Tips for Gambit. (Destiny)

by cheapLEY , Friday, October 19, 2018, 17:47 (2014 days ago)

We've had some discussions here about Gambit strategies, and I've had a few in game about the same thing.

Well, there's a good post on reddit with lots of general tips.

I'm shameless stealing it and posting it here. There's some really good advice in there. It seems sort of obvious, but Gambit is a complex gamemode where it's too easy to get focused on a single thing while ignoring something that may be important.

For those that don't want to follow the link, I'll quote the post below. I'm not the most knowledgeable or experienced Gambit player, so please add some more tips/context to this, or refute them. Gambit is an incredibly fun mode, but I've found it to be far more sweaty than I anticipated, so anything to give an edge to our Gambit players is probably worthwhile.

My notes to some of these are in bold.

Invades

• Actively search for the invader. There are four of you and only one of him. If you have <5 motes, you should hunt for the invader.
  
• If you are close to the bank when the invader arrives, just bank however many motes you have, even if it’s <5. This will make it nearly risk free to hunt for the invader.
  
• Invaders can tunnel vision when using a long range weapon. Take advantage by flanking. It takes two shotgun shots to take out a full overshield invader.
  
• Invaders almost always spawn where the enemy is not. This means you have a 50/50 chance of guessing correctly. If there are even two people searching for the invader, one of you will almost definitely run into him. (Invaders using Sleeper seem to really just expect players to hide. Being aggressive with a shotgun has worked pretty well for me)
  
• When invading, if you don’t think you have a clear shot, don’t take it. Just existing will slow them down. Many times, people run into spawn to hide, and when they’re hiding, they can’t collect motes.
  
• If you pick up the power ammo when the invasion portal is about to come up, it is now your duty to invade. Don’t just grab it and run.
  
• When primeval is up, an assist counts as a kill. DEATH HEALS PRIMEVAL.
  
• If you get invaded during primeval and you’re caught out, try to die on your own really quickly. This works best on Kell’s Grave map cause you can just jump off. Dying without being touched by the invader will not heal the primeval.

Motes

• The easiest way to bank is to just bank when a new wave appears if you have 5 or more motes. It might take longer to run across the bank, but it’s faster than running to the wave, collecting more, then double backing to bank. An exception is when using a teleporter or cannon, but banking is usually a good idea anyway. (One of the roughest games I've ever played was when the enemy team just continually flooded us with small blockers. Every time we killed two, two or three more were sent over. You can send them in droves and relatively quickly, so that the other team is almost always dealing with them.)
  
• Time your banks. You don’t need four guys for the last hostile. Start running back to get the blockchain going while your team finishes it off and catches up with their banks. This also starts you halfway to the next wave.
  
• First wave is about 20 motes. Optimally this can be four phalanxes, but even just three phalanxes is excellent. Sending an ogre is pointless, as there’s no invasion ready yet and the enemy team will be running to the next wave at about the same time and can focus it down in like 1 second.
  
• Phalanxes are annoying. Multiple phalanxes are extremely annoying. When in doubt, bank for phalanxes.
  
• Knights can do a lot of damage, but are quite weak defensively. A single knight is probably worse than a phalanx, but two knights or one + ogre can output enough damage to catch someone offguard.
  
• Ogres are very beefy. You should almost never be summoning ogres, but if you do, make it count – the ogre should be a tank while a knight cleans up or the phalanx disrupts for an invader.
  
• Ogres become significantly more advantageous when the enemy team has primeval up and you don’t – with no invades coming, you can freely collect all the motes you want. Ogres are large and beefy enough to block shots from reaching the primeval, and the constant knockback throws off aim.
  
• In general, the sum of blockers is worth much more than the individuals.
  
• All factions have an explosive enemy – Incendiors, Fanatics, Hydra, Cursed Thrall, Exploder Shanks, and Screebs. Look out for these, especially fanatics, thrall, shanks, and screebs – they are designed to arrive during the middle of the wave and kill you after you have already collected motes.

Loadout

• Explosives are effective here, especially against Vex and Hive as they like to group up. A primary with explosive rounds, timed payload, dragonfly, firefly, or Sunshot will work wonders for add clearing.
  
• If you’re comfortable with multiple weapons, matching energy type to enemy shield is useful for quickly taking out the tougher enemies – they drop multiple motes. Most common shields are solar and arc, void comes with Vex and is rarely seen on Hive and Scorn.
  
• That being said, Envoys have void shields so having a void weapon can be advantageous at primeval.
  
• You should have a weapon for effectively taking orange bars. I prefer a shotgun, though a sniper can be effective as well.
  
• Your power slot should be dedicated to either invasions or primeval. Some are flexible enough to do both (Sleeper and Whisper), these will take up your exotic slot. I use EDGE TRANSIT for envoys in case my team cannot figure out that we need to kill them.
  
• Do not use a bow. If you really really really really must, at least use one with dragonfly.
  
• Non-power exotics that I found effective include Sunshot, Riskrunner, Huckleberry.
  
• Roaming supers are more effective for invades. Single use supers are more effective for primeval. DO NOT INVADE AND USE WELL OF RADIANCE.
  
• All supers are great for add clear. As a general rule, if you start round 2 with a super, use it immediately. You’ll grab a head start for your team and will be able to recharge it by primeval anyway. Exception is if you plan to invade with it.
  
• Tether (with Orpheus Rigs) is incredibly strong. If your teammate tethers a group of adds, wait for the tether to activate before killing them. Orpheus rigs orbs don’t occur until the tether does. Good tethers can lead to consecutive tethers.
  
• Tethering the primeval and both envoys will generate the entire super back. A good strategy is to tether when they spawn, kill both envoys, fight off the invader, and then tether the primeval again afterwards. Then your team can unload everything into it.

Tether is seriously underutilized in Gambit, in my experience. It is extremely effective, though. Generating motes can be a game-maker, and it lets you chew through entire groups of enemies for a lot of motes quickly.

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Map Specific

• Phalanxes are significantly more dangerous on Kell’s Grave. The bank being an island provides ample opportunity to be bumped off.
  
• Knights are more dangerous on Cathedral of Scars especially if your team likes to hide in spawn during an invasion or primeval. Their fire can block off the arches for an escape or shooting lane.
  
• The teleporter on Cathedral can be accessed from both sides.
  
• The drill in Legion’s Folly can kill you. Personal experience.
  
• Be careful taking the teleporters in Legion’s Folly. It spits you out in the middle of the adds. Don’t teleport without an escape plan, even if that plan is to kill everything around you.
  
• The Vex milk on Legion’s procs Riskrunner.
  
• The tunnels under the bank in Emerald Coast are a good place to hide if you’re being invaded. It’s difficult to snipe into there and you can camp with a shotgun. Just remember it takes 2 hits to kill through overshield.
  
• There is a really shitty invader spawn on Emerald Coast. It’s at the corner between trees and ruins, around the left building. There’s no cover for the invader to run left. Running right only provides small tree cover.
  
• Spawn in Emerald Coast is a terrible place to hide. There's a clear sniping lane all the way from ruins. In general, Emerald Coast is a very open map and one where it is absolutely necessary to hunt the invader.