7 things you’re doing wrong in Shatter and how to fix it!

Getting into a Frontline match pre-Stormblood was a struggle simply because there wasn’t enough players who were interested in PVP. But, this went away with the changes made in patch 4.0 when they introduced EXP to PVP. Basically, this allows you to level up by just playing PVP and ever since the change, there’s been a large influx of players in PvP overall. If you’re one of those players who are levelling in Frontlines, the struggle can be real sometimes. So here’s a Shatter PVP Guide on how you can fix common mistakes to improve your overall match experience by Lace Valeria, a PVP veteran from Goblin.

1. Not playing multiple objectives / relying on a single objective

This alone can be a big liability to your team’s success. Many new players are given the wrong impression that Shatter is all about taking down the big ice. The ice IS important, yes, but it’s not the only way you can score points for your team.

How to fix it:

Take advantage of every opportunity to score. Is some lone player trying to ride past you on their mount? Free points! Half dead enemies at the ice? Take them out to earn easy 5 points plus they’ll break quicker than the ice will. Is your team late to the ice? Go capture bases of other teams (leading team’s first), while taking out any stragglers. Best scenario, a few of them will back off the ice to come secure their base. All in all, take advantage of all the possible ways to score instead of just relying on the ice alone.

2. Melees: Using Adrenaline Rush on the ice

During one of the big ice spawn in the South West corner of the map, my team outnumbered the enemy by a huge margin. They had perhaps, 4 or 5 members, possibly less since I took a few down on the way in, and all of the were at half health. And then a Dragoon on my team then proceeded to use his Adrenaline Rush on the big ice . . .

How to fix it:

I’m not saying don’t ever use your Adrenaline Rush on the ice but to use it accordingly. Between the ice and a half-health enemy attacking the ice, it should be obvious which one is the better choice. The half-health enemy will break quicker than the ice will AND that’s one less enemy attacking your ice. Hence, less damage dealt by their team and more points for yours. A melee Adrenaline Rush on a player with 50% health or less is a guaranteed KO.

3. Dropping off a cliff to reach the ice when enemies are already there

If the other team has reached the ice first, dropping off a cliff and losing half your health is a terrible idea. Speaking from the perspective of your opposition: You’re half dead, and I can take you down faster than I can break the ice. You are literally 5 points with legs. And once you’re dead, you won’t be able to gain any points from the ice. Lucky me. You? Not so much.

In this map diagram here, green arrows show the most direct route from your team’s starting area/base to the nearest large ice node. Red arrows show a path around, both for safe travel from higher points on the map to the ice, and escape if an enemy team pushes inward from the center, or from your direct route. It may take longer to go around, but it certainly beats dropping in and being at a disadvantage.

Note: The Grand Companies are not in fixed positions here, your alliance can spawn at any of these points at the start of the match, it’s random.

How to fix it:

There’s always at least 2 safe routes in. Don’t take the most dangerous one, even if it is faster. And to the range DPS that want to cleverly attack from the high ground, this may seem like a good idea, but if you think about it, you’re not the only ranged DPS on the field. There are others and they’ll all be thinking the same thing: ‘If you can attack me, I can attack you.’

Dragoon: Elusive Jump off a cliff and you’ll end up at the bottom without taking damage

Black Mage: If you can get in range to select an ally at the bottom, Aetherial Manipulation does the same trick.

Red Mage: Corps-a-Corps and Displacement can do it as well.

4. Getting/staying on mount or attempting to ride past enemies

I’ve seen this entirely too much even before Stormblood. It’s been a solid rule since Frontline started – getting attack while mounted will give you a Heavy debuff. The debuff has been renamed to Limp but the effect is still the same. Speaking again from the perspective of your opposition, you won’t outrun me. In addition to Limp, I can still stun/bind/sleep you even on the mount, and you’ll be an easy target for being unable to fight back right away – even if you do get off your mount.

How to fix it:

Get off your mount before you’re in range of the enemy. There is no other option.

5. Ignoring Battle Highs / Battle Fevers

Too often I’ve encountered players who simply ignore the Battle High/Battle Fever players from the enemy team. Do understand that the player has a kill streak buff. 4 kills for Battle High and 8 kills for Battle Fever, and as a result, they deal 20% and 50% more damage respectively. This also make their Adrenaline Rush gain 1.25/1.5 times faster than everyone else. Ignoring them will only make them stronger, thus allowing their team to create even more of them, eventually.

Focus fire and work together to take them down. In these ranged-favored days, try to catch them as they push forward, and if they’re hanging back, coordinate your crowd-control abilities to isolate them/drag them out/shut them down. Dark Knights and Warrior can drag them out with Unmend and Holmgang respectively while Casters can CC them. Keep in mind that taking down a player with BH/BF gives more points than regular player KO so you’ll always want to focus them first.

6. Giving up too soon

People give up easily too often. I’ve seen those who are ready to call it quits after the team misses one large ice, or perhaps lose all fighting spirit after an enemy team attacks their base head-on. It might sound cliche, but it ain’t over ’til it’s over.

How To Fix It:

This is a hard one to really explain, but know that you CAN come back. Be it from being focused, missing an ice and/or many different scenarios. It does, however, require a group effort and I’m speaking from experience. Did that team beat you to the ice first? Attack them and steal points back from them. Has the score shifted while you were engaged with one team and now the ones that weren’t in the fight is winning? Disengage (carefully) and go fight them. Is your team being focused on by the other two? Use the terrain; lure them into a choke point or a position where they’ll be forced to fight each other and mount a counter-offensive.

Above all else, just don’t give up. I once led my team against an enemy team that had a score of 1582 (as we engaged) in an attack right on their base and dropped them back down into the 1400s. Then we proceeded to attack the last large ice to secure a draw victory (it counted as a win, as far as achievements are concerned). This was not with a pre-made, just one really awesome group of randoms who decided they didn’t want to roll over and accept defeat.

7. Machinist specifics: Fully loading before the battle

This is another common mistake that I’ve seen and heard of, far too often. Do not do this. Ever. You only lock yourself out of heat generation for all 3 of those shots, effectively lowering your damage potential. Plus, you shouldn’t be using Reload when under 50 Heat. 2 Hot Shots will get you to 50 Heat easily. Even though you can use Stun Gun to Overheat and gain access to heated shots, it’s only for 10 seconds. Use Hot Shot twice instead.

With careful use of reloads and cooldowns, you’ll be able to manage your heat indefinitely. It’s 1000 > 1250 > 1500 unheated with ammo vs 1250 > 1500 > 1750 heated with ammo plus you get to keep Stun Gun, the only AoE stun in PvP. So please, do not fully load your gun before you engage or waste the cooldown of Stun Gun to have access to higher levels of damage. You can achieve this normally.

Want to know more tips for Shatter? Check out Lace Valeria’s guide on the FFXIV forum right here.

Disclaimer: This guide first appeared on Reddit and was republished here on Best in Slot with permission from Lace Valeria. If you enjoyed the guide and thought it was helpful why not head over to Reddit and give him +1 Karma 😉