PVP CTF Class Guide

Knight

A good tank and flag runner if they abuse the Chronomatic Cantrip/Juggernaut powerups along with the Ult. Very difficult to kill and very annoying as the flag carrier, use one-shot kills when vulnerable. Also has a charging ability to move across the battlefield quickly and a strong knockback ability.

Flag Running - *****
Attack - **
Defense - *****
Utility - *****
Support - *

Good Against: None
Counters:
-SH: Can one shot the Knight with a critical hit on M2 when fully charged & Shadowmarked, or with the Ult.
-CB: A critical hit with the ult can one-shot unless the Knight can activate the ult or Juggernaut in time.

Niche Strategy: The Knight's sole purpose is to be the flag runner as their attacking skills are far too weak. Using the ult in conjunction with powerups such as the Chrono, Speed Boost, Jump Boost, and Juggernaut ensures near-invincibility for the duration of the run. Be wary when out of defenses, as SH can snipe you.

Pirate Captain

MoP changes make this class very powerful when coupled with Chrono as they can potentially spam their Ult cannons to kill nearly everything. They are also hard to hit as they will be dodging whenever possible. The Pretend Pirate can also take off pressures from minions and enemy cannons. The First Mate is also powerful when the Pirate can generate dubloons from Chloromancer plants and TR minions.

Flag Running: ***
Attack - *****
Defense - **
Utility - ****
Support - *

Good Against: All except TR, which can attempt to bypass cannons with Banshee's 90% damage reduction.
Counters:
-SH: Can snipe from safe distances where the cannons can't reach.
-TR: Banshee can allow a TR to survive cannonballs and take out the Pirate as long as there is enough energy.

Niche Strategy: The Sniper Banner is to be used for spamming Man-o-War on the battlefield and ensures critical hits with the Critical Eye powerup. Be sure to dodge constantly as most people will try to take you down as the biggest threat. Pretend Pirate can be used to avoid other Man-o-Wars and minions. You can also plop down your First Mate and generate coins from minions which also easily refills your energy.

Ice Sage

Still the dirtiest of all PVP classes with its shield and nearly-guaranteed OHKO from the ult. Coupled with a slowing effect and fears of being frozen makes this class very hard to approach. Nearly unstoppable by most classes and the number one choice for those who want easy wins when equipped with the Sniper banner.

Flag Running: *****
Attack: *****
Defense: *****
Utility: *****
Support: ***

Good Against: All
Counters:
-Pirates can spam cannons to take out IS by constantly breaking their shields, although they can be frozen
-TRs can potentially survive being frozen and hit when Banshee is activated beforehand. They can also bypass the shield.
-Other Ice Sages can freeze and kill, which makes it tricky to predict who will land the ult first.

Niche Strategy: The IS is flexible in that it can fulfill many roles. The shield provides excellent stat boosts and avoiding attacks that could potentially one-shot you which enables the IS to be a great flag runner, The slowing auto-attack is also good to slow down enemies who are chasing you or some other flag carriers. And lastly, the ultimate can stop anyone in their tracks and can be used on enemies jumping over pits to cause them to fall to their doom. Equip the Sniper Banner so that you can avoid attacks while jumping in the air or reduce the cooldown on your ultimate.

Shadow Hunter

Feared by many, the SH can snipe all except IS with shields in a single hit provided it's timed and aimed right. The Sniper banner is perfect for this class as it can reduce the cooldown on the ult and potentially provide a free kill when a critical hits a Shadowmarked enemy. The stun is also useful to stop runners although rubberbanding is a common annoyance.

Flag Running: **
Attack: *****
Defense: **
Utility: ****
Support: ***

Good Against: All except IS
Counters:
-Other Shadow Hunters make for a fun quick/noscope battle.
-IS can sponge the ult and any hits easily and go in for the kill.

Niche Strategy: The SH is a powerful class when the person behind it has good aiming/timing skills, patience, and internet. The Sniper Banner was made for this class in that it provides the SH with everything they need to become a functioning powerhouse and can avoid attacks in the air with the jump boost. Use the Critical Eye powerup on someone that is Shadowmarked to ensure a kill. Your highest priority are flag running Knights, Pirates, and CB. If an IS is chasing you, try to stun them with the snare, attack directly once to break down the shield, and then shoot with your ultimate. Even if you fail to kill them, you may be able to survive a freeze if you happen to stun them too.

Fae Trickster 

Faes are still tricky to deal with although the update brought awful hit detection which makes playing as this class very frustrating when on the offensive. Its decoy doesn't do much to distract experienced players but it can let the Fae escape from minions and provides good mobility. The Glitterbomb is somewhat effective in knockback and is a good killing move to lob at a distance or when your passive deactivates.

Flag Running: **
Attack: ***
Defense: **
Utility: *****
Support: **

Good Against: Flag Runners
Counters:
-No hard counters, although Faes can be easily taken down by anyone good at predictions

Niche Strategy: Faes are great at knocking people off platforms, especially flag carriers who can't dodge. The Team Player banner is excellent in providing whatever support that your team needs and can also regenerate energy for you to continue blinking away or lobbing bombs.

Candy Barbarian 

Another class blessed by MoP, the CB becomes a very fearsome PVPer with the ult nearly one-shotting all classes and also provides healing and speed boosts to allies. The 1-Ability is also good at chasing and moving across the map. With the Chrono powerup, the ult becomes ready to use after one use making it very hard to approach this class. The M2 ability also grants good healing when surrounded by minions.

Flag Running: ****
Attack: *****
Defense: ****
Utility: *****
Support: *****

Good Against: All except Knight, TR, and IS
Counters:
-SH can snipe the CB
-IS can take a hit from the ult and freeze
-Other CBs can counter back with their own ults

Niche Strategy: CBs are powerhouses in that they can chase after flag carriers or kill people instantly within a small area. Not only that but they can constantly regenerate health with the M2 or the ultimate. You can either choose to support your allies when their HP is low or kill anyone who dares approach you, or both! Using the Sniper Banner ensures the ultimate will be available again just after one Chrono powerup so you can get another try if you happen to miss with the ult.

Neon Ninja

Very fast and blessed with a rooting ability, the NN makes flag runners hop like mad rabbits. The NN can also root to let allies gang up and kill the poor victim. The ult is also good in that it can cause rooted enemies to stay rooted. The ninja stars are hard to aim however. With the backflip and a speed boost, the NN becomes extremely fast making it a viable character to be a flag runner.

Flag Running: *****
Attack: ***
Defense: **
Utility: *****
Support: ****

Good Against: Flag Runners
Counters:
-NN isn't special on defenses although it can dodge pretty efficiently.

Niche Strategy: NNs have the option of being the flag carrier or the chaser. The root ability is important in that you'll want to make them an easy target for your allies to come in for the kill or to briefly stall a few seconds. NN works very well with SH for obvious reasons.

Gunslinger

Another class that got buffed considerably, the Gunslinger's 1-Ability becomes a powerful attacking ability on unsuspecting enemies while also making the Gunslinger difficult to hit. It's also very fast when using the ult with a speed boost, making it a very good flag runner. The bad hit detection is a great hindrance though. The All-Rounder's banner is perfect for this class.

Flag Running: *****
Attack: ****
Defense: **
Utility: ****
Support: *

Good Against: Most classes are two-shotted with a crit on the 1-Ability and can be finished off if the M2 passive procs.
Counters:
-Revs can pull in the Gunslinger even from the sky making it hard for them to escape.

Niche Strategy: Gunslingers have good chasing capabilities from the ultimate although you'll want to avoid auto-attacking since you'll barely land a hit out of like, 20. Instead you'll try to get ahead and use the 1-Ability to kill. Using a Critical Eye powerup will 2-shot most classes, making this class also efficient at flag chasing. If your passive procs, great! As a flag carrier, you'll want to use your ult with a speed boost to move across the map blazingly fast.

Dracolyte

Quite possibly the weakest class for PVP (and other places) with very underwhelming stats outside of the ult, and even in the ult it makes the Dracolyte an easy target due to it's size. MoP did help somewhat in that the ult's auto-attack doesn't just tickle anymore and it lasts slightly longer. The passive is also useless in maps without lava. The bombs are just way too hard to effectively set-up and easily dodgeable and the M2 is hard to aim, especially with the bad hit detection. If you can somehow make this class work, bravo for you! Honestly, most Dracos I see in PVP are newbies that don't know where to cap the flags.

Flag Running: * / *** in lava maps
Attack: **
Defense: **
Utility: *
Support: *

Good Against: Marshmallows and hot dogs
Counters:
-Everything as they have better attacking abilities

Niche Strategy: Dracos can attempt to set up land mines at the flag with Burnt Offerings but since enemies AND allies can also destroy them, they are not going to be very helpful. There is also a side effect of launching the flag carriers away which will make it hard to chase them down. In ultimate form, you can try to chase down the flag carrier although you will become an easier target to hit.

Boomeranger 

The ultimate is what really makes Boomers shine in that they can be powerful attacks or good support. It randomly chooses between spawning powerful minions, reducing cooldowns or provides healing for allies, or can randomly spawn bombs that can freakishly one-shot people close by. The boomerang can also stun enemies briefly, provided they land and reduce cooldowns. The 1-Ability is nothing special though, and is hard to land kills with.

Flag Running: **
Attack: ***
Defense: **
Utility: ****
Support: ****

Good Against: Doesn't really have advantages against anyone.
Counters: Being an all-around character, Boomers can be taken down by the usual OP classes.

Niche Strategy: It's not common to see this class in PVP and it doesn't scream anything special except for that random one-shot from the Mysterious Urn. You can attempt to hit flag carriers with the boomerang over bottomless pits.

Tomb Raiser 

The TR is a hard class to use effectively in that it's pretty slow and the minions aren't all that effective, but Banshee's Boon is what really makes this class shine in that it lets the TR tank just about any hits when it's active. It is also one of the few classes that can counter IS since BB can bypass their shield.

Flag Running: *
Attack: **
Defense: *****
Utility: **
Support: *

Good Against: Most classes provided they can chase them down.

Counters:
-Chloromancers and Dracos can effectively destroy minions, although the Goliath can probably kill Dracos before that happens... Otherwise TRs have very good defense as long as they have energy to support BB.

Niche Strategy: The TR can function as a flag chaser, an offensive attacker, and a tank all at the same time. The All-Rounders banner is perfect since it can fulfill all three roles. You'll want to conserve energy as much as possible and activate it just when you think the IS will freeze you. As a chaser, you'll need a Critical Eye powerup to do any meaningful sort of damage. Don't worry about your minions, although they are helpful in blocking the SH ultimate. When dealing with Pirates you have the option of guerrilla warfare (getting in and out of danger areas with the speed boost) or going all out with the Critical Eye. The latter may get you killed if you run out of energy. Make sure to activate BB too.

Revenant 

Weakened severely by the Mantle of Nerfs, Revs were bumped down to low tiers, with their only usefulness is the extra life to switch to and it's pulling ultimate.

Flag Running: *
Attack: ***
Defense: **
Utility: **
Support: **

Good Against: Flag Runners

Counters:
-The Chloromancer's plants will be pulled if you happen to use the ult... along with all other minions that will aggro on you....
-Any class that can escape the pull and probably punish back because you've been slowed to a snail crawl.

Niche Strategy: You could probably stand near your team's flag spawn or the enemy's flag capture spot to suck in whoever approaches that spot although faster enemies could get in and out or you can be killed by ranged attacks since your speed is reduced. This class is also useful to switch in on as a flag carrier to get an "extra life". The M2 and 1-Ability have some amount of damage but they can be difficult to land due to their small reach. Since the class is super slow, you could probably use speed boosts/pylons to chase people down and bash them with the M2 attack.

Lunar Lancer

A class fallen from grace, in both PVP and in adventuring, the Lunar Lancer became pretty mediocre in offense (no more ult+combo glitch) and flag running (nerfed speed). The grapple is still kind of useful in getting somewhere and sniping people on a sliver of HP but that's about it for this class. The squishiness of this class makes it difficult to get an effective use of the transformation. The ultimate can be used to ward off or punish chasers but otherwise it isn't very special.

Flag Running: **
Attack: ***
Defense: *
Utility: ***
Support: **

Good Against: None

Counters: Anything, the fox is pretty much roadkill

Niche Strategy: You could maybe use your ultimate when you think you could kill off low HP people and it does have some appreciable range but the Crescent Combo has bad hit detection. The LL can be a decent flag chaser with its grapple.

Chloromancer

The Chloromancer is a decent healer and pressure-cooker from it's lashing plants and has an added benefit of a shield to supplement it's defense. Lashers can be placed at strategic spots to slow down flag runners but they can be easily escaped by dodging or jumping away with the jump boost powerup. The ult is not really good in that it spews plants in random places and is only good if you need to set up a spot for healing on the go.

Flag Running: *
Attack: ***
Defense: ***
Utility: ***
Support: ****

Good Against: None, can't even chase down flag carriers

Counters:
-SH can snipe
-IS can freeze and bypass shield
-Pirates can take advantage of plants by generating coins easily

Niche Strategy: Stay at particular spots where you can set up lashers. You can also be a healing station to heal those who sustained damage, although healing allies is the last priority. Don't even try to chase down the flag carrier though.