This is one of the most unbalanced pair of spawns on a Trials map that we’ve had so far. Alpha (top) side is king; Combat 101: Fighting uphill is bad.
If you’re having trouble on Blind Watch, keep reading/watching!
Very few maps have been altered since the release of Destiny, but out of all of them, Blind Watch has seen some major challenges.
Deemed unbalanced by the community at large, the Control points have been moved once, but the map has been taken out of the Control rotation altogether. In Clash or 3v3 game types the balance becomes a much smaller issue, but in Destiny tournaments it’s been known to be banned by the players competing. In Trials of Osiris, we see it as our designated arena for the weekend and like it or not, it’s still possible to compete.
Known for it’s uphill structure and large open area with a moving circular platform in the center, Blind Watch has two power positions: inside, and out. Now, in Clash or Elimination, there’s no real reason to hold down the inside of the map, making the outer area near the A flag the place to control. This can make it difficult for teams spawning from the lower C side to approach a team that already runs the high ground. Be sure to utilize multiple paths – never move as a pack of 3 through a chokepoint, that’s how the Persians lost to the Spartans. Send at least one teammate to flank and use the element of surprise to cut a path and get the first kill.
Heavy ammo will be hard to push, so expect to use your rockets. Staying outside can be quite advantage for a rocket-using team where open spaces allow for Truth to reign supreme.
The capture point spawns below the canopy on the side of the map, where the original C flag used to exist. Though it’s surrounded by walls it can be accessed from above, so make sure you’re not standing right on the flag if an enemy drops through the slats on top of you.
Snipers will continue to be prominent, so make sure you’re sniping from a lesser known spot – avoid the rat lanes! Teams will always check the popular spots, so if you can avoid being drawn to those known locations, you’ll have the element of surprise. Good luck out there!
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Blind Watch Tips
Choke Points: These make it difficult for even an effective team to push through. You could be held back by a smart team on Top spawn, who could just wait for you to make a mistake, force you into using a playstyle you are not comfortable with, and fight them on their terms.
A smart team on Top spawn could position and split their resources, deciding to shotgun through the middle or snipe on either side to shut down an aggressive push from the flanks. This forced Bravo team to camp and wait for flag, as there was no feasible way to push, except for the entire fireteam rushing one avenue and relying on a mistake, or lack of support, from the team you were pushing. An effective team could counter this push by communicating the whereabouts of the enemy team, provided their movements allow them to regroup.
Flanking: This map was perceived as very “campy” because of the difficulty in executing a swift flank. When an ally was picked off by a sniper, it was almost impossible to stealthily maneuver around the enemy team and reposition for the revive. Playing the orb game and relying on solely your snipers lead to teams making a single pick to force the enemy team into a 2v3. The choke points labeled demonstrate the lack of lanes to be utilized by flankers; even higher level players can have difficulty traversing this map to flank before their team is seen to have a player short.
Sniping lanes: So many lanes on this map, and different angles to snipe lanes from. It made for some crazy tough angles and head glitches to hit, and for some interesting counter sniping, mixing up your own positioning to try and counter.
- Somebody on ‘A Can’ could shut down a push over ‘Awning’ easily,
- On top of ‘A Plat’ you could shutdown pushes above and below ‘Awning’ but this was generally a bad spot as you could also be counter sniped from lots of different angles.
- Sniping from ‘Back Shade’ or ‘Shade’ down the entire hallway.
- Sniping from ‘Top B’ all the way down to ‘Bottom B’.
Never hardscope, and you should expect people to flank and get a different angle on you.
Verticality: What does this mean? There are three different levels to this map, Alpha spawn at top and Bravo spawn at bottom. Destiny only provides the ability to show people who are, or are not, on your level with different shading on the radar. On this map it meant you couldn’t tell if someone was above or below you in some situations, and definitely caught me out a lot if my teammates weren’t giving me callouts.
The only way to combat this was map familiarity, is it possible they are above where you are stood, or are they definitely below you? If you aren’t sure, relocate yourself so it negates them pushing from either above or below.
Orb Control: The funky deaths were less common this map, after Bungie addressed some Crucible concerns last week, so being aware of where people died was a lot easier.
However, that didn’t mean that orb control was easy on this map. Preventing and stopping revives when your team killed somebody was actually incredibly difficult, unless they were way out in the open, up on top of something or you were able to sit on the orb. Calling out the location of orbs to your teammates, moving as a team to control, and getting the revive snipe if necessary, was essential.
Heavy: Sniping and delaying heavies was once again my aim during these rounds. One or two players pushing the enemy heavy, allowed us to delay while our third teammate rushed to support us with heavy ammo.
Supers were useful, as always, but it was difficult due to the length of time it took to run from spawn to the enemy’s heavy. This left it possible that you would approach the enemy heavy as they opened it and you could get shut down.
Sniping from Top B to Bottom B was very effective and shutting down Bravo Heavy, and sniping from Awning/Patio to Heavy was also effective to an unsuspecting team.
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