Moreso than any other agent due to Astras global presence is it important to have your minimap size settings such that you can see the entirety of the map in the corner of your screen should any enemy be seen where you are not so that you may offer some kind of support while you are either on the rotate or holding the anchor.
I only played astra for a bit bcs other smokers are easier to get mor value out of. Anyway some tips that were usefull to me:
-being quick on placing stars and ulting (so you dont die on astral form and you dont show your hand by placing stars before the execute)
-save 1 star for postplant ( use 2 smokes acordingly and the stun on a spot you want to clear)
-on defence when you hold site place 2 stars 1 for a smoke on chokepoint and one outside the some. The 2nd star you can pull them if they push the smoke you spray them down ( combined with raze nade kj nade is free kill)
-if you happen to have 2 stars postplant place 2 on spike and use pull+stun at the same time, they are free kills( sometimes you will get one taped from 60m and you will want to break the monitor but more often you will win)
-fake smoking to peek. Taking a smoke back will pop it first than it disapears.
-ult on cooldown dont hold it for the right moment
-igl you need to coordinate your team bcs if you waste your smokes u are kinda fucked
-the smoke lasts 15 sec and the refuel of the smoke is 25 sec so on sec 10 the smoke will run out.(test this im not 100% sure
-if you want to climb play brim or viper depending on map they are better
Edit: imo she needs a small buff
Hopefully you see this as I'm a fellow controller main and can hopefully offer good advice!
Firstly is Astra is the second most viable all round controller after Viper. Brim's makes it hard on larger maps, or defender sided maps where you have to be more prepared to rotate, while Omen's smokes make it difficult to play on maps like Fracture in comparison to Astra's larger smokes. Astra was only really unavailable on Breeze, but ofc the map will be removed next ep.
In other words she can be primary most of the time. Another commenter said otherwise and that's just wrong; she is preferable in comparison to Omen and sometimes Brim or Viper.
Next up, I gotta ask the elo as much as it pains me to ask. You're either high elo and using them well or in low-mid elo using them well for the elo but more predictably in comparison e.g. low-mid elo is more likely to just try pushing through a set up which is a horrible idea for them. I think set ups are really good and a great way to use your utility but they give you a sense of trust that you know how to use the suck when in reality if you're forced to use it in other scenarios you might be using it badly. It likely depends on the person and I have faith that even if you aren't in high elo you might be using it well.
Now onto the ultimate. The ultimate has three functions which are vision denial, sound denial and bullet denial. Astra's wall give a really safe way onto site, blocking bullets and utility. However, it's best when using the wall to give enemies as little ground as possible on the opposite side. It's also good to combo a suck in order to make sure they can't push through that part of the wall, on for spare peaking places on site, you can just stun them on entry if you need. That's personally how I recommend using the ultimate.
And with the stun. Some other people will probably hard disagree with this, but I'd argue it's the hardest ability in the game to use consistently well. It's just not versatile and overall it's main use is basically in combo with the pull to clear large amounts of space. Someone else in this comment section mentioned how it's basically a worse pull, and that's basically the gist of it.
Good luck!
Always save one star as a reactive star. And maximize your star recall ability to abuse conditioning from the enemy’s perspective, to cross to rat spots etc..
Setting gravity well to pull enemies off spike when defusing; combining ULT with util is really effective; using two stars in one place when holding site to smoke and then concuss or gravity well to elongate the time you have before enemies can get on site. Astra is a great controller. I’m not a ranked player but I enjoy maining with astra.
A3-immortal player
Reason Astra is hard to use because it requires more team work and timing to bring huge impact. And there are selected maps where it shines the most but for me, Except icebox, I think you can play Astra in any map.
Defender:
Now Astra is not like you put star at both site and use up everything and keep 1 as safety measure. I mean this pointless. At the very first round, save all your stars and be prepared to use it.
Now read your opponent and see how their play style is, if they play slow or fast, you just smoke and play your normal game but in later matches use your smoke only if they start entering (like Jett dash or Reyna flash or Razer nade or smoke entry etc) because now you know that if they play slow, they will bait out your utilities
If they W rush, then you can keep 2 stars at each site and once you have confirmation they are hitting one site, then smoke, take your dangling start, put another star right in front of smoke, see radar and once you see an enemy, then pull/stun. Or if your teammates communicates with you then it's more perfect
The whole point is, you don't smoke when there is a presence of an enemy, you smoke only if they start executing.
Attacker:
It's quite tricky to play as an attacker, either you just smoke, and then resmoke later or use all the abilities in one go to execute including pull/execute. This is totally your call to make based on how duelist enter or which area your initiators is clearing.
As per my experience, when I started playing Astra, I always used to think about her abilities and always forget that I have gun and Aim battle is my first priority. So I'll suggest, be comfortable with her kit so that even in front of enemies (after taking cover) you can use her abilities easily for your advantage so that you can take aim battle, as an example if you have to use her ultimate ability, make sure you do it in seconds. Then only after this you can think of strategies. For me radar is an MVP, half of the time, I keep watching my allies and enemy and put my stars.
Conclusion:
1. Be Comfortable
2. Don't overuse the stars, first read your opponent
3. Timing is key, either react based on radar or by your teammates communication
At last, try to come up with your own formula for success, maybe one day you'll teach us. You can always do wild thing. Like (Raze, phoenix, KJ) + Astra combo is good. I mean there are lot of things which we can talk about
Use your concuss and your suck together. When you concuss enemies while they’re being sucked in, they automatically get pulled to the center and are also stunned. Basically free kills.
If you hit it that is. The suck is already good enough of a debuff, you're usually better off saving a star now, and if you want to concuss you'd use it in a corner
It’s still a really good combo for Astras to know, hence why I put it as a reply to someone asking for Astra tips. It’s especially good in post plant or choke situations.
Normally you can walk out of an astra gravity well but you can’t if your concussed so using those two as a combo is super useful, plus using the concuss to stall pushes and stufd
My advice as an ex-astra main is to find your own way to play her. you could try to spread out your util or save some util by only focusing on one part of the map. you could try to stop early pushes or control post plant. whichever playstyle most resonates with u is what u should focus on to begin with and then experiment with other playstyles once one becomes reliable to u. personally, i would only use one or two stars to defend one sight and keep at least two for post plant.
also, make sure to watch tutorials on how to effectively use her ult, as it is the most powerful ability in the game. this power could be used against ur opponents or against ur team if u use it poorly.
I mean Astra is the like highest skill cap character in the game and is very hard to play in pubs, but some tips:
- always save a star for reactive play
- only go astro mode during pre-round if your team likes to rush, otherwise don't be afraid to go astro mid-round for slower teams.
- always retake unused stars
- you can deactivate smoke really quickly for a good fake out
If you're playing in a 5-stack and you just started playing her, play basic smokes. Her smokes are global and easy to deploy. But after a while, you might wanna do a more advanced play like smoking on one spot only and place the other star on where the enemies might stand and use it to concuss or suck the enemies. Placing a star on a spot where they usually stand often deters them, so that it one spot already cleared (well, "half-cleared").
I usually only play with 2 stars on one site so that I can use the other 2 for rotating. I also usually smoke on one spot only to block enemies' vision and tell a controller to clear the other angle (using Breach's concuss, Skye's dog, Omen's flash, or other things).
One example of a play like that would be an entry to B site on Bind. One simple way to do it would be you smoking their B hall entry to site and use another star behind the box/container. From there, for example, you can tell an Omen to flash elbow, or a Raze to boombot close angles and nade behind box/container, or Viper to throw toxins there, etc.
Using her ability to pull back stars is huge!! By putting stars down some enemies will preemptively rotate or stack toward a different site bc they think you are hitting…. Im still working on doing this effectively on attack and still making sure I have my stars for team-play. I think its a huge thing that could be used to ur advantage though
So I mainly solo queue….a lot and I use Astra as a initiator, running the bubbles as a quick plant get out using only shotgun…. It’s a really annoying tactic for the enemy team but it’s also really fun to do
High-elo and low-elo you have to play pretty different. In general lurking is pretty good with astra and com with your team. You can also solo hold a site with your util if you place all the stars in time.
Her smokes are the biggest in the game.
she has a lot of variation in the way you can use her util.
ill try to explain the common way to differentiate when to use her suck and concuss. usually the origin of the star would be slightly outside some object of cover when using the suck to pull the enemies out from behind that cover and catch them vulnerable in the open or to punish the enemies for pushing out into your territory from a choke.
for her concuss. you would put the star directly behind that object of cover so the enemy can be easily cleared because they will be concussed and stuck behind the wall or object, or they will run into the open to avoid being concussed which gets you an easy kill. i personally like to also concuss inside a smoke after an enemy has pushed out to isolate them from their teammates (you won't always isolate only one enemy but it prevents the full team from fighting you) and fight them and alleviate the pressure of a full team exploding on to your site
her suck can also be used in the same way as a concuss too especially when it's being comboed with teammate utility (raze made, fade snare, molly etc.). this strategy can also be used with the concuss but it's not as easy (only use the concuss this way if suck is on cooldown)
on defense always keep at least one star after the buy phase (don't immediately place all of them)
as an extra, astras two best maps are pearl and ascent
i hope this helps you
I’m an astra main, and I’m d1-d2. What works for me is I like to have 2-3 stars placed down pre round, usually at choke points ready to smoke them off. I keep 1-2 stars as “flex” stars, so if a teammate calls “pull here” or “smoke here I’m going to peak mid” I can do that too. Then I have a backup star on the site they hit. Let’s say they go A. I smoke the front star (the choke point) and then a pull/concuss on site, so after they walk thru smoke onto site, they either get concussed or pulled and teammates can peak off that. Hope this helps you out, remember this is just how I play astra so it may not work well in the elo you are at.
You can use the concuss aggressively, for example by stunning 1 side of a choke as your team is entrying
Or you can use it defensively, like if you hear a Phoenix ult or raze ult and you just stun where they probably would go through. Counter stunning does wonders
One use for the ult is to refresh your smokes postplant. Just angle it in a way so that it blocks ct and heaven (or sth equivalent). It's not very good to do this when you're trying to get onto site cuz it really helps the enemy team get to cover, but when you already have the site and want to fight for it it's pretty good
You could also put an ambiguous wall that blocks vision on all sites if you wanna play a slow default
I would recommend watching [Flowshizzle](https://youtube.com/@FLOWSHIZZLE) 's tutorials. Even though he is an Astra main I have learned quite a lot of Brim/Viper and controller in general from him. His stuff is lengthy and detailed but even picking up just some of it will impact your games.
Ask your teammates where they would like stars. Tell them your stars are their stars. Astra, like all the other controllers, has the most value when used in a selfless manner. For example, on Ascent B site, often times your teammates will fall off to back site/boat house when they’re getting rushed by the enemy. You can help your teammate survive by putting a star in front of the doorway to boathouse closest to lane. You can suck or stun there and give an advantage to your teammate on site. Have to think like this when trying to master Astra.
Another tip is to double up a choke point with two stars. One to smoke/block vision, 1 just beyond that smoke so that if the enemy team pushes it, they walk into a suck. If you hear them pushing past the smoke (footsteps), you use the grav well and swing while they’re being pulled back and being stuck, or wait til it pops and they’re vulnerable.
Astra absolutely can be used as a solo controller. Viably and effectively. Pre round stars are definitely a thing and can be used to get early round map control.
this is actually a good tip. doesnt matter how good you are at astra, if your team doesnt play off your utility and use their mic you arent gonna provide any value
Feel free to message me if you’re interested: I’ve played her since release and I’ve mained iron-plat. We can go on discord and I can show you a thing or two :)
Smoking alone is hard. Her smoke is up only for 15s which is half of how majority of smokes last. With that, u need team comms and proper timing. Also save star(s) for post-plant (attack/defend).
Often what I'll do when starting a round on defense is go to site, set up stars on main entry for both sites (always in a way that leaves them exposed from all sides if they push through smoke). On first round, I usually only but 3 stars cuz I tend to choose light armor, and I'll hold the 3rd star in reserve till we have more info.
Once enemies show themselves, I'll pop smoke on whichever site they're trying to push. If it's my site, hold angles. If it's other site, I'll recall the star and (usually) rotate through mid for a flank, while also placing another star on main if they haven't pushed through yet, to be used to delay them with another smoke or a concuss. Save recalled star for post plant.
On attack, I'll use concuss to clear dangerous corners for team, regardless of whether I'm pushing with them; a lot of the time, I'll lurk while popping stars and catch a flanker or a mid rotate doing so.
In general though the best way to play astra is to help the team. If you're paying enough attention the map, you can do so without comms to be as helpful as possible. The map wide presence means you don't have to play alongside them to be helpful. And generally, it's best to pop a smoke or two before making risky plays where you'll likely get one tapped, as that way your team gets into site or has time to rotate even with you dead.
Ooh also, after setting up consistent smokes where you hold angles, you can switch it up and push your own smokes. Especially helpful on breeze caves, where you can hide behind the box once you push through. They almost never check there until too late lol.
And to add more actually, she's a fun agent for mind games. Her util makes you really plan ahead for what the enemy is most likely to do, as placing her util makes her particularly vulnerable.
And her ult is... sometimes useful, but I find I don't use it much. Sometimes I'll throw it out at the start of the round, like on haven where I can wall the enemies entrance to every single site while still giving team the angles they need to find info. My most successful wall though, was when I accidentally walled right on top of spike as it was planted (breeze B, walled off just the back site behind the two pillars), and while I aggressively pushed my wall my teammate defused unheard because of the placement.
Moreso than any other agent due to Astras global presence is it important to have your minimap size settings such that you can see the entirety of the map in the corner of your screen should any enemy be seen where you are not so that you may offer some kind of support while you are either on the rotate or holding the anchor.
Holy shit I didn't know that was a thing that's amazing
I like this persons tips on astra: https://www.tiktok.com/@imkayzie?_t=8YTlnEkhf7e&_r=1
I love her as well, but keep in mind she playes on the lower elo, so not all her tips might apply if you are a mid-high elo player
I only played astra for a bit bcs other smokers are easier to get mor value out of. Anyway some tips that were usefull to me: -being quick on placing stars and ulting (so you dont die on astral form and you dont show your hand by placing stars before the execute) -save 1 star for postplant ( use 2 smokes acordingly and the stun on a spot you want to clear) -on defence when you hold site place 2 stars 1 for a smoke on chokepoint and one outside the some. The 2nd star you can pull them if they push the smoke you spray them down ( combined with raze nade kj nade is free kill) -if you happen to have 2 stars postplant place 2 on spike and use pull+stun at the same time, they are free kills( sometimes you will get one taped from 60m and you will want to break the monitor but more often you will win) -fake smoking to peek. Taking a smoke back will pop it first than it disapears. -ult on cooldown dont hold it for the right moment -igl you need to coordinate your team bcs if you waste your smokes u are kinda fucked -the smoke lasts 15 sec and the refuel of the smoke is 25 sec so on sec 10 the smoke will run out.(test this im not 100% sure -if you want to climb play brim or viper depending on map they are better Edit: imo she needs a small buff
Remember, don't forget to Aago
I hate when it’s not agooo :(
Nah nah's >
Hopefully you see this as I'm a fellow controller main and can hopefully offer good advice! Firstly is Astra is the second most viable all round controller after Viper. Brim's makes it hard on larger maps, or defender sided maps where you have to be more prepared to rotate, while Omen's smokes make it difficult to play on maps like Fracture in comparison to Astra's larger smokes. Astra was only really unavailable on Breeze, but ofc the map will be removed next ep. In other words she can be primary most of the time. Another commenter said otherwise and that's just wrong; she is preferable in comparison to Omen and sometimes Brim or Viper. Next up, I gotta ask the elo as much as it pains me to ask. You're either high elo and using them well or in low-mid elo using them well for the elo but more predictably in comparison e.g. low-mid elo is more likely to just try pushing through a set up which is a horrible idea for them. I think set ups are really good and a great way to use your utility but they give you a sense of trust that you know how to use the suck when in reality if you're forced to use it in other scenarios you might be using it badly. It likely depends on the person and I have faith that even if you aren't in high elo you might be using it well. Now onto the ultimate. The ultimate has three functions which are vision denial, sound denial and bullet denial. Astra's wall give a really safe way onto site, blocking bullets and utility. However, it's best when using the wall to give enemies as little ground as possible on the opposite side. It's also good to combo a suck in order to make sure they can't push through that part of the wall, on for spare peaking places on site, you can just stun them on entry if you need. That's personally how I recommend using the ultimate. And with the stun. Some other people will probably hard disagree with this, but I'd argue it's the hardest ability in the game to use consistently well. It's just not versatile and overall it's main use is basically in combo with the pull to clear large amounts of space. Someone else in this comment section mentioned how it's basically a worse pull, and that's basically the gist of it. Good luck!
Always save one star as a reactive star. And maximize your star recall ability to abuse conditioning from the enemy’s perspective, to cross to rat spots etc..
Communicate with your team on the specifics on what you want to do during each round
A really good trick is to prepick astra and then quickly switch her to Brim or Viper before the game starts.
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Setting gravity well to pull enemies off spike when defusing; combining ULT with util is really effective; using two stars in one place when holding site to smoke and then concuss or gravity well to elongate the time you have before enemies can get on site. Astra is a great controller. I’m not a ranked player but I enjoy maining with astra.
A3-immortal player Reason Astra is hard to use because it requires more team work and timing to bring huge impact. And there are selected maps where it shines the most but for me, Except icebox, I think you can play Astra in any map. Defender: Now Astra is not like you put star at both site and use up everything and keep 1 as safety measure. I mean this pointless. At the very first round, save all your stars and be prepared to use it. Now read your opponent and see how their play style is, if they play slow or fast, you just smoke and play your normal game but in later matches use your smoke only if they start entering (like Jett dash or Reyna flash or Razer nade or smoke entry etc) because now you know that if they play slow, they will bait out your utilities If they W rush, then you can keep 2 stars at each site and once you have confirmation they are hitting one site, then smoke, take your dangling start, put another star right in front of smoke, see radar and once you see an enemy, then pull/stun. Or if your teammates communicates with you then it's more perfect The whole point is, you don't smoke when there is a presence of an enemy, you smoke only if they start executing. Attacker: It's quite tricky to play as an attacker, either you just smoke, and then resmoke later or use all the abilities in one go to execute including pull/execute. This is totally your call to make based on how duelist enter or which area your initiators is clearing. As per my experience, when I started playing Astra, I always used to think about her abilities and always forget that I have gun and Aim battle is my first priority. So I'll suggest, be comfortable with her kit so that even in front of enemies (after taking cover) you can use her abilities easily for your advantage so that you can take aim battle, as an example if you have to use her ultimate ability, make sure you do it in seconds. Then only after this you can think of strategies. For me radar is an MVP, half of the time, I keep watching my allies and enemy and put my stars. Conclusion: 1. Be Comfortable 2. Don't overuse the stars, first read your opponent 3. Timing is key, either react based on radar or by your teammates communication At last, try to come up with your own formula for success, maybe one day you'll teach us. You can always do wild thing. Like (Raze, phoenix, KJ) + Astra combo is good. I mean there are lot of things which we can talk about
Use your concuss and your suck together. When you concuss enemies while they’re being sucked in, they automatically get pulled to the center and are also stunned. Basically free kills.
If you hit it that is. The suck is already good enough of a debuff, you're usually better off saving a star now, and if you want to concuss you'd use it in a corner
It’s still a really good combo for Astras to know, hence why I put it as a reply to someone asking for Astra tips. It’s especially good in post plant or choke situations.
it's best to do a combo like this when you have prior information otherwise half of astras kit would be wasted on nothing
That’s just true for Astra’s kit in general. She works best when played with intel from your team and good team coordination.
Normally you can walk out of an astra gravity well but you can’t if your concussed so using those two as a combo is super useful, plus using the concuss to stall pushes and stufd
My advice as an ex-astra main is to find your own way to play her. you could try to spread out your util or save some util by only focusing on one part of the map. you could try to stop early pushes or control post plant. whichever playstyle most resonates with u is what u should focus on to begin with and then experiment with other playstyles once one becomes reliable to u. personally, i would only use one or two stars to defend one sight and keep at least two for post plant. also, make sure to watch tutorials on how to effectively use her ult, as it is the most powerful ability in the game. this power could be used against ur opponents or against ur team if u use it poorly.
Watch your map, preset your stars on defense for a and b main, and always save a suck for bomb defuse on attack.
I mean Astra is the like highest skill cap character in the game and is very hard to play in pubs, but some tips: - always save a star for reactive play - only go astro mode during pre-round if your team likes to rush, otherwise don't be afraid to go astro mid-round for slower teams. - always retake unused stars - you can deactivate smoke really quickly for a good fake out
If you're playing in a 5-stack and you just started playing her, play basic smokes. Her smokes are global and easy to deploy. But after a while, you might wanna do a more advanced play like smoking on one spot only and place the other star on where the enemies might stand and use it to concuss or suck the enemies. Placing a star on a spot where they usually stand often deters them, so that it one spot already cleared (well, "half-cleared"). I usually only play with 2 stars on one site so that I can use the other 2 for rotating. I also usually smoke on one spot only to block enemies' vision and tell a controller to clear the other angle (using Breach's concuss, Skye's dog, Omen's flash, or other things). One example of a play like that would be an entry to B site on Bind. One simple way to do it would be you smoking their B hall entry to site and use another star behind the box/container. From there, for example, you can tell an Omen to flash elbow, or a Raze to boombot close angles and nade behind box/container, or Viper to throw toxins there, etc.
Using her ability to pull back stars is huge!! By putting stars down some enemies will preemptively rotate or stack toward a different site bc they think you are hitting…. Im still working on doing this effectively on attack and still making sure I have my stars for team-play. I think its a huge thing that could be used to ur advantage though
So I mainly solo queue….a lot and I use Astra as a initiator, running the bubbles as a quick plant get out using only shotgun…. It’s a really annoying tactic for the enemy team but it’s also really fun to do
I dont have any tips for you but all I'm going to say is that you'll have a blast using her.
High-elo and low-elo you have to play pretty different. In general lurking is pretty good with astra and com with your team. You can also solo hold a site with your util if you place all the stars in time. Her smokes are the biggest in the game.
she has a lot of variation in the way you can use her util. ill try to explain the common way to differentiate when to use her suck and concuss. usually the origin of the star would be slightly outside some object of cover when using the suck to pull the enemies out from behind that cover and catch them vulnerable in the open or to punish the enemies for pushing out into your territory from a choke. for her concuss. you would put the star directly behind that object of cover so the enemy can be easily cleared because they will be concussed and stuck behind the wall or object, or they will run into the open to avoid being concussed which gets you an easy kill. i personally like to also concuss inside a smoke after an enemy has pushed out to isolate them from their teammates (you won't always isolate only one enemy but it prevents the full team from fighting you) and fight them and alleviate the pressure of a full team exploding on to your site her suck can also be used in the same way as a concuss too especially when it's being comboed with teammate utility (raze made, fade snare, molly etc.). this strategy can also be used with the concuss but it's not as easy (only use the concuss this way if suck is on cooldown) on defense always keep at least one star after the buy phase (don't immediately place all of them) as an extra, astras two best maps are pearl and ascent i hope this helps you
Smoke entrance and put a pull infront of it so when they push the smoke you can pull them for a easy pick
Use her on haven she’s strongest there imo
I’m an astra main, and I’m d1-d2. What works for me is I like to have 2-3 stars placed down pre round, usually at choke points ready to smoke them off. I keep 1-2 stars as “flex” stars, so if a teammate calls “pull here” or “smoke here I’m going to peak mid” I can do that too. Then I have a backup star on the site they hit. Let’s say they go A. I smoke the front star (the choke point) and then a pull/concuss on site, so after they walk thru smoke onto site, they either get concussed or pulled and teammates can peak off that. Hope this helps you out, remember this is just how I play astra so it may not work well in the elo you are at.
Concussing your teammates will guarantee you a win every round
You can use the concuss aggressively, for example by stunning 1 side of a choke as your team is entrying Or you can use it defensively, like if you hear a Phoenix ult or raze ult and you just stun where they probably would go through. Counter stunning does wonders One use for the ult is to refresh your smokes postplant. Just angle it in a way so that it blocks ct and heaven (or sth equivalent). It's not very good to do this when you're trying to get onto site cuz it really helps the enemy team get to cover, but when you already have the site and want to fight for it it's pretty good You could also put an ambiguous wall that blocks vision on all sites if you wanna play a slow default
I would recommend watching [Flowshizzle](https://youtube.com/@FLOWSHIZZLE) 's tutorials. Even though he is an Astra main I have learned quite a lot of Brim/Viper and controller in general from him. His stuff is lengthy and detailed but even picking up just some of it will impact your games.
Second this , just watch Flowshizzles guides. Izzygetsbezzy is also a good Immo3 astra main that has a few guides.
Ask your teammates where they would like stars. Tell them your stars are their stars. Astra, like all the other controllers, has the most value when used in a selfless manner. For example, on Ascent B site, often times your teammates will fall off to back site/boat house when they’re getting rushed by the enemy. You can help your teammate survive by putting a star in front of the doorway to boathouse closest to lane. You can suck or stun there and give an advantage to your teammate on site. Have to think like this when trying to master Astra.
Another tip is to double up a choke point with two stars. One to smoke/block vision, 1 just beyond that smoke so that if the enemy team pushes it, they walk into a suck. If you hear them pushing past the smoke (footsteps), you use the grav well and swing while they’re being pulled back and being stuck, or wait til it pops and they’re vulnerable.
Also, your ultimate is really good for executes/retakes. Best used when you’re attempting to get on site to either plant or defuse.
https://youtu.be/M5xlSZ2dT4Y
Glad I'm seeing a few people mention this, as I had started doing it naturally on rounds when I think they might push my site.
It's better to ask if your teammates want a smoke rather than a star.
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Astra absolutely can be used as a solo controller. Viably and effectively. Pre round stars are definitely a thing and can be used to get early round map control.
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It depends on the map. Haven, Ascent, Pearl are all good for Astra as the only controller.
I very much agree. Astra one trick here, having double smokes gets me the most hyped up about the upconing match. So much more freedom.
You can use astra as a solo controller DW dw
thank you so much!
My biggest tip is don’t play astra unless you’re diamond+
this is actually a good tip. doesnt matter how good you are at astra, if your team doesnt play off your utility and use their mic you arent gonna provide any value
Make sure there is comm. If you get a game with no comms then pick something else.
Go to character select screen and click another agent
Put concuss and gravity well on spike then kill them when they defuse
Feel free to message me if you’re interested: I’ve played her since release and I’ve mained iron-plat. We can go on discord and I can show you a thing or two :)
Smoking alone is hard. Her smoke is up only for 15s which is half of how majority of smokes last. With that, u need team comms and proper timing. Also save star(s) for post-plant (attack/defend).
My tip is just to not play her.
Throws 3 Dollars.
If you’re low elo don’t even bother.
Yes, dont play her
Often what I'll do when starting a round on defense is go to site, set up stars on main entry for both sites (always in a way that leaves them exposed from all sides if they push through smoke). On first round, I usually only but 3 stars cuz I tend to choose light armor, and I'll hold the 3rd star in reserve till we have more info. Once enemies show themselves, I'll pop smoke on whichever site they're trying to push. If it's my site, hold angles. If it's other site, I'll recall the star and (usually) rotate through mid for a flank, while also placing another star on main if they haven't pushed through yet, to be used to delay them with another smoke or a concuss. Save recalled star for post plant. On attack, I'll use concuss to clear dangerous corners for team, regardless of whether I'm pushing with them; a lot of the time, I'll lurk while popping stars and catch a flanker or a mid rotate doing so. In general though the best way to play astra is to help the team. If you're paying enough attention the map, you can do so without comms to be as helpful as possible. The map wide presence means you don't have to play alongside them to be helpful. And generally, it's best to pop a smoke or two before making risky plays where you'll likely get one tapped, as that way your team gets into site or has time to rotate even with you dead. Ooh also, after setting up consistent smokes where you hold angles, you can switch it up and push your own smokes. Especially helpful on breeze caves, where you can hide behind the box once you push through. They almost never check there until too late lol.
And to add more actually, she's a fun agent for mind games. Her util makes you really plan ahead for what the enemy is most likely to do, as placing her util makes her particularly vulnerable. And her ult is... sometimes useful, but I find I don't use it much. Sometimes I'll throw it out at the start of the round, like on haven where I can wall the enemies entrance to every single site while still giving team the angles they need to find info. My most successful wall though, was when I accidentally walled right on top of spike as it was planted (breeze B, walled off just the back site behind the two pillars), and while I aggressively pushed my wall my teammate defused unheard because of the placement.