What you might be missing in Crucible

Think about your team (enemy team) composition.

Learning what your hero does well is just as important as knowing who is on your team and who you’re against. Some heroes have abilities and play styles that are better up close while others get more value by laying down damage at a safe distance. Drakal and Summer are two tanky front-liners that often get in your face and can burst you down. Ajonah, a sniper, fits the role of a ranged DPS (damage per second), “glass cannon,” or ADC (all damage carry). Tosca and Sazan might be considered somewhere in between since they can do damage but also have some sustainability through their mobility. Bugg and Shakirri are closest to a “support” role since they can shield and heal their allies or use their CC (crowd control) like slows and silences to set up plays. You’ll see lots of teams that run a combination of these roles. But games in Crucible can be won beyond fighting the enemy heroes.

 

2.      Don’t forget to farm.

What a hero brings to your team composition extends beyond what they bring to team fighting (micro). How do they contribute on a “Macro” level? As Cam Winston would say (R.I.P. Paragon), it’s essentially a game of economy. There’s two main ways to gain essence (experience or xp) in Crucible. The first is by capturing harvesters. If you have control of the harvester it will periodically give you and your team essence. The second is by “farming” the creatures throughout the map. Stompers, lurkers, and spitters drop essence when they are killed and they spawn (semi-)randomly throughout the match. When it comes to the economy side of this I like to think that at any moment there is a fixed amount of available essence on the map. If you own 4 of the 5 harvesters then you are not only adding to how much you have but are taking away the potential xp the enemy can get. Same goes for creatures; if you farm them for the essence then the other team can’t.

 

3.      Pay attention to the level difference.

Levels are one of the most overlooked and undervalued aspects of Crucible. If you’ve played MOBAs before and you’ve engaged with the enemy team while your team is down levels you’ve probably been flamed. You probably also learned that, even though winnable, fighting an enemy that has increased damage and health compared to you sets you up to fail. Crucible is similar to Heroes of the Storm in that at certain levels your abilities not only do more damage but add mechanics. At level four Shakirri’s ability will silence you for a short time but at level five you are silenced and take huge ticks of damage over time (a.k.a. DoT). Being silenced can be devastating but being silenced and knowing that you’ll eventually die if you don’t heal changes the way you continue with the fight, or not. Each hero gains talent utility differently which means that some hero kits (their abilities) may be stronger earlier than later, or vice versa.

 

4.      It’s okay to “give” the Heart if you’re going to “take” something else.

To win at Crucible you have to capture three Hive Hearts before the enemy team does. To win at Crucible, though, you don’t have to capture one or two hearts. You still win if the enemy gets the first two hearts and you get the last three. But you say, “Nayy, we must fight for all the hearts. To do anything else would bring shame upon our family!” Maybe…but losing the match is probably worse. Objectives separate from the heart can be game changers. If you get two damage or regeneration amplifiers while your enemies capture the first heart this means that you have an advantage, a buff, when it comes down to the next hive, and the next, and the next. Crucible nailed this part of the game. There’s always a trade-off between the main objective of the hives and other objectives around the map. “Oh! you’re not convinced?” Well let’s talk about “staggering deaths” and snowballing.

 

5.      Never give up, sometimes surrender.

Here’s a scenario: You (Earl), Mendoza, and Rahi make it to the hive 45 seconds before it spawns. You see Summer die to two enemies at a harvester about 1 minute away from the hive. The hive spawns and you start laying into it. You hear the hive go down and run for the heart. The enemy team captures the heart. Now here’s what happened in between. When you’re capturing the heart you’re already at half health because of the hive’s defenses. The enemy Drak dives through your teammates and knocks you off of the hive while their AJ picks off Mendoza. Bugg lays down a plant but you manage to kill him. Rahi and Drak are dueling at half health when the enemy Tosca shows up. You see that Summer has spawned and is 15 seconds out so you try to take out AJ. Tosca kills you and AJ gets a med kit in by the time Summer shows up. Rahi dies and takes Drak with him so Summer is left against a full health AJ and ¾ health Tosca. Who wins that fight? Summer dies, but as you’re about to spawn you see Mendoza collapsing on the hive. You hear him interrupt the capture music and see him die just as you get in range. Now you go in, but Bugg is back, and you’re toast. The enemy team captures the heart and is now a level ahead because of the 5 deaths your team had compared to their two. They go on to capture the next two hearts easily because leaving that fight a level up helped them farm faster, guard their harvesters, and capture both damage amplifiers. No sweat.

Here’s another scenario: Mendoza has been afk since you let the enemy team capture the first heart. While they captured the first heart you gained enough essence to put you ahead a level for the next hive. At hive fight two the three of you are in position and melt the hive even before the enemy team shows up. Hive three, two of you go to the hive while Rahi gets a damage amplifier and the AJ who tried to steal it. You don’t win the hive but you’re able to hold them off long enough that the four harvesters you’ve captured keep you a level ahead. You and Rahi make it to the hive 45 seconds before it spawns. You see Summer die just like in the previous example. You realize you’re a level five Earl now so you kill the hive practically when it spawns. You’re at ¾ health because the hive only got off one round of defense but you run for the heart. Rahi has miraculously been able to kill Drak and pester AJ into retreating for a med kit. Or maybe it had something to do with now being two levels up with a damage amplifier? Anyway, Tosca comes rushing in and knocks you off the hive but Summer is back and makes quick work of her. Summer starts to capture the heart, Rahi takes agro from the Bugg plants, and you use your blowback vents to block AJ’s shots from killing Summer. You go on to capture the fourth and fifth, your third, heart.