Fletcher - My Guide and Tips

[mf1]

Fletcher really is quite under-rated, I used to believe he was the most useless merc in the game but after playing with him all weekend I’ve found him to be amazing and some of the most frustrating merc’s to play against. He takes a certain play style and finesse which is most comparable to demo-man from TF2.

If you enjoy mind games, forcing your opponent to move & fight you on your terms and hit people around corners at free will. Try fletcher out!

Sticky Bomb Information
80 damage
100 damage - if stuck on player

Damage stats for sticky bomb (not including sticky attached to enemy player model)

• Aura = 1 Hit Kill
• Proxy = 10HP left
• Kira = 10 HP Left
• Vasilli = 20 HP left
• Pheonix = 20 HP Left
• Bushwhacker = 30 HP left
• Fletcher = 30 HP Left
• Sawbonez = 30 HP Left
• RedEye = 40 HP Left
• Skyhammer = 40 HP Left
• Arty = 40 HP Left
• Stoker = 40 HP Left
• Fragger = 70 HP Left
• Thunder = 80 HP Left
• Rhino = 120 HP left

Weapons

Blishlok (SMG)
Body Shot = 18 Damage
Headshot = 36 Damage

Highest damage SMG in the game. The closest SMG behind it is the Crotzni/SMG9 with 24 damage hs and 12 damage body.

Ahnulhld-12 (SMG)
Body Shot = 77 Damage
Headshot = 154 Damage
Clip = 7, comparison: Hollunds = 6 and Remburgh = 5

Empire-9 (Machine Pistol)
Body Shot = 8
Headshot = 16

The Empire-9 (his machine pistol) is the highest RPM gun in the game, edging over Proxy’s Hochfir by 50 points. 8 Damage for Body and 16 damage for headshot. Damage numbers are extremely low, however you don’t’ need much to finish off players in combination with sticky bomb. See below for the math….

Shotgun or SMG?
I personally find the Ahnulhld to be stronger, due to the burst damage of playing corners with sticky and the burst damage from shotgun rather than higher sustained DPS with blishlok. Allows you to duel fragger if he doesn’t cook nade.

Sticky Bomb + Weapon combinations

• 1 Merc (Aura) = 1 Shot kill with sticky bomb
• 2 Merc (Proxy & Kira) = 1 sticky bomb + 2 body bullets from his machine pistol
• 3 Merc (Vasilli, Pheonix) = 1 Sticky bomb + 3 body bullets from his machine pistol)
• 3 Merc (Bush, Fletcher, Saw) = 1 Sticky bomb + 4 body bullets from his machine pistol)
• 3 Merc (Redeye, Skyhammer, Arty, Stoker) = 1 Sticky Bomb + 5 body bullest from his machine pistol)
• Fragger = 1 Sticky Bomb + full body shot from shotgun (77 damage)
• Thunder = 1 Sticky Bomb + Shotgun Body shot = 3 HP left. Partial headshot with the rest hitting body = dead
• Rhino = 1 Sticky Body + shotgun head shot = dead

Tips
Some small tips I have with fletcher, I use all of these and usually combine them together. [list]
[] Check well-known peakable corners with stickies
[] Charge the sticky bomb throw, it comes out almost instantly when your arm is already pulled back ready to release
[] Kite people around corners. People typically try to charge fletcher down, you can throw sticky and explode all while moving around the corner just out of sight range. If they chase, you’ll get the damage indication and can normally pop back for a 1 shot shotgun kill or 3-4 bullet Machine pistol kill. If they don’t chase, then chase them back with sprint & sticky throw.
[] Abuse the fact you only need to show yourself for a split second for 80 AOE damage. This really is the strength of fletcher… a quick 80 damage AOE bomb
[] Sticky bombs can stick to players, very useful when kiting people around the corner. You can visibly see the sticky bomb on a player. That aura moves extremely fast, however has very predictable movement when trying to revive a player
[] Sticky Bomb + finish with machine pistol. Bigger slower mercs, finish with shotgun. Pretty much a 1-2 punch if the sticky bomb is a direct hit.
[*] Bait the medic train with dead bodies+ 2 sticky bombs. 2 sticky bombs will gib a body + kill the medic trying to revive.
[/list]

Notes

1. Enemy players can shoot the sticky in mid-air. It happens occasionally and is hard to notice, seems like your sticky bomb just disappears when you go to set the detonation
2. Traps are useful, but if you rely on traps for this merc you are severely limiting its potential. Traps are EXTREMELY situational and choosing a merc to ONLY lay traps makes you nearly useless to your team

[Szakalot]

Sticky bomb does 100 damage!

It one shots any Auras, Proxies and Vassilis (except Vassili + unshakeable), if directly stuck on them.

I also don’t see you mention using stickies with ‘4’ instead of ‘q’ making them much easier to aim with, esp. while moving (typical WASD setup does not favor holding ‘q’ for long)

Here are some advanced jump-throw tactics:

There are three basic things about sticky-bomb jumping:

• jump forward (or long jump forward) - this is to increase your throwing distance and throwing speed. Best used offensively to push people back into cover so that you can come close. Serious drawback when in the open as jumping at people who shoot at you rarely ends well
• jumping up - this is the most optimal way to throw the sticky bomb. by jumping up you can compensate with aiming downwards - this will make your sticky fly in a flat arc for the close distance engagements: flat arc maximizes the chance the enemy will get in touch with the sticky; also blowing up sticky’s mid-air is preferable to blowing them up low on the ground, as it makes it more likely the splashdamage will not hit any cover that would prevent damage. It also makes your throws more forgiving (overshooting is less likely to go above the enemy’s head)
• jumping backwards - this type of jump can have two uses: area denial and tricky throws
• area denial is achieved by the sticky flying at its slowest speed, by throwing a sticky in this way you maximize the time the sticky spends in your desirable ‘killzone’ (also fine by throwing sticky while moving backwards). Incidentally, this works the best when moving away from pursuing enemies. If someone is chasing you, you can turn corner and throw sticky at it, by jumping backwards you give the sticky more time to damage the enemy before it will fall to the ground in a likely useless spot
• tricky jumps - best examples are chapel 3rd obj fences and underground 1st obj roof. By jumping backwards you maximize the arc the sticky is flying at, allowing you to ‘bend’ the corner better, than if you just threw it standing. This way you can throw the sticky over the fence and have it drop down soon after, rather than overshoot your targets.

[Cutesypie]

It one shots any Auras, Proxies and Vassilis (except Vassili + unshakeable), if directly stuck on them.

I second that.

[mf1]

[quote=“Szakalot;28282”]Sticky bomb does 100 damage!

It one shots any Auras, Proxies and Vassilis (except Vassili + unshakeable), if directly stuck on them.
[/quote]
Wow really. I tested this by throwing sticky at ground and directly standing on top of it and detonating. There must be a hidden modifier when its directly attached to the body.

I also don’t see you mention using stickies with ‘4’ instead of ‘q’ making them much easier to aim with, esp. while moving (typical WASD setup does not favor holding ‘q’ for long)

If people have issues with controls its up to them to change. I have mine as one of the thumb buttons on my mouse and have no issues.

[quote=“Szakalot;28282”]
Here are some advanced jump-throw tactics:

There are three basic things about sticky-bomb jumping:

• jump forward (or long jump forward) - this is to increase your throwing distance and throwing speed. Best used offensively to push people back into cover so that you can come close. Serious drawback when in the open as jumping at people who shoot at you rarely ends well
• jumping up - this is the most optimal way to throw the sticky bomb. by jumping up you can compensate with aiming downwards - this will make your sticky fly in a flat arc for the close distance engagements: flat arc maximizes the chance the enemy will get in touch with the sticky; also blowing up sticky’s mid-air is preferable to blowing them up low on the ground, as it makes it more likely the splashdamage will not hit any cover that would prevent damage. It also makes your throws more forgiving (overshooting is less likely to go above the enemy’s head)
• jumping backwards - this type of jump can have two uses: area denial and tricky throws
• area denial is achieved by the sticky flying at its slowest speed, by throwing a sticky in this way you maximize the time the sticky spends in your desirable ‘killzone’ (also fine by throwing sticky while moving backwards). Incidentally, this works the best when moving away from pursuing enemies. If someone is chasing you, you can turn corner and throw sticky at it, by jumping backwards you give the sticky more time to damage the enemy before it will fall to the ground in a likely useless spot
• tricky jumps - best examples are chapel 3rd obj fences and underground 1st obj roof. By jumping backwards you maximize the arc the sticky is flying at, allowing you to ‘bend’ the corner better, than if you just threw it standing. This way you can throw the sticky over the fence and have it drop down soon after, rather than overshoot your targets.[/quote]

I’ll have to try some of these, they sound awesome.

[Cutesypie]

Pretty Much i always have sticky’s in my Hand w/e im doing only time i change is do deal heedshot damage with my ahnuld-12, Its all about making the enemy’s play your game.

Also a good tip is to have the detonator on the right mouse nobody really needs to be aiming anyways.

[Szakalot]

[quote=“mf-;28294”]
If people have issues with controls its up to them to change. I have mine as one of the thumb buttons on my mouse and have no issues. [/quote]

regardless of how you setup your keybinds there is a big difference between ‘4’ and ‘q’.

pressing ‘q’ throws the sticky’ holding ‘q’ will keep the sticky in your hand until released.

pressing ‘4’ PULLS OUT the sticky. Now you can AIM WITH YOUR MOUSE. Keep your aim&fire button on one key, you will be much more consistent.

Imagine Nader’s grenade launcher: ‘press q to fire one grenade’, how wonky would that be.

sry for caps

[Cutesypie]

Totally agree having them out as 4 is much more reliable and much more easy to aim them where you need them.

[DomMafia1]

What’s his best loadout for most situations in your opinion? @Szakalot @mf-

[Szakalot]

What’s his best loadout for most situations in your opinion? @Szakalot @mf-

@DomMafia
I’m playing Ahnuld + Empire (lockon , toughness, double time).

• Lockon is apparently a non-augment atm. (though we can hope to get a buff for it in the future) ;
• toughness is poor in comp but pretty good on pubs where medics are scarce.
• Double time is a huge game changer imo, the faster the character the more they benefit from it. Fletcher relies on controlling the fight by denying areas with stickies and juking corners for peek-throws and peek-shotgun shots; double time helps to maintain that mobility a great deal!

Blishlok loadouts not for me, mostly cause I hate that gun.

Having shotgun allows for more variety in tactics, as you can peek + shoot, a playstyle that fits fletcher very well; also with stickies. empire is more than enough for average smg role. Fletcher should primarily deal damage with stickies anyways.

[DomMafia1]

[quote=“DomMafia;29937”]What’s his best loadout for most situations in your opinion? @Szakalot @mf-

@DomMafia
I’m playing Ahnuld + Empire (lockon , toughness, double time).

• Lockon is apparently a non-augment atm. (though we can hope to get a buff for it in the future) ;
• toughness is poor in comp but pretty good on pubs where medics are scarce.
• Double time is a huge game changer imo, the faster the character the more they benefit from it. Fletcher relies on controlling the fight by denying areas with stickies and juking corners for peek-throws and peek-shotgun shots; double time helps to maintain that mobility a great deal!

Blishlok loadouts not for me, mostly cause I hate that gun.

Having shotgun allows for more variety in tactics, as you can peek + shoot, a playstyle that fits fletcher very well; also with stickies. empire is more than enough for average smg role. Fletcher should primarily deal damage with stickies anyways.[/quote]

Danke sir

[capriciousParsely]

I personally like the Simeon revolver for him. Gives you a way to do good damage at range aswell. The SMG’s have high damage drop-off on long distances, but a HS with the Simeon can take away 50% of the health of Aura.