Incursion
Incursion is the MOBA-style gamemode featured in Battleborn. New waves of minions will spawn every so often, and begin their trek to the middle of the map, where players and NPCs alike will battle it out. Each team has two shielded sentries, and it's the goal of each team to kill both of their opponents' sentries, or to get the opposing team's sentry health lower than theirs before the time runs out. There's build nodes scattered everywhere, large crystals for shard farming spawn in certain locations, and small shards spawn in certain parts of the map.
Here's the tips I'd give to anyone who wants to play Incursion. I've seen a lot of really silly mistakes being made, so I'm here to help out your gameplay, at least a little. I hope.
1. Build Nodes > Your Loadout
I don't care who you're playing. There's maybe one or two exemptions from this rule, like Miko's Healing Power, but more often than not, you'd better be spawning those Lightning Turrets and Stingers, keep those Accelerators running, because not only will that help your team out with minion waves and team fights, it'll also net you some really good experience that'll help you keep up in levels. Don't prioritize your own personal (and minimal) stat boosts over the good of the team.
2. Collect Shards
This may sound obvious, but it needs to be said. If you're running by a shard that could be broken just by you walking over it, then walk over it. If there's not a team fight going on, then why aren't you running off to the side to grab that giant floating crystal of shard-y goodness? You want to be absolutely swimming in shards, then bankrupt yourself on fully upgrading (which also gives you experience) a Supply Station. You need that extra experience, and to get it, you need to collect shards. Don't shy away from Shard-Generating Loadouts, those are very helpful too.
3. You Can Recall!
Way too many times, I've seen a team mate sitting on a Supply Station, healing 1 hp a week or something, while a team fight rages in the background. It was never covered in a tutorial for some reason, but here's a tip you need to know: you can recall. You can press B, stand still for a moment, and return to your spawnpoint for full health. It's a way better alternative than sitting by a Supply Station, even a fully-upgraded one. Recall can even be used if you're in a tight spot in the enemy base, and you want to get out of there before they realize you're there. Just keep in mind this amazing ability you have, please. If you're low on health, you better either recall or run off to find your healer.
4. Clear the Minion Waves
Now obviously, if an enemy Battleborn is pushing up in your face, and you have your team to back you up, then kill him. But in general, keeping pressure on enemy minion waves is one of the best ways to win an Incursion game. They can kill you all they want, but if you have a couple of Thrall mercenaries and a minion wave pushing their Sentry, then you and your team will respawn before they even get a single hit on your own Sentry. Speaking of…
5. Get Those Thrall Mercenaries
Thrall Mercenaries are extremely important and helpful. They're essentially guaranteed to clear a minion wave, and they can do decent damage to enemy Battleborn. It's free experience, and extra large minions to help push that enemy Sentry's shield down. What's not to like? Just be sure to aim for their heads; they're pretty large targets.
6. If You're Ranged:
Annoy the enemy. You can do significant damage from a safe distance, so take advantage of that. This is especially important in Incursion, as damaged enemies are less liable to fight back when you're killing their minions. If you have a clear line of vision on an enemy, and you're not firing that gun or shooting that arrow, you're not doing your job. This is especially true for Marquis.
6.5: If You're Melee:
You're the front line of defense, but depending on your Hero, you could also be the first to die. Protect your ranged allies. If they're getting hurt, then throw whatever crowd control you have on the attacker, and do your best to kill them before they kill your team mate. Melee is extremely difficult to dodge and counter in Battleborn. It's also important that you wipe out minion waves as best you can; your massive melee damage is often more efficient at killing the NPCs than ranged attacks.
7. Know the Map
You're going to be an altogether better player if you know exactly where all the mercenaries, shard spawns, and build nodes are. The better you know the map, the sooner you can get somewhere. And the sooner you get somewhere, the more annoying you'll be to the enemy team. A well-informed enemy is one of the most difficult to beat. Plus, if you know the map well enough, you'll know all the chokepoints you can force enemies into, and all the little cracks you can shoot the enemy Sentry through.
8. Have a Well-Balanced Team
This tip obviously applies in every mode, but it's extremely important in Incursion. Incursion has more teamfights than the other two modes combined, in my experience, so it's integral that your team as a whole is well-balanced. The best team composition, in my opinion, is three Attackers, a Support, and a Defender. The only way you can really ensure a good composition is to have a Hero for every role. It sounds daunting; it really isn't. The worst thing possible that you can do after 3 Attackers have been chosen by your team mates is to pick another Attacker. They'll dislike you for it, and that's not without reason. So always be prepared to fill in any role that needs filling; no matter how good you are at that Attacker, you're doing your team a disservice by refusing to fill in that missing Support slot. It's called taking one for the team, everyone has to do it at some point. That is, if they want to win.