How to Play Rainmaker


How to Play

An overhead map of Manta Maria with a path on the right side leading from spawn to the enemy pedestal.

Images on this page made in the Map Planner on sendou.ink

Opening

An overhead map of Manta Maria with a red path leading from spawn to home bunker.

In the opening, you’ll want to get to mid and pop the rainmaker shield as fast as possible to give your team special advantage. Don’t pick up the rainmaker at this point, though, because you’ll be putting yourself and your team at a disadvantage while the enemy team still has four players in the game. Instead, focus on safely getting a pick by throwing bombs into mid and any positions you see taken.

Whichever team has a member go down first will become the defending team, and whichever team has player advantage first will become the first team to push. Your opening is your chance to make your team the first team to push (which is extra important in Rainmaker because the first push can end the game).

Pushing

An overhead map of Manta Maria with an orange path leading from home bunker to enemy bunker and a yellow path leading from enemy bunker to enemy pedestal.

When you get your first kill on the enemy team (without any kills on your own team), that puts your team in a position to make a push. Use this numbers advantage to get a second kill, as you need a two-player advantage in order to compensate for the disadvantage carrying the Rainmaker gives your team.

Once you have a two-player advantage, that’s the time to push forward:

  1. Push the objective along the safest route (the one where it's most difficult to get surrounded, and gives you the best view of potential approach options)
  2. Move the enemy out of their defensive positions (you can do this by throwing bombs, using your special, or firing the rainmaker)
  3. Dunk the rainmaker, or go retreat once you lose your player advantage.

Defending

An overhead map of Manta Maria with a green path leading from home bunker to the platform in front of home mast and a blue path leading from that platform to the floor next to home pedestal.

Any time the enemy team has a player advantage, they have an opportunity to push, making your team the defending team. As soon as you see that you have less people than the enemy, it's time to start your defense:

  1. Retreat to a defensive position (like the rainmaker path, the best defensive positions are those that make it difficult to be surrounded and easy to see your enemy's approach options)
  2. Stall the Rainmaker by throwing bombs at it (stalling is always advantageous for the defending team in Rainmaker due to the special advantage you get from it and the timer on the Rainmaker counting down when it's held)
  3. Hide in your ink as much as possible and try to kill anyone that comes your way
  4. The Rainmaker will eventually die or retreat. This is your chance to counterpush and put your team on offense again.