Learn2Loadout

[kxizm]

Learn2Loadout

This is a different guide than the ones I've posted so far. Instead of giving tips on how to combat certain tactics, strategies and other specific loadouts, I'm going to try to write a guide aimed towards new players, but that more veteran players can come away with something as well.

This guide will help give you the basic reasons how and why you will build your loadout. I'm aiming for this to be short and sweet to get you back into the chaos as fast as possible. First we'll talk about the decisions you'll need to make before making your primary loadout. Next, well go over effectively utilizing all of your loadouts (even if you haven't unlocked a lot, or even any, custom loadouts yet, this should still be helpful). Then we'll begin the real meat of this post: synergy. After that I'll a few more brief things to say and we'll call it a day.

Decisions, decisions
-What kind of player are you? Do you run for objectives? Do you hang back and attack at a distance? Do you like to flank the enemy without them being any the wiser? Do you wade into battle bathing in the blood, gore, and glory? Do you hand out sandwiches to your teammates and tell them they look nice in their banana hammock?

All these questions and more are simply trying to find out one thing - What's your playstyle? It's different for each person, and it's different for each game. Heck, it can be different between game modes on the same game. You'll need to find a playstyle you're comfortable with. And because of this, I suggest playing each of the default loadouts a number of times each and figuring out what you liked or didn't like about each of them. Try to piece together a loadout you think you'd really enjoy playing. For the first 30-40 levels, I'd say you're still finding your playstyle. By that time you'll have plenty of unlocks, probably set up 2 or 3 very different loadouts that intrigue you. Maybe you unlocked the Deep Freezer and found it wanting. Maybe you grabbed the Spring Boots and absolutely loved them. Find the things that make you enjoy playing this game and use them. They will determine your playstyle.


Utilizing your Loadouts
This is how I view loadouts: I have one loadout (we'll call this the Primary Loadout) that I use EVERY game. At least to start. The rest of my loadouts are support. Not that they all have the motivator/Care Package deal, but that they all address a specific need that my team might have or are an answer to a problem my team might run into. All the loadouts play quite similarly except for minor differences.
On one, I have Wallflower in case the other team is Tagging me often enough with the Goggles. On the same one, I run the Boomerang for the Speedy Skater Shotgun combo. Another has the Air Space Denier for Mighty Gliders (Boomerang also works wonders for this!). I have another loadout with Goggles that I use mostly on the objective modes for defending objectives and such.
The point here is not to copy me or to have the answer to everything in one single loadout. In fact, I rarely ever switch to those loadouts. Only switch to them if your team is suffering because of a problem.

Find out which loadouts give you the most problems to play against consistently (again, this'll take some time) and build a solution for them into one of your supporting loadouts. You don't have to have one solution per loadout, either. I use the same supporting loadout to answer more than one problem routinely.


Synergy
Ah..the meat and potatoes. What I want to talk about here (wow this is already longer than I wanted it) is synthesis. Complementing. Your loadout, I mean.
You want your loadout to complement itself. Items you place in your loadout need to work together with other things in your loadout. This is why you see so many Mighties rocking' the Horse Healthy Fun Fact 1. It complements them so well. They gain the most benefit from it.
Now what you need to do first, before you build your Primary loadout, is to define yourself as a player in this game in this game mode (if there's a difference in the way you play between modes). As I talked about in the Decisions, Decisions section, this will give you your playstyle. Pick items that complement that playstyle and cover your shortcomings. Play to your strength more than your weakness though. You want to build a loadout where you will win if you have the advantage and support your loadout with items that will allow you somehow gain the advantage, whether that be flanking or soaking damage or attacking at range.

If you like to flank, it would make more sense for you to take the Skates or Ninja Smoke Bomb than it would for you to take Targeting Goggles or Glider Rig. If you like to wade into the action, you'll probably want something like the Body armor rather than Motion Sensor.
If you feel like your taking just a little too much damage for your liking, tweak your loadout with the Fun Facts, or flat out change an Item or Gadget. Dying too often to Trap-in-the-box? Wooden Legs is for you, my friend.

Weapons are just as much a part of this decision making process as the rest of the items in your loadout should be. More than almost anything, I think weapons will help you define (or even find) your playstyle. You're not going to bring a Sniper Rifle like the Buccaneer into the middle of the action. And you're not going to try to snipe with a submachine gun. ……..well, at least not with the Desperado…..

Postgress
I realize that pretty much all of this is common sense and that probably everyone was making these decision even if they weren't conscious of it. But I find sometimes that if I realize something like this, it'll improve the decisions I was making subconsciously even though I was already making them.

I really hope this helps some people or at least you find it interesting.

Let me know what you think about this and what decisions you make when you're building your loadout.
Check out my other guides (check my sig) if you're having some problems with a specific loadout or tactic.

[DonnyD]

My name is DonnyD and I approve of this message.

[lauren12]

As always a very well written guide, but if I may be so bold as to suggest improvements, I would like to see you expand on good synergies.

Most people know the mighty/armour/horse blah blah, but are there other examples you could give?

Please don't take this wrong, but it has the appearance of you losing commitment or worrying it was turning into too long a read, and ended up as a 'tough' read, ie not as fast as a speedy but without the meat of a mighty

[kxizm]

As always a very well written guide, but if I may be so bold as to suggest improvements, I would like to see you expand on good synergies.

Most people know the mighty/armour/horse blah blah, but are there other examples you could give?

Please don't take this wrong, but it has the appearance of you losing commitment or worrying it was turning into too long a read, and ended up as a 'tough' read, ie not as fast as a speedy but without the meat of a mighty

I see your point, you bold you, you. I'll admit I lost the focus I had for the other guides when writing this one. The other guides are obvious, just needed to point at them. This one is a bit more heady. I didn't prepare for it as much as I needed to. I'll get back on it though.
Thanks for the encouragement.

[Sardo_Grey]

I like this guide, well written. It does a good job of exploring the thought process behind making loadouts, and getting better at thinking about them for yourself, rather than just saying "do this, do that," too specifically. You're teaching us to fish rather than just handing us fish, in other words. Thanks!