Destiny Control Player Improvement Guide

Destiny Control Player Improvement Guide by Humeon

Fellow Guardians,

I’m not anywhere near the most accomplished Crucible player, but I’ve spent a fair bit of time in there and have noticed some maps (for Control at least) are less balanced than others or have fantastic bits of cover to use. Here’s some things I’ve noticed, and feel free to add your own tips too!

GENERAL TIPS

• There’s a reason someone posts at least once a week telling everyone to capture and defend two zones and leave the third alone! By doing this you force your opponents to spawn in the one location and allows you to plan your attack around that.
• If heavy ammo drops, make sure you get there – bonus points if you can get all of the drops between your teammates and yourself! If you see any of your team sprinting towards the drop, wait until they’re 20 or so meters from the drop before picking it up so they get some ammo of their own.
• Watch your radar – knowing where your enemy is coming from before they reach you is a huge bonus!
• Heavy ammo spawns at 9, 6 and 3 minutes to go on every map except First Light and Bastion, where it’s considerably faster (10, 8, 6, 4 and 2 minutes to go). Knowing what time heavy ammo will spawn and getting to the spawn point early will allow you to ambush your opponents who will run there as the announcer yells “HEAVY AMMO INBOUND”.

FIREBASE DELPHI

• Bravo team starts at a huge advantage, spawning right next to point A. Alpha, once you’ve captured point C you’re going to want to capture point A as soon as possible – spawning near point A gives you a quick run to assault/defend point B and, as we all know, defending two points is the key to victory.
• The big doors take a moment or two to open up. If you think one of your opponents might be on the other side, take a few steps back and get ready to fire as soon as the door opens.

BLIND WATCH

• This map recently changed and is now more broken than it was previously. I believe Bravo is the team with the advantage here (as I believe they’re the ones that start at point C, but could be wrong), as points C and B are both easy to defend from each other. If your team spawns near A, try to capture C as soon as possible and use it as a base to assault B (or hope your opponents are awesome enough to try to take A off you – at which point you should spawn near C).
• The roof above where point C used to be is a great place to defend the new point C.

SHORES OF TIME

• There are a couple of great places to snipe on this map: towards the rear of the map near point C, and on the platform of point B in particular give you great vantage points.
• You can jump around the right hand side of point B onto a rock pillar in the middle of the abyss. This is handy if the rest of your team is trying to take B from the front or from the left hand side as there’ll often be people hiding on the edges regenerating health or waiting for someone to run in to shotgun them.
• Likewise, if you’re defending B, hiding as above (around the corner from the door) can often coax people into running in where you’ll be waiting with your close range weapon of choice.
• Got people running to take point A off you? Hide up the top near the heavy ammo spawn and you’ll get the jump on them as they run into the room.
• The team that spawns nearest point C (Bravo?) will be the first team to capture a point and should be able to capture B before the other team too. This is a nice advantage to have, so try not to squander it!

TWILIGHT GAP

• While just about every map is fantastic for shotgun and fusion rifle users, this one is definitely one of the best for it. Lots of tight areas favour these close range weapons, so put your Ice Breaker away and get rowdy!
• While all three points are pretty easy to defend, B is probably the hardest thanks to the super close quarters. That said, the spawn point at A funnels most players straight into the control point, which makes it easy to pick them off one by one by standing on top of the stairs right next to point A. If you have to pick and choose two points to try to control, make it B and C!
• If need be, you can jump around the side of the map where the giant cannons periodically fire off into the nothingness. This is great for sneaking up behind point A where people might be defending.

RUSTED LANDS

• The team that spawns near point C (Bravo?) will capture their point first, and should be able to quickly move to take either of the other points. Alpha spawns in the middle of nowhere and will take longer to capture their first point – most random groups of people will split in half at the start, with half going to A and half going to C and being decimated by Bravo. Don’t be those people!
• Point A is perhaps the easiest to defend, and B is a super short walk from there. Try to make holding A and B your priority, and focus more of your defense on B (being the closest point from C’s spawn).
• You can pull out your Ice Breaker again – a couple of great spots are at the back of the map next to point B and along either side of the map (the area between A and B, and the area between A and C).
• One of the heavy ammo spawns is below point A, and the team that controls A will almost always get it. The other spawn is between B and C and is usually a lot more dangerous to grab. Be the team that controls point A!

EXODUS BLUE

• You should probably put away your Ice Breaker again – much of this map is very close quarters and your 360 noscope skills don’t translate as well from CoD as your teammates would like!
• B is definitely the hardest point to defend but it’s a great spot for multi-kills from grenades, supers or rockets. B will definitely flip sides more often than either of the other points, but its central location means you should be aiming to have it plus either of the other points as trying to control both A and C means you’ll have to run too far to defend either point.
• Sucks to be an Xbox player!

FIRST LIGHT

• Okay, NOW you can pull out your Ice Breaker for real. 80% of the map is a sniper’s paradise!
• Control the vehicles – a Pike will spawn right near your team wherever you begin, so someone capable with vehicles should pick it up and roll with it for as long as you can. Likewise, when the Interceptor spawns try to pick it up – as long as there’s no heavy ammo spawned, the thing is a beast if you can use it right!
• The turret outside B makes it very easy to defend point B but be wary of enemies coming from C and grenading you from behind. The turret is best used if your team controls C already, as the danger of people coming up behind you decreases somewhat.
• If I can ever stress the importance of taking the heavy ammo spawns, now is the time! If your opponents are in a turret, Interceptor or on a Pike a single rocket will take them out and make your lives a lot easier. Machine guns work too, but leave you more vulnerable than a well placed rocket.

BASTION

• As with First Light, controlling the Pikes is important on Bastion. The Interceptor loses some of its charm here, but is still a beast in the right hands.
• The turrets will score you a fair few kills, particularly the one at C. As with First Light, be aware of enemies around you as one grenade can take you out with ease.
• B and C are the closest points to each other and as such are the easiest to defend. Use this to your advantage.
• Not only is heavy ammo just as important here as it is on First Light, there are also three spawns (one near each point). Try to control as many of these as possible to deny your opponents their delicious rockety goodness!

While everyone has their own style, and I’d only consider myself an ‘above average’ player, any game in which people stick to the objectives and can follow the flow of the game is usually a game in which we win. Hopefully you can take on some of these points, share them with your friends, and use them to get better results :)