How to minimise unfair spawns in Havoc

The problem

Havoc differs quite a lot from all the other gamemodes. It uses unique modifiers and has unique rules regarding spawns, which make the game so much harder compared to regular Damnation that playing Havoc will make all the other gamemodes feel like Sedition. Right now, Elites could ignore any stagger/suppression, stack some absurd DR or heal nearby enemies for 1200hp per second. Aside from that, horde mobs could be buffed with Flak armor and almost double the health and the whole map could also be filled with Pox gas. 

These modifiers are, atleast in my runs however, not the main problem. The main problem is running into a new objective only for two captains, a Chaos Spawn and Plague Ogryn to spawn among a horde with CC immune Ragers. Having this happen to me didn't just leave me asking “what could I have done better?”, it reinforced my thought that Havoc was unfair, and beating a map boils down to luck.

What happened?

When this first happened, I just thought it to be a part of this gamemode. Sometimes, even in regular Damnation, multiple bosses spawn in to wipe an unprepared squad. But as this was happening basically every run, I had to understand what was actually happening - this couldn't just be unfortunate me running into an unfortunate director. So I went and found out the following:

Bosses in Havoc spawn according to a few custom rules. These rules work independently from each other - that means there's no pity system, and when the conditions are right, there WILL be more than five bosses active to clean any strike team.

First up is a default progression rule. Up to a handful of default monstrosities (Ogryn, Chaos, Nurgle) will spawn according to how far a squad is in a map. This differs in every map, but expect at least 3 of these every run and for these events to be decently spaced out. Every time this triggers, up to two full health monstrosities will spawn, accompanied by a horde.

Another default progression rule is in place, but this one's for Captains (name starts with Captain). These can spawn in up to two at a time, with or without a horde and also happen around 3 times per run. 

On most runs however, you will also encounter double Lieutenant spawns. I don't exactly know how these work, but expect at least one of these events each run. Hordes will spawn with them, or vice versa.

Finally, specialist enemies have a chance to spawn in as a (weakened) monstrosity. These have 40% the regular health and can spawn in any time specialist enemies would usually spawn in. Should a weakened monstrosity spawn, then it will be put on a rather long cooldown (on most runs, I only encounter 2-3). Since they could spawn in at any time (most frequently in specialist hordes though), they could very awkwardly spawn in when there is no other active threat on the map, making way for a free kill.

Understanding this, you can guess what the right course of action is when a boss spawns.

What to do?

To prevent unfair spawns as much as possible, you just have to tread more carefully. When a boss spawns, no matter how weak, simply retreat. Do not make any more map progress than needed - take care of the current threat while it's alone and only then continue working your way down the map. Every. Single. Time.

When you start rushing in hopes of reducing the total amount of spawns, you will get overrun nine out of ten times by the sheer amount of BS spawns the director hands you. Take it slowly, and you will almost certainly find more success.

But there's a DH ritual right now!

Sometimes, a Chaos Spawn will block the way right as a DH ritual starts. Now most people are tempted to forget about the matter at hand and rush to the ritual in an attempt to stop it. And most people should learn from this, as every time someone tries this, they die, speed up the ritual and in turn wipe the squad entirely. 

Is it an impossible scenario then? Not exactly. When rituals first appear, they are very generous with their spawning speed. As long as you stay away from the rituals, the ritual progress will move at a slow rate. As you get closer however, this rate speeds up tremendously and will eventually cause a DH to spawn and kill everyone. The key takeaway here is to not panic when a ritual first appears on top of your screen. Stay back, focus fire on the current boss and ONLY THEN rush over together to take care of the ritual. 

There is an exception to this however. Sometimes, even if a ritual ‘just spawned’, it'll use the fast spawnrate to quickly spawn a DH as if you were closeby like triggering a normal DH. You can never afford a ritual to complete as it will cost you the run, so when this happens, it is very advisable to rush in as a team and stop the ritual.

-DH rituals are also set spawns, much like the normal monstrosities. With the modifier, expect up to ~5 of them in a map.