my freakin’ mantis rivals story
so yeah, decided to grind mantis rivals yesterday. total mess at first. kept getting wrecked online. felt like everyone knew some secret i didn’t.
first thing? jumped online. BIG mistake. clicked quick match, picked my usual mantis setup. bang. demolished in seconds. respawned. same thing again. and again. felt like a punching bag. opponent just danced around, zapped me, poof. gone. rage building.
thought maybe my loadout sucked. switched weapons. heavy gun? too slow, got flanked. fast blaster? tickled them, didn’t do enough damage. tried different movement tactics. dash in? got punished hard. hang back? got sniped from nowhere. felt completely stuck.
desperate times, right? headed to youtube, searched “mantis rivals easy tips” like a madman. scrolled past fancy combo guides – too complex. needed simple stuff.
found a quick tip in some low-view video comment section: watch the energy meter like a hawk. literally, ignore the opponent for a sec, glance down constantly. when theirs is low, that’s your cue. they can’t dash or use the big zap.
loaded into practice. dummy time. focused SOLELY on the dummy’s energy bar underneath its health. watched it drain when they fired. saw it glow red when empty. bam. THAT was the window. practiced timing my rush attacks ONLY when that bar was red. felt weird ignoring everything else.
next step? took this dumb focus back online. game 1, lost horribly again, forgot to look down! old habits die hard. game 2, forced myself. eyeballing that tiny energy bar like my life depended on it. saw it flash red, hit my boost. slam! actually landed a solid hit! still lost, but that hit felt different.
kept grinding. few more losses. each time, focused ONLY on seeing the red bar. attack ONLY on red. started winning trades instead of always losing. stopped going headfirst into their defenses. learned some patience.
later session, almost won! got cocky, stopped checking energy. instant loss. lesson reinforced: watch the meter, be patient, strike on empty.
- stop blindly attacking
- practice tracking opponent energy bars first
- aggressively focus ONLY when energy glows red
- patience is painful but key
still lose plenty, sure. but finally clawed back some wins consistently. wins feel earned now, not flukes. just one dumb trick saved my sanity. next time you get wrecked? try watching the meter. seriously.
