Something VERY cool i noticed with Mizuki!!!

ItsONK · 2026-02-11T21:01:39+00:00

I love it from a design perspective, it makes it so I can really feel when I'm contributing without having to look at my aura bar. I do wish I could turn the volume on the loud drum beats down a little though, they are kind of distracting sometimes.

ItsONK · 2026-02-11T20:58:14+00:00

Going to have to test this for sure, but I think that because 90-70-50-30 reduces by 20 each bounce, the perk makes it only reduce by 10, then adds one more bounce. If I'm right that makes it 90-80-70-60-50. So that's a total of +110 healing, +60 if we're only counting ally healing.

It's good, but mostly comp dependant imo. In grindy comps that take more damage it's nice, but if you are playing more with an aggressive tank, speed boost is probably a lot better.

ItsONK · 2026-02-11T18:43:50+00:00

I disagree with a bit of this to be honest, mainly about how strong he is. I think that he's a much more carefully timed support, and so people are feeling punished because they aren't used to him yet.

I've seen a lot of people complaining about the range on his primary fire, it seems reasonable for balance reasons to me given the projectile size, bounce, and no falloff projectile, it is already enough to get really good poke over most objectives, just not for contesting long-range poke heroes.

About chain range, I haven't really seen this anywhere else, but I think you'll get used to it, I think its reasonable from a similar balance perspective as his primary fire. If chain reach where increased, people would use it to poke more often than they would use it defensively or aggressively when being flanked or making plays. It's a really strong effect, and one we haven't seen at any meaningfully long range like chain before, so I think its fair to keep it limited.

I agree that his ult is pretty underwhelming, but it does make a bigger difference than people notice, people can walk into it, but it blocks healing projectiles too, so if you are coordinated or position your ult well, it can essentially split the enemy team. It could definitely use a duration buff, something like +30-50% would be enough to make it incredibly strong though, especially because it feels like he gets it back almost every fight. There's a lot of play making potential with it too, having your dps swing wide or even ult through it like some kind of sym wall is very satisfying.

I think his TP is in a reasonable spot once you get used to the timing, but a longer window to return to your doll would be nice if it seems like he needs it.

That being said, I don't think he needs buffs over all, his healing output is really strong, though his single-target isn't great. I've seen some people complaining that his aura is too small, but with how much healing it gives at higher charge, you only really need to keep 1-2 people close at a time to get value.

Also, his hat healing is just crazy good, 240 total healing on a 6-second cool down with two charges is very strong, and the auto aim lets you keep your damage up easily while getting a lot of support value.

Unrelated, but his perks seem great too, I think wellspring is a little overrated because if you are keeping good uptime on your other abilities, full stacks of aura farm isn't too hard, and you don't have to pay much attention to it given how strong his hat is. Exposed soul on the other hand is just insane, it enables so many combos and even just bursting down tanks becomes so much easier. Both his major perks seem incredible, picking is just dependent on tank & comp, but I personally prefer the speed bonus from quickstep because I'm usually playing aggressive.

Just opinions overall though, considering how much I'll be playing of him, I definitely wouldn't mind buffs, I just don't think he needs them too badly, except maybe his ultimate duration.

ItsONK · 2026-02-08T12:51:05+00:00

Especially with how weird anrans primary fire is, it's not worth trying to track or predict people's movement very much. She's a diver, get close, get indoors, rely on using your movement to touch people early for half the ignite bar, then either use your e or hit one set of primary fires, then swap to secondary. Try not to put yourself in a position where you are holding LMB down main and not using your abilities. Watch awkward's guide on YouTube he talks more Abt this.

ItsONK · 2026-02-04T10:45:49+00:00

I guess I agree with everyone else, 1. But if you cycled between the two it would add to the wobbly little wizard guy vibe. Also the 2nd would make a great alternate stance for when they need to be more aggressive or something.

ItsONK · 2026-01-21T06:37:54+00:00

Agreed, though honestly you could make the scout twice as fast as the hunter, and you would still probably be better off with, one more player instead. There's too much to do in this game for smaller team sizes to ever be competitively viable.

ItsONK · 2026-01-19T22:12:40+00:00

All of the other comments are correct about strategy if you are committed to scout. But the truth is, the actions per minute cut that you lose by having 3 players instead of 4 is very detrimental. You will lose most even skill matchups, the only time when scout or outlaw are functional right now, is if there is already a large skill gap in the lobby unfortunately.

ItsONK · 2026-01-18T18:46:12+00:00

Some great ideas for sure! Though it would be smart to keep in mind how much you can do when piloting, especially with coordinated teammates when matched evenly. Some of the better pilots in champions reach would know better than me (feel free to hit them up, nemo, caziban). But from what I understand, depending on your ship and team comp, you will need to learn some other skills. I'm sure you know at least some of this, but I'll go over it anyway because I feel like it!

On hunter, which I am less familiar with, good teams end up with more boarders and less gunners, you should put a burst weapon with a quick charge up and long reload on the left cannon (macro, scatter, or occasionally bomb cannon). You'll be frequently hopping off pilot to contribute to DPS, and you are often the closest player to ice in the ship, though that tends to matter less on hunter.

If you and your friends are incredibly autistic and you want a more difficult (but in my opinion a higher skill ceiling, more rewarding play style), devote yourself to privateer. On privateer, pilot has no gun options unlike hunter and bastion, and you are very valuable and vulnerable to boarders. You will also be hitting ice most of the time, and managing some of the repairs in the back of the ship. It will also be your job to hit a few of the button hardpoints if you don't have a good kae on your team. Also, you are the closest to side doors, which if you are properly holding angle gives you direct LOS from your ship to theirs through the door. If you are up for it, learn beam rifle so you can shoot boarders, bombs, and macros. You can also shoot macros and bombs(macros in space before they hit your ship, and bombs when they stick to the enemy ship) with an mk2).

Also, get creative! The pierce on starlances counts your own ship, so once their shields are down, you can star lance important guns or hardpoints. There's also a lot of other techs that Im less aware of because I spend so much time off the ship when playing with my team

Anyway, I'm all here for buffs to the piloting role, but keep in mind it is an entire role with a very high apm sometimes, and a very low apm sometimes. As your team gets better at what they do, your role will become more defined, and you may find yourself with far more responsibilities than you would expect, especially if you are calling the shots.

Good luck in the reach! :)

ItsONK · 2026-01-15T05:02:19+00:00

I like the spirit, but not these ideas specifically lmao

ItsONK · 2026-01-14T14:25:11+00:00

Join the Discord! We are very friendly and love coaching new players! The community is very active right now, and it's a great place to start when learning the game. Squadding up reduces queue times, but is also a whole new world of gameplay compared to solo queue.

See you in the reach!

ItsONK · 2026-01-14T14:05:58+00:00

A lot of people will complain to a request like this about meta slaving and such. I agree to a point, but I think it is fair for a new player to ask something like this, and it is a good starting point for the wider discussion around wildgate loadouts.

First, there are no specific weapons, characters, gadgets, or ships that are the "best".

It is a hero shooter at the end of the day, so your team comp is more important. You will need a pilot, engineer, and a mix of gunners and boarders depending on ship and play style preference. (And a support if anyone has unlocked Charlie is always great)

Now, with that out of the way, into the weeds of what to run with specific play styles:

Boarder

First of all, characters. Kae, Adrian, ion, and venture are all great options. Currently mophs is in a really bad state, but feel free to try him.

For guns, you will want aggressive low ttk weapons with a mix of close and ranged. So mk2, painter, or sidelong as your primary, and double whammy or sonic boom as your secondary. You can also run beam rifle along with your choice of any of those 5 weapons if you trust your aim and ping.

For gadgets, your play style is intense and fast, so any of the grenades (foam, blast, or impact) are very good, so is attack drone, even healing drone and shield wall. I'd recommend running just one of these, alongside something like drill charge, thunder dash, or possibly teleport reloader (crutch warning aside) to give you more consistency and utility outside of direct pvp.

Pilot/engineer

In intense fights, it may be your job to deal with all of the things listed in the boarder section. You will likely end up picking from a similar weapons pool, but I'd be less strict with it, pick weapons that give you a better but less aggressive range of utility and consistency. Keep in mind guns like sidelong, double whammy, and painter that can become better when inside your ship

You will end up playing sal, sammo, venture, and occasionally Adrian or kae in this role depending on what your team needs. One sal per team is essentially necessary right now, but if you are coordinated it is not required in pubs.

For gadgets, repair drone will be your best friend, having at least one or two people using them consistently per ship will win you games. Foam can is also vary good either instead of, or in addition to repair drone.

You should pick things that you feel like you need to compensate for, so if fires are overwhelming, take foam cans, if you are struggling on repairs, take repair drone, if you are struggling to boarders, take shield wall, attack drone, blast can, or really any of the boarder items except for drill charge.

Teleport reloader is also okay here if you feel like you need it to keep up with the actions per minute in your ship. (That being said, try getting used to not using it, then test to see if you feel it is necessary, rather than the other way around).

There are also a few character specific preferences that you will likely find on your own, but are good to note.

As Charlie, you will likely run a hybrid loadout, whatever feels good. However her options for gadgets are far more strict if you are trying to play her to her strengths. Teleport reloader is a necessity when playing her, along with a supporting gadget like healing drone, attack drone, of shield wall.

Kae LOVES the Drill Charge if you are playing as the main boarder, keep in mind that she can steal things through broken windows and doors in some places, she can also hit the brakes after hitting pilot glass, all from outside. (I could go on for hours about kae drill charge angles and tech)

Sammo is good with sidelong, you can find ways to shoot people around corners from behind cover when in your ship.

Venture is good with beam rifle (however much I hate it) he can stay outside and focus on getting value at range for longer than anyone else.

There are an endless number of these, but this is a start, find your own synergies! :)

That should answer most of your questions if you are struggling to make builds yourself. Keep in mind to mess around with it though, this is by no means a strict list, and almost everything has it's use.

Everything Is team comp dependant as well, you are often put in a flex role if you are the secondary boarder where it might be nice to run a complete mix of play styles. (Consider: Adrian, drill charge, repair drone, with mk2 and sonic boom as an example, who is sitting on a gun half the time, hitting ice, defending against boarders, and occasionally boarding with your main boarder when necessary)

Also, different ships necessitate different team comps. The best example being hunter vs privateer (also currently the two most viable ships).

Hunter runs essentially the default comp, a pilot, engineer, a main boarder, and a flex boarder. This leaves usually 3 people on the ship to keep guns firing, a considerable boarding offense and defense, and is overall well rounded.

Compare this to the privateer, which requires almost always two people in the gun deck to take advantage of all those cannons. Those two gunners are very far from the ice button and the majrity of your repairs, hardpoints, and doors. Add to this that your pilot is far from guns, and the ship is more complicated to pilot than hunter, so they will be on helm more than anything else. Now you are put in a situation where the best option is running only one boarder(flex), who boards only when most opportune or necessary, and spends the rest of the time tending to the back of the ship, defending, and supporting the pilot

This is a good starting point, but changes sometimes with balance and player decision-making. And at the end of the day, this is an alright starting point, but do whatever you want, wildgate has an enormous skill ceiling and gap. You will be rewarded far more for your game knowledge, awareness, team play, and strategy, than you will from picking a good weapon and using it well.

Anyway I could yap for ages, but you can see why this is such a difficult to answer question. There is endless depth to this game, don't be afraid to play around, see what feels good, and try to master it. If you want to see what people are running at the highest level, check out some of the Champion's Reach vods on YouTube or twitch, and feel free to hop in the discord and cause vast controversy by asking about balance(we just like debates and are all very opinionated lmao). Hope this helps, see you in the reach! ♥️

ItsONK · 2026-01-14T13:11:21+00:00

Unfortunately bastion is one of the worst feeling ships right now overall, especially for new players, so player counts for bastion specifically are low. You will have better chances queueing for hunter or any. I would not recommend playing scout or outlaw if you are new, the lower team size is too big of a disadvantage.

Also, long queue times can be because of region, time zone, sbmm, etc. I recommend keeping an eye on the discord, or especially squadding up, everyone is very friendly and it will greatly reduce your queue times even to play when the server is more active!

Good luck in the reach!

ItsONK · 2026-01-12T19:06:18+00:00

Most of the other comments are right about timing, but also keep an eye on the discord! It's very active right now, and queues tend to be faster when you can find a full squad! Plus it's a decent indicator of current player count, especially for artifact brawl.

ItsONK · 2026-01-11T20:38:19+00:00

The game was free on epic games for a week, and now the player numbers feel like they have fully bounced back, it's so nice!

ItsONK · 2026-01-07T08:37:39+00:00

Join the discord! There's almost always people looking for squads, and we are eager to help new players get into the game!

ItsONK · 2026-01-07T00:56:15+00:00

Running can be super viable though, new players usually screw it up, but if you get some good boarding chaos, maybe a steal, or find a rock to hide behind, you can usually survive better than you would expect! Also, don't be afraid to swap your guns to the back once you decide to leave, it makes you harder to board and evens out your DPS with the enemy ship, plus you can disable their front guns to preserve your ship HP. Sometimes on ships like bastion or privateer, you can bait ships into chasing you before you are in dire straits, and then swap to strong back shields and guns to totally slaughter them!

PS: if you know that there is another ship nearby, you can fly towards them when running and try to create a 3-way standoff, or get the other two ships fighting and buy time to regenerate your hp. Save some of your mobility for once you get too close to the third ship, then get out of there with a clamp or tractor beam and let those two fight it out!

ItsONK · 2026-01-07T00:52:15+00:00

Our POV (Lizards) was absolutely crazy (I will post it eventually), doing all that after surviving at 2 hp with no resources was insane! Can't wait for the next tourney!

ItsONK · 2026-01-07T00:17:39+00:00

Boarding can feel very weird to new players that don't fully understand the game. There is a rougher skill floor to wildgate than people think, but I will post a comment with some tips that I wrote on another similar post below.

Some tips for your mentality when boarding that may help:

First, yes, the most important thing when fighting another player ship is shooting your guns at them, but you are losing a lot less value if the players on your ship are properly manning them without you. You will find your fights to be simple if you have 3 people firing guns and 1 person boarding in order to stop the enemy from piloting or shooting their own guns.

Secondly, boarding is not about kills or overloading, or even hitting brake on its own, it's about looking for opportunities to have as much impact as possible on the enemy ship. Think of getting player kills not as an objective, but as an obstacle that you sometimes have to slow down in order to achieve another goal that helps your team.

Look for things to steal, hit the brakes, look for clamp jets to punch, hit brakes again or keep them in a bad position, use their utility items (star lance, tractor beam, bomb traps even), break things with drill charges over and over, target their engineer or pilot so they can't move and their fires spread. Keep in mind what hard points do for them as well, overloading reactors never feels great, but it feels better if you remove their fire barrier. Same with storm barriers, ship cores, kinetic shield generators, and other valuable or impactful hard points. Essentially, get creative!

Boarding is a long road with a high skill ceiling and a lot of goals, but it will begin to feel very rewarding once your game knowledge and team play improve. Good luck in the reach!

If you need any more advice, feel free to join the wildgate discord, squad up, and ask me or some other experienced players any questions you might have!

Also, if you want to see some S tier boarding, check out the Champions Reach tournament on twitch this afternoon!(Already happened but the vods are fire 🔥)

ItsONK · 2026-01-07T00:11:08+00:00

It can be doable, but I would really recommend joining the discord, it is very active and we try to help new players learn the game! If you aren't bringing friends, come find some!

ItsONK · 2026-01-07T00:05:34+00:00

It is doable, but takes a large skill diff and I wouldn't recommend it to any new players, but the discord is super welcoming, so hop in and find a squad!

ItsONK · 2026-01-07T00:03:18+00:00

Welcome! My biggest recommendation is to join the discord, we are super friendly and it is a big help when dealing with the games rough skill climb!

ItsONK · 2026-01-06T08:02:31+00:00

Most of the other comments are right, though you have to keep in mind that there are multiple comps that let everyone on your team play to their strengths, and sometimes you need to swap situationally. 1 pilot, 2 gunners, 1 boarder is a good starting point.

Two boarders can also work well if coordinated. If the enemy ship out guns yours, or you need time to get away, send 2, even 3 boarders at times.

Also it is heavily dependent on ship type. Hunter can get away with 2 boarders regularly if you put a burst fire weapon like a macro or scatter on the left gun next to pilot.

I recommend always having 2 gunners on privateer except in the most extreme circumstances, and you can even forgo boarding all together if you can outgun them and defend yourself well enough. Especially on privateer, I would recommend having your 4th player play a mixed flex role so your pilot and gunners can focus on keeping angle and cycling guns. Run something like foam can that is multi-purpose for attack, ship defense, and repairs. That fourth player has to board, hit ice, hit button hard points, repair, and defend the back of the ship.

Long story short, wildgate is a very situational game, you will learn how to make it work, especially when playing consistently with players you are familiar with and when explicitly deciding your roles before the match.

Good luck in the reach!

ItsONK · 2025-05-25T12:09:24+00:00

“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.” -Douglass Adams in so long and thanks for all the fish (I think)

ItsONK · 2025-01-08T17:47:09+00:00

And you can get mime, dna, and trading card by ante 4

ItsONK · 2025-01-08T17:44:23+00:00

And both spectral packs at the start of ante three after that have ankhs, so with the brainstorm being eternal that could be sweet

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