This is not a nerf thread (i think she is fine) but a discussion about her role.
The devs clearly intended her to be a fire support, and her missile used like the other fire support abilities: clearing out enemies behind cover, MG nests, blowing up health stations and stuff like these. You can observe this in the merc role call video:
However, I’ve rarely seen a javelin using guided missile, and never seen firing from afar into an MG nest. Why?
I played her with only using the guided missile, and came up with the following conclusion:
**#1. The guided missile sucks. **
How do you launch the rocket? 1.2 seconds arming time, and after that you need to look at the target. Meanwhile, molotov and drone strike marker can be thrown instantly, arty strike and the orbital laser don’t require line of sight to target (and you can also move the laser).
OK, so how can you shoot a missile without having to stand in the open until the rocket lands? Easy, aim for the sky, and then redirect the guided missile to your target.
I have 2 problems with this:
1st, maybe it is just me, but I can’t control the rocket if I don’t have LoS - it just doesn’t go where I want.
2nd, if you get attacked, you are banjaxed. The only other fire support ability that requires attention after calling down is Kira’s laser strike - and I have no problem with shooting and moving it at the same time. You just can’t do that with Javelin.
My “solution” is start cooking in cover, and then peek out and shoot an unguided missile.
#2. The rocket has a short effective range.
Example: attacking Vault 1st objective, defenders are camping the MG, you are at the other side of the map. It’s easy to call an Arty strike on the MG without taking damage (although molotov and drone strike is tricky to land there), but can you use the javelin to take out the MG nest?
I don’t use guided missile because #1.
If you use an unguided missile, the enemy will shoot the rocket with the MG (it travels straight towards them, it would be harder to not shoot it), not to mention, that you have to basically no-scope headshot the enemy or miss.
At this point, I’d rather use my dreiss or BR16 to deal with that MG. But then comes the question, what is the missile good for?
#3. The rocket is effective as an alternative frag grenade.
Most players discovered this quickly, and other threads cover this part of the topic really well, so I won’t go in the details.
Considering the wall of text I created here, what do you think:
Is Javelin intentionally more like an assault merc than a fire support, or her design went “offroad” accidentally?