The one trick to being a God-Tier SL (Hint: It's not aiming)

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A lot of people are terrified of picking up the Squad Leader kit because they think they aren’t “robust” enough. They assume that if they can’t 1v1 a Ravager with a machete or point-click a Runner moving at mach 10, they’re going to fail the squad. I’m here to tell you that raw combat skill is actually the least important part of being an SL. I’ve played hundreds of rounds in this slot; I’ve led pushes that wiped the hive and I’ve led absolute disasters. Through it all, I found the secret sauce. It isn’t your gear, it isn’t your aim, and it isn’t memorizing every tile on the map. It’s Noise. If you want to be seen as a top-tier SL, you need to be talking constantly.

The reality is that your average Marine, especially the “baldies”, has the attention span of a goldfish and the survival instinct of a lemming. When the shooting starts, tunnel vision sets in hard. Marines freeze at chokepoints because nobody wants to be the first one to eat an acid spit. If you stay silent, they will sit at the cades until they die. But if you’re spamming “PUSH! MOVE UP! GO GO GO!”, you break that bystander effect. A text bubble over your head creates a focal point in the chaos. The golden rule is simple: if there isn’t text over your head every five seconds during a fight, you are effectively invisible.

New SLs often make the mistake of trying to be the hero. They take point, try to secure the kill, and inevitably get dragged into the darkness. Remember: a dead SL is a useless SL. Your weapon isn’t the pulse rifle; your weapon is the twelve marines standing behind you. Don’t worry about shooting the Xeno yourself. Instead, point at the threat and scream “CONTACT NORTH! LIGHT THEM UP!” If you’re too busy shooting, you aren’t watching the map or checking your squad’s status. Let the Spec and the robust privates handle the killing while you handle the direction. If you shout “PUSH THERE,” five guys will dump lead there, which is way more damage than you could ever do alone.

Rapport is the one stat nobody talks about, but it’s the most vital. If the squad likes you, they will die for you. If they think you’re just a silent statue, they’ll ignore your orders and run off to die in the jungle alone. You don’t need to be a pro gamer to build rapport, just talk to them. Use their names; a quick “Good shot, Jenkins!” goes a long way. You can even promise medals, it costs you nothing to say, “First one to touch the hive resin gets a CO recommendation.”

Since you can’t type fast enough to keep up with the action, you need to lean on macros. If you’re typing, you aren’t moving, and that’s how you get caught. To be a top-tier SL, set up pick-say macros for directional screams, praise for kills, and retreat orders. Spam those keys. Fill the chat log and fill the screen with bubbles. It makes it look like you are hyper-aware of the battlefield, even if you’re just reacting to the same chaos as everyone else.

In summary: Stand slightly behind the front line, spam your commands to keep the momentum moving, and tell your marines they’re beautiful killers. Do that, and you’ll be the best SL they’ve ever had.

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Thank you for making this.

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Your corpse is a marker. Put that marker as far as you can behind enemy lines.

The marines view this marker as an “attack here now” point.

Trust me. I have 5 morbillion hours as SL

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One of the most down-to-earth commentaries regarding how the SL position works that I’ve ever seen. I don’t really like the “standardization” of communications given by macros, but I understand why it is in vogue. I would also like to comment that being like that as SL is not only important for momentum, but for assaulting and defending, any organized action within the squad need to have this core feature: constant communication of leadership, always show people that you are there, keep giving them orders, be with them all the time you can, and make sure they are with you too.

Making it personal also helps a lot, indeed using their names and saying “Good shot, Jenkins!” actually makes people more attached to you and what you are trying to order, they WILL give you their attention, and I say more: When making orders, instead of handling them out generally (for a group), try aiming at the individuals, give them specific orders, and even if they have the same order, you say it aloud: “Robert, John and Donald are with Marsh on this” or of the sort, actually recognize them as being there as part of the team you know, the less you blend them in a single "entity” the merrier.

Something also worth of commentary is that the SL position, in my opinion, shouldn’t be the only one doing this kind of thing. The FTL is a very interesting role that can help the SL a lot on this, but people playing FTL need to keep in mind that the SL isn’t being followed only because they have rank or role, but because of the traits you spoke and that I commented in the last paragraph. In the end, being someone for them to look up to isn’t going to make the competence of the SL less brighter, the only rule is actually being someone worth of listening up to, if you are, your job is being done with good fashion.

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Well said., We do not need long guides.

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Taking point is not always bad. Sls are at the end of the day a rifleman, so if they play well as a rifleman that can often strengthen the squad much more then just being a motivational speaker.

You can play safe and supportive at the same time as doing your duty as both a rifleman and leader. If you only speak and never do you lose your troops trust, since you should be confident in your shotcalls enough so to pointman when necessary, or fire your gun when necessary. Leading by example is often a powerful motivator for troops, and avoiding use of your gun just makes you look like you wouldnt be the type of person to save them from a warrior lunge.

The best SLs have both great or decent game sense (to read the situation and decide the best and safest course of action) as well as mechanical competency to help allies (ie, shaking up from stuns, shooting enemies to provide valuable dps, grabbing bodies, destroying weeds and clearing areas, flaring, pushing when the time is best, etc)

Often times, one person who knows how to click with mk2 burst is enough to take a game back in marines favor. Boiling it down by saying it doesnt matter is just an excuse.

If you do not do the things a rifleman does you are probably having a lower impact then a rifleman who does those things and doesnt really listen to you. Simply shaking allies is so powerful and not enough ppl do it. if you work to aid the assault not exclusively through yapping you will gain powerful teamwork and trust with people who actually shoot their guns, multiplying your allies potential effective output.

Not to say yapping isnt strong, but i genuinely think mechanically you are stronger by just playing well in general. You can mix the two.

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Yeah, killing shit and frontlining is by no means essential to SLing, but I find that SLs who do frag tend to get a lot more attention and compliance from their squad, since it generally signifies competence and shows you’re reliable.

It doesnt hurt to frag a xeno or two, if you scream your head off about how your squad is ripping apart the hive after killing Young XX Runner, everyone gets a +9999 morale boost.

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Stopping to type gets you killed, especially as Xenos can see you’re typing and they know you’re SL by either knowing who you are or seeing your pointer or your bold text. A little soul-less sometimes but it’s definitely a must.

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Ideal:
SL who can both talk and frag

Good:
SL who at least talk

Bad (for xenos):
SL who is just fragging

Terrible:
SL who neither frag nor talk

tbh I think not dying should be a priority for SL. Because when you die people not only lose morale but also someone who didn’t roll for SL gets it and usually not trying to lead. I think aSLs don’t even get big text nowadays?

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Its not just that. An individual marines effort to do their job is extremely important. Your competency is always important in the outcome of a firefight, even a defensive support oriented playstyle massively increases the effectiveness of allies.

Teamwork is mechanically encouraged to such a degree that youd be silly for not trying to keep your squad alive and adding extra ranged dps by hitting your shots. And bringing flares, calling flanks, push, queen, etc

Thats why its an excuse when people try to boil it down to “SL does not need to shoot or do anything”. A majority of their impact is not from rts yap gameplay, but from fundamentally important teamwork. When morale is failing ie: your squad experiences any difficulty, your competency as a marine becomes much more important, often at that point noone will follow orders pass a passing glance because they are too focused on individual decision making. Yet that is the time most squads fail as an organized unit.

Squad leaders are half rifleperson half leader, just like the irl marines. Its their duty to do both to a degree that they feel comfortable. If they die another person will replace them anyway, so you are just as valuable as any other marine, since the only thing that differentiates and makes your responsibilities more valuable is the badge and experience as a player in general. Yet most people would not trust a person for their badge alone: its unreasonable to assume someone has reliable game sense if they omit their duty as a rifleperson when its completely safe to help others.

Death is part of the game and a way to figure out how to get better too. You are hampering your development as an SL or marine if you don’t try to reasonably push your skill to a greater extent, since that’s necessary to develop game sense, perspective, and consistency.

Or in other words, practicing to become consistent is important for anyone who loves cm and wants to get really good at it. So it may hurt short term but long term death is always good if you learn from it.

Its hard to learn to solve a problem fast without understanding the pieces of the problem that are important (perspective) and then practicing to become more reliable (consistent), as well as learning to identify and tackle similar problems in the future (game sense and fundamental knowledge). Sometimes you have to experiment in the process of finding a functional solution, and that’s ok since the process of getting good is nonlinear, alongside having many possible paths depending on how you approach a problem, and more time consuming then the learning cliff or shape might first imply since it’s difficult to know what you can’t reasonably know.

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Yapper rper SLs don’t help nobody sir. I rather get Joe ‘fragger’ Dafoe SL than a yapper who is on the level of private. Get supply coordinates, get ob coordinates, c4 a wall to skip a choke, listen to XO. Thats it, thats all there is to it.

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This might’ve ringed more true before, but it certainly doesn’t ring as true now-

A real SL is now less expendable because A) Only they can issue orders + their orders are now buffed, B) only they can speak authoritatively and loudly now, C) only they can use SL pointing.

FTLs can do these but they are all mute PFC+ who are often ass, so good luck.

aSLs are now a significant downgrade with no SL abilities. I’ve found it to be significantly harder to rally and get people going as aSL, the big balloon text and such seriously help a lot.

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Yeah people either forget or downplay the orders ability. Defense and move orders are quite strong (I think focus got buffed too?) and if you die the ability is lost forever. Even if we ignore bigger text, moral and roleplay aspects in general.

While I see @birb 's point, I do think there are better suited roles for learning how to frag and when is the time to risk. If you want to frag, go rifleman, aside from faster healing and I think a bit higher endurance you get nothing in terms of fragging if you roll SL. And if you roll SL to get faster healing then it’s telling…

I think SL culture eroded a lot. Most of the experienced players don’t really care about SL’s “yapping”. But there are still players (probably mostly newish ones) who try to follow their lead. For them this “yapping” is essential. Maybe you after 1k marine hours sense on the tip of your fingers when it’s time to rush or retreat, newish players don’t. I think at the very least SL’s responsibility is to not get them capped. For that you need to talk and stay alive, hence why I think it should be your priority as opposed to playing regular RFN where your life is disposable and permaing to kill a runner is a decent trade.

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what a humble thread

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Yeah strong agree here, yapping doesn’t do anything for experienced players because they already have enough gamesense to fallback or push on their own, yapping is really only for the players who don’t really know what to do.

It’s still extremely important, considering the bulk of the squad will be made up of these comparatively inexperienced players.

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God tier SLs bring a radio backpack

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If you’re not taking two guns and offloading the radio to a PVT with less than 5 hours of playtime you are a LRP failure who lacks a soul

RADIO BOY, GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE I NEED TO HIT ON THE STAFF OFFICER AGAIN

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Bring back RTOs, simple as. Those were truly better times.

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Truly a golden age!