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. |