First and foremost, you are not DPS and shouldn’t be played with that mentality. The numbers flying across the screen and the little ping sound provide positive feedback and make you feel good, but it’s not Retch's main role to put out direct damage. So what are you?

A Tool.

When properly utilized, a valuable and debilitating Retch can feel even more oppressive than Shredder and Tallboy.

Retch can serve two unique roles and provide utility to its team: targeted anti-healing and anti-positioning.

This one may seem a bit obvious, but it’s worth pointing out the nuance that comes with Retch’s ability that is not shared with Shredder, even though Shredder also has anti-heal capabilities.

The main differences are being able to appropriately time when the anti-heal is applied, reapplying it more consistently, more frequently, and hitting multiple spread-out cleaners.

These distinctions allow Retch to provide value that no other Ridden can. I mentioned that Retch is not DPS. That is because by the end of the match, the amount of healing and temporary health the Retch could have prevented the Cleaners from gaining overwhelmingly towers the amount of direct damage done. Make them feel your presence and rage at you and their Doc.



There are three expected ways a Cleaner gains health: Doc providing healing, being revived, and receiving an Inspiring Sacrifice. Retch will want to apply anti-heal before any of these situations are about to happen, but how Retch chooses to do so makes all the difference. Anti-heal is only applied to cleaners who were hit by the vomit ability, and does not apply to cleaners who just run on acid afterwards.

Learning to resist the urge to use your ability on cooldown will provide the Retch with proper anti-healing opportunities. If you find yourself multiple times a round telling yourself “this would have been an amazing time to have my ability up,” then you need to mentally note the value you got from the ability right before and determine if you would have been better off holding it.

One of the most overlooked tools the Retch provides is anti-positioning, but what does that mean? The cleaners spend a lot of time physically and mentally preparing a position on the map before the round even begins, and continue to actively do so for the entire round to be in the best position possible. This isn’t limited to their physical positioning and encompasses the cleaners’ entire situation they find themselves in.



F*** that! Your job is to make them work for it and make quick, tough decisions that will throw them off and cause mistakes or allow the rest of your team to find even more value. How can you do this?

Retch’s whole kit is purposefully designed for this by leaving behind pools of acid that cause continuous damage, exploding on death sends cleaners flying, and in later rounds through an upgrade, significantly slowing the movement, use, and reload speed of cleaners hit.

You’ll want to focus on weakening the cleaners’ positioning and situation whenever possible. This is one of the more challenging aspects of Retch, as this is less obvious than providing anti-healing value. Still, anti-positioning can give even more value and start the cascade of ending the round. Always be ready to burst into action to make full use of your kit and force cleaners to make more decisions.

Retch forces cleaners to make a positioning decision at every turn, and the wrong choice can have severe consequences. “Do I move out of the acid? Do I rotate now? Am I standing too close to swarm? Am I standing too close to a ledge? Do I reload now? Do I have to use a defib to speed up a revive? Should I have grabbed those pills instead of bandages/first aid kits? Do I kill this Retch or finish the revive?”

When a cleaner moves, they could open up spawning positions for your team. They rotate too late, and you slow them, making them more vulnerable. They forgot about bad ledges, alleys, or corners to avoid, and you’ve exploded, sending them exactly where they don’t want to be. They empty their magazine and now have a 5+ second reload. They try reviving slowly or without the proper cards and are vulnerable, or use the defib, and now won’t have it for a death. Tallboys can prevent healing with a bandage or first aid kit now that they swing faster than the time it takes.

There are almost limitless ways Retch can weaken and debilitate cleaners’ position in any given game.

Now that your purpose and role are laid out, you can start thinking about how to create immense value during each round. You may have to choose between further weakening the cleaners' positioning or saving your ability for better anti-healing value. This comes with experience and game knowledge on which is better in the moment, and how to do both at the same time effectively.

Learning positioning on each map will help you. Don’t be afraid to ask where you should stand and where your acid will provide the most value. Listen to call-outs, and make your own when you have influenced their position. The more knowledge you and your team have, the more likely everyone is to make what they believe is the best decision. Good call-outs can be heals/re in anti, a cleaner moving off a spawn block spot, or Walker having a slow reload.

You’ll face challenges. Some make it their entire existence to hunt you (*coughs in boats*). Some more experienced cleaners will choose to sit in your acid, knowing that spawn blocking where they are is more important than the damage you’ll do. Your skin is thinner than a balloon, and you pop almost instantly. Vomiting makes Retch forget that directions other than straight ahead exist. Over time, you will learn how to handle these challenges properly.

Retch’s mechanics are easy to understand and have a very low skill barrier. Still, the information here will help you rise into the competitive skill range expected in a small dedicated player base and provide an all-around better experience and accomplishment.

• Prevent Needless Dying. Don’t forget to arc your ability and spread it around as much as possible. This will allow you to stay safe behind objects while also covering more areas cleaners won’t want to be in. Find a good spot behind impenetrable objects whenever possible
  
• Be Ready For Revives. Guarding downs and being ready with anti-heal takes priority. If there is a down, do not use your ability for anything other than applying anti-heal before the revive.
  
• Burst and Bump. If there are 2 or more downs, or late into the round, make sure you are in a position to burst in to stop revives by bumping instead of just anti-healing the revive. Retch’s death ability can be extremely debilitating.
  
• Reposition. As the circle moves and the cleaners move, make sure you are also making proper adjustments to your position in order to properly help guard downs (see above).
  
• Be Aggressive. This is more situational than others, but always look for the potential value of going in and providing that extra mayhem, damage, and blowback. This becomes more and more important as the round goes on. Make the cleaners actually worry about 4 ridden instead of only 3, and continue to move and affect them by using your ability and then bursting in for extra damage and worsening their situation. An aggressive retch can be the difference between a 4:30 round and a 5:30 round. Never dying a whole round is not a flex.

If you found this guide without knowing what Swarm was about or playing it much, check out this guide to read about Swarm.

If you want to try your hand at Swam and join the Pick-Up Games (PUGs) mentioned in the Swarm guide, you can join us on The Riptide[discord.gg].