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The Commander’s Guide to Winning Frontlines

by Olivia Lugria

Intro

Welcome Commander! The Frontlines mode has gone through many changes throughout the course of Endwalker, but the new meta has firmly solidified itself. This guide aims to give a solid foundation of how Frontlines works and how to command your team to victory.

This information was obtained from years of experience playing the game mode, and while it is definitely not the most optimal way to play or command frontlines, it is a strong foundation to move closer to that ideal. For those of you new to commanding or have been doing so for a long time, there is something in this guide worth learning, and I hope you give it all a good shake.

Please Enjoy

Getting Started

Taking command of the battlefield is never an easy task. You must be prepared, and to be prepared you need two things.

First, you need to be good at a job. Preferably more than one. It’s no good to be dead weight to your team and only contribute calling. Not only that, but calling is going to make you perform worse with the extra buttons you will need to press. Also realize you are probably going to be the one leading the charge and setting up your team for success. For that reason I highly suggest Dark Knight, Warrior, or Dragoon to be in your arsenal. They are high performing jobs that can open up other teams for yours to take out.

Secondly, you need to know the maps. Know what the objectives are, some simple spawn patterns, common pinch locations and starting moves. The more you know about the maps and their gimmicks the better you can command the team. There’s always people in the den or on discord to discuss these things, but it will take a discerning eye observing these things in game to grasp it fully.

Thirdly, you need to keep the map open at all times, I make sure to have mine locked and have it cover my mini-map so as to not have redundant information on screen. Seeing the whole field at once opens up so many more options and gives so much more information I can’t fathom playing without it anymore. It will be annoying at first, but the benefits it provides are incalculable.

Etiquette

It is rough being a commander. No one is obligated to follow your lead, and it is very easy to lose their trust the moment things go wrong. Do not make it worse. Be the shining pillar of sportsmanship and play nice with your team. Call in your team’s best interest and keep morale high. You can express your disappointment and your dreams of victory, but there’s no point arguing with people in chat, or calling out underperforming players. Just don’t be a jerk.

On the other side of that coin. If someone else is calling, you need to do your best to follow those calls. Feel free to ask to take over or to make additional statements to assist the caller, but splitting your team is a surefire way to lose. Do your best to stick together. That is the cleanest path to victory.

Macros

Macro callouts are the center of commanding in Frontlines. These phrases and sound effects are the key to maximizing uptime. Typing takes too long on an ever changing battlefield and it is extremely difficult to mark targets, and burst on them if you’re busy with your keyboard. That is why you need macros for as many situations as possible without destroying your hotbars in the process. Typically the simpler the command the easier it to follow. Do your best to be concise and to not use any more sounds than necessary. Below are some of the macros I use.

Follow the "D"

By far the most important macros to have. These show exactly where your team should go, where to burst, and where to retreat. Mastering how to maneuver your team is the key to success, so get used to having yourself marked and mashing the waymark button as needed.

/waymark D <1> <wait.1> x15
/a Please follow “D”

OBJECTIVES

These are simple commands for letting your team know which node to go for. The directions can also be combined for more precise calls. Very simple and very effective, though I would consider using the auto translate calls. Never use flags. No one will click on them, and they take far too much time to utilize.

/a NODES NORTH <se.1>
/a NODES WEST <se.1>
/a NODES EAST <se.1>
/a NODES SOUTH <se.1>
/a NODES MID <se.1>

ATTACKS

The main attack commands. I prefer the team colors over their actual names, but this is up to preference. While mine have their own personal flair, you will want to have a macro for when it’s time to burst or you are engaging the enemy and when you’re trying to set up a pinch. These will usually tell your team to hit them with all you got.

The Hide and going around commands are used for more sneaky and cooperative players. Getting blindsided by the enemy or hitting the backlines is extremely effective. Also remember that your point of attack heavily affects how the 3rd team will react. Pushing straight into an enemy might get you pinched whereas going around will get your enemy pinched instead.

  • [ ] = shared macro
/a KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM <se.4>
/a TIME TO PINCH 'EM!!! <se.4>
/a TARGET BLUE <se.12>
/a TARGET YELLOW <se.12>
/a TARGET RED <se.12>

[
/a Activating Limit Break
/a Please Follow up! <se.4>
]

[
/a HIDE!!!
/a Get ready to attack
]

[
/a going around <se.10>
/a SNEAK ATTACK!
]

DEFENSIVE

Some of the most important commands are found here. Namely the “GETTING PINCHED” gets a lot of mileage. People might not want to fallback on call, but they will usually get out of a pinch. I’ve split “Fallback” and “Scoot back” into 2 separate calls as well. Scoot back is usually paired with the “Hide” macro to indicate that we’re not actually leaving the fight, only repositioning, recuperating, or luring the enemy. I also like the “Split” command to let people know that they’re fighting a losing battle and should cut their losses.

/a GETTING  PINCHED <se.6>
/a Fallback <se.2>
/a Scoot Back <se.10>
/a WE’RE SPLIT!!! <se.6>

MISC

Keeping morale high is an important role as commander. I like to have a few macros to show my appreciation on a good play or well executed team wipe.

/a GJ
/a Keep this up and we'll win for sure
/a Bad Call <se.5>

How to Win

You have your macros all set up now, but how do you use them? How do you win? The simple answer is that you need to max out your score while keeping the enemies from doing the same. There are 3 ways to do this.

  1. Kill enemies
  2. Don’t Die
  3. Hold Objectives

They are listed in this order for a reason. By far, the most important thing is to kill enemies as often as possible. Doing so gives you points and takes points away from your enemies. It also builds Battle High which increases your offense and defense. That leads into number 2. When you die you lose points for your team and you lose Battle High making it harder for you to kill and easier to be killed. That leads into point number 3. If you can’t accomplish points 1 and 2 you won’t be able to do 3.

When leading your team, you need to position yourself to kill the most enemies possible while not dying. Do this and the objectives will come. Understand that when you’re calling to go to a node, it’s not because there’s a node there, but because enemies are there that you want to kill.

Also understand that dying defending a node is suboptimal. By dying you’ve lost your team more points than if you would have given up the node and gathered up to attack a different objective or to counter charge with your full team. Similarly, going to an objective that another team already has manned while your team is elsewhere in combat is asking for a pinch and for you to lose points. Be mindful of the battlefield. Think about which options you can choose that will net your team the most points and net your enemies the least.

Combat

It is time to get down and dirty. In frontlines, offense is the best defense. The team with the most battle high is the most likely team to win, so… when to fight and who to fight and how to fight? All important factors. First, let's focus on what your objectives should be depending on your place.

Goals

  1. 1st place
    1. Target the 2nd place team to take their points while adding even more to your lead.
    2. Target the weakest team to gain easy battlehigh to secure your lead
    3. Target the closest team to gain enough points to end the game.
    4. Avoid prolonged combats to avoid pinches and capture easy objectives for game
    5. Coax the enemies into fighting each other to avoid 2v1 scenarios and grab other objectives.
    6. Watch out for the 3rd place team making sure they aren’t getting free points. Take them out if they start catching up.
    7. If you’re low on BH, target the weaker team and build up as quickly as possible, or if close to victory run and capture anything uncontested, don’t die.
    8. If it’s early in the game, focus on BH while giving up nodes. It’s better to give it up early then get double teamed and lose your points and battle high.
  2. 2nd place
    1. Target the 1st place team to take their points and add to your own. Work with the 3rd place team when possible to pinch and take out high BH enemies.
    2. Use the 3rd place team to take hits for you allowing you to nab objectives while 1st place is busy with the other team. (Be careful about giving 1st place to much Battle High)
    3. Bully the weakest team to gain BH to take first place later.
    4. Nab high rank objectives to steal lead towards the game’s end.
    5. Use small parts of the team to act as decoys to draw enemies away from objectives.
  3. 3rd place
    1. Target the 1st place team to delay their victory.
    2. Avoid targeting 2nd place when 1st is close to victory
    3. Pinch either team to build BH
    4. Get into attrition battles (over nodes preferably) to lure teams into pinches (hopefully not yours.)
    5. Build BH and steamroll other teams into higher placement(only really works early game.)

You need to fight as often as possible to secure Battle High and your chances to win. Just like how in PVE has “Always be Casting” Frontlines is all about “Always being in Combat,” It doesn’t take a keen eye to notice that “defend the nodes” is never a real objective. Often, attacking another team’s node is the same as defending your node. Pushing further out and controlling more space is an excellent way to capture more points with less hassle. For the final tip, it’s much easier to play offense than defense. When playing offense, you decide where and when to engage, and even if you didn’t get the objective, if you got a high number of kills that might be better than if you had gotten the point, but on defense, you’re stuck in a static spot, and leaving means you failed your goal.

When not to fight

During battle, there will be lulls in the action where the teams separate and  you can decide whether to re-engage or not. Here are some examples of when not to do so. This is not the same as falling back in the midst of battle where you will be chased down and killed, but during a safe moment where a split decision is needed.

  1. Right as new nodes spawn.
    1. While it is possible for a few people to go grab a node, it is my experience that too many players leave the group to go cap them instead of doing a pinch or staying in combat with the team going after said node. It is better to leave and get the jump on those nodes and get them capped so your team stays together and can make their next move after.
  2. 2v1
    1. If this is a pinch it’s very obvious that you shouldn’t fight, but if it’s 2 teams camping your spawn it’s also a bad idea to get surrounded. This has a bad tendency to split your team, and you need to be very fast and firm with fighting 1 team at a time and keeping your troops together. I will go over this in more detail later.
  3. Outnumbered
    1. I feel this one is also obvious, but if the enemy has more people than you do, you lose. Unless there’s a significant skill gap it’s just that simple. Don’t feed. Retreat and regroup with your team.
  4. Post Pinch
    1. This is usually the case. Don’t overextend into a pinch that brings you into conflict with a team you don’t want to fight. Staying in your previous location could get you pinched by the respawning team or put you in a bad location for the next node spawns.
  5. Overextending
    1. Overextending into invincibility isn’t actually too much of an issue if the enemy team continues to trickle out. Spawn camping is a perfectly valid strategy. The problem is your team often doesn’t think so, and falls back leaving your army at half the efficiency. When chasing down opponents or camping spawn keep an eye on your forces. If they've abandoned you, it’s time to leave before you lose all your hard earned points in the counter charge.

How to Fight

Flow

The secret sauce of frontlines is lining up your burst with your team. This is paramount. You need to gather as many enemies into as small a space as possible and have your team blast them with as many AOE skills and LBs as possible. You don’t need to kill everyone, not even a majority, 4-6 kills will do it. With that numerical advantage the rest will fall like flies. Feel free to chase them down if you’re unimpeded. Focus on marking targets near each other going in the same direction. Many will try to scatter, and you need to use your targets as a path for your team to follow to secure as many kills as possible.

However, If you don’t break their forces you need to be ready for the crackback. Stop incoming Dark Knights with Polys, Monk LBs, or Death. Spread out loosely to avoid dragoon plunges and Warrior Stuns, and be ready to guard. One of the most dangerous combos is the Dancer/Paladin combo. If they’re coming in you need to get out or have a surefire way to stop their CC. If you fail to stop their burst and they murder your team, you need to escape with as many people as possible. Consider the position lost and gather up your forces as quickly as possible. Usually teams will try and chase you down during this, and in that process spread out. It’s very easy to turn the fight around once you regroup and can recoup points if the enemy overextends.

Between these two events, try to kill targets out of position and reposition for a better attack while you wait for the next burst. There is a reason that PVP feels turn-based sometimes, and this flow of combat is one of the main contributors.

The 3rd Team

While this flow is perfectly acceptable. The third team can throw a wrench into it. Try your best to use the 3rd team to your advantage rather than having them used against you. Timing your burst is important. If you see one team go in and fail to break an opponent that means your enemy has just used up their defenses. This is an excellent chance to attack! If you’re lucky you can get both teams into the crossfire. If the enemy team was successful in killing the enemy you have a few options. You can let them chase the team they just defeated then follow, creating a pinch. You can also dive the enemy team that just bursted. They most likely just split and are in a bad position.

When on defense, you can withdraw from a fight in such a way that makes the enemy team burst the other team instead of you. You really need to be mindful of if the 3rd team is going to attack you or not. Getting bursted twice in a row is how entire alliances shatter. Finally, you can maneuver in such a way that if a team goes in to burst you it creates an opening for the 3rd team to pinch your enemy.

Bursting

When the time comes, you need to know how to effectively kill the enemy. This is that section. Bursting is usually done every 30 seconds tied to a Dark Knight’s “Salted Earth” ability. This will gather up the enemies into a neat pile for everyone to hit. Generally, you’d want someone to guard break them, but that won’t always be available. You’ll also want to aim for the squisher units to maximize kills. Here’s a general timeline for what to do

  1. Dark Knight Plunge and Salted Earth
  2. Warrior/Dancer/Reaper Guard Break
  3. Stuns/AOEs/LB’s/Whatever you got

After this happens there shouldn’t actually be very many enemies left, or at the very least you’ve crippled their forces to the point that you can enter the chase down portion of combat where you’re free to do as you please. Should you fail to kill your enemies you should suspect that they will retaliate with similar force. Dealing with that is a very tough challenge…

Anti-Busting

To stop enemies from killing you there are many ways, but the number 1 way to not get bursted  is to not be around when the enemy is bursting.  When enemy lb’s are up and they’re looking to kill, try to have them kill each other rather than you. Burst the team that won to keep their battle high low and yours high, and you’ll easily win matches. Unfortunately, this isn’t always possible. So what to do.

  1. Fighting Retreat

    You can often see dragoon lbs and dark knights charging you fairly clearly. If you can get away quick enough the dragoons’ lbs are wasted giving you a major advantage. You don’t have to leave wherever you're fighting, but giving the enemy team a positional advantage in exchange for your teams’ lives and their lbs is a good trade.

  2. Knock Back

    Monks and Machinists can knock back enemies. Warriors can pull enemies towards them. If used at the same time they stack and can stop advances fairly effectively. Use this in conjunction with white mage polymorphs and monk LBs to stop anyone else who gets by.

  3. Counter Burst

    Stop their burst by counter bursting. This usually starts with a Reaper or Dancer LB stopping the enemy from doing anything. From there use the steps above to kill them. This can become very deadly very quickly if you mess up, and using the LB this way means not getting to use it later. Of course, if it saves everyone’s lives then it is quite a good trade. This is usually my favored option. Dead enemies usually can’t kill you.

    1. Bait it

    If you have max battle high tanks and melees and they don’t. You can simply have them soak the burst at a choke where the squishy’s are safe. A few might die, but it’s also possible no one dies at all

Pinching

A favored maneuver of all players, and very important to do as often as possible. Getting to pinch an enemy means teaming up with the 3rd team to create a murder sandwich. When done correctly, this will usually be a team wipe for the pinched team, a whole lot of Battle High and smug grins for everyone who participated. So how to set up and see pinches? It’s actually quite easy to spot an opportunity as long as your map is open.

  1. See two teams approaching each other or are in combat.
  2. Select a route that blocks off as many escapes as possible for the team of your choice
  3. Mad dash to that spot
  4. Burst
  5. Leave

The important thing is to be quick. The team that comes in from behind is usually the team that benefits the most out of the engagement since they get to target the frail backliners. Not to say the other half doesn’t benefit as they usually get to capture whatever objective the 2 teams were fighting over. Rarely do you want to engage the other team after a pinch. You just bursted, meaning you don’t have a lot of fire power for another fight, and there’s a team respawning that would just love for you to stand still and have your focus elsewhere.

Leaving immediately means getting to reposition for a possible 2nd pinch if the enemies engage again, getting the jump on the next objectives, avoiding burst while you’re defenseless, or any other positional advantage you can think of.

Anti-Pinch Measures

If your team is moving together, you can avoid most pinches. If you have your map open, you can avoid most pinches. If you sacrifice a node, you can avoid most pinches. One of these is easy. The other is mildly difficult, and the last is basically impossible without a good team. The basics of avoiding a pinch is to never be pinned down for too long.

One of the reasons I disengage from fights early, shortly after a burst, is for this reason. Prolong fights with a team invite the 3rd to destroy you. The more you move, the less likely you are to get pinched. Here are more things to look out for.

  1. Node Captures

    Even if there’s no combat, if you see a node behind you or behind your enemy get captured, that is indicated where an enemy team is.

  2. Stray Combats

    Thanks to the brave mavericks not with you team, you can sometimes see an enemy team approaching as they wail on that person.

  3. Early Arrivals

    If the enemy team isn’t in sync, a few may start attacking you before the cavalry arrives giving you a chance to react.

Now… say you’re about to get pinched. There's a few ways to avoid it. None of them are always the right choice, but gotta make the play in the moment.

  1. Push Through

    It’s not a pinch if the other team isn’t there to stop you from getting away. This involves going all in on the team in front of you and ensuing their deaths. Be mindful that while their forces are tattered, they’re very rarely truly gone. This should give you enough time to shift focus to the enemy team and guard/position to attack them next, but they’ll get to burst you first.

  2. Scoot Back

    Many pinches can be avoided with a nice little scoot backwards. This turns a pinch against you into a pinch against them. Very smart, but not always an option.

  3. Rotate

    Sometimes, all you need to do to avoid a pinch is to continue your fight but rotate around the enemy. This can lead you to getting a pinch on the team you were fighting instead of against you, but the pinching team may still decide to go after you, but at a much worse angle.

  4. Die

    Sometimes you have no choice. You’re in a funnel with no way out. But you do have one small choice. You can choose who to die to. If one team behind you will win with your deaths and the other is in 3rd place, charge into them with all your might. It will give them Battle High and a chance to take on 1st place. Very unideal, but may be what you have to do.

  5. Hug the Wall/Skirt the edge

    If you just run along the edge you may be able to squeeze out of a fight. It doesn’t always work, but none of these options ever does.

Maps

Seize (Seal Rock)

This map is very loved and very hated. The goal in this map is to capture randomly spawning nodes and hold them as long as possible while they tick for points. Killing enemies will give your team points and take them from the enemy team. The North team tends to be  disadvantaged in this gamemode, and the team starting West in the caves has a small advantage. This usually only stays true for the start of the match, but can be a major factor in the end game as well, so keep that in mind.

General Tips

  1. Hold as many nodes as possible, but defend 1. It’s very rare that splitting your team is effective. There are many situations where defending the node closest to the enemy team keeps the one closer to your spawn safe. You must watch for pinches, but this is still the best practice.
  2. Pinch through Mid, Position with the edges. Moving through mid is quick and offers many lanes of travel, but these funnels will get you pinched if you end up fighting a team from them. Rule of thumb is if you’re 1st to a node it doesn’t matter how you get there, 2nd to a node goes around, and the third team can go through mid or go around to pinch, whichever works the best.
  3. The highest ranking node isn’t always the best one to go to. When an S rank node spawns it’s very likely every team will go for it. That leaves every other node on the map undefended. You can capture those quickly then go pinch whichever team holds the S rank and take whatever points they may have earned from it.
  4. Be very wary of the enemy teams’ locations. Line of sight can be murky with the rocks and cliffs leading to surprise attacks and strange angles of assault.

Openings

Similar to chess, knowing the possible openings and their counters is one of the many keys to success, you can also determine which one to use based on team strength and alliance composition. Be aware of all the possible strengths and weaknesses of each choice and make the decision that’s right for you.

  1. South Position
    1. Heading North-East to start intending to attack North spawn.
      1. A very Battle High centric opening. There’s only 2 nodes that you easily control with this move, but that’s not truly very important in the early game. If North spawn meets you East, then they are highly likely to get pinched which can lead to you holding the entire eastern half of the map or a 3 way stalemate that highly benefits West Spawn. In the stalemate scenario, you should quickly leave and go for uncontested nodes South and South-West. In the case of the pinch giving you Eastern control you can continue to pick on North Spawn with the help of Caves or can go through mid to help North pinch Caves instead. It depends on their movement and node spawns.
    2. Heading Middle to start.
      1. This opening tries to keep its options open; trying to see what Cave Spawn is doing before committing to an attack if attacking at all. You can easily convert to a North-East attack if needed, or go through the north funnel to pinch Cave Spawn that went around to attack North Spawn. If Cave spawn went mid you will usually start a fight. Be careful not to be pinched by North Spawn
    3. Heading West to caves
      1. A slower opening that avoids conflict in favor of having strong access to 6 nodes. This opening can give you a strong early lead, but if you do not follow that up with gathering Battle High you can find those points quickly lost. Another potential issue is that you control so many nodes your team can easily be spread and split leading to getting farmed. If you’re able to work around its issues it can be an unexpected but powerful option.
  2. North Position
    1. Heading South-East towards the beach.
      1. This is the most common and possibly the worst choice for North Spawn. It is so common, teams just assume that it will happen. This will usually get you pinched quickly and farmed at spawn. Even should you defeat the team South your access to nodes is quite limited and an incoming pinch is quite likely as previously mentioned. I highly recommend not doing this.
      2. A sub-strat of this opening is going up onto the cliff near spawn and holding there. It allows a good view of both teams should they decide to try and pinch you while also offering an easy escape route.
    2. Heading North-West into the caves.
      1. This opening tries to get the jump on cave spawn and works as a reverse South-East option. I find this more advantageous due to it being less common. You will still find that you get pinched often by the South team, but the chance is slightly smaller depending on if nodes spawn north or not. You do have control of 1 less node than if you went South-East, but as already discussed, that option is terrible.
    3. Stay North
      1. A “safe” opening for north spawn is just saying at the north node and holding the fort. I see this as a popular option for more veteran callers. This puts the maximum amount of space between you and the other two teams while still controlling a node. If the nodes spawn anywhere but north you have a good chance at avoiding a pinch since you aren’t in conflict with anyone. If they do spawn north, expect to be pinched.
      2. A sub-strat of this opening is to hide behind the big rock next to your spawn and allow the two teams to collide into each other instead of you.This opens up a strong pinching opportunity, but the chances of it succeeding are low due to team coordination and the other teams’ movements.
  3. West Spawn
    1. Spreading in Caves
      1. I see this most often in an uncoordinated group. While it does give you access to the most amount of spawns with little chance of conflict it also means not getting any Battle High which is a huge loss. That being said, if you can make that loss up later you can gain a sizable lead early game (which isn’t always a good thing but I digress.)
    2. Going Middle
      1. A common strat I see from other callers. As many of the benefits of spreading in caves but gets the team into combat much faster. You can head East for a pinch or South for a pinch or North for a pinch. There’s a chance of getting into combat with South-Spawn if they also go mid. If that’s the case you need to watch for a North-Spawn pinch, but otherwise a very strong position.
    3. Going North
      1. My own most used opening. It avoids the potential conflict in the middle by going around the outside of the map. You still have good access to multiple nodes and picking on the weak North-Spawn is good for Battle High. Your team can easily spread here if they do not commit to the attack, so be careful of that.
    4. Going South
      1. Similar to going North, but hits the South team instead. You gain a massive advantage in potential nodes, but similar to South going for caves can spread out your team, and there is less potential for the North team to assist you in taking out the south team. That being said it is still very strong and still worth considering as a less common option.

End Game

As the game nears its conclusion the chances of high value nodes spawning increases and there is a bit of luck involved in winning, but everything you did previously was in preparation to play those odds. Be ready to make some quick calls and change direction on a dime to ensure your team ends up on top. Here’s what you should keep in mind:

  1. Being first is dangerous as you get 2v1’d very easily. If you need to win it’s best to win off one big burst of points then letting the other two teams gang up on you.
  2. While nodes can gain you points it is very easy to also win off kills. Going for an easy pinch instead of going for a node can net you the win.
  3. Don’t die. You lose points when you die. If your node is ticking and no one can cap it quick enough, it’s better to just withdraw. Use return and get back into spawn for invincibility if you have to. Don’t drop the game on the last tick of a node.
  4. It’s never over. No matter how far behind you are, you have a chance at winning.

Shatter (The Fields of Glory)

Possibly the least liked map among the pvp community. This map incentivizes not attacking the enemy teams and going after large and small ice spawns that give points based on the amount of damage your team deals to it. And, while the map does incentivize not attacking the enemy teams… that is 100% the way to win this map. This map is also symmetrical, meaning that none of the teams have an absolute advantage at the start of the map, but all the ice spawns are random meaning one team can get especially lucky while another especially not so.  Shatter was recently updated during the writing of this guide, so solid foundational strategies are yet to be made, but there are still general tips that everyone can benefit from.

General Tips

  1. Never jump off the cliff for a big ice spawn. This is not your ice to take. You will get farmed and be low on Battle High because of your poor decision. This is your chance to go for pinches or go after small ice.
  2. Build your Battle High early and quickly. The more you have the more damage you deal. That goes for the ice and the enemy teams. More so than in other game modes Battle High directly leads to more points.
  3. This map has a lot of uneven terrain and open areas. It’s very easy to maneuver to a safe position or force your enemies into a poor one. It’s also very easy to spot pinches, so be proactive in getting out of dodge when the other team is closing in on you.

Strategy

Shatter is separated into 3 main phases. When the big ice is yours, when it isn’t, and when it’s in the middle. Your game plan during each of these phases differs and you need to make the most of each one to earn as many points as possible and secure your victory.

Safe Ice

The big ice that has a ramp leading to your spawn is called the safe ice. While in this position you have a major advantage over the other teams. Your priority should be to secure this location, kicking out anyone who tries to go through the funnel or jump off the cliff. After that there are two main plans you can follow.

  1. Quick Safe Ice

    This is where you don’t tread out too far and simply destroy the big ice. This is fairly safe, but it does squander the big advantage you have over the other teams a bit. Still, if the big ice wins you the game or if you only need 1 or 2 small ice after this is a very reasonable choice.

  2. Slow Safe Ice

    After securing the big ice location your team is fairly free to do what they please. Going after Small Ice is more dps efficient then big ice, and if you get those smalls it means the other teams aren’t. Even better if they don’t realize you left your big ice undermanned. You can also launch unexpected pinches on enemies if they begin a fight close by, or you can lure in enemy teams to your big ice where you have a huge advantage in a fight.

    A more cheeky strategy is opting to leave the big ice early before it breaks leaving 2%-5% remaining and forcing other teams to go into a bad position to break it. The big ice needs to break for the next big one to spawn, and there’s not much benefit for you making that happen. Leaving early means getting a jump on smaller objectives and better positioning, so it’s a strong option. Be aware if you wait too long without hitting the big ice it despawns, so perhaps a single person hitting it would be in order.

  3. Skip Big Ice

    Not always the best, but you can completely forgo the big ice for a number of reasons. If you don’t need that many points to win, you can instead go for several smalls. There’s also the chance the enemy is about to win. You can give up the big ice to the 3rd place team and go contest 1st place stopping them from winning. There’s also avoiding the big ice in case of a coordinated pinch by the enemy teams. This usually only happens if you’re in first, so may consider leaving if the teams are looking to kill you.

Unsafe Ice

These are the two big ices on the other corners of the map. These tend to be vary dangerous to go to for the same reasons that make your safe ice very good for you. Do not be alarmed though. Playing well during this phase can ensure you gain an equal if not more points than an entire big ice so be smart and act accordingly.

  1. Going for Big Ice

    This is the big ice that does not have a ramp leading to your spawn. Going to this ice is very dangerous due to the ease at which you can get pinched. At the same time securing the big ice can lead to a big upshot in points. Generally, if you have lbs up, or your team is just better, you can launch a quick attack on the big ice team while they’re spending their offensive cooldowns on ice damage. It would be wise to wait for the 3rd team to be off on the other side of the map before doing this, ensuring you don’t immediately get counterattacked by them after using your resources. After that you can spend some of your filler skills on the ice while picking off the enemy team, especially if they’re trickling in, but be ready to sound the retreat at the first moment of danger or you’ll quickly lose all the points you gained. The “Return” action is also usable should both teams be coming for you at once.

  2. Not going for Big Ice

If you are instead opting to not go for the big ice at all, it is a race against the other team for every small ice on the map. As per usual, go to the farthest ice first and move backwards. If you confront the enemy team, kill them then the ice. There are tons of cliffs and walls to utilize in your movements, so try to attack from high positions or the side with cover. Luing them to the overarching bridges are also very nice burst locations.

Should you see the 3rd team going for the unsafe ice you have an amazing opportunity. Take all the small ice the 3rd team would have had control over then you can choose to pinch them or go for the team with the safe ramp. When going from the middle, assist the other unsafe team in pushing out the safe team then turn on the other unsafe team. If coming from the ramp do the same thing, but swing south after taking out the safe ramp’s team to block any escapes from the other unsafe team.

When choosing which smalls to go for make sure that the big ice team isn’t getting any. If they get extra on top of their big ice they’ll gain a huge advantage.

Middle Ice

The most dangerous Big Ice. While all three teams can get a piece it’s also an easy place to get double teamed and everyone killed. That middle ice can be very distracting and when used as bait is extremely deadly for pinching or sneak attacks. Also, it probably even isn’t the best objective to go for. If all teams hit it evenly that’s only 84 points for each team. You could spend your time getting way more small ice. If you completely gave up mid the other 2 teams would average 125 points off the ice, so you’d need 3 smalls to make it worthwhile(which is very doable), but also realize getting the smalls means little chance of having to fight and getting bursted while also allowing for easy opportunities to pinch or sneak attack.  The long and short of it is, treat middle ice just like unsafe ice.

Danshig Naadam (Onsal Hakair)

Probably the most well liked map of our current options. This map incentives aggressive play, and is considerably smaller than the other maps. None of the spawns have a definite advantage over the other, but it isn’t symmetrical like shatter. Another thing to note is that this map is much smaller compared to the other maps. Things can change quickly and you need to be quick on your feet to capitalize on every opportunity!

General Tips

  1. Push to the furthest point. If two nodes are lined up, push up to protect both at the same time. This is still the case even if the one behind is a higher ranking node. You protect both at the same time, that’s just efficient fighting.
  2. Do not stand on the node to defend.You have to move ahead of what you’re protecting. You must build a wall of men that will crush anyone foolish enough to try and run past.
  3. Just forget the middle node. Fighting middle is pretty nice to build BH if you’re effective, but if you can’t your feeding and losing Battle High. Once a similarly ranked node appears in your reach it’s time to bail. If they’re lower grade still send a sizable number to ensure its capture. If the higher rank node appears out of your reach it’s time to heavily push mid for the capture.
  4. Nothing is out of range. This map is smaller than the others and there is no issue with traveling to the other side of the map to capture a point. If two teams are fighting hard it’s time to pinch, you may even get the point to.
  5. Telling your team to get out of an attack is crucial to getting the jump on new nodes. If you’re in a two-pronged attack, you need to be the first to leave; Otherwise, you’re gonna get chased and you’re gonna get pinched/killed.

Openings

These aren’t as cut in dry as Seal Rock’s openings. The nodes spawn much faster and lead to more general openings based on their layout. Here is my advice for several of the different possible layouts.

  1. No A ranks spawn near you
    1. This is the safest and possibly the best outcome. Proceed like a connect the dots towards the most distant B rank. It will be undermanned. Kill them and cap it. You’ll lose men as you pass through on your way to the enemy’s spawn, but you should still have plenty of manpower. You’re also in the best position to take mid, but you also have a chance of a strong pinch which I would go for instead.
  2. One A rank spawns near you
    1. Sadly your only real option is to go after it, because your team will go there whether you want to or not. You need your entire team for this. Quickly take out anyone there and push the team back to avoid getting pinched.
  3. Two A ranks spawn near you
    1. Move towards the A rank that has more B spawning on the enemy side. This gives you the slight advantage in numbers since they’re busy capping the other nodes, and less chance of being the team that gets pinched, but you still need to move quickly to avoid getting 2v1’d
  4. A ranks spawn near you and a lot of B’s
    1. Once again you’re forced to go for the A because your team will go there anyways. Win quickly and yell at your team to form up and forget the other nodes and hope you don’t get pinched.
    2. If you have a smart team, call the furthest B rank and fight the team that is coming for them. Maybe not optimal, but a curveball that can overtake an overly spread team.

Middle Node

The middle node deserves special attention as Onsal’s game state changes while it is active. While active, your team is much less likely to get pinched, teams’ scores tend to go up evenly with few changes in place if the teams are even, but if your team is significantly better or worse than the others it changes what you want to accomplish at mid.

Middle Node is also where understanding and mastery “The Flow” seen in the combat section takes full effect. Watching what the other teams do, when they overextend, when they fall back, do they have burst ready, or are their defenses gone? Keeping track of these things during the mid fight allows you to succeed and avoid disaster.

  1. If you’re in 1st place consider ensuring the node stays uncapped so you can benefit off side nodes while less likely to be pinched.
  2. If your team is good, consider ensuring the node stays uncapped and farm kills
  3. If your team is weak, consider giving up the node entirely to end the stalemate and have more chances for pinches.
  4. If your team is weak consider barely ensuring the node stays uncapped to capture side objectives
  5. You can ensure another team captures an objective by going around and pinching the ramp.

Team Composition

Jobs

Not all jobs are created equal in frontlines. While any good player can do well on any of the jobs. There are jobs that just perform better than others. Pick the job that’s right for you, but I will be going over every jobs’ pros and cons in this section and giving them a general tier ranking.

Tanks

  1. Paladin (B Rank)
    • A strong defensive job that really shines when a dancer is in the party. It can prevent deaths and has invincibility making it annoying for enemies to deal with. Its damage potential is somewhat low, and while its single target stun and multiple dashes make chasing down and staying on foes easy its AOE heavy is clunky to use.
  2. Warrior (S Rank)
    • A very strong job thanks to its guard break limit break and its aoe stun making it very strong during burst. Warrior’s “Blota” ability also makes it very strong during chase downs and can be used to pull enemies out of position outside of burst and for defensive play against enemy Dark Knights.
  3. Dark Knight (S Rank)
    • Frontlines is basically built around the vacuum/suction effect of salted earth. Forcing enemies close together to be bursted by your forces. Their damage is also very strong, able to increase their output at the cost of their health. That being said, you have a target on your back by playing this job and you need your team to support your pushes for you to be effective. Watch out for cliffs when using limit break as fall damage will kill you.
  4. Gunbreaker (A Rank)
    • This versatile tank trades consistent CC for huge burst of damage. You really need to coordinate with your team to ensure it goes off effectively and despite being a tank I find Gunbreaker frailer than your other tank options. It also has a smaller access to aoe abilities meaning tagging targets during chase downs and lulls in between burst are rough, but can also nab kills and build Battle High quickly thanks to its burst strike combo.

Healers

  1. White Mage (B Rank)
    • The classic healer has surprisingly good burst damage and Polymorph is amazing for defensive play. Aquaveil covering a debuff can also ensure your Dark Knight or Dancer can get in and gather up the enemies which is much appreciated. What tips them just below the A rank for me is their frailty. You need to be close for Polymorph and Seraph Strike to work and that puts you in danger. Their healing ability also having a cast time means they may not be fast enough where another healer’s instant cast ability would have been.
  2. Scholar (B Rank)
    • Scholar’s simple gameplay can help fledgling callers focus on calls and keep a more active eye on the battlefield as a whole. Their burst damage is basically nonexistent instead opting for powerful damage overtime effects that soften enemies before and after burst. Their shields also increase your parties’ damage, very useful before a burst; However, their lack of CC and rather pitiful healing output can be an issue. Also keep in mind that you can feel like deadweight in between large fights where your damage drops off considerably. My final note is that the more scholars you have the more pronounced effect they have in a fight.
  3. Astrologian (S Rank)
    • A job that is quite capable of having the most damage and most healing done in a match. Its powerful buffing, burst damage, decent CC, and godly healing make it a must have for any coordinated comp that wants to go ham on enemies. Astro truly reaches the top of the charts thanks to its synergies with other high performing jobs but may need to rely on those jobs to be effective.
  4. Sage (B Rank)
  • A sleeper pick for any alliance. Its frailty is an issue, but Sage sports strong burst damage, shields that can cheese samurai lb, and a LB that nullifies damage/ stops captures. Its lack of CC keeps it from being amazing, but a very strong job when played carefully.

Melee DPS

  1. Monk (C Rank)
    • Monk is sort of a one trick pony in frontlines. The ability to bypass shields and ensure your target is locked in place defenseless is very strong, and can be used offensively or defensively, but it traded strong burst damage and aoe CC for that privilege which might just not be worth it in the long run. Monks can still help pick off opponents in between bursts and its single target damage isn’t terrible, but a more niche pick.
  2. Dragoon (S Rank)
    • The other job that frontlines is built around. While it doesn’t have any CC it trades that for a ton of damage, and I do mean a ton. It also has a myriad of movement options that allow for additional CC escape and chase downs/retreats. A truly great job that you can always expect to do well even without support.
  3. Ninja (A Rank)
    • While it lacks the sheer burst damage of other A Rank jobs and doesn’t have the same synergistic traits of other jobs in the comp Ninja excels at cleanups, chasedowns, and node defense. Ninja’s chain kill easily picks off any opponents that didn’t die to a burst, and even if that isn’t up you have several high damage options plus 2 stuns. For node defense it can set down a doton and spam shurikens from afar forcing enemies to engage you instead of cap. Ninja is extremely versatile and offers a different but equally effective playstyle when compared to Dragoon.
  4. Samurai (A Rank)
    • The days of mass alliance wipes to a single samurai LB are gone, but the job still performs very well in most situations. It has an extra all-purpose CC immune which should not be overlooked and has an AOE bind and ST stun are useful during burst and chasedown. Samurai can struggle getting the maximum amount of damage during a burst thanks to cast times on their most powerful skills that knock the job down just below the best of the best.
  5. Reaper (A Rank)
    • A strong offensive and defensive job. It has a small issue where it has a lot to do which can make it difficult to call, but that can be played through with enough practice. The ability to stop enemy bursts and make enemies defenseless during your own is very strong and the fast lb generation makes it possible to do both multiple times each during a match. Reaper’s strongest damage options are locked behind a minute long cooldown and LB, but still performs decently outside those times thanks to the power of teamwork. Overall, a powerful job that could use some more representation.

Physical Range DPS

  1. Bard (B rank)
    • The ultimate buffer of Frontline. Increases damage dealt to all your party members while also increasing their LB charge is huge. Their single target CC and cleanse are decent and helps with cleanup and defensive play. Their AOE burst is tied to a 20 Sec timer, so be careful when using that, but their damage isn’t suffering by using their filler ability on single targets unlike other jobs that makes bard a bit more unique in that respect. If your comp is LB reliant then this is an amazing pick, but remain aware of your increased frailty.
  2. Machinist (B Rank)
    • A job with a lot of quirks and utility. With decent burst options, node defense, devastating single target damage, shields, and CC this job really does a bit of everything. If it always had access to all of its tools it would truly be an S rank job, that limitation and its frailty knock it down for me, but a good player will really make this job shine and can make noticeable differences in team performance.
  3. Dancer (A Rank)
    • Dancer buffs the best member of your team and completely debilitates enemy teams with their LB. Not only that but their damage is very decent with good mobility. Their only flaws are their frailty and needing a lot of support to LB effectively. I suppose the lb charge has been nerfed as well, but for the amount of devastation it can cause it is still very worth it.

Magical Range DPS

  1. Black Mage (A Rank)
    • This is my main job, so I might be bias, but constant AOE damage, multiple movement options. On demand CC with a huge range that hits through walls. This job really has everything going for it besides the frailty. This job played well can absolutely terrorize the battlefield.
  2. Summoner (A Rank)
    • Strong burst damage and a secondary vacuum to assist the Dark Knight. This job has to play a bit closer to maximize its damage that can lead to untimely deaths. It also has a decent defensive utility for your tanks and melees leading the charge. What really holds this job back is the damage nerf while in Frontlines. It can still wreak havoc on the enemy teams, but needs to build battle high to truly relive those early glory days.
  3. Red Mage (C Rank)
    • A job that is frail, but needs to be in melee range. Its strongest burst option is locked behind 3 GCDs that will often get you killed, and while its burst is good it is very difficult to actually line that up with your alliance leading to ineffective attacks. The debuff and CC are alright and unique to red mage. They can really shine in the chase down phase of an encounter and smaller skirmishes. It takes some extra work and a bit of finesse, but you can do well on the job with enough skill.

Light party

Frontlines allows you to que as a light party. I always recommend partying up with fellow pvpers.This ensures you have people that listen to calls, are fairly competent players, or at the very least are fun to play with. While you can always simply play what you want here are some sample team comps that synergize well with each other.

  1. Dark Knight Core
    1. Dark Knight (Suction)
    2. Dragoon (Burst)
    3. Warrior/Reaper/Dancer (Guard Break)
    4. Astrologian/Bard/Dragoon/Gunbreaker/Whatever (Support/Flex)
  2. Dancer Core
    1. Dancer (Suction/Guard Break)
    2. Paladin (Guard Bot)
    3. Summoner/Bard/Astro (Burst/Flex)
    4. Summoner/Dragoon (Burst/Flex)
  3. Dragoon Unga Bunga
    1. Dark Knight (Suction)
    2. Dragoon (Burst)
    3. Dragoon (Burst)
    4. Dragoon (Burst)
  4. Drk/Dnc Stack
    1. Dark Knight (Suction)
    2. Dragoon (Burst)
    3. Paladin (Guard Bot)
    4. Dancer (Guard Break)
  5. Sickness
    1. Scholar (Pain)
    2. Scholar (Pain)
    3. Scholar (Pain)
    4. Scholar/Ninja (Pain/Cleanup)
  6. Dark Knight Unga Bunga
    1. Dark Knight (Pain)
    2. Dark Knight (Pain)
    3. Dark Knight (Pain)
    4. Astrologian/Warrior (Support/Guard Break)
  7. Astro Unga Bunga
    1. Dark Knight (Suction)
    2. Astro (Burst)
    3. Astro (Burst)
    4. Astro (Burst)
  8. Double Dark
    1. Dark Knight (Suction)
    2. Dark Knight (Suction)
    3. Warrior/Dancer/Reaper (Guard Break)
    4. Dagoon (Burst)

Conclusion

There is a lot that goes into Frontlines. While this isn’t an all encompassing guide that will get you through every situation it’s not supposed to be. There’s no ceiling for how well you can command your team and how many victories you can achieve. I truly love frontlines and I hope that my feelings are expressed through this guide. I wish you the best of luck, commander, and happy hunting.