#want very specific team comps

[femmesandhoney]

co op red flags: neuvillette, xianyun, wanderer

co op green flags: literally anyone else but especially kokomi <3

[beestriker015]

Princess Peach x male s/o headcanons

S/o is one of the few humans living in the Mushroom Kingdom, and has been a friend of the princess since they were babies.

As time went by and the two grew older, that friendship began blossoming into something more.

Eventually, with some encouragement from both Mario and Luigi, the princess confessed her feelings to s/o.

“I love you s/o, and I wish to be with you. Please know that if you don’t feel the same way about me, the two of us will always be friends.”

She says with a smile, awaiting his answer.

“Peach, I had no idea you felt that way about me. To tell you the truth, I’ve had feelings for you for a long time now. I love you too Peach.”

Upon hearing this, Peach brings s/o into a warm embrace, thus marking the beginning of their relationship.

News quickly spread throughout the kingdom that the princess has found a suitor, much to the couple’s dismay.

“I’m so sorry s/o, I didn’t expect word of our relationship to get out this fast.”

“Well, everyone was bound to find out some time. I just hope we won’t be hounded by the press too badly.”

Much to the pair’s surprise, the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom were very respectful of their privacy and were happy that the princess found someone to love.

“Thank you, all of you. I am honored to be the princess of such amazing people.”

Peach addresses her subjects with a grateful smile on her face during the official announcement of her relationship with s/o.

“If the princess has a suitor, that means she’s gonna get married right?”

A Toad asks as the crowd begins chatting amongst themselves.

Before Peach could speak up and tell them that she and s/o aren’t planning on getting married at the moment, another Toad joins the conversation.

“Yay! Let’s give a big cheer for Princess Peach and s/o! Congratulations lovebirds!”

The crowd begins cheering as Peach and s/o blush and exchange glances.

“I mean, it’s not like I’m opposed to getting married to you s/o, but I don’t wanna rush things.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I definitely wanna marry you someday Peach, but only when we’re both ready.”

He kisses her, flustering the princess as a series of awws are heard from the crowd.

By request of his girlfriend, s/o moves into the castle.

“Welcome to your new home s/o! If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thanks babe, I guess this means no more slinking off to my place huh?”

He smirks as the princess laughs a little.

“I suppose not. As long as I get to be with you though s/o, it doesn’t matter.”

Before s/o moved in with her, Peach had a tendency to sneak out of the castle to go visit her boyfriend, causing everyone (specifically Toadsworth) to panic that their princess has gone missing.

Speaking of going missing, whoever Bowser kidnaps the princess for the umpteenth time, s/o joins Mario to go rescue her from the Koopa King.

“Bwahaha. I heard Princess Peach was dating someone, but I didn’t expect it to be someone so wimpy! You and that stupid plumber should just go home! The princess is mine now!”

“We’ll see about that Bowser! Mario, let’s take him down together ok?”

The mustachioed jumper nods as they prepare to fight, with Bowser ending up defeated as per usual.

“We make a great team man, now let’s save Peach!”

After rescuing the princess, she rewards the two with a cake (and giving s/o an affectionate kiss).

“Thank you s/o for helping Mario rescue me.”

“You’re welcome babe. Besides, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t do anything to save you?”

The princess smiles and gives her boyfriend another kiss.

“You are an amazing boyfriend s/o. I love you so much.”

“I love you too Peach.”

Being incredibly wealthy, Peach loves to spoil her boyfriend with gifts.

“I love you Peach, but you don’t have to get me all these things, not that I don’t appreciate it.”

“I know, but I just can’t help it s/o. I’ll try not to overdo it.”

She says knowing that she already bought him a really expensive thing he’s always wanted.

Whenever Peach competes in a kart race, s/o can be seen in the stands cheering her on.

“Go babe! I know you can win this!”

Hearing her boyfriend’s support always drives her to do her absolute best to win.

Even if she doesn’t get first place, s/o always runs up to her after the race ends and praises her nonetheless.

After being together for quite some time, s/o decides it’s finally time to propose to his girlfriend.

“I’m nervous Toadsworth, I don’t know if I can do this.”

“There’s nothing to be nervous about my boy! The princess absolutely loves you, I’m sure she’ll be incredibly happy when you ask for her hand.”

“It’s not that I think she’ll say no, I just…what if I mess it up?”

“As long as you speak from the heart, you’ll be fine s/o. Now chin up! The princess is waiting!”

S/o nods and thanks Toadsworth for the confidence boost as he goes to the balcony where his girlfriend is waiting.

“Oh. Hello s/o. Why did you want to meet me out here?”

Not answering her, s/o gets down on one knee and pulls out a beautiful ring as the princess gasps.

“Peach, being with you has made my life worthwhile. I love you with all my heart, and want to spend the rest of my life with you. My love, will you marry me?”

She nods rapidly with tears in her eyes.

“Yes s/o, I will!”

Once she puts the ring on, Peach pulls her now fiancé into a passionate kiss.

When the day of the wedding comes, Peach has Daisy as her bridesmaid, with s/o having both Mario and Luigi as his groomsmen.

“Do you Princess Peach take s/o as your husband for as long as you both shall live?”

The minister Toad asks as the princess smiles.

“I do.”

“And do you s/o take Princess Peach as your wife in sickness and in health?”

S/o nods.

“I do.”

“Then by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife!”

Peach and s/o seal their marriage with a kiss as the entire kingdom celebrates the two’s marriage, except for a very upset Bowser, who was watching the ceremony from aboard the Koopa Cruiser.

Going from childhood friends to lovers, there’s no doubt that Peach and s/o’s love for each other is so strong that not even Bowser’s constant kidnappings can put a strain on it.

[animentality]

I'm planning out an Honour mode run(which will also be origin Astarion run) and I was wondering if you have any tips for it? All my characters will be multiclassers and I'm planning which weapons and armor to use, but I'm just curious what someone with probably one thousand hours in the game thinks could help

Ironically, I just this week beat the Honor Mode with a friend of mine, hee hee.

Alright, so here goes!

My Personal Team Comp

Paladin/Fighter (My buddy)

Paladin/Fighter (Astarion at first, Minthara later)

Storm Sorcerer (Karlach for me but it could be anyone, really, I was just trying to get the dating achievement- Karlach is actually a terrible Sorcerer because her race gives her smite spells...which she can't use effectively, as a staff user...)

Ranger/ Rogue/ Fighter (Me)

Reasoning:

Two frontliners is always good, to keep the aggro off of the squishier half of the party. Plus, the melee classes get to hit multiple times, which is just, insanely good, and lets you destroy targets. Paladin is obviously the most broken class, but a Paladin Fighter is a great multi class for Action Surge and Battle Maneuvers! Make sure to grab Disarming Attack and prioritize stealing weapons so enemies can't hit you very hard anymore!

You might want to have some kind of Rogue, for sneak attack, and disengage potential as well! Good for long range picks, and quick killing of high priority targets. Plus, two frontliners make it so you always have advantage.

And you of course need an AOE spellcaster of some kind. I think the Warlock is pretty powerful, mostly because of Eldritch Blast and Hunger of Hadar cheese, but the Sorcerer is the strongest magic caster with all their excellent Metamagic passives. They can also regain a lot of spell slots and have a ridiculous DPS output. But Hunger of Hadar is an excellent spell; it is without question the BEST AOE spell in the game.

The key to beating BG3 in any mode is to make distance.

Force your enemies through tight choke points stuffed with magical obstacles and just pick them off as they try to get through.

Hunger of Hadar is broken because not only are they blind, but they're also SLOWED and you get ADVANTAGE on them when they're in it, AND it does damage, AND as I mentioned before, you can throw them back INTO it when they try to get out with Eldritch Blast, which is also just excellent for throwing enemies away from you.

So Sorcerer or Warlock are excellent choices, but I personally have more of an affinity for Sorcerer.

Now.

Why Storm Sorceror specifically?

Because they get the best passives. People say Draco Sorcerers are the best, but their passive is only helpful early on. The Storm Sorcerer passive lets you cast FLY as a bonus action every time you use a level 1 or higher spell! The disengage potential is critical for Honor Mode, plus it's great for just repositioning whenever you want. Plus you get excellent passives like Heart of the Storm, AND you get immunity to multiple damage types, instead of just one!

Why the Ranger/Rogue/Fighter?

Check out this guy's comp, which I used. It is insanely powerful.

You can dual wield two one handed crossbows, and just SHRED everything you come across.

I was literally playing with two paladins and I WAS HITTING HARDER THAN THEM.

Ranger gives you dread ambusher, then you can hit TWICE as a melee class, which the Rogue doesn't get, and then you can get Action Surge, and do it all over again, PLUS as a thief subclass, you have two bonus actions, for your offhand attacks!

It's honestly broken as fuck, and it's perfect for the long range, disengage potential.

Now you have my suggested comp. Keep in mind that you can have just about anything you want, but remember, two frontliners, at least one magic caster with dps potential, and then the fourth should ideally be a long range specialist.

Now then...

I recommend you pick the Dark Urge.

Why?

For a million reasons.

It is MUCH easier to 1v1 Orin in the end rather than kill the whole Temple and deal with her bullshit Unstoppable nonsense.

You want the deathstalker mantle, which is insanely good for rogues, and everything in general

You WANT To kill Isobel so you can have the Slayer Form, which will get you out of tight spots, plus it makes Orin even easier to deal with.

You also want access to Bhaalist armor for accepting Bhaal as your master.

Also, you want to accept Bhaal so you can get Power Word Kill, a very useful one time use ability, which can uh, hint hint, be used on the Netherbrain to end the game very quickly

You also want to have the Bhaalist buff, which helps you crit more during the final battle.

But this now segues into...

Equipment

Now, if you're the Dark Urge...do not kill Alfira.

Knock her out every day in Act 1 until Quil Grootslang takes her place!

You want the robe Alfira will give you in Act 2 for saving the tieflings from Moonrise! It's called the Potent Robe and it's GREAT for sorcerers! But you can have both it AND the Deathstalker mantle so long as you're vigilant and knock her out every day!

Just be careful, because Arron will kill you if he catches you! So try to knock her out in one hit, if you can. Put the game in turn based mode, if you must! Or use sneak attack.

Other equipment:

Spellsparkler! Insanely broken for Sorcerers and magic missile users. You can use it till the end of the game.

Make sure to get the staff Lorroakan is hoarding inside Sorcerous Sundries! It gives you Kereshka's Favor, which is excellent for Storm Sorcerers.

Also make sure your final feat as a Sorcerer is Dual Wielding, because if you dual wield that staff AND Cazador's staff, you get the abilities of both staffs! You can also use something other than Cazador's staff, and use Arcane Battery twice! So you can cast something ridiculous like, say, Disintegrate, more times than should be allowed! Also, there are like, two amulets and one staff that will allow you to regain spell slots! Make sure to gather as many as you can. Sorry I can't name them off the top of my head... I know one is a pearl necklace that you can buy from Omeluum, one is Caitlin's staff, and the other one you can get from the Warden in Moonrise...make sure to grab them so you can restore spell slots. Oh, also, if you do the House of Hope...you can grab the staff that's in his secret treasure room! Which is also great.

Make sure to buy the Risky Ring from Araj! It gives you advantage on EVERY attack, it just also gives you disadvantage on all saving throws...but if you give it to a rogue, and they have the deathstalker mantle, then they don't have to worrry about being hit ever, lol, plus they have sneak attack ALWAYS. no allies next to enemies required!!! it's a broken item, so definitely grab it from Araj in Act 2!

If you have two heavy armor wearers, use the mold from the Grymforge Heavy Scale mail twice. Make sure to then replace one of them with Ketheric armor later on.

You also want the aformentioned Bhaalist equipment. The Bhaalist amulet is great, as is the Bhaalist armor you can buy from the dragon seller in Sarevok's chamber.

Speaking of Sarevok, kill his ass! You want his excellent sword and helmet.

If you're feeling brave, kill Ansur too, because his helmet is awesome, as is his sword, but be careful! That lightning bitch is an honor mode run killer! I've almost lost two runs to him.

Even though he's hard, I do recommend killing Raphael! The Constitution amulet, the gauntlets of hill giant strength, and the staff in his treasure room are really worth it.

And uh.

Yeah!

Good luck!

Let me know if you have any more specific questions, and trust me.

I know...way too much about this game.

But this is just my starting guide!!

I had a blast in Honor Mode, I bet you will too!

Oh.

And don't kill Gortash. Not because he's my boyfriend or anything, but because, he's not really worth fighting, especially not for the loot he gives you!

If you must kill him, do it at the Morphic Pool instead of Wyrm's Rock!!!

[skyplayssplatoon3]

Big Run Advice: Eeltail Edition

This was with randoms! Granted they were quite good randoms, but we all started not knowing the map, so a few tidbits to maybe help you get the gold! (135 eggs) You need to shoot for about 40+ eggs every wave to have a good chance! -

Tip #1: INK THOSE WALLS! Yes, as MANY as you can possibly find! It may seem pointless at first, but when you're a heavy weapon trying to escape/get to higher ground, they will save you in a pinch! Spend the first 10 second countdown getting the walls around you! Tip #2: Luring is still effective, but don't overdo it! You do not have to try and lure things like Big Shots, Stingers, Flyfish, etc. Those are still incredibly high priority targets! However let Scrappers, Steelheads and Flipper Floppers come closer to the basket! You can let a few eggs pile up before dunking them once things are cleared out!

Tip #3: Play to your weapon's strength! This is for every Big Run, but learn what your weapon needs to succeed! If you're saddled with a Hydra, stay on higher ground and make sure everywhere around you is as inked as possible for escapes! (The walls come in handy for this). If you're a Sploosh or otherwise fast, high power weapon, spend some time clearing out chum for your team so they don't get overwhelmed! (If you have a specific weapon you need advice on, just shoot me an ask!) Tip #4: Get used to the map before worrying about high scores!

It's okay to not get the gold in your first few attempts! Focus on surviving the map all 3 waves. Besides, the higher in rank you climb, the higher the egg requirements become, which means more bosses and more eggs to get! Get VERY familiar with all the waves and types! Tip #5: Don't forget the Big Run x2 Scale Bonus! If you want those fancy new Octoleet gears, NOW IS THE BEST TIME TO PLAY!! You get x2 for every King Salmonid round, even if you can't defeat them, you'll still get something! This'll bring you a LOT of bronze scales, so play as much as you're able to get the gear later! Big Run is only every 3 months.

--

Remember there is an element of RNG to it, be it boss spawns, weapon comps, etc. Just keep at it and you can get there!!

[enden-k]

endennnn hihihihihihihi i know you would be really biased in answering this but I am at the same crossroads I was almost a year earlier idk whether to pull for alhaitham or kazuha bestie but i would like your very very honest opinion (i also asked my bestie who's a kazuha biased so I would love to hear from you too) pls pls put me out of my misery by helping me decide /j

why specifically kazuha vs haitham again? do they rerun together again or???

also i love and main haitham and all but just bc of that i wouldnt rec everyone to ditch everyone and go for him LMFAO (i probably would depending on the character)

anw not speaking as haitham main/lover/spouse/hater, ill be neutral:

honestly depends. dendro reactions are still the best and strongest and haitham rlly hits hard even without his best supports or whatever. kazuha is one of the best supports and always in most teams

are you in need of a main dps? a good dendro dps? do you have a supportive dendro to pair him with? haitham is super strong, against single or bunch of enemies, extremely fast and one of the strongest dps but hes a dendro dps, he needs to stick to specific teams for dendro reactions (2 dendro/2 electro, 2 dendro/1 electro/1 hydro,....→kokomi/furina/xingqiu, nahida/baizhu/yaoyao, raiden/kuki shinobu (i think even fischl? never tried them together tbh))

i think hthm is v friendly regarding team builds (doesnt need specific 5stars altho he does like to run w nahida like many dendro teams do) - just always have one more dendro with him on 4p deepwood

this is my current team w him for funsies, usually i have kokomi in furinas slot

kazuha is amazing support for many teams, like:

national, freeze comps etc

if you already have a good dps like raiden, childe, ayaka, etcetc you can support them w kazuha since their strongest teams often have him. you can never go wrong with having kazuha, he is one of the strongest and friendliest supports (but he isnt necessarily a must have) - i saw some ppl try to make him a main dps and even tho his dmg output isnt comparable to some other its still possible (tho i strongly believe u can make anyone main dps)

tl dr:

if u want a very strong dendro main dps who will carry ur ass and also got nice tits, and ideally have the team to support him for max dmg, go with haitham

if you have a main dps already and wanna support them or want more cc, go with kazuha

haitham is one of the strongest dps but tied to specific teams as a dendro main dps and not versatile in his role (meaning he lit cant do anything else but kill, he is a main dps through and through)

kazuha is one of the best supports and more versatile in his role (support/sub dps or main dps if u wanna invest in that build)

this is ofc my own thoughts and babbles and idk if any of that helps. not gonna tell ppl who to pull but always here if ppl need help w building n stuff

[pantspissedinreverse]

hey i love seeing ur posts about comp tf2, do you have any advice for a wannabe sixes medic? ive been watching a lot of recorded games and demo reviews and stuff and it looks like a lot of fun but actually playing a match myself sounds so daunting and scary

hello anon! thanks for asking and im glad that youve thought about playing comp :)

this ended up really long so under the cut it goes

to start with some outside stuff youll need:

a discord account

a mic (or any other audio input device)

mumble (optional)

from what ive seen, the biggest leagues all have discord servers where players can find scrims or teams and teammates (in the case of rgl) but also teams use discord because its a quick, easy and cheep way to keep in touch

now, a league, there are 5 leagues but ive only played in 2 of them as they are region specific, there are:

rgl (NA/north american league)

etf2l (EU/european league)

ozfortress (oceania/australia league)

asiafortress (asian league, site is down rn?)

ugc (international, the old league where it all started)

now the best way to get into comp is probably through a newbie cup, a shorter season for new players with dedicated coaches provided, but the only one that regularly runs is by an NA pug group, speaking of, another good way to start is through pugs! (or mixes if youre in eu) pugs or pick up games or mixes are run either by the league or an independent person, in NA the biggest non-league pug group i know is tf2 coaching central or tf2cc for short, they also run the newbie cup and are based entirely on discord! in EU, mixes are run usually through sites and require mumble, the biggest being tf2center which id say is much more beginner friendly and hosts more formats than the other site, tf2pickup.eu where you can only play 6s and will usually find players that have been playing since season 2 (etf2l is on season 47)

also! every friday (if there are enough people) there are newbie mixes! basically a mix/pug with a coach, i havent personally played but ive heard its good

now if you find a league that works for you, heres some settings that youll need:

enable developer console

this will allow you to open the developer console, this is a nifty little thing because it allows you to do all kinds of crap, for example, connecting to a specific server if you have the connect info, which is very important in comp, you can change the button that opens the console at the very bottom of the settings

thats how the dev console looks like, heres how to find it:

change your fov to 90

this can be either done in the settings or by putting fov_desired 90 into the console, 90 is the max you can set it to in the settings but if you want more fov then feel free to change this to something else like 130 for example. this is done because the default tf2 fov doesnt let you see as much as 90 and having that information is crucial, especially for medic

now for the actually medic specific stuff

in the advanced settings there are two key things you need to turn on, 1) keep healing even when not pressing the fire key and 2) autocall for medic if below 99% health

the first one is a no brainer, youre gonna be healing constantly for 2 hours or more if you play a season as medic and your fingers will cramp up if you just keep holding down mouse1 so this ones for that

the second one is a bit odd, why autocall? well it might help you find spies or find your way back to your team if you get lost without having to comm it out, it also shows you if a teammate got damaged very recently because of the small cross above their head, this is important because then it will take more time to heal them up

uber masking

when you are about to hit 100% ubercharge, press E, and the "medic!" voiceline is gonna override the very loud and very obvious "I AM FULLY CHARGED" voiceline, tldr: you dont want the other team to know that you have uber

uber counting

the average stock uber can be built in 40-50 seconds, at the start of the round your ubers are the same but they will get offset as the game goes on, when the enemy medic spawns count in your head to 40 or watch the clock for 40 seconds and at the end of that 40 seconds they will have uber

uber related callouts:

"we have ad" (=we have more uber than them)

"we have disad" (=we have less uber than them)

"they have" (=they have uber, be cautious)

"we have" (=we have uber, yay!)

"its even/equal" (=the ubers are the same)

"med dropped!" (=the other medic dropped uber, you now have a lot of ad, you will hear this from your teammates)

"he got a saw on me" (=their medic is running ubersaw and just hit me, they have 25 more uber)

"use" (=pop it)

"use on me/use on [class]" (=use uber on a specific person or class, usually scout or demo)

"big ad/disad" (=the difference between our ubers is big, around 50% difference)

"small ad/disad" (=the difference between our ubers is small, anywhere from 20% to 5% difference)

thats a lot of callouts but dont fear, youll get a hang of it soon :)

the ideal loadout

crusaders crossbow

stock medigun

solemn vow

i did mention the ubersaw but its use is much more niche and works the best when the enemy team is shit, the solemn vow also lets you see the enemy medics uber if you see him but dont use this as a crutch and also call out enemy health ("demo is 50!" and then your flank scout game ends him), ill go over the weapons now

crusaders crossbow

the weapon with most skill, it allows you to heal your team at large distances, your teammates will usually say "arrow me" or "arrow me [location]" and then you shoot them and heal em up, the crusaders crossbow is also used in rollouts a lot, process and gullywash for example both require you to arrow someone mid rollout, i have a few aim training maps linked in my other medic tips post which also, funny enough, have a clip of how comms usually sound so thats cool

stock medigun

other than the kritzkrieg, the stock is the only medigun allowed in standard 6s, its the most consistent medigun and also makes you invincible for 8 seconds, you mentioned watching demos of other players and usually when they do a push into a point they uber the demo so that he can jump in unharmed, then the scout to go fast and the back on demo because hes the 2nd most important class here (the 1st is you!! so dont die!!)

honorary kritz mention

in lower divs, kritz isnt usually played, its an element of surprise weapon and it takes 32 seconds to get uber but 32 is an awkward number so we usually just count to 30 and use the 2 seconds to run :)

the kritz is much more widely used in highlander but ive seen some great playes with it in 6s too

some medigun strats before we move onto melee:

building uber with a boston basher scout

your scout is your escort now, random encounters lied to you, medics do, in fact, heal scouts

give your players a buff (overheal) when youre in spawn and waiting to move, its needed for rollouts in most cases, heal order is usually demo -> roamer -> demo again -> psolly

you need to heal as much as you can, this is a race to get uber

players will come up to you and ask for buffs, its usually soldiers and they will usually jump away shortly after

the ubersaw and the head

the solemn vow is a much better choice of melee then the ubersaw simply due to the fact that you can see enemy health and uber, but i cant deny that the ubersaw saved my ass a few times, still, use the head

now thats the weapons, lets get onto the more interpersonal relationships between teammates

the general playerbase of comp is sweaty gamer cishet guys but ive found that many of them are cool (despite the reputation of sweaty gamer cishet guys) and they are cool especially in rgl

heres some tips,

keep your tumblr private from your team

they dont know the lore of tf2 and 9 times out of 10 dont really care for it

just keep the discussion to comp

many of them are down to play casual or even valve comp if you ask

feel free to ask for tips! they love giving tips!

you will be judged for being a medic player but in a joking matter (they dont usually like playing medic so theyre glad that someone else is lol)

they will show you cool shit (usually clips of airshots)

tf2 comp players are a bit edgy at times, sometimes people just say slurs but not the n word with a hard R or anything (ps. you can report people if they say a slur mid game in chat)

a lot of the time they are gonna tell it to you straight, if youre bad then they will tell you youre bad at xy and z and if you dont improve then they will just call you open (<- lowest division in etf2l/derogatory term for anyone who isnt in open)

in a team you have the team leader who schedules everything and runs this team and talks to the admins, maybe a co-tl who helps with team leader stuff, the main roster which is just the players who play most often, the subs who substitute the main roster when someone cant make it but you still want to play and lastly the ringers(NA term)/mercs(EU term) who are outsiders you call in if your pscout just called in sick and the pscout sub is on vacation and you really need a player

classes

its at the bottom because i forgot about it lol?

6s has 2 soldiers, 2 scouts, a demo and a medic

they are split into the flank and the combo, the combo is with the medic and the flank is not

demo:

you will need to heal this guy a lot, he takes a lot of damage and gives out a lot of damage, he can trap down an area or spam down a choke, will be with you in most of your ubers, make sure this guy is buffed

pocket scout:

the scout in the combo, your escort and personal bodyguard (kinda), hes gonna build with you, pick you up from spawn when you die and is most likely gonna be the maincaller (=person who calls the shots in a comp match like when to retreat and what not)

pocket soldier:

in all honesty idfk what this guy does, he wants heals and watches chokes, spams rockets down chokes too, sacs for med (=jumps on the medic and kills them hopefully)

flank scout:

watches flanks, wants heals, can replace your pscout if he dies, will offclass if need be (offclassing is the act of switching your class to a different one that isnt standard in 6s like sniper or heavy)

roamer (flank soldier):

i also dont know what the fuck the roamer does, its basically the same as psolly but he watches flanks and offlcasses and has a different rollout

post game

so after you play your first game of comp, write ".ss" into the chat, this will open a window with your logs for that match and you can see how you did that game! if you want you can also download the demo from demos.tf if you look up your steam name it should show up, there are other sites where you can see how you did like more.tf which is a nicer looking site and also you can compare specific players and see more stuff so thats cool! theres also trends.tf where you can see how you did over time and basically every stat you can think of even down to the time youve spent playing a class in comp, heres my overview on trends.tf if you wanna see all that it shows (ps. most of my recent games are 4v4 because of a cup lol)

last thing before the end, i did make a post about medic tips a while ago and those apply here as well

tf2 competitive wiki if you want to learn callouts and other stuff

so! thats the basics of 6s med :) gl hf and feel free to dm me if you have any more questions

edit: i forgot to mention b4nny, the lord and savior of competitive tf2 and while he doesnt play med much he has a lot of experience and knows a lot about comp and just has a lot of resources for comp

[hit-tab]

Guess who's back! Yep, it's @insufficientchill's Conall and @ritens' Lane! I took a few too many screenshots, so brace yourself. <3

Yeah, bud, that's the whole point of this party comp. I thought it'd be fun. Don't you worry about it! It'll be fiiine.

I'm sure Conall and Lane only have the best of opinions after seeing me fail this levitation-jump five times in a row because I refused to waste a harpy snare beacon. I mean, it's a jump over the brine so I can try as many times as I want without consequence...except for the rapidly dwindling respect of my pawn's friends.

Speaking of, check out this cool underwater shot I got while getting eaten by the brine. Neat, huh?

Here's a shot of Conall being awesome. Fire suits him so well! Mage vocations have such a cool aesthetic, I swear.

And here's Lane kidnapping a knacker(?) that knocked me down. It always tickles me when pawns do that.

"Lane, was that your arrow?" "'Twas not me." "..."

Guys I know you're very excited to pal around but please look out for monsters.

I think René misses being a warrior...

I managed to get a cool shot of Lane, finally. Look at him! He's so ready to wreck face!

My new favourite hobby...equipping a bow specifically so that I can kick rocky saurians. And maybe also other saurian-type monsters. I'm really not too picky.

The whole team is working together! Look how cool everyone is! It's so rare to get them all in one shot that doesn't look like they're all doing their own, random thing.

Conall helping me out after I got wasted by a goreminotaur...thanks, man. Sorry it wasn't the monster you were after. Where's Lane and René? Just over there? They're high-fiving and/or fist-bumping? Oh... ;-;

I was trying to capture a bunch of little victory poses and Lane was having none of it haha.

I don't think Conall knows how to deal with René's shenanigans, the poor guy. (Also check out Lane hiding in the tall grass like a wild pokemon pft.)

Look at these two and their lining up perfectly and their matchy bows. I forget what they were aiming at...probably a bat.

René, buddy, I'm not sure that's going to work. Max rank and he still isn't quite sure how to be an archer smh. Glitches are fun.

Er...Conall? I'm not sure we needed this spell for one teeny little minotaur that had a sliver of its health left, but at least we completed your quest.

René is way too happy about the meteors.

Camping: miserable and wet edition. The poor pawns sitting in the rain...

I had so much fun with Conall and Lane this past couple of sessions! We all got a little dinged up (no tank no real healer) but that might have also been because I went wandering around the volcano area and everyone kept stepping in lava rip. Nothing a little more resting couldn't solve. Sorry in advance if they complain about their burned feet when I send them back.

I actually did Lane's quest first, but sadly didn't get any pictures of us fighting the golem...s? I think we fought two of them. Yeah, one on the volcanic island and another in mainland Battahl, I'm pretty sure. Something about golems makes me forget to take pics I swear.

Anyway, this party comp is surprisingly viable. I only switched to my magick bow for things like spooky ghosts and dragonkin. Everything else was three bow one sorc baybee! SO much fun.

(I haven't sent them back yet! Will do soon.)

Bonus victory pose I have never seen:

Behold. René's applauding. And because there's an enemy in the distance, he's applauding angrily!

I love it so much?? He just-- looks SO mad haha.

[steveharrington]

have you ever like. ranked the general ST cast on how well you think they'd do in a reality competition show (either being in competition with other ST characters or as the sole competitor from that group). bc like the only show i watch in that kind of category is drag race but the whole, like, realm of it fascinates me immensely and it's melting with my ST hyperfocus in my brain (also not 2 be biased but i feel like steve could win any reality competition show like even drag race or at Least be mr fan favorite. i know it in my heart actually)

anon ..... you have no idea the gift youve given me by asking this question. this is all i have ever wanted to post about for the past several months. lets get into it here is the official How Well They Would Do On Reality TV Ranking (with additional commentary abt which shows they would excel at and who they are similar to)

steve <3 listen this is NOT just me being biased i genuinely think steve has the perfect skill sets for several reality competition series. most of these games require a combination of social prowess and athleticism, both of which steve has! i think he would slay mtv's the challenge like (crediting em here) his feeder show would've been a love island/party down south/are you the one type series where he was just pretty and flirty and got drunk all the time but then he comes onto the challenge and just Crushes it because he's got the balance of good natured and bitchy that people enjoy and find entertaining + he's got endurance for DAYS and he would think of strategies for challenges that no one else would typically see a la jordan wiseley winning a tug of war just by pretending to almost fall and then letting go of the rope. i also think steve would be good at shows like big brother and the amazing race, and he'd be a fan favorite because he'd give good DRs <3

lucas! for a lot of the same reasons as steve, and i also think lucas would be one of those players who's very loyal to their alliance and absolutely refuses to back-stab which could cost him a win for a few seasons until having one glory lap where he just crushes it competition-wise and his past record of being a good teammate helps him avoid eliminations. sorry im like only thinking abt this in terms of the challenge. i also think lucas would be really good at the amazing race! i think on both shows whenever he gets to do a stunt like sky dive or bungee jump or whatever hes always like :D because hes just happy to be there. he'd be on the level of leroy garrett or sarah rice

nancy and im shocking myself a bit by putting her this high up but think about it. nancy would do what needs to be done. she would betray her alliances to get herself ahead in the game, but she'd be careful and do it sparingly only when the time is Exactly right. i think she'd be the real leader of an alliance, but she also knows that being a leader = having a target on your back, so she lets someone else on the team be like the Speaker while she does the strategizing. and then when the time is right, she's ruthless about throwing someone in. big brother would be nancy's game to win, and she'd be like a less unhinged vanessa russo or a slightly more unhinged nicole franzel

argyle would do very well i think just solely based on his social game. people would keep him around specifically because he's funny and brings enjoyment to the filming schedule kinda like my baby kyle christie from the challenge. i think argyle's best shot would be big brother for sure, and even if he didn't win (i dont really foresee him being the best at comps, esp season memory bc his ass would not study) he would be america's favorite player for sure

max would be good at the challenge because i think max would be good At Challenges, however i do fear that she would struggle with the political game. this kinda eliminates her from big brother, where you Have to be fake, but on the challenge she could've thrived during the 2013-2017 seasons like dirty thirty, vendettas, etc where you were allowed to openly hate people and pray on their downfall. not that max would have beef with everyone, bc i do think she'd be generally well liked, but there's always some evil male on every season that she would simply Hate and potentially destroy her own game in the pursuit of getting him out. but even then, she might count that as a win <3 she'd go down in the hall of fame of famous reality tv girlies who hate their male partners like amanda garcia and ashley mitchell

robin.....alright listen. robin would get paranoid on big brother and she would be considered a layup on the challenge (sob) because she's not very coordinated and she'd get frazzled under timed pressure. BUT hear me out if robin had a partner who encouraged her and motivated her, i think she could really start to slay. she would be very clever when it comes to subtle game moves, i think, like she would be good at picking who to put in a tribunal with her based on the social standings of the game. i think she could have a really good season under the right circumstances and shock everyone like big t on the challenge double agents. and she'd be good at one or two very random very specific challenges that require some super obscure skill

dustin would do alright for himself on big brother because he would nail a lot of the puzzle/memory comps and play that lovable nerd role. howeverrrr i think dustin would be a bit...naive :( i think he wouldn’t foresee his alliance members betraying him and he would take it Very hard and play with his emotions most of the time. he would probably get backdoored on big brother despite having a really good comp win record just from being a genius like michael bruner or ian terry

now we're getting into ppl who i don't think would slay unfortunately.......el :( she is too trusting im so sorry like everyone would LOVE her but she would volunteer to go up as a pawn in big brother and her alliance would be like “okay better her than me!” and she’d get eliminated :( but she would give such good DRs and get a huge fan fav edit

will.....idk man will would not want to be on reality tv idk how he'd find himself in this situation to be honest.....he'd be well-liked but he'd be a floater 110% because he doesn't really care about the urgency of starting a good political game early on. his main goal would just be to fly under the radar, and that only works for so long

mike would be a huge bitch to people and they would target his ass so quickly im SORRY but its true. like at least mike would try, and i think he'd pull off one great tv moment by doing something unprecedented and unhinged like targeting the biggest player week 1, but his timing would be off and it would backfire so immensely. also he would get medically dq'd from the challenge im so sorry. he'd do a pole wrestle or balls in against someone bigger and just disintegrate

eddie would be too weird and off-putting. sorry. eddie would roll up at the big brother house and be like Im Here To Send A Message That Reality TV Is Vapid And Our Culture Is Crumbling From A Lack Of Real Art and people would be like boooooooooo and vote him in. he'd also refuse to work with physical threats because he'd be like tch meathead jock idiots >:( and then they'd fold him in half during a hall brawl IM SORRY ITS THE TRUTH

jonathan would not go on a reality show. he would be like cody nickson in the sense that he'd hate being there, he'd hate everyone in the house, and he would refuse to be animated and exagerrated in the DR like production would tell him to. i do think this could make him a sleeper hit among viewers because people kinda like when someone is visibly Over the game and doesn't hide that, but yeah he would not make it far. he would probably quit.

[deanthe]

//vent I really need to get this off my chest. After Splatoon 3's final splatfest comes to a close, I'm probably going to stop interacting with the Splatoon community as much as I can. It's been four years since I've gotten truly into Splatoon, (that's a complicated, yet much nicer story for some other time) and while I don't regret it by any means, it's definitely been an exhausting ride, and I kinda want to get off of it before I barf.

Getting the most obvious thing out of the way, the way Nintendo has been handling Splatoon 3 has been really disappointing. It has far more improvements than flaws, but this game has had some really bizarre decisions made with it compared to the first two games. Maps, kits, ETC... I'm not gonna delve into the specifics, you probably already know what I'm going on about. Secondly, while what I just said still holds true, I feel like the community reactions to these changes have been... a bit too much? Like, yeah, splatfests are imbalanced. Maps have been bad. (up until Drizzle Season 2023, at least) But these problems have been absolutely blown out of the water. Fucking, death threats have been sent to people who join the Shiver's teams. Despite the whole appeal of the Splatoon community being a place of self expression and lack of judgement, a lot of Splatoon subcultures really... aren't that great. Being deadass, competitive Splatoon is boring, and its players are super rude and annoying. I don't like to generalize, but I've yet to interact with a single comp player I enjoy talking to. Every single one I've met has tried forcing me to play a certain way, no matter if I'm even fucking playing with them. I was harassed for using sticks. In a B- lobby. Back when I was new to Splatoon 2. The hacking scene is a dumpster fire. The main person who's created the most well known and fun Splatoon hacking system is a piece of shit, for one. For two, have you even touched the first game anytime after 2017? Yeah, it's full of hackers. Can't play turf war for 15 minutes without having to sit there and not play the game because someone is hacking and getting away with it because Nintendo doesn't moderate the servers anymore. The Coroika fandom is if you took Splatoon fandom and infected it with My Hero Academia fans. Yeah. Are any of you familiar with Splatoon Florida? It was an old parody account on Twitter that I used to own that got popular SUPER fast. Could not handle it. It spawned nearly 50 clone accounts based on the other 49 united states, and I had even gotten impersonation accounts pretending to be me and saying really, really awful things. This paired with the queerphobia I faced and hatemail in general stacked on top of my mother having multiple strokes and almost dying at the time, pushed me over the edge, and I deleted SplatoonFL after someone told me that they hoped my mother had another stroke and died. Now, I feel like shit for name dropping people in my vent, as it's been awhile since most of this garbage has happened and I don't want to seem petty, plus this isn't intended to be a callout post. But I really do feel the need to let this shit out of my system, and frankly I'm tired of watching these people be appreciated while remembering what they've done to me, small and insignificant or not.

Theecorner, AKA Danniee, banned me from their Discord server after I loudly expressed distaste for jokes being made about Dream, as I was one of Dream's victims and felt very uncomfortable bringing him up. Keep in mind that insinuated that I did not enjoy the conversation multiple times.

Pufuu had made a Twitter post with a screenshot of our DMs. I was irritated that he had kept making fake Splatoon leaks with zero indication of them being concepts, and he thought that was wrong. A couple Tweets before this, ironically, he boasted about getting another annoying fake leaker to block him.

Caitlin Koi had acted aggressive towards me after I expressed concern for her after a seizure which, her seizures are very much real and very dangerous, though I should mention she also uses them as an excuse to be an asshole and guilt trip people.

Vaqeii. Fuck you. (He has very few actual fans, I just wanted to express my hatred towards that fucking slime since he's also one of the Splatubers who had traumatized me.)

I'd like to restate that I don't regret my time in the community one bit. I love it here for the most part. It's just gotten far too much, and I'm. Frankly a little bit done and ready to move on. I'll try to keep strong and stay for a bit so I can enjoy the rest of Splatoon 3's update cycle with my friends and the people I enjoy being around. After that though, unless something happens to change my mind, I'll be gone after that.

Knowing the current state of the Splatoon community, I wouldn't be surprised if I started getting harassed again for this post. Hell, wouldn't it be hilarious if THIS vent post got screenshotted and edited to be about Roller Coaster Tycoon, to? Yeah, that was a thing that happened. No, I haven't forgotten about that. You know who you are. Real fucking proud of you, I am.

[crystalelemental]

Unit Teambuilding - Fall Iono

Aw yeah, an Iono alt, that'll be great! And it's Flutter Mane! That's fun, I like that a lot.

General Overview Iono's approach is very simple. She's a DPS Ghost pair. Her sync is fine, but unimpressive by modern standards. What she's aiming to do is Hit the Gas 5 Shadow Ball DPS, with a buddy move that applies -2 Sp Def and Ghost Rebuff on foes. It only has 1MP, however. She has Booster Energy. And by popping Booster Energy, or by setting Sun, she gets 1MP back on her Buddy move. Meaning Iono can hit -3 Rebuff on foes. With the right partners, she hits it without any serious issue. That is. A staggering effect. It makes her exceptionally well suited as a Ghost-type partner for damage.

Or it would, if it wasn't for this stupid "the first time this move is used" clause. Bitch, we were so close to 3 rebuff stacking. God that's annoying.

More irritating still is Hit the Gas. Look, Iono's not really slow, per se, but she has no real speed boosting capabilities. And when you have Hit the Gas, you desperately need speed. Without it, gauges are your natural enemy. She's not exactly making waves without the speed aspect, because no other Ghost I can think of handles the concept of speed boosting. They need a good support. But a good support is not always a great option. And it's...well, we'll see it in teambuilding, but I feel like Iono's particular demands shoehorn her into very specific team compositions in ways that are Not Ideal.

Team 1: F!Iono, S!Gardenia, SS Morty Among Ghost type partners, her optimal choice is likely Gardenia. Iono's Buddy move is single use and she has little means of otherwise debuffing Sp Def. Gardenia has that built in, in addition to being able to set Ghost Zone with Extension 3. Gardenia also has a Buddy move that re-applies the Zone, debuffs offenses for survival, and is fairly good AoE DPS. This is where Morty comes in. Sun is specifically good for Iono, stacking SMUN with its application. He's also able to buff team speed for gauge control, and bulk to complement Gardenia's offense debuffing. They create a nice, sturdy team with some respectable Ghost-type offense in play.

Team 2: F!Iono, NC Leaf, SC Irida Let's at least try to be cheritable. SS Morty is better here, but if you wanted to switch up your playstyle, NC Leaf has the Support role, and has some tools for tanking. While speed buffs are not in play, SC Irida is able to apply Free Moves Next with consistency, making her one of the better DPS pressure pairs. That said, this is apparently a random effect between that or SMUN, which is painful, but you can work around it with Booster Energy on Iono to avoid needing too much in gauges each turn.

Team 3: F!Iono, V!Rachel, Lunalillie If you, unlike me, were fotunate enough to pull Variety Rachel and Gimmighoul, congratulations on being able to make a team comp that works pretty well. Rachel buffs team speed and applies SMUN with her trainer move, has healing, and a flinch. She's the better of the two. Anyway. Because of that speed, you can manage gauges effectively, meaning it's Anni Lillie 21 time! Lunala hogs gauge for pretty garbage DPS, I'm not gonna front, but I love her too much to not run her so this is what we're doing.

Team 4: F!Iono, S!Gardenia/SS Hilbert, NY!Dawn/R!Cynthia Okay so here we go. Damage Calculation. If I'm doing it right. Iono can apply the rebuffs, and her Booster Energy shouldn't be too long an animation. NY!Dawn, to my knowledge, is still top sync nuke for Ghost? So if single-target, that's the one. If 3v3 and you have Renegade Cynthia's role, that's the stuff. In the case of Dawn, I'd say go Gardenia for the persistent Ghost Zone as needed, but SS Hilbert's debuffs are likely more valuable for Cynthia.

Final Thoughts Iono frustrates me a little. I have no reason to suspect that her DPS will be bad, and her supportive effects are not intrinsically terrible. But the decision to let her restore 1MP of the buddy move consistently, only for its DPS to be marginally better than Shadow Ball and unable to apply a second rebuff stack, is annoying. In addition, Hit the Gas users and I have never gotten along. I think they're all kinda shit! So I can't say I'm really eyeing Iono's kit with any particular hope for impressing me. Which is sad. Cool outfit and cool Pokemon, but ugh. UGH.

[neirmetes]

Alright LMK fandom I have a possibly crack (and niche) fic idea for a reader insert. Specifically sun wukong x reader but I'm a slow burn bitch so it's not gonna seem like that for the better half of it

Here's the pitch:

Wukong finds an old and possibly very dangerous artifact, what it does isn't important since it's literally just a Mcguffin. Funnily enough though, it's also doing part-time as a trophy to a local e-sports event. Mk and the gang have to get the artifact before it falls into the wrong hands. And also because Wukong just might want it a little bit, y'know just to have. For whatever reason they can't just steal it, so they actually have to try and win it.

Not only do they suck at this particular video game (It's probably Valorant or some other fps games) but they also just don't have enough members. (I imagine Tang, Pigsy and Sandy are actually just hopeless, while MK and Mei have at least played some shooters. Wukong really wants that artifact. Red Son can optional be dragged in too) In addition, you have to be a certain rank in-game to even enter the competition.

Finally entering from left stage: the reader, who is a pro gamer

Acquaintances with Mei, Reader does that thing where you pay them to carry you to higher ranked lobbies and get more RR. So Mei calls them up for that exact thing.

This is where we get a proper look into just how bad they are at the game.

MK chose the coolest looking character and stuck to them despite not knowing shit about how to play the character

Red Son can't aim for his life, and can't seem to get a hang of any of the characters

Wukong stuck with the healer character but uses all the heals for himself, completely ignoring the rest of the character's abilities

Mei is admittedly the best out of all of them, going in and killing at least two enemies. However she rushes in without teammates and dies pretty quickly after

Finally, none of them know the callouts because let's be honest videogame callouts is its own language.

All this is admittedly pretty frustrating for the Reader who threatens to leave them. 'I don't care how much you pay me at this point, it isn't worth it'

So while the others frantically explain that 'it's to save the world' and 'it might be dangerous if we don't'. But all the Monkey King has to do is piss them off and out of spite, Reader is gonna coach the hell out of them.

Smash cut to montage time where they slowly work on their skills and figure out how to work as a team (If I stick with Valorant, I could honestly go into detail on what playstyle they would have and how it works as an actual comp) As well as grinding the game to get the needed ranks

Whatever the video game, Reader fills in for support as much as necessary. They seem disgruntled by it the whole time and needs plenty of breathers between games to calm down. because hOW CAN I HEAL YOU WHEN YOU'RE ACTIVELY BEING SHOT

Now, we pause the epic gamer montage for some team bonding. The gang takes a break to do more physical activities! MK and Wukong convince (Mostly MK but Wukong never goes against it) the Reader to try out training with them, Mei thinks it'd be cathartic to let the Reader race. Reader gets to meet the Two dads and Sandy. All around fun stuff outside the godforsaken video-game. We also learn a little bit more about the Reader. (This would be a good time to amp up the romantic shenanigans as well) As much as she can be very mean during the game, they're honest to god very thoughtful and considerate. Though one could note that it technically follows over to their role as the healer/support. Why are they so rude and angry in-game then?

Well I'd tell you but at this point I might as well write the fic as I've went overboard with this post already

[dandelion-wings]

Any tips on how to make my Benny's adventure team (Bennett[Support], Fischl [Sub DPS], Razor [Main DPS] and Barbara[Healer]) team comp work?

I'll be honest, I'm not really a great person to go to for team comp ideas--I make the teams I want to make and keep my World Level at 6 so that even if they're not a great comp, at level 90 they'll still usually work for me. XD;; I have a similar team, but Diluc and Barbara are very different characters, I have Bennett in a different role (healer), and I don't know whether you're building Razor as Physical or Electro or how much that even matters! TBH my only tips are character-specific: remember (because I only got it down recently) that Fischl can re-summon Oz to a new spot if the fight moves around, make sure not to Overload when you're trying to stay in Bennett's radius (which is why he's the healer rather than support on my Overload-based team, where I could never keep an enemy in there but can run in and out for healing), and don't use Barbara's skill when an enemy is slinging Cryo around.

Do any of my followers have advice for that team-up?

[animentality]

(Leaps in askbox now its clear) Howdy! I'm curious about your opinions on the companions, like initial thoughts and now that you've clocked in an unhealthy (affectionate) amount of hours? We know what you'd change but how about everyone as is? Thanks!

Alrighty, I can finally answer this one...

Ok.

Man. This is gonna be a long one.

We're gonna start with the shorter opinions first.

Minthara:

I have not done a run where Minthara was alive in Act 2. I literally know almost nothing about her.

I think she's hot and has the sexiest voice of all the female characters, but I know nothing about her story, other than she was a lesbian with Orin. I do wanna try and romance her, but.

Who knows if I'll ever get around to it.

Minsc:

I get that he's a fan favorite from the old games, but I kind of hate him. He feels like fanservice, and I didn't get a nostalgia boner for him, so he does nothing for me as a character.

I honestly kill him. Not out of malice, just more out of, why even have him be here?

Plus I tend to go through the entire game without swapping my party members, because I'm pretending it's a real dnd campaign.

And I ain't changing my team comp for this weirdo who only shows up at the very end.

Sorry to his hamster when I kill him, though.

Jaheira:

She's ok. I don't hate her, but she doesn't do it for me. I don't get why she's Russian. And apparently the only Russian in the whole game.

She also feels like fanservice.

Plus she fucking drops ice storms on everyone's goddamn HEADS when they're already in Hunger of Hadar, and honestly?

We have beef. I let her die sometimes, for that crime specifically. I also skip her house, because it doesn't have good loot, besides the scimitars, and I don't play races or classes that use scimitars. like ever.

Halsin:

I like Halsin generally, he's inoffensive to me, but his "romance" is so bad. It's shallow, it feels tacked on, which it was, and everyone knows how much I HATE how little his sexual trauma is focused on.

I romanced him twice, and both times, I was underwhelmed and kind of shrugged him off.

He should just be a fling option like Mizora. He shouldn't have become a "romance" option. It's fine for him to be a big buff bear hippie that you can fuck, but a companion?

He's got nothing to do with Act 3. It's a detriment to his character and the game, tbh.

Ok, that's the smaller ones out of the way. Now mains:

Astarion:

I got into BG3 for Astarion.

I fully admit it. I saw a scene of him screaming at Tav for blasting him with the sun beam from the githyanki creche, and it was funny as fuck.

Neil Newbon is highly charismatic, and truly elevates a character I don't find that physically attractive. His personality and enthusiasm shine through, and his voice acting is superb. And I am a sucker for angst and redemption and themes of abuse and breaking free of toxic relationships. And darkly, I admit. I do like the more twisted nature of his backstory, the way he had to use his body to survive, has a bad relationship with sex, and was tortured repeatedly. As anyone who reads my writing knows...I am a disgusting sadistic pervert.

That being said.

I no longer like Astarion. Well. No. I like Astarion.

I don't like his fans, or his rhetoric. Astarion has the better writing of BG3, but the lack of nuance from his fans annoys the shit out of me, and overexposure to him as a character, since Tumblr and TikTok are obsessed with him?

No me gusta. I don't hate him as a character, but I can't stand to see Astarion is so perfect posts. He's not, and that's the whole point. He's awful, but you people don't appreciate that. I don't want to see Astarion x Tav headcanons. And I especially do not care about the BookTok crowd being obsessed with him because they just like a dommy vampire, and disrespect his narrative with absolutely no self awareness.

BookTok Astarion is SO GODDAMN BORING. They really just reduce him to a hot dommy vampire daddy, and that's why I never take BookTok recs. Pure garbage.

So. TL;DR - I got BG3 for him, but overexposure to his fans made me be significantly less interested in him. It's a good thing. If I was obsessed with Astarion, I'd be forced to interact with his fans. Thank god for Gortash... I'm free of that prison.

Lae'zel:

I loved Lae'zel the minute she was mean to me.

She's hot as fuck, like seriously, so hot, her neck makes me sweat something fierce, and her voice is sultry and raspy and hostile. just how i like my women.

But I admit...she's too fucking meta. gameplay wise, she's probably the strongest companion you can have for DPS...so I admit...I've had her on my teams so much, that I am sick of her.

And again! It's not because she's badly written. I actually think her character is really strong, and really awesome. I also think her arc is amazing, going from this devoted cult member to basically saying I'm going to fucking kill a god.

I actually teared up a little at the creche this one time, when I had to beg her to stay, and she was like, you knew I had no other path to follow, but this one, or something like that.

But.

But I have beaten the game with her in my party like three times. I've had her in my party on Honor mode like...a million times.

So, tl;dr - I love her to death, but gameplay wise, she's so strong that I can't play her anymore.

Shadowheart:

Ok...I admit it.

I don't like Shadowheart. I find her boring visually, because she's just this generically hot white girl. She was designed to be the companion that all straight cis white men would want to see naked, and that's fine but uh.

Does absolutely nothing for me.

I don't care for her personality either. I don't like her lines, all coy and vaguely condescending. I don't really like how mean she is to you, and it's different from Lae'zel, because at least Lae'zel came from a warrior culture that doesn't put much value on flowery language. Lae'zel makes sense.

Shadowheart is an amnesiac who's just mean to you because.

I also don't care for her story, at all.

Don't care about Shar's Gauntlet or her kidnapped backstory. Don't give a shit about her parents. Don't care that she's scared of wolves or that her hand hurts.

I like the overarching thematic bridge that her character exists on, specifically that the gods will demand everything of you, and will hurt you for their own amusement.

But as a companion...no.

I have never been interested in romancing her. I never have her on the party, except to get that achievement.

I also don't like clerics. I think they're kind of weak, tbh. They're heal bots. They're really only good for spirit guardians, glyph of warding, and removing status effects. Just don't care for that. I'm an all dps team, we have no room for healers.

TL;DR: I don't think Shadowheart is interesting design wise, story wise, or gameplay wise.

Karlach:

I loved Karlach the moment I saw her, I fell deeper in love with her the second I heard her voice, and I knew I would die and kill for her, when I saw her excited "I love you" confession scene.

Seriously.

I have said this before, and I will say it again.

Out of all of these characters, romanceable or not...

I would only marry Karlach in REAL LIFE. I'd never date a man like Gortash or Astarion. I might be friends with Gale, but he's too smart to be my boyfriend.

But Karlach. She brings the wife energy. She could throw me over her shoulder and bash me against the concrete, and I would say thank you, ma'am.

she's also so fucking fun to play. barbarian options in bg3 are so goddamn funny. you can intimidate everyone and just break shit. it's great. you can also constantly throw people AT PEOPLE. And it's great. She's way more fun than Lae'zel because of it.

No notes. Top tier character design. My wife.

But also FUCK the developers for only giving her two fucking quests, one of which is a FETCH IT quest and the other is just a lame boss fight.

And FUCK THEM for only originally giving her an ending where she either dies or becomes a mindflayer. WHY.

And the Avernus ending still annoys me, because the ENTIRE PARTY should be there too.

FUCK YOU LARIAN. Why do you hate Karlach???? You're monsters. She's never done anything wrong, and yet all you do, is wrong her.

Bullshit.

Wyll:

Ok.

Hard truth time.

Wyll is the hottest male companion.

Like.

No cap. Everyone who says Gale, or Astarion, or Halsin-

Incorrect. It's Wyll. He is literally so hot, with the white eye and those sexy throat scars. Hrrrrrrr.

Also, controversial opinion. I actually like his devil form.

I think it makes him even hotter. I do wish he had wilder hair, though.

That being said...

He's horribly underwritten.

I went in, thinking, he's so kind and nice and hot...and then I was disappointed by how little they gave him.

He, like Karlach, got hit with the cut content curse.

And it's so ugly.

And gross.

And honestly, I suspect it's racist.

But yeah.

I think he's really sweet and I like romancing him and all. But they didn't dedicate any time or effort to his romance, and I hate that. But not him. Never him.

TL;DR - my first impression of Wyll was wow, he's hot, I wanna know more about him, and my last impression is, wow, he's so hot, I hate that he has nothing going on because Larian simply didn't bother to give him shit to do.

Gale

Alright, I left Gale for last, because he has the MOST complicated relationship with me.

So I initially missed Gale, because my friend failed the strength check to get him out of the portal.

So for a while, I didn't even know he existed.

Then I started to see more of him on Tiktok and Tumblr, and I was like oh...ok. So...we missed him. Damn.

So I decided to try romancing him fairly early on....only to find out...

I absolutely despised that when he dies, he killed me with necrotic damage.

That pissed me off. In the early days, when I was new to the game, I think I once had a whole team wipe, because Gale and Lae'zel went down, and then Karlach went rampaging, set me on fire, and then died to Gale's necrotic...which is funny in hindsight, but it was annoying at the time.

The eating magical items thing was mildly annoying, but that was far worse.

I pretty much never ran Gale for a long period of time.

As the Dark Urge, I'd often kill him, in fact, just so I wouldn't have to deal with his Arcane Hunger.

And honestly, initially, I kind of disliked his personality too.

I think the first scene I ever saw of him was when you tell him he's ok in bed, and his response is like, I guess I'll go kill myself.

And honestly, I thought he had incel vibes because of it. Then add to the fact that he's rude to you, no matter what, when he needs his third item...and also add that to the annoying gameplay, PLUS the fact.

That I was rocking Sorceror and Warlock for most of my early runs, so didn't need a wizard...I said, no. No Gale.

I don't like Gale.

BUT.

Here's the thing, right?

I got into Gortash... and then I stepped away from Astarion. Started being obsessed with the Dark Urge...

And then I noticed that all of my Durgetash friends were super into Gale, and I didn't get why...

But then weavewithshadow specifically alerted me to the fact that... there are Gale and Gortash parallels...specifically, that they're both brilliant, scruffy, are blinded by ambition, can't appreciate the things they have, and keep chasing after things they can't quite reach.

And then I was like...ok, maybe I've been harsh on him...

So I did his romance...and I felt bad.

Because he's actually very sweet.

And his voice is reallllly lovely when it's soft and fond.

He's a poet...and then I felt bad for all the times I had chewed off his arm.

And honestly, with experience...I now know what to feed him. Mostly garbage magic items like Komira's dumb locket or the ring of color spray from the harpies' nest, or those dumb boots that electrify the water you stand in.

Plus, I'm smart enough to know how to keep Gale alive now, so the necrotic thing isn't an issue.

So.

So. TL;DR I had a very complicated relationship with Gale, first with his mechanics, then with this random out of context scene where he's kind of nasty to you. But I came around, and honestly...right now...I like him more than Astarion.

All he wants to do is...live.

And I relate to that.

And his romance scenes are nice, and he has more of an arc than most of the other companions, Astarion aside.

So there you go, anon.

This took forever to write.

Thanks for the ask, though.

[skyplayssplatoon3]

I FEEL FOR YOU ALL...Q-Q Honestly I didn't even break my high score until near the end; it absolutely isn't easy and some persistence is key

Here's some specific tips on how to get closer to achieving Top 5%: (Just for anyone reading this who needs the tips!)

Watch the previous top 5% scores carefully! The score is climbing, so knowing what to shoot for helps! Last time was 150 eggs, and this time is 156, so fully expect 160 or more to be the bare minimum for next Big Run! That's an average of 55+ eggs a wave, which is very tough, but doable.

Mind your weapon RNG! Sometimes we'll just get unlucky! Pay attention to the entire weapon comp of your team! If you have a high inking weapon and your teammates don't, you may need to focus more on clearing out the chum/smallfry to help your team! YOU may not be able to get a ton of eggs, but if you help them live and move, they may be able to!

Lure + Let eggs gather by the basket before collecting! People get very antsy to go grab a ton of distant eggs first (and dying a lot in the process), but sometimes you do have to let eggs sit in a bunch while you finish off crucial bosses! (Flyfish, Stingers, Big Shots, Eels). If you watch Overfishing videos, you'll often see teams let like 20+ eggs sit around the basket for a bit as they clear the immediate area, THEN spend time mass-dunking a ton of them when they get a moment to breathe! Also make use of the egg throw for distant eggs to get them closer!

For best chances, squad with allies! There's no escaping this: Squads will have better chances to get the high score than 100% solo queue. It's not impossible! I have gotten good scores with randoms, but you're playing a game of chance with the overall skill of your team. There are servers and pools of people who are always looking for good help! If you believe you're EVP material being stuck with bad randoms, go find 'em!

Climbing the ranks is MANDATORY. Top 5% doesn't happen in Overachiever ranks, unfortunately. 8( You need to be up in EVP to get the higher boss spawns, higher egg requirements, etc. My average has been EVP 400 or so before I start hitting the large numbers, so if you're having trouble getting up there, make that your goal! Practice in Salmon Run until EVP 200-300 is doable for you! There are tons of guides out there on optimizing eggs and surviving tough rounds!

Also this isn't many people (and not directed at you guys at all, just generally) but please do not get mad at or blame the overfishers! It's "Top 5%" for a reason, which means just by nature, 95% of players participating WONT get the gold trophies! It's a small pool of people competing to get there.

Ya gotta compete! You gotta give it your all, and work on learning and improving! That's the nature of a competitive result!

You can do it!! If Top 5% is something you truly want to work towards, I believe you can get it! 💪💪💪

[wormytoast]

hoo boy... new leaks huh

the new relic sets are BONKERS. i dont want to say theyre bad but 3/4 are niche sets meant for very specific units. only the break set is non-niche but is still only usable for break dps.

cavalry set: break effect set. 4pc gives def ignore bonus ONLY to break damage based on the wearer's break effect. pretty high be stat requirement but should be attainable with be supports and decently rolled subs

valorus set: 2pc set gives 12% atk, while 4pc set gives dmg bonus which stacks twice after the wear uses their ultimate or fua. the effect is removed at the end of the wearer's turn, so incentivizes out-of-turn fua and ults.

duran planar: gain an effect that gives 4% dmg any time an ally uses an fua and stacks up to 6 times for a total 24% dmg boost to fua. when the max stacks is reached the wearer's crit dmg increases by 24%. specifically buffs fua teams.

forge planar: spd increase by 6% and increases be when hitting fire weak enemies. the first planar set to increase spd. extremely niche for fire break comps.

cavalry set is for any break effect dps. as of now that would be xueyi, The Boot and newly revealed firefly, altho more will definitely join.

the valorus set seems specifically tailored for jade since it looks like she will be performing lots of fua and wont be as turn dependent as other units since her damage comes moreso from another teammate attacking rather than her own turns. she will also work extremely well with any dps with aoe capabilities since they can max out her charges very quickly.

the duran planar also seems like a jade set since it gives dmg% to fua and bonus crit dmg.

the forge planar is VERY OBVIOUSLY a firefly set and obnoxiously so, but at least it could be used in cheese fire-break teams? it could definitely benefit break asta but break asta is kind of a cope ngl. it would actually benefit gallagher too since he would benefit from spd boost as an sp generator AND he gains outgoing healing boost based on his break effect so it would boost both his break dmg and his healing.

as for light cones...

jades is kind of insane because its bonus has a VERY high requirement to max out the buff (+16% dmg for every 20 crit dmg past 120, so 140 crit dmg=16%dmg boost, 160 crit dmg=32%dmg boost) BUT the max bonus is literally a 96%dmg bonus at 200% crit dmg, so if you can reach that (which is definitely doable altho quite difficult) its very nice. it plays very well with the duran planar which can lower the amount you need to 176 crit dmg, and thats also without jades own huge crit dmg buffs. as of now it seems like shes going to be a monster specifically tailored for pure fiction, altho i fear the day that pf has a quantum weak level.

fireflys signature is basically just a stat stick for be and inflicts a debuff to enemies that makes them slower and receive more damage after the wearer deals break damage. this is a REALLY good lc for any break comps, ESPECIALLY with the HMC since they allow any unit to deal break dmg to weakness broken enemies. its probably xueyi's new bis light cone.

the new herta 5* erudition sucks absolute ass. literally only use it for the base stats, but any 5* lc is MUCH better, even himeko's signature. most of the 4* lcs are also better.

last new lc is ANOTHER erudition lc but this one is for break effect dps. it also gives a spd bonus whenever the unit uses their ult. considering this lc features art SPECIFICALLY of sunday and not just an illustration including him, its very likely that this is sunday's "signature" lc similar to how gallagher and misha are featured on lcs that are of their path, altho only gallagher's benefits his kit specifically. this would mean that hoyo is teasing sunday being a 4* erudition unit and its possible that he scales on be judging by the extra effect and possibly has some ult shenanigans altho a spd buff afger using ult isnt particularly sus.

[pantspissedinreverse]

Got any tips on how to play med better? Like when to uber n stuff? (I use the vaccinator btw)

I feel like being supportive of my team and I wanna be silly with it and also mainly cuz i hate myself

heya, thanks for asking :) i dont personally play with vacc much nowadays but when i did id try to get as many of the 4 charges as possible before i encountered an enemy and then popped the appropriate res bubble on my pocket, ex. we encounter a soldier so you swap to explosive res and pop that but then a pyro comes so you switch to fire res and pop that as well, so on and so forth another good time to uber is when a lot of enemies are near, this is better for stock/kritz but if you can arrow tank then youre good i dont have much vacc tips, as stated before, i dont play with vacc much but i think that @vaxxman (sorry for the @ :')) might have more info about that for other general tips heres this:

first things first learn heal priority, usually when im in casual i start with buffing my explosives (solly, demo) then my fellow med if there is one, followed by scout, pyro and heavy, then the sniper if i can get to him and lastly spy because those guys can usually get out of sticky situations well or just simply die

i dont know what primary you use but personally id say use the crossbow, its meta for a reason; huge healing output in a short time and you can style on people by hitting some insane arrows. also no matter what you use, learning how to aim it is crucial, what helped me most was aim training maps like tr_walkway or tr_denial (<- this one is mostly for scouts/soldiers but shhhh) both require pasting this command into console before you start them up for the training bots to work sv_allow_point_servercommand always

also movement is very important, for starters damage surfing (right before youre about to get hit jump then crouch mid air to get a boost) and it carries over to every class, yippee! also since i can talk about movement, theres a strategy i often use which i call the shimmy, its a more complicated one i guess? it takes some practice, heres a clip i got of it in comp recently

^ the shimmy fair warning for loud audio, these etf2l schmucks are loud as hell anyway! what you do here is press your movement keys (mostly A and D) in quick succession, move your mouse around a bit and throw some crouching in there in order to make your movement as unpredictable as possible to confuse the enemy and fuck with their aim, this mostly works on hitreg classes (scout, engi, sniper, anyone using a shotgun) and seeing as it works well against comp scouts, it should work in casual as well!

lastly heres some more resources for you, tr_medic, a compilation of training maps made for, well, medic, its a bit less user friendly than tr_walkway or tr_denial but better for medic specific stuff like keeping distance when healing, also here is the art of medic which has everything you could ever want to know (even some comp stuff, neat!)

anyway, thanks for asking! ill take any chance i can get to ramble about medic strats :) best of luck!