10. Defender Operators

Smoke Three canisters of yellow toxic gas dealing 15 HP per second. Excellent for stalling and for cutting sections of the map off entirely.

Mute Four signal jammers that disrupt technology within a spherical area, blocking drones and remote breaching. Do not place them in the open — make the attackers work to remove them.

Castle Four bulletproof armour panels for doorways and windows. Withstands nine melee hits and can be destroyed by explosives. Excellent for cutting off approaches and closing lines of sight when placed thoughtfully.

Pulse Cardiac sensor that reads attacker heartbeats through walls and floors. Excellent for vertical play, intel and team coordination, and outstanding when paired with a C4 or a shotgun.

Doc Three stim shots that heal anyone — including downed players — to full. Excellent for anchoring, workable for roaming if you want to play selfishly, and the gun is strong. Do not forget you can stim through a wall or a punch hole.

Rook Armour packs for the whole team, adding 20 HP and enabling self-revive. Less useful in high elo, where being seen means dying regardless, but strong in lower lobbies. Good right up to the point where everyone starts hitting headshots.

Kapkan Five Entry Denial Devices mounted on door and window frames, dealing 60 HP each. All five can go on a single frame. Place them where they are least expected. You can put several on the same doorway so an attacker who thinks they cleared it still walks into one.

Tachanka Shumikha Launcher — incendiary grenades that bounce once and then explode, covering a large area in fire. Needs reloading. Excellent for cutting off sections of the map, and best used as a way to stall time and block entry.

Jäger Three Active Defence Systems placed on surfaces, intercepting grenades before they detonate. Ten-second cooldown between intercepts. Solid gun and strong utility denial.

Bandit Four Shock Wires that electrify walls and barbed wire, blocking utility and dealing under 10 damage. Great gun. Learn the Bandit trick and standard wall denial. Do not place them all in the centre of the breach, or Maverick simply removes the middle. Do not be afraid to give up the wall. If Maverick opens a line of sight at head height, that is usually a free kill for him.

Frost Three Welcome Mats — traps that instantly down an attacker. They can pick themselves up, but they cannot run afterwards. Usually placed behind shields or under windows. Place them off to the side rather than in the obvious centre.

Valkyrie Three Black Eye cameras that can be thrown and stick to surfaces. Hide them in lights, dark areas, debris and cover. There are hundreds of documented placements worth studying. Counter: IQ.

Caveira Silenced pistol dealing 65 damage that downs attackers, who can then be interrogated to reveal the live position of every attacker for ten seconds. Silent Step makes her movement quieter, though it is still audible. Devastating in lower lobbies. Being quiet does not mean being inaudible. Crouch when you are close. Only interrogate when you are confident no attackers are nearby; otherwise just finish the kill. Counter: good enough audio.

Echo Yokai drones that stick to ceilings and concuss attackers, and can stop a plant outright. Excellent for intel, plant denial and countering shields. Keep your body away from site, or at least somewhere safe, and consider keeping one drone above yourself. Counter: IQ, and audio — listen for the fans.

Mira Black Mirror — a one-way bulletproof window, removable via the red canister on the side it was placed from. As an attacker you should never give a Mira a line of sight to you. Usually paired with a head hole beside it. Do not fight your teammates over the window; there are always other angles to hold. Counter: melee, explosives, or simply pushing somewhere else.

Lesion Gu mines that accumulate as the round progresses, to a maximum of seven to nine. Deal 5 HP on trigger and continue damaging in pulses until removed. Place them where attackers take cover, plant, and push — not in the open. Common plant spots and corners are ideal.

Ela Grzmot mines that stick to surfaces and concuss anyone who triggers them. Excellent for free information the moment an attacker commits. Great gun. Treat the gadget as an audio cue — it is a glorified proximity mine attached to a very good loadout.

Vigil Blocks drones and cameras from seeing him, though attackers still see a distortion. Also blocks Lion scans while active. Strong for roaming and for anchoring in awkward positions. Use it so attackers do not know your exact location. Be careful running — movement makes the distortion easier to spot. It does not hide you completely; it makes you harder to kill. And you still make noise.

Maestro Three Evil Eyes — bulletproof cameras that stick to surfaces and deal 5 HP per shot when open, at which point the lens becomes vulnerable. Also destructible with explosives. Excellent for harassing attackers and clearing drones and gadgets. Place one above a hatch and then break the hatch. One camera can watch several rooms for kills or, at minimum, for information. Keep moving the camera so the glass does not crack in one place. Counter: EMP, explosives.

Alibi Three Prisma holograms of herself that live-ping any attacker who shoots them. Outstanding guns. Place them where the hologram’s feet are concealed so attackers cannot verify them, and consider using one mid-gunfight to surprise someone. Keeping one on your person to deploy at the right moment is a legitimate play — use it responsibly.

Clash Full-body electrified shield that slows attackers while dealing damage. Weak in isolation. If you must play her, play with your team: bait attackers into a crossfire, hold an angle where a push into you runs into a teammate. Playing with your team is the only thing that makes her hard to kill. Counter: melee, and making sure she has no crossfire behind her.

Kaid Electroclaws that electrify walls and barbed wire, blocking utility and dealing under 10 damage. Works through walls, so place them where they cannot easily be destroyed — for example below the wall you are electrifying.

Mozzie Four Pest launchers that hack attacker drones and hand you control of them. The purpose is to stop drones entering site and giving attackers free information. Place them near site or wherever you hold, so that when higher-rank attackers try to drone you out you are not the person with three drones circling them. Keeping one on you is fine.

Warden Glance Smart Glasses that prevent blinding and let him see through smoke while stationary. Excellent against flashbangs. Do not peek a Glaz through a smoke. The loadout is solid; take a shotgun if you need angles. Anti-flash lets you play more aggressively, because nobody expects a Warden to be the one holding through the flash. Feel free to push smokes — just watch for a Glaz.

Goyo Four Volcán shields deployed on walls and floors that explode into fire when shot, covering a large area. Excellent for stopping pushes and denying the places attackers want to anchor. Place them where pushes come from: doorways, walls, barricades, or breaches where players want to hold and stall.

Wamai Mag-NET discs that stick to surfaces and capture incoming projectiles — grenades, flashes, Ash rounds — detonating and destroying them in the process. Best placed near doorways and stairwells.

Oryx Remah Dash. Runs through soft walls and deployable shields, knocking down operators including shield operators. Passively climbs hatches. Strong for roaming and for relocating, though the dash creates a loud audio cue. Also excellent for demolishing cabinets, such as 3F on Kafe. Good roamer, good gun, and an easy way out of a bad position provided you are willing to spend a little health.

Melusi Four Banshee devices that slow operators within range and are bulletproof until triggered. Place them on stairwell walls so the attacker’s crosshair is pulled to the gadget while you swing off the trigger. Place them mid-staircase but slightly closer to site, so removing one requires real commitment. They also give you an audio cue.

Aruni Three Surya Gates deployed on doorways and windows, dealing 30 HP to anything that passes through. Indestructible by gunfire, but can be EMP’d and can be disabled by throwing utility through them. Best on high-traffic doorways. Do not forget to make punch rotations and angles for your team if nobody brought a shotgun or impacts.

Thunderbird Four Kóna Stations that heal 20–30 HP and can revive downed operators, eventually healing to full. Place them in low-traffic but accessible areas — somewhere you would fall back to, but not so close to a push point that its presence tells attackers you are there. Used deliberately, a station near a push point can also work as an early-warning indicator.

Thorn Three Razorbloom Shells that stick to surfaces when thrown, charge up, and explode for roughly 40–50 HP. Excellent for information and for punishing choke points. Place them in common plant and hold spots.

Azami Kiba Barriers that accumulate as the round progresses, to a maximum of five, each covering roughly 2–3 m. They can be shot and exploded. Consider building half walls and one-ways with them — as long as an edge exists, you can build cover from it. Counter: explosives.

Solis Spec-IO Electro-Sensor. Sees and pings technology through walls, and she can move while it is active. Essentially IQ on defence: claymores, drones, phones and gadgets.

Fenrir Four F-NATT Dread Mines with two active at any time, blinding anyone who triggers them. Not bulletproof. When an active mine is destroyed, an inactive one can be activated in its place, keeping your total intact. Best on high-traffic choke points and entries, and better still somewhere unexpected. Counter: effectively none. IQ can locate one, and you may be able to destroy it from vertical, but if you do not break it as it activates you are taking the full animation even while retreating.

Tubarão Four Zoto Canisters that freeze technology for twelve seconds and slow anyone in range. Excellent for stalling and for buying time for electricity or a reposition. When a Bandit or Kaid is using electricity, place the canister on the opposite side from the gadget so the wall can still be electrified — high on the ceiling for a Bandit battery placed low, and vice versa.

Skopos A second body, excellent for roaming, holding site, and creating a bulletproof camera. Weak to electronic denial such as IQ, Thatcher and EMP grenades. Keep the second body near site so you can flank and rotate the way the gadget intends. Do not be afraid to sacrifice one — you swap in at full health, so ditching a body is not a loss.

Map Knowledge and Space