It seems like you pretty much nailed the strategy guide down. Liked the Dark Souls reference there. If I may offer some advice: Sometimes it's better not to participate. This mostly applies to people who might have a bad connection, but that's a given. Servers get busy, people drop, lag ruins the fun and matches end up as a waste of time. 'Course, there are some people who aren't well equipped with high enough gear and end up getting killed far more quickly as compared to other players who have full legendary gear sets. Level advantages are enabled and that is a major factor in separating players on the scoreboard. IB isn't regular Crucible. It's war. "Know when to quite your losses in a match."