How To Powershift (the Finals)
Welcome! Today we have something a little bit different. Instead of a class, we have a meta planet in a game mode, a team composition, and boy, is it an interesting one. By now, I'm sure most of you have tried the powershift game mode, but for those who haven't, here is a quick rundown. 5 versus 5 Your team must control a moving platform and essentially keep it over the halfway point or make it to the opponent's checkpoint.
This is very similar to the payload from OverWatch, but actually fun. My friends and I have played Powers Shift a lot, and we have Theory Crafted a thing or two, and yes, that warning at the start is very real. Let me break it down. This is what the Testudo team builds. It consists of three heavyweights and two mediumweights or two heavyweights.
Two mediums and one light The tools you absolutely need are Dome Shield mesh shields, barricades, flamethrowers, APS, heel beams, and glitch nades. The rest is up to you. This combination of tools can lead to flawless victories, which means zero deaths and zero stopping of the platform. Let me break it down with some very crude drawings.
For starters, you will line the sides of the platform with barricades, leaving murder holes for your medium players to shoot out of, although they are your healers. They are also your spears and your first line of defense. Now let's look at what's going on from the top. First, you will have two APS placed down to block any explosive damage, followed by a dome and mesh shields covering the top and back of the platform, with your healers there in the middle healing and beaming anything that comes aboard the ship.
The heavies should be wielding flamethrowers as a last line of defense for any coordinated push from the enemy. If you are running the competition with one light player, you might be wondering where they fit in amongst all of this. They are your Flex player; they should be playing off the point, making life very annoying and difficult for the enemy team to even begin coordinating and eating together.
It's also not a bad idea if you are running three heavy players instead of a light to let that third heavy go out and be that Flex player once they have helped your team set up. One of the most important aspects of this build is the initial capture of the platform once you have it and are completely set up.
It can be very hard to stop you. Learn the spawn pathing and get there as soon as possible, get that platform moving, and get those defenses set up. Don't be alarmed if you lose the first fight; retaking is rather easy with the flamethrowers and a bit of team coordination. If you are a flamer, don't be afraid to lay down your life if it leads to the rest of your team retaking the platform successfully.
Now you might be wondering, How on Earth do you beat this? Well, a good way to do it is to run in the exact same competitive position, and then it becomes which team plays together better. Some other interesting strategies I have seen from people trying to counter us are a full team of heavy-charge slams and sledgehammers, and I must admit it worked well but still wasn't quite enough.
This build is insane. It is very hard to beat, and it most definitely needs balancing. At times, I have often felt bad for the opponents, so much so that we are now banning ourselves from using it. Use this knowledge wisely, and don't meta-abuse too hard. Sealed up the whole time, boys. Let's try the new game mode, Mode.
Wait, none of us died. Yeah, I
