Pearl seems like a difficult map to defend. Currently, it is very rush-prone. Pearl is a map with many close angles that are great for shotguns and the long angles don't have excellent cover. It is as if Icebox and Split had a lovechild.
Should you play for mid-control on Pearl?
Both teams should vie for mid-control. However, do not mistake this for being a position that the attackers will invest heavily into. Mid is important for them but competent players will not be rushing as 5 down mid, as it is a poor place to execute onto a site from, which we'll get into in our Pearl Attack Guide. As a defender it is far easier to retake the site on Pearl if you have maintained mid-control, this is because mid-control is pivotal for the post-plant set ups for Attackers on Pearl, especially toward A. It also creates useful opportunities for your lurker to do some serious work.
If you are going to play mid-on defence, we recommend either playing a sentinel such as Killjoy or Cypher or playing a controller such as Brimstone or Omen. This is depending on your playstyle, if you prefer to aggressively fight for space or enable your team to do so, play a controller. You can achieve this aggression with Brim and Omen, you can also achieve it if you get creative with some Viper walls like the ones depicted below.
A sentinel is best for a more passive player; you can easily lock down the two choke points in mid with utility. If you're in a stack you could even bait an enemy team into pushing a certain way by investing your utility more heavily on one side/lane of mid, as long as you maintain control of mid connector.
We speculate that you won't have to worry about B Link very much as time goes on. It's one of the worst areas in the game for attackers to push through, even vs 1 defender. This is due to all of the tight angles, making it easy to hold with a shotgun and basic utility setups. A more likely occurrence is the occasional lurker that will try to push through it but like mid on Icebox this will probably be a wildcard moment.
How to defend A on Pearl?
A is a sentinel site, KJ and Viper are both effective choices for a solo player. You'l find that most of your resources will be over on the B side, especially if you don't have an OP. This is because the B side is the easiest site for the attackers to rush on to. So it's highly likely that you'll be running only 1-2 players near A site. Due to this, you want to have powerful utility to slow down the attacking team if they chose A.
Any sentinel is a great choice for this site but Killjoy and Viper are our favourite choices for an A anchor. Why? Their ultimates.
Both KJ and Viper's ultimate are brilliant on A for retake or preventative defence.
Viper's pit can lock down A main and link. Pair that with some snakebites and the defenders will think twice about running in.
A-Main is hard to hold, in terms of choke points it's pretty wide; the average radius of utility doesn't cover the whole path. There also isn't a great crossfire either. Attackers can walk in and clear the righthand side without having to worry about exposing themselves to the Link player.
That being said, if you play dugout, you can create a crossfire with another play who is tucked in the A site corner.
Alongside her great retake ultimate, Killjoy can make planting difficult as there are plenty of nooks and crannies inside the market stall on-site; the spot favoured by attackers for planting.
How to defend B on Pearl?
Ah, B site. The one that everyone is worried about. Why? Because it doesn't have a traditional choke point for the defenders to dump utility into, making it a nightmare to hold especially in solo Q. It is very easy for the attackers to walk up B.
An OP (AWP) is pivotal for Pearl B site because of the obvious long lane with rather terrible cover, the only thing that Attackers have to play with dry is the pillar, which isn't the best to play around. The ramp with screens at the top is wall bangable and is pretty much a guaranteed kill with an OP regardless of where you hit the target since you cannot hit the feet of the player behind the ramp unless they jump.
On top of this, there are multiple crossfire positions for the defenders to play from, making it especially powerful earlier in the game with the limited utility to flush out any tucked players. However these become quite useless later in the game, they are better reserved for aggressive chamber players that can get a pick from a weird angle and get out, or peek once utility has been used to flush them out.
Tl;dr It is better to play for a pick and then retake on B. Similar to the popular strategy for B on Icebox.
How to defensively lurk on Pearl Defense?
As mentioned earlier, lurkers should focus on mid-play. You as a lurker are very important for the B side retake and bomb defusal, by applying pressure to the backline, even if only suppressive, you'll give ample opportunity for your team to push the attackers back. You can also prevent viper snakebite lineups from being used, which are very easy to get off on the Pearl B site.
It is harder to flank A site because the lane through Mid Top is quite tight and will probably have utility on it that will be nigh-impossible to avoid. This will give the attackers plenty of time to prepare for your flank. If you chose to go through Mid Shops instead you'll be wasting a lot of time so we advise against it.
One of your primary roles as a lurker will be to shut down the enemy team's lurker, especially for A site. Attackers will likely have a lurker pushing through A Art. If you chose to play Mid Doors, you can flank the flanker.
Utilize everything this guide has taught you as game-sense, do not treat them as hard-fast rules but as tools that you can employ if the situation calls for it.
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