DEFEND
This is one of the most combat heavy modes available. A level 3 monster leads a pack of minions against a series of power generators that are defended by the hunter team. The minions will spawn every fifteen seconds once a wave of minions is defeated.
The goal of the monster is to destroy all the power generators before they can recharge the ship (default time limit: 10 minutes). The hunters on the other hand need to either kill the level 3 monster or defend the generators until the ship is refulled and they can escape.
Hunters:
- Incapped vs death: This is one of the few modes where a hunter may actually prefer to die as opposed to being resurrected. Dying in defend mode will actually remove all of a hunter's strikes, meaning it may be worthwhile for players with a strike or two. The downside is that you will be unavailable for thirty seconds during the game until you return via dropship. So players will need to time deaths in this way carefully between waves and co-ordinate with their team to make the most of it.
- Trappers to the fore: Trappers abilities (such as mobile arena) and other AoE monster incapacitation abilites are essential in this game mode for containing the swarm of minions and the player monster. Holding the minions off the generator for a few seconds (while the hunters deal more damage), may not seem like much, but it may be the difference between a win or a loss.
- Senty sentry: The only enemy that can attack sentry turrets is the player monster. If you see a player monster attacking the turrets, focus fire on it to prevent it destroying the turret, as the bonus damage from the turrets can really help damage minions and the player monster.
- All or nothing: At some point in the attack, the hunter team may want to go for broke and try to kill the player monster. Make sure you time this well (such as when the player monster is attacking a generator or sentry turret), and co-ordinate with the team to trap and lock down the player monster's movement. A quick and efficient shift in target can damage a player monster severely or even kill it.
Monster:
- Munchalot: Keep your armour topped up while you attack. There is plenty of native fauna to eat in between minion attacks, so take the time to keep your amour topped up. This will prevent you taking chip damage and mean you are better prepared for changing hunter tactics and unexpected scenarios.
- Automatons: Minion AI directs them to attack the generators until they take a certain amount of damage. Once their health drops below a certain point, they will turn and attack the nearest hunter. If you can prevent the hunters dropping the minion's health below this point, they will sit there and constantly deal damage to the generator (remember the creeps in DOTA? Pretty much that)
- Sentries everywhere: Sentries will act as constant chip damage to you and your minions. Try and take them out whenever practically possible (don't lose a massive chunk of life over it), This will reduce the damage you and your minions take, slowing down their AI change and as a result dealing more damage to the generators. This will also free you up to battle the hunters better.
- Incapacitate vs kill: This is one of the few modes where a hunter may actually prefer to die as opposed to being resurrected. You can also try to keep the hunters team down by killing off one or more hunters and waiting for twenty seconds before killing another pair. This keeps the hunters at a continual disadvantage by keeping them at half strength. This also means they are focusing more on you than the minions who are slowly chipping away at the generators. This is a good strategy if you are skilled enough to pull it off.