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How to deal with shield blobs?

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4 years ago
I generally play rovers, how do I deal with a blob of shield units?

An outlaw and just a few thugs and/or one felon completely deletes anything of same value I throw at it. Shield blobs also seem fast enough to kite my rovers.
+0 / -1


4 years ago
Ravager + Leveler 2:1 helps against thuglaw balls.
+1 / -0
4 years ago
I don't think I understand a part of your post. If shields really were able to kite rovers, rovers would be an instaloss in the matchup.

You can micro Scorchers on the edge of a Thug/Law range to chip the shield and back off to heal when necessary; you can also just bumrush them if you feel like you can take out the Outlaw without losing your entire force. Or you can go around them and harass your opponent if the force isn't large enough to threaten your main base. Or you can wait for them to reach some static defenses and then bumrush with Scorchers.

For Felons, get one or two Ravagers to tank the damage until its shield runs low and then go in with Scorchers. If there are multiple Felons or the force is otherwise considerably sizable, you shouldn't engage with just rovers. Get planes in a timely manner, Thunderbirds seem to work well at draining the shield from shield blobs.
+1 / -0

4 years ago
No cost effective way for rovers in my opinion. Switch fac. Shields unfortunately scale nice and synergize best of all facs.
+1 / -0
4 years ago
cloaked roach
cloaked limpet can help other units fight the ball when they normally could not

or

long ranged arty
eg. crab spire, leveler

razor
faraday behind a wall
many raised stardust on fireground
+0 / -0
Once the shieldball reaches a large enough density you probably need to switch. Rover should function better than Shields in low densities so your goal in the matchup is to gain an advantage in the early game and by fighting in multiple locations at once.
+7 / -0


4 years ago
quote:
No cost effective way for rovers in my opinion. Switch fac. Shields unfortunately scale nice and synergize best of all facs.


On an open map eg. 1v1 or small teams, Rovers just need to over-run the shield player everywhere the ball is not.

In teamgames/lanes, where flanking is not possible, shieldball scales up much better and is better for frontal assault. After the early game, transition asap or build a second fac for EMP plane or Firewalker.
+1 / -0


4 years ago
Medium-size shieldballs can be kept at bay using Dominatrix, especially due to its shield penetration mechanic. If they have Felons, you'll need to throw some Ravagers away to drain charge so that Domis are not instantly vaporized, though.

+3 / -0

4 years ago
As a shield specialist, I am always happy to see rovers against me.

Rovers have a hard time against shields, that's just how it is, and you will be fighting uphill. The mighty Fencer is worthless against shields, and so are things like Impaler and Badger.

However, useful advice was given.

1) Shields are slow. You are going to have to exploit that and raid HARD. I hate it as a shield player when an enemy shifts the axis of attack and I have to plod my shieldball across the map to deal with another threat.

2) Porc is your friend. Let me explain. The #1 reason why shields are bad boys is Felon. That mob enforcer can dish out huge amounts of pain at a long range. BUT, Felon runs flat pretty fast. So you have to drain the shield charge somehow, and Razor is a great way to soak up Felon charge.

3) Scorcher and Ravager can be strong if you time it right. You have to wait until the shieldball is pink-red. At that point the batteries are running close to empty and its the right time to counter attack. A bunch of Scorchers overrunning an energy flat shieldball is my nightmare.

4) Use Cloaking devices. A good shield player will retreat from charging Ravagers and keep them exposed to the wrath of the Felons for as long as possible. The moment I see a Ravager blob I typically engage from maximum range with Rogue, and retreat the moment the Ravagers charge. Now, if I'm advancing without a care because I see no Ravager blob, because its cloaked, then the Rover player has a good chance of running the Ravagers into the shieldball and doing some real damage.

5) Use Dominatrix. Dominatrix is a pain in the ass for a shield player because it ignores shields. Domis can typically pick off the shields on the edge of a ball and retreat before getting zapped. Do this a few times and the ball will get degraded.

Cloaking tactics against a good player will only work once, if that, though. The moment I see cloak fields I spam dirtbags as a forward guard, and so will any decent player, so time the trick well.
+2 / -0


4 years ago
It was better when Outlaw was countered by ambush units instead of the counter to them, as then at least ticks etc could own sheildball
+0 / -0
4 years ago
ticks seem to emp own units more then enemy units unless you use them as mines or vs things that cant aim
+1 / -0

4 years ago
I find the imp's EMP falloff makes it even worse than a skuttle for violating blobs of individually low value but numerous targets. At least something caught on the edge of a snitch explosion will take some damage that can't just be walked off in a few seconds.

On topic though, ZArankAstran highlighted most of the viable rover vs shield strats. However, most of them will just probably buy time for swapping to a better fac for the job. Bear in mind that the felon might not always be the best target if you are facing them though. They really are only as good as their support(by themselves they're 1400HP riots that can deal 2300 damage before becoming almost helpless) and it will often be more productive to peel off that support rather than hit them head on. Domi can be particularly good in that respect.
+2 / -0


4 years ago
Tick was so much fun back when it was disgustingly OP

Bring he back!
+0 / -0

4 years ago
In 1v1 as a rover player you'll have built an air fac by 10 minutes anyway. Bombs away!

Ravagers are also very effective, you just have to use your speed and commit properly (no hit and run).
+1 / -0

4 years ago
Problems with shields? Go jumper.
Problems with Spiders? Go Jumper.
Problems with Cloaky? Go Jumper.
+0 / -0

4 years ago
I think badger's wolverine mines now can out damage the shield regen per cost. Better when fighting with direct impact rather than mines cause of outlaw. Probably not TOO effective, but could be an option.
+0 / -0

4 years ago
DErankkatastrophe, who jumps the jumpers?
+1 / -0


4 years ago
In sandbox decent sized badger swarms work well against shieldballs. I suspect making pretty much just badgers with something to deal with the occasional Bandit should be cost-effective.
+0 / -0
4 years ago
Is there a counter to shield blobs + scallops in water?

Nothing water based can get near enough to deal meaningful damage, since all units are underwater and only torpedoes can hurt them which have poor range.
+0 / -0

4 years ago
a shield blob of your own! :D Also, claymores set to nofire and manually fired when under shields. This becomes increasingly diffficult with a grid of overlaping shields or with increased water depth, meaning a smaller shielded area at water level. 2 simulateous solid hits can make amazing cost, though this is a very micro-intensive battle from both sides.
+0 / -0
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