Understand ALL of the classes first!

Wow it sure is RAGE in here with all these "OH PLEASE NERF THE ASSASSIN" or "grapple GTFO" or "NERF EVERYONE EXCEPT THE CLASS I LIKE."

I'd like to first point out before beginning this topic that I can go on at least a 1.25 kill/death ratio with each class except the assault (I'm not as good with him as I am with everyone else). That aside, ALL CLASSES ARE BALANCED.

People cry and cry how an Assassin has that one hit KO grapple and is so easy to play as.
It actually takes alot of skill to kill someone with that class and successfully escape to perform a few more. What do you think when you see the assassin grappling your team mate?

Is it
"Oh an assassin is trying to KO my ally, I better kill her while she is grappling him."
or
"Hey a random assassin on the middle of the battlefield I better kill her so she doesn't kill me."
or even
"Hah an assassin, she doesn't actually expect to kill me right? I'll just go and grapple her first."

If one of these is you then put yourself in the Assassin's perspective. You need to sneak up on someone from BEHIND mind you because a grapple from in front is not a one hit kill grapple so you actually have to sneak around behind someone then grapple them while none of his or her allys are looking and make sure that there are no turrets or powerful bots around you that might kill you while you execute the grapple. Kind of challenging right? Now try it again and again and again in one life. She takes skill to use.

For you newbs, newcomers or people just lookin for the best way to kill her there are many ways.

And don't forget, look for the faded silhouette of an assassin if you think or you know that there is one nearby.

As an Assault
The special grapple is on your assault class for a reason. When fully upgraded, the assault class' Red ability makes him charge forward, catch anyone in his path and quite possibly knock them out of the arena or do massive damage (if dealt massive damage, then finish her off with the assault rifle, you also have a gun and a trigger for a reason.) The Red ability is powerful even without an upgrade, if it doesn't kill her it will at least deal a good amount of damage keeping in mind only a lvl 3 Red ability can grapple while the other two levels make the assault class do a sort of rush/tackle.

As a Tank
The Death Blossom, arguably one of the best ways to kill an assassin is with this ability. Normally executed by pressing the left trigger (standard controls) the Death Blossom makes the Tank do a 360 degree spin with the Jet gun, provided that you have the Jet gun equiped. If it doesn't kill her in one hit you will easily be able to finish her off.

As a Gunner
Come on guys really? No one uses the Ground Slam ability? The Blue ability on the gunner can send people flying off the arena and far along to their deaths when fully upgraded. Even without the Blue ability being fully upgraded you can still daze or if your lucky, knock her off of the arena anyway (keep in mind that when you daze her she can still move slowly, giving you time to kill her) For those of you who cry about getting killed while your mowing down the enemy, she can't grapple you if you use the Yellow ability.

As a Sniper
Ice Traps save lives, especially yours if you pay attention. When your sniping upgrade your Yellow ability at least to lvl 2 and you'll be able to deploy 2 traps at a time perferably one behind you and one in front of you. Now you noobs, newcomers and newbs that think your so good that you can just play your iPod/iPhone/Zune/CD Player with your T.V. volume off, then you might want to pick another class to kill her or you will have to check your traps every 4 to 5 seconds. Once she has fallen into your trap pull out your mini uzi or your sniper (preferences and aiming skills apply) gun her down before she can escape. The Grapple for the sniper works too but if you already know that, chances are your skilled enough to kill her without the help from this guide.

As a Support
Aren't shotguns fun? If you see a silhouette of the sneaky ninja pull that baby out and start blasting away, chances are that the shotgun will keep you safe (aiming skills and personal eye sight skills apply).

As an Assassin
If you haven't figured out how she kills people with the basic layout of her KO attack above then you need to find a new class. For those of yow who have keep in mind the smoke bomb that you have can launch you into the air for easier escapes and always ALWAYS cloak.

How to kill a Gunner

First understand how a Gunner can kill. He has the standard minigun and a grenade launcher (If you didn't see these coming then failure on your end) which are the first choice as a weapon of domination on the battlefield. Then there's the Ground Slam which can only be used in close range combat and, if fully upgraded could possibly ring you out. The Grapple is easily avoidable by attacking him from mid range and the Deploy mode, just snipe him from far away.

As a Sniper
Headshots, they save lives! Learn how to aim and pull the trigger and you should be fine, just make sure to stay far away from the gunner while sniping him.

As a Tank
The Rail gun can be used as a sniper too, just takes slightly longer to kill the gunner. The Grenade ability when upgraded to at least lvl 2 can blind him giving you the opportunity to rush him with the Jet gun (for about 5 seconds, standard skills and personal reaction times apply).

As a Gunner
Your joking right? Just kill him with the grenade launcher or minigun.

As an Assassin
See the Assassin KO layout or if the gunner is deployed then get to his back and start cutting him up (run away if he undeploys because a Ground Slam may be saved up to kill a new assassin such as yourself).

As a Support
Airstrikes are fun no? Make it rain on a gunner by lobbing an airstrike onto him (standard grenade/device lobbing skills apply) or deploy your firebase to kill him (firebase effectiveness varies by level and hacked level)

As an Assault
The assault rifle is deadly close up, take advantage of the jet pack and the assault rifle at close range and the gunner should go down with a frown (standard aiming skills and personal reaction times apply). Fully upgraded grapple has a chance of knocking him out of the arena too. The Grenade launcher can also take him out from a pretty safe distance (Luck applies).

How to kill a Sniper

Now we're getting to another complex class assuming that the sniper is in his base sniping you in your base what do you do?

As a Gunner

You will have to strategically find your way across the map and sneak up on him from the side or the back keeping in mind that the sniper may have deployed some Ice Traps to freeze you making you an open target so keep your eyes on the floor too when approaching a sniper.

As a Sniper

Sniper vs. Sniper, who is the better headshot honcho? (standard aiming skills and strafing skills apply)

As an Assassin

See the assassin basic KO layout and keep in mind, the KO works on him from up front too...half the time (depending on if his skills are already upgraded or not). Remember to watch out for Ice Traps and if it is possible attack from behind for a sure fire kill.

As a Support

Your kind of dead on this one pal, try to avoid him or rush him with the shotgun or airstrikes if you must kill him but keep in mind that the support class is not the ideal class to fight a sniper.

As a Tank

Snipe using the rail gun or if the sniper is a better shot than you, avoid him. The Tank is not an ideal class for killing a sniper either.

As an Assault

Grenade launcher if you know you can kill him.

Keep in mind this is assuming the sniper is in his own spawn or across the map from your current position, a sniper upclose and personal can easily be killed by every class if the sniper is rushing to your spawn or in the middle of the map.

How to kill a Support

First understand that a support has many abilities like the airstrike ability, the firebase ability and the ability to hack one of your own turrets (excluding other firebases). Second, understand that a shotgun is a shotgun and a blast to the face will kill you. Third, the med gun doesn't need personal aiming skills to attack, just mid-to-close range combat situations.

As a Gunner

You can generally kill a Support class and his firebase fast and easily if your minigun is lvl 3 just, watch out for the airstrikes he might send on you.

As an Assassin

This time may be different because if a support class is standing next to a firebase and you grapple him, the firebase may kill you before you finish the KO so grab him while he is away from his firebase. Keep in mind that you are also equipped with a shuriken gun and may be able to kill his firebase from afar if he isn't looking.

As a Support

Airstrikes can take out his firebase in one direct hit as long as nothing is in the path between the airstrike and the firebase. From there on its a duel, keeping in mind that the shotgun blast is the most powerful but the med gun doesn't require aiming.

As an Assault

Grenade launcher is highly recommended or the assault rifle works too.

As a Tank

Rail gun is highly recommended or if in a close range battle, jet gun.

As a Sniper

Snipe him or get a headshot on him (standard aiming skills apply).

How to kill a Tank

First understand the tank's skills. The add space grenade can temporarily blind your screen with adds from all the sponsers making you an easy target. The Charge attack can knock you down if fully upgraded and keep in mind that the tank can also deploy (just like the gunner). The rail gun is a weapon that is capable of being used mid to far range so it is best to try and dodge it (standard dodging and personal reaction time skills apply). The jet gun is harmless if your attacking from mid to far range otherwise, you could end up burnt to a cinder.

As a Gunner

The minigun lvl 3 makes quick work of him as does the grenade launcher.

As an Assassin

This class is not recommended for killing a Tank as the Death Blossem and, the jet gun itself can kill you easily. The KO attack also may not KO him as the tank *gasp* TANKS HEALTH (never saw that one coming did ya?...)

As an Assault

The assault rifle is recommended and the grenade launcher is highly recommended, keep your distance.

As a Tank

Rail gun fight (standard strafe and standard aiming skills apply).

As a Sniper

Headshot (keep in mind that the Tank is the hardest to achieve a headshot on so standard aiming skills apply heavily).

As a Support

Not recommended unless you are good with the airstrike.

This thread does not disappoint.

EDIT: Also, when vs Assassins keep in mind that missing a grapple DOES put it on cooldown for a few seconds. That's time you can spend blasting her in the face, or using a grapple of your own.

EDIT AGAIN: If you absolutely have to kill a Tank (or a deployed Gunner) as an Assassin, use the shuriken launcher from a fairly long range. It crits in waves, so cloak when you reload to give the first half of every magazine a perfect crit rate. I find this works pretty well against the slower classes, but you might have trouble using it against Assaults or other Assassins.

She is also very fast so you must blast her in the face quickly.

As for the Assault class forgive me but I do not follow a specific guideline to kill him. If I am facing a team of them I usually mow them down with the gunner.

Now onto the hyperspecific stuff that may also determine the battle...

For those of you out there who are still crying things like "HOW DID SHE STILL GRAPPLE ME?!?!?" keep in mind LAG is to be considered a factor in everything as is teamwork and strategic usage of skills.

For those of you still crying........GTFO.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure this belongs in Strategy and Tactics now.

Started out as a rant/issue towards people who are trying to ruin this game by nerfs and balances.

This game is better than TF2 in alot of ways and still people want things to be nerfed, its sad gamers like that who ruin games just because they aren't good at it yet. They either need to follow guides like this or GTFO. I guess I did kind of elaborate how the game is balanced but people who complain about class balances just anger me.

Ooh, I hadn't thought of that. Thanks for the heads up.

Edit: I mean the cloaking... not the how-to-kill part.

You might need Cloak 2 or 3 to trigger the crit effect, I'm not sure. You definitely need one of them to cloak fast enough to do damage though.