Dealing with Assassins...

So I play Sniper 90% of the time...and well, on some games there's always this *one* Sin who goes out of their way to kill me every life. It's also mostly lunge + face grapples...and I can't figure out how to stop them.

So how do you guys do it? Even trap 3 isn't enough sometimes because of the recharge on the lunge or because they happen to avoid it, and they can lunge through trap 2 and even a wall of bots. They also can't be seen until half a second before they lunge. I tried side-stepping, but you can move the Sin mid-lunge to almost guarantee a grapple.

This isn't a Q.Q thread or anything. I'm just curious how people overcome this annoyance.

Jump. Jump like a mofo.

Heh...I've actually tried that method as a last resort and I still get grappled or take damage from the lunge and proceed to be sworded to death. Glitch? I don't know.

If you get slashed to death the problems do not lie in the grapple.

Sniper Grapple.

Heh, I do that quite a bit if they don't kill me with a front grapple. There's some odd times where they can lunge right after the grapple and finish me off...but latency probably has a bit to do with it.

That only happens if I get caught off-guard by being hit in the air by a lunge. I can usually get enough distance to SMG or try my chances at a counter-grapple.

But that's not the problem. The problem is trying to counter the seemingly unstoppable lunge + facestab when you can't see or hear them beforehand.

How do I stop a headshot when you can't hear or see them beforehand?

The unstoppable combo that is lunge+grapple is countered with a push of the space bar. Don't jump if you know he is there, that is bad. Jump all the time.

Ow...you got me on that one.

Vlane, I don't think you've been reading the thread or just ignoring my posts: jumping does NOT work most of the time. I'll either take damage and get grappled anyway or at a stroke of luck happen to dodge. Lag? Maybe. But I can't avoid what I can't see (ever see a Sin uncloak lunging at your face? Last thing you'll probably see as a Sniper...).

Jumping helps. You can't get grappled when you jump and the lunge only hurts you. Everything from that point on is up to you.

Pro tip: they'll try to grapple so after they try loldoublegrapple them. Works like a dream.

Melee kills, its the safest and best thing to do against all assassins since they suck at close range. (seriously...these topics are still coming up?)

If you place your traps poorly or don't react to my smoke bomb, you are easy prey.

Place traps at the top of jump pads or somewhere a sin would have to traverse BEFORE attempting to lunge.

If you hear that smokebomb, stop whatever you are doing and identify the origin.

Paranoid snipers are the kind of sniper i have trouble with (also because counter-grapples are the most dodgy mechanic in the game and you can never rely on getting one or getting away without one)

sniper grapple into smg grapple, gg

trap + headshot

trap + flak (not recommended, upgrading flak is a waste of money imo)

no scope headshot (it's easier than expected if you let them lunge into you)

you should never get grappled from behind as a sniper if you're doing it right.

front-grapples shouldn't kill you unless they can get a melee in after the grapple (it happens sometimes even if you spam for the counter grapple)

On good assassins trap+headshot won't work all that well.

No scope headhots? Yeah, play it safe.

Again, a good assassin will kill you with a facegrapple due to lunge.

Just jump.

Gold Armor
Silver Skill
Bronze Clip

Nothing like surviving an assassin's facegrapple and then golfing them off the map.

You still die to a lunge > facegrapple with gold armor. You also still die if they crapshoot a melee attack or lunge after a facegrapple.

Idk, not every class has a fair advantage against another class. Assaults had this the easiest until nerf-hammer landing.

Again, how do you prevent a headshot that you don't see coming ahead of time?

Or, how do you prevent a charge-deathblossom once you turn that corner? (and there are plenty of ways for non-long-range classes to accidentally end up point black range of an enemy tank while turning a corner)

Not sure what you mean. If you meant that this game is rock, paper, scissors in individual scenarios, then sure, but every class has a method of dealing with anything (even if that method is often known as "teamwork")

You have a friendly sniper, so sniping isn't an ez-mode headshot fest.

You should always be jumping or having a fluid change in vertical position whenever possible.

You shouldn't take the more exposed route if you don't need to.

The enemy sniper should never have an easy time sniping. He should be pestered with grenades/mortars/assassins or worried about your sniper.

You don't.

That's why the higher ground is so good (it also is very transparent, or at least more so than the ground level, making ambushes more difficult)

Light/Med classes are supposed to take care of not being so close to the Tank.

If there are areas where a Tank can ambush you easily or even unintentionally, you should strive to avoid that area, or traverse in a safer manner.

I sometimes feel like I'm playing a different game than most of you. I personally saw someone in mid jump being grappled by a Sin last game. Not to mention it happened to me minutes later... and while I was dropping off a ledge. If it just happened to me, I would say it was lag. But if I saw another character being grappled out of mid jump, I'm going to say the whole "No one can grapple you out of midair" thing to be wrong.

lag compensation is pretty obnoxious