Introduction / Fundamentals / Dash / Cut / Wind / Ghost / Shoot / Poke / Nest / Pulse / Leech / Stim / Corp

PREVIOUS: Wind

I rank Ghost among my favorite classes to play, but it relies much more on technical execution to succeed than any other class in BOTOLO.

When using Ghost, you will become immaterial. You'll be able to move through the other player, the ball, even walls. Taken alone, this offers only minor benefit. Occasionally, but rarely, moving through a wall allows you to cut off your opponent before they arrive at their destination.

However, if Ghost rematerializes close enough to the defender, they will be able to select between stealing the ball or colliding with the opponent. Should you hold down the steal button as you reappear, you will immediately steal. This effectively negates the defender's ability to retreat from you, as they do not know where you are. You'll enter a Schrodinger's Cat-like state of being both potentially in-range and out-of-range at all times. They can no longer write off any period of time as safe. You must underscore the validity of this threat, however, by consistently stealing out of ghost. If you miss these steals more than you hit, then why should the opponent fear you? You must aim to waste their shield, and if you give them no reason to shield while you are ghosting you'll never achieve this goal.

Ghosting also limits their ability to read your movement for any cues that might indicate you're about to steal - what angle you're currently at, how much you're moving around, whatever else - the only information left to them now is how much time has passed.

In theory, this power also allows you perfect control of the angling game, since you may pass through the other player while invisible.

Should you reappear without stealing, you'll simply collide with the opponent instead. This can push them a significant distance away from you, and the closer you reappear to their center the further they'll fly. At its maximum, this will throw them farther even than Dash could. With practice, such a throw could be really terrifying to contend with.

The fact that you cannot see yourself while ghosting presents the biggest obstacle to your success. All of Ghost's benefits rely on your own intuition of where in space you are. If you lose yourself, you've already lost. It should be some relief to know that as you reappear, you will be magnetized slightly toward the opponent's position if you are close enough, lowering the execution barrier by a small amount.

NEXT: Shoot