Oktoberfest is a wonderful time of year, as people go on a 16-day period of festivals starting mid-September and going until early October. As the map releases in September, now is a good time for our readers to start thinking up drinking games and determine how many shots you'll take as you watch the professionals pulls tricks on these maps soon. If you're an underage fellow, fear not; you may use soda/coke products as a substitute.
If you're starting off the series at this article, here's what we consider to be a shortcut: a method of travel in Overwatch not normally seen or accessible only to a few heroes. Taking advantage of these shortcuts gives you an edge against an enemy team, competitive or casual, and often leads to a win for your own team! Typical heroes with high mobility are Reaper, Pharah, D.Va, and Winston. For the more unusual options, like Mei and Soldier: 76, the video below shows every hero able to use one of these shortcuts in Eichenwalde.
Now that you've taken a stroll through the oak forest, let's chop it down.
Eichenwalde 1: Real Estate Bypass
The hat trick of hat tricks is this shortcut as we're traveling over a death pit of oaks to go around the gate and several buildings in one fell swoop. For attackers, you may climb up or boost around the area to get a quick flank on the enemy. Defenders, however, may just as easily access the lower portion of the map to flank the attackers after they reached the payload. Additionally, a Mei Ice Wall block up on this spot for defenders can, like our shortcuts on Volskaya Industries, block a would-be flanker and make them fall to their deaths!
Eichenwalde 2: House Shortcut to Payload
Want to be like Spiderman or Batman? Now you can, with the all new house climber shortcut. This is an attacker heavy shortcut as its close to their spawn, but defenders may perch up on either the roof or the blasted through opening to fire down at you! The primary benefit is bypassing the wall bridge you typically go through to the right of this area. This is one of the few shortcuts that heroes like Mei can access as well, but it'll take a bit more time.
Eichenwalde 3: Scaffold over Wall
One of the few shortcuts benefiting both defenders and attackers almost equally. Attackers can jump over the scaffolding and land onto a raised platform only a few defense heroes (or a sniper) can get to you at. For defenders, you can also jump over the wall on the side of the payload start and land on a raised platform, giving a wall of cover and a good angle to shoot down at your enemies. One of our earlier articles goes further into depth on this specific area (see "2. Crossfire Defense") and more game-changer spots in the map.
Eichenwalde 4: The Tower/Wall
This area favors defenders far more than attackers; if you're not using a hero who may scale the walls on attack, you'll need to either follow the path the payload takes or try to sneak through the wall interior. Defense need only walk up to the top and they'll be firing down at their enemies. All heroes can get up to this area, but some are far quicker than others; use or assign only high mobility heroes to go through this area. If you want to pull off another hat trick, you can also try going from the top of the tower over the gateway into the payload area!
Eichenwalde 5: Wall Breach
If you're a hero deciding to go through the walls, buildings, and towers, you can still scale the wall differently for another flanking maneuver. Defenders may have an easy shot at attackers using this area as you can easily see the opening a few seconds after leaving your spawn. Attackers using this need to complete the move to higher ground within a few seconds, lest they be shot down like clay pigeons. This shortcut is best used when the enemy team is on or past the wall going towards the gateway.
Eichenwalde 6: Pigeon Hole
There's only three things I know of that are two meters wide in popular media: a space station exhaust port, womp rats, and this opening. I don't see defenders using this gate much when going outside, so this is almost useful only for attackers. If you need to get behind enemy lines and pick out the enemies inside the castle, this spot gives you height, shooting angles, and a flank from above. You can also drop down inside and take out enemies like a rogue and quickly exit into cover through the nearby ground level doors going outside.
Eichenwalde 7: Sniper Spot
Heavily favored for defense, but also useful for attackers setting up camp sites. This spot isn't much of a shortcut, but noteworthy as it provides a defensive vantage point for some heroes. The area has plenty of room to scoot back further into the platform and plenty of firing angles at the spawn gate, final stretch of the payload, and the platforms/pathways across from you. A disadvantage of this spot is platforms within your line of sight are at the same height, so you may be counter-sniped as an attacker or defender. Defenders may stay within the left-side spawn healing gate and fire out at attackers to reduce this risk.
Conclusion
Eichenwalde has plenty of nooks and paths for you to pursue at your heart's content!
I recently learned a new strategy with Mei's Ice Wall as well; paths Mei can access with Ice Wall, all the other heroes can access as well. Instead of doing it by yourself, however, you'll need a friendly (or even an enemy) Mei to give you a coordinated boost to your destination!
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