The Prime bug has bitten. Let's talk Team/Class Strategy (Destiny)

by Malagate , Sea of Tranquility, Tuesday, March 12, 2019, 09:54 (2101 days ago)

So I've learned a few things the hard way, and I've got some ideas on new things that may work as we all begin cranking out higher-tier armor that gives us access to more perks in a match. (Props to Bungie on designing another engaging and evolving experience, btw.) I just wanted to solicit advice and offer some of my own lessons-learned; and to see if/when folks felt like getting sweaty in Prime. I really want that +15 Collector stack ASAP.

Lessons learned:

Long Range Solar Weapons Are Your Friend
Whether you're plinking away at enemy Guardians from a safe distance or you're popping blocker/Envoy shields, I've found the job is way easier with one of these guys.

• Distant Relation
  
• The Vow
  
• Polaris Lance

Tyranny of Heaven, Prometheus Lens and Skyburner's Oath may also be good choices for this.

Never Bank Alone
In case the game hasn't beaten you over the head enough with this already; you don't get the added benefit of draining motes from the opposing bank if you only have a single active blocker. When you hit 5 motes, make sure there are no teammates nearby that may need the last couple to earn one. More tends to be better than bigger when it comes to blockers. The major exception to Never Bank Alone is when your team needs to earn an invasion. Even at the point when you're ready to summon your Primeval, it's still worth it to hold out for more blockers, since the act of summoning doesn't have the impact in Prime that it does in vanilla Gambit. Which leads to the next point:

Build Your Stacks
Summoning the Primeval is the overall goal for the first 2/3 of the match in Prime, vs. 3/4 in vanilla Gambit. Once your big bad is out, your team's priority should shift to building the stacks you get from killing Envoys, and THEN focusing team DPS to burn the Primeval. During that first damage phase, without the stacks you're doing peanuts for DPS. Save that Nova Bomb for when you see two Envoys and their minor ads clustered up. It's important to kill your Envoys as quickly as you can, but the first damage phase hasn't proven to be as crucial in my experience. Stand in the well to get your hits in, defend yourself from invaders, but you should really be readying yourself for the next wave of Envoys. And whatever you do...

Hands Off the Crone
Folklore Trope! 3 Witches = The Maiden, The Mother, The Crone. Look it up, it's a thing. Hands off the Crone until after the enemy invader is down. I know you reaaally want to DPS that Primeval's ugly face, but hold off on starting the DPS phase. Otherwise you're wasting your time in the well that spawns, being distracted by the obligations of boss DPS while the one thing that can heal your Primeval bears down on you, and hungrily.

On Life as a Collector:

• Gotta go fast, max mobility when possible
  
• High resilience required, overshield on mote collection is bae
  
• Invader?!?:Tower Shield early, Tower Shield often
  
• Magnetic Grenades: Throw Them (Invaders LOVE this one weird trick!)
  
• Skullfort w/CoM: Life in the Splash Lane
  
• Crispy, Clean Zeroes in the Motes Lost Column

Be Good to the Collector in Your Life:

• Get Behind Me: Sometimes I'm a Piñata
  
• That's Not a Mote, It's My Overshield You Took
  
• Coming Soon: Everybody Loves a Giant Blocker

Anyways, I'm curious as to others' experiences in the different roles, and if there's any hard-won advice anyone else has for doing better as a team.

~m