Rifleman Archive
Thread: Rifleman PVP tactics
OK, this is a thread to exchange thoughts on the proper use of our class in defeating others. This is not about how strong your weapon or shots are, but the proper way to use them, I'll give an example and please build from this so that we can get better at our professions.
I'm defending achor head, there are 2 imps running around slaying everything that moves and they seem just about indestructable. I don the armor, hit the food buffs, slap the power up on the guns and go overt.
I charge to engage the enemy with my Krayt laser and open fire at 50 or so meters with strafe II, I start thinking someting is broke, nail the guys 4-5 times with the cone shot and barely touchthere ham bars, it finally dawns on me that they have some killer buffs and now they are charging me and are to close for the laser really.
I change weapons to the Krayt Ion Cannon, start nailing one of there minds with head shot III (most of there stats were migrated to health and action as well which just further helped). Guy drops in 3 shots! Next, go after his freind, same tactic same result.
Get a /tell calling me a noob that got a lucky shot (just about giggle myself out of my chair at home). Both imps are dead, there reign of terror has ended and they dont even bother to clone in our town.
Moral of this story,pay attention to what is going on, one tactic does not work, change it. Gun seems less effective than usual, change it to fit the situation.
Now, your turn, post the story of how your tactics beat the competition.
Very nice Tactics there.
Last night I was attacked and was wondering why I wasn't shooting. I then realised I was clicking the wrong button.
Needless to say I died and in my rage afterwards i accidently kicked a hole in a door at home 
.
Must seek new way to deal with anger 
My tactic, being a low level rifleman (1-0-1-1) is to spam HS2 with my super quick e-11, while ducking in and out of their line of sight.
Theed is wonderful for this, with the pillars around the buildings near the med center offering excellent cover. Had a great time makinga commando run from a Master Doc and an Armorsmith. We both used natural cover and he fell pretty quick.
I was unbuffed as well.
Khyras, On Bria.
Master Doctor/ Novice Rifleman
Rifleman for life. No pets, no spice.
It all depends on the situation.
In battles/raids, I always use headshot2. The speed and mind cost yield the most DPS, and most targets drop fast. If they're far away, I always examine to see if they're wearing armor. If so, the Jawa Rifle comes out. The only time in a battle or raid that I won't use headshot is if one of their other HAMs are low. This simply has yielded the best survival ratings for myself.
For duels, it all depends on who I'm fighting. If it's someone I know that I like, I'll just slap them with flushingshot2 a few times, and that usually does the trick. If it's a tough opponent, or some person that I'm not too fond of, they get the headshot treatment.
I found that when I first hit master, I used strafeshot2 like it was going out of style, but I also lost a whole lot. The damage on SS2 can be brutal, but at the same time, it can bite you in the ass if you get a bad roll, and a lot can happen in the nextfew seconds before you get a chance to shoot again. Flushingshot2 is nice because it stuns the hell out of them, and usually is the deciding factor in a close fight.
In duels against other master riflemen, I ALWAYS use flushingshot2 first. I know they're going to be shooting at me just as fast as I am at them, and I don't like relying upon just the amount of damage my gun can do to win a fight. Again, stun rocks my world.
Stats on rifles (all non-Krayt, damage sliced with a 30% damage powerup):
Laser 137-673 damage, 5.6 speed
Jawa 199-396 damage, 5.4 speed
T21 206-612 damage, 7.4 speed (I only switch to this if I need to keep shooting and my mind is low/gone)
Question for a tactic, 3 times I have fallen into the range of a TKE. Has anyone escaped one after being engaged at close range? Tell me your stories, for I have not even come close to escaping once in there grasp and could use some advise.
Burst run! 
Picking up novice brawler and slamming them with warcry1 until they're delayed for 10 seconds usually takes care of that. That's more than enough time for a master to drop anyone, buffed or otherwise.
Serenius wrote:
Burst run!
Picking up novice brawler and slamming them with warcry1 until they're delayed for 10 seconds usually takes care of that. That's more than enough time for a master to drop anyone, buffed or otherwise.
Really! Just heard about that yesterday. It works that well! Hmmm, I like it.
Something else I discovered the hard way yesterday. Someone was hitting me with a stun shot that lasted between 5-10 seconds. During this time I could not shoot. Now, with flushing II I can stun groups of people. Does this have the same effect. If I Flushing II someone does it stop there attacks for several seconds? Did not realize that stun was so potent.
in response to RebelMarineHunter (nice post) - but you should have done some recon on your targets BEFORE you went to engage. (always do this, if you have the time. if i see a red dot on the radar, i tab onto it and actually run away while i decide my strategy. especially if it is running at me).
tab onto target(s), type /ex (examine) -
first thing, is it wearing composite? if YES, use jawa rifle. if NO, use Laser/T21.
place your cursor over the target's ham bars (in the top right corner by default) is anything buffed to over 1000? are health and action higher than mind by quite a bit? If mind is low, use Headshot 2 (or 3 if you're buffed/muon). If health/action are under 1000 and he's NOT wearing composite - Strafe2 with the laser or T21. If he is wearing composite and you're going to use a jawa rifle, and his HAM is pretty even across the board, judgment call - probably safest to go with Headshot2, but if do get a couple decent Strafe2 rolls, it's over. either way works. one thing to keep in mind - if he's a pistol user wearing composite but isn't buffed, his specials are going to cost a LOT of action - Strafe2 with a jawa rifle will take advantage of that.
NOTE: if there is more than one target and they're close enough to hit with the cone- use Strafe2 unless they're both HA buffed.
okay, you've checked his armor, you've checked his HAM. what weapon is he holding? Flamethrower? kite him at 50+ meters, you won't have any problems.
No weapon/vibroknuckles? Burst run away at max range - put a priority on this guy. TKM within 25m is gonna hand you your ass. (unless you're tkm also).
Scatter Gun - this dude most likely has eyeshot, hope you're wearinga helmet. you can get Composite helmets with 200 mind enc and under, with 40+ % resists, look around. kite as much as you can, to stay in your optimal/out of his optimal range. Remember that his specials will take a LOT of action, if he's not buffed + wearing composite. go for the weakest pool. wear marauder armor at least, it's light armor with 15% resist to energy. pistols will do far less dmg.
any other pistol - same tactics apply, less chance of eyeshot, but be ready for it anyway.
Carbineer - watch for the KD specials, they hurt. rely on distance (if possible), marauder armor (minimum) and your Ranged defense. Flushing2 if you want, but strafe2 or Headshot the weakest pools.
LLC - wear composite if you can, definitely stay outside of 30m if you can, weave side to side /back and around (as you ALWAYS should be doing). target weakest pool and hope he doesn't land a 1000 point hit. (i've been one-shotted by an LLC - and i was buffed to over 1200 HA, while wearing marauder pants, composite chest plate, composite helmet - i shoulda wore the rest of my composite 
it's extremely rare, most of the time LLC shots don't hit me, but it has happened).
other rifleman - hopefully you're buffed higher, have better guns, and wear better armor, and have master marksman as well.
Combat medic - take 'em out as quick as possible (okay, you take everyone out as quick as possible, you can't afford drawn out fights) - but you don't want poison thrown on you.
If someone has a pet - Cowardly Gurrek - strafe2 with a Laser/t21. fullblown Gurrek - cold dmg i think is what goes through, as well as stun? i usually slap a bleed, burst run away, do the warningshot yo-yo with headshots. pop a muon if you aren't entertainer buffed.
Graul - burst run, incap and snipershot the handler while you kite the graul (go in a circle) - kite and strafe2 the graul after. if handler is in range, reverse the order. use a Jawa rifle.
Rancor - same thing as the graul.
ATST - hopefully you're buffed on every stat, pop on your PSG, wear every piece of composite you can, and i hope you have good stims. hopefully it's wounded too. lol. powerup your T21 and HS3 or Strafe2 until one of you dies. i've had good luck running underneath it and shooting straight up.
become very good friends with master dancers + musicians. dancers double your mind for up to 3 hours (if they /setperform on your for 10 mins). Musicians double your Focus/Willpower for 3 hours, same thing. 10 mins of /setperform. tip them well -
keep a mouse droid and good wound packs (40+ healing ability, with only +5 med use will do fine) - if you get a bad DOT, start healin yourself. hopefully you're a doctor or one is near Also, keep First Aid on a seperate bar/hotkey.
keep Focus/Willpower foods on tap (there is an excellent guide stickied for foods)
keep a Muon Gold on your hotkeys for emergency use. note: if you are Buffed for Mind/Focus/Willpower - do NOT use Muon gold - it doesn't stack properly last i checked. you will be dropped down toONLY whatmuon gold would give you (+500 to each stat).
don't be afraid to run away while your mind regens. hehe. and keep your armor on a macro, i also keep my helmet on it's own hotkey as well as in the macro. disarm your helmet if someone is obviously not going to do mind dmg (basically, if they aren't a BH/rifleman).
hope some of those ideas were helpful -
Jeisyn Blackwell ~ Master Rifleman ~ Master Marksman ~ Doctor
RebalMarineHunter wrote:
Really! Just heard about that yesterday. It works that well! Hmmm, I like it.
If I go against someone who I know will have a delay shot, or a dizzy/KD combo, I hit warcry 3 times (almost always works out of 1 of those 3). Assuming you don't get delayed yourself, this will be your saving grace.
RebalMarineHunter wrote:
Something else I discovered the hard way yesterday. Someone was hitting me with a stun shot that lasted between 5-10 seconds. During this time I could not shoot. Now, with flushing II I can stun groups of people. Does this have the same effect. If I Flushing II someone does it stop there attacks for several seconds? Did not realize that stun was so potent.
They probably hit you with panic shot or warcry. These delay your actions by 10-20 seconds. Stun halves your rate of fire (which makes flushing shot a must if you go up against a heavy hitter)
couple other little things that i take for granted, but may be worth bringing up -
use 33% max dmg/16% mind powerups on top of dmg slices (at master rifleman)
put 33% mind/16% speed powerups on a DLT20a or CDEF rifle for low-ham Snipershots.
keep a T21/Laser, Jawa Rifle, Pistol/spraystick (something good @ pointblank for warningshots), and CDEF/DLT20a on your hotkeys (i use Shift F1-F4 for rifle selections).
never go prone or kneel in pvp, ALWAYS stay moving.
you can fight any class competitively at any range, even under 16m(especially if you're master marksman or melee classas well),just keep moving. Melee is the exception to this rule, never start at less than 25, 30 is better. and you have to burst run away right at the start. (kiting is strategy, you would be stupid to stand still. don't let anyone tell you otherwise. if a TKM has a problem with that, don't duel that person again - really, dueling a melee player isn't fair (or fun) for either of you, due to the necessary strategies. if he KD's, he wins. if you kite - he won't hit at all, you win)
keep a /peace; /healdamage Self (whatever the macro is) to stim yourself in combat. it's also helpful to keep a /peace; /healdamage (this will heal your target) for healing friends, if you would be so inclined.
keep snipershot on a hotkey (i use shift F12)
put your mindshot2 + mindshot1 in a macro.
make a macro for warningshot, try /warningshot; /Pause 1; /Peace;
flurry+supressionfire RARELY KD's anybody - especially TKM's who have high defense vs posture change/KD - i wouldn't waste the mind points to attempt it.
be careful with Strafe2/any AE around crowds of blue dots while targetting an overt. you may start some serious **edit**e.
The trick that I learned that helped immensely, is using our lower level, faster, lower HAM cost specials, and throw in a flushingshot2 or strafeshot2 only as supplements.
Example: I start off with flurryshot1 to stun them and slow down their fire rate, then I'll usually switch over to headshot2 unless their mind is buffed, and if their health or action drops to half or less, I'll clear my queue and throw in a flurryshot2 or strafeshot2 to finish them off.
I encourage all master riflemen to try this, and see if it makes a difference for you. As of now, after finally getting some good guns, I have to encourage people to delay/KD me as they'll usually incap after 3-4 headshots, or 2-3 flushing2s.
Master rifleman is badass, but only if you know how to make the proper use of your skills.