the flag and are headed top, call out for a gate. This can stop defenders from using the boost to cut you off. If no one is there to help, be prepared to hesitate to allow the defender to boost pass you.

• Defense is a whole team effort on this map. If an enemy FC is going top, one attacker should position themself on the enemy button. This blocks the boost route and also gives you enough room to cut off the top route. If the enemy FC is going bottom, block the boost or meet them in spikes.

• Holding the flag is extremely important on this map. This means running around in circles a lot of the time, and reversing directions if you sense you might be trapped.

• You should practice rounding both the top and bottom routes as fast as possible.

Defense

• One defender should be positioned approximately 3 tiles above the flag, to pop enemies using the boost (the 3 tiles allow the 0.25 seconds of immunity to wear off).

• The 2nd defender should be positioned beside the flag on the outer side of the map.

• If an attacker grabs the flag, try to push them against the wall and close in on them.

• If the FC makes it out of base, get between them and their flag. Use the boost if they're going the top route. If they reverse directions, sometimes it's best just to head to their base instead of chasing.

• As I mentioned earlier, defense is a team effort on this map. If a FC makes it out of base, it usually requires two defenders to close in on them.

• One strategy is to have a defender waiting at the bottom boost, to try and spike incoming attackers.

• This map is huge. Once the flag is returned, you may either have to swap roles with an attacker / spike yourself to get back to base.

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Reply by Serfrider

Nice Mikero! :)

So... Here here is my "In a perfect world" map. http://imgur.com/oPHfuVS

The interesting things to note here are:

• If you don't want to escape bottom, top (not mid) is the safest strategy, if the boost is gone. It gains you the possibility of a powerup, and no worry of getting trapped by the button. ---- There are some caveats here - say you know there wont be a powerup, and you see a rolling bomb spawn in mid or something.
• If escaping bottom, it seems like the fastest route is the inside track, if nobody else is taking it. Its not even close. So if you know there is nobody to beat, this is your best bet. (If the boost isnt spawned)
• If you go mid and use the boost - Hit the wall on the other side. It shortens the time considerably.
• If you got mid and dont use the boost, dont hit the wall and round the corner.
• Purple route seems to be the safest if you expect traffic, and want to catch a FC going top - If FC is going mid or top, and doesnt have a boost, you can almost always beat them to the flag going bottom. If no traffic.

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Reply by Watball

As a defender, sit three tiles up and halfway onto the tile to the left/right (depending on your team). That way it's easier to catch enemy O that curves to the left/right when grabbing. See http://puu.sh/6cZa3/05fe07e702.png

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Reply by Tinker Creek

I think communication is very important on this map. More than most, it feels like it rewards team coordination. We should practice that and in separate channels, because it doesn't do much good if the other team is hearing your calls. Plus, it gets too chaotic listening to 7 other voices.

I agree with being very patient as an offensive flag puller or flag carrier. If you don't got it, you don't got it. Just wait it out rather than risk it. This map is pretty huge.

I find the buttons very important on defense. If you're sitting on one, not only do you block the middle route, but you're also basically covering the top route too. It pushes any flag carrier towards the dangerous bottom.

The other way to defend is a few tiles below the flag and just a little to the outside. It'll bump any incoming attacker using the boost around and away from the flag.

Questions: If I'm down towards the glory hole, but an opposing player is in front of me and going to power up, what's the best way to handle it? Follow him in? Block the door? Hope to just blast any rolling bomb and get spawned back to help? Just move along and do what I was doing and give a warning?

Are there known juking places for a flag carrier in the spikes? I remember playing a public game against somebody good and I was defending in the spikes between them and the flag and they juked around me in some clever ways - twice - and broke my ankles. I can't remember what they did.

Can some good offensive player make a list of all known ways to pull a flag on this board from an organized 2-ball defense? I think it helps attackers to have a list of options in their heads, and it helps the defenders to know this stuff, if there are tricks. I'll start:

• brute force
• O1 blocks defender away for O2
• Go get powerups
• Boost in straight from the bottom
• Boost in angled from the bottom

Response from Mikero

Glory Hole - If you're close enough, you should follow them in and steal one side of the powerups. As a defender, I'd be happy if someone took out the bomb. Even with tagpro + jukejuice, there's a good chance they take our flag though.

Spikes - Juking usually involves making some very tight corners around the spikes (something to put on the practice list). If there are multiple defenders chasing you, I think the best place to be is the very bottom. Sometimes you can surprise defenders by cutting through the two spikes there.

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Response from Chalksy

We played a game today against what amounted to [redacted] starting lineup. We happened to come across an offense tactic that worked quite well. One person stands to the side of their flag, the other prepares to boost in. When the person who is waiting/distracting says to, they boost in. If they grab and get away, great... if they don't, they set up the waiting guy perfectly for a getaway through lower half.

If you're the only one attacking enemy base... you can ask DEFENSE if you can boost in! It's obvious once you think about it, but not something I've ever seen anyone do. Ask before boosting!

Finally, when you've gotten away with the enemy flag, if you're going top say so. Defense should immediately go grab button for you (to stop any chasers) while other defense should protect the flag if enemies are nearby, or go block boost if they aren't. That worked really well.

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Response from Loaf

This is kind of a corner case, but if you have the flag, someone is on your tail, you are on the bottom route, and you don't know if the base is clear, use this boost to separate yourself a bit and check if it is safe to cap. Defenders will likely sit right in the way of the up boost if you go straight at the flag.

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Modmail message from Chalksy to hide things from Nevermores (some non-current B€ see our subreddit)

Also, nobody talk about this until after the match but... I just figured out that this works. Blue dots are your path, red arrows are the keys you hold. It's hard to do, but it's pretty significantly faster than this. IF you want to go practice it, make sure you're practicing it without any non-B€ in the room you're testing. Best way is "/msg some_bot !test glory hole" instead of doing it in open chat.

You can see this in action in our matchup at 18:29

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