5 Vs 5 Power Shift Mode: Everything I Know (the Finals Season 2 Early Access)
Intro
So recently, I got invited to play season 2 of the finals early, and I got to test out the new game mode, Powers Shift. If you don't know what powershift is, it's basically a 5v5 game mode where you push a moving platform by standing on it, and it's sort of like that OverWatch game mode with the big robot.
In this article, I'm going to make sure you guys understand how to play this game mode and what tactics and metas I think would be the best from my limited experience playing the game.
Initial trailer reaction
Wait, that actually looks goated. 5v5 through power, shift, all right. I mean, from what I can tell, it looks like a payload.
I'm guessing how this game would work is that you have to have players on the platform to move the payload. And basically, if you can get to the end, you win, and I'm guessing the team swaps from defense to offense, or I'm guessing that the other team has to get on the platform, and it goes in the opposite direction.
That's what I'm guessing. I mean, it is called Power Shift, so I wouldn't, so I guess it wouldn't be like a it would be like a attack defense like R 6, but that is a pretty cool game mode, though, like a 5v5 game mode is definitely like it's definitely something you can get like the whole player base, like a lot more people playing, is what I'm saying.
Yeah. I'm actually the most excited for the 5v5 game mode because, like, if it goes competitive or eSports. I think that would be pretty cool, but I don't know if the game mode itself is a little bit iffy because it kind of seems like you kind of have to stay on the point. And I don't know how that's going to work because this game requires a lot of movement, and if you're forced to stay in an area, it's going to be a little bit difficult; it's just going to be an aim battle, it seems, at least in my opinion, but we'll see how it plays, so here's how the game mode actually works.
How it works
It works, so when you're on the loadout screen, you can see all five players on your team, and you can choose any gadget you want to load out. And when you die in the game, you can change your load out any way you want; you can change your specialization; you can change your gadgets; it doesn't matter if they're in your reserve or not; and you can also change your build, so if you're playing light and you die and you want to play medium, you can switch to medium when you die, so that gives this game sort of an OverWatch aspect where you can counter an enemy composition.
By switching your load out and your build, and when the game starts you spawn on opposite sides of the map of the enemy and the platform is in the middle of the map when you get on the platform the platform will start moving towards W the direction of the enemy side, or if the enemy gets on the platform first they will start the platform will start moving towards your side of the map and you can move the platform the fastest if you have at least three players, any more than that it doesn't go any faster less than that it will go slower if the numbers of enemies and teammates, are the same on the platform then this platform will stop but if you have more players than enemies on the platform the platform will go in whatever Direction It's supposed to go, and when there's an enemy on your platform, the platform will make a siren, a noise that sounds similar to a cashout being stolen.
It might be the same sound, but I'm not sure. There are so many, so you will always know when there's an enemy on your platform. The platform itself has some cover around the edges, sort of like a barricade, and at the front and back there's open spots where people can vault up and mantle, and the platform itself is very dynamic.
If an explosion happens at the front of the platform, it will tilt towards that side, but it doesn't seem like the tilt is very game-changing. As the platform moves around the map, it will destroy any building it touches; it goes straight through buildings, and debris can fall on the platform. Goo sticks onto the platform, but it will break anything it comes in contact with structure-wise, as far as I can tell, and if no team has made it to the end by the end of the timer, the game will go into overtime, and whatever team is winning more and winning, meaning they have more area than the other team, in perspective of where the platform is, the team that has the most area will win.
If there's no enemies on the platform, once overtime hits, if there's no enemies on the platform, you win, but if there are enemies on the platform, you won't win until all of them are off, and this also means that the enemy will have to move the platform all the way to your end of the map to win without getting off.
From my experience, the platform is a deaf trap. It's a spot where everyone knows to look out for people who are always shooting at the platform, and cover doesn't really work on the platform. There's no easy way to prevent damage while you're on the platform. You can place a barricade, but most people will be above you, and the barricade barely gives you more cover because everyone will be shooting from above.
Shield will get broken very quickly since there's five people shooting at you instead of three. Shield will get broken very quickly, and the best way I feel like the best way to consistently win is to just play back in range and just make sure you're getting kills. Once you get enough kills, you can effectively take the platform and outnumber the remaining enemies.
If you kill an enemy and they do not get revived, they will spawn at their original spawn point on the other side of the map. Even though the respawn timers are lower, you still have to take into account the time it takes to get back to the platform, and that depends on where the platform is on the map.
It is likely that you will not be able to team-wipe the enemy, considering that three people can move the platform the fastest. You should probably have those three people be able to have some defensive abilities, so Heavies will probably be the best choice for guarding the platform; it may be like a medium healer, and the platform hovers slightly above ground, so there are times where you can grab onto it, but there are also times when the platform goes up or down vertically, and you might not always be able to get on it from the ground; you might have to go on a roof or you might have to zip onto it because the platform has vertical and horizontal movement on some parts of the track, and this is probably different for every map, so let's talk about the meta loadouts that I think would be good for this game mode and for heavy.
I would say Mes Shield is good here. Dome Shield is good here. Charge and slam are good here because you can push people off, and with MES Shield, you can block damage. Dome shield: with Dome Shield, you can block damage for medium heal beams, which is a very nice new specialization. Dem materializer.
