Pawn Artifact:

By itself, Pawn is the weakest of all artifacts. To compensate, the owner of Pawn gets two points for every enemy killed instead of the usual one point. However, there are two ways that Pawn can become very strong. The most straightforward is for Pawn to capture the flag. In this case, Pawn is promoted to Knight which provides many benefits, including strong magic armor (like Sky), water breathing, and immunity to RealDamage (like Resist).

The most strategic use however, is for Pawn to accompany another player acting as the flag carrier. As long as Pawn is within range of the teammate flag carrier, Pawn gets regeneration, no splash damage, half normal damage, and the ability to save the flag carrier from death.

How to use

Capturing the flag as Pawn is usually very difficult and not worth attempting. But if you do succeed, Knight makes a good flag runner.

Accompanying the flag carrier makes a lot more sense. You don't get any points directly for doing this, but the opportunity to rack up a few kills (at two points each), plus defending the flag carrier, can easily make up for it. Your team is likely get more captures as well. If the flag carrier takes enough damage to die while the Pawn is within range, the Pawn will save the flag carrier instead. What happens: the flag carrier effectively teleports to the Pawn's location, with the Pawn's current health (and possibly armor), while the Pawn is teleported to a random location. The Pawn may have to move fast to get within range again.

One strategy that works well is for Pawn to sneak up near the enemy flag and wait. Then let your teammates know that your are ready, and one of them can try to steal the enemy flag. All they need to do is pick it up, and if the Pawn is within range, the flag carrier will be saved from death. In fact it can be advantageous for the flag carrier to let the enemy defense get a kill in exchange for the benefit of effectively teleporting to the location of the Pawn.

In a firefight while accompanying the flag carrier, try to stay out of the middle of the action. The flag carrier can be saved but the Pawn can't; and once the Pawn dies, the flag carrier is vulnerable.

How to fight

Don't ignore enemy players hanging around your base even if you have pressing business to attend to. You can
use the player identification on the HUD to find out what artifact they are carrying. If you see the Pawn, kill
immediately. If you can't find the Pawn and the enemy flag carrier keeps getting saved, use Lake to get your flag
back instead.

To fight Pawn, don't use RealDamage or splash damage (rockets, grenades, ASMD alt-fire). Sun is a good choice, as is Sky or Monk.

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