Drybear Den

Hey folks! If you’d prefer to be seduced by my voice instead, here is the video form of this topic LINK HERE. Timestamps for each tip are in the comments & description. I’d appreciate it if you’d give it a look. <3

6 Beginner Mistakes

• Picking an end-game team comp too soon

There are a lot of guides going around on good end-game team comps (heck I even made one) and sometimes players can get tripped up in this by trying to pick their end-game comp too early on in the game.

It’s easy to be seduced by the Void Brawlers or hyper carry Draven, but what drives compositions in this game is primarily items. It’s more important to consider (A) what items you’re getting and (B) what comp other players are building. I see a lot of newer players not spending the time to create Early Game and Mid Game compositions that will allow them to transition into the build they ultimately end up on. For example, a full 6 Sorcerer build can be strong but a majority of the strong units in that composition are expensive which means if you force it as an early or mid game build you risk getting crushed too soon.

A good rule of thumb is to start creating your end-game build around the time you hit Wolves. If you don’t have your end-game build by Raptors, it’s usually a good time to go all in and roll until you feel like you have a strong composition.

• Re-rolling too often and without a specific goal in mind

Economy is more viable than it has been in the past. Too often I see players re-rolling blindly or out of habit which can lead them to losing by mid-game. I recommend having a SPECIFIC goal in mind each time you re-roll.

Say you’re looking to level up one or two of your units. Knowing what cost they are and ensuring you’re at a level that gives you a good drop rate for that unit and then rolling until you get it is a great way to use the re-roll mechanic. It’s also important to take stock of how many of that unit are already taken by other players. Your level plus the available stock of the unit will help you determine how likely you are to find that unit if you rolled for it. Re-rolling is an important strategy in TFT but a fickle mistress if you don’t treat it right.

That said, I will caution that you usually want to play the same way as the other players in the lobby. If most players are playing Economy and you’re re-rolling or vice versa, you will usually just lose too much HP or fall behind late game.

• Building the wrong items or building items at the wrong time

The HOT items right now are Guardian Angel, Morellos, RFC, and Statikk Shiv. Most of this revolves around Karthus or Cho dealing bonkers AoE damage and preventing healing with Morellonomicon. Conversely, items like Hurricane, Sword of the Divine (since Assassins got nerfed), and Titanic Hydra are risky items to create. Some of them because the items that make them are better made into other items. Looking at Titanic Hydra, you’d rather make a Morellos with the Giant’s Belt and a Rapidfire Cannon, Statikk Shiv, or Rageblade with the Recurve Bow.

It takes time to understand when the best time is to combine items, but put simply you just want to wait until you can make the best items for the composition you’re building. If you’re losing HP, you’re forced to create whatever items you can with what you have.

If you’re 1 or 2 rounds away from a creep wave or a carousel, and you don’t feel like you’re going to lose a lot of HP in the next round it’s good to wait and see what you get before you commit to items.

• Not playing what the GAME gives you

This is HUGE. I’ve seen players re-roll 60-80 Gold looking for the units that fit the composition they placed in their head and never find them. Meanwhile they don’t notice that the game has been giving them 12 Gnars along the way because other players aren’t running Yordles or Shapeshifters. This is why I LOVE the limited stock component of Teamfight Tactics as it can make off-meta or less popular builds powerful when they are being ignored. Is Void Brawler with Morellos, GA, Deathcap on Cho better than Wild Shapeshifter? Right now, sure. But if you’re uncontested and can get a stacked 3* Gnar and Shyvanna while others fight over Cho and Karthus? It’s a different story.

The best TFT players have a wealth of knowledge on what works and what doesn’t, and then seek to play off what the game is giving them to make the best composition. Keep an eye out before you hit Wolves for units that are going uncontested or are showing up frequently and ask yourself if it’s worth making a transition to a new composition!

• Running units that bring low value or are low tier

When I get stuck, don’t have a composition I feel good about, and have some Gold I will turn to “Rolling Down”. In this process, I’m rolling looking for high value units that work well in the current meta or are anchor units in strong compositions. In the same way, you always want to be employing units that have high value to your team.

I see a lot of players running units that are low value like Elise or Twisted Fate. In most cases, running other units regardless of synergy will benefit your team more than trying to force a 3* Twisted Fate in his current state. Familiarize yourself with the strong and weak units, then try to avoid using units that in general are not very good.

• Not constantly assessing your team’s strengths and weaknesses

Similar to romanticizing end-game comps, I don’t see players assessing their team’s ACTUAL strengths and weaknesses enough. This comes with experience but a skill that every TFT player should practice.

Every stable team comp needs:

1. Front Line stability. The Front Line stability can come from Brawlers, Guardians, Knights, or units like Gnar that can take a beating. Without this, your team can get steamrolled before your units can deal damage. Kindred’s ult can be a stopgap for this if you’re positioned properly as well.
2. Damage. The Damage can come from Draven/Rengar, Rangers, Sorcerers, Assassins, etc. Without this, you won’t be able to chew through the enemy Front Line or take out key targets.
3. Teamfight Strength. This is your initiation and disruption potential. Units like Gnar, Sejuani, and Cho’Gath fit into this category as well as synergies like Glacial or Demon and items like Hush, Cursed Blade, or Sword Breaker. This component is essential when team sizes go over 6 as you need to be able to disrupt and shut down the enemy team. It’s also why Support, Guardian, Tank, and Initiators exist in MOBAs like LoL.

Throughout the match you should be constantly assessing how strong you are in each of these categories. For example, if you have damage but no front line yet it can save you a lot of HP to throw a Poppy or solo Braum out in front just to allow your damage dealers enough time to get some kills.

And that’s it! I love discussing games so please let me know if you have any feedback for me or my content.

What are other mistakes you see? Do you agree or disagree with my assessment?

Cheers!

Last week UK lawmakers met with reperesentatives from EA Games and Epic Games to discuss the impact of video games on the health and wellbeing of young kids. However, this hearing quickly turned into a mess as the counsel came after the gaming executives with a widespread of questions around games. Some valid, some not. The discussion is good but some of the things that were said were ridiculous. In this video, I give a developer’s viewpoint on what happened.

Dead by Daylight is an asymmetrical PVP game where 1 killer faces off against 4 survivors in a battle to the death. It is a horror game but has an incredible amount of depth to it. I’ve been enjoying it this month and wanted to make a short beginner’s guide that might help other players get into DBD as some of the starting concepts aren’t immediately obvious.

In this video, I cover the beginner’s basics to both Survivor and Killer that might help you get into the game, as well as some common “Gotcha’s” to avoid.

This was a fun guide to create. These are several of the drills I used to run when I played Counter-Strike: Source competitively and they can EASILY up your game in any FPS on the market. The better control you have over your peripherals, the better off you will be!

My first week of streaming will be underway today at 3:00 PM EST!

Youtube videos will start being uploaded tomorrow and should follow a similar schedule.

Today was my last day working at Hi-Rez Studios as I tender my resignation and say a bittersweet goodbye to my studio family, even if only as a coworker! Now, I am embarking on my own business adventure. I will be jumping into content creation full-time while I work on other ventures behind the scenes, which I can’t wait to share with you. You can expect to see me live streaming 5-7 days a week along with a full revival of my Youtube channel. I’m unbelievably excited to be connecting with you all once more!

As a creator, I will be bringing the last 5 years of my experience in Game Development and Publishing to bear with expert game reviews, game guides, and loads of other content to help consumers better understand how the sausage is made and how it effects the way we interact with games as a medium. Plus having a boat-load of fun along the way, of course.

It feels like yesterday that I started this journey into Game Development with one of the most wondrous group of people I’ve had the pleasure of working with. Over the last 7 years I have been graciously granted the opportunity to dive into the world of making games as a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed video game nerd, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I will cherish the friendships and bonds I’ve formed with my coworkers at Hi-Rez Studios and its associates. There’s nothing quite like bringing your imagination to life surrounded by a group of people with a deep-seeded passion for making gaming experiences. It’s challenging, yes, as I believe all entertainment industries are, but at the end of the day you have the honor of bringing joy to millions of people around the world. I can’t wait to see what Hi-Rez and its sister companies accomplish from now into the future and you can bet I will be cheering them on from the outside.

My resignation may have come as a surprise to many of you, as it did to some of my friends, family, and coworkers. This decision I did not make lightly, and it certainly kept me up too many nights to count over the past year.

First and foremost, I deeply miss connecting with people on an individual basis. Not as a spokesperson, but as a human being. This is foreshadowing for what my plans are over the next few years with my business activities, but in the meantime I am excited to interact with you all again through cameras, keyboards, and live events. Put simply: teaching, coaching, and guiding struggling folks brings me incredible joy and I want to do more of that on a regular basis. I have a calling that I’ve been ignoring for too long and now’s the time to chase that dream.

Secondly, I feel I can do a lot of good for the gaming industry as a free agent. In 5 years time, I was able to climb from Community Manager to Game Director, and with that expertise behind me I see a lack of accurate and helpful tools available to folks who want to get into the industry, including programs in many schools. This is my way of reaching back and pulling others up! There is a big disparity between the amount of people who play games around the world and the amount of people making games and I want to do my part in bridging the gap.

You can treat this site as a base of operations for all things Drybear. I wanted to create a spot where everything can be viewed in one place. It’s not much now, but this is only a launch pad. See you soon!