Hello everyone I have recently started to become more interested in roamer and the roles inner workings. So just post your general help you have for this class, be it hiding spots or just how you play flank. We want to hear it all!
General roamer help thread.
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Q/A Help
Hello everyone I have recently started to become more interested in roamer and the roles inner workings. So just post your general help you have for this class, be it hiding spots or just how you play flank. We want to hear it all!
get good a jumping and learn all the maps really well. abuse the other team's health packs.
get good a jumping and learn all the maps really well. abuse the other team's health packs.
all about the flank get in that ass larry, coordinate with scouts yeah all that good stuff
all about the flank get in that ass larry, coordinate with scouts yeah all that good stuff
Use your fucking shotgun Experiment using your shotgun and see if you like it more than gunboats. Gunboats can help you get around quicker and be distracting, while shotgun can help you deal more damage. Find what works best for you. Don't just assume gunboats are the best way to go about things. You could be the best shotgun roamer in the world and wouldn't know it cause you never tried.
[s]Use your fucking shotgun[/s] Experiment using your shotgun and see if you like it more than gunboats. Gunboats can help you get around quicker and be distracting, while shotgun can help you deal more damage. Find what works best for you. Don't just assume gunboats are the best way to go about things. You could be the best shotgun roamer in the world and wouldn't know it cause you never tried.
Grab health packs. Don't bother the Medic for heals because he'll be busy with the Pocket and Demo. If you have crit heals, or if it's quiet then go for it.
Don't overextend.
Grab health packs. Don't bother the Medic for heals because he'll be busy with the Pocket and Demo. If you have crit heals, or if it's quiet then go for it.
Don't overextend.
Don't overextend.
Watch Techno's guide to roaming. And abuse unlocks.
Watch Techno's guide to roaming. And abuse unlocks.
Most beginning roamers will be content with just holding flank passively, meaning they'll be around house on badlands, right yard on granary, etc. just watching, calling, and spamming. It's important during these times to hold in positions you know where you can get out and not be trapped. For example, if you're holding in badlands house, you have to make sure you're not too close to the healthpack, or else if they peek both soldiers from the porch door, they'll be able to juggle you and kill you. The proper, safe distance you have to hold will vary from person to person. Some people with better DM can hold closer to a turn or danger zone more confidently, while if you're just starting, you might want to hold further back and just call it out.
As you get more experienced, and you become more familiar with your team, you can begin to extend your boundaries in the course of getting better. Maybe have a scout post up with you from a different angle, or have your pocket support you from an area you may be flanked from as you push up to see what you can do. This part depends more on your team. Some teams have a really playmaker heavy pocket, who'll constantly be rotating and trying to pick someone, which means that you'll most likely be playing a supporting role, either standing next to him or standing on flank. Some teams have a more passive combo, which means that you, as a roamer, should be peeking out safetly from time to time and then following up on your damage, opening holes, etc.
You gain the above from experience: whenever you play, as Taggerung posted in his steam forums Roamer help thread, be thinking about how long the enemy team has been up, who just spawned and whether they've had time to setup a defense, etc. Based on this information, you should call your intentions then peek/jump up, alone or with a scout. When you do peek up, most of the time you'll find the enemy too far away (but even that is something to call, possible slow push / quick flood), but sometimes you'll see the enemy distracted and you can get a clean rocket off on someone. The important thing here is that a good roamer will choose to follow up or back off based on this damage. If you're peeking diagonal on badlands and you get a clean 50+ dmg rocket on a scout and you don't see his scout partner in position to defend, maybe jump up and try to pick him as he runs back to resupply etc. Or maybe you peek porch and you manage to get a 40 dmg rocket on the med. You can call out you're jumping and quickly jump him. Just remember that damage that is not followed up on is relatively useless, but jumping in pointlessly is bad too. Again, experience will teach you to recognize opportunities such as these.
A lot of the roamer game, however, takes place out of hold vs hold situations. As a roamer, you want to always be in position to support your team to the max. During a push, this usually means doing 1 of 3 things: Watching Flank for a bit to catch flankers, pressuring point early (while avoiding inevitable spam), or supplying support fire from an unexpected / different angle (diagonal onto grey bridge while your team is on launchpad). Which one to do usually depends on where your team is on the push and where you are at the initiation. If everyone on your team is going through choke, you might want to watch flank, but if your team is in a really good position and their team is out of position, you might want to pressure point. Again, this is heavily team and situation based. Some teams always run one scout through flank, while others have both scouts pressure point and rely on the roamer to get behind them via flank / support fire from a different angle.
Most beginning roamers will be content with just holding flank passively, meaning they'll be around house on badlands, right yard on granary, etc. just watching, calling, and spamming. It's important during these times to hold in positions you know where you can get out and not be trapped. For example, if you're holding in badlands house, you have to make sure you're not too close to the healthpack, or else if they peek both soldiers from the porch door, they'll be able to juggle you and kill you. The proper, safe distance you have to hold will vary from person to person. Some people with better DM can hold closer to a turn or danger zone more confidently, while if you're just starting, you might want to hold further back and just call it out.
As you get more experienced, and you become more familiar with your team, you can begin to extend your boundaries in the course of getting better. Maybe have a scout post up with you from a different angle, or have your pocket support you from an area you may be flanked from as you push up to see what you can do. This part depends more on your team. Some teams have a really playmaker heavy pocket, who'll constantly be rotating and trying to pick someone, which means that you'll most likely be playing a supporting role, either standing next to him or standing on flank. Some teams have a more passive combo, which means that you, as a roamer, should be peeking out safetly from time to time and then following up on your damage, opening holes, etc.
You gain the above from experience: whenever you play, as Taggerung posted in his steam forums Roamer help thread, be thinking about how long the enemy team has been up, who just spawned and whether they've had time to setup a defense, etc. Based on this information, you should call your intentions then peek/jump up, alone or with a scout. When you do peek up, most of the time you'll find the enemy too far away (but even that is something to call, possible slow push / quick flood), but sometimes you'll see the enemy distracted and you can get a clean rocket off on someone. The important thing here is that a good roamer will choose to follow up or back off based on this damage. If you're peeking diagonal on badlands and you get a clean 50+ dmg rocket on a scout and you don't see his scout partner in position to defend, maybe jump up and try to pick him as he runs back to resupply etc. Or maybe you peek porch and you manage to get a 40 dmg rocket on the med. You can call out you're jumping and quickly jump him. Just remember that damage that is not followed up on is relatively useless, but jumping in pointlessly is bad too. Again, experience will teach you to recognize opportunities such as these.
A lot of the roamer game, however, takes place out of hold vs hold situations. As a roamer, you want to always be in position to support your team to the max. During a push, this usually means doing 1 of 3 things: Watching Flank for a bit to catch flankers, pressuring point early (while avoiding inevitable spam), or supplying support fire from an unexpected / different angle (diagonal onto grey bridge while your team is on launchpad). Which one to do usually depends on where your team is on the push and where you are at the initiation. If everyone on your team is going through choke, you might want to watch flank, but if your team is in a really good position and their team is out of position, you might want to pressure point. Again, this is heavily team and situation based. Some teams always run one scout through flank, while others have both scouts pressure point and rely on the roamer to get behind them via flank / support fire from a different angle.
As you get more experienced, and you become more familiar with your team, you can begin to extend your boundaries in the course of getting better. Maybe have a scout post up with you from a different angle, or have your pocket support you from an area you may be flanked from as you push up to see what you can do. This part depends more on your team. Some teams have a really playmaker heavy pocket, who'll constantly be rotating and trying to pick someone, which means that you'll most likely be playing a supporting role, either standing next to him or standing on flank. Some teams have a more passive combo, which means that you, as a roamer, should be peeking out safetly from time to time and then following up on your damage, opening holes, etc.
You gain the above from experience: whenever you play, as Taggerung posted in his steam forums Roamer help thread, be thinking about how long the enemy team has been up, who just spawned and whether they've had time to setup a defense, etc. Based on this information, you should call your intentions then peek/jump up, alone or with a scout. When you do peek up, most of the time you'll find the enemy too far away (but even that is something to call, possible slow push / quick flood), but sometimes you'll see the enemy distracted and you can get a clean rocket off on someone. The important thing here is that a good roamer will choose to follow up or back off based on this damage. If you're peeking diagonal on badlands and you get a clean 50+ dmg rocket on a scout and you don't see his scout partner in position to defend, maybe jump up and try to pick him as he runs back to resupply etc. Or maybe you peek porch and you manage to get a 40 dmg rocket on the med. You can call out you're jumping and quickly jump him. Just remember that damage that is not followed up on is relatively useless, but jumping in pointlessly is bad too. Again, experience will teach you to recognize opportunities such as these.
A lot of the roamer game, however, takes place out of hold vs hold situations. As a roamer, you want to always be in position to support your team to the max. During a push, this usually means doing 1 of 3 things: Watching Flank for a bit to catch flankers, pressuring point early (while avoiding inevitable spam), or supplying support fire from an unexpected / different angle (diagonal onto grey bridge while your team is on launchpad). Which one to do usually depends on where your team is on the push and where you are at the initiation. If everyone on your team is going through choke, you might want to watch flank, but if your team is in a really good position and their team is out of position, you might want to pressure point. Again, this is heavily team and situation based. Some teams always run one scout through flank, while others have both scouts pressure point and rely on the roamer to get behind them via flank / support fire from a different angle.
Timing plays into all of the above, and the concept of timing is a bit harder to grasp. One classic example I love to use is one aspect of Blaze's performance during the S12 Lan Finals on Snakewater. When his team was defeated on the enemy second, and blaze was up, he'd position himself in sawroom and would drop out of window when he knew that the other team was going to mid through kitchen. He'd time it so that he'd drop right around when the medic was by window. Developing a sense of timing like this takes many hours of playing the game, and knowing how long it usually takes a team to regroup after a fight, and pushed based on your teams condition (if you wipe they'll push faster than if you have 2 or so up). Another aspect of timing is teamwise. During a lengthy engagement, you want to experiment doing multiple jumps or going for key targets that can turn the tide of the battle. Do it too early, and you'll be shutdown right away, while doing it later, for example after the demoman has used most of his stickies and some damage has been exchanged will allow you to get the most out of your jumps.
Hiding places are more useful, in my opinion during enemy transitions (lamp post above granary garage), and can be used to garuntee a kill (provided you are constantly switching up hiding places). Don't always be hiding though, and when you do, make sure to call it out and instruct or request help from your scouts. Getting caught in a hiding place without backup is certain death. Spend some time jumping around maps, interesting hiding spots like the ledges right outside of granary forward 2nd spawn are really rewarding if you use them well (Mangachu). You can find a lot of these from TEchnosex's youtube videos.
I missed a lot of things while writing this, but hopefully this helps. Again, most of this is subjective, as everyone plays roamer differently. If you have time, I'd really recommend watching roamer demos from the top or even mid teams from every level (open IM invite) that you have time for. Every roamer has something that works for them, and hopefully you can incorporate that so that you're prepared in every situation with multiple outs. Best of luck!
Timing plays into all of the above, and the concept of timing is a bit harder to grasp. One classic example I love to use is one aspect of Blaze's performance during the S12 Lan Finals on Snakewater. When his team was defeated on the enemy second, and blaze was up, he'd position himself in sawroom and would drop out of window when he knew that the other team was going to mid through kitchen. He'd time it so that he'd drop right around when the medic was by window. Developing a sense of timing like this takes many hours of playing the game, and knowing how long it usually takes a team to regroup after a fight, and pushed based on your teams condition (if you wipe they'll push faster than if you have 2 or so up). Another aspect of timing is teamwise. During a lengthy engagement, you want to experiment doing multiple jumps or going for key targets that can turn the tide of the battle. Do it too early, and you'll be shutdown right away, while doing it later, for example after the demoman has used most of his stickies and some damage has been exchanged will allow you to get the most out of your jumps.
Hiding places are more useful, in my opinion during enemy transitions (lamp post above granary garage), and can be used to garuntee a kill (provided you are constantly switching up hiding places). Don't always be hiding though, and when you do, make sure to call it out and instruct or request help from your scouts. Getting caught in a hiding place without backup is certain death. Spend some time jumping around maps, interesting hiding spots like the ledges right outside of granary forward 2nd spawn are really rewarding if you use them well (Mangachu). You can find a lot of these from TEchnosex's youtube videos.
I missed a lot of things while writing this, but hopefully this helps. Again, most of this is subjective, as everyone plays roamer differently. If you have time, I'd really recommend watching roamer demos from the top or even mid teams from every level (open IM invite) that you have time for. Every roamer has something that works for them, and hopefully you can incorporate that so that you're prepared in every situation with multiple outs. Best of luck!
Hiding places are more useful, in my opinion during enemy transitions (lamp post above granary garage), and can be used to garuntee a kill (provided you are constantly switching up hiding places). Don't always be hiding though, and when you do, make sure to call it out and instruct or request help from your scouts. Getting caught in a hiding place without backup is certain death. Spend some time jumping around maps, interesting hiding spots like the ledges right outside of granary forward 2nd spawn are really rewarding if you use them well (Mangachu). You can find a lot of these from TEchnosex's youtube videos.
I missed a lot of things while writing this, but hopefully this helps. Again, most of this is subjective, as everyone plays roamer differently. If you have time, I'd really recommend watching roamer demos from the top or even mid teams from every level (open IM invite) that you have time for. Every roamer has something that works for them, and hopefully you can incorporate that so that you're prepared in every situation with multiple outs. Best of luck!
Tell your scouts to tell you which way there demo/medic went to mid so that you know which direction to jump in.
If one of your scouts engages in a 1v1 (which btw isn't a good idea most of the time) with another scout its usually really easy to hit the scout with a fat 100 damage rocket because they're doing the "wasd wiggle".
Tell your scouts to tell you which way there demo/medic went to mid so that you know which direction to jump in.
If one of your scouts engages in a 1v1 (which btw isn't a good idea most of the time) with another scout its usually really easy to hit the scout with a fat 100 damage rocket because they're doing the "wasd wiggle".
If one of your scouts engages in a 1v1 (which btw isn't a good idea most of the time) with another scout its usually really easy to hit the scout with a fat 100 damage rocket because they're doing the "wasd wiggle".
Try to get a solid understanding of how to play every class.
The roamer skillset is pretty simple and once you can hit rockets and rj decently the dm doesn't change all that much. It just comes down to comms and knowing what you can get away with.
Try to get a solid understanding of how to play every class.
The roamer skillset is pretty simple and once you can hit rockets and rj decently the dm doesn't change all that much. It just comes down to comms and knowing what you can get away with.
The roamer skillset is pretty simple and once you can hit rockets and rj decently the dm doesn't change all that much. It just comes down to comms and knowing what you can get away with.
you are the least important person on your team
trade with somebody who is more important than you
if you cant at least make somebody more important than you worried about you
dont take heals
comm well
you are the least important person on your team
trade with somebody who is more important than you
if you cant at least make somebody more important than you worried about you
dont take heals
comm well
trade with somebody who is more important than you
if you cant at least make somebody more important than you worried about you
dont take heals
comm well
Roamer can be played a bunch of different ways, but the important thing is to not necessarily replicate exactly what you see roamers such as harbleu and blaze do. They do what works for their team, so what works for your team might be different than what harbleu and blaze do. However, that's not to say that it isn't worth looking at good roamer demos/stv to see how they react in certain situations to meld your own ideas for you and your team.
Also, this community is incredibly helpful to each other, so I'm sure some good roamers would be willing to give some tips/mentoring as well. Probably the most important part in all of this is no matter how much you read up on tips and strategies, you really need to practice and learn from every single situation. If you care about getting better, you will get better.
Roamer can be played a bunch of different ways, but the important thing is to not necessarily replicate exactly what you see roamers such as harbleu and blaze do. They do what works for their team, so what works for your team might be different than what harbleu and blaze do. However, that's not to say that it isn't worth looking at good roamer demos/stv to see how they react in certain situations to meld your own ideas for you and your team.
Also, this community is incredibly helpful to each other, so I'm sure some good roamers would be willing to give some tips/mentoring as well. Probably the most important part in all of this is no matter how much you read up on tips and strategies, you really need to practice and learn from every single situation. If you care about getting better, you will get better.
Also, this community is incredibly helpful to each other, so I'm sure some good roamers would be willing to give some tips/mentoring as well. Probably the most important part in all of this is no matter how much you read up on tips and strategies, you really need to practice and learn from every single situation. If you care about getting better, you will get better.
When you bomb to have the medic pop uber, you don't generally have to bomb on the medic, but you can bomb on the demo instead. The med will be forced to pop it on the demo because if the demo dies, that's like literally losing 1/2 of your team's firepower. Always comm to your team if you're behind the team or you're about to bomb because after you bomb and do some damage and you didn't comm to your team that you were bombing, how are they gonna take advantage of your damage? Say "hey yo, I'm in a weird ass position and they don't know i'm here, imma bomb them yo. Team: "ok, let us know when you fire yo last rocket on the nigga medic or the combo so we can push yo" Roamer: "I'm jumping and my last rocket and I is dead, rape deez niggas"
When you bomb to have the medic pop uber, you don't generally have to bomb on the medic, but you can bomb on the demo instead. The med will be forced to pop it on the demo because if the demo dies, that's like literally losing 1/2 of your team's firepower. Always comm to your team if you're behind the team or you're about to bomb because after you bomb and do some damage and you didn't comm to your team that you were bombing, how are they gonna take advantage of your damage? Say "hey yo, I'm in a weird ass position and they don't know i'm here, imma bomb them yo. Team: "ok, let us know when you fire yo last rocket on the nigga medic or the combo so we can push yo" Roamer: "I'm jumping and my last rocket and I is dead, rape deez niggas"
bl4nkdon't die
bl4nk is using reverse psychology here btw
what you want to do is triple rocket jump or speed jump straight into the enemy pocket's face, then fire a direct when you're right on him and kill yourself with it do it just don't even give no fucks
[quote=bl4nk]don't die[/quote]
bl4nk is using reverse psychology here btw
what you want to do is triple rocket jump or speed jump straight into the enemy pocket's face, then fire a direct when you're right on him and kill yourself with it do it just don't even give no fucks
bl4nk is using reverse psychology here btw
what you want to do is triple rocket jump or speed jump straight into the enemy pocket's face, then fire a direct when you're right on him and kill yourself with it do it just don't even give no fucks
always keep 1 rocket loaded for jumping away from a lost fight with funboats
always keep 1 rocket loaded for jumping away from a lost fight with funboats
TheFragileRoamer can be played a bunch of different ways, but the important thing is to not necessarily replicate exactly what you see roamers such as harbleu and blaze do. They do what works for their team, so what works for your team might be different than what harbleu and blaze do.
And to go off what fragile said, learn what works best for your team. For example, on my team, weeble has always been the scout thats trying to be the next clockwork or yz50 which means I have to play less aggressive than normal because we've had numerous times where we were always the first people to get picked off. And we all know weeble never lets go of W, so I always have to think even more about the tradeoffs when I decide to go all in a fight in order to avoid that. In the end learning more about your team is probably one of the best ways to improve not only as a roamer, but as a player as well
[quote=TheFragile]Roamer can be played a bunch of different ways, but the important thing is to not necessarily replicate exactly what you see roamers such as harbleu and blaze do. They do what works for their team, so what works for your team might be different than what harbleu and blaze do.[/quote]
And to go off what fragile said, learn what works best for your team. For example, on my team, weeble has always been the scout thats trying to be the next clockwork or yz50 which means I have to play less aggressive than normal because we've had numerous times where we were always the first people to get picked off. And we all know weeble [b]never[/b] lets go of W, so I always have to think even more about the tradeoffs when I decide to go all in a fight in order to avoid that. In the end learning more about your team is probably one of the best ways to improve not only as a roamer, but as a player as well
And to go off what fragile said, learn what works best for your team. For example, on my team, weeble has always been the scout thats trying to be the next clockwork or yz50 which means I have to play less aggressive than normal because we've had numerous times where we were always the first people to get picked off. And we all know weeble [b]never[/b] lets go of W, so I always have to think even more about the tradeoffs when I decide to go all in a fight in order to avoid that. In the end learning more about your team is probably one of the best ways to improve not only as a roamer, but as a player as well
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