Let's discuss Titan fighting tactics!

[wittyscorpion]

I'll start with parody of lyrics from Kunfu Panda

Everybody was Titan Fighting
Those missiles were fast as lightning
In fact, it was a little bit frightening
But they fought with expert timing

Seriously speaking, I would like to see how experts in the field do this: what are the tactics do you use, with what loadout?

In these two threads I created earlier, many bros already touched upon this topic, including some great general tactics. I'll put them here for reference:

denkirson.proboards.com/thread/7099/effectively-use-arc-cannon-titan

denkirson.proboards.com/thread/7065/tips-on-using-plasma-railgun

[wittyscorpion]

I'll start with my 2 cents (basically my suggestions to beginners) to get the ball rolling:

my most favorite Titan fight set up is:

Chasis: Atlas
Primary: 40mm cannon (IMHO this is the most powerful weapon for fighting Titans. It was too good so they nerfed it a little bit, still very strong), unlock extended mags and equip that.
Tactical Ability: Particle Wall
Ordnance: Multiple Target Missile System (MTMS). Check out Den's tips on how to use this in the two threads I linked in the OP above.
Tier 1 kit: Tactical Reactor
Tier 2 kit: Core Accelerator

Note: other than Chasis and Primary (which emphasizes fire power and damage output), all the rest can be changed to other choices.

Strategy:

1) (this is often neglected due to the heat of battle, but is important) do whatever necessary to earn core ability. For Atlas, this is damage core, pretty much adding more damage to your weapons for a short period of time, making you a great force to be reckoned with.

The easiest way to do this is to step on minions. Of course, killing pilots and scoring hits on Titans contribute greatly.

2) Use particle wall judiciously. Offensively speaking, ideally you want to do that when the enemy Titan is in a shooting lane that he can't easily back out from. Defensively speaking, well, that's easy. Drop it, and dash the hell out harm's way

3) Use your cannon for main fight, and save Ordnance for the time when you are reloading. While reloading, shoot MTMS one at a time to keep the enemy Titan's shield from regenerating. MTMS is great in the sense that if you use it one at a time, you don't need to worry about lengthy reload time issue like other ordnance choices have.

4) As soon as you get damage core, you can go after enemy Titans more aggressively. Get into a good 1 on 1 encounter, and pound the enemy Titan relentlessly.

General rules of thumb:

1) Keep your 2 dash in reserve if possible so you can get out of bad situations quickly;
2) Avoid getting into unfavorable situations: 1 on 2, you are in wide open area while the enemy Titan is behind good cover, get cornered by an Orge, etc.
3) Pay attention to the number of Titans on the battlefield. If your team have more Titans, go after enemy Titans aggressively. If the enemy team have more, avoid Titan fight and focus on minion farming;

Read more: hsv1.boards.net/thread/40/titanfall?page=8#ixzz30yBhtRe8

[iphraem]

at first I always used the ogre with big punch to beat the crap out of the other titans. I was bored of that tactic lately so I changed to an atlas with arc cannon, cluster missile and electric smoke. this loadout is made for fighting multiple titans at once, as you can push them around with your cluster missile while hitting them all at once with your arc cannon. if they come to close you fire your electric smoke and dash away while loading your arc cannon. with capacitor ofc. always nice to get multiple titan dooms at once.

[mannon]

I mostly rock the grenade launcher with extended mag, experimenting with MTMS though I also like the cluster missile, and smoke.

I use it mainly for guerrilla tactics, though I totally don't mind going 1 on 1 with another titan if I have any cover I can use. It's really great when you can circle a building to block most of their shots but still fire over and around it. The loadout does not fare well against multiple flanking enemies so I pop smoke and dash away. Striders are problematic.

One thing that's nice is you can get the grenades on top of and into buildings for pilot and minion kills.

Vortex shield is also good for defense, but anytime I'm head to head I want to either be firing or reloading. Vortex is more a stand and fight kind of thing, so I prefer smoke now to give the the chance to bug out. Retreating works really well because you can often go around a corner and keep firing over the building or bouncing the grenades around to discourage then following you or do damage if they do, or if they stay put where they were just lob them over whatever building is between you. The grenades can be shot pretty far too.

I don't like the mines. I tried them once, but since they no longer bounce you can't really get them inside buildings, just all around the doorways, and they autodetonate before very long so I just don't like them. With the grenades you can often just fire in the general direction of a titan and they will bounce and roll themselves along right up to them. Mines make it harder to hit things rather than easier.

When I get rodeoed I try to remember the smoke, but usually still get out. I try to get some shots on them before they jump away, but if I don't manage to kill them I just jump back in the titan as quickly as possible and go hunt them with that. Usually they don't manage to jump back on before I'm in and dash away, sometimes they do. Kinda depends what weapon I'm using. If it's something full auto and easy to aim then I can often kill them. Smart ones will satchel charge your butt, though and often I wind up getting sniped by another titan I didn't know was looking. heh

[Will]

Stryder with Quad Rockets, Electric Smoke, and Cluster Missle (or Rocket Salvo).

Dash circles around your enemy while spraying rockets and reloading.


I don't think I've ever lost a 1v1 duel, even when I start with much lower health. It might play out differently on PC, but on console, nobody can keep their aim on me when I am right in their face dashing around in circles.

[wittyscorpion]

May 6, 2014 19:25:13 GMT -5 mannon said:

I mostly rock the grenade launcher with extended mag, experimenting with MTMS though I also like the cluster missile, and smoke.

I use it mainly for guerrilla tactics, though I totally don't mind going 1 on 1 with another titan if I have any cover I can use. It's really great when you can circle a building to block most of their shots but still fire over and around it. The loadout does not fare well against multiple flanking enemies so I pop smoke and dash away. Striders are problematic.

One thing that's nice is you can get the grenades on top of and into buildings for pilot and minion kills.

Vortex shield is also good for defense, but anytime I'm head to head I want to either be firing or reloading. Vortex is more a stand and fight kind of thing, so I prefer smoke now to give the the chance to bug out. Retreating works really well because you can often go around a corner and keep firing over the building or bouncing the grenades around to discourage then following you or do damage if they do, or if they stay put where they were just lob them over whatever building is between you. The grenades can be shot pretty far too.

I don't like the mines. I tried them once, but since they no longer bounce you can't really get them inside buildings, just all around the doorways, and they autodetonate before very long so I just don't like them. With the grenades you can often just fire in the general direction of a titan and they will bounce and roll themselves along right up to them. Mines make it harder to hit things rather than easier.

When I get rodeoed I try to remember the smoke, but usually still get out. I try to get some shots on them before they jump away, but if I don't manage to kill them I just jump back in the titan as quickly as possible and go hunt them with that. Usually they don't manage to jump back on before I'm in and dash away, sometimes they do. Kinda depends what weapon I'm using. If it's something full auto and easy to aim then I can often kill them. Smart ones will satchel charge your butt, though and often I wind up getting sniped by another titan I didn't know was looking. heh

I assume by "grenade launcher" you mean Triple Threat? I just started using it for the Gen 7 required challenge, and it is a lot of fun. I could not get Stryder to use it effectively though, always seem to die too fast.

Can you hurt yourself if you walk into the grenades when using it?

[mannon]

Yes, the Triple Threat, it's my baby. I assumed at first that you couldn't hurt yourself, but actually I'm pretty sure you can now, so be careful, especially in a Stryder.

I've only tried it on an Atlas as I didn't unlock Stryder until I regenerated this weekend and finally plowed through the rest of the campaign. I'm curious to try it, though, but pretty much purely guerilla tactics. Just have to not get cornered, though. We'll see if I have any luck. Before I regenerated I was focusing my Triple Threat build on offense. Emag, cluster missile for range, accelerated damage core, and the extra ordinance kits, but still smoke. I actually use the smoke more for escapes than rodeo pilots. For pilots I just get out of the titan ASAP and try to shoot them. If they jump away and I don't get a good shot I jump strait back in the titan and rarely do they get back on before I'm ready to go again. Sometimes the titan even kills them for me and if it's armed with Triple Threat that's some pretty beefy backup you have there. Just gotta be careful they don't take you out or the auto-titan is a sitting duck if they have cloak. Sometimes they come back at me after I've gotten back inside and I get a free titan melee kill...

Have I mentioned that I love punching pilots? ;3 Seriously I love it when a pilot gets cocky and comes at me. You can almost see that look in their eye. You just know they want to rodeo you so hard and it's so easy to bait them. Even if they cloak as long as you predict their movements and time it right the punch will still lock on and kill them.

The only real problem with my Triple Threat build has been stryders with ranged guns that know how to stay out of range. Just one isn't terrible unless the pilot is really good or you're just out in the open, but if they have any buddies taking pot shots it gets really hard really quick. The clusters and smoke help, but those Stryders be fast and it's hard to know how much to lead them when they're dashing around. Of course if you can stick with a buddy titan you can really pwn since you can get yourself in places they can't fire back at you while you pound on them and they can't devote all their attention to you either.

I'm going to try to force myself to use more diversity in my titan builds this gen, though. I never got the hang of any other weapons but the 40mm.

[wittyscorpion]

With Cluster Missile very powerful, Smoke great for both offensive and defensive purposes, and Big Punch does a lot of push back on enemy Titans, a great Titan setup is

Orge w/ Big Punch + Cluster + Smoke

With this, you can have a very effective combination of moves at your disposal:

a) use Cluster and Smoke to set up death traps. By having both, you can either alternate them to always have something at reserve, or unleash both at the same time for devastating effects;
b) use Big Punch to push the enemy Titan into the death trap;
c) with both a) and b), the enemy Titan has very limited options of where to move. This is where your primary weapon comes in. Triple Threat is a great choice because it is yet another area of denial weapon that can cover a great range;

Recommended set up:

Orge
Triple Threat w/Extended Mags
Cluster Missile
Nuclear Ejection (another area of denial tool) / Fast Autoloader (to replenish Cluster missile faster) / Tactical Reactor (to replenish Smoke faster)
Big Punch

[zanderstar]

Atlas
40mm
Vortex
Tactical recharger
Big punch
Cluster missile

Atlas: to me the only way to go. The versatility allows it to adapt and change tactics on the fly in the field. The best core ability IMO. This titan allows for quick hit and run, full assault, break contact, ambush. You name it this thing can do it.

40mm: started to use it after the chain gun just because I find it more gratifying to one shot pilots with. Also dropping a titan in one mag is great. The crit shot damage is through the roof. I implement an almost quick scope shot with it, as the speed at which the titan moves while ads is to slow for my shoot and move style of play. It's almost like a slight drag across or towards the enemy and release the ads. Once you figure out the lead with this thing goosers and pilot pooping because a skeet shooting bananza. With the core ability from the atlas and the crit shot damage from the 40 you can take on two even three titans ( vortex needed but that comes later).

Big punch: before the nerf the added boost to movement made this a no brainer. After it still packs a huge punch. Which I love to send other titans off edges with. As well as allowing for sharp turning mid boost In case you need to dodge something or make that hair pin turn down an alley. Again this coupled with the atlas core ability does massive damage and the vortex sheild chained with it has a neat affect.

Cluster: wow the tic tic tic tic just makes me laugh. It's outrageous damage. The fact that you can use it to get rid of rodeoing pilots. Fire it's across the map. Use it as your running away to wall off or set a baited trap with. Clearing out objectives. I'm all about versitility and this does it all.

Tactical reactor: Cuz that vortex shield dough!

Vortex shield: "he's quick he's funny he makes me loads of money. Lichtenstein !!!!" Name that movie and I'll give you a shout out in the next youtube video. Back on track. This thing. This thing right here. Is how you dominate in a titan. Again versatility. Say it with me. Vers ah tillity. Catching anything they dish out and throwing it right back. Catch everything! Specter bullets catch em...Sheilds down? that's fine let that vortex take the hits till it comes back. Got a pilot Locking onto you? awesome. Catch that archer and have fun blowing them up with it. Running away? Ashe ketchum all!!!!

Offense: oh oh boy. Inflict as much annoyance as you can. Never stop shooting. NPC's are a great way to kill time on your core ability. And the more you use the 40mm the better you get with it. Try one shoting npc's from far away for practice. While out and about in your titan keep an eye out for the pilot/titan locking indicator. This is a red flag to turn towards and bring up your vortex after blowing a few pilots up with their own archer they usually stop trying. ... Before you initiate contact with another titan figure out what he's doing. Is he engaged did he just use his ordnance or tactical ability? Can I flank him? If he's occupied I like to sneak right up shoot my cluster into an area I think my big punch will send him, punch him into the cluster. At this point he knows he has to move. The fact that he has no shields means he isn't gunna show me his back because he dosnt want to get critical shot as he runs away. Crappy news for him I can hit them from the front. But I'm not even going to shoot at him yet. I've just punched him into a mini trap. So as he tries to leave I'm just gunna keep punching him back. If he tries to shoot. I'm just gunna bring up my vortex. When you bring it up its just long enough to catch a few things regroup your footing and punch again. Cool thing about this combo you don't let the vortex down. You just punch. This instantly fires off whatever is caught in the shield and deals the punch damage too. Just before the cluster wears off I'll boost back once. Get back a bit and start blasting with the 40mm. Your alternating between vortex and your cannon catching what you can and throwing it back. Use your other boost to strafe. If you get caught in a reload and you still have vortex sheild I like to brake the reload up by canceling the animation with the vortex allowing a little more of the reload to happen each time. While burning up his ammo. On the other hand if you see him start to reload, party time, boost in and start rocking those big punches. Save your ammo for when he's done reloading because at this point he can't do squat. When your clusters back up it should be either used to cut off an escape route, block off any of his reinforcements, or shot to the ground in a spot where you think you can punch him into/ force him into by strafing and boosting in a circle to get him to do the same. People will mirror you when you do this. They try and line up their shots this way idk looks like a dumb awkward titan dance. Either way you take the lead and you push him where you want him to go. This technique comes in handy when you battle multiple titans. Use what you catch to hit one titan. Than try to 40mm the other one. Don't worry if one catches this and the other that. Point is your dealing damage to both. (I tend to use the 40on the closest because he is probly going to be catching the vortex by accident when he strafes) the dance portion comes into play because your only movement should be backwards to get to an exit. But as you do that try and get them to go ducks in a row. This way the other titan can't shoot through his buddy. He will try and go off to one side or the other. When you see him make that move slide in a way that keeps him out of line of sight. Utilize the cluster by shooting it at your feet almost, or at a point where the enemy will walk through. Once the enemy walks into the trap surprise them by boosting right into their face and big punching them back into the cluster. Boost away and continue your backpedal.

Defense- vortex to catch. Pig punch to help make some crazy drunken sailor movement. Cluster to block off....... Hmmm looks similar to the offense right. That's just how great the atlas is. Against smoke boost out or big punch out. Alternate between a boost and a punch that way the boost gets a chance to refresh. Cluster into the smoke if they say try to predict where they come out punch em in.

Sorry for the length but I wanted to be as details as I could. I love this class an I haven't found anything that's made me go " oh well I don't have a chance"

[Pegasus Actual]

Jul 17, 2014 15:33:45 GMT -5 zanderstar said:

Vortex shield: "he's quick he's funny he makes me loads of money. Lichtenstein !!!!" Name that movie and I'll give you a shout out in the next youtube video.

That can only be A Knight's Tale featuring the late great Heath Ledger playing a lowborn wannabe knight looking to win the heart of a fair lady played by Shannyn Sossamon, and his trusty friend and squire played by Alan Tudyk of Firefly fame. That particular line was surely sung by the medieval Don King prototype played by none other than mister Paul Bettany.

You might guess that I had to use google to come up with that. And it's true, I did have to use Google to get the correct "Shannyn Sossamon" spelling, because it's not like I've seen her pop up anywhere since!

[zanderstar]

There you go! She was so hot in that movie. You Sir shall be recieving a shout!

[Pegasus Actual]

I tried your class out zanderstar, and I really liked it. It's not that far from what I normally use. I hadn't really used Big Punch aside from a few rounds around launch time. What a dumbass I was! I really should've given this a try with the Ogre before it got nerfed. Big punch gives me one more option with how to deal with a situation, and it really brings the pain on a Stryder that tries to get in my personal space.

[Dumien]

I still swear by big punch ogre. The nerf really didn't change how 1 v 1 ogre fights work. Corner, then tank n-spank. When they are about to finish your shields time the punch with the tactical barrier. They get knocked back while your shields get time to recharge and you keep firing.

[wittyscorpion]

I have been trying to get Orge w/big Punch to work for me (using 40mm cannon right now). My main problem is when to punch:

1) when to go for offensive punch

My problem here is that Orge is too slow to catch up with Stryder & Atlas and force them into punchable space;

2) When to go for defensive punch

When the enemy titans are getting closer, I have trouble timing my punch. The main reason is still that I am often sub second too late to realize I have punch as an option. When I think about punch on the other hand, I often focus too much on that and forget to use other options at my disposal.

In general: what I need are a few "combo" moves to be more effective at this.

[zanderstar]

Are you using the vortex to combo with. Generally people see a vortex and immediately try to gain ground. Might be worth it for you to use it as bait when your about halfway through your 40mm clip. And see if you can bait them in with the. Vortex. If they don't bite than at least you have half a clip still. And the cluster might come in handy as well, to shoot behind them and try to give them even more encouragement to come in closer. If your using any lock on ordnance then you'll be locked on and that may make them hesitant to stay still or Come close

Glad you liked the class PEG

[wittyscorpion]

Jul 20, 2014 10:44:38 GMT -5 zanderstar said:

Are you using the vortex to combo with. Generally people see a vortex and immediately try to gain ground. Might be worth it for you to use it as bait when your about halfway through your 40mm clip. And see if you can bait them in with the. Vortex. If they don't bite than at least you have half a clip still. And the cluster might come in handy as well, to shoot behind them and try to give them even more encouragement to come in closer. If your using any lock on ordnance then you'll be locked on and that may make them hesitant to stay still or Come close

Glad you liked the class PEG

Great suggestions, I'll try them out.

EDIT: with Vortex Shield I am doing much better with the set up. Still need to improve on timing out the punch, as in a punch duel missing a punch can be quite devastating.

[zanderstar]

Awesome I'm glad it's working out for you. Practice makes perfect. And try not to just stick with one strategy. I know your build is around the punch. But as always situation will dictate what tactic is going to be the most benificial for you. If you haven't done so already start aiming just above the head of a titan. The crit hit box can be tricky from the front but the more you attempt it the better you'll get at it. Not sure of the numbers but it seems like one crit shot is equal to three body shots. And you'll shake the hell out of their screen. Maybe giving you that spilit second you need to boost in and rock your big punch.

Also if you think you missed your punch sometimes you can drag your rectical in the direction their titan moved. You can so e times hit them even after you boost past. This might only work on the atlas as it gets a stronger boost than the oger.

[wittyscorpion]

I am doing much better with this setup (Orge + 40mm w/EM + Vortex + Cluster + Big Punch). In TvT it does not have much weakness, 40mm takes care of all ranges, cluster for mid range, and Big Punch for close range. The main weakness is when I have to reload 40mm, and Vortex Shield fills in the gap very well. The reflection can do significant damage, and Big Punch to punish anybody who is trying to get close.

Currently I use Nuclear for Tier 1, effective in dealing with desperate 1 v N situation.

[Dumien]

So, big punch on defense is best used with the natural synergy of particle wall (on offense) and midrange combat. I never went into much detail, but hopefully I can now...you can see some of this in my titan vs titan stuff in my silly montage...

The following assumes 1 v 1 with an opponent that notices you. (If they do not notice you lead with the big punch to get initial, bonus non-ammo consuming damage. This lead does two things. One, it disorients the opponent. Two, it forces the opponent into a corner for CQC follow-up punches or if in the open it forces the opponent into a midrange engagement of your choice), By putting up a steady stream of damage with MTMS/40MM/ChainAccel at midrange you force opponents into 4 possible confrontations.

One, Your opponent can fire back. In this case you fire until your shield goes down and throw up a particle wall. If they are trying to close distance, throw up a particle wall and lunge through your wall for a defensive punch. While they fly backwards backstep behind your wall while they are stunned. Repeat this process.

Two, Your opponent can vortex shield. In this case, rush them without doing anything. Watch for them to put down the vortex shield since they are only helpless as long as they have the shield up (I love it when people try to vortex). When close enough for a lunge, go for it(try to hit them with the last seconds of the lunge) and simultaneously smack the particle wall button. At this point they will be in a much worse position as their defensive measures will be drained and they will have taken punch damage. Fire all the MTMS you have. Just unload. Even ogres will have a tough time coming back from this.

Three, They can particle shield and wait/retreat. This is probably the most annoying thing to deal with. You are probably going to take some damage if out in the open. My favorite idea is to rush in the same manner as scenario two and punch through your opponent's wall, while setting up your wall behind theirs. Evasive flanking doesn't necessarily work as well with the ogre. The ogre's biggest strength is the amount of physical pressure he puts on enemy non-ogres. Evasion isn't one of those strengths. I might consider flanking if the enemy is also an ogre and I suspect the fight will last longer than normal. If you have cover, you can play the cover game and wait out your opponent's particle shield. You can use your particle shield when theirs is almost gone, then use that position and your opponent's certain retreat to give chase. I think that is the key to this scenario. Making sure their particle wall gets no value, while yours does. This usually entails yours being used later than your opponents.

Four, They can rush you without doing anything (ready to punch). This is the most dangerous, because they are probably ogre/atlas big punch. Here it is difficult to not take damage unless lag is on your side. The idea here is to dash backwards as they lunge to punch you and throw up a particle wall at the last moment of the dash. Then, begin to run and counter punch. If that punch connects then you have an ideal situation. You put up some damage from the initial firefight AND you have punch damage with guarantee of reduced damage for the next few moments. Your wall forces them into action and they must respond by trying to flank you at CQC or trying again. Lay into them with weapons and box them out.

Or they can run away with smoke. That's cool. Fire some shots through the smoke?

Note that ChainAccel plays differently and you must account for the pauses between punches as a loss of gun damage potential.

[ortus]

I use;
Stryder
Triple Threat
Smoke
Cluster
Dash Quickcharger
Big Punch (For even more mobility and to shove people back into the smoke/cluster)
almost exclusively, dropping smoke+cluster to cover your retreat so you can indirect fire over/around obstacles puts your opponent in a terrible position because of how much damage the Triple Threat pumps out (for some reason).

On the open maps like training ground or pirate cove(?) I usually swap to an Atlas with a 40mm and Particle Wall however.

[zanderstar]

Ottis build made me want to just say if you have been trying my vortex build the triple threat is not something you want to catch and punch combo with as you will be taking alot of damage from them going off against their titan. I usually throw them up over their titan in an attempt to punch them into the balls that will land behind them.

[daftpunk]

Atlas
40mm
Smoke - Only idiots shoot at enemy Titans with their Vortex shield up
Cluster
Fast Autoloader - More clusters is good
Core Accelerator - Having that damage core up sooner is good , right ?

[volgon]

Jul 22, 2014 10:40:19 GMT -5 daftpunk said:

Atlas
40mm
Smoke - Only idiots shoot at enemy Titans with their Vortex shield up
Cluster
Fast Autoloader - More clusters is good
Core Accelerator - Having that damage core up sooner is good , right ?

Identical to one of my primary titan loadouts. Ogre is good but (placebo) I don't feel much more tanky as an Ogre vs an Atlas. I love the double dash + Accelerated damage core Atlas provides more than anything Ogre provides.

[zanderstar]

How do you use your smoke? In such a way that non idiots would stand in it?

[Pegasus Actual]

Well, there's the ol' trap em in a corner, or on a wall, or just somewhere with a low ceiling trick. I'm not that good with it, I'd rather have an ability that helps keep my Titan alive. But opposing Titans using smoke lately has been super annoying. That and everyone is using Cluster Missile as well. I wonder if any of this stuff is getting a balance tweak in the upcoming patch.

[volgon]

Jul 25, 2014 6:45:11 GMT -5 zanderstar said:

How do you use your smoke? In such a way that non idiots would stand in it?

Smoke when fighting a titan is pretty situational. It's best to use it with a synergistic titan loadout. Using Big Punch means you often want to close the gap when fighting a titan, so smoke is useful for covering your advance or dealing additional damage while you're in somebody's face. Cluster Missiles are very potent at area denial (same as Smoke), so you can 1-2 combo a titan where they don't have many places to run. Pop Smoke, Big Punch a titan and then hit them with cluster missiles means they probably can't go forwards or backwards without significant damage.

To be honest, though, I use smoke almost entirely for fighting rodeos. I'd rather take my chances against enemy titans down a Tactical Ability than having to jump out of my titan every time a pilot is rodeo'ing me. It's far too easy to get killed via disorientation/satchel charges/stomped on by another titan while disembarking.

[wittyscorpion]

I have had a struggle with Stryder since the very beginning: I like its agility and want to use it extensively, but can't do so effectively due to its fragile nature.

In this past weekend I have finally found a solid setup, with Triple Threat. The inspiration is originated from this video, which is a great one to watch by itself:



The author of the video prefers Stryder strongly in general and he can do Stryder dash dance effectively. As a result, he almost always uses Stryder + Quick Dashcharger + Core Accelerator. I on the other hand found that too fragile, so decided to go with Nuclear Ejection + Big Punch to make up for some of the Stryder's weaknesses.

---

Loadout

Chasis: Stryder
Primary: Triple Threat
Tactical Ability: Electric Smoke
Ordinance: Cluster Missile
Kit: Nuclear Ejection + Big Punch

With extended usage I have found this setup quite resilient and flexible. Below are some more details:

---

Play style

1) Greedy on health, not on damage

IMHO the key to use Stryder effectively is "great attention to shield/health level", which I would like to call "health greediness". The rule of thumb: when in danger of losing health, run away! Even when the enemy is severely damaged, if you lost your shield or about to suffer heavy damage, the action should always be running away. You can always come back and finish him off once your shield is regenerated.

2) Be sneaky, very sneaky

Due to Stryder's agility, it is great at flanking behind enemy lines and catching enemy Titans by surprise. To do this well stealth is very important. This means that you MUST choose when to dash very wisely, because dash will reveal you on enemy's minimap! A beginner mistake of Stryder player is to dash excessively, avoid that with discipline.

What about when you need speed but can't use dash? This is where "Big Punch" come into play, which can speed up movements without revealing yourself. String together dash and punch in an intelligent manner can give you both speed and stealth.

On the flip side, when facing strong opponents you can use dash to trick enemies, intentionally revealing your position to enemies at a fake location only to lure them into ambush.

3) The art of running away:

Always have a get away path in mind before engaging: to be able to effectively "hit and run", the exit strategy is just as important as how to engage. This requires a good understanding of the map as well as where the enemy Titans and friendly Titans are positioned.

Always have smoke or cluster or both at reserve for defensive purpose. Personally I prefer to keep smoke as reserve because it is a much better defensive tool, able to a) block path, b) deal with rodeo, and c) break line of sight of Archer/Charge Rifle/Titan ordinance. Cluster on the other hand is better used as an offensive tool. While facing aggressive pursuers during the retreat, time your Big Punch to push them back into your smoke/cluster.

4) Play support

With 3 area of denial tools at your disposal, this setup can greatly help your fellow Titans by a) preventing enemy Titans from getting through choke points, b) shutting down lanes, and c) protecting flanks;

5) Suicide charge

When low on health and/or not possible to get away, Nuclear Ejection is your last resort for taking down the enemies with you. Dash into your enemies, or lure the enemy into punching motion towards you (many a time just do punch yourself would trigger the enemy to do that too), are good ways to maximize the ejection damage on the enemy.

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Triple Threat usage

The video above already gave excellent suggestions which I won't repeat here. Two great take away tips I got:

a) use the "quick left trigger tap" trick to fire the triple threats in vertical formation instead of the horizon formation when you need to shoot the "beach balls" out further. Horizon formation is great for infantry stomp and area of denial, but sucks in range;
b) Triple Threat can be used in a "shot gun" style, since direct impact will do damage immediately vs. the area of denial way that has a significant delay;

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TvP

Certain Titan setups are great for TvT, but vulnerable to Pilot harassment, including Rodeo, rooftop/window Archer / Charge Rifle, and to lesser extent Arc Grenade + Sidewinder/Mag Launcher combo. This set up on the other hand, is great at TvP as well.

a) The speed of Stryder gives you the option to run towards/away as you see fit;
b) Besides taking care of rodeo, smoke is great at neutralizing Archer, and to some extent Charge Rifle;
c) Triple Threat is excellent at taking out pilots anywhere, rooftop, rooms with windows, and what ever nooks and crannies that the pilot can hide, and you don't even need line of sight to take them out;
d) When you do have line of sight, Cluster Missile = almost guaranteed kill. It also gives you a second option to take out rodeoing pilots when you don't have smoke available;
e) Stryder is great at punching pilots, due to its agility;

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Minion stomping

When you need to kill minions (quick attrition points, earn core ability), this setup has everything you need: dash to trample and Triple Threat for taking out clusters of minions inside/outside/near/far/high/low and even over obstacles.

[Pegasus Actual]

My biggest problem with Stryder, I can't bring myself to disengage before I take a big hit, and the Stryder is so fragile it just never works out.

[wittyscorpion]

Aug 26, 2014 14:01:14 GMT -5 Pegasus Actual said:

My biggest problem with Stryder, I can't bring myself to disengage before I take a big hit, and the Stryder is so fragile it just never works out.

An advanced Stryder player probably does not need to disengage as much as I described above. At that level, the idea is to get to unlimited dash as quickly as possible, then just dance around the opponent keeping yourself at his blind spots, while relentlessly pound the enemy with all the weapons you have at your disposal.

However, based on my experience, before I can get to that level I need to sharpen my skills of running away first. By doing what I described in the post above, I am getting better at self preservation. With that come with more confidence of using the Stryder, and the next step is to get better at direct 1v1 confrontation.

At my current stage, it is interesting to note that I now feel much more comfortable fighting against Ogre and Atlas than Stryder, because against former I can easily run away when things are not going my way. A Stryder vs. Stryder fight on the other hand is fairly interesting duel, as neither side can run away from the fight, somebody must die.

[mannon]

You could still use area denial to get away... Smoke and cluster, especially.