Post by thegentleman on Jan 9, 2013 17:06:51 GMT -5
So, I'll admit: the first few times I messed around with the Dragonfire, I was somewhat underwhelmed with it. My thoughts were that it was shot down pretty easily, that it didn't do a tremendous amount of damage, and that it didn't deliver the points needed to earn it.
I've since revised my opinion of it, and I hope a few tips will let you guys really have some fun with it.
First, the Dragonfire is really interesting in that it's what I'd call a "skill indexed" scorestreak. If you're terrible with it, it's going to be terrible. However, with a few techniques and modifications to your playstyle, it's going to shred people.
1. General positioning and shooting
The first thing you want to do is get the Dragonfire as far into the sky as you can. You'll receive a little "fuzz-out" when you're about to go out of the map boundaries. Use this as a guide. As soon as you hit that "max altitude" static, drop just under it so your vision goes back to normal.
When you have someone targeted, there's a STRONG temptation to hold Left Trigger (or whatever you call your ADS button) to sit in one place and become a bit more accurate. Use this sparingly. Most of the time, you want to be circle strafing your opponent from a high angle of attack. This has two benefits: first, it makes you EXTREMELY hard to hit with gunfire, which the Dragonfire is notoriously weak against. Basically, at your max vertical distance and moving at full speed, it feels like you're basically headglitching. Enemies will also be forced to look up into the sky to track you, making them more likely to get hung up on nearby map geometry as they attempt to navigate around the level from memory.
Second, the constant circle-strafe method also allows you to actively scan the level for new targets and make you more aware of where movement is occurring. That in turn reduces the amount of time spent hunting for fresh meat. Situational awareness of other enemies is also going to give you a better idea of when you can ADS to pop a guy a bit faster (more on this in a bit).
On that subject, when you're in the air, have the trigger held down just about always. The Dragonfire's machinegun doesn't overheat, and the other team already knows where you are on the radar. Pinning the trigger is a good way to spew as much lead as possible at your enemies.
2. When to ADS and who to target
From the sky, you can make a determination about the enemy team based on their movement. If they're running, they're easy prey. They are trying to get away from you and will have a limited degree of success. Most opponents go into full-blown panic mode and you can just gun them down via unaimed circle strafe spam.
If, however, they're stationary, it either means one of three things. First, they're actively targeting you. In this case, you'll see muzzle flash. Keep circle strafing towards them until you're as high above them as possible. Stay mobile if you see muzzle flash in your direction.
If they're standing still, but not shooting, they're either totally unaware that you see them (yay snipers!), or they know you're there but have run into a wall, rock, piece of debris, etc. Either way, feel free to ADS in for the quick kill if you're not under fire. Again, aiming in slows you to a crawl, so if you're under fire or think that you may be under fire soon from an enemy in your peripheral vision, don't increase your vulnerability.
3. Synergy with other killstreaks
Two spectacular streaks to use in tandem with the Dragonfire are EITHER the AGR or the Stealth Chopper. The AGR on autopilot will tool around and serve as a great distraction, and it's only a measly 25 points more than your dragonfire. The only problem is that it's pretty gosh darn golly gee whiz likely to be taken out earlier than you expect. A good C4 throw or a player with an EMP grenade or two, and it's toast. This happens maybe a third of the time.
Ideally, the AGR will keep going like the energizer bunny after your Dragonfire runs out of juice. At this point, hop back over to it in robot mode to have splash damage fun with the rockets until it, too, runs out of gas.
The better choice, however, is the stealth chopper. Most opponents on the other team are not going to be used to dealing with two different aerial killstreaks in tandem with one another. Energy spent running from your Dragonfire may also give your chopper a line of sight. Blind eye users who figure they're safe from the chopper are still fair game to you in the Dragonfire. Time spent tracking either killstreak with a Stinger, Black Hat, or SMAW will make that player vulnerable to the other.
Call in the chopper first, then launch the dragonfire. I guarantee the one-two combo will absolutely MULCH the other team.
4. Point return
In the first month of playing the game, once I built up my competency a bit, I ran UAV > Hellstorm > Lightning Strike pretty heavily.
According to elite, my return with both the Hellstorm and LS are about 1.5 kills per use. Consistent, perhaps, but not great. A little below, my Hunter Killer gets me about 4 kills every five times I use them. Now that people are more used to Sentries, every sentry gun I place will only get about 2 kills on average before it gets taken out. My AGRs typically only kill twice for every time they're put in action, so outside of the combo I mentioned above, they tend to underperform for me. (One possibility: as a TDM player, the round ends before the lifespan of the AGR in most cases)
Both the Dragonfire and stealth chopper, however, bring in about 4 kills for every time they're used. That's an average of 8 kills every time I get to the 1100 point level, which is a goal I can hit once out of about every 4 games I play. At that point, it's at Lodestar or VTOL levels of effectiveness.
(Incidentally, the War Machine is another high-performing KS, with 135 kills from only 40 times earned, but that's also spread across multiple usages on multiple lives and isn't really a fire-and-forget kind of thing, so I haven't talked that much about it).
5. Sample Recommended Class
Hardline (a must, if you ask me! Drops the stealth chopper to 9 kills)
Toughness + Cold Blooded
Mark 48 + Stock + Target Finder + Suppressor
Wildcard x 2
Bouncing Betty
A little cheap and a little dirty, I admit. The class is designed to be a little camp-happy at the start of the round to mow a few chains of 2 to 3 players down before they wise up and attempt to counter-snipe you. A betty serves as a good alarm clock for an obvious flanking route. I've used this to devastating effect on raid and slums, where sightlines can be long and where flanking routes can be determined pretty well based on your teammates' position on the radar.
As for the third killstreak, a Lightning Strike could give a premature 50-100 point push to your scorestreak, or a UAV might be a little better to call in once you earn it to give you some extra awareness. If you know you can regularly earn a stealth chopper, the kills to follow will probably push you into escort drone territory, or an EMP for sure.
Anyway, give the Dragonfire another shot based on these recommendations. I'm willing to bet you're going to like the little guy a lot more.
I've since revised my opinion of it, and I hope a few tips will let you guys really have some fun with it.
First, the Dragonfire is really interesting in that it's what I'd call a "skill indexed" scorestreak. If you're terrible with it, it's going to be terrible. However, with a few techniques and modifications to your playstyle, it's going to shred people.
1. General positioning and shooting
The first thing you want to do is get the Dragonfire as far into the sky as you can. You'll receive a little "fuzz-out" when you're about to go out of the map boundaries. Use this as a guide. As soon as you hit that "max altitude" static, drop just under it so your vision goes back to normal.
When you have someone targeted, there's a STRONG temptation to hold Left Trigger (or whatever you call your ADS button) to sit in one place and become a bit more accurate. Use this sparingly. Most of the time, you want to be circle strafing your opponent from a high angle of attack. This has two benefits: first, it makes you EXTREMELY hard to hit with gunfire, which the Dragonfire is notoriously weak against. Basically, at your max vertical distance and moving at full speed, it feels like you're basically headglitching. Enemies will also be forced to look up into the sky to track you, making them more likely to get hung up on nearby map geometry as they attempt to navigate around the level from memory.
Second, the constant circle-strafe method also allows you to actively scan the level for new targets and make you more aware of where movement is occurring. That in turn reduces the amount of time spent hunting for fresh meat. Situational awareness of other enemies is also going to give you a better idea of when you can ADS to pop a guy a bit faster (more on this in a bit).
On that subject, when you're in the air, have the trigger held down just about always. The Dragonfire's machinegun doesn't overheat, and the other team already knows where you are on the radar. Pinning the trigger is a good way to spew as much lead as possible at your enemies.
2. When to ADS and who to target
From the sky, you can make a determination about the enemy team based on their movement. If they're running, they're easy prey. They are trying to get away from you and will have a limited degree of success. Most opponents go into full-blown panic mode and you can just gun them down via unaimed circle strafe spam.
If, however, they're stationary, it either means one of three things. First, they're actively targeting you. In this case, you'll see muzzle flash. Keep circle strafing towards them until you're as high above them as possible. Stay mobile if you see muzzle flash in your direction.
If they're standing still, but not shooting, they're either totally unaware that you see them (yay snipers!), or they know you're there but have run into a wall, rock, piece of debris, etc. Either way, feel free to ADS in for the quick kill if you're not under fire. Again, aiming in slows you to a crawl, so if you're under fire or think that you may be under fire soon from an enemy in your peripheral vision, don't increase your vulnerability.
3. Synergy with other killstreaks
Two spectacular streaks to use in tandem with the Dragonfire are EITHER the AGR or the Stealth Chopper. The AGR on autopilot will tool around and serve as a great distraction, and it's only a measly 25 points more than your dragonfire. The only problem is that it's pretty gosh darn golly gee whiz likely to be taken out earlier than you expect. A good C4 throw or a player with an EMP grenade or two, and it's toast. This happens maybe a third of the time.
Ideally, the AGR will keep going like the energizer bunny after your Dragonfire runs out of juice. At this point, hop back over to it in robot mode to have splash damage fun with the rockets until it, too, runs out of gas.
The better choice, however, is the stealth chopper. Most opponents on the other team are not going to be used to dealing with two different aerial killstreaks in tandem with one another. Energy spent running from your Dragonfire may also give your chopper a line of sight. Blind eye users who figure they're safe from the chopper are still fair game to you in the Dragonfire. Time spent tracking either killstreak with a Stinger, Black Hat, or SMAW will make that player vulnerable to the other.
Call in the chopper first, then launch the dragonfire. I guarantee the one-two combo will absolutely MULCH the other team.
4. Point return
In the first month of playing the game, once I built up my competency a bit, I ran UAV > Hellstorm > Lightning Strike pretty heavily.
According to elite, my return with both the Hellstorm and LS are about 1.5 kills per use. Consistent, perhaps, but not great. A little below, my Hunter Killer gets me about 4 kills every five times I use them. Now that people are more used to Sentries, every sentry gun I place will only get about 2 kills on average before it gets taken out. My AGRs typically only kill twice for every time they're put in action, so outside of the combo I mentioned above, they tend to underperform for me. (One possibility: as a TDM player, the round ends before the lifespan of the AGR in most cases)
Both the Dragonfire and stealth chopper, however, bring in about 4 kills for every time they're used. That's an average of 8 kills every time I get to the 1100 point level, which is a goal I can hit once out of about every 4 games I play. At that point, it's at Lodestar or VTOL levels of effectiveness.
(Incidentally, the War Machine is another high-performing KS, with 135 kills from only 40 times earned, but that's also spread across multiple usages on multiple lives and isn't really a fire-and-forget kind of thing, so I haven't talked that much about it).
5. Sample Recommended Class
Hardline (a must, if you ask me! Drops the stealth chopper to 9 kills)
Toughness + Cold Blooded
Mark 48 + Stock + Target Finder + Suppressor
Wildcard x 2
Bouncing Betty
A little cheap and a little dirty, I admit. The class is designed to be a little camp-happy at the start of the round to mow a few chains of 2 to 3 players down before they wise up and attempt to counter-snipe you. A betty serves as a good alarm clock for an obvious flanking route. I've used this to devastating effect on raid and slums, where sightlines can be long and where flanking routes can be determined pretty well based on your teammates' position on the radar.
As for the third killstreak, a Lightning Strike could give a premature 50-100 point push to your scorestreak, or a UAV might be a little better to call in once you earn it to give you some extra awareness. If you know you can regularly earn a stealth chopper, the kills to follow will probably push you into escort drone territory, or an EMP for sure.
Anyway, give the Dragonfire another shot based on these recommendations. I'm willing to bet you're going to like the little guy a lot more.