Abilities, Strategy, & Best Weapons

There are eight Wardens to choose from in Highguard, and as an Assault character, Slade may be a good option to familiarize yourself with early (granted you can get past error code messages). He’s an arrogant pyromaniac who seems ripe for racking up kills, but your best bet is to think a bit more abstractly about how Slade’s abilities can help your team.

There’s a lot going on in Highguard‘s raid shooter gameplay, but Slade is going to be most effective when battling for the Shieldbreaker and when in the midst of a raid. Below we’ll walk through each of his abilities and how to best use them, then cover which weapons you want to keep an eye out for while looting.

How To Use Slade’s Abilities

Each Warden has three abilities; here are the in-game descriptions of Slade’s:

Ability	Type	Description
Heatwave	Tactical	Sends out a cascading wave of molten fire.
Firebomb	Passive	Explodes and spreads magma to an area.
Firestorm	Ultimate	Rains down fire upon the targeted area.

Heatwave

As Slade’s Tactical ability, Heatwave can be used quite liberally. It extends on the ground in the direction you aim, in a straight line, for a fair distance. It’s quite versatile, but it is most effectively used to corral enemies, forcing them to take damage to enter an area. It doesn’t do a ton of damage, so you’ll rarely kill with just it, but Heatwave is excellent at doing chip damage to ensure you have the upper hand when an opponent steps around a corner to start firing.

You almost always want to place Heatwave so that it cuts off a choke point – across doorways or on a corner, preferably near an objective. It also travels through objects quite well; i.e., its range isn’t necessarily limited by objects. This can be helpful out in the open when an enemy ducks into cover. A well-placed Heatwave can force them back out, or do the last bit of damage to take them down.

Firebomb

Firebomb works similarly. It’s actually a bit of a misnomer as a Passive, because it alters Slade’s grenade, which must be actively thrown. Instead of an explosion, Firebomb forms a circle of magma on the ground that quickly expands. Just like Heatwave, you can’t rely on Firebomb to get kills single-handedly, but it’s great for forcing enemies out of cover or doing chip damage. Since Firebomb has a pretty potent area of effect, it can also be used to cutoff doorways.

Firestorm

Since Firestorm is an Ultimate, you’ll only be able to use it two or three times in the course of a match, so you’ll want to make them count. It’s most effective during raids. While defending, Firestorm can help reduce the attackers’ available respawns by being used early. Just like Slade’s other abilities, it will force people to vacate an area while doing chip damage. If you can catch two or three enemies in its radius near their siege tower, you may be able to score a couple of quick kills.

Using Firestorm while attacking can be a bit trickier, since you are ideally gradually moving in toward the bomb sites. To this end, Firestorm can help you gain ground if you’re having trouble breaking into the base. You and your teammates won’t get hurt by the Firestorm, so you can cast it and then move through it. Firestorm can also be very effective in defense of a planted bomb, cutting off a large area to deny the attackers re-entry.

Best Weapons To Use With Slade

Slade snapping as fire rains down in Highguard.

Despite being labeled an Assault Warden, which implies he’s good at attacking, Slade actually works best when used for close-quarters area denial. The best weapons to use with Slade are therefore SMGs and shotguns. For SMGs, I prefer the Viper because of its high rate of fire. Both shotguns will work, but I’ve so far had better luck using the Kraken, especially its legendary variants if you can find them.

I recommend taking one or the other, though, not one SMG and one shotgun. For your second weapon slot, you’ll still need some range when vying for the Shieldbreaker out in the open. The Dynasty and Vanguard are both great all-rounders, but while using Slade, I’ve found myself drawn to the Longhorn. You can do some low-zoom sniping with it, but it can also be used effectively at close range, something that can’t be said about the Ranger.

With Highguard being free-to-play, there’s a very low barrier to entry. Mastering any one of its eight characters will take some time, though. Slade is rather straightforward because of his fire abilities, but he really excels when you use him creatively. AOE attacks can turn the tide of a fight in Highguard, but slinging fire just anywhere won’t help you win.