A Harrier is a fencer who goes off on their own to cause chaos for their opponent. They are using something similar to guerilla warfare. They are going to be by themselves, so they need to keep alive, but if they are being ignored; They need to punish their opponents for it.
Points of safety
You are alone, you need to make all your judgement calls. Be safe. Be aware of your surroundings at all times. Keep your head on a swivel, no one is watching to see if someone is going to come DFB you. Don’t rush into encounters just because you have a second. If you are the last person alive, and we need the light for other scenarios, don’t just keep the fight going.
- You’re Alone: A Harrier operates completely independently of the team, even if there are multiple harriers. You’re responsible to take care of yourself and make choices that will benefit the team somehow.
- Wheaton’s Law: Look it up.
- Don’t die: You are alone, if you die, you are of no use to your team.
General Points
As a harrier, it’s your job to pull people from a fight, the more the better. If you can pull 2 people from the fight for just yourself, that’s one less person your team as a whole needs to deal with. I’ve heard stories of a single harrier able to pull 5 people from the fight. That gives your team the numbers advantage. Your main goal is to hurt the other team where possible. If they are ignoring you, DFB them, take the objective, do what you need to to force them to acknowledge you and have to address you.
- Help Your Team: Being a Harrier is causing chaos with a purpose. Your actions should make the fight easier for the rest of your team, even if they don’t realize it.
- Stay Alive: A dead harrier does not help their team. Be smart and stay alive. Only kill when it’s a guarantee or will benefit the team to risk your life.
- Threaten Them: Distractions can be ignored. Threats cannot. You should never be merely a distraction to the other team and if they ever choose to ignore you, make them pay for it dearly.
- Shake Your Shadow: Shadows are the worst and your biggest threat. Here are a few ways to get rid of a pesky shadow:
- Be boring. Try to draw their attention to something more exciting than following you.
- Guide them into danger. Maneuver them into positions where your teammates can murder them for you.
- Hit and Run. If you have a chance to kill them, do it quickly and make sure it’s in a place where you can quickly capitalize on another opportunity immediately while they rez.
Training Ideas
- Don’t Die: Have a situation of a 2 on 1, or 3 on 1 where the single person needs to just stay alive for 30 seconds, a minute. They need to be able to just stay alive if a kill squad is sent after them. The longer they can stay alive and keep their opponents busy, the better.
- Threaten your opponents: Have a small fight, and send out a harrier, see what they can do to mess with the opposing side. Once done a couple of times, let the other side try and come up with ways to nullify the harrier.
Assessment
- Harrier Safety: Fencer is able to be aware of surroundings, and move around safely.
- Harrier Basics: Keep the pressure on the other team forcing them to address you, but don’t die.
- Harrier Training: Go in melees, and harry. Keep alive as much as possible, and cause havoc for the opposing team.
