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Planetside 2 Complete Light Assault Guide

Planetside 2 Complete Light Assault Guide by Iridar51

Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Co-authors are welcome
3. Glossary
4. What is Light Assault?
5. Choosing a side
6. Choosing a weapon.
6.1 General Combat Carbines
6.2 Close Quarters Combat Carbines
6.3 Sniper Carbines
6.4 Shotguns
6.4.1 So should I use a shotgun?
6.4.2 Choosing a shotgun
6.5 Slugguns
7. What attachments and upgrades should I use?
7.1 Weapon Attachments
7.1.1 Scope
7.1.2 Barrel attachments
7.1.3 Rail attachments
7.1.4 Ammo
7.2 Ability Slot
7.2.1 Jump Jets
7.2.2 Drifter Jump Jets
7.3 Suit Slot
7.3.1 Adrenaline Pump
7.3.2 Advanced Shield Capacitor
7.3.3 Flak Armor
7.3.4 Grenade Bandoleer
7.3.5 Nanoweave Armor
7.3.6 Ammunition Belt
7.4 Grenade Slot
7.4.1 Flash Grenade
7.4.2 Smoke Grenade
7.5 Utility Slot
7.5.1 C-4 (Explosive)
7.5.1 Restoration Kit
7.5.2 Medkit
8. So many possibilities! What to cert first?
9. I got the basics! What do I do next?
10. General Tips
11. Credits and Thanks
12. Changelog
13. To-Do list

1. Introduction

___Welcome! In my frequent browsing of Light Assault forums I came to notice that players are often asking same questions again and again, so I decided to create this Guide to pre-preemptively answer most of the common questions, and perhaps share a few tricks with novice players.

___Note that this guide will NOT contain ready solutions to all your problems, but instead will highlight what stands behind choices you have to make. Do I roll with carbine or shotgun? Is silencer viable?
Every person is different, and this guide will help you to answer these kinds of questions for yourself.

___I took a liberty of quoting quite a few players in this guide, sometimes inserting a comma or two to make the quote more readable, I hope original authors can forgive me for that.

Please note, that contents of this guide are about LA and only LA.
I also traditionally apologize for my horrible English, but I hope you will forgive me since I'm a russian.

2. Co-authors are welcome
___If you think you have a suggestion on how to make this guide better, or a new idea, or just a curious fact, feel free to post it in this thread or send me a personal message.

3. Glossary
Short and Long Reload Times - The short reload time is used when a gun has it's magazine swapped, but the chamber isn't cycled. The long reload time is when the magazine is swapped and the chamber gets cycled, for most guns this is only if you empty the entire magazine.
Bullet Damage Values - Bullets do the max damage out to the distance of 10 meters (for most carbines), the damage then linearly decreases until reaching the value and distance listed in Bullet Min Damage.
Projectile Drop - No weapon has enough projectile drop to cause you to miss a shot when aiming at the upper torso within ~175m.
Projectile Speed - The speed a weapon's bullet is fired at, in in-game meters per second.
Health and Shields - Every class except for Infiltrators have 500 shields and 500 health. Infiltrators have 400 shields and 500 health.
COF - Cone of Fire - Max COF is the same as the Jumping COF values listed for ADS/Hip firing. COF increases by 50 per second when you move to a stance that has a larger minimum value, and decreases by 20 per second when you move to a stance that has a lower minimum value or you have stopped firing your weapon.
Locational Damage - Leg shots apply a .9x multiplier to damage. Headshots cause 2x damage for most weapons, with shotguns and some special weapons dealing 1.5x on a headshot instead.
Recoil Decrease is the amount of recoil countered per second. Recoil decrease takes place after a short delay (equal to refire time) when you have stopped firing.
TTK - Time-to-Kill - how long it will take to kill a person after first hit.
Sluggun - Any shotgun, using Slug Ammunition.
Cert - Certification Point, you recieve them for every 250 experience points you get. You use certs to unlock new weapons and upgrades.
Detailed weapon stats can be found here.

4. What is Light Assault?
___Light assault is perhaps the most versatile infantry, and supports many playstyles. His main feature is, undoubtedly, the ability to fly and glide with Jump Jets or Drifter Packs, main usage for these being traversing complex terrain and flanking enemies from unexpected angles.

___Here's a common example: TR defend The Crown from enemy assault. TR player jumps down from The Crown, eludes enemy Magrider under the bridge, uses Jump Jets to go directly under the bridge. The rest of an example in this video:

Light Assault excels in these kinds of flanking attacks.

___That said, Light Assault's equipment is limited to wielding carbines or shotguns, which are not very good at range. Our obtainable weapons can be broken into three groups, and so can be LA's playstyles, namely Sniper, Close Quarters Combat (CQC) and General Combat. We'll talk about it more later.

5. Choosing a side
___There are three sides in PS2. I won't go into sides' ideology, that can be read here and videos about them can be viewed here. Ofcourse, what interests you is what side is best. Well, that'll you have to decide for yourself. The main combat differences between sides are following.

Short description:
TR (red): Have largest clips and biggest ammo pools. Also, with TR CQC Carbines (Lynx and Jaguar) you can move while aiming down advanced sights (ADS) at 75% of normal speed, while other factions' CQC Carbines allow only for 50%.

NC (blue): Deal higher damage when up close, but lower damage at distance. Mostly have higher recoil. Use gauss weapons.
There is also an unconfirmed rumor of them having higher armor, I would appreciate if someone could shed a light on this.

VS (purple): This game has somewhat realistic ballistic model, meaning that the further you shoot, the higher you have to raise your aim to compensate for bullet drop. Well, when playing Vanu, you don't have to deal with that. Most of their weapons don't have bullet drop, because they are energy (plasma?) weapons. Have the least recoil.

___In the end, the grass is always greener on the other side of fence. You have to pick a side, playing which you will have the most fun.
However, there are things at which certain sides do perform better.

NC would be preferrable for long range shooting, as the AC-X11 deals the highest damage at range, but has limited ammo. This won't bother you much, because you can easily disengage long range combat and run restock on ammo.

Vanu is best for sniping with shotgun with Slug Ammo, because of the lack of bullet drop it's easier to fire at distant enemies. Other factions' slugs are subjects to severe bullet drop.

TR shine in lone wolf scenarios because they can carry more ammo. You just have to choose a criteria that's important to you, and go from there. Personally, I chose TR for their epic orchestral music.

6. Choosing a weapon
___First of all, let me say this. The default weapons: TRAC 5, Mercenary and Solstice are very decent weapons and do good in a variety of situations. If you buy a new gun it will have both advantages and disadvantages when compared to a default gun. There isn't such thing as just a better gun.

___The biggest differences between guns usually lie in their possible attachments.
CQC carbines allow for advanced laser sight, which dramatically increases hip fire accuracy, and Soft Point ammo, which is supposed to be good for CQC, and flash suppressor, which removes muzzle flash.
Sniper carbines allow for advanced forward grip, which reduces horizontal recoil, making long range shooting more controllable, and High Velocity ammo, which increases weapon effective distance and bullet travel speed, and compensator, which reduces vertical recoil at cost of hip fire accuracy.
There are three General Combat carbines for each side: the default one, burst series, and S series. S series support ALL possible attachments, excluding advanced laser sight and advanced forward grip.

You can check what gun can have what attachments here.
Detailed weapon stats can be found here.

Please note, that ALL TR Carbines deal the same damage per bullet. (143 @ 10m and 112 @ 65m) and have same amount of bullets per clip (40). Main differences between guns are available attachments and rate of fire / accuracy / reload time / bullet travel time kind of stuff.

6.1 General Combat carbines

___All default carbines belong to this group. General Combat carbines do good in all situations. This group most notable distinction is that some of them allow Underbarrel Attachments: underbarrel shotgun, grenade launcher or smoke grenade launcher.

TR GC Carbines:

TRAC 5
The default carbine. Has comparatively high Rate of Fire (750), which is a leader among default carbines of all sides.

TRAC 5 Burst
Is absolutely equal to TRAC 5 in all aspects, save for one: instead of fully automatic fire mode it has short burst mode of three shots.
I don't think it's really useful to have, I never switch fire modes, because you can easily control your fire rate with tapping your [Left Mouse Button]. A matter of personal preference, I guess.

TRAC 5 S
The main feature of this carbine is it's versatile attachments.
In addition to all standard attachments it supports Soft Point ammo (supposed to be good for CQC, more on that later), High Velocity ammo (nice for long-range combat), compensator (long range combat), underbarrel attachments and 6x scope. It also has burst fire mode.

Disadvantages when compared to TRAC 5 are: 0.1s longer reload, 10% higher recoil (but 11% lower first shot recoil) and lower RoF (698 vs 750 of TRAC 5). As you can see, TRAC 5 S is very versatile, and with right atachments can fulfill any role.

NC GC Carbines:
As I'm not NC player, I'll use some quotes:

AF-19 Mercenary
Sayl914 said: ↑
“The AF-19 is a solid mid range gun, it does moderate damage, for an NC gun has reasonable hip fire capabilities, and is very controllable in comparison to it's competition. It has lacking customization options, which in the end may be a good thing, as the output for weapon modifications is very low compared to the cert cost. It can equip a flash suppressor, laser sight, foregrip, every optic but 6x and silencer. This gun has a very fast reload compared to the other guns of its class and that can be a big factor if you are perched in a good position raining death as fast as it can be rained. Attachment wise I think it can go in any direction one wishes, as it doesn't have any advanced options and can be competitive, but not dominant at any range.”
Gauss Compact Burst
Is basically the AF-19 Mercenary with short burst of 2 shots instead of fully automatic fire mode.

Gauss Compact S
PRO:
Sayl914 said: ↑
“Essentially a worse version of the AF-19 Mercenary with slightly more recoil and reload time and slightly lower rate of fire. It trades these things for the ability to equip an insane amount of modifications. This would be a total wash with the glaring exception of the attached grenade launcher. This thing will kill infantry in one hit with a direct hit, even shielded heavies, and put SERIOUS damage on a max. The switch to the grenade launcher is instant and the shot seems to be unaffected by flying, so flying over someone's head and dropping a grenade while you pass over is an effective (if a little cheap) strategy. Dropping grenades into a zerg can really rack up the kills and assists, and while the gun itself is very meh, as it is a jack of all trades type gun with a little worse performance than the mercenary.
Fully kitted out it is a solid choice for those who can make use of the power of the attached grenade launcher.”
StaticV0iD said: ↑
“Get the Gauss Compact S!
Save your Certs, steal your mom's purse, rob a liquor store, sell meth or just work for your money.
This is the best all-around carbine for the NC. Being able to switch firemode to single can help A LOT to get targets on longer ranges.
Get a Compensator and either the 'nade launcher (which is currently sort of buggy, as mentioned above) OR the underbarrel shotgun, which instagibs any guy on close range with one shot.”
CON:
Swiffle said: ↑
“I just trialed the Gauss Compact S and it felt worse than every other carbine :/
I know blah blah grenade launcher OP but ****, gun feels terrible. WTB a TRAC-5 S?”
HerpTheDerp said: ↑
“If you absolutely must have the grenade launcher, then, well, you don't have a choice. But IMO it's not worth gimping yourself in all firefights just so you can pop a MAX ocassionally, especially since the nade launcher is still buggy.”
Razor GD-23
Is in an awkward spot as a carbine. It allows for HV ammo and compensator, and flash suppressor, but no advanced forward grip and no 6x scope. It has the fastest reload of all carbines (1.55s/2.4s). Razor GD-23 is better suited for people who prefer longer range combat, but not willing to go to such extremes as AC-X11.

Ghoest said: ↑
“Not the most powerful - just easiest.
After looking at the numbers, buying one and setting up thats my feeling.
-standard ammo
-compensator
-forward grip
It does have side ways recoil but if you use the standard ammo its very slight.
And im only talking about aimed shots - the GD-7F is hands down the winner for hip shots.
It seems like its the easiest gun to hit stuff with for people arent good at managing recoil and bloom. You have a little less dps however than you would with the mercenary. But to be honest its not much different than the Merc.”
HerpTheDerp said: ↑
“Razor GD-23: An alternative to the Merc for a hefty 1000 certs. The Good: Even faster reload, same 167 damage per bullet, recoil pulls only in one direction and there's less first shot recoil, and noticeably faster projectile(fastest among all NC carbines by far). The bad: slower RoF and thus smallest overall DPS of all NC weapons. The Ugly: that stupid blue light at the back of the gun. If you can stomach 8.3% reduction in DPS and that stupid blue light then honestly this is a straight-up upgrade to the Mercenary.”
VS GC Carbines:
Sadly, I can't really comment on VS weapons.

Solstice
Is a default carbine and good choice for most combat situations.

Solstice Burst
Is equal to Solstice, but instead of fully automatic it fires in short bursts of 3 shots.

Solstice SF
Compared to default Solstice, has 0.1s longer reload, around 12% higher recoil, and lower Rate of Fire (650 vs 700). As with other factions, the SF version is the most versatile and allows for all attachments and ammunitions except adv. grip and adv. laser sight. Can have underbarrel attachments as well.

6.2 Close Quarters Combat Carbines

___These carbines allow for advanced laser sight, soft point ammunition and flash suppressor. They generally have highest rate of fire and smallest cone while hip-firing.
Some people say that Light Assault is the premiere CQC Class in the game. With Jump Jets Light Assault is very mobile and can easily break the distance between himself and a target and decimate it at point
blank range, where CQC Carbines shine at.
CQC Carbines are best weapons to install suppressor (silencer) on, because it hinders long range shooting, and with CQC Carbine you don't really care about that.
Here is some footage of CQC Carbine in action:

The gun is LC3 Jaguar with turned off (key L, it still provides the hip fire benefits) laser sights, suppressor and reflex sights.

TR CQC Carbines:
Only Jaguar and Lynx allow you to move at 75% movement speed while aiming down the sights. All other carbines of all factions allow only for 50%. It means you can aim and still be mobile with these weapons.

LC2 Lynx
Of all the TR Carbines Lynx offers the highest DPS at highest (800) rate of fire.

LC3 Jaguar
Compared to Lynx, Jaguar has many advantages at little cost. Jaguar has 0.35s longer long reload and slightly (750 vs 800) lower rate of fire, but offers very balanced horizontal recoil, so it feels like Jaguar has no horizontal recoil, while Lynx notably pulls to the right. Jaguar has 15% smaller cone of fire while moving while aiming down the sights, 17% smaller cone of fire while hipfiring standing still and 13% while moving, 17% smaller cone of fire while hipfiring while moving while crouching. Horrible wording, I know.
In essense, Jaguar is more accurate than Lynx and offers no horizontal recoil.

So, what to choose, Jaguar or Lynx? Basically, it's DPS vs Accuracy discussion. If you often find yourself firing at a little more distant enemies, Jaguar is for you.
If you're always in the enemie's face, then Lynx is for you. But then again, a shotgun might better suit your needs.
Perhaps this discussion will help you.
Also, if you hate underbarrel attachments for some reason or just don't like TRAC 5 S, Jaguar would be best choice for all-around combat.

NC CQC Carbine:
GD-7F
This carbine's shots are actually weaker, they deal 143 @ 10 m (most of NC carbines deal 167 @ 10 m), but this is compensated by insane Rate of Fire of 845 (Merc has 600, for example) and best hip fire of all the NC carbines.
Note, that this gun has to be handled carefully, as most of the NC weaponry. Compared to other NC carbines, you have to hit target with more bullets in order to kill it. If you spend a second firing past the target, then you'll probably won't kill it, GD-7F eats ammo like candy.

Here's a video review of this carbine by Craig1287


AntiDemocide said: ↑
“GD7F is arguably the best NC carbine, having the least TTK than any other carbine in the game (including VS and TR). Heck, I would say it does even better than the merc at medium range. I do very well with it, dying only after I've run out of ammo on it and using my pistol (I get 6-7kills). My setup is suppresor, 1x reflex, adv. laser pointer and soft point.
The RoF is your best friend. Spray all you can (dont burst fire in CQB) on the enemy if within 10m. However, your ammo is low so you have to manage well, hence why you may have some trouble killing enemies if you can't get them on target.
Don't aim down the sight--strafe and hip fire.”
VS CQC Carbines:
These carbines are similar in many ways. I will try my best to highlight their differences.

Serpent
Compared to VX6-7, Serpent has 0.5s longer short_reload and 1.1s longer long_reload. Has 36% lower recoil, but 17% larger cone of fire while hipfiring while standing and 12% while moving. Has 17% larger cone of fire while hipfiring while crouching and moving. Its rate of fire is 845, the leader among carbines, tied with GD-7F.
Video review of Serpent by freeze:

VX6-7
It's rate of fire is 800, slightly lower than that of Serpent. Reloads considerably faster and has better accuracy. In essence, Serpent has higher dps when firing straight at enemy. I don't really know how smaller cone of fire of VX6-7 adds up against lower recoil of Serpent.
There have been many discussions on forums comparing these two guns, meaning it's not an easy choice.
Here are these discussions, perhaps they will help you.
http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/vx6-7-or-serpent.73919/
http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/vx6-7-vs-serpent.70935/
http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/vanu-carabines-vx6-7-or-serpent.67155/

6.3 Sniping Carbines
These carbines allow for advanced forward grip, which reduces horizontal recoil, compensator, High Velocity Ammunition (HV Ammo) (better for longer ranges) and 6x scopes. Generally they have lower rate of fire, sometimes higher projectile speed.

TR Sniping Carbine:
T5 AMC
It has 15% higher projectile velocity than TRAC 5 series even without HV Ammo. It has fastest reload of all TR Carbines (2.15s short reload) and lowest rate of fire (650, which is still high among other carbines).

 NC Sniping Carbine:

AC-X11
___This is a supreme sniping carbine for Light Assaults. It's damage per shot is whopping 200 @ 10m and 143 @ 85m. Most of the other NC carbines' damage is 167 @ 10m and TR and Vanu carbines, excluding Pulsar C, deal 143 @ 10 m. This means that with AC-X11 you will need the least amount of hits to kill a person.

___However, there are severe drawbacks: 20 ammo per clip, 100 ammo pool, high recoil and bloom. It is also the only NC carbine that has recoil decrease of 15, all other carbines have 18.
Sayl914 said: ↑
“The long range gun for NC, this gun trades hip fire ability and rate of fire for raw bullet damage. This gun has only 20 bullets and 5 magazines, and has some pretty heavy recoil that can be mitigated by its advanced foregrip. For those who want to carbine snipe this gun can also equip high velocity bullets which will increase its minimum damage range by 10 m and make bullets faster. This gun has relatively slow bullets for a long range focused gun, so high velocity is of high consideration. Single shot headshots at 100m+ will drop most targets in 3 shots so sitting on a perch and spotting and sniping can be effective, but the damage drop, slow bullet, and inability to burst at this range will make it difficult to hit targets that are moving in unpredictable ways. Also of note is the raw power of the gun, point blank range even with the recoil and hip fire if all bullets hit it has a very respectable TTK.”
Caracal said: ↑
“Long range, 4-6 shots to kill. You wont be able to auto this, you will squeeze 1-2 rounds per burst. This means 2-4 bursts. The more bursts required, the higher the chance the enemy will move under cover.

Many times you will see that you blow rounds without getting a kill, but at least you may get the assist. That being said, you'll be astonished how often an enemy simply wont move.
Medium range, I think this gun is great at medium range. Its recoil is straight upwards, but it blooms something fierce. So, pulling straight down, dont go full auto (burst in like 5 rounds at a time), and use a sight when ever possible. I really have fun with this at medium ranges. I would recommend a sight for this range, not long range. a 3X-4X sight has treated me kindly. Short range, I hate this gun at short range. I cannot tell you how many times I get the jump on people, fire first, and still lose the engagement. I have a feeling that the bloom is causing this (not the recoil).
If you burst in short range fights, your TTK increases to the point where the other factions will kill you dead. They can afford to go full auto in close engagements, with this gun you simply cannot sustain accuracy while maintaining full auto. That being said, the lazer sight has helped this, but not by much. If I do get a close range kill, it is when I can use my jet pack to fly over, and disorient the opponent.
Conclusion:
So, do not take this thing indoors. This gun excels if you enjoy finding an awkward spot, and sniping from it. Or if you prefer to strike from the roof without going to the ground first. But, if you want to get in close, like flying up a turret wall to surprise people... you may want to look towards another gun. This gun also offers a double forward grip upgrade. This confuses me as the recoil seems to go straight up. I will need to research into this double forward grip upgrade before making a recommendation on it.”
HerpTheDerp said: ↑
“AC-X11: This is supposed to be a long range carbine but it sort of fails. It has slowest projectile of all NC carbines which certainly doesn't help with leading targets at range, noticeably worse hipfire accuracy, slightly worse ADS accuracy on the move, and of course higher recoil(but Adv. Grip will take care of that). While it does have the top-tier damage per bullet, the mag is only 20 rounds with 100 reserve, so you're not getting more bang for your buck compared to the Merc/Razor. How about you just forget this gun exists and get a shotgun with slugs when you want a dedicated mid/long range weapon?”
VS Sniping Carbine

Pulsar C
___Deals more damage than any other VS carbine (167 @ 10m compared to 143), reaches its minimum damage later (at 112m compared to 100m). It offers 0.35s longer reload times, 40% stronger recoil, balanced horizontal recoil, 10% lower first shot recoil, three times smaller cone of fire while standing and crouching, 20% stronger bloom per shot and lower rate of fire (577 against 652).
xenoneo said: ↑
“The Pulsar C is the best long range option for the Engi/LA as far as I can tell.
It fires slower, but its strength is its higher damage per bullet. 4x scope and high velocity ammo are all you need for this role. You can change the firing mode with B, but I just tap the mouse button for each shot until the cross hairs come back down to default. 4 taps on the mouse on average will down anyone. As I understand it, with 2x forward grip and compensator, it can preform well at long range when shot full auto. I haven't tested those however.
Pulsar C is just better for very long range. As Light Assault, you can get the drop on people with it, and they have no idea where you are since you are so far away.”
6.4 Shotguns

___I would like to define Shotguns as an extreme evolution of CQC Carbine - even better close up, horrible at anything remote. Shotgun IS the deadliest weapon. You become a threat even to MAXes. Shotgun can dispatch heavies with hardened shields, but worth nothing at open areas. It's for you to decide if shotgun will fit your playstyle, because playing with one is very different.
Here's a video by Alin to demonstrate what shotgun can do.

6.4.1 So should I use a shotgun?
Here's some quotes to help you decide:

Adhoc said: ↑
“The pandora is an absolute beast in comparison to the Nova, so if the TR versions are simply mirros, I'd suggest the fully auto version. For either one, the extended magazine rail is an absolute necessity. I really don't like the shotguns in general though on the LA. I find it's extremely useful on my engineer, but it just doesn't fit my LA's playstyle, which centers around baiting people into fights and countering them with mobility. It also doesn't have enough ammo for my liking. I really have to be careful in comparison to my VX6-7 which allows me to be attacking from some really odd places and angles without losing too much damage over range, and also it's killer if I have to get in close. Definitely trial it though,it's an extremely different play style.”
Ghoest said: ↑
“If you use a shotgun much of the time you learn to make it so that you often the enemy cant engage you till point blank. Shotguns are good and useful weapons - but not for everyone.”
Wolfwood82 said: ↑
“But again, why limit yourself with your weapon, when you could get a weapon that is functional at all relevant ranges? 5m is asking a lot for a primary weapon, and even if you use your pistol you still cut yourself far short of medium range, and even at the pistol's ideal ranges it will be out classed by any carbine easily. I just can't see the current shotgun being useful by any stretch of the imagination. It's a highly specialized piece of equipment and with glaring weaknesses. I see it more as a crutch to teach new LA users how to plan ambushes, and fire from the hip more. Once you've used a shotgun and gotten a gold medal on it or so, you'd be better off switching back to a Lynx with an advanced laser.”
Vortok said: ↑
“You can comfortably get 2-3 kills with an extended mag shotgun before needing a reload, so better chance of taking out that group you came across. With a standard 30 round carbine it's one kill, two if you were reasonably accurate/lucky. Or, you're TR and have an extra 10 shots to make things more manageable, making the shotgun a less attractive option in the average kills per reload department over a carbine.

Shotguns also force you to navigate the map in a specific way. Being good with a shotgun is less about having godly aim and more about how often you can make the engagements inside your effective range. More or less how a LA should move anyway, but a shotgun reinforces the need to move around the map intelligently to avoid sucking it up. You're also not tempted to try to out pop shot the HAs/Medics at long range like you might be with a carbine.
Carbines are far more general use and versatile in a wide range of scenarios.”
Some videos featuring shotgun playstyle (in some of those videos player uses Slug Ammo):

6.4.2 Choosing a shotgun

All shotguns allow for retaining 75% movespeed while moving while aiming down the sights (just like Lynx and Jaguar).

Classification:
point 1: There are 2 semi-auto and one full-auto shotgun for each side.
point 2: There are more accurate and less accurate shotguns. Accurate shotguns have better Cone of Fire while moving, jumping or crouching & moving while aiming down the sights. Each side has one accurate
shotgun.

___Being accurate has nothing to do with shotgun being auto or semi-auto. Please note that being accurate has nothing to do with recoil, all shotguns have same recoil.
___All unmentioned stats are equal among all shotguns. There's an uncomfirmed rumor of 6 ammo semi-auto shotguns having smaller pellet spread.

Full Auto Shotguns:
Have 6 ammo per clip. 2.4s / 3.8s reload times, which is medium among shotguns, rate of fire of 300. Ammo pool of 30. Except for Pandora, which has 24 for some reason, unless equipped with Extended Mags. Then it becomes 30. A bug, perhaps.
TR: AS16 Nighthawk. Accurate.
NC: Piston
VS: Pandora

Semi auto shotguns can have 6 or 8 ammo per clip. All semi-auto shotguns have rate of fire of 250, they don't fire as fast as you can click.

6 ammo Semi-Auto Shotguns:
1.925s / 3.5s reload times, 30 ammo pool.
TR: FA1 Barrage
NC: Mauler S6. Accurate.
VS: Thanatos

8 ammo Semi-Auto Shotguns:
2.6s / 4s reload times, 40 ammo pool.
TR: TS4 Haymaker
NC: Sweeper
VS: Nova. Accurate

Undead Clown said: ↑
“Its play style mostly, really. The 6 shot semi-auto is kinda pointless though, either use the 6 shot full-auto, or the 8 shot semi-auto (the slightly higher reload is hardly noticeable, and you usually need the extra rounds).
The full-auto is easier to use, but I prefer the 8 shot semi-auto because the fire rate is only like 50ms slower, and you get the extra rounds and better control.”

Chrysalis said: ↑
“Auto. When you need the extra rate of fire, you have it. When you don't, you can always just treat it like a semi. Really have to learn some trigger discipline though, if you empty the clip into someone, you're just wasting probably half of it on dead meat. And yes, dying people DO soak bullets, so don't try to treat this game like other shooters, can't shoot through the dead. It's great in Bio Labs and anywhere where you know the majority of fighting is going to be very short ranged. In protracted battles, it's great to pull out when you need to contest indoor areas such as the guts of a tech plant, etc. Since LAs have such great approach options due to the jetpack, being locked into CQC is less of a hindrance than it otherwise might be as long as the fight isn't completely open field.”
gunshooter said: ↑

“Shotguns are the one weapon in the game where you can really use whatever you want and not notice a performance difference. This goes for both slugs and buckshot. Any arguments over the best shotgun are just pointless when it's all minor differences for preference.”

___As you can see, there's enough difference between shotguns to start a holy war, not even mentioning the debatable fact of shotguns' viability to Light Assault.

Please note that shotgun being accurate doesn't really help you, most of the time shotgun users don't bother to aim down the sights. If target is further than hipfiring range you probably won't deal enough damage to it anyway.

___You have to decide for yourself if you want more ammo or faster reload. Or even full-auto shotgun, which does offer 17% higher DPS because of higher rate of fire.
Note on shotgun attachments: it's almost universal opinion that shotguns should be used with Extended Magazines. Extended Mags do combine with Ammo Belt nicely, meaning that if your clip size is 6, you'll get 6 additional shots per Level of Ammo Belt, with Extended Mags your clip size becomes 10, and Ammo Belt will give you 10 shots per level. (Thanks to DarKDruG for this info).

6.5 Slugguns


___Sluggun is a term that used to describe any shotgun using Slug Ammunition, which is, in essesence, shotgun bullets.
___Sluggun differs from shotgun as much as shotgun differs from a carbine. Slugguns offer very different playstyle. Slugs are horrbile while hipfiring, but offer absolute accuracy while aiming down the sights. VS players will be here at a an advatage, because their slugs don't have bullet drop, and are aimed very
easily. That said, bullet drop becomes noticable only on very long distances (100 m +), on these distances it's hard to hit anything because of bullet travel time, unless target is standing still, in which case bullet drop can easily be compensated for.
Sluggun is almost a sniper rifle, it trades close quarters capabilities for long range efficiency.

8bawl said: ↑
“I've unlocked the nova w/slugs and 4x scope. It is great for unsuspecting enemies, and that's about it. Even then, it generally takes 3 body shots, and after the first two land most people have the presence of mind to move around. I'm not sure if it's my low FPS, lag, or lack of aiming skill, but I CAN NOT hit (let alone head-shot) a moving target with this set up, near or far, whether they know I'm there or not. Coupled with the slugs, the Nova loses it's CQC ability as it seems the slugs take the spread away. I think it's my FPS that is causing my aiming woes however, as I'm only getting a max of about 20fps in the open and it slows down to about 5 - 10fps in large scale encounters (I experienced a complete lock-up last night in one of the bio domes, something that has never happened on my current machine, granted it is five years old now).
I started playing as an infiltrator as I love sniping. I wanted to be able to snipe from any position (usually high ground) and wanted the mobility of a jet pack. Once I discovered the shotgun slugs allow this I became smitten, only to find out my effectiveness is negated by bad FPS/lag/aiming ability, and that somebody with a starter weapon can put me down fairly easily as a LA. The few times that I flank a squad and am left to my own devices picking targets off has been worth it so far. Once the game is (hopefully) better optimized and more of the load will be put on the GPU, my poor processor can rest a bit and I can place a targeting reticle on somebody's moving head.”

Foefaller said: ↑
“Slug shotties might be hilariously good at mid-range, and pellets devestating at close quarters hip firing, but having to pick one means you are pretty much useless at the other. A CQC carbine with laser sights, on the other hand, will be effective vs anyone not in a MAX without a pellet shotgun or underbarrel GL of thier own, and can still be given a 2x or 3.4x scope for shooting at enimies sticking thier heads out of windows or standing on the other side of the road.
Plus, if you are being the sneaky ambush-the-guys-coming-out-of-the-buildings-you're-standing-on kind of LA, you can't put a supressor on a shotgun. ”

axelthesot said: ↑
“I use slugs on both my Light Assault and Engineer load outs almost always. Accuracy will vary from gun to gun (I find the accuracy on the Vanu shotgun a little better than the Nighthawk on my TR) but for the most part are fairly accurate to around 200+m. The bullet drop isn't terrible at that range either. Damage is FANTASTIC. Almost always a three shot kill or a headshot + one. Damage drop off isn't very noticeable. The tough part about the slugs in a straight up one on one fight is the same problem any semi auto gun runs in to: making each shot count with good aim while you are getting hit. The other guy can merely point in your direction and hold fire and even if he is getting shot some of his bullets will still reach you. If you spam click, you are going to lose. You have to make sure to line up each shot to fire or else the recoil on your gun plus the other guy's bullets hitting you are going to make your accuracy terrible. This soundslike it makes it too slow a process to be any good, but once you get used to the "rhythm" of your shots you can stand toe to toe with anybody.
The slugs really shine, however, in their versatility. They are great at almost any range. As long as you can aim from the hip, they can still tear people apart in short range(especially with the Nighthawk). They are on an even playing field with the automatics at mid range if you can control your recoil. Finally, in my opinion, they absolutely wreck automatics in longer range engagements. With the high damage per shot, low falloff, and good accuracy they can make for a poor man's sniper rifle. I was feeding ammo to a burster max on the hill earlier today who thought I was using a semi auto battle rifle because of all the kills I was nabbing from 200+ meters out. I've also gotten a few tells calling me a hacker because they just got killed by a shotgun from that far away.”

Ghoest said:
↑ “I have about 800 kills with my mauler.
~half with regular shells and half with slugs(could be 60/40 either way to be honest.) Slugs really suck in CQC. Yes I and anyone get kills with them when its all I have in close quarters but its honestly about the worse close quarter weapon in the game outside of a sniper gun. Its because slugs have bad bloom from moving mostly I suppose if you fight close quarters standing still with enemies wwho stand still they are nice???????
Compared to regular shells up close the slugs are shockingly worse. Slugs shine at medium/long ranges. Once you get the rhythm 3 fast shots kills most everything except HA with ability shield. Headshots reduce it to 2. Im not particularly experienced with carbines but I think they offer more in terms of versatility.”

Twisp said: ↑
“I use them with the FA1 barrage (6 round, longer range, fast reload semi auto, for other factions) using a laser pointer and 4x scope. Makes a pretty excellent replacement for a proper sniper rifle, very ammo-efficient and carries more punch out to range than other shotties do. Still tears at close range, although it can't instakill anymore. I have to say, I like it quite a bit. Let's me use my height to a serious advantage, letting me pick off other soldiers with ease.”

Lowback said: ↑
“It's a lot like using the desert eagle in counterstrike. Take your shots carefully. Fire when you switch A to D, or vice versa, if you get into CQC instead of firing while moving. You only need to stop for that brief second. Use the NV/IR scope, or the clearest reflex sight you can. Crouch briefly for your third shot if you make it so soon that your CoF and recoil has not yet fully cooled off. A nova, for example, has the power to kill 4 people with slugs+extended mag if you hit all body shots. If you get headshot+body shot, you have the killing power for 6. I don't think even the LMG can match that killing power per clip.”

Plague Rat said: ↑
“I wouldn't say slugs are limited to shooting still targets. The shotgun was my first weapon purchase and I got slugs immediately. Using the shotgun exclusively, after a while you just start automatically leading your target the amount you need. It's actually become problematic because I bought a new carbine recently and am over-leading targets constantly to the point where I want to get kills I have to take my shotgun. I guess that's the risk of overspecialization though.
Also I've been playing VS alt to play with the idea of a slug with no drop, since I normally play NC. I think that while their projectile has no drop it might be a little slower. I can't prove it but my aim was constantly off on moving targets even at mid-range, and testing at the warpgate the bullet does feel like it's taking a TINY bit longer to get where it's going, enough to throw my aim I guess. Tried to find a weapon stat spreadsheet or something, buy my google skills fail me. So that might be a concern too.”

4Unruly said: ↑
“My experience at longer ranges looks just like the video posted earlier here. As for the damage. The Pandora is pretty much always 3 shots. I have gotten 2 hit kills only with 2 head shots. I did get one kill on an infiltrator that was 1 head and 1 body, but I think infiltrators actually have slightly less health.

As for close up. To hit anything beyond luck you have to ADS the slugs. With the scope on you can't really follow much while ADS. If you fire the slugs from the hip, you get the spray pattern that the pellets would have given, and still only about half the damage. For all close up work, take off the scope and the slugs and use the plain shotgun. This is the drawback of the weapon, it's completely range limited to either long or short, but never both without changing the load out.”

7. What attachments and upgrades should I use?
7.1 Weapon Attachments

___Generally speaking, you should outfit your weapon (which you chose from previous section) with attachments corresponding to it's role, however there are some things I would like you to know about so you won't make same mistakes other players (myself included) do.

7.1.1 Scope

___Scope will probably be the first thing you purchase. All scopes cost 30 certs.
There's a variety of scopes you can outfit your gun with.

1x Night Vision/High Saturation Scope. This scope is particularly useful in two situations: for dark times, obviously, and for people using smoke grenades or underbarrel smoke grenade launcher.
This scope's distinctive ability is that it highlights infantry and vehicles with high saturation, who sometimes can be hard to detect. And ofcourse smoke doesn't block that effect, so you accurately shoot through smoke.
Not everybody knows this, but these scopes also higlight landmines.

1x Reflex scope. The recommend choice for CQC situations, as it allows you great field of vision, allowing for more convenient aiming than defailt iron sights.
2x Reflex scope. Recommend choice for general combat carbines, as it allows for convenient aim in all situations, from CQC to longer ranges. You don't need higher magnification than 2x for most situations.

Various 3.4x-4x scopes. If you have a sniping carbine you may be compelled to outfit it with sniper scope, even 6x one. I strongly advise you against that, because you will have very hard time aiming at
anything closer than 50 meters or moving targets. You don't really need such high magnification even for sniping. No reason to put yourself at disadvantage, most of the time you can succesfully snipe people
with 2x Reflex.

7.1.2 Barrel attachments

All barrel attachments cost 100 certs

Suppressor.
Wiki said:
“Suppressors mask your location on the minimap when firing and reduce muzzle flash. Bullet velocity and effectiveness at range is reduced.
This is recommended for Infiltrators firing at close to medium distances or anyone who intends on getting behind enemy lines. The key to this attachment is maintaining the element of surprise and eluding enemy detection.”
Achmed20 said: ↑
“Unless you try to be sneaky and invade a base all allone, the supressor doesnt realy matter (for me). people tend to ignore single dots on the map in huge combat situations.”
It's most suited for CQC Situations, because there we don't really care about our effectiveness at range.

Suppressor shines when deep behind enemy lines and there isn't much action going around.
Sound suppression is not really main thing about suppressors. Nearby enemies will still hear your shots. Main features are removing you from enemy radar and removing muzzle flash, making you hard to detect visually.
However, radar system seems somewhat kinky.

Flash Suppressor
Wiki said:
“This flash suppressor will better direct the muzzle flash of a discharged weapon, effectively hiding it from view. This addon will not muffle the sound of the weapon nor hide the shooter's location on the minimap. Automatic weapons fire will be more difficult to handle at longer ranges with this attachment, so it is important to fire in shorter bursts.
Unlike the suppressor, the flash suppressor will not cause rounds to lose muzzle velocity, and so round damage will not be reduced. This makes the flash suppressor preferable over suppressors during night time engagements at medium-to-long range. Due to the reduction of full auto accuracy, however, more fire control must be exercised.”
___I personally use Flash Suppressor on my general combat carbine, as it allows to be behind enemy lines, in a thick of combat, but still remain hidden from enemies even after killing someone. I have had quite a few situations when I've killed engineer repairing MAX and MAX couldn't see mee even if I was in his field of view. Human's eye catches movement quickly, but has a hard time distinguishing motionless soldier from background, especially at night.
Like been said, radar system is kinky, and even then not everyone looks at a radar. If fighting is all around you, sound of your carbine will be a drop in the sea, so suppressing sound is not so important.
Removing muzzle flash is a big deal, don't underestimate Flash Suppressor.
Conclusion: use Suppressor when you know you will be fighting alone and Flash Suppressor in other situations.

Compensator
Wiki said:
“A compensator redirects gases upward, reducing vertical recoil. The increased sound pressure will cause the player to show in the minimap from farther away, and increased weapon bulk reduces accuracy when firing from the hip.”
Suited for sniper carbines, because then you don't really care about hip fire accuracy.

7.1.3 Rail attachments
All rail attachments, including underbarrel attachments, cost 100 certs.

Flashlight
Is a good way to let enemy know where you are. At a nighttime HS/NV scope is a better solution.

Laser Sight/ Advanced Laser Sight
Don't expect a red dot appearing instead of a usual crosshair, the laser effect is purely cosmetic.
LS increases your hip fire accuracy and suited for CQC.
After installing LS/ALS you will actually notice crosshair getting smaller.
You can turn laser on and off by using [L key]. As far as I know, turned off laser sights still gives you all ahe benefits. If you are doing this, remember to turn on and then turn off LS after every respawn. This ensures that your *exterior model* which is seen by enemies and allies, gets updated. This is sort of a bug.

Forward Grip/ Advanced Forward Grip
It appears to actually reduce the amount of horizontal recoil. How much it reduces it by is unknown.
Suited for Sniper carbines. Effect is fairly hard to notice, but there is no reason not to install Forward Grip on a sniping carbine.

Extended Magazine
These increase the amount of bullets carried in a single magazine without increasing your total amount of ammo carried. For many weapons they double the capacity of the magazine.
Can be installed only on shotguns. Note that this upgrade DOES NOT increase total ammo you can carry, that effect is achieved by Ammo Belt upgrade.
Adds 4 to 6 shots to a clip, as far as I can tell. This upgrade allows you to fire without reloading longer, without other advantages or drawbacks.
Note that Extended Mags and Ammo Belt stack nicely, meaning you'll get more ammo per Level of the Ammo Belt if you have Extended Mags installed.

The following underbarrel attachments can only be used with TRAC 5 S, Gauss Compact S and Solstice SF.

Underbarrel Smoke Grenade Launcher
Check out Wrel's Smoke Grenade and Underbarrel Smoke Grenade Launcher Video Guide it'll tell you all you need to know about Smoke in PS2.

There is an issue that at Low graphic setting smoke is practically non-existent.
A video comparing graphic settings:


Hellryder said: ↑
“Underbarrel smoke grenades have a minimum range and cannot bounce off walls, but have a much MUCH longer range.

Personally, I use the underbarrel smoke launcher and throw standard frags. Spend the 100 certs you save on something else, like C4. Edit: By minimum range I mean if you shoot it too close it will not give you a very good smokescreen. It only gives a few puffs if shot too close, but if you shoot from a distance you get a large, thick smoke cloud. I personally use this on my engineer to provide cover when healing a damaged tank.”
Underbarrel Shotgun

Krona said: ↑
“Last I heard the shotgun was working just like the nade launcher, but worse. It isn't useful for anything but 1 shotting afk people.”

Strilac said: ↑
“You have 4 charges, and it 1 shots anything in close range like up to 10m. Also, it never bugs out, unlike GL. Charge is worh like 2 normal shotgun shots in terms of power, i think. When i use it, I prefer to run with it in closed enviroments so if someone appears around corner, i can 1 shot him, its also precise when you are jumpjeting, so you can jumpjet to someone and 1 shot him. Its better than GL in close combat, and close combat is where LA is 90% of time I had some instances where like my shot didnt register, but that happens with regular shotguns also. To cut it short, dont get underbarrel shotgun, get shotgun, because since i started to use shotgun my K/D jumped upt to 5 or so, funny thing is that i opeted to get a shotgun is because of underbarrel shotgun i had, and circumstances that make me wish i have a real one.
And if oyu wish to stick to carbines, get underbarell SG, its better for LA than GL.”
Underbarrel Grenade Launcher

Has two grenades, need to reload after each shot. Grenade flies on a ballistic trajectory, and with enough expirience can be fired on quite distant targets.
Grenades cost no resources and most of the time you can restock them from engineer's ammo kits.
It feels like Ammo Kits have limited supply of them, or something. One minute you can resupply from the kit, few resupplys later, you can't, but when you find new kit, you can get grenades out of. Whacky business.

Area of Effect is quite small. Direct hit will one-shot infantry and deal serious damage to MAX, however, if you miss by a couple of meters explosion will barely scratch the target.
There is also a rumor of a bug, that sometimes your hits don't register, I've had it quite a few times. Maybe it's related to latency or AoE being small.

Brofanity said: ↑
“The GL is absolutely devastating, that is, if it doesn't glitch and do no damage at all, which can happen on one or both of your grenades. Very frustrating but worth it when it does.”
I personally think that GL is amazing and adds very much to a loadout. As LA, we burn through ammo quickly, and if you have the GL it's grenades become one more thing you can run out of.
Laser Sights and Forward Grips are nice, but they only slightly increase carbine's existing capabilities, while GL adds a whole new layer to a game. Let me shamelessly quote myself on that:

Iridar51 said: ↑
“I cherish all those times when I one-shotted one or two enemies from 100 meters just by careful aiming. I have a lot of expierence with that from using Flak Cannon in Unreal Tournament.
Grenadier loadout is great for near-base play, be it defending or assaulting, where LA shines the most. I oppose this loadout to *sniper* loadout, with 3.4x+ scope and advanced grips, and to *CQC* loadout, with adv. laser sights.
I myself used to think about little me being *agile sniper*, hopping on rooftops and picking enemies from afar, but when I discovered grenadier playstyle I don't want to go back.
Also, I was surprised how good actually TRAC 5S (and I suppose any general combat carbine) is good at long-range shooting.”
As far as I know, UB GL doesn't damage vehicles.

7.1.4 Ammo

Slugs
Covered in Sluggun section

Soft Point Ammo (according to spreadsheet)
Decreases bullet velocity by an unknown value, as well as extending the initial damage dropoff range for the weapon to 15m instead of 10m and reducing minimum damage by 1 tier (167 → 143, 143 → 125, 125 → 112, 112 → 100, 100 → 91).

Verenz said: ↑
“Your VX6-7 is a 7 hit kill weapon as long as your opponent is within 10m, then the bullets start losing damage all the way out to 110m at which point the VX6-7 takes 10 bullets to kill. Soft points make your weapon do its maximum damage out to 15m instead of 10m. But it also makes your weapon require 11 bullets to kill at maximum range (110m). So soft points are probably better within about 40m, and they lower your muzzle velocity. I like them (for guns such as the VX), but it is a trade off to make.”

There is an uncofirmed rumor that Soft Point Ammo actually reduces the damage that you do at point blank range, increases the damage at medium range and reduces it at longer range.
I have yet to find any official evidence supporting this claim. Obviuosly, Soft Point Ammo is designed to improve one's CQC capabilities.

7.2 Ability Slot

This is where your special ability, Jet Packs go.
Note: all upgrade levels and costs can be viewed here in a convinient table.


7.2.1 Jump Jets
Is what you get by default. Allows for getting to higher places, safe ejecting from planes, safe falling from cliffs, gliding with tapping space bar.
Note that you can crouch while Jetting, allowing you to squeeze into tight places such as windows. There's a long line of upgrades for Jump Jets, however each upgrade is not easily noticed.
There's an unconfirmed rumor that some of JJ's upgrades don't work. Personally, I believe that boost is there, just small.

7.2.2 Drifter Jump Jets
Change your playstyle completely. With drifters you can't Jet upwards, instead you can glide (drift) in air for prolonged period of time.
Unlike with Jump Jets, Drifter's upgrades are easily noticable.
To me, Drifters kill the very purpose of being Light Assault, however, many people on numerous occasions have proven that Drifters can be very effective.
Here are some videos to highlight Drifter Jets possibilities:

Game footage



Review


Accuracy Test

#1. Laser Sights increase the accuracy of your first few shots, as the cone of fire slowly expands the more shots you take. This won't return to "normal" until you land.
#2. Scoping (ADS) will stop the cone of fire from spreading.
#3. Your cone of fire will always be at maximum without laser sight attachments.

7.3 Suit Slot

7.3.1 Adrenaline Pump
Increase sprint speed by about 10%. Has no upgrades and costs only 30 certs.
quote="Wrel, post: 906866, member: 118929"]Adrenaline Pump is painfully underpowered at the moment. It offers (at most) a 10% movement speed boost. Which is a far cry from (as I recall) the 30% bonus it was intended to have. I consider Flak Armor or Nanoweave or Grenade bandoliers better options all and all.[/quote]

Conq said: ↑
“I have full nano, full flak and adrenaline pump. Oddly enough I still use my fast slippers most of the time, every bit of speed counts when you're skirting around a tank's line of sight to place C4 or full ****** zig zagging your way directly to a sniper.”
J1GGAWAT said: ↑
“I absolutely love adrenaline pump. LA is the only class that can get a movement speed passive ability (right?) and being one of the few people moving faster is awesome. You can turn corners faster than other people and fly up to rooftops etc, it makes juking enemy players much easier. I haven't tried nanoweave yet, but it seems like a better fit for some of the other classes since my LA playstyle is very high movement based.”
Chancellor Gowron said: ↑
“If you want movement speed you should consider the drifter jumpjets.”
TheBloodEagle said: ↑
“Since you're LA, I figure you're going to die quick anyway if you don't surprise someone, etc etc. TTK is quite fast either way. LA should be quick and nimble so I definitely think Adrenaline pump is best. You're pretty much trying to me like HA with level nanoweave but still not close.
HA with nanoweave plus resist shield is best. That's where it actually comes in handy to go from Level 1 to 5.”
A video so you can see for yourself the difference:

As you can see, the boost is small, but it's there.

7.3.2 Advanced Shield Capacitor
Reduses the time it takes you to start regenerating shields.
My personal opinion of Shield Capacitor is not very high. In this game once you're spotted you either die instantly, or you run back to cover to safely recharge shields, and you don't really care if they do it several seconds faster.

Chancellor Gowron said: ↑
“I personally use the shield recharge. If you and an enemy 'trade' shields and disengage for a bit, you can attack again with your shields up while
theirs are still recharging which can be a pretty significant advantage.”

Boroming said: ↑
“The standard recharge time is 10 sec from the last damage taken. The Advanced capacitator reduces this time by 2.5 sec IF maxxed (and that's a lot of cert...).
7.5 sec instead of 10 sec is really not worth it. this is if i understood the tooltip correctly... if the reduction is additive giving you a reduction of 7.5, so the shield start regen after 2.5 sec, is worth it.
flak is good if you play cqc (shotgun/hipfire carbine) and ammo belt is good if you snip from up above i still think the nanoweave in a game with a ttk so low is the more versatile solution. in a direct firefight that couple of more bullet you can take is what keep you alive.”

Grimtou said: ↑
“2.5 seconds in combat is huge when you are knee deep in it. Considering that i am not awesome enough to enter every fight at 100% shields, being able to run away
and come back with 50% + of my "health" faster than the other guy is huge. Unupgraded shields feel agonizingly slow to me in comparison.”
7.3.3 Flak Armor
Reduces damage taken from explosions. This upgrade is really noticable (I think it's 50% on last level), making you very resiliant against grenades, mines, and most notably, tanks and rocket pods.
You can avoid grenades by being aware of your surroundings. If you're being fired upon by Light Fighter with Rocket Pods you're most likely gonna die anyway, couple more rockets will do the trick.
And even then, you don't really pose a threat to enemy Light Fighters, unless they are hovering 2m above the ground, so being resiliant against them doesn't help you. If there's a Light Fighter around you'd better just hide.
And if tank is shooting at you then you're clearly doing something wrong.
That all said, Flak Armor will help you survive some situations that would otherwise killed you. Oh, and it protects you against Underbarrel Grenade Launcher users, but to be fair, ain't a lot of them going around.

Mcponington said: ↑
“Flak armor does save you from being killed by a single proximity mine. It is pretty game changing when rushing a point as the majority of players turn around when they hear the explosion thinking you will be a dead body. I usually only play LA in biolab/building assault and don't rate using other upgrades instead of it. It really does depend how mine happy your server is though. My highest rank of Flak armor is 4 on my engineer and a single proximity mine will take away all my shield and a couple of bars of life. It's pretty cool when you can walk over a mine kill the defender, cap a point while your shield recharges and then walk over the other mine they placed and still survive.”
7.3.4 Grenade Bandoleer
Each level (of two total) increases your grenade carrying capacity by one.
My personal choice. It adds to things you can do. Grenades are great if you know when to use them (not implying that I do ).
Note that running with 3 grenades and two C4 can deal a serious blow to your infantry resource.
Lokas said: ↑
“Grenade bandolier every time.
Why? Because smoke grenades with an IR/NV scope are the ultimate tools to get multikills, no matter what weapon you use. I jump between my TRAC-5S and my FA1 Barrage and if I smoke out an objective before diving in, I find that I'm just not going to get shot unless the enemy knows exactly what direction I'm coming from and has an IR scope of their own. And if they know which direction I'm coming from, I'm doing a very poor job of playing an ambush class and deserve to be riddled with bullets.
Alternatively, it makes popping parked sunderers a breeze. I can plant C4 beneath the sunderers for maximumdamage without fear of fresh spawns happening to see me crawling under their bang bus to fix explosives to the chassis. The fact that I can do this, and/or the above breaching tactic multiple times
without having to return to a terminal between is freaking invaluable.”
Paqu said: ↑
“I do prefer the grenade bandolier as well. Being able to carry three grenades instead of one with a class which makes you able to get behind enemy lines and good ambush spots has gotten me some crazy killing sprees when tossing some nades around. I think its way better than nanoweave for sure because being able to take one more bullet might save you on some occasions but often it doesnt really make a difference. And flak, well with a unit that mobile you really shouldn't take much explosive damage. Boots give so little running speed boost so I think thats a complete waste of using the slot for it. Difference on shield recrarge delay is also so small even when maxed out that its only usefull on some rare occasions as well. Extra ammo might come handy sometimes but usually you dont live long enough to run out of ammo in the first place so yeah extra grenades do give the most usefull boost for this class.”
7.3.5 Nanoweave Armor
Increases your health pool by the percentage of each rank as listed. No effect on the amount of shields you have.
Here's a picture hihlighting what Nanoweave really does:

Let me explain what this picture tells us:
Level 1 Nanoweave (which only costs 1 cert, by the way) increases the number of bullet hits you can survive by one. Most weapon damage is scaled from 200 (AC-X11's max damage, for example) to 100 (Solstice's damage at 115m).
For example, if you don't have nanoweave and NC Light Assault is shooting at you at point blank range with his AF-19 Mercenary (167 damage) it would take him 6 body hits to kill you.
If you have Lvl 1 Nanoweave it'll take him 7 hits.
However, Nanoweave Levels 2 to 4 offer no such increases.
Only nanoweave Level 5 will add one additional bullet to kill you, and even then it'll be 112 to 100 damage, weapons usually deal that kind of damage from really far away.
That said, you should also consider partial hits, shotgun pellets, explosions, headshots etc, etc. I would suggest using Level 1 Nanoweave, as it offers huge upgrade for 1 cert cost, and roll with it until you will have some certs to change or upgrade it.

7.3.6 Ammunition Belt
Increases the amount of ammo you can carry by one clip per level.
Ammo Belt does stack nicely with Extended Mags weapon upgrade, meaning that you'll get more ammo per Level of the Ammo Belt if you have Extended Mags installed.
There are several situations I would recommend using Ammo Belt in: if you run with shotgun or sluggun, because their ammo pools are quite low, or if you're often find thyself out of ammo, deep inside enemy territory, with no way to replenish on ammo but to die.
Getting Ammo Belt is most useful to VS and NC players, because TR have bigger ammo pools already.
TR do have larger clips though, so Ammo Belt gives them even more ammo (excluding shotguns).

Ayre said: ↑
“I will not get as many kills with a grenade bandolier as I will with double ammo. Run speed isn't actually that much of an issue with LA (give me my Icarus jets back ********). Shield capacitor/nanoweave is directly inferior to flak armor, which isn't *too* big of a problem for LA.”

Conq said: ↑
“...Those "Light Snipers" perched in special spots with little ammo belts make me laugh. I hurl my Light Assault into the fray with super sneakers, C4 and an advanced laser bayonet. Death will bring me more ammo whenever I need it. Not caring about your KDR usually gives you a great KDR.”
There is also a *movement* going in, that LA might soon get ammo scavenging ability:
“We are thinking of designing the Light Assault to be more of a lone wolf player/1v1 assassin. We are thinking of making them have ammo scavenging tools. Like gaining ammo after each kill.”
Prooflink.
So for the time being you might want to withhold those certs or spend them elsewhere.
  x 8
Iridar51, Jan 5, 2013 #6Last edited by Iridar51, Jan 15, 2013
Iridar51
7.4 Grenade Slot
You can substitute your default fragmentation grenades with these. These unlocks cost 200 certs each.

7.4.1 Flash Grenade
Costs 75 infantry resource. Blinds enemies for several seconds. Note that blinded enemies still can Spot and see target triangles above enemies' heads.
Problem with these babies is that there's no indication that grenade actually blown, there's no noticable sound effect. Also there's no indication if anyone was actually blinded by the explosion.
Wildclaw said: ↑
“It is fairly simple. Throw an ordinary grenade at the same spot. Everyone who dies was blinded by the flash. Everyone else was just partially blinded and would have killed you unless they panicked.”

ChironV said: ↑
“Certed it and tried it on myself. They changed it from beta. You go completely blind for 6 seconds. Completely Blind. Screen goes white. OMG... I cleared a room full of 4 HA gathered around a terminal with one flash nade tossed in before I ran in with my automatic shotgun. It was like shooting ducks in a barrel.
I. Love. it.”

exLupo said: ↑
“Flash blind radius is far, far larger than frag kill radius. Conc grenades are good the same way. Sure, you have to actually murder guys but the odds that you will are higher. Frags are FAF and kill friendlies.”

Hwat said: ↑
“Do they still have the grenade warning?”

Swiffle said: ↑
“It doesn't, at least when I tested it right now by throwing it at a nearby wall and running towards it.
People that are spotted still have triangles and names over their head, so I was able to kill someone just by aiming in the general direction and mashing fire while I flashbanged myself for the nth time. That's my one issue with the flashbang is, it takes a long time to explode. It's easy to see where the frag grenade is with the indictor and seeing + hearing the explosion, but you can't see the indicator from the flash, dont want to see the explosion, and it sounds a bit low when there's LMGs going off inside and all over.”

CheeseThief said: ↑
“I have seen smoke and flash grendes used exactly once since release.
The guy with the smoke grenade was obviously the only one in the battle with his settings above low because everyone else shot through it without a problem, although the random 'puffs' floating around were distracting and did get me shot.
The guy with the flash grenade threw it, then he and three of his friends got blown up by a real grenade.”
Teraq said: ↑
“Finally put certs into the flash grenade last night. Cleared a couple capture point rooms of 2-3 infantry with the slug shotgun. Before I wouldn't have even attempted this but with the flash grenade it wasn't even a fight. I just walked in and killed them without them returning fire.
A few ran around blindly but for the most part they just stood there. At BR22 I personally have never had a flashgrenade used on me so I think most people are confused and think there is something wrong
with the game when it happens rather than realizing what is going on.”
Achmed20 said: ↑
“just made a quick video of the flashbangs.

First one is directly on front of me,
second one directly behind me,
and the third one on the other side of the room.
as you can see, it doest matter where you are looking at.”
As you can see, made points are, as always, quite controversial. If you don't want to experiment, then honestly, just stick to Frags, they're good.

7.4.2 Smoke Grenade
There is an issue that at Low graphic setting smoke is practically non-existent.
The main advantage over the UB SGL is, ofcourse, that you can use Smoke Grenades with any weapon, not just S series carbines. Also these greneades can bounce from walls and surfaces, which can be both an upside or a downside.

The smoke cloud size:
Fenrys said: ↑
“It depends on where the projectile hits.
Sometimes the cloud is big enough to hide a galaxy, but sometimes it's not thick enough to hide an infantry. Large open areas produce large volumes of smoke.

Open floors with no walls or boxes nearby work well, and so do the railings on stairs and balconies.
Confined spaces such as doorways or anywhere crowded by players will turn your smoke grenades into duds. Drop smoke in the room, or outside the door, but not in the door's frame.”
Pantokrator said: ↑
“These things are phenomenal for assaulting doors in tech labs, etc. They are really effective at creating confusion and allowing units to rush in. You'll still suffer causalities, but won't face the concentrated fire like usual. Definitely worth the 200 certs.”
There is also a nice application of Smoke Grenades (see Underbarrel Smoke Grenade Launcher section) for blowing up Sunderers with C4. The idea is to apply a smoke screen, run in, place C4, run out and blow up the C4. I am, however, sceptical of this approach, but whatever.
Check out Wrel's Smoke Grenade and Underbarrel Smoke Grenade Launcher Video Guide if you want to know more.

7.5 Utility Slot
The additional device you can carry with yourself.

7.5.1 C-4 (Explosive)
Probably the choice to go once you have enough certs, as C4 is quite expensive, 200/500 certs for leves 1 and 2 respectively. Here's some raw facts:
Costs 100 infantry resource.
Will kill a MAX standing right next to it.
Kills nerby infantry outright.
C4 sticks to tanks and surfaces. In fact, it's a common trick to attach C4 to your own Flash or ESF (light air fighter), crash it into enemies or vehicle, jump out (before collision) and detonate C4 midflight. You can then land safely on Jump Jets.
C4 sticks to ceilings, but to achieve that you have to jump and throw C4 while aiming upwards, you have to be right under the ceiling.
Does serious damage to Lightnings.
Two C4 bricks will kill medium battle tank and get uncerted Sunderer's health into red (it will burn and explode in a few seconds if not repaired). If you place C4 and die you can still detonate it after respawning.
C4 brick will explode if shot at.
Mathog said: ↑
“Remember that you can resupply/die and still be able to detonate them. So for example you can place 2 C4 on an enemy Sundy, return and resupply, go back to the Sundy, detonate 2 C4, place third C4 to finish Sundy. Remember that if you place a third C4 before detonating previous ones, one of them will disappear.”
To be short - C4 is awesome and opens a whole new game for you.
There's an unconfirmed rumor going, that C4 does more damage if placed on a back side of a vehicle. Back doors on a Sunderer, for example.
Do not underestimate power of even one brick of C4. Today enemy sunderer decided to roll over me. I used Jump Jets, let him ride under me and dropped a brick of C4 on him. It did serious damage to sundy, and later he got blown up by my allies. That felt good.
There are, however, serious drawbacks: placing C4 may take time. There's also a time delay between placing C4 and being able to detonate it. Sometimes it bugs out and you can't see if you've actually thrown C4 or not.

[/quote]
Kapernum said: ↑
“Hell yes, the C4 was a great addition. Now instead of hiding from a tank I can be creative and try something on my own. Even if I fail and die it gets a lot more interesting.”
A video of C4 used against enemy MAX.

Some great C4 uses:
Vorpal said: ↑
“C4 on the LA is amazing and an excellent purchase. Get 2 bricks. The LA can use its mobility to place C4 in locations that engineers never can.
Fly up to above an enemy sunderer. Drop C4 among the crowds waiting below.
Fly above a max. drop C4 on his head.
Fly to top of roof. Drop C4 amongst crowd of enemies hiding on other side of buildling.
Fly to top of enemy spawn room. Drop C4 on head of max playing peekaboo with the shields, trigger when he goes inside.
Drop off roof of biolab/base, float down to on top of enemy tank on the ground. place C4 on him
etc etc.
C4 is so expensive I would not consider buying it for any class *except* LA.”
Jaquio said: ↑
“Distance targeting - I like to set my personal waypoint in a road, so it's a shining beacon for myself. I lay to C4 down on my waypoint and scamper off into the distance. I wait for vehicles to come by, and when they pass through my waypoint, *click*
The beauty of C4 in this regard is letting the enemy flash or lightning go by so you can tag the MBT or sundy behind it. (Few things are as disappointing as laying down two AT mines and then seeing "Flash kill" pop up on your screen later.)”
Pat22 said: ↑
“Blowing up tanks, sunderers ( with a little bit of help or a trip to the resupply station ), MAXes ( I once got four MAXes with a single brick of C4, and it was NC scattermaxes which makes it all the more glorious ) Planting them on aircraft that landed for repairs and waiting for the pilot to take off before detonating for the lulz. Unfortunately Liberators are ridiculously tough, in fact I think they even got buffed.
I managed to C4 liberators a few times, the first time, two bricks took out 90% of it's health and every other time after that it only took out half. ( Which is absolutely ridiculous)”
7.5.1 Restoration Kit
Costs 75 Infantry resource. Restores a portion (almost all) of health over time (couple of seconds). First level unlock cost is 30 certs.
7.5.2 Medkit
Costs 50 Infantry resource. Instantly restores all health. First level unlock cost is 50 certs.
These two utilities are quite similar, allowing to carry a consumable healing kit, each level of upgrade allows carrying of one kit. Note that this is a "universal power", meaning that if you'll unlock this you'll be able to use it with other classes too.

Oddly, medkit is better than resto kit in every way, except for the cert cost.
Resto Kit healing over time is not a strong drawback, since you still have to switch from your weapon to a medkit and use it. In battle, you're either dead or you're not. If dead, you don't care. If you're alive, most of the times you can retreat safely and let Resto Kit heal you and Shields recharge.
I don't really know if Resto Kit healing stops if you get under fire.
  x 9
Iridar51, Jan 5, 2013 #7Last edited by Iridar51, Wednesday at 9:51 AM
Iridar51

8. So many possibilities! What to cert first?
___It might be a good idea to buy some cheap stuff. Let yourself get into the game, see how it works. When you accumulate enough expirience, you'll decide what you want to purchase.
Get 1st level of nanoweave, it costs only 1 cert.
Then get a scope for your gun, I recommend 2x Reflex, it's great for everything.
Don't forget to restock on grenades or just click the "auto resupply" option.
Get Jump Jets Level 2. The upgrade is small, but it'll cost you only 10 certs.
Unlock Medkit or Restoration Kit, you will use them until you unlock C4. Once unlocked, med and resto kits can be used by any other class.
From there, you'll have to make your own choices.

9. I got the basics! What do I do next?
___I would very strongly recommend roughing it up and farming 700 certs for C4. No gun attachment and no suit slot upgrade will add to your capabilities as C4 will.
After getting the C4 (which I strongly recommend you do), you have to answer this question: do you want the utility of underbarrel attachments? If yes, then your path is clear:
Get S series carbine, which is a slightly worse version of a default weapon. That would be TRAC 5 S, Gauss Compact S and Solstice SF.
I'm a fan of underbarrel atachments myself, so I may be a bit subjective here. I do recommend getting those simply because underbarrel attachments basically outfit you with another weapon. No laser sights will let you one-shot people.
This path is also good in a sense that even if you'll find underbarrell attachments horrible and unusable, you'll still end up with versatile and higly customizable weapon on your hands.
If thoughts of having an underbarrel attachment and having to fire something else beside your main gun cause you to feel utter anguish and misery, you'll have to decide whether or not you want the shotgun.
Shotgun is simply the best weapon to have if target is within 10 meters from you, and the worst if not. There is also the matter of slug ammunition, which offers completely new gameplay, allowing to snipe enemies from great distances with a few skilled shots. This style is covered in Sluggun section of this guide.
If you're sure you don't want neither shotgun nor underbarrel attachments, then you'll have to choose from CQC and Sniping carbines, since having S series carbine without underbarrel attachments is sort of pointless.
___When considering what playstyle to choose you have to also weigh in your internet delay and FPS. The higher the delay and the lower the FPS, the harder it's going to be for you to be effective in CQC. Perhaps, switching to a lower graphical setting may do the trick for you. Look up ways of increasing performance in General Tips section.

___Sniping playstyle seems viable to some people, (I myself once belonged to this group), seeing as Light Assault can easily get to otherwise unreachable places and snipe people from there until bullets run out.
Still, I strongly advise you against it. Investing in Sniping will hinder your close quarters capabilities, hence you'll not be able to storm generators, capture point rooms.
Most of other players use weapons better suited for closer combat, so even if you can engage enemies from afar, they'll try to get close to you. And if they succeed you'll find yourself at supreme disadvantage with sniping carbine.
Besides, even with fully-outfitted sniping carbine you won't be terribly effective at longer ranges. You'll basically become bad infiltrator with Jump Jets instead of Cloak.
CQC is a more viable playstyle, very well suited for Light Assault, and with CQC Carbines you can still remain somewhat effective against targets at medium range. The only drawbacks are hindered utility at range and no underbarrel attachments.
If you want my recommendation, I would still suggest using S series carbines with Underbarrel Grenade Launcher.
They perform good at all ranges, and, if need be, it can be outfitted with attachments for every possible scenario.
If you're not absolutely sure what playstyle you want, this is the way to go. You can still camp enemies from hard-reachable place this way. You can still tear up enemies up close this way.
As for the Suit Slot attachments, they depend on your playstyle, it really is the personal preference thing. However, you should analyze if you have made the right choice.
If you're using Adrenaline Pump upgrade and find yourself camping, then you're doing it wrong.
If you've put certs into Grenade Bandoleer, but always run from the enemy and stay beyond grenade throw range, then you're doing it wrong. And so on.
If you've got some certs and don't know where else put them, use them on your Jump Jets. Upgrade is small, but it's there, and will help you be more mobile.

10. General Tips
___Knifing a target will remove its shields and a little health. Second strike will kill the target.
Most of the time you can easily slice apart some camper, however there's a trick to be aware of.
There is a time interval between knife strikes. If you camp somewhere, and suddenly all your shields evaporate without you hearing the bullet hit sound, then someone struck you with the knife. You have a little time to react and rocket up high on your Jump Jets, turn around and kill the knifer. Serves them right for showing off.
Thanks to Vronti for this info.

___About MAXes. There's a type of MAX users who use dual bursters (anti-air guns, easiliy recognizable by their long, thin barrels). They often lift their view up high, into the sky, unaware of their surroundings. Sometimes you can just walk to a MAX, put your carbine into their face, and kill him with 2-3 clips.

___Try to outplay your enemy. Light Assault is all about mind games and flanking. Enemy saw you run to the left, then you got hidden by a building? Then run to the right, around the building, and shoot enemy in the back. Or Jump Jet on the roof, and kill him from the top.
Throw grenade through the door, then enter the room through window. And so on. Be creative. Being in the right place at a right time beats everything.

___About overloading generators. Not everybody knows that while overloading a generator you can actually look around, shoot and even move a little. Stand near the generator, hold and press [E] (use). Now, while holding, you can do the before mentioned stuff and still overload a generator.
Same goes for hacking, but that is not our thing.

___Neat tactic to use if you find yourself alone near capping point. Cap the point, then run away and hide nearby.
Wait for enemy(ies) to approach and start capping (you will see cap icon blinking), then jump out of hiding and blow their heads off. You can kill multiple defenders that way.
This tactic is superior to camping right by capping point, because they tend to have multiple approach paths available, and if you are alone, you will most likely get flanked.
If you hide you can flank them instead.

Increasing PS2 Performance:
PS2's performance is a very strange beast. It depends on CPU and GPU (graphics card).
For example, Effects, Terrain, Particles and number of audio channels are governed by CPU, all other settings depend on GPU. Thus, if you have poor CPU, but great GPU, with PS2 you have to decrease CPU-dependant settings, and you can increase GPU governed settings with no performance cost.

First, try out this official guide.
If you've found out that your performance is being held back by CPU, try this Core Unparking Utility.
Next, you can try to increase Planetside2.exe's task priority with Windows Task Manager up to high or even real time. This is sort of dangerous, you can google how-to and what-if's yourself.
If you're desperate to increase performance and willing to play at Even Lower graphics settings, there's a way to decrease your graphics settings below "Low" through UserOptions.ini in the game folder. I'm not sure how this achieved, you'll have to google it.
The last step would be Overclocking your PC. You can google how it's done, it helped me to increase FPS to comfortable level at impressive graphics settings.

11. Credits and Thanks
I would like to say thanks to all those I've quoted and to all people who made videos featured in this guide.
Thanks to Frank Elstner, who wrote the program used to datamine info, featured in spreadsheet, widely used in creation of this guide.
Thanks to whomever created the spreadsheet itself.
Thanks to RadarX, the SOE's community relations man, who supported this upbringing.
Those parts of the guide that aren't quotes are mostly my personal opinion. I'm not really a pro player, I've got BR of 27 or something, but I'm good at analizing and summing info up.
Hope you enjoyed this guide and found it useful.

12. Changelog
Update 1. Fixed accidental information duplication of 7.1 part.
Fixed Burst series carbines having full auto error, added "flak armor saves from mines", added "extended mags and ammo belt stack", confirmed "can Jet and kill the knifer".
Added "performance" thing into General Tips.
Update 2. Added Wrel's Smoke Guide link.
Update 3. Added some quotes to NC Weapons section.
Update 4. C4 sticks to ceilings (thanks to Caracal for correcting).
Update 5. Razor GD-23 is no longer a sniping carbine.
Update 6. Added some content to general tips section, HS/NV detects mines, added a C4 vs MAX video.

13. To-Do list
Add a section about sidearms.
Add more various videos, featuring different aspects of gameplay.
Fill the General Tips section with content.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

a must-read review for any LA. thx 4 such a great work