Thread: Horde Clearing: What's the Rush?

Dear all,

In my previous thread starter I stated that we are all getting better at the game but that getting better tends to have consequences that affect the level of team play we engage in. Lately, there has been an impatience around most of us when it comes to natural hordes, tank hordes, and boomer hordes which leads to a general decision to keep rushing when these occur. There are different tactics to killing hordes without the use of throwables:

Blonde Tactic: Moving forward killing everything in front of you and then doubling back to clean the rest.

Kanati Tactic: Finding a place to bottle-neck the horde so he can gun them down in a line.

Duck Tactic: Find a corner or a boomed player and use a melee to protect that area.

Iravedico Tactic : Take up a defensive position and control fire towards the horde.

BT Tactic: Move forward as a team with one player walking backwards to defend the front three's rears.

All of these tactics work great for killing hordes. The problem is that of lately, we've been too impatient to do any of these. Leaving people like Kanati and Duck behind because the use a highly defensive tactic to killing hordes. We have this surmounting urge to reach the safehouse that we forget that taking our time may be the best way to do so. Remember an epic horde can do just as much damage as 2 or 3 SIs so saying that all four SIs are dead in the middle of an epic horde shouldn't produce "a hurry up offense" if you catch my drift .



Your Obese QuaCKER

Duck

A good SV team should be able to clear 95% of the horde as they move through a level without losing much or any momentum. The only time to stop is when SI spawns are up (Stop in a defensive location and clear any residual horde, and reload weapons before advancing.), or when you get a natural horde.

The problem is there are plenty of games where the top SV player will have twice or more the common kills of the next highest player on their team. Killing horde is important, you can't just run past horde or punch it out of the way, headshot it, kill it, get it out of the way.

The best way for a team to move through a map is a sort of punctuated rush.

Bait out opening attack, clear it. Move forward while killing as much horde as possible for ~15 seconds. Stop in defensive location and reload/kill off straggling horde. Bait next attack, clear it. Repeat.

Always stop for natural hordes. If a natty comes when you're in a bad location feel free to retreat to safety and clear it. There's no reason at all to keep pushing once SI spawns are up. The only point of moving quickly through a level is to diminish the total number of SI attacks you allow. If the spawns are up the attack is loaded already and moving quickly will not provide any advantage.

Alright I'm going to try to explain this as simple as possible. The reason there is an urge to move through the map fast is because you want the SI team to get the least amount of hits possible and more importantly you want to be past the choke points and easy areas that SI can attack from.

There are many players that think all people who run ahead are only thinking about themselves, and while there are some who are like that, there are many, like myself, who just want to get to a better position to defend against. Another thing is that there are simply different skill levels. It's not being stubborn or naive, but some players can run and clear horde at the same time, while others just can't. There is an art to using the "Shove/M2" and it is key when running and clearing horde. Maybe someone else can go into detail about that, but right now I can't get my head around it.

There are definitely teams in which you can move fast with and teams that you have to understand that you will need to move slower and help clear horde. The advantage of the teams that move fast is that the reason they are moving fast is because each SV can handle the horde themselves. This means that instead of 1-2 SV coming back to help clear horde, they are looking out for the SI attack, more importantly the Boom around the next turn.

No Boom means no horde, no horde means no hold up, no hold up means less SI attacks, less SI attacks means more health, more health means more chances of getting to the safe room.

Of course there are natural hordes and times when someone needs help that can't be avoided and that is fine. But in general, if you are needed help clearing horde you have some work to do, especially if you play the game a lot. Every time you play you should be working on your weaknesses.

-Concentrate on killing horde on the run.
-Knowing when to use your melee/ How to use your melee (swing your mouse while you melee to maximize kill arch)
-Bottle neck the horde. (Don't run in a corner and let them surround you. Run away from them so they all bottle neck and form a line. I run circles around my fellow SV so I can kill my common, their common, and also protect from an SI attack. Always stay close to your teammates during a horde)
-Don't fucking shop. If it's not along the path you need to be going, don't go searching for items.

There are many more, but can't think of them right now.

Now let's go play!!!

One of the best tactics is to do the military method of move and shoot I can't remember its proper name. But the person at the back moves while the next in line clears hoard of them. Then they switch.

I am not the best of clearing hoard off myself but I find it very easy to clear hoard off other people as long as a hoard isn't wailing on me.

To many people over think it. In my opinion, doing some kind of military/you cover my back I'll cover yours is over thinking it. Everyone just needs to be clearing anything in their path while covering the players around you. Anticipate the next hit and watch out for Boomer locations.

There are only so many spots in a given area that a Boomer is effective from. You know he won't be coming from far away, so around every corner and every roof you need to be ready to "shove", then back away and shoot, or get in a position to pop him early. The more and more I play the more I realize that boomers are the catalyst to wiping the SVs.