Fireteam and Communication
If you’re serious about dominating in PvP then you’re going to want to get yourself a fireteam equipped with microphones. While it’s not necessary, it makes winning matches significantly easier. For one, if you play with the same people frequently, you will naturally build up a flow over time and start to coordinate with one another. But also, being able to communicate with your team members is an essential capability for strategizing.
If you can’t get a fireteam together from your friends list, you might want to try joining some Destiny FB groups or scavenging the Destiny LFG websites. If that doesn’t work, or you just can’t be bothered to endure the extra time, then you should at least try switching your audio from fireteam chat to regular team chat to communicate with any of the other random players on your teams, provided they’re also on their mics looking to communicate.
Weapons and Armor
Unless you’re in a special Crucible event such as the Iron Banner or Trials of Osiris, your weapons and armor will conform to a unified scaling system so that level gaps between low and high level players will not make PvP unfair. That being said, you still need to think about what weapons and armor you plan on equipping. If you’re favorite gun is a handcannon, you might want to equip armor that gives you more ammo for hand cannons and another piece that increases reload speed.
Also, different situations and maps require different weapons types so it’s best to keep a varied arsenal. You’ll also want to be mindful of choosing an exotic as there are many pieces that have buffs specific to PvP or PvE. Of course you’ll want to be on the lookout for those perks that are better suited to PvP play so you might want to avoid equipping anything that provides more super energy for non-guardian kills because it’s a waste of a perc in the crucible unless the other perks make it worth it.
Rift
Rift is one of the new Crucible modes that has come to Destiny in the Taken King expansion. If you’re unsure of how to play this mode at all, you might want to take a look at our guide on How to Play the Rift Multiplayer Mode. Once you’ve got the basics down, there are a few more tips you can use to enhance your game.
This is a great match to play with a fireteam. If you can get a team with a defender, a good strategy is to have a Defender use a Ward of Dawn with Blessings of Light at the location of the spark when it is just about charged. This will protect the runner grabbing the spark as well as giving the rest of the protecting team a health boost as you make your way towards the rift.
If you’re on the offensive against a team using this strategy, then it’s a good idea to keep a Warlock with Nova Bomb or a Titan with Fist of Havoc in your party as those supers are particularly good at destroying Titan bubbles.
Mayhem
Mayhem is another new Crucible mode that came to Destiny in the Taken King expansion. Essentially, this game type is a clash match on steroids. If you’re not familiar with clash, it’s basically a team deathmatch but feel free to read our tips on the next page and come back if that helps you to understand Mayhem mode.
All of your abilities, meaning your super, grenade, and melee will charge incredibly fast in addition to the increased heavy ammo drops. It’s hard to develop a strategy for this one because as the name suggests, it’s filled with mayhem. The best recommendation is to choose a subclass you are fond of with a super that you expect to inflict heavy damage. In other words FIsts of Havoc, Nova Bombs, Hammer of Sols, Golden Guns, Arc Blades, and Stromtrances.
Clash
Clash is a straightforward 6 vs. 6 team deathmatch where the winning team is the one with the most kills. For this mode, it’s good to stay in a fireteam and move in a pack. While kill points are important, players also receive points for assists which you will miss out on if the whole team acts as lone wolves.
Also, if you play a decent amount of Crucible, you might notice that many of the people who play appear not to join fireteams or to use their microphones. This mean that just talking to your team at all and calling out enemy locations and team intentions could be a huge advantage over your competition.
Control/ Zone Control
Control is similar to Clash but with the addition of zones that you must capture. Same goes for Zone Control and although the scoring between the two is slightly different, the strategy is the same. There are three zones and for each one you control, you gain additional points for kills. You also gain points for capturing and neutralizing zones. Again,communication works well here so that you can plan whether to have your team lead an assault and capture mission on a zone or to stay and defend already captured territory. Also, Titan bubbles are great for capturing zones so it’s always good to have a Defender, potentially with a Helm of Saint-14 exotic, on your team.
Usually, there will be a central zone on the map, probably B, which it helps to capture most of the time. However, if you can’t seem to take the center, don’t keep running into the center of the map and filling it with your corpses. Instead, take the two outside zones. This will force the other team out of the center. Be prepared for this and slay them as they come and you’ll have an open opportunity to take the center again.
While Control is improved with communication, it is one of the easier modes to play without it, compared to some of the others. If you can’t communicate with your team, you can try to gain a sense for which ones you are doing well to capture and hold and continue to maintain that. It’s better not to be constantly switching up the zones if you can avoid it because doing so will switch up the spawn locations. This can be disorienting for players and it’s optimal to get comfortable with the map and get a winning routine and strategy in place.
Skirmish
Skirmish is a 3 vs. 3 team deathmatch. When in this mode, players have the ability to revive teammates after a death as well as the ability to revive themselves after a certain period of time. The goal is to finish with the highest score. This mode can feel more intimate and intense than the 6 vs. 6 modes, as can the other 3 vs. 3 game types.
For Skirmish, you’ll want to practice with your sniper rifle as it will be harder to sneak up on your opponents. You can use any primary you feel comfortable with but if you happen to have the exotic The Last Word, then that’s never a bad choice. In this mode, you’ll also want to be ready to pick up your teammates when they go down, but be wary of danger. Your enemy knows you want to pick up your teammates and might have a sniper watching the body, waiting for you to walk into the crosshairs.
Elimination
Elimination is similar to Skirmish except that as the name suggests, it is played in an elimination style instead of for points. This means that you cannot revive yourself after any period of time and the round is over when your whole team is down. This game mode mimics the Trials of Osiris. So if you’re looking to practice a bit before you’re ready to take on the big leagues, this is the mode to do it on.
Communication is key in this mode. Call out where your enemies are. Know what weapons they’re using. Don’t just act without talking. Decide whether you are going to flank or rush in for a direct assault. Vary your techniques and strategies each round making sure not to fall into a stale and predictable approach that they enemy can adapt to and overcome.
Salvage
Last but not least in the category of 3 vs. 3. matches we have Salvage. This somewhat resembles a 3 vs.3 version of Rift. However, instead of a spark acting as the flag in the center of the map that either team must capture, we now have a relic that spawns randomly. And instead of running and igniting the rift in the enemy’s base, your goal is to deploy your ghost in the location you find the relic and defend it from the other team while it is being salvaged.
As with other modes where you must capture or protect an objective, the Titan’s Ward of Dawn with a Blessings of Light is a great ability to have in this situation. While defending the relic, you can expect to engage in a lot of close quarters combat so it’s a good idea to equip a shotgun as your secondary weapon.
Inferno
Inferno is a game type that we’ve seen applied to both Clash and Control and could potentially be used in conjunction with almost any game mode. What mainly specifies a match as an Inferno match is that the player no longer has access to the on-screen radar and that the scoring relies strictly on kills without awarding bonus points for assists.
For this mode, it may not be as important to stay in large groups since there is no incentive for assisted kills. If you can function as individuals on this mode without getting wiped out, it can work. Also, remember to follow the tips for the mode that Inferno is occurring in conjunction with because even without assist kills, it does help to use teamwork via strategic planning conveyed over the fireteam chat.
Rumble
While we’ve stressed communication for the majority of the game modes so far, rumble is one where you won’t need to rely on it at all. This is an every guardian for himself free for all. Playing this mode and knowing what to do when surrounded by more than one foe and other tricky combat scenarios can actually help train you for the special PvP events such as Iron Banner and Trials of Osiris.
For this game mode, it’s all about playing to your strengths. In Rumble, it is a viable option to be a patient sniper or to run around the map, ducking and sliding around corners with a shotgun. But however you choose to play, you’ll need to be open to changing your plan along the way to rapidly adapt to the other players. Each time you play Rumble, you are potentially facing off against several random new approaches. After a while you will start to get more used to attack patterns and strategies. But a good tip for Rumble is to have some patience and continue playing. The skill here isn’t so much one that you can memorize but rather the ability to adapt and survive.
More Destiny: The Taken King
- Unlock and Beat the Sunless Cell Strike
- 7 Beginner TTK Tips to do Immediately
- Taken King Wiki Guide
- How to Level Up and Increase Your Light Level Fast
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