Halo 3: Improvement Techniques 16.) Roles: What they are and What you should be

In my last blog I worte about how teams are generally interchangeable parts, and any person should pick up any weapon at any time to deny the other team a shot at said weapon. That was true, but only to an extent. Teams still want players who are better at using one particular weapon to have a greater chance of using it. Teams also want people who seem to fare better in certain situations to be in a prime position to be able to work their magic. The better teams do this by assigning roles to each of their four members.

Here are the possible roles:

Slayer AKA- Main Slayer-- This is the guy who typically enjoys running around on his own and uses the prearranged placement of his team to kill people. Killing people is his primary responsibility. You'll find people who are good with the sniper rifle, or have the strange ability to rush opponents outnumbered but still win are generally slayers. The reason there is one person who's main responsibility is killing people is simple; when people are dead and on respawn, they can't harass the rest of the team. His job is to keep people on that respawn timer as much as possible.

The thing is you can really only have one person who is a "main slayer". This is because these guys are like rock guitarists in that they have a tendency to wing it on occasions. They will often run out of pre-arranged positions to one they think is more favorable for killing. This is their job, but it is a fine line they walk. These "main slayers" have to have the ability to control their naturally aggressive nature and return to their positions to help out the team.



Support Slayer-- The support slayer is essentially what his name implies. He is a supporting player, and is not encouraged to ever run out of his position and hold his ground while always putting shots on people. Getting kills is not his main priority. Depleting shields is. As a supporting player his job is to shoot anyone and everyone he sees, even if he knows he won't get a kill. His job is also to lay covering fire to fix an enemy's position so the main slayer and/or the objective player can accomplish their goals.

But, he is not always a support player. He is encouraged to change his role for short periods of time when the main slayer is on respawn. So for 5-8 second intervals, this guy's job is to play as a main slayer when the initial one is dead or returning to his position.



Objective Player-- This is the guy who almost always has some measure of success when taking flags, or arming bombs, or taking territories or holding a hill. Their main goal is to carry the bomb, or get the flag, and they generally do this single mindedly and stubbornly. prior to their attempting to grab a flag, they play the role of "support" until they find themselves in position to accomplish their main goal.

As a general rule, Objective players are usually the weakest slayers on your team. This isn't always the case though, and in fact, you'd like your objective player to be proficient in up close encounters, especially beat-downs because that is when the majority of his killing will occur. But is is a good idea to put that player who just doesn't have as good a BR aim in the objective role.

It is also worthy to note that objective player's roles really do not change much when they play slayer matches. They will play a lot more support, but instead of grabbing a flag being their main objective, grabbing power ups and weapons like rockets are now their main goals.



Support Objective-- This dude (or dudette) is almost an exact clone of the support slayer. His job is almost exactly the same, except he goes after objectives when the objective player is down for the count. He is to hold his positon and put shots on people for the main slayer to kill, but he also pays special attention to the status of the objective player and helps him forge his way though the map more than just shooting at random people. Probably the best example of a support duo are the orge twins.



So, how do you know what role fits you? It depends on the team you have fitted together. Generally your uber agressive, best sniper shot will always be your main slayer. He must recognize though, that he has a specific job, and he also has a sector of the map that is his resposibility to cover his teammates flanks. He can not ignore that or his teammates will suffer while he gets umpteen kills. He has to remember he is to kill people so they don't kill his teammates, and not just run after and chase kills that don't matter to the overall scheme of things on the map, or that pull him so far out of position he can't get help from his slayers or help his teammates. This is the guy who must be good in head on charges because he will most often lead them should they be necessary. A person who is a "bear" player type and can control his bearishness when it benefits the team is the ideal slayer.

The support slayer is usually the guy who is right on par skillwise with the main slayer but has a more passive approach to killing. He must be willing to hold his position though if things get hairy, and not always run away at the first sign of resistance.

The support objective guy fits the same mold of the support slayer, but he's also good at close range battles should he need to take over objectives if the objective player fails.

The objective player is generally the weakest link....but not always. Don't feel bad if you are the objective player. It doesn't mean you're horrible at halo, it just means there are three other players on the team who are generally better shots than you. What the objective player is, is the sneaky little thief. He is the only player who isn't to shoot at someone if it would give away his position and his clear run at the objective. The objective player is almost always the most passive player on the team. In slayer games, he tries not to die more than tries to kill. He will,and is sometimes encouraged to abandon positions that are too tough for him to handle. If he's good though, he'll lead thsoe following him into traps set up by his teammates.



These are just basic descriptions of the roles people play. You must remember though, that everyone on your team is first and foremost, a member of the team, and everyone on that team can and will slip into any role that the gameplay forces them into. Having roles is only the ideal way to play. As some of the competitive players on this site will tell you, it doesn't always happen the way they envision it, but a team's ability to change roles at the drop of a hat makes them harder to beat.



Also, very important!!!!!!!!!!

Every team needs a leader...... Just one leader. You can't have four people on a team who all believe they have the key to success to winning. Everyone must be on board with one person's plan, or heads will but and eventually you'll find your team breaking up. It is generally not a good idea for that leader to be the main slayer. This is because this guy is the best killer on the team, and he will expect everyone on his team to live up to his exacting standards. As we all know, no one is perfect at halo, but these guys generally have an ego that tells them they are God's gift to halo. They will have a hard time being team leaders. A good team leader is the person who recognizes everyone's strengths and weaknesses and can devise strategies that compliment everyone. The leader is NOT the person who yells the loudest, but the person who makes the most sense. Remember that and your team will fare much better.