First: If you aren’t playing with headphones that have spatial sound you are going to have a bad time.
Second: Dogs - If you know a dog is coming, find a box higher than hip
height or any corner that you can just run around - the dog will ALWAYS come around that corner, pause for 2 seconds, THEN jump. That is plenty of time to kill or stagger the dog. Or, if you are quick you can just run directly at a dog when they are running at you and push him before he jumps.
Dogs will ALWAYS, 100% of the time take 1-2 seconds to pause and jump, that is your window to either hit them or avoid them. A dog jumping at you can easily be negated by keeping in mind this ONE thing - push 1 second before the actual push should happen. Their servers have a small delay when it comes to this and I went from never being able to stop a dog flying through the air to a 99% success rate.
Keep in mind they will become immune to stagger for 2 seconds when they just had major stagger damage dealt to them. If you see a Nurgle’s blessing Dog, you need to use the box/corner solution because they cannot be staggered by any normal means.
Third: Trappers - A trapper might seem to be annoying (when they shoot through a 2 ton reaper) but the reality is most times you see them, their AI is cycling through who to trap and when to do it based on distance. If you are constantly in coherency with your teammates their reaction time will slow because the AI is trying to figure out who to trap out of the four people it sees. If you are quick and run at them randomly while in coherency, you can actually hit them before they even begin to shoot their trap. I am a Zealot though so I might be a little quicker than others.
Fourth: Bursters - I still see tons of players afraid of getting close to a Bursters and while understandable they are actually very simple to avoid. Same logic I used earlier for trappers and dogs applies here - if you are quick you can push them before they jump. If you push a Burster BEFORE they start their jump, you will have a 100% success rate on avoiding their explosion, as long as you dodge backwards after pushing them. If you hear a burster and know where it is coming from, move toward them and push as soon as you have the opportunity. The more you do it the easier it will become. Since they fixed Bursters a while ago I honestly don’t have issues with them anymore though. If they aren’t being staggered or can’t be pushed its because someone else already dealt a ton of stagger damage to them within the last 5 seconds.
Fifth: Snipers - Honestly since they buffed the AI it seems sniper speed has increased to the point that the sound que for them about to shoot you goes off at the same time as their shot making it very difficult to avoid if you don’t seem them first. I really don’t have a solution for this other than Curio’s for sniper damage and just trying to be on your toes at all times.
Once you play enough dodging sniper shots is a walk in the park but what isn’t a walk in the park is dodging that sniper 2 stories above you on a catwalk at a spawn point you passed 30 seconds ago. A sniper shot will take over half your health bar in a split second and it is the ONE special I am constantly hit by at random times therefore I ALWAYS run sniper damage curios - obviously personal preference but this is my experience.
Sixth: Dodge, block, dodge, block and dodge again. You think you’re clear after having just killed 100 Poxwalkers and 20 elites within 30 seconds? HAH, you better be dodging and blocking while doing a 360 or you are going to get hit by that random enemy that was sitting in the corner waiting for you to let your guard down I guarantee. Also dodge sliding will save your health bar and life against most gunners you see.
If you have anything else to add feel free