Turtling (gameplay)

Turtling is a gameplay strategy that emphasizes heavy defense, with little or no offense. Ostensibly, turtling minimizes risk to the turtling player while baiting opponents to take risks in trying to overcome the defenses. In practice, however, games are often designed to punish turtling through various game mechanics. Consequently, while turtling strategies are usually simple enough for novices to learn and are effective as such, they are easily defeated by experienced players who understand the game's methods to counter turtling.

As a metaphor, turtling refers to the defensive posture of a turtle, which retracts its limbs into its hardened shell for protection against predators. A player who concentrates on defense is said to behave like a turtle, reluctant to leave the safety of its shell for fear of suffering a lethal attack.

In the world of fighting games, especially those of the 2D variety, a turtle style of play is a defensive style that focuses on patience, positioning, timing, and relatively safe attack options to slow down the pace of the game and minimize the number of punishable mistakes made during the course of the match. This style can be very useful in timed matches, as it allows a player to deal a negligible amount of damage to an opponent, and then win the match by running down the clock. If available, players can turn off the timer to prevent such a strategy. Turtling can also be used to force an opponent into making punishable mistakes while minimizing the damage one takes. This is especially true when using projectile-heavy characters that are able to both maintain the pressure and stay out of harm's way. In few other cases, turtling can be an effective strategy to minimize the offensive effects of temporary buffs.

Game mechanics can be designed specifically to discourage turtling. For example, super attack meters may build up faster when using aggressive attacks, and may even decrease as a result of blocking or not attacking. Games can also offer a greater variety of possible hit locations (e.g. utilizing mix-ups) that make it more difficult for a defender to successfully guess how to block or counter. Super Smash Bros. has a character's shield shrink as it is used and takes damage, but it will regenerate when not in use. If the shield shrinks too much, it will shatter and stun the player for a short period of time.

A turtle strategy is commonly used in real-time strategy video games. When turtling, the player protects their territory, to the exclusion of creating forces for attacking the enemy. A turtling strategy may work because it forces the opponent to be more aggressive and constantly force him to attack the turtling player until the map is mined out and the opponent does not have any resources to replenish their forces. The most common way to turtle is to build large numbers of towers, turrets, and other defensive structures to fire on enemy units. Turtle armies may also incorporate large groups of artillery units to extend effective range and prevent opposing artillery units from attacking with impunity.

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