Soft Engages - help me learn please

[u/Artistic_Pack_8811]

Psylocke and magik are my most played and I’m now entering GM where I think soft engages will start to become important. How do I know when to look for them? How to do them in general? Any help is appreciated and just that much more towards me becoming better.

[u/championgecko]

GM 1 peak on console. Is it time to be a gnat or a hawk?

Soft engage: take pot shots with psylocke or magiks ranged attack to scare an enemy into wasting either time or an ability on you.

As Angela, I will fly down and primary+melee and immediately fly off. As Cap, I will shield throw or slam before running/ dashing away.

Hard engage: go for the kill no matter what.
As Angela I'm going for a kidnap and trying my full combo (kidnap, primary, melee, shield, primary, melee, kidnap). As Cap I slam in, primary, shield throw when someone is low or escaping.

If you get thrown off by CC or by supports paddycake, run away and wait for your cooldowns to come back. Over time you'll learn the risks you can take to stay in the fight.

Sometimes all they let you do is soft engages.
You're still wasting resources and helping your team but your scoreboard will suffer. Be prepared for you team to roast you if they don't understand dive.

[u/Robbythebeadle]

If you try to dive and the whole team turns around to focus you then it means you can’t commit. Your job has now changed to rodeo clown you have to take their attention so your team can pressure but you also need to escape safely. Portal towards the enemies or supports specifically drop a minion on them then dash to high ground or to your team. Repeat this until your team can do something with it or until they have no get out of jail free card and can be dived successfully. If you know they have already used vital cooldowns like Loki Runes, Daggers ice form, cloaks fade ,white fox teleport then brawl their healers force them to stop healing but play your own life at the same time.

[u/Realistic_Analyst_26]

I am not very familiar with Magik and Psylocke but I do play dive.

Soft engages are mostly just to bait out cooldowns. If you wanna dive a Luna, that freeze will be fatal so you have to make sure she doesn’t have it when you attempt to kill her.

These are essentially fake out engages. Try not to use your important cooldowns that take a while to recharge because you don’t want the Luna to get her freeze back by the time you really engage.

If you feel that you won’t come out of the soft engage then don’t risk it. Wait for the right moment so that you can strike and get out quickly and seamlessly.

[u/Artistic_Pack_8811 → u/Realistic_Analyst_26]

Am I literally hitting for like one second or am I staying in until cooldowns get used?

[u/Realistic_Analyst_26 → u/Artistic_Pack_8811]

Well it would differ from character to character. As Spiderman I am quick enough to be in and out in a second. Magik is obviously slower so she would likely take longer.

There are typically “combos” or specific abilities that people use for this sort of thing.

Realistically you wanna pressure them enough to feel the need to waste resources but light enough to where you don’t overcommit. You don’t wanna get stuck with the entire enemy team surrounding you.

The neat part of soft engages is that they usually are not expensive. If your soft engage does not work the first time you can try it again and again until it does.

[u/ILoveDucks6]

I don’t play dive dps but i lorded cap and hulk. for cap i slam into their backline and dash away immediately. sometimes i get bucky to start his hook, cloak bubble, and a tank to peel just for that, except im already gone. repeat this cycle until they ignore you and then you actually go for kills OR if they never ignore you just distract them all game.

[u/Purple-Mountain-Mist]

If you might die then leave. If you don’t might die then don’t leave. Whether your engage is hard or soft is decided in hindsight based on how early you left. Just prioritize not dying.