User:Raine Valen/Luxon Alliance Battle Strategy Reference/Etnaran Keys Backlining

• Ptolemy was a great general. As Alexander the Great marched over Rome, crushing Roman opposition over cries of "We cannot beat them, they are too strong!", Ptolemy said, "We cannot beat them here, let us take the fight to their home!". Well, Kurzicks aren't as smart as Ptolemy. They will fight you wherever they can. This strategy uses this to your advantage, allowing you to keep an easy lead.

The Reasons

This is done because it can almost guarantee at least three red shrines, regardless of what the other teams are doing.

The Build

The three shrines in question are all caster-heavy, so the team should prepare for that.

• A team build should consist of:
  • One frontliner
    • From personal experience, a standard Conjure Dervish works very well, but any frontline should do well enough.
  • Caster Shutdown
    • Healing Burst, Shatter Enchantment, Faintheartedness, Backfire... all things you'd rather avoid. As such, any sort of interrupter works wonderfully
  • Big Damage
    • A nuker or a second frontline works well.
  • A healer
    • A Monk is never a bad choice.

The Means

This one really doesn't require too much explaining.

You hold the three shrines closest to your base. In doing this, you allow the other two teams to pressure the Kurzick backline while you continue to score points from these shrines.

Ideally, a team intending to do this should start in the center and camp that first shrine, because the Kurz will have at least one party headed for it and you're really not accomplishing anything by pushing up to res shrine. Because the back three shrines are so easy for a team to control, not having them at any point is silly.

The Counters

The single hardest thing to accomplish while attempting any strategic hold is to assure your allies that you've got it under control. Lots of times, allies will run for the back shrines in spite of your attentions toward holding them, when they should be pressuring the Kurzick lines. Communication, especially early on, is essential to avoiding this.

By the same token, a backlining team should not go for the front shrines and should instead let their teammates do their jobs. Remember, you’re not the only party on the map. And because of others’ natural urge to “cap cap cap!”, any shrine that goes blue will soon receive attention.

Expansion

In the event that the Luxons take all seven shrines, then and only then should you move up to the frontline to assist. Make one final sweep before doing this, though; one nuker or ranger can ruin your efforts to 60-second a victory.