Hello!
PSN @BrickBravo here with a guide to hopefully bring as much enjoyment to playing Cabrakan to you, as it has brought me.
I play on the PS4, and have built up the blisters garnering 5* on the destroyer of mountains. I mostly have time to play alone and only quick games, so Arena is my battleground. (Although, dipping the toe into ranked duels and joust!)
This guide is for those who feel like getting some aggression out, with a guy who can bring the pain, but also control the entire arena battle field, leading to a great teammate regardless of if you know them, and an outright smasher if you get teamed up with some solid players.
This will help you become a respectable ally or foe!!
On to the guide:
ARENA CABRAKAN : BRAKY-BRAK SMASHY-SMASH
You finally did it. You took the chance on the big slow green guy. What does he do again? Why is he any good? How do I play him?
First, understand your strengths.
As Cabrakan, you have a few tools to use in combat, but it's first important to know what your role in a team fight is. Then, utilizing the tools that come with it, and being disciplined to know the timing.
Early game strengths: Minion clear, stun, crowd control, intimidation...
Cabrakan is vulnerable to magical damage pretty much the whole game, unless you build against it, which you won't. You will be smart to avoid trading with mages early on, and as you build health and lifegain, it won't be an issue late. But, a Zeus/Posiden/Anubis can put you in your grave early if you'd like to try.
With that in mind, You will play a slow patient game early on. Working the middle of the arena with minion clearing, and retreating behind and keeping your movements in between the pillars on your side, you can use both your 3rd skill to pound the ground in short bursts to clear, or put some damage into them and allies can finish. The build begins with you getting extra money even if you don't kill the minions.
Inevitably, this patience will not be followed by your team. This is where your discipline and understanding of strengths comes in.
Cabrakan has limited escape capabilites, that's why he gets the Wings first, and your 1st skill can be used to increase your escape or chase down ability.
Here is your mantra while clearing minions and watching your allies get scattered all over the field: INITIATE AND GO, OR SMASH AND FINISH.
You will not chase down opponents down to their fountain in the early game, You will not do any SILLY SAVING OF TEAMMATES who get caught if they chase. If teammate didn't alert you them getting a CAMP and they get blitzed...YOU ARE NOT TO GO NEAR THEM. They can learn from being a sacrificial lamb.
So, now it's lining up the timing....if a ally is ready to engage with an opponent near you and it's a two on one, initiate it and let them do the kill work. Eventually you'll rack the kills up, but early on, you are jumping into the fight with your one, so you can stun and smash, saving your 2nd ability until the meter builds up...when it does, that's your queue to get out from the smash, use your 2nd skill to clap once and stun opponents and escape to the comfort zone of the middle by the two pillars.
You'll use your Ultimate 4th skill to block off an escape route, dropping it behind an opponent before hitting with your 1st, smash with your 3rd, and a final smash with 2nd.
That is the order before you start leveling up and getting your damage items. And yes, we are going damage items.
Lastly, remember the mantra: INITIATE AND GO/SMASH AND FINISH -
Smash and finish is done the exact same way, but only smash and finish when you see an opponent making the mistakes of chasing too deep, or trying to finish an ally, or even if an ally is close to finishing. BLITZ OVER WITH THE FIRST, STUN HIM, AND SMASH!! It gives your ally enough time to finish, or you will get the kill.
You may get accused of kill stealing, but once you start slowing everyone on the field down and if they get kills, buffing your teammates, is way more rewarding watching them rack up kills because you have two or more opponents trapped and dying, and they can come and smoke the both of 'em. You'll win them over!
MID GAME: OH, DIDN'T EXPECT THAT ...
We'll call the midgame after you've determined if teammates are building stacks, or if it's something you want to do. You'll have your full boots, still with the Watcher's gift, the book of thoth, or polynomicon, or the new season 4 book. This is all about smash and go. You are becoming an assassin at this point. Still roaming the middle and your kills zones are by the pillars. You can work an X like pattern, as battles develop near pillars, that is where you smash too, no further or farther. If the opponent turns tail, you can let him run away and make your way back clearing some minions, if they chase down to your fountain, go ahead and stun and smash, remember, most of those will be rescue missions and the chasers will have ways to get away. If they are getting away, but not coming middle, don't worry about them. Chase them and bounce back to the middle. That's your zone.
In 99% of the games, battles will have an opponent and an ally fighting down to 50% health before disengaging if it's in the middle, you'll come smashing in to bring the opponent either all the way down, or down to like 10% and that ally should have a chance to finish.
These will be kills that seemingly come out of no where, as will just hanging in the middle and putting a little crowd control on an opponent who did some damage and is retreating, they are likely out of skills and get caught up in your smash. This causes rage quits. Out of nowhere, they ran into you smashing in the middle. Annoying.
It's important to understand if your teammates are getting kills from your smash or not, it will determine the next part of the build. As you will turn into a killing machine, doubling up on your damage and starting to seek kills, or buffing the heck out of teammates who have proven they know how to finish with you.
LATE GAME: BRAKY-BRAK SMASHY SMASH *OR* GENERAL BRAKY SMASH
Depending on your teamates, you'll turn you game into a killer or an assist machine. By this point, you'll either be the target of the stuns/slows/cc from the other team. You've been too patient, you've got some BS kills, and maybe were even picking on the one squishy god who has just had enough...but, you are now free to initiate, smash and finish.
Cooldowns help in maintaining control over the battlefield with your stuns and cc, it's important to remember besides just finishing and engaging with opponents, your path should be from one line of minions to the other, keep that your focus while allys jump engage with enemies, you jump in to stun and cc after they engage, once your teammate finishes, make a path to the minions on the other side, this keeps you from getting greedy and only jumping in when an opponent is close to being finished, or saving a teammate. Use your mediation for those allys who did damage and are escaping, stun the god chasing get in front and take the blows, use your 2nd ability to stun when the meter is full, and start smashing again, about 80% of the time, the ally being chased will come back and want the kill...it's all good, but you only save him once to avoid dying at the wrong time.
Use walls to block entry into the fountain. Use walls in front of your minion while the opponents are gathered there, jump in and smash, break through the front wall and start smashing!
Try to have full health, and fully caught up on items before escorting a Minion, but definitely escort them. If it is going to die, don't force it. At the same time, stop their minions in the middle, you should be there anything way, but make sure that thing doesn't get it in. Expect your teammates to avoid helping you, you might get some help when they see you. But if you are working on the minion, just work on the minion. It's more important.
Those are the basics. Play smart, Play patient, and because of the random nature of Arena, just stick to your mantra, it will permeate the battlefield, and you'll rack up stats without having to do anything special, which is the best feeling in the world. You'll just be good, and that's what you need to be.
Just was referred to your guide by a friend with some questions, and so since I took time to look at it, figured I'd offer some comments...I know this guide hasn't been updated for 3 months, but saw that you've logged in recently, so figured putting some time in wouldn't hurt.
If you want a slight, tankier adjustment, get