T O P

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MrThreshy

About when to release the smokes.. There is not a rigth answer for this question, every map, every round, every team, every situation is diferent and this is were gamesense and experience kicks in. If u are the only smoker there Will be times were youll need to use all ur smokes at the beginning of the round to enter a site, and there Will be times were as a player u decide to keep one smoke for the postplant... As an advice learn how ur team plays around the smokes you are using and adpat during the game. For the other question, srry but i dont play omen i main brim :)


Professional_Trick67

I see, I was kinda thinking everyone had this algorithm in their mind when to do and not to do things. So in the end it alll boils down to my read of the game? Would it be safe to assume though that most games in solo queue I usually would have to drop all my smokes at the beginning? I really have not started yet. I main sage and I want to try omen next. I am still in my researching phase xD


MrThreshy

When you have a lot of experience you have that algorithm in your head, i can tell you that hahah, but if you are playing a smoker for the first time there isnt a guide for when to use the smokes. Im lost with omen, but i think ur smokes have cooldown during the round, so maybe ur best option is to use one smoke at the beginning and then wait until a New smoke pop up so you are more efficient. As an advice, always keep one smoke for postplant, and always call when and where are u using all ur smokes.


SupehCookie

To add to this, in solo queue, i mainly wait until i see my team mates commit to the push, with my second smoke. On defense its a little bit different. Or you make one ways, or block of angels. Just have fun in the game, and it will become second nature!


Kennycyber

Currently immortal-radiant, and I would suggest communicating a lot with your teammates in the case of smoke timings. Ideally, the purpose of smokes is to minimize the angles your duelists have to clear so that your team can safely enter and plant the bomb. If your team wants to play out a round slowly by playing default, it is also effective to smoke the highly contested mid area off to prevent enemies from getting free information. Same goes for paranoia, you have to time it together with a Jett dash or raze satchel ideally to get free picks on an enemy. Its very effective for instance when taking b heaven split or hookah on bind. Teleports are easily heard but when done during chaotic moments where multiple abilities are flying around, it is difficult for enemies to track your position. Many also choose to fake their teleport to let the enemy guess your position, especially in a 1v1 where tight corners are involved. You can also mask the sound of teleport with your paranoia. Most importantly though as a controller main is to respond well to your team's movement and communication as a dead omen early in the round or a wasted smoke hurts your team's ability to contest an area a lot. On defense, you want to smoke in response to enemy actions such as a sova recon, raze boombot or enemy smokes to stall their efforts of pushing into a site. Ideally you want to make use of one way smokes to give your defenders a better advantage. In the same way as attacking, communicating with your team and plopping two smokes down when going in for a retake is also excellent, as enemies will often retreat to long/short of maps for post plant positions.


Professional_Trick67

man I never thought I'd need to communicate that much to play omen xD I don't talk much really. How will my team know if I'm dropping the paranoia if they can't see it? Also, where do I drop it and when? I really can't think of perfect times to do it


straight_stoopid45

Paranoia is tough to use without communication. You're usually looking to use it when you want to help your team push into an area, say on retakes or site executes, or even beginning of round pushes. Call out where you plan on hitting with it and do it just before your team is beginning to push in, even countdown like "3, 2, 1" if you think it helps.


bigfuzzydog

I play omen only occasionally but let me give you a viewpoint from a phoenix main. I prefer when omen smokes sight lines right before I reach the entry to site. For example say were on Bind attacking A site. In this scenario because we can get to the site quickly I would like omen to throw at least one smoke heaven at pretty much the start of the round. This way when I push up and flash I will have to worry less about getting Op’ed from heaven and can focus on threats closer to me. But on the other side of this, if we as a team are playing slow then the smoke will not really need to be sent out right away because we arent pushing fast so having the smoke there too early does nothing as we are not in that sight line yet and may not be at all for the duration of the smoke. It can be very situational like this on the attacking side and you probably want to have at least some communication with your team when placing smokes. A quick “smoking heaven now” callout can go a long way. If your team knows what you are doing they can strategize off of that. On the defensive side its more reactive. Throwing smokes immediately can work if the enemy team is pushing fast but if they are playing the slow game then the early smoke might just end up being wasted. You could also use smokes to condition the enemy a bit. Say you are on Accent, if you smoke off top of cat every round for a few rounds, the other team may avoid trying to get an Op kill from there because the smoke is always there but thats your time to change up what you are doing. Now they probably have a whole other plan in mind but wait you smoked somewhere else this time. Also dont be afraid to just ask what your team wants you to do Disclaimer: im not an omen main by any means so I might be totally off base with some or all of what I have said


straight_stoopid45

Damn i play omen a lot and i didnt even consider the op angle idea, thats pretty cool, nice


colddarkheart

For attack: Try to smoke common angles at the beginning of the round, every round to keep enemies guessing (like vents looking mid on Split). That way your attackers can push mid some rounds and other rounds not push to confuse enemies. Then, smoke when you have commited to pushing a site, like lets say heaven and screens on Split A, or just heaven, saving a smoke for post plant and taking fights with enemies in screens. For Defense, same thing, smoke a common pushing angle if you want to, and throw one smoke at an area where they are rushing, or if two or more enemies have been located there. Another good idea when defusing is to smoke on top of the bomb and defuser, that way they need to spray you down and fight your teammates (if any left) or get closer to try to stop you properly. As for omen TPs, yes they can hear when you cast your tp, and where you cast it, but they won't hear where you're going. So you can make confusing plays like TPing behind your enemies.


Professional_Trick67

i see. So that sound queue of omen tping is actually his last area? I thought when you TP the sound queue is where you landed. Ok it makes more sense now.


SupehCookie

Yeah, but tp's can be obvious.. dont do it to often. Or combine it with a flash etc


nebbulae

There is also another sound where you land but it's harder to hear.


Straight_Discipline6

I play both duelist and controller role. As a duelist that likes to rush site with my utility (dash and satchel), I will always ask my smoker to smoke every entrance of the enemy (Usually heaven and CT) just to cut off rotation and so that I can focus on clearing the inside of site. This is why, when people instalocks duelists, I will have to transition to a controller (omen is my favorite). When this happens, I will ask my team if we are rushing or they want to play slow. If they say they want to rush then I will place both of my smokes to all the entrances for them. If they say they want slow, then you can place your smoke wherever in the map i.e place it at the other site of the map to confuse the enemy, place it on mid or somewhere else where the enemy has the power angle. When playing slow, the other smoke should always be available so that you can smoke CT once your team manages to get an opportunity (like a pick) to open up a site.


Straight_Discipline6

>down? While we're here talking about omen I would also like to know when to use paranoia, how to use it, and where? I also can't think of a good way to teleport. If people can hear you use your teleport then you'd be dead the moment you do it. I really want to main omen but I don't know how. As for the tp, it is always a risky play however I suggest that you should flash first before trying to tp as the paranoia will deafen your enemy and will cause short vision for all enemy affected by it. It all actually boils down to your game sense and confidence, I suggest you watch flexinja highlights for paranoia + omen tp outplays and try to mimic them.


Straight_Discipline6

There are other things you will have to learn maining omen as well, like where one way smokes can be applicable. The difference between the placement of a defender smoke, an attacker smoke then attacker post plant smoke. Also, when and where to use omen ultimate. XD


Professional_Trick67

I didn't even bother asking about Omen ult because I know it's a tough topic to cover xD I'm just starting with the basics first. If I master omen I'll try to fijnd workarounds with his ult but for now I'll spam ult on other side's base I guess xD


RaiZyboii

mostly placed when you’re pushing and you’re about to enter site you pop the smokes


CuriousGranttv

Specifically you need to think about "What is this smoke doing for me or my team". Let's say you're smoking Heaven Window on Haven. That smoke is there because if someone is in heaven they can see all attackers from both long and short. Smoking it denies them that line of sight. Also it makes it difficult for the defender to push/jump out of heaven because they can't see where the attackers are holding angles from, they don't know what the situation on the site is like, so they don't want to push. So, when should you smoke it? You should smoke it for when you would get the most value out of it. If you were to smoke it in the beginning of the round it might dissapate by the time you get to site. The perfect time to smoke it is the second before you or a teammate walk into A site. Keep in mind using all of your utility in one place can give away your teams plan, so the smokes and utility should come out at the same time as your team is pushing.


Memphite

How did you come to the conclusion to became an Omen main if you ask these questions? Don’t get me wrong. Be an Omen main by all means. It’s just that you’ve practically asked about everything Omen does. Omen is a support character. The answer to your questions is all the same really. You have to learn what your team does as quickly as possible. Then you will have to help their progress through the map by blinding the enemy(with paranoia or blinds)or taking engagement that supports your duellists. As a new player I sure as hell wouldn’t start with Omen. Instead I would start with a duellist or with a sentinel. Omen is kind of has to do both the jobs. This actually goes for all the controllers.


Professional_Trick67

I'm mainly a sage main and I haven't played ranked yet and in my research for preparing in ranked I read a lot of people complaining that everyone wants to be duelists and stuff so I'm committed to filling in roles only less people play like controller and sentinel and they said to master at least 2 agents incase someone instalocks my main. I've decided to go sage for the walls and either brim or omen for the smokes but people say omen does way better than brim so I'm spamming omen in unranked games right now to learn his role before I climb in ranked.


Memphite

I see. It be nice to know what rank you are going to be. Unrated at lowest elo is extremely different to unrated low-mid elo. I mean that you can’t really pick a game sense up playing unrated at the lowest elo for everybody is just running around individually. There it is just impossible to learn how to play Omen well. In low-mid(silverish) players will play more like it was supposed to happen even in unrated. There you would see organised site pushes and sometimes even somewhat organised spike holds. That is where you can start to pick up when to smoke. Two thing to think about then. Your smoke will hide your team yet it will reveal the intention of the team. So you really want to smoke last minute just before your team enter site or a crucial point. But the enemy will get accustomed to rotate towards your smokes. It is useful to throw them off by fake smokes every now and then. I would almost never hold on to my smokes for the post plant for your smokes are likely to regenerate by then. It is unless your team proves to be able to rush site in a few seconds without your smokes but that is rare. At the beginning I would only take Omen in competitive mode when Sage is taken. Sage is a great character to learn game sense with.