Hunter's Manual Vol. 1: Speeder

This is the first installment of my Hunter's Manual series that deals with fighting speeders, a super dangerous predatory class in Battle Bay.
For other installments, go to the home page for the Hunter's Manual.

Speeder is the fastest ship in the game. Many say that the finest pilots main speeder, though that's not entirely true. Speeder and enforcer are the two classes in the game requiring the fastest reaction times, however that's not all that makes a top-tier pilot. But I digress.

Speeders, at least in Ranked, are piloted with people who have a lot of innate skill. One of those skills is "speeder sense", an instinct that comes with experience. This instinct allows speeders to "perceive" an incoming attack. It's actually a finetuned sense of enemy turret orientation. This gives good speeders the "elusive" part of their definition. Another skill that belongs to speeders more than any other class is making hyper accurate decisions in the clutch. Good speeders almost never choke, so you can definitely NOT count on Lady Luck when a speeder comes for you.
Speeders are assassins. They specialize in taking key combat assets, or weak combat assets, out of the equation. They rarely initiate fights, they come over to end them, however.

From these attributes, which define the strength of speeders, we can derive their weaknesses. The reason I followed this method when studying speeders as a target is that speeders, due to the repeated balancing dealt out to them on a regular basis, are always ready to purge any apparent weakness and thus, any weaknesses I talk about in this guide will be purged by the time you try to apply them in combat

So what are the weaknesses of the speeders?

1. Since they go after weak targets and have speeder sense attuned to their particular target at any moment in time when they hunt, the best way to take down a speeder is to find a key combat asset/weak combat asset and use them as bait.

2. To take down a speeder, you need to limit their advantages somehow. They are fast. Nullify that speed with mines or control weapons. They're agile, limit their possible movement vectors by limiting their exits. They take advantage of chaos. Command your team.

I will proceed to go into specifics as to how to effectively hunt speeders. For this, we shall classify speeders into categories. There are three main classes of speeder, and one Rogue class that may be a hybrid of those three classes.

Rangers
The ranger speeder specializes in hunting their target at range. They use the elusive attribute of the speeder to its fullest. They also have the kind of long range aim that would make Hawkeye see stars Rangers, above everything else, can be identified as the only class of speeder that consistently hits targets at range. They're also a class that sometimes initiates fights. But almost always, they love to kite enemies. Do NOT try to hit a Ranger at range unless you have a ranger-killer weapon like a sniper cannon. You'll miss, they'll get what they wanted: your attention and your firepower, albeit wasted.

Assassins

Assassins are takedown specialists. They have a tendency to hide in the shadows and only show up for kills. They will have heavy burst, they will have their entry/exit route planned out beforehand, and they will try to manipulate you into a trap just like every other speeder. Assassins choose their fights well, and a well-informed assassin with the entire enemy team in vision is basically the Pale Horseman in 99% of all cases.

Duellists

Duellists are large-and-loud assassins. Sure, they try to go for weak targets, but they are not the kind that picks on REALLY weak targets(in terms of HP), rather going for positional weak targets. Stragglers at full HP? No problem! Duellists are mostly considered pretty harmless because they spend a LONG time in the engagement, making them easy prey. But trust me when I say that a single duellist can tie down 80% of the enemy team if placed smartly, And come out alive.

Rogues

Rogues are the role that the most dangerous speeders play. Remember, the more rough-and-ready your opponent looks, the more dangerous they are in combat. Rogues know that, to identify as a speeder, they dont require a single style they have to stick to. Rogues CAN and WILL apply multiple schools of thought when fighting, which is what makes them more erratic and more dangerous than most styles in Battle Bay. When you see a Ranger be comfortable in a duel, you know they're totally capable of handling close engagements. Every Rogue is different on the surface, but predictable at their core. More on that later.

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Now that we've talked about these classes, lets proceed to IDENTIFICATION.

Rangers

Rangers are easy to identify with their consistent long range aim and tactics.

Assassins
Assassins can be identified by the tendency to be in the shadows right until the moment of the kill, however that does not mean that they should be identified as such, because thats literally the WORST way to identify an assassin. You WILL lose a teammate if you try that method. No, the best way to identify an assassin is by their continued absence. Keep note of points on the map where your vision does not exist. Also, keep a note on obstacle-ridden side lanes. For example, the pillar sidelane on Destruct 9, or both sidelanes on Fighthouse.

Duellists

Duellists can be identified by their characteristic ability to end up on your rear flank. Fortunately, this happens to be a really good way to ID one in the start of the game, however, in the midgame, please treat them the same as youd treat an assassin.

Rogues

Rogues, as I said before, may LOOK unpredictable on the surface, but are actually not that hard to find and counter. If a speeder shows the characteristics of two or THREE of the above classes, he's a Rogue with the properties of said classes, and you can make up your mind on which class of antispeeder trap you'll be going for. TRAPSETTER rogues can be identified in the same way as assassins, and Ranger Trapsetters simply lack the hard burst needed to be a threatening subclass(though I intend to try making a build for that)

Once identified, heres a list of COUNTERS:-

Bait(Effective against assassins and rogues):

Identify the weak link on your team and use them as the core of a trap. Approximate the people who have a line of vision on you, approximate the assassins position and entry/exit path from your map knowledge. For example, if youre on D9 hiding behind the pillar while your bait is out in the open facing a hole in the wall, its best to hide yourself on the side where the enemy spawn is, because the assassin will most likely try to enter from their spawn to which YOU have the vision for. The hole in their plans is often enough to make an assassin retreat.

Rangetrap (Effective against rangers):

The rangetrap involves the use of a teammate to pull off an illusion that makes the ranger go for said teammate(for example, a tempting target at range will attract Rangers like nothing else). In the meantime, you can come in from the ranger's blindspot. For example, flanking from behind the iceberg in subzero.

The faked weak-at-close-range(Effective against duellists)
This tactic makes a duellist think that you are weak at close range, I personally call it a honeytrap. The duellist will see a person who uses an LRM or a sniper cannon or a railgun who is away from his team, a great target to go for. However, what he'll have no idea about is the sheer burst guns hiding behind the surface. The illusion must be perfect, however.

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Next, we'll take a look at the most common speeder builds and how they can be countered.

"The Flash"- Binitro OB/Binitro TS/Trinitro

This build is an incredibly agile build used by duellists and assassins. It is commonly not used by rangers due to its inability to perform flow moves that are easy with OB, as well as the fact that the just-right position for firing at range just cannot be acquired with the coarse control of the nitrocentric build. However, don't let its slow normal speed fool you; These speeders are super, SUPER dangerous, and at the endgame, they are capable of constantly chaining nitros. The best counter to this type of speeder is GCD manipulation.

"Berserker"- TS nitro OB/TS Binitro

Berserkers are pretty much a super common build run by almost every speeder type. The berserker build is pretty well-rounded and uses all available slots on the speeder. Strength in numbers, people. That's how you beat one of those.

"Controller"- TS TB nitro/TB nitro OB

Controllers are invincible in a 1v1, I kid you not. They are almost impossible to take down even in a 1v2 if they use TS TB nitro. They are pretty damn unbalanced, but I'm not here to talk balance. We need a long paragraph on this one.

There is an entire formation for this sort of target, the "1v3 co-op attack". Three people. A "bait", a juicy target for the controller. A "brawler" ready to ambush. A "chaser" ready to attack, usually a yellow boat. Only the bait needs to be in vision range, and the brawler and the chaser need to be fleeted and in on the whole deal.

Sequence:
***
Brawler forces controller to use stun after controller tries to engage bait.
Bait tries to run, chaser is waiting around that corner.
Controller now has stun on CD and is forced to use TS.
Brawler breaks shield and inflicts debuff/carro slow.
Chaser engages controller.
***
Chaser having a TB will be ideal here, you HAVE to tie the target down. Extremely difficult, but not impossible.

"Torpslinger/Mortar speeder"- FB nitro OB/FL nitro OB/FL-FB Binitro

Super annoying targets to deal with, the best way to engage them is to be aware of your surroundings while closing in on them. Be careful, because trapsetters are common amongst these speeders, and so are carro users. Be careful if you use TSes, torp users have a tendency to hide their torps behind the TS veil.

"Disabler"- FB TB Nitro
This subclass specializes in disabling a single target, literally nailing them to the floor. Try not to 1v1 this type. Use the baiting technique for best effects.


Well, that's it for the counterspeeder's manual, Anti out!

 

Still formatting it piece by piece xD
And dreading the fact that I have to do it about 6 more times

 

Nah, this is a speeder-only thread. I'll add them separately.

 

Lol ofc. What I meant was that this thread was purely for anti-speeder tactics, and that I'd publish the other ships(shooter, defender...) In dedicated threads.

 

So true lol.
I always say, "Trust your fear, there's a good reason for it. Just don't let it guide your actions."