The Philosophy of Grifball - Part 1
With the dream hack tournaments behind us and halo infinite in front of us, times have been great for modern Grifball. However, I was thinking, what does it mean to play Grifball?
Boxing is often referred to as the sweet science. The way skilled pugilists move, strike, and yes even think, shows a much greater understanding of their sport than many would hope to have. They will pick apart an opponent not just with their fists but in the ring of the mind. They will probe each other, observe each other, look for weakness, for mistakes and capitalize on it like a wild cat hunting a bird. Boxing works this way fundamentally because everyone is on even footing. They all have a similar training and they all can work their bodies into the same shape; however, it is the intellect that makes a great boxer stand out over the competition. Something that is also true for Grifball.
In Grifball we all are on even footing, with the only caveat being connection. The skills required to be a great Grifball player lay in the on-court intelligence of a player. This is a game of anticipation, a game of split-second decision making and a game of awareness. Tanking in a 1v1 is not so different than the sweet science of bruising that boxing introduced us to. Unfortunately, I simply am not the best, nor the smartest, nor the most aware Grifball player. So, I decided to pick the minds of some off the AGLAs best. In this three-part article I am going to be breaking down the basic archetypes of Grifball; Tank, Hybrid, and Runner. I am happy to say I will not be doing it alone as I have 3 different amazing players walking me through their respective role on the court. We are going to be talking about their thought processes on the court, comparing their opinions, and hopefully come out smarter players.
Part 1: TANKING
Tanking is the simplest and purest play style of Grif. Tanks, well, kill things. They create the gaps and openings a team needs to exploit. So, I asked a great tank to come on and walk me through what he is doing and what he is thinking.
Galvann is a well-known monster tank. A force on the court, Galvann has been getting killing sprees since OG Halo Reach and has more than earned his spot as one of the AGLAs best tanks. I asked Galv a series of basic and specialized questions regarding both general play and tank specific topics. Here's what I learned.
Galvann plays on a spread of FOV ranging from the lowest possible at 70 for H3 up to 76 and 77 respectively for Reach and H4. He is a controller player; he chooses the advantage of both aim assist and more fluid movement over mouse and keyboards advantage of spin speed.
His favorite Grifs are H5 and reach. He loves the intricacy of the H5 mechanics and the simplicity of Reach.
As a preliminary question I asked Galv if he can play cold or if he needs a warmup before game.
“That just depends how bad I want to win. If I know my team needs to be on their A game, then I make sure we are fresh and awake and they understand what their opponents like to do. Now, if I have a great team and I know it's going to be an easy ride, I just go in cold with a smile on my face. #JustBuiltDifferent”
Now a question I've always wondered has been what intelligence really means in Grifball. We all know who the intelligent and smart players are but what makes them smart player. Galvann boils it down pretty well.
“It means they can do it all! That player can run, tank and can adapt to any Grif and any situation. A player with great awareness, great decision making and a team player.”
When asked what he found challenging about the game his answer was simple, but true.
“Will have to be getting RTDs, playing on a connection you can't connect or having teammates that don't know what they are doing”
Yet these are largely out of his control. RTDS is a game malfunction, playing on a bad connection/a faraway host is something unavoidable in the current league, and having unknowledgeable teammates is a hazard of a growing league but I want to focus more on the connection bit. We see a lot of 1-1 series with each team winning as soon as their host choice enters the box. Is connection simply too much of an imbalance that it negatively affects the sport?
“Well Host is everything, it can decide if you're going to win the game easily or if it's going to be a long sweaty match. When I'm thinking about host 2 things come to my head
1. If I'm picking a host, I pick a host that benefits my team and what is the other team's connection weakness. So, I won’t have to worry about a player swinging faster than me.
2. When the enemy is picking a host, I make sure my team is focused on Teamwork. Chemistry is key when you don't have the connection on your side.
So, yes, I do believe Grifball is a host-based game just like any other game. Unless it was on LAN and the connection won't matter just skill.”
Despite Galv acknowledging the host-based nature of the game I think his rally on chemistry and teamwork says a lot. At least half of the games you play will be on hosts you don’t want; the equalizer is playing your best and working together despite the disadvantage. I also asked how Galv typically team tanks, his answer was quite novel.
“By taking advantage of distractions my teammates create. “
Now let's get into some actual gameplay exposés. First things first how do you actually figure out your range when tanking and he gives a great answer.
“Grinding is key. You need to figure out your settings. How I figured out the right settings for me was, finding my ideal FOV, Step 2: Figure out your range on that FOV (remember your range/speed slightly changes depending on what host you are playing on), Step 3: If you're having trouble figuring out when you are and are not in range of someone's hammer and you are just guessing the range, then go back to step 1 and retry again. Step 4: Grind the Game. Eventually you'll find your FOV and you'll know when you're in a range to kill or not.”
I asked Galv what sort of pace he wants to play at, and his answer is a versatile as they come.
"It all depends on who the opponents are. Once I understand my opponent's movements I will eventually know when I need to be aggressive or know when I need to take it slow and steady. Everyone has different styles in a way, so I believe you always got to change yours too. Can't always play the same pace every time."
When asked about radar tanking Galvann had an interesting perspective. My entire career I have been told to watch the radar and that radar tanking is the way to go, however Galvanns philosophy on it is a little different from just stare at the radar all the time.
“Now, when I'm "Radar Tanking" I'm never looking at my radar unless I'm surrounded by more than 1 enemy. For example, if it's a 1 on 1 situation, I don't look at my radar to know when to swing when I'm in range. THAT'S A NO NO. I'm a player that looks at the enemy and try to keep a close range of a hammer swing to where I can out step my opponent or bait his swing to where I can make a counter swing. Now, Let's say I'm in a 2 on 1 situation, I'm looking at the enemy and looking at radar back and forth. If the player I'm looking at isn't making a move and is a very passive player, I'll use my radar on the player I'm not looking at and use the foot work on the enemy that I'm radar tanking against and use my headset and listen if he has swung or not before I make a move.”
Now obviously not every Grifball is the same. We wanted to make this as general and comprehensive as possible for each game of Grif. Sprinting and boost where of course two major changes to how players tank and in Galvs words they “Completely change the style of game” however those same games also added passing, another thing a skilled tank must worry about.
“Adding the mechanic of passing is a huge benefit to a runner. Think of this way, on Reach once you make a mistake of getting yourself cornered, you're doomed. You either try your best to get out or you lose the ball. Whereas in Halo 4/5 even when you have made a mistake and get yourself cornered, you have a choice to throw the bomb out and still have possession. In the end adding the mechanic of passing would help the runner to do more by not just recovering from his mistakes, but also by allowing them to make passing plays for those cool montages. What a tank should look for on defense is to make sure there's no player trying to flank around your team and never, ever, leave a teammate to 1v1 him/her. Always have another support player ready to back them up in case he/she dies to the flanker. The job is get him out of your plate ASAP. Now, on offense a tank should always look for a pass even when you have the enemy runner cornered, because they are always going to try and pass. Make sure that all your opponents aren't behind any of your defensive line and make sure all of them are in front of you. Not behind you in a way that allows them to run to your plate, which would cause a pass play to happen and result in a score against you. So, in other words make sure every opponent is guarded. Another way to stop a passing play is when you're in front of a runner and you can predict when he's going to pass. You can deflect the ball and sometimes change the direction of the ball by swinging your hammer at the right time. These are the ideas you need to know and what you can do when you're up against a passing team.”
THE GAMEPLAN
Now for the fun bit. I've asked Galv enough basic questions about tanking. Let's get into some nitty gritty. I made a list of questions regarding specific portions of a genral Grifball game. Starting in the same place every Girfball Game starts. Tip-off.
Arguably one of the most important periods of the game, tip off can be detrimental to a team that loses it and a boon to the team that wins it. Now tip-off is different in each game, launching yourself or teammates like in 3 or reach, sprinting in h4, the best way to execute it is game dependent. However, the fundamentals are all still there regardless of the game mechanic at play. You have 2 outside spawners and 2 inside spawners. Inside's job is to get the ball. Cannot break it down in any plainer terms. Galv gave me a great explanation of how he does tip off.
“I consider myself an Inside player most times, but really it all depends on where I spawn and if I'm ahead of anyone else. I'll head center because you always want to send the player who spawned first so they are getting to the bomb the fastest to go middle and have the other 2 teammates on the sides. Now, you want to keep your last player in the back as a defensive hold or to play supporter for the inside player. That's how I play against the opposing team's tip offs, unless it's halo 3 then that's when I'll suggest just launching the two inner players to bomb and having the two outer players staying back as a defensive hold.”
Similarly, to tip off Tanks tend to prefer outside or inside tanking. Many players hug the wall for support when pushing. Others still tend to go up front and center throwing themselves into the chaos of open court. Galv however has some honest but harsh words for the players that box themselves into playing on one part of the court.
“You want to master all sections of the field. Never be a player who can only do well from a certain portion of the court. Having a player who just hugs wall isn't always the best for your team. What I'll suggest is going to in a custom game and inviting 2 of your friends to help you practice getting better in a 2v1 situation in all sections of the field (getting 2v1'd in corners, in center, on plate, etc.). The more you do this the more you'll get comfortable maintaining those spots on the field.”
Galvann touches on our next two subjects here. 1v1s and 1vfews. While they are of course similar the thought process for what to do and who to prioritize couldn’t be more different from each other.
“So, in 1v1s, what I'm looking for is their movement. Are they aggressive? Are they passive? Do they always make the same moves? At the end once I have my opponent figured out, I'll know what move would work best against them.
The best way to handle situations where you are getting 2v1'd or 3v1'd is if you're in the center of the field, distract them if they are focused on you. As long as you stay alive, they only have 2 options.
1. They'll focus on you so hard they'll try to kill you quickly and eventually forget about the ball/runner
2. One of the players will eventually leave you because they don't want to spend too much time on you. Now let's say you're getting 2v1'd (one tank & one runner) on your plate, this where the mind games come in, you have to make a quick decision. Either you can kill the tank quickly and have the reload to kill or pop up the runner before he touches plate, or you can bait the enemy tank's swing to where you have time to pop up or kill the runner.”
There is a lot more complexity in tanking than just getting kills. You can kill people all you want, won't matter if the ball can't leave half court. It’s the job of both the runner and the rest of the team to make a push happen and identify when it's happening to capitalize or defend against it. Pushes are the foundation that wins are made from.
“You always want to make a push once you see that one of their teammates is way out of position. This is when they're running to your spawn even though you're on their plate to score or when they're 1v1ing someone in the middle of the field instead of helping their team do defense (killing runner or kill any tanks near plate). The quicker you can make a push the less time the enemy's teammate who is out of position has a chance to come back and help. The same applies to your own team, once they see one of your teammates out of position, they are going to try to use that opening to their advantage.”
Perhaps at this point it's not a shocker but positioning, positioning, and, positioning are the 3 most important things to be doing in Grifball. Once you're out of play you are giving the enemy's a chance to score. Now for the final portion of our discussion I asked Galvann about the worst feeling in Grifball. Being down in points while the other team has 4 goals. For his part Galvann lays it down well, and he has, in my opinion, quite the winner's mentality.
“To yourself, you should always think every round is a 4-4 round. Give it the best you can by making as few mistakes as possible, and by making the right choices to get that score. Help your teammates, give them that motivation because most players let their nerves/negative emotions get the best of them. Once you remind them, they can do it and that anything is possible. Motivation and Hope would help the team cause the comeback to happen. Keep your head in the game and Fight Hard”
Strong words from a man with a lot of heart. Thank you so much to anyone who made it this far, I hope you enjoyed the read and that it broadened your understanding with the game. This has been just part 1 of the 3-part Philosophy of Grifball series so please come back and check out the runner and hybrid articles in the near future. Huge shout out to Galvann for being such a sport and for helping me out so much.