You might think that Walatiki Temple would be an easy map for most players to understand. Unfortunately it often feels like Russian Roulette when you arrive on the map. Despite it’s simple premise of seeing two teams take part in a Capture The Flag game mode, many players still don’t understand what to do and then proceed to run around like headless chickens for 20 minutes. In this guide we’ll tell you all you need to know to perform at the highest level as an individual but we’d still strongly recommend you play all the Battlegrounds, not just Walatiki, in a premade group.

The Masks

Each team in Walatiki Temple starts with 1 Mask in their base. When the gates open for you to leave your starting area another Moodie Mask will spawn in one of four locations: Atop the bridge, below the bridge and to the left and right of the bowl, below the bridge. It’s your job to collect the Moodie Mask and deliver it back to your base. The first team to hold 5 Moodie Masks will win the match. Similarly to any Capture The Flag game mode, Moodie Masks can be also stolen. If you or your team drop the mask while carrying it, the opposition can pick it up and the same can be said if your opposition drop the mask they’re carrying. Alternatively, you can enter the oppositions base and interact with their Moodie Mask stand that will allow you to steal.

When carrying a Mask you can only use the skills you have. Dashing and sprinting are both disabled while you also walk considerably slower. Thankfully you can still be healed when carrying Masks, meaning it’s imperative that your Mask carrier has high survivability such as a Stalker tank.

Lastly, the Moodie Masks will continue to cycle through their spawns every couple of minutes so it’s best to always return back to the top of the bridge after each capture. That way you can simply drop down (or stay on the bridge) when a new Mask spawns.

The Bases

Each team has two bases. Walatiki Temple is a mirrored map, so both are identical. There are a total of 3 routes into a base: left entrance, right entrance and cave. The left and right entrances are at the front of each teams base. Both lead directly into the Mask room and are only separated by a small wall. To the right of each base (as you look at it from the outside) is the cave system. Inside each base is the Moodie Mask totem where all your controlled Masks are held and surrounding it are a few rocks to block line of sight.

The Cave Systems

This cave system offers an access route that leads directly into and out of the base. Along the way are two power-ups: Speed and Assault Power (dependant on which way you entered the cave). The cave is often used for sneak attacks and for escaping with the mask because the Speed boost at the end (or start of the tunnel) can be used by Mask carriers.

The Power-Ups

There are two Power-Ups available in Walatiki Temple: Attack Power and Speed Boost. Attack Power, as you might expect, boosts your Attack Power by 25% for a period of times. It’s a huge amount and if you can grab it, you absolutely should. The Attack Power buffs spawn in the middle of each teams cave and to the left and right hand side of the map. The Speed Power Up provides you with a significant speed boost, allowing you to run at great speed even when carrying the Mask. If you’re attacking and want to arrive quickly into battle or carrying the Mask, you should always seek out a Speed Boost along the way.

The Tactics and Tips

1. Before a match starts, you and your team have an opportunity to talk tactics. If you aren’t a premade group this time is invaluable to determine who is on the offensive or defensive. Typically you’ll only need 2 players on defence full time but one of them should be a healer at a very minimum. If no one is volunteering, try to take on the role of defense as it’s pivotal to winning. What I will stress is that being on defense is as much about securing Moodie Masks as it is slowing the other team down. If you and another teammate can hold a group of players for several minutes fighting, that’s valuable time they’re losing and which (hopefully) your offensive players are gaining from. Afterall, if a majority of their team is in your base and not capturing Moodie Masks it means the bowl, bridge or their base are likely empty.

2. Taking a skill which breaks crowd control or offers mobility is a must in Walatiki Temple. When multiple people attack you there’s a need to escape quickly so that you don’t die: maintaining 10 active players is incredibly important. At level 6 every class tends to have unlocked at least a stun or skill to allow them to escape and you should ensure this stays on your bar. Remember that you don’t just have to use stuns to kill people but can use them for granting you time to run away.

3. Using the surrounding area of the “bowl” is incredibly important. There are two power-ups here: speed and attack power. If you can mop up both power-ups on your way into the bowl or across the bridge you’ll be at an advantage over others you’re fighting. Be aware however that these powe-rups are placed in positions primarily for Moodie Mask carriers, meaning if your team has had a Mask stolen, you really should make every effort to stop them picking up the speed at the very least. What I’d recommend when someone has stolen your teams Mask is rather than attacking the carrier (unless you can guarantee their death) just run ahead a little bit and pick up the power-ups before running back to kill them.

4. It might sound obvious, but killing healers is massively overlooked in WildStar at the moment. When a player has a Moodie Mask everyone naturally attacks them as opposed to the healers keeping them alive. Focus all your attacks on the healers to ensure that they have to peel off and heal themselves or face dying. Creating this break in the healing of a Moodie Mask carrier is often enough to bring them down. Better yet, try to position yourself so that roots, snares and generally any CC skills you have cover all opposing players. The best way to stop a pack like this is to run ahead and face your opponents head on as you can often be at a disadvantage when chasing.

5. Running straight into the bowl from the beginning is very tempting. There are plenty of fights to be had in the bowl and they’re a lot of fun. Sadly for your team, getting sucked into this repetitious bowl > die > respawn > bowl > die > respawn is a cycle that will see your team lose. Fighting in the bowl for lengthy periods of time will hamstring your team because you’re wasting time securing masks and similarly to what I discussed about defending, if you aren’t securing masks you aren’t winning (even if you are killing opposing players). If you must fight in the bowl, only do so if it can guarantee you a mask.

6. Teasing out defending players is a key part in securing masks and is even more important now that the map has been redesigned. A good trick is to approach the opposing teams base through the cave and lure the defenders out. Don’t run away, simply stay and fight them. At this stage your team mate should run around the front entrance to secure the Mask. As surprisingly simple as this is, players can’t help but do a little bit of chasing when the prospects of combat is on the cards. In Beta it’s rare you’ll find a defending player who only sits on the Moodie Mask.

7. In contrast to the above, I’d always recommend you stay on the Moodie Mask point when defending. If you venture of it there’s every chance a Stalker will sneak in. Remember that anyone interacting with a Mask can be interrupted simply by hitting them in a telegraph - you don’t have to stand on the Moodie Mask to protect it or stop opposing players from picking it up (I’ve seen this many times). Whatever you do, try not to get lured away from defending your Masks.

8. Many people in Battelgrounds tend to fight until the point of death and simply respawn. Unfortunately it’s quite an unhelpful way of playing due to the fact your team, during your respawn, time will be down 1 player. Assessing a fight ahead and predicting your own odds is a much better way of playing than simply diving in. If you know you’re massively outnumbered, don’t go in and fight and instead, turn around and head either into the oppositions base or search for a smaller skirmish.

9. The quickest way to navigate Walatiki Temple if you can’t get hold of the Speed Boost is to cross the bridges that are suspended above the central bowl. What I’ll say about using the bridges is that it’s risky but often worth that risk. Even though they’ve been widened, you can still be easily hurt by an often enormous quantity of telegraphs. Considering a Moodie Mask also spawns in the middle fights often occur here. If you can however time it so that you avoid the fighting, you’ll get to the oppositions base in a much shorter amount of time.

10. Perhaps the most obvious but you’ll need to work as a team in Walatiki Temple. This can be difficult in public user groups but the best way is to simply chat using /instance. If you can find some like minded players during a match, it’s worth partying up when back in the game world and requeuing. A coordinated group of 2 or 3 players can absolutely smash a disorganised mob and despite the need for 5 masks to be captured to win, it’s surprisingly easy to lose quickly when an organised team takes hold. The fact rewards are relatively generous when you win and you can convert these for PvP armor make it a valuable incentive to encourage your team to work together.


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our WildStar Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Lewis is a long standing journalist, who freelances to a variety of outlets.

Comments

Related Content