A guide written by erk
This is a basic guide for those new to defending in CTF. The tips that I give here is my approach to defending the flag and intercepting enemy flag carriers (EFC). Other defenders will probably have different thoughts on how to do it, but the most important thing is to use this guide as tips and find a playing style that works for you and plays to your strengths. In 5vs5 CTF, you will be running 2 defenders on almost all maps. The defenders will divide the roles between them, one will be flag defender and the other will be second defender. Flag defender is the one who escorts your flag carrier in a cross cap, and stays in base if the enemy has your flag but your team hasn’t managed to bring the enemy flag to your base. A lot of players think that just because there is no flag in their base, there is no need to defend. It couldn’t be further from the truth, since there might be enemies in base, just waiting on flag return or their team to cap (which also returns the flag to base). If the enemy manages to get your flag, spam your bind for where it seems he is heading as soon as possible, you can always correct it later if he changes. This gives your team more time to get in position for intercepting, which all players should do (even attackers unless they are 1 sec from enemy base).
Flag Defender:
Is the one always defending the flag room unless there is a cross cap, and should have priority on armors and power ups that are in base (except regeneration). It is IMO often better to have one player stacked than two who have a little more hit-points than average. With two players at around 150 hit-points total will go down almost as fast as if they were newly spawned, while someone at 200+ hit-points will be significantly harder to kill than a newly spawned. Also second defender will be outside of base quite a few times where that health and armor disappears very fast.
If the enemy manages to steal your flag, the flag defender should only chase him in close proximity to the flag room and stop chasing if he believes there is a good chance he will not catch him. In cases where there is a good possibility that the EFC is hiding somewhere around your base then it can be a good idea to force his move into middle by checking areas around base, but your main priority should be to keep the flag spawn safe so your team can return it as soon as they kill EFC. A lot of times there is no time to check if the base is safe before returning so it is therefore vital that base is safe at all times. Flag def is the easiest defender role to learn, but the one doing it should have good aim and it takes time to learn good positions on the different maps.
Second Defender:
The second defender is the one responsible for chasing down EFC. It is desirable that second def is a at least semi fast player, with good knowledge of the map and preferred routes that EFC can take. This role is harder to than flag defender, since there is a lot more situations that require quick decisions on if it’s safe to go help flag carrier or which route to take to intercept EFC. Experience and tactical knowledge is key when you are the second defender. The best way to accelerate your acquirement of tactical knowledge is to watch good flag runners against decent or preferably good defenders. Watch where the flag runners have the most success exiting and which paths the second defenders have the most success intercepting. Study the routes they take and adapt them to your own strengths. If you see someone always intercepting with railgun but have a weak rail yourself, then try to figure out where YOU must go to intercept with your weapon of choice. Attacking is another way to learn second defender. Try different exits and tricks to fool the defenders, and see what works. Then find a way to counter those.
Second defender should take the health/armor power up furthest from base, f. ex. the mega on DBD while leaving the closest to flag def (Yellow Armour). This helps your flag defender stay buffed up while not leaving the flag more than absolutely necessary.
Defending techniques:
Weapon Selection:
It is important to know what weapon to use in which situation. Rocket launcher and railgun are the two monster weapons in Q4, but there are plenty of situations in CTF where they aren’t much good. On DBD for example I’ve found hyper blaster to be the weapon of choice to combat haste when you are standing on the flag. It has unlimited range and a high rate of fire while having the ability to slow down the attacker and disrupting his vision. To be a good defender you should be proficient with almost every weapon in the Q4 arsenal since you often will be lacking one or two of your favorite weapons or have limited ammo for those.
Rocket launcher: is my weapon of choice for defending the flag since it knocks people around making it hard for them to run in their preferred path or aim at you. Using it to push them off the flag is a good strategy. It takes some practice get the timing right, but once you do you will be able to force them to change their paths. If someone comes in at high speed, you should try to hit them before they reach the flag which changes their path so they miss it and have to run back to get it.
Rail gun: A good weapon for damaging them long range, but it’s reload time makes it risky to use. If you miss they will have a free run at the flag if they come from your partners blind side. I primarily use this for long range combat or damaging/killing EFC. If you can’t hit with this consistently, then avoid using it unless all other weapons would be ineffective. If EFC has the flag but is running on the ground and dodging, try to delay your shot until he starts strafe jumping. He will be easier to hit then, and he isn’t going anywhere fast while running and dodging which gives your team mates time to get in position for the interception.
Lightning gun: good in some situations, especially when enemy is in the air or for pushing EFC into walls. High fire rate gives, means that missing the few initial shots is not that costly.
Hyper blaster: High fire rate, but a bit difficult to use. Is a weapon I mainly use at midrange situations or when I have nothing else except rail in close range. Hard to get the hang of, but a good compliment since it is close to the flag in almost every Q4 CTF map. Learn this and you will always have a weapon to use.
Shotgun: good for close range or when enemy is low. A reserve weapon for defending.
Machine gun: Use this when EFC is at long range and you don’t have railgun, or when you have nothing else.
Grenade Launcher: Very difficult to use, but can work nicely to block certain paths from the enemy.
Nail gun: Not very efficient on defense sine it has a spin up time. Last resort weapon or in close range.
Positioning:
There are two primary reasons there are two defenders. Two people are harder to kill and do more damage, and two people leaves less blind spots in the defense. Try positioning yourself so you cover the entrances that your partner can’t, while being in a position that will help him out. Standing on lower tier in DBD base is bad unless there are special circumstances. It makes your partner an easy target for everyone that is coming into base on upper level and once he is dead you are an easy target for the enemy to rain rockets down on.
Make sure your position makes you a difficult target for enemies spamming from base entrances while allowing you to do lots of damage to attackers. Where these spots are, is something you will learn with experience and a spot that works for one defender might be terrible for another. Again play the position to your strengths while supporting your partner, not what would work for other defenders if they played your position.
- Note: This guide will most likely be improved upon at a later time, but it is meant as a basic guide to get you started.
