The Challenges of Gambit Prime

Guardians,

We are more than halfway through Season of the Worthy (Season 10). My primary goal was to Reset my Infamy for the first time in Gambit Prime. This is necessary to acquire 21% Derilium and you receive Python along the way. I have accomplished this goal. Both Weapons are okay, but neither has replaced my go-to load-out of Jotunn and Hammerhead.

At this point, I'm almost halfway to Resetting my Infamy for the second time this Season. This time, it's part of my goal to accumulate Bright Dust. The most efficient way to do this is by completing Weekly Bounties for Strikes, Gambit, and Crucible. A temporary source right now are the Weekly Bounties for Guardian Games.

Items in Eververse are expensive to purchase with Bright Dust (and even more costly to purchase with Silver). I hope to avoid using Silver, but it's quite a challenge when much of the Eververse items cannot be purchased with Bright Dust. And you certainly cannot buy the entire Eververse Gear Set for Season 10 at one time with Bright Dust.

Back to the main topic.

Communication. Gambit Prime can be fun to play if you have the right Weapons and you stumble upon good teammates in Matchmaking. Which is a challenge, but not too bad. The main problem is the lack of Communication in the game. If you face a Party of Players who talk to each other on Microphone, their Strategy is clear: each Guardian Collects 15 Motes at the beginning of the Round and send 2-3 Large Blockers at the same time.

It's easy to notice if the opposing team is organized or not by looking at how many Motes they Collect BEFORE sending Blockers add the beginning of the Round. If the opposing team is accumulating 30+ Motes and NOT Banking them right away, I know my team is in for a challenging Round.

On cue, 2-3 Large Blockers show up as my team is trying to Bank our Motes. And if my team is scattered across the Map, any Motes that we've already Banked begin to drain out. "You're losing Motes!" -The Drifter

Trying to get my team's attention to address the problem is non-existent. I can only hope that they're good at playing Gambit and know well enough to help me kill the Blockers quickly.

Most of the time, I end up with good teammates.

Invaders. I don't have a problem with Invaders in this Game Mode. The problem is the timing at which my team is Invaded, which is precisely at the beginning of the Damage Phase. Ugh!

The Primeval is Shielded until the Damage Phase. Only during the Damage Phase can the Primeval take Damage and we can kill it. Plus, my team has to stand in a Bubble that boosts our Weapon Damage, so we can kill the Primeval more quickly.

Well, the Bubble turns out to be a HIT ME Sign for the Invader. He knows exactly where we are on the Map because we're standing in the Bubble. My team can easily Wipe if everyone decides to just stand in the Bubble attacking the Primeval. So... most of us scatter to search for the Invader. Before long, the Damage Phase is over and little to no Damage was actually done to the Primeval during the Damage Phase.

It's the most annoying part of the game mode. It feels like we spend more time running from and chasing the Invader than we actually do Damaging the Primeval.

However, there is a slight work-a-round for this problem. Between each Damage Phase are 2 Envoys. You can kill the first Envoy as you normally would. With the second Envoy, leave one of the enemies alive and wait. Don't kill it, yet.

Sure enough, the Invader will show up when the Damage Phase should have triggered if you would not have waited to kill the last enemy of the 2nd Envoy. Since you did wait, the Damage Phase would not be triggered, no Bubble around, and your team can simple focus on killing the Invader without losing time from the Damage Phase by chasing the Invader.

If my Matchmaking team catches on to my Strategy, we get through the Round just fine. However, I've also noticed an exception to the rule...

We followed the plan, delayed the Damage Phase, killed the Invader, then triggered the Damage Phase. Well, shortly after the Damage Phase begins, we get Invaded. AGAIN. Right after we just killed the Invader, another one pops up and my Strategy goes down the drain. It's not fair. In this case, the Round feel rigged for us to lose.

Time. The Primeval isn't Defeated on a regular basis. Most of the time, Victory depends on which team has the best Invader. Neither team can do much damage to the Primeval because we're spending so much time dealing with Invaders. So, the Round goes a bit long (around 10 minutes) and feels like forever to complete.

Which ever team has damaged their Primeval the most wins the Round. Of course, Invader kills Heal the Primeval in small fractions. The Drifter gives us a heads-up on the Timer ("One minute left..."). Typically, my team will get Invaded during the final 30 seconds of a Round. Yes, it's annoying. If the Invader kills enough of us or if my team's Invader kills enough of the opposing team, it's easy to win or lose the Round this way.

It doesn't feel like good sportsmanship.

If the final 10-20 seconds are in the middle of a Damage Phase, my team usually stays put if an Invader shows up. I try to strafe and get as many shots in on the Primeval as possible unless it's clear the Invader has a beat on me.

Conclusion. In order to gain Infamy faster, remember to pick up as many Gambit Bounties as possible. Otherwise, getting to 15,000 Infamy Points in one Season is a pain. Especially because you only receive 50 Infamy Points when losing a Round and you have no Streak Nodes.

If you win up to 5 Matches in a row, you earn more Infamy Points because of it. However, once my Infamy Rank hit Mythic III, I began to get thrown into terrible Matches. Either my team was bad or out-matched from the Start or I would be dropped into the middle of an on-going Match where my team was already getting smoked. Smoked. I lost my Streak Nodes rather abruptly.

Finally, take your best Weapons into Gambit Prime. The enemies are bullet-sponges. Hence, my load-out usually stays the same.

Kinetic: Breachlight - High Impact. Decent Range. Faster rate-of-fire than a Hand Cannon. Masterworked to gain Orbs of Light.

Honorable Mention: Blast Furnace. I have a decent Roll from Black Armory. Use this if you need better Range in the Kinetic slot. Amazing for Precision Kills.

Energy: Jotunn - It took me several weeks to complete the Exotic Quest for Jotunn, but it is well worth it. Jotunn is a Beast. Right now, mine is Light Level 990. It will easily one-shot an Invader, especially with the Tracking Perk, but you still need to be careful. The rate-of-fire is slow, meaning Invaders can dodge the shot if they're fast enough.

Honorable Mention: Devil's Ruin was dominant before I acquired Jotunn. Mainly because it uses Primary Ammo and fires a 15-shot burst even when the magazine is near empty.

Mention: Python has the Overflow Perk, which Overflows the Magazine after picking up Special or Heavy Ammo. However, the Weapon has high Recoil and the Reload Speed is slow even for a Shotgun.

You do have to complete a Gambit Triumph to be Rewarded with Python, which includes reaching Infamy Rank: Heroic. This requirement is easy especially when compared to the 500 Shotgun Final Blows needed to complete this Quest.

Power: Hammerhead. I know you guys may be sick of running Forges, but the Black Armory Weapons are solid for the most part, especially with a good Roll of Perks. I just complete Weapon Frames multiple times for the Hammerhead and keep the best Roll.

I recommend the Perk Feeding Frenzy, which improves the weapon's Reload Speed right after a Kill. It's on a short timer; if you wait too long to Reload after a Kill the Perk goes away.

I hope you found this information helpful. I enjoy sharing Images and Videos from my Gameplay like the ones above. You can find more videos on my growing YouTube Channel, Exos of Destiny.

Thanks, Eric