Merc Role Call: Kira

(Szakalot) #21

Haven’t got a chance to play her, but one trick that sounds very effective to me is to start a laser out of LoS of enemies, and drag it at them via building rooftops & skyboxes. Everyone can see a laser coming their way, if its in front of them; but if it ‘comes out’ of a side wall people will end up dead.

(GregHouseMD) #22

@Szakalot
I had a lot of luck doing that on Bridge, first spawn. On the EV side, with the narrow corridor everyone goes through. There was a lot of fighting with the attackers just outside on their end. I placed the laser on the defender side ( between the bridge and the roadblock ), ran through the corridor and aimed the laser toward the attackers. Badness ensued. For them.

You don’t have to guide it, mind. Just click where you want it to go.

Oh. I once had someone complain it was OP. After I literally just left it standing still, and he ran into he. Literally ran into it and died. Then complained.

(Szakalot) #23

[quote=“snowMonkey;21326”]@Szakalot
I had a lot of luck doing that on Bridge, first spawn. On the EV side, with the narrow corridor everyone goes through. There was a lot of fighting with the attackers just outside on their end. I placed the laser on the defender side ( between the bridge and the roadblock ), ran through the corridor and aimed the laser toward the attackers. Badness ensued. For them.

You don’t have to guide it, mind. Just click where you want it to go.

Oh. I once had someone complain it was OP. After I literally just left it standing still, and he ran into he. Literally ran into it and died. Then complained.[/quote]

that particular corridor looks almost designed for the lazoorz, as there is very little space to dodge.

(triteTongs) #24

Area of Denial is quite fun with Kira. Before everyone screams ‘op’ because they died from a laser, I’m curious to know how stoker and other Area of Denial characters will work.

I have often had trouble chasing some people. And all it takes is one guy that’s kiting the laser to completely wreck your ability. It might ‘feel’ op because no one knows about it right now.

Arty is still the champ at disabling the EV.

(Thai-San) #25

I bought her today and i must say that I’m kinda disappointed.
The combination of Artys weapons and a 90 hp light merc isn’t really that effective.
The laser is fun, yeah. On Trainyard, Chapel and the second part of Bridge it’s just awesome. But on Terminal and Underground? Useless.
I knew about the Underground problems of sky based mercs, but the fact the the frickn’ glass roof above the two containers on terminal is 100% DEATH-LASER-PROOF just makes me mad. I can’t even shoot the damn stuff to make it accessible. wtf Splash Damage? What kind of über-glass is being used in london? Or is some kind of cold laser that isn’t able to melt it?

(Ardez1) #26

[quote=“ThaiSan;21363”]I bought her today and i must say that I’m kinda disappointed.
The combination of Artys weapons and a 90 hp light merc isn’t really that effective.
The laser is fun, yeah. On Trainyard, Chapel and the second part of Bridge it’s just awesome. But on Terminal and Underground? Useless.
I knew about the Underground problems of sky based mercs, but the fact the the frickn’ glass roof above the two containers on terminal is 100% DEATH-LASER-PROOF just makes me mad. I can’t even shoot the damn stuff to make it accessible. wtf Splash Damage? What kind of über-glass is being used in london? Or is some kind of cold laser that isn’t able to melt it?[/quote]

The best part about that glass is that skyhammer can break it but not anybody else >.>

(GregHouseMD) #27

It’s frustrating that it’s so selective about where it works, but … useless? Seriously? It may not work everywhere, but it works where you need it most: On the objectives. It fits neatly right outside one of the boxes on Terminal ( haven’t really tried the other - the one near the defender spawn ), and very neatly on the final objective on Underground.

It also works through the hole in the roof on the first objective on Underground, but that’s more for the sake of hilarity.

I have to say, I’m very happy with Kira. I didn’t even know mercs were coming today, and I bought her more or less on a whim. Not disappointed at all. I think she may go down as my favorite of those released to date.

On the laser being OP: I really can’t see that being the case. I’d take it over Arty’s ability any day, but that says more about Arty. Effective use of the laser requires that you swap back and forth between your weapons, but that’s fine. Avoiding it is as easy as not running in a Hollywood-style straight line, or finding cover. And above all, not hiding in a corner. Because it will find you, and it will kill you.

Just like every other ability in the game ( seriously, which ability hasn’t been accused of being OP at this point? ), both using it and avoiding it takes practice - and that’s it. Laser comes in quickly, but you can see where it’s about to hit. All you have to do is get out of there.

(Thai-San) #28

It’s frustrating that it’s so selective about where it works, but … useless? Seriously? It may not work everywhere, but it works where you need it most: On the objectives. It fits neatly right outside one of the boxes on Terminal ( haven’t really tried the other - the one near the defender spawn ), and very neatly on the final objective on Underground.

It also works through the hole in the roof on the first objective on Underground, but that’s more for the sake of hilarity.

[/quote]

Let’s say you are defender on Terminal. On stage one most of the people will be indoors since the room near the wall gives the attackers the best cover when they planted and the secondary objective is also indoors. So the only viable objective target is the forward spawn. And even then you HAVE to control the Turret balcony to even activate the laser. But when you are there already you could just use the turret itself. It’s also viable if your team able to “spawn camp” the other team, so you have a high ground and a lot of free space. But even then most of the people have a roof above their heads.

On the second stage the defenders will most likely be in the hall with the armored containers. But there’s a glass roof, so you can’t use it in the whole are. You can trigger it outside from within, but you aren’t really able to do something with it since you only see a little part of the outside are from within. And if you look at all the games of terminal you played so far: How many times the defenders did the defenders hold the outside area? No that many times I,d guess.

On Underground you also have just a couple of spots where you can use it and those spots aren’t that useful for a laser. On the first objective there is clear sky and a hole in the roof of the little cabin, but the sweetspot of the laser is right beside the pillar on noone ever uses that spot. Arty and Skyhammer have splash damage, so they’re able to flood the room with fire. But the laser just covers one spot and you have to hope that people are deaf and blind, or just WANT to jump into the pillar of light. The roof of the cabin would also be a viable target but it’s really hard to trigger the laser there: If you want to burn the roof because there are enemies, there will be enemies obviously. And most people will notice you. And since the laser needs forever to warm up and trigger, they have plenty of time to kill you before the laser comes.
Right before the house (if you come from the attackers spawn) are very few people and it’s impossible to trigger the laser there as a defender. Same for the other side and other team.
The two really important objective spots (the blow up generators) are covered by a roof.

Stage 1.5 (the escalators) are open, but it’s so easy to get a close spawn there as attackers and the battle will be fought on the last escalators. And here again: Roof.

On the last stage there is also a hole, but every other sky based merc is better here since their explosion covered most of the objective platform. And since there is always a vas in the opposite team, you will be most likely be sniped before you can activate the laser.

You see my point?

The paradox thing is that artys and sky hammers abilities need no time to trigger, but their high health gives them the time, but Kira who really needs the time is low healths and drops by nearly everything that hits her.

(GregHouseMD) #29

[quote=“ThaiSan;21424”]
Let’s say you are defender on Terminal. . . . So the only viable objective target is the forward spawn. And even then you HAVE to control the Turret balcony to even activate the laser.[/quote]

Let me stop you right there. No, you don’t. Here’s how you do it: Activate the laser on the defender side of the forward spawn ( for instance where you come out from the spawn area ), and move it toward the building with the generator by pointing at that building, past the forward spawn. Or activate it on the defender side of the small elevated passage on the far side of the yard, point it toward the window by the generator room, then toward the balcony when it’s beside the forward spawn. It’ll come out practically on top of the forward spawn, with little warning.

Proper use of the laser requires clever use of aiming, and moving while aiming it. If you can do that, it’s an absolute death machine.

It’s also perfectly useful on the objective itself, both as an attacker and a defender.

I’ve already pointed out where it’s useful on the other stages of Terminal, and on Underground. Which is not everywhere, true. Improvements in that area are probably possible, to make it easier to target the laser ( and Arty’s strike ), without necessarily negating the cover provided by the roof. It is, however, useful where you need it most: On the objectives themselves. If you park that thing on / in front of the C4, you’ve effectively bought your team five seconds with no possibility of defusing.

EDIT: Just to address Underground’s last objective a bit more specifically.

No, Arty and Skyhammer don’t do better. While they get better area coverage, Kira’s ability lasts considerably longer. If you’re using it on the objective, it’s not primarily to kill people ( bullets would be faster for killing someone defusing, for instance ). It’s to deny enemies the chance to plant / defuse. If the barriers are up, placing it in front of the pipe people have to jump from denies enemies the ability to jump right onto the platform for a good few seconds. Placing it directly on the C4 means they can’t defuse for the same amount of time.

You also don’t have to aim the thing exactly where you want it. Just find cover and aim for an exposed corner. It’s really not that difficult.

(Thai-San) #30

@snowMonkey Okay, good points. Maybe I’ll just have to get used to her play style, since it’s drastically different then every other ability.

But I still think that 90 hp + Artys weapons (which require precise aiming and not full auto spraying) is a bad combo.

(GregHouseMD) #31

[quote=“ThaiSan;21451”]@snowMonkey Okay, good points. Maybe I’ll just have to get used to her play style, since it’s drastically different then every other ability.

But I still think that 90 hp + Artys weapons (which require precise aiming and not full auto spraying) is a bad combo.[/quote]

I hope so! It’s a really fun and useful ability once you start to learn how to use it to full effect.

With regard to her weapons, I probably play her wrong. I always found Dreiss more useful up close, and Kira’s speed lets you do that. You’ll get melted quite quick by good players, so … just have to be better.

Or stay at range, where she probably belongs. But that’s for conformists.

(Solid Stache ~NaC) #32

[quote=“ThaiSan;21451”]@snowMonkey Okay, good points. Maybe I’ll just have to get used to her play style, since it’s drastically different then every other ability.

But I still think that 90 hp + Artys weapons (which require precise aiming and not full auto spraying) is a bad combo.[/quote]

It’s actually quite ridiculously effective on her. Having the mobility with that rifle has an insane potential of DPS at mid range and allows her to switch fronts easily. It’s like playing proxy with further range.

(Thai-San) #33

Well, since I bought her yesterday I have plenty of time to get used to her. What I wrote was just my first impression of one evening playing her.

(Eox) #34

Tested and approved ! She kicks asses as long as you can aim with burst rifles and semi-auto weapons, the orbital strike is a blast to use, and you have everything gently wrapped with that awesome “Proxy” feeling (gotta go fast).

Protip to new users : if you want yo use the orbital strike, switch to it with 4 and hold your left click. I learned that the hard way. You don’t want to be stuck with holding A, trying to move and trying to aim all together.

(GregHouseMD) #35

I just had a really awesome round with Kira. Like, finishing with triple the score of anyone else type awesome. It started with a First Blood / Triple Kill combo with laser, and snowballed from there. /bragging

. . . except it’s not really bragging, because it only happened because my enemies consistently did exactly the wrong thing ( and subsequently complained about how OP it was ).

I like to think I’ve gotten pretty good at guiding the laser, to the point of quickly swapping and guiding it on the run and even during intense firefights. I’ve learned the tricks, how to get it to go where you want it, how to lead it into people from behind cover, and so on. I like to think it’s just practice paying off, you know? I’m curious about what other people think, though.

Whenever I’ve played against Kira, I don’t think I’ve died to it even once. Not because the other players weren’t using it properly, either, but because I know what to do when I see a laser coming … dig a trench, or bugger off. Or find a roof.

I still can’t shake the feeling it’ll get nerfed, though. I happen not to think that’s needed, but as someone kindly pointed out to me, I am playing ( and loving ) her. What do the wise people here think?

Also: Definitely switch to 4 to use it. So far as I can tell, it has the same run speed as the knife, so … definitely do that.

(triteTongs) #36

[quote=“GregHouseMD;21568”]
I still can’t shake the feeling it’ll get nerfed, though. I happen not to think that’s needed, but as someone kindly pointed out to me, I am playing ( and loving ) her. What do the wise people here think?[/quote]

As I said, it’s hard to know what needs to get nerfed when some of the other characters are not even in the game yet.

They could fiddle with the cooldown timer, or the duration timer… but she’s pretty perfect as is.

Honestly, Skyhammer’s Airstrike is better at destruction. He’s the better player on church. Arty’s artillery is better at destroying the EV.
Kira is just good for area of denial. I think it’s balanced pretty well right now. It’s actually pretty easy to avoid if you know it’s coming.

Proxy/Fletcher/Bushwacker can still disarm objectives with like 5 seconds left on the clock, so using it as area of denial on a bomb usually doesn’t work IF the other team understands that Proxy/Fletcher/Bushwacker can disarm objectives (even for 1 second… it helps a LOT).

(GregHouseMD) #37

@triteTongs

Well, the game is constantly being balanced around what’s already in, so there’s that.

Kira isn’t just good for area denial, though. I agree that’s where she’s perhaps strongest, but the laser can be ridiculously effective for hunting down players, too. At least if they don’t know what they’re doing.

I do remember people complaining often and loudly about airstrikes - and they still do, to a degree. At the risk of sounding arrogant and elitist, I still think it’s peoples’ own fault when they die to something like that. It’s not like you don’t get a warning. Laser is just more difficult and more unpredictable. Will be interesting to see what happens in the days and weeks to come.

(Peacekitty) #38

So they changed/tweaked nothing about Kira after removing her, Sparks, and Phantom for changes…So much for waiting for months on their changes/tweaks GG. They promised to change her orbital cannon and it returns unchanged.