Rifleman Archive
Thread: Startle Shot: Confirmation of Delay??
I use StartleShot ALL the time. It's my second favorite Rifle Special... right after good old /strafeshot2 (*sniff* god I miss that).
As was stated before, it's pretty much useless in a group because your group mates will break the delay while they're busy pecking away with their puny non-rifle weapons (watch combat chat and you'll cry at the miserable amount of damage that a lot of CL80 players are doing).
But it you're solo in a 1 v. 1 then it's very useful. You'll notice that Riflemen don't get much melee defense, so close range this shot is great. The delay lasts around 5 seconds. That's not a tremendous amount of time... but it has a fast enough cool-down timer that you can pretty much spam two or three of themto prevent yourself from taking damage. In the thick of a tough fight ten seconds is like a vacation on the beach someplace. Time to collect your thoughts, grab a drink. That's a very helpful time to get in a heal, or to recover from a harmful state that has been place upon you.
Another good thing about Startleshot is that when you use it against players they sometimes get confused. They'll be mashing buttons, but unable to attack... so you get the 5 second delay, plus extra time for them to look around their screen to make sure they're on right toolbar, check for systemmessage, and kick stuffaround the room. If you're going to use this tactic, try to keep it reasonable and stick to maybe 4 startleshots in a row... any more than that and we're going to be hearing all that nerf-Rifle babble from thestick-wielding goonsin the Melee boards.
Sure, I envy a lot of the crowd control shots that other professions get, but if they gave Riflemen ALL the damage and ALL the crowd control then we would have to set up new rules to keep the rif-raff out of the profession.
I'm a Rifle/CM... so just when someone thinks they got close enough to get me... I hit them w/ startleshot (which prevents attack but allows them to close the distance) and then when they get in nice and tight I kiss them on the cheek and hit them w/ CM Paralyze. That keeps them both immobilized and un-able to attack (boo-yah to you Rootin' BH's) and gives me time to pile on all of the other precious goodies that CM's get to play with. One last Paralyze and I hit the gas and run back out to max range.