Rifleman Archive

I'm about to be a novice rifleman. My question for experienced players: What do you do in PvE combat when a creature charges you?

I realize that Strategy #1 is to take the creature out quickly (while using cover, maskscent, etc) so that it's dead before it knows what hit it and never has the chance to charge you. And Strategy #2 is to team up with another player or creature who can absorb the creature's attacks while you snipe at it from a distance. But what's Strategy #3 for when these two don't apply? Against tough creatures or groups, I always have enemies charging to point blank range. Continuing to fire at them with a rifle six inches from their ugly noses is inelegant, unrealistic, and not very effective. Kiting has the same problems. I have been switching to pistol as the creatures charge, which seems to work better (at least at my level) and feels more like what a real hunter would do. But it's hardly a perfect solution - the weapon switch delay is a real problem and I get less rifle xp. Any suggestions? Am I missing something?

well son....back in them days when a creature was charging you, you would do the following.

RUUUUUN!!!!

Waste is correct... IF you have Warning Shot, use it. I dropped most of the Marksman abiliites tree to regain Skill Points, and I actually miss Warning Shot sometimes! Way back when I was leveling rifle, some of the most enjoyable moments were when Warning Shot worked to perfection... Just like a yo-yo.

Believe it or not, I can still remember one specific MOB kill that, in the overall scheme of things, should have been forgotten long ago. But it was that perfect moment when the stars aligned and everything worked to perfection, and I won't forget it. I was on Tatooine, somewhere in the lower branches of the rifleman tree. I was hunting Mountain Squill who, at the time, were probably too tough for me. I did NOT have armor and doctor buffs did not exist at that time. I hunted with either a DLT20A or a Laser... my T21 was just too slow.

Now Mountain Squill are very tough critters and keeping them away from you is a priority. And at this point in time the 2.5x Melee penalty was killer for Riflemen. But Mtn Squill were at the time worth 4500 XP (when grouped with my droid) and always a tempting target.
I came across one and decided to take him out. I went prone at a decent distance (I always prefered 60m even). I hit him with a couple of shots before he charged me. At 25-30m I fired Warning shot and hit peace. He turned and ran. I hit him with a Head Shot when he was at 58-60m away and he turned towards me again. Bottom line is, every time he go within 20-30 meters of me, a Warning shot managed to stick and send him away. Every time he got close to the max distance (64m) my headshots managed to hit him and bring him charging back. It was a great "yo-yo" effect. He never touched me and he died at 60m. I remember sitting back in my chair and thinking "Man, that was BEAUTIFUL!". I never had another one as clean as that one. Sometimes the Warning shots miss, sometimes the MOBs get out past 64m and you have to get up and go chase em.
Anyway... a boring story for most, but a fine memory for me.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll try these things.

---

KardenTyrell wrote:
well son....back in them days when a creature was charging you, you would do the following.

RUUUUUN!!!!

---

tell me about it. My macro for whena creature charged used to be:

/burstrun

/unequip rifle

/cry like a little girl screaming for help

*waste already covered everything I was going to say T_T* always glad to have waste around

Message Edited by Ackehece on 07-23-2004 03:02 PM

Tools of the unbuffed, unarmored player:

= Warning Shot
= Suppression Fire
= Phenacine Dart
= Adhesive Mesh
= Any Knockdown (Novice Pistoleer and x/x/x/1 gets you a Melee Knockdown)
= Warcry (From Brawler)
= Burstrun
= Line of Sight (for ranged opponents)
= Take Cover, Mask Scent (note you cannot Peace while under Cover)
= Conceal Shot
= Nearby Vehicle
= Pet Tank (Guard or Kill Command)
= Droid Tank (Guard or Kill Command)
= Neutron or Muon Spice (for really hairy situations)

I fight unbuffed, unarmored 98% of the time (and usually just put some crappy 300cred brandy in my stomach) and I use the above tactics (except burstrun [never needed it] and warcry [don't have it])

A few things, either i trap them (Adhesive or P-dart). and then pull out my high speed spray stick and spam specials

The whole point of sniping especailly with a T-21 is to do high damage shots with accuracy at long range. headshot 3 /peace. But if they do charge slow them down or scare them away. Sadly a good sniping T-21 isn't fast enough to stop a charge, you might get a close range shot (I love those, stopping a charge in its tracks) and you need to use a Tank to intercept.

But of course i really only hunt creatures i can take out in 2-4 headshots, and rarely need to worry about the charges

---

liquidschwartz wrote:
I'm about to be a novice rifleman. My question for experienced players: What do you do in PvE combat when a creature charges you?

I realize that Strategy #1 is to take the creature out quickly (while using cover, maskscent, etc) so that it's dead before it knows what hit it and never has the chance to charge you. And Strategy #2 is to team up with another player or creature who can absorb the creature's attacks while you snipe at it from a distance. But what's Strategy #3 for when these two don't apply? Against tough creatures or groups, I always have enemies charging to point blank range. Continuing to fire at them with a rifle six inches from their ugly noses is inelegant, unrealistic, and not very effective. Kiting has the same problems. I have been switching to pistol as the creatures charge, which seems to work better (at least at my level) and feels more like what a real hunter would do. But it's hardly a perfect solution - the weapon switch delay is a real problem and I get less rifle xp. Any suggestions? Am I missing something?

---

/WarningShot can be your friend. You gain it at Ranged Support III. If it stick it will drive off the target for a bit. Giving you time to but it back at ideal range. The bonus is that you don't have to switch weapons to use it.

---

Kierlak_BH wrote:

Question for you Waste. How effective do/did you find warning shot to be?

I used to try and use it, but I found that even when I was leveling riflesand still shooting fairly slowlybut using fairly fast firing weapons like spraysticks and laser rifles that I would effectively negate any benefit from warning shot because as soon as the critter would turn to run, I'd hit him again and then he'd come back, madder than ever.

I pretty much dumped it after that and started using p-darts. I supposed if I'd thought about it at the time I would have peaced right after the warning shot. Problem with that then is that if the shot fails to scare them, they pretty much get a free poke at you while you start firing again.

Sorry to hijack the post, not my intention. Just curious.

---

It's kind of tricky to use. You have to /peace after it takes effect otherwise it turns. I also found another side effect. If you do it enough it slows down the target so you can kite it. This slow down effect lasts as long as you don't hit it with another /WarningShot which makes it more valuable than a P-dart. It will usually slow around the third successful /WarningShot.

It's been awhile since I've used it. But it worked for me vs Pikets back when there was no armor or buffs. It might be worth trying again.

But the trick is to be quick with the /Peace once you see it stick. So you want a fast firing weapon, but not one that fires so fast you can't hit that /Peace button.