Rumble: Accessing Trigger Groups

An FU Student Asks:

Since it's important to hit the original charged group to set off your chain... what is the best way to build so that you have access to it? Everytime I set my chains up, I almost never hit my original group so it leaves 2-3 sets of charged groups up.

Good question. There are a couple ways to keep your first group (often referred to as the "trigger") available. One option is to simply not build on that side of the board, like this:

In this case, the trigger is the red group on the far right. Notice that I have a red ball in my right hand just waiting to trigger the combo. It's important to have that triggering ball available (and in a hand that can reach the trigger). To build this, I basically started my combo by charging a red ball and attaching it to the right side. At that point, I continued to build my combo primarily from the right hand. I do this until my right hand has the color I need to trigger the combo - in this case, red. Once I have my trigger ball ready, I go to my left hand and build only from there. I don't want to lose that red ball in my right hand because I have no idea when I'll get another.

One problem with this approach is that you end up "wasting" some space on your board. Notice the large gray triangle I created. That shaded area shows the part of the board that is difficult to build in, if using your left hand.

Is this really a problem? I don't think so. I think you have plenty of room to build a big enough combo to insta someone without having to worry about that bit of wasted space. Nonetheless, you want to ensure that you're using as much space as possible and packing in your combo as tightly as you can.

Now, you can try to use up more of that space by placing some strategic shots and perhaps using some back shots. What you want to avoid, though, is getting cut off from your trigger group, like this:

In this situation, the charged yellow group on the left side is my trigger. I even have my yellow ball in my left hand so I'm ready to go. Unfortunately, I can no longer get to it. Note the charged red group on the left side - that's where the problem happens. I built too far out to the left and that charged red group started catching sprinkles. It caught so many, in fact, that I can no longer trigger my combo.

So, if you use the open side technique, try to use as much space as you can, but don't build too large or you may find yourself cut off.

A second option is to build a "fuse" to keep your trigger open. Here's an example:

In this case, the charged orange group in the center is the trigger. Notice a couple things here. First of all, I built up this combo on both sides (although the left side is built up a bit more because I was holding that orange in my right). Also, the orange group has a number of charged balls in it, extending it downward. By occasionally attaching additional charged orange balls to the bottom of my trigger group, I keep it from getting buried.

The downside, of course, is that you end up spending extra time charging balls to attach to an already charged group. If you count the charged orange balls in that picture, you'll see that I have 8 charged balls in that group. That's enough to have two more complete charged groups, had I only kept one charged ball on the orange group.

So, which method is better? Personally, I like starting a combo on the side and then keeping that side open. It's faster and there's less waste. Also, you don't sacrifice much by giving up a little real estate in terms of how large your strike can be. Note that both the open side combo (15 steps) and the fuse combo (17 steps) were enough to send a strike large enough to reach the bottom of the opponent's board. The fuse method works, but I think you waste far too much time charging balls.

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Building strikes like this has a time and a place. When you're fighting one on one, you're generally not going to have time to build strikes like this unless you're fighting a far inferior opponent. Anyone decent will be sending occasional strikes that will interrupt your combo building process.

If, however, you're certain that your opponent isn't going to send you any more strikes, you can use their sprinkle pattern against them. This works well against folks that like to turbo sprinkle or against opponents that give up striking and go to sprinkles as their board fills (lots of players have this tendency).

Here's an example:

In this case, I used the "Open Side" technique, but I intentionally started my combo using available yellows on the left. That charged yellow group on the far left is my trigger. Notice, however, that it has uncharged yellow balls attached to the bottom. How did those get there? Those are my opponent's sprinkles, of course. I knew that my opponent was sending yellow balls up the left side, so I intentionally stated my combo to match that sprinkle pattern. Then, I'd continue building my combo as usual, but, whenever the opponent would send sprinkles, those sprinkles would act as a "fuse" for my trigger group. Notice how much of the board I'm able to use with little-to-no waste because I'm using my opponent's sprinkle pattern against them.

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So when do you use strikes like this? Well, there are a few situations that come to mind. Sometimes, I do it just for fun, when I'm fighting someone without as much skill as me (read "Able"). Against turbo sprinklers, combos like this can be powerful, but you need to keep pressure on them and adding bruises to the combos can also be very potent (of course, you can always use their sprinkle pattern to add bruises, making your attacks faster and nastier). Most good turbo sprinklers will fill your board so quickly that you won't be able to build a combo large enough to insta-kill them. Nonetheless, you can, and should, use their attacks against them.

Another time to use strikes like this would be when rumbling in groups, against barbarians, for instance. One technique that works well against barbarians is for an untargeted player (or a defended player) to build insta-kill combos and pick off bots one at a time. With rumbling (especially against barbarians), creating insta-kill combos doesn't even involve that much skill - it just takes time. The more skillful players can do it faster, but it's not difficult to build a 10+ step combo in rumble, if you're unmolested.

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Another note about your question - you point out that you sometimes break only part of your combo. Sometimes, that's not a bad thing. Let's say you have an 8 stage combo. You break half of it, add a charged group and then break the rest. What does your opponent see? Back to back nasty strikes. It can be a little difficult to work out, but pulling occasional strikes like this can be a great way to keep your opponents guessing.

You see, most opponents have a definite pattern to their strikes. After fighting people a few times, you just get a feel for when their next strike will come. As such, you can time your own strikes to counter that. Doing things like turning a single combo into two smaller, rapid fire combos, is a great way to keep your opponent guessing.

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I hope that helps answer your question!