Good Day fellow players!

My name is Feyce or Feycee (Pronounce: Face or Face-ee) and I play since beta. I would like to make it clear I'm not a pro, not even playing ranked, rather just casual game modes.

These are my thoughts i gathered during my journey playing this game, and confronting new players all the time. I would like to help new players understand the game, so to make this game more enjoyable and less frustrating to everyone who plays casually as I do!

So here are some tips, or we-should-call fundamental strategies, that can help overcome the confusion, and initial misconceptions about the game (don't mind the order):

Almost every aspect of the game can be reproduced there, apart a from a few things that work differently or doesn't work at all.

Example of differences: goo doesn't directly affect npcs (they simply walk through it, huh), and you can't use Data Reshape on vault boxes in game, but you can in practice (wierd).

The reason behind i put this on 0./zero is, it may be revisited every once in a while, since this point is equally important for new players and for veterans as well! I do this every time a patch comes out, or if I dont understand something. Go there and check how things work!

This is about safe and/or efficient traversal!

Know when to traverse on ground level, and when to go up, and when/where to use traversal gadgets! Sometimes either way is safer and/or more time efficient! This depends on the map and situation of course. So obviously you will only know the fastest/safest/most efficient way of traversing, after you played a few games, but i consider this as an important factor, since at the beginning mindful traversal is the most efficient way to not get killed, or to able to get in place in time!

Examples: If you need to get from A to B fast, some maps offer faster ground level travelling, than on higher levels, and on some maps it's the opposite. Also if an enemy engages or chases you, and you want to avoid, it's always a good idea to change traversal height level.

This is about the colorful arena carriables, those that have special effects!

There are a lot of them in the arenas, they are initially present on every map, and they're an added extra over your build. Some can do damage when thrown, you can carry them wherever, and use them to your benefit according to their particular effect! (But you can learn a few usefull info about the effects in the next section!)

There are 7 types of them, and I'm not gonna explain all of them now, since you can try them at practice mode, and almost all of them are self-explainatory. There are two things i would mention: Red(explosive) has the best instant damage! And big Blue battery-like(glitch) has an area effect causes everyone to forcefully switch back to primary weapon!

Don't ignore them, they are everywhere and they're pretty helpful, sometimes a game-changer to survive/win! There could be a whole thread dedicated to them, but right now I advise, to play the game, pick them up and throw them at the enemy as often as you can! You'll learn them eventually!

I would add a few extra thoughts here:

• Some throw mechanics that can be helpful to know (only for carriables):
  
  • Pressing ADS button (RightMouseButton or LeftTrigger) will let go in place without throwing.
    
  • Pressing Shoot with QuickMeele (V or RightStickButton) in the same time will throw the carriable higher/farther, than Shoot button does! (You can combine this with Dash or Jumpads for even greater distance throws!)
• Objective Carriables (Cashbox, Terminal Key) can do thrown damage, so you can actually kill enemies with them, apart from their primary purpose!

This is about how to counter effects and damage!

After a few games you start to realize, that besides the usual gunfire damage there are some annoying effects in game you gonna encounter all the time, here's a list how you can counter almost everything in game (example formula effect -> counter):

• gas -> fire(ANY), or Healing Beam to compensate(healing is faster than gas damage)
  
• fire, self-burning -> smoke(ANY), or Healing Beam to compensate
  
• smoke -> explosive(ANY), or scan(ANY) and thermal vision to compensate
  
• goo -> fire(ANY), or can be destroyed by any damage(slower)
  
• glitch -> afaik cannot be countered or compensated
  
• ANY throwable -> APS turret, you can carry it if you place it on an arena carriable!
  
• invisibility(ANY) -> glitch(ANY) to counter, scan(ANY) or thermal vision to compensate
  
• Charge n' Slam(H) - Nullifier(formerly Stun Gun)(L)
  
• (almost)ANY specialization - glitch(ANY)force-revert back to primary weapon, Nullifier
  
• any bullets -> shield(ANY) and goo(ANY), or Dual swords(M)(can deflect bullets back onto enemy if you aim correctly)

Sidenote: The new(ish) Nullifier (formerly Stun Gun) stop ANY character interaction, and limits the the target only to normal movement, but the target also becomes undamagable.

This whole part may be considered as advanced knowledge, but IMHO the sooner you learn these, the faster you'll adapt to the fights, and less likely to make dumb decisions about gadgets and carriables.

Example: Standing away from a gased cashout waiting for the gas to dissipate, can make you lose crucial seconds, or can even make you permanently lose!

Example2: During our defense my teammate kept throwing fire grenade on my gas mines, triggering and dissipating my gas instantly - it's just a waste of resources, what lessens deffense possibilities.

(*ANY - means all corresponding grenade, mine, cannister, or speciality)

This is about the right ingame mindset! About how to react to situations correctly!

New players tend to never help/never know where/what to do - apart from smurfs. Or they think they know, but they're wrong, sadly, and these are the more. You should develop a general idea of a playstyle and build, that's a bit less reliant on your teamates, and a bit more focused on solo play, meaning know when to engage or leave on your own!

Ideas for these playstyle: If you're alone and overwhelmed, it's always a better idea to start to run away without hesitation! Changing directions or altitude fast and frequently helps a lot(breaking line of sight), or you can hide, but if they know you're around, it's almost a complely useless tactic!

Even if you're with your teammates, never tunnel vision, only engage if they're also aware of enemy presence. You should either stick with them, or point them at the right direction, sometimes even just running in the right direction can help your team doing the right thing, or fighting the right person! But using Pinging (MiddleMouseButton or D-padLeft) also can help a lot!

More on *right* in the next few points!
My explaination might be a bit confusing, but I hope you get the idea!

This is about knowing what to do generally, and the particular importance of kills!

Quick Cash is objective-based, so you get no direct advantage of kills towards winning. (In Quick Cash a whole team can get away with winning without a singe kiIl - I did a few times.) It feels more like a introducing gamemode to prepare you for World Tour and Ranked.
I would recommend trying this before anything else!

Power Shift is the Finals' version of payload-pushing game mode, like the one you might have seen in Overwatch. it is rather a bonus game mode, that's purely for fun, since the base mechanic is totally different from the other game modes. (In Power Shift it's impossible for a whole team to win without kills, but it's possible to have zero kills as a player, though that means s/he less likely added any value towards winning.)

TDM or Team Deathmatch is the pure kill gamemode! Hop in and do damage, more kills win! No further expainations needed.

Bank It is a mixed bag of killing or opening vaults with cashing out the collected coins. Killing is pretty essential here! Though you may be able to get away and win with just one single kill, it's less likely to happen.

Terminal Attack is a 5v5 Elimination/Defuse style gamemode, but dying per round is permanent! It revolves more around tactics, survival, and precise gunplay! CS players would find it familiar. But I think this gamemode stands out the most from the Finals' repertiore.
Not really recommended for beginners!

World Tour and Ranked are tournament based-, 3 round knockout gamemodes similar to Cashout but with more teams and more vaults/cashboxes in the same time, but with limited respawn credits! Killing is valuable, but objective is a bit more valuable! World Tour occasionally has one unique arena modifier rule compared to Ranked.
None recommended fo beginners at all!

If you want to try new things, anything, builds, gadgets, in live game, or you want a live shooting practice, go for Power Shift! or Team Deathmatch! Both are 5v5 modes, with TDM having a bit less breathing room. PowerShift is better to try anything, TDM is better to try guns. Generally in these it's less likely that your team wins or loses because of you, and you can experiment a bit!

Conclusion: in Quck Cash you can be pretty useful without killing a single enemy! So if you play that mode and you focus on objective and maybe also on support(!), while ending up with bad KDA/DPS, no matter how toxic or angry your teammates get, my brother, know this - you did the right thing towards getting better! You can tell them to go Ranked, or just ignore them completely! (I won a few Quick Cash with no kills, and high objective score, since I secured the winning conditions instead of my teamates who just fought blindly, and not focused the objevtive at all.)

Of course you can do whatever you want in whichever gamemode, but for first timers, I suggest alternating between Practice Range and Quick cash, because these are the gamemodes that helps you learn the basic mechanics of this game!
Then you should start playing Bank It and Team Deathmatch too, those help you to lean towards a more agressive gameplay, make you learn the weapons and may force you to kill more!
And meanwhile you can try Power Shift whenever, for experimenting purposes and fun!

I don't recommend World Tour and Ranked for new players at all, since you need to have a higher level understandig of the gamemode-, weapon- and teamplay-mechanics or tactics! Please keep this in mind, since you may ruin your teammates' game by jumping into these gamemodes too early on!

This is an important sidenote to the previous point, but it's more about prioritizing the right objective.

This applies to the gamemodes that are objective prioritized! So QuickCash, PowerShift, TerminalAttack, WorldTour and Ranked!

Best example: In QuickCash an enemy holds a Cashout, with a timer less then quarter circle left (less than 15 sec actually), I am simply too far. But my other 2 teammates just respawned, and they decide to run there, the timer runs out, they arrive, the enemy kills them, I'm alone again, and it's stupid

You shouldn't run to active Objectives in situations like:

• Enemy has the objective, or about to steal yours, and the Cashout timer is about to finish, considering the distance you realize you're way to far to steal and wipe them in time - means you should go to next/inactive objective!
  
• Enemy has the objective and has plenty of time left, but you are alone and waiting for teammates to respawn - means you can get closer, but not too close!

You should start running to an active/the next Objective in situations like:

• Your team owns an active Cashout next to you, but the timer is so close to finish, it's technically impossible to steal
  
• You are far from an enemy Cashout, and you have enemies around trying to fight you, but you may still have time to reach and steal with also a possible enemy teamwipe in place
  
• If enemy has a Cashout, your team is alive and close, but timer is about to run out - run to steal immediately! If your team may pays attention they might follow and help to keep you alive for long enough! If not, it's already doesn't matter.

Conclusion: Always try to move towards the objective, since fighting and killing is not the main winning condition, only a tool that may helps!

This is about when to fight, and when to move!

If both teammates are down, mostly avoid fighting! Hiding is good, running away is better, running towards objective is the best, unless you would run towards enemies.

During there is a defense objcetive present on the map, fighting is secondary, like fighting 200 meters away from a loading cashout and dying, is worse, than fighting and dying FOR the cashout. Since if you die near objective, clever teammates can revive you to continue defending, or if not, either way you gonna respawn closer to the objective!

The other part is pretty obvious. This game is not about camping or waiting at all! Even snipers here need to change position often to stay alive! But the best technic is to never f-ing stop moving at all, since it can pretty much lead you to dying all the time!
The only two exception you would optionally stop, is either when you're low on health, alone, and want to recover, or while you strategically wait for your teammates to respawn, meanwhile in both situations you should be 100% sure noone followed! But if anyone did, you shouldn't stop running!

Keep in mind, these are newbie tips, in higher levels you literally never stop, since a thoughtful running away is much more efficient, than hiding ever!

This is about deciding wether to, or not to revive in certain gamemodes!

In Quick Cash , you ONLY revive if you're close to Cashout while your team is defending, since there's unlimited respawn, so a farther revive is just a waste of time!
(Example: There was this guy in Quick Cash, who kept fighting and reviving me all the time quite far from cashout, no wonder we lost)

EXCEPTION: When not to revive! applies Quick Cash, World Tour and Ranked!
TLDR: If a Steal can win a Cashout, don't revive!
Breakdown: If your team is attacking (so your team doesn't possess the Cashout), and the Cashout is close to finish, never ever choose to revive! Cashout stealing is first priority then! Even if you stole, and there is a little time on Cashout to run out, you would revive only, if noone is trying to steal! Revive is only accepatable if the Cashout is safe! This means anytime you revive, and some enemy starts a possibly successful steal on your team's Cashout, STOP reviveving and immediately turn to defend the Cashout! This is alone is so crucial to know, that this right or wrong decision alone can mean win or lose at the very end of the game! (I see this common mistake among new players all the time! Please, don't be that guy/girl!)

In Power Shift your revives mostly would be effective only if you are on the platform, and want keep the defense at bay. If you are not on the platform, reviving can be ingnored, since teammates reaspawn kinda fast. You may only revive them, if you can do it fast, and close to the patform. (Example: if a teammate dies at your feet, and you are not in imminent danger, do it and run, but more effort would be a waste of time.)

In Bank It, or TDM FORGET revive, unless you can do it in 2-3 secs right after the teammate's death, since there's unlimited respawn, AND no teamwipe time penalty on it!

In World Tour and Ranked, almost ALWAYS revive, or at least try to, since you have very limited respawn tokens! In these gamemodes, you should keep track of the tokens, since a well or badly timed and placed revive could mean lose or win to your team!
But in these game modes please keep in mind the one crucial exception I addressed above in the 'EXCEPTION' paragraph => Steal before revive!

Defibrillator: It's marvellous thing, it can be useful in EVERY gamemode, but in some you might choose a more suited gadget instead, but the point is it can be useful in Bank it, TDM, or PowerShift too. But in the objective-based gamemodes, especially QuickCash you should 50% prioritize to use it close to an active objective, instead of wasting it far away, since it can revive a teammate so fast, that you can continue defending or fighting others. You may use it keeping in mind, that by the time you need to defend or attack an objective, you gonna have it up! I think it's an excessive advantage, almost a must have to have one in team!

This is about proper reviving!

These are the situations you should completely avoid, if you decide to revive a teammate:

• running with a statue for 15-20 secs, or
  
• not hiding at all during reviving(too much hiding or no hiding is wrong), or
  
• reviving into gas/fire, or
  
• reviving into crossfire while you are on low health

are NOT efficient revivings at all!

And:

• reviving without a defib, while you have a charged one, or
  
• reviving without a defib, while the other living teammate is close and has a charged one, or
  
• if both teammates are down, reviving the one that has no defib over the one who has

are still considered as bad choices, but they're acceptable!
BUT these can become good choices, if you are not near any Objective, and not in a fight!

There are maybe more, but these are among the most obvious ones came into my mind.

There are exceptions to almost ALL of these situations I stated above, but you should generally stick to these advices!

(Example: The last living teammate revived me right next to an enemy controlled Cashout, right into a middle of a big gas cloud, so he died immediately, then i died right after him by the defending enemy and gas... is in a lot of ways stupid!)

You should watch some videos, and test the game in practice Range, to have some idea about setting the game up to your benefit and liking, since this can help your gaming experience to improve by tremendous amount. I talk about control- and crosshair-settings, but since it's highly subjective to everyone, I wouldn't go into too specific recommendations about all, since my setttings can even worsened the gameplay to others

Notes for Controller players:

• IMHO it's essential to raise the View Sensitivity (Right Controller Stick) as much as possible! I would recommend to raise both Horizontal and Vertical at max, then while trying it constantly, go down by 50 a few times, until you find it comfortable! (mine sits on H:350 if I remember right)
  
• Along with the last point, you should consider to use a thumbstick-raiser adapter on your Right ThumbStick, that helps you do precise movements even with high sensitivity settings (I personally use KontrolFreek INFERNO, IMHO it's the best, and also the most recommended! These things are kinda cheap, and they're elevating your gameplay a lot! (Cheap pun intended!)
  
• This is also very subjective but I use 'Exponential' in controller settings. That's the most recommended to controller players, but u may try the others too!

This is about beginner class and gadget selection!

Choose whatever class you like, but as far as I learnt, 'Light' for starters is harder than the other classes, so considered as worse choice over the other two classes.

And - apart from Bank it and TDM- there always should be some defense and/or distraction in your team, but not too much.

This is where you should experience and learn, but In my case (I play Medium mostly, so) I don't take heal if I see 2 Lights beside me, since they either survive or die faster than me healing them. So I pick turret that can support them, and defib for getting them up.

With considering all my previous tips, you should play this game anyhow you feel like, build- and classwise! It applies almost every aspect of the game, which i did not mention above! Don't listen to others saying a certain class, weapon or gadget is bad! Nothing is BAD in this game, even 'Light' is just harder! You should find your own style, Doesn't matter if you play mnk or controller, both have benefits over the other! Don't let others tell you what to do!

I may shouldn't address this at all, but signs show, that I may need to remind younger players...
I'm 38, and I'm tired of this sh.t, so I try avoid toxicity in every way.(Pun intended.) Even though it's hard.

Since Season 4, I meet more and more new or new-ish players, who tend to justifing their misconceptions about the game with pure toxicity. You know these types, even among you there are some, i'm sure, but no offense, smart people can grow from their mistakes. But These are the players, who type "K Y S" "IDIOT" "uninstall" "FU" and so on, meanwhile they're low level players, with high KDA and DPS, and zero costistency objective- and teamplay-wise.

So we lose mainly because of them, and they blame me, or us, in a gamemode that has zero weight, (since I told you guys, i don't play ranked,) and it's just plain stupid...

Please, learn the game, respect other players, keep in mind that this is a free game that has a lot minor players, and consider which gamemode you play, because cursing in Ranked is just unnecessary, but doing the same in a totally weightless gamemode is just pure evil and stupid.

Thank you for reading this!

The last few points addressed with + because i believe, those are more subjective and less important than the numbered points.

Well besides the facts, almost everything i wrote here should be taken with a grain of salt, but all these support timing and efficiency, and THOSE help winning! These helped me to get better!

You can go so far, that you may ignore aaaaaall my points, and go play fun 99% of the time, and solely focus on killing, or just running along and stab everyone in the back (and I already hate you), but I can assure you this game is even more fun if you know what you are doing and you do it for winning!

But for new players the most crucial point and the conclusion of this whole mess is:
If you have high KDA, that doesn't mean you are good in this game, it can EVEN mean you're pretty bad, and fail to understand the fundamentals! So if we lose despite your personal score... it's propbably not me you should pour out your anger at! Actually at noone!

I'm almost completely sure the better players would agree at least some of my points.
If you totally ignore these tips and still win, that doesn't mean I'm wrong! That means fortunately you either got stupid or noob enemies, or quite good teammates! Or you are a one man army, and kill eveyone on sight! Hi Shroud!

Everywhere I wrote KDA, but I'm aware it's 'EAD' in this game, I just found it easier and more understandable this way.

Oh and one last note, anyone who feel like disagreeing with me, you can state your opinions, just don't be a rude a$$ mofo. I'm trying to help here... despite all the frustration other players causing me in this game.
And also consider the time it took me to get these together in my mind and type down.

Of course, I may formulate weird or stupid sometimes, or I may left out important stuff, so feel free to make suggestions for new points, or for altering points to be more understandable and/ or grammatically consistent.
If this gets enough upvotes, and reviews, i believe this could be a sticky post that really helps new players 'staying' in the game, not just trying it.

And pardon my english, It's not my mother-tongue.


Have a Nice day!