[Vol. 9] Agent Intro | Galatea

[remote ginkgo]

Deceive your foes with her "Deception" passive, leaving decoys on walls. Teleport with "Wild Card" and overwhelm with the ultimate "Mirage," creating an army of illusions!

[celest lantern]

GALATEA!

1. Learn how to trick yourself first, then trick the enemy.

[inland cipher]

i feel like a character that can teleport through the whole map is a little too powerful

Galatea really annoyed me through my past matches, but maybe it's just me

2. Pick off the enemy snipers beacuse what are they going to do up close

[rough forum]

Guess the Galatea job is just to orbit enemy sniper/audrey 24/7.

[old hearth]

This character is a little fun against snipers
https://streamable.com/a4o91m

[rough forum]

How long is passive cooldown?

[tough apex]

Like 1 or 2 seconds iirc. It's almost instant.

[rough forum]

no... when enemy destroy the passive = enter an long cd to summon new one for teleport

[tough apex]

? Not really. At least I haven't had that happen.

[vernal citrus]

Feel like her teleport needs a loud sound cue near the location she teleported to, its so easy for her to just teleport behind someone and shoot without any warning

[rough forum]

there is sound cue when teleport. Kinda hear paper flip noise.

[vernal citrus]

its really faint, especially during a gun fight

[glossy thicket]

it’s fucking

that’s it

[twin forge]

dont forget that her decoys reveal people dont just use them as tps

another thing you can do is if a baimo ults you can destroy the beacon that he places down to pull him back for a free kill so when he uilts you can use your tp to get to the beacon and take him out before his ult causes problems

[old hearth]

Wait whattt, I've camped the Baimo beacon so many times without knowing this

[twin forge]

lmao yeah just shoot the thing on the ground and he will tp back for a free kill

[old hearth]

That's awesome, will definitely do in the future. I've been in this situation so many times as Galataea and feel bad knowing all the free kills I missed

[twin forge]

rip

[tough apex]

He won't TP back, but it will remove his ult life

[twin forge]

i thought he did one sec

i watched the replay he just tpd back at the same time i destroyed it lmao

[old hearth]

lmao okay I wasn't missing out then thank goodness

[tough apex]

It is still a good idea to destroy the thing XD

[rough forum]

How far the radius of the decoy to expose enemies? Far as Kanami skill?

[tough apex]

15 meters

[rough forum]

How long is its passive cooldown when enemy destroy decoy once?

[old hearth]

Oh, is it not a LOS scan from the decoy location?

[tough apex]

So it is, but only 15 meters in front of it

[tough apex]

It's not that long. Iirc it's only like 3-5 seconds.

[old hearth]

Not 180? Huh
Does it scan for a few seconds or only immediately upon casting?

[rough forum]

I see, need more few tests, cuz, even with 5s reduced cd from the upgrades, seens kinda long..

[tough apex]

Immediately

[tough apex]

It's honestly really weird for me and my testing. It seemed like the 5s cool down did nothing. I always go duration for it instead.

[tough apex]

15 is the distance in front of the decoy

[celest lantern]

i think its the same cooldown as the skill

could see the passive cooldown in action just once in 24 matches with her

[twin forge]

the cooldown only activates if the decoy takes damage for passive

[vestal junco]

Short review of Galatea

Galatea has plenty of tools to work with, This includes but not limited to

1. Teleporting - This allows her to reposition into better areas for her to capitalize on taking those crucial moments and allowing crossfire

2. Scans - Her clones will scan anything with in 15 Meters that is with in her LOS for 1 second and if anyone shoots the clone they will be scanned for 3 seconds. Considering if you are able to spam her clones, she essentially becomes a scan based character.

3. Awakening 2: Invisibility - If she teleports to her clone, she would gain invisibility for 3 second + Movement speed increase. This literally disperses her aggro and her prescene on the battlefield. This allows her to basically become an assassin

4. Awakening 3: More clones - Essentially allows you to leave a clone behind when you teleport, this literally makes your teleport and scans so much better as if you dont have a habit of leaving a wall clone behind you would still have this clone with you. Overall, with this you can basically be at two places at once.

Overall, Galatea has alot of tools to use to work with your team. She isn't a top tier just because of her teleport but rather her variety of tools to make her unpredictable and a menance in the fight.

[white hawk]

where's the resident galatea one trick, I'm suprised i don't see him here

[vestal junco]

@night beacon you are being summoned

[night beacon]

COUGH

[vestal junco]

[night beacon]

[vestal junco]

Oh yeah Kierce, using A3 as Galatea. Is it better to just go for Poke then for pick? Since most of the aggro will be on you when you spam clones in their face

[night beacon]

Yeah but for now it’s best to use it not to go for dmg as you go in but for the quick aggro pull it allows you to do

If you can find a wall before you tp out again even better since you can go back in immediately

Anyway

A2: selfish aggro dispersion and A3: tricky aggro pulling

[old hearth]

It's best to jump glide with A2 invisibility right?

[vestal junco]

For movement, technically yes but honestly running is fine as well.

[old hearth]

Is it better to prioritize A1 over armor Round 2?

[vestal junco]

No, never. Armor is always important. Your life is the most important resource in the game

[old hearth]

Interesting, are there any characters that would take A1 over armor Round 2?

[vestal junco]

snipers, probably. Because they take the fathest engagement, meaning they wont be damaged as much

[rough forum]

Galatea decoys is kinda useful to make enemies waste bullets, but the cd is thirsty

[old hearth]

If only she had an upgrade that reduced her cool down by 5 seconds, then she'd feel amazing to play

[sage patio]

she does

[tough apex]

I think that's the joke

[sage patio]

oh yeah i just read the whole thing

she kinda suck if the clone get spotted early if i have to say

[tough apex]

Well, you wanna use the clone for info anyways. You don't just wanna use it to be aggro. You're not a duelist.

[rough forum]

she does, but guess only at escort mode. i did not try demolition yet with her

[vestal junco]

She also has it in demo/ranked

[sage patio]

the scan is kinda bad unless multiple people shoot it

the scan time is too little while the range is too small

she should be pick when your team have 1 more scaner or you are on the def side

[tough apex]

You don't need people to shoot it for it to scan. They just need los of it when it is summoned.

[vestal junco]

I agree, Honestly just that 1 second of scan is pretty important for a push comp. Its just that Galatea has so many tools to deal with mutiple situation the only problem is that knowing and using that tools at the right moment is pretty important

[tough apex]

For sure. Galatea is a jack of all trades imo. Plus her utility as a Vanguard for a push comes from being able to create angles you need to be wary of.

[sage patio]

wait i thought her scan is a range one not los like kanami?

[tough apex]

It's LOS

[sage patio]

it not really los there is still a range for it scan

[tough apex]

Sure, but it won't scan the enemy if they are hiding behind cover.

[sage patio]

yeah so her scan is a hybrid of both?

but have the worst part of both too

[tough apex]

Basically. It's just a close range los scan. That's all.

[vestal junco]

There is three conditions that needs to be fulfilled in order the scan to go off

1. The target needs to be within LOS of the decoy

2. The target needs to be within 15m of the decoy

3. The target needs to fulfill conditions 1 and 2 with the moment that the decoy appears

[rough forum]

hum also attacking the decoy = get scanned

[tough apex]

That's different tho. It's not something you can "activate" exactly.

[old hearth]

Does this also apply to decoys generated from her passive/ult?

[tough apex]

Yes

[humble pollen]

I did an impossible combo of Galatea (0.01% do-able)

[vestal junco]

[rough forum]

asking again, how long is the passive cooldown when enemy destroy it? Still no one knows

[celest lantern]

should be the same as her active skill

[smoky prawn]

I just unlocked Galatea and want to learn how to play her. Here's some things I'd like to know:
-What's her gameplan on both sides?
-What Yellow upgrades are good for her?
-A2 vs A3 (when to use which)
-Is she usable in solo q?
-How to learn timing and positioning?
-What maps is she good on
-When should you play her?

[vestal junco]

What's her gameplan on both sides?

Game plan is that on attack you act similar to a lawine, where you basically play off your entry (Ming).

On Defense, you try to use your clone to gain info either by throwing your card in a spot where you think the enemy will push up on or using it as a retreat tool when you yourself are in a dangerous position while gaining info.

She is difficult to hold a site by herself so make sure that there is at least one ally you can play off of.

What Yellow upgrades are good for her?
For Wild Card(Her Q ability), I would always go for Cooldown -5s

As for Deception(her passive) It would depends if I go for A2 or A3 more.
If I choose to go A2, I will choose Decoy Duration +3s while for A3 Ill choose Cooldown -5s.

A2 vs A3 (when to use which)
I don't have 100% confidence in giving out suggestion like this, but both sides have their strength and weakness.

A2 allows you to teleport in a dangerous position in order to get a quick pick/poke the only issue is the 2 second invis that makes you need to wait for 2 seconds before you can do that damage and sometimes you just need that second where you need to quickly make an action.

A3 always allows a retreat option for you, although this requires you to have quick reaction to utilize. If you end up teleporting into a dangrous position and it takes you a long time to react. you will instantly get downed.

In my opinion A2 is for lower Elos because they won't be as wary when you are invisible around them all the time while A3 is needed for Higher elos because of the need to jump in and out of a dangerous position to assist the team. Some people argue otherwise.

But overall, I suggest you try to play with both A2 and A3 then see which one you prefer.

Is she usable in solo q
Yes but you need to read what your team's intention is. If your team is going to push a specific site, you need to pick up on the teams intention even without them using comms. If your team only pushes a site and them decides to rotate mid way. you need to have a decoy to use to retreat out of.

The issue here is that some players believe that choosing Galatea is basically throwing a game because Galatea is difficult to properly use and has a high skill floor and an even higher skill ceiling to master with.

How to learn timing and positioning?
Experience and awarness, you need to know where your team is positioned and where the enemy is positioned every second during a fight.

So you will need to play gala alot and die with her over and over until you understand when you to push and where to push.

What maps is she good on
She doesn't have a weak map but a good map that utilizes her ability to reposition/teleport is Area 88. It such a wide open map that it is easy for galatea to rotate between the two sites if needed.

When should you play her?
I don't really have an answer for this question because Galatea I would say doesn't fall in the meta. She isn't a must pick like other characters, rather she has a bad image with certain high elo players and disliked in even CN.

All I can say for this is, if you are confident and know how to utlize her strength just pick her and do your best. learn from your mistakes and continue to practice to be better with her. Playing galatea on a competitive level requires knowing alot of fundamentals about the game in order to perform with her.

@smoky prawn
Good luck with playing galatea, dont let other people talk down on a character that you decided to enjoy.

[smoky prawn]

@vestal junco Thank you for all the information. I feel like learning Gala can strengthen my fundamentals, plus she looks fun to play. I should probably start playing her in challenge just to get a feel for her (though like you said I feel like people would hate me for insta picking her) since I gotta get better somehow

[vestal junco]

if you got any questions in regards of galatea feel free to ask.

[smoky prawn]

So far, her gun is REALLY hard to control.

[vestal junco]

Its a ming gun

[smoky prawn]

I don't play her 😅

[vestal junco]

have fun with practice then

[sage patio]

i actually think a2 is quiet good in higher elo if your team can play of you
a3 is really good when you first pick her up as you can come back if they camp your clone

[vestal junco]

hence IMO, technically A3 still have teamplay use cases but Im gate keeping those

[sage patio]

in def side she can be quite strong as she can scan tho want to try and plant the bomb inside the smoke

for some map that have a open/ big site she can be tp around to make enemy turn toward you too so i feal like she meant to play on the def side more than atk

[vestal junco]

her strength revolves around positioning and info gathering. On attack if Galatea knows that a certain spot is open, Galatea can quickly take it and either commit to a crossfire or hold space for the team to push up on.

[rough forum]

Most important thing you must learn as Galatea player = Learn to use the Ping signal. Just change hotkeys setting to better reaction(mouse scroll/side mouse buttom/ or any other).
Else, don't even try use her when playing on ranked/serious matches.
Galatea is more fun to use on Escort, but also very hard to use.

[vestal junco]

Your tips arent really Galatea specific rather just more fundamental stuff.

[humble pollen]

You play Gala A2 -> no one coordinated -> died

You play A3, you become the one who coordinates

Or even solo play

Yes it’s your preference. But until when you can trust your teammates, I reccomend new player trying A3

Or if you want to insta win on 1v1 when planting, pick A2

[stoic topaz]

not practical trick

Throw frag → press Q → if u saw huge hit → jump and slash dealing up to 211 dmg
Easy when opp is planting

[vestal junco]

How I would add onto this is

1. see a person trying to take long shots and try to poke or down them.

2. If they don't move from the cover the hide behind or they get downed I would throw nade.

3. I would throw a card right after throwing but before the nade would blow up so I can scan to see if anyone else behind there trying to rez or hold.

4. After that I would just tp in for the finish and maybe even get a double pick.

[rough forum]

Is possible to warp on the clone without having to look at them?
like just press F to warp to the nearest clone?

[night beacon]

Nope you gotta look at em sadge

[glass sedge]

does anyone know how the hit detection for gala's copy work? it keeps clipping on stuff

[vestal junco]

Honestly I would just aim at the floor or the ceilling at that point.

[vernal citrus]

Its huge, don't try to finese or trick shot it, just aim through wide openings and aim for clear flat walls

[rough forum]

The skill kinda have good range detection at impact, but prob 1 sec detection for radius.
Floor clone only scan once at impact for whole radius 1s, but don't scan again until its get damaged by X enemy. I think its bug... LOS seens is not working properly...
The wall stick clone does scan normally at LOS tho...

[tough apex]

The scan is only upon creation and upon being attacked. It doesn't continuously scan like Kanami's or Lawine's.

[summer ingot]

the scan is more similarly comparable to fuchsia in its use

you use it for quick info and position punishing

[rough forum]

Is Galatea ult always fires 3 cards?
Not sure. after update she was firing 4 cards at Escort mode as the icon shows 4 cards, but now is firing 3 cards again, unless was bug or nerfed.

[vestal junco]

It should have already been 3 cards. Maybe you accidently left behind a Q or a wall clone?

[rough forum]

Sadly no.. As the ultimate icon now displays 4 cards since 1~2weeks ago..
prob another kind of hidden patch...

[vestal junco]

Weird it still fires 3 cards for me, so im confused what you are on about

[summer ingot]

the icon has 4 cards in the hand instead of 3 but gameplay-wise nothing changed

thats what they meant

[vestal junco]

I dunno, guy has been using the word “fire” in his first sentence so i assumed about the mechanics of the ult.

[summer ingot]

its bc english isnt their first language

they meant throw

[vestal junco]

Welp, at least that has been clarified

[rough forum]

Do Galatea get better/legendary skins? Her current skins options is lame...
And dorm/secretary?

[tough apex]

Imo she has better skins like the one attached, but there isn't any legendary skins and the like. She is still relatively new even in CN

[rough forum]

On escort, Deception passive placed does auto removed when you respawn, is it bug or nerf?

[novel sky]

Upgrade prio for gala?

And what items do yall reccomend to use w her

[tough apex]

Personally Headshot/RoF first then armor, then either the gun upgrade you didn't get before or if you have the cash for it, passive clone duration.

[sage patio]

i usually go smoke and intercept with her
you can smoke some angle of so you are safe when tp in and intercept when you are playing with your team

flash is also good for agressive play but it can backfire if not use right

i don't think heal is good on her as when you tp in and die before you can use your nade, you pretty much just give them a free heal

[old hearth]

I like frag + slow
Slow helps me be more deadly on flank (tp behind someone, slow them, shoot them) and frag is generally useful

[novel sky]

spread or recoil control?

[tough apex]

Personally always Spread. But if you have trouble controlling the recoil you could do recoil control. But don't recommend it.

[novel sky]

thx for explaining. I thought recoil would be better since you ads alot

[tough apex]

With Gal? Not really

[novel sky]

huh, i heard someone say to use ads for gal

ig they were wrong

aight cool

[tough apex]

Gal usually from my experience wants to be more in the fight. Her usefulness as a scanner comes from her ability to be in the fight getting info

[novel sky]

hmm, true

aight aight, thanks

[old hearth]

fwiw Kierce used recoil control on gala yesterday

If you're confident in your ability to track enemies in ads, recoil control is great

[sage patio]

recoil is not really recomend as you can learn it and get use to it but spread is pretty rng

[sage patio]

yeah but it's doesn't work on high elo

you would prefer throwing before you tp as the audio is quite recognizable

[chilly creek]

just want to share a little tip to detect which site the enemies are going in port euler with Galatea (defense side ofc), it will probably only work on mid elo below

[chilly creek]

so, when you use galatea on defense side, you will be ready to stand at the entrance or whatever it is called (the little blue circle i have marked). after the round starts i will have my Q on and timing from 4 to 5 seconds then use it (Remember to align the decoy so it will definitely land in the blue oval area I marked)

if they go side B, decoy will detect them and we will have a lot of information in the first 5 seconds of the round

In case they go to A, after the decoy has landed, we will not see any information because they have entered the house (which is decoy is outside the house and its sight is blocked by the door.) at this time we will need to ping our teammates to rotate if decoy definitely can't spot anyone at B or near T spawn)

this will be the area we need to make sure the decoy lands like i said, by the way make sure their sniper doesnt camp you at mid before doing this trick

[sage patio]

it's a good trick but i usually fear that i would waste my skill and it not coming back on time 🥲

[vestal junco]

not a bad TP spot the few things that you need to consider from this flank is:
1.pray you arent being baited.
2.that you have a clone behind to tp back to
3.that your teammates are able to hold the 5 man push long enough for you to commit a pinch

[glass sedge]

info usually more important on scanner light defense.

yes mich, fuchsia, and nobu can scan but nobu is not free, mich is a tripwire, and fuchsia's is only for herself (if you don't look at map). gala is the only one who can aggressively scan for their team.

weak but it is something early on. flanking is also usually more risky especially def. you might get eaten by a lurker and your info is more limited than atk.

[novel sky]

🔥

[sage patio]

Well she is the only initiative that can be use for def so

[tiny plank]

My personal experience
Escort: Galatea may not be perfect, but she can cause absolute havoc provided the allied team is competent enough to demand attention without being wiped out too quick (youre not playing 3v1 or above), and the user knows what theyre doing.
At best, youre taking people down and getting away. At worst, youre buying attention.
An agressive galatea does brings relatively better results for me.

Defuse: i dont play def much, but one game i literally changed the attackers rush intention from B to A.
I tried to do gala flank when they were rushing B but an eika turned on me. I tried running away and wouldve gotten away with it if it was just an eika but their entire team decided to chase me to A, literally changing their tactic.

[night beacon]

Heh

Banana

👍

[celest lantern]

[lament mesa]

galatea's gun is horrible but if you can get over that she's a good character

[summer ingot]

gala's gun is getting a massive buff next season

recoil across the board is better including for gala + reworked gun that is basically just a full upgrade bc higher fire rate at the cost of 5-6 damage

[lament mesa]

you mean -5~6 damage at 10 meters right

[vestal junco]

Current Gala

new gala changes

It hasn't been meintioned but all guns also recieve recoil reduction so it is possible to accuratly shoot with galas gun

[chilly creek]

I'm more of a recoil control guy than a spread control guy so it's still pretty good, at least in terms of recoil it's better than ming and flavia's gun

[summer ingot]

doing a gala guide (fucking massive one), part 1 is done bar gathering clips

this is only for part 1 and the intro btw

[sage patio]

i guess you can either use some of kierce clip or your own highlight play for the intro

[summer ingot]

ye ill use some of mine, some of kierce's, some of liv's if i can get some, maybe some of yours, and some of misogi's

[sage patio]

i have some but lost somewhere in the passage of time already lol

[summer ingot]

rip

[pliant idol]

https://tenor.com/view/team-fortress-2-tf2-meet-the-spy-spy-heavy-gif-16968648136800484035

[night beacon]

Notes for now

Current Best Awakening on map/side

Cosmite
Atk: Both (you need both to do well)
Def: A2

88
Atk: A2
Def: A3 (clonewalk mid defend is too powerful)

Euler
Atk: A3
Def: A2

Cauchy
Atk: A2
Def: Both

404
Atk: Both
Def: Both

Picton
Atk: Both
Def: Both

Space
Atk: A2 (until I learn A3 timings)
Def: Both

Orkanus
Atk: A2 (until I learn A3 timings)
Def: Both (A2 Favored)

[summer ingot]

i know space atk a3, its better

you open so many more lines for yourself its not funny

especially A hits

or A rotates rather

[night beacon]

thing is you lose the ability to harass the A choke which is super powerful

[summer ingot]

not really

you force one to be watching forever

[night beacon]

or you can just threaten to kill them

which is what A2 does instead

of just making them watch

[summer ingot]

true but then you lose the flexibility on B, A after capture, mid etc

a2 is easier tho fs

[night beacon]

also true but using A3 makes you lose certain pathing that A2 gives you that has even better implications than A3 can provide

not to mention the size of the map will give you away if you use clonewalks

[summer ingot]

yeah clonewalk is generally iffy on space bar a mid pinch

but its helpful in more games than i thought id find

[night beacon]

I dont think its even that useful in a mid pinch either

at least in my experience

[summer ingot]

it is to force the pillar player off or to just outright kill them

[night beacon]

it doesnt do anything other than know if someone is overpushing

[summer ingot]

could be an elo difference tbf

[night beacon]

A2 does that better because it can confirm the kill rather than make it a 60/40 1v1

[night beacon]

true

[summer ingot]

how so? generally the mid player will have someone playing mid A window as support which makes invis harder and T entrance has no wall to get invis for long enough

[night beacon]

because dealing with the overpush in a mid pinch anyway is another story than just knowing that theyre there

[night beacon]

you paper to a good position first even if you become visible

in the collapse of a mid pinch anyway there's more than just you

[summer ingot]

fair

[night beacon]

so even if they do fight for it the pillar player will likely be in sights of multiple people

so they often drop from pillar to fight instead

which makes invis better because you can get into mid without being seen on the minimap if you start flying under

[summer ingot]

you have enough time to get under?

havent tested that path tbf

altho it feels like youd need duration to properly use it

[night beacon]

more than enough from both atk entrances

[night beacon]

if its a mid pinch you're not looking to get out

you just want to get in without being immediately seen

[summer ingot]

fair

[vestal junco]

Also curious about why A3 is better on attack for Euler, Considering it is easier to push past the usual choke points on either side with A2?

[vestal junco]

https://youtu.be/0RS06tUMYmw?si=2oylyL5TL4gNLa0X