One feeling which I often have while playing a bunker (and its mostly prelevant in solo queue) is that my main task is to absorb focus of the enemy and take as much time as possible from them to kill me. So that meanwhile my team can roam around and conquer another nodes, score some kills etc. Not only does that mean that essentially my main task is to die slowly but I also get rewarded small amount of points for it since I dont get them for sitting at node and when built for bunker it is not easy to actually kill someone when you hit like a sponge. The latter issue is somehow remedied by recent rank points change (and thank you for that) but points scored still do matter for glory and AP purposes. This leads to a strange situation where I either play as bunker and feel more strategically important for my team but have less fun while doing so. Or I go as a roamer and have more fun while actually scoring some objectives and killing some people but then I kind of feel useless for the winning effort if someone else does not take the mantle of guarding and keeping the backbone of scoring effort.
So how is it, are bunkers act as scapegoats who “take it for the team”? Or is there a way to play one while also engaging into more dynamic and less “kill me please (but slowly)” playstyle?
Go for a balanced build, sacrifice some survivability to increase damage output/CC or roaming capability.
With most solo PvP we see people going into one-purpose builds (full-bunker, full-glass, etc) forgetting that a middle ground does exist. Figure out what works for you
Well i almost play bunker guard only in those days, you know noone wants to go bunker and since i play more than one class and many others don’t i almost always end up with bunker guard.
Bunker role is not just “absorbing damage” you have many roles all equally important like:
Rez and Stomp: You are the one who can stand still for those 3 seconds without being annihilated by condition\stun\aoe spam and you have stability so stomping and rezzing is your job.
Teamfight control: When you are the bunker into a teamfight you’re probably the one who has more time to safely look around, targeting low hp\priority targets, call for important things like dps on downed targets, rez spirit interrupts, ppl disengaging and so on..
Overall control: When not in teamfight and if opponent team has more roaming power than you and your team plays for two caps bunker guardian usually ends up on one point (Mid 90% of the time) and when you’re there your main role is to tell your mates how are they moving and where (Great example is forest, you can see both base’s exits and know where are they going before they actually get there). Many bunkers just sit there going semi-afk while you should always be aware bout everything happening on the map (Not only on your point) keeping your mates aware too in order to give them an advantage.
And at the end of the day, even with new reward modes, you end up with not so many points…average 60-80 i would say (But even less if you play 2 caps sitting on one), i know roamer will always get more rewards but i think it’s time to start rewarding tactical roles too…because you know you don’t just sit there doing nothing all time (Or at least it shouldn’t be like that) and just because you don’t go around ganking ppl it doesn’t mean you’re not doing anything for the team..but i also know that rewarding “background” work isn’t so staight as rewarding kills and caps…but it definately must be rewarded somehow..
How do roamers get more rewards? They get 5 points for top kills or captures?
Cause roamers are always in teamfight while bunkers may stay all time defending a point and even if you stay one minute vs 2 they eventually leave and you get no points for defending…and you get no points for healing and removing conditions (Aside from rez) too while a dps\condition always gets something dealing dmg and killing ppl around…if bunkering alone you may keep a point for one minute vs 2 (30 pnts for your team) and still get no rewards for it..
Bunkers don’t have to be completely stationary imo. Not at all. The guardian bunker for example offers heavy support. Most of the time you’re better off being at whatever ‘big fight’ is going on than sitting at a point doing nothing. This should translate to a solid about of points.
I guess the trick, outside of voice-com TPvP, is knowing when to rotate points.
Bunkers don’t have to be completely stationary imo. Not at all. The guardian bunker for example offers heavy support. Most of the time you’re better off being at whatever ‘big fight’ is going on than sitting at a point doing nothing. This should translate to a solid about of points.
I guess the trick, outside of voice-com TPvP, is knowing when to rotate points.
Infact i said you’re going to be stationary if your team has less mobility and is going for 2 caps, moving guardian is ok if you’re the one who moves faster and you can keep pressure on all points but playing on 2 you’re supposed not to lose any and with a side bunker there’s no reason to move a low mobility bunker guardian..you already have support at side too
Well my point was games can be very fluid… If they push a 3/2 split early to de-bunk far, with the rear point bunker pushing up to support the roamer harassing mid, your main team-fight all of sudden is happening at your home.
There are several out-comes to a fight like that. Some of which may end-up with your team rotating your team-fight bunker around. This is especially viable with much of the meta build variants using staff.
All I’m saying is that focus areas can change and a Guardian bunker is usually better at a team-fight, which is where many of the match points come from. Also isn’t a key feature of a good roamer it’s mobility? An immobile team just sounds to me like one that will be struggling against a 2 cap more often that it would like.
The new scoring rewards bunkers. Everyone on the team gets the same honor/glory for the win/loss. So now it really doesn’t benefit ppl much to go chase a bunch of kills. Bunkers win games, don’t worry if your personal score is low.
