A word about traps... (and the sniper in general)

You can jump over them. For some reason very few people seem to realize this, but you can. I've even jumped over another sniper's traps while I was playing a sniper, a character with easily the worst jump distance, so any class can do it. Also, as many more people know you can blow them up with any AoE attack, and the gunner and assault can charge right through them, not to mention fly right over them.

And yes, I know they're small and noiseless, so sometimes hard to spot, but I'll give you a little hint. If you see a sniper, there are bound to be traps nearby. Some of you could probably benefit just by playing a sniper and getting a good idea of what the trap radius is.

And sure, if the sniper is standing right on the trap, then it is nearly impossible for an assassin to take out that sniper given no means of removing the trap. Just like it is nearly impossible for a sniper to take out a dashing/cloaked assassin at range. So the sniper's long range is useless against a careful assassin just like an assassin's short range is useless against a careful sniper. The one thing that I've neglected to mention here until now is that while the sniper has a great short game, the assassin has only one long range attack that is mostly useless against the sniper, so as far as those two classes are concerned, there is a bit of an unbalance, but hardly enough to break the game.

EDIT:
I'd also like to add in my one suggestion for the sniper's trap. Rather than making it emit a noise like the assault's bomb does why not have it emit a small white aura like the shave ice turret does, doubling the visible size of the trap.

And sure, if the sniper is standing right on the trap, then it is nearly impossible for an assassin to take out that sniper given no means of removing the trap. Just like it is nearly impossible for a sniper to take out a dashing/cloaked assassin at range. So the sniper's long range is useless against a careful assassin just like an assassin's short range is useless against a careful sniper. The one thing that I've neglected to mention here until now is that while the sniper has a great short game, the assassin has only one long range attack that is mostly useless against the sniper, so as far as those two classes are concerned, there is a bit of an unbalance, but hardly enough to break the game.


ehh, it only leaves the assassin really weak against the sniper, support (after patch) and the tank. Only half the classes

At least tanks and supports CAN be dealt with, but a good sniper will never die against an assassin.

Standing in traps doesn't work if the assaian is really skiled which slot of them are not. The assaian can jump.and graples right before the trap hits getting a kill. Also smoke bombs will get you there. I think about 1 in 5 snipers are actually skilled.

I'm 99.9% sure I can't grapple right away. Maybe it's my connection, but I don't think its fair that the only time you can kill the sniper is from having a good connection.

Well, yes and no. The trap "hits" immediately, just as soon as the assassin gets within the radius. However, the assassin can still grapple while frozen, unless it's a level 3 trap. So yes, an assassin can still grapple a sniper that is standing in the middle of a trap, and I've brought this up before in another thread, however this is also a very difficult maneuver that relies on more than a little luck. Any halfway decent sniper is going to be continuously on the move, even if it is within the confines of the radius of a trap or two, meaning that it's simply impossible for the assassin to land within grapple range of the sniper relying on skill alone, unless they can perform the smoke bomb jump and land with pinpoint accuracy. On top of that, if the sniper has an armor endorsement then it has to be specifically a back grapple or the sniper will simply survive and grapple right back for an easy kill.

And a good sniper places traps which are almost impossible to avoid. The range on them is... questionable. Sometimes tiny and other times huge and if you get frozen (its not that hard to spam them on corners/behidnwalls/at the top of jump pads) your instadead. You have no skills and cant move. Their insane. At least make it so even at L3 you can only have 1 out please dear god.

Any AoE destroying traps is a load of crap. Two things are reasonable at destroying traps. The Assault's bomb and the Support's Airstrike. Mortar, Grenade Launcher, and product bomb can technically destroy traps but they are so touchy it isn't ever going to happen in a real match. When they destroy traps it is a lucky accident. Go test it, all you need are 2 Xbox controllers.

Jumping over traps is iffy, very dependent on trap placement, and often times will jump you right into another trap. With 3 traps, it can be damn near impossible to approach a sniper.

I'll tell you snipers are 'fair' if you can grapple me in a one on one game after we've maxed out all our skills. I'll play sniper and you'll play assassin. I'll throw down my traps and stand on them so you can't grapple me. Now we'll play a game: I'll shoot at bots with my scope pretending to shoot at pros while you score a rear grapple on me.

Oh wait you have 0% chance of that ever working. I win. Something is wrong with the traps and needs to change.... that's the bottom line.

I play gunner most of the time and it doesn't matter much to me about your traps. I'm good at killing you before you kill me if I do hit the trap (which I usually don't anymore). I walk on ledges and it largely negates them anyway. Jump jets and erratic strafing allows me to reach the range where I can kill you faster than you can get a headshot.

But when you get those spam snipers who only have to hit you 3 or 4 times whilst you have to take your sweat time to bounce around all those traps. That or they pull the SMG which actually does some pretty insane damage for what it is

Or you could quit crying and go for an easier target. You wouldn't take on an upgraded tank, why would you take on an upgraded sniper who obviously knows what he's doing?

wat since when does this happen? since i main a class with a tank and have often gotten stopped short by traps.

also a sniper or support CANNOT jump over a trap. u may have jumped around the edge but not over.

traps will also often freeze u if u tap the outside edge trying to get through the minefield to kill a camping sniper. they should really only freeze u if u land directly on them and just do a slow aura for when u set em off.

the funny thing is u dont need to upgrade anything on a sniper to do as well as other classes. i personally only upgrade grapple once for the defense then lead the game in kills.

Overall I see where you'r coming from but I gotta contest that bit about the snipers long range being useless against a cloaked/dashing assassin.

I've murdered tons of assassins... without even shooting them. lol

Explosive shots, eliminate the need for perfect accuracy.

So, the snipers long range IS effective against assassins.

Especially when they're clearing black jacks or trying to grapple a jack bot.

Thats all

So you are saying that no class should be able to deal with an upgraded sniper? That doesn't sound right at all.

The range on them is pretty specific. If you've played sniper, you can see the radius in which the traps will be activated. However, it's definitely worth noting that the effective range of the traps is greater than the trigger range, so if another bot or pro triggers a nearby trap, you can get caught up in it even if you outside of the range that activates it.

Fair enough about the AoE on traps, but there aren't any good sniper positions that you could completely lock down with three traps. Any decent position has at least two pathways to block off, so one of them will have to only have one trap. And even then this only applies to the assassin, since other classes can either easily blow up traps, charge through them or fly over them.

you can't Charge through traps... this should stop being mentioned. I read it and was sure it wasn't true (because I tank quite often), so I loaded up some local matches and tested this with all characters that can charge (tank, assassin, assault). Not once did I charge through a trap without being caught. I almost thought it would work with the Tank since he flys off the ground a bit during his charge, but its not the case.

Even if you hover with the Tank first then charge mid air, most of time you'll still be caught in the trap even if you do it from right @ the edge of its range, due to the quick rate of decrease in elevation that happens as you charge as a Tank.

The only character that can reliabily charge @ a Sniper over traps time and time again is the Assault, and you need to Hover high first, then aim your resulting charge perfectly.. not the easiest thing to pull off.

Of course there are other ways to do this such as hovering around to the side or slightly off map if its on an edge, then charge back in; or jumping up on railing before your charge (which is what i do on ammo mule and grenade III ramps where snipers like to camp) etc., but as far as straight-up charging over a ice trap without doing something else first, as has been mentioned in this thread... it does not work, you will be trapped. Sometimes, if the Sniper is really close to or is on top of his trap, you'll knock him off with your charge and then get trapped following the hit.. but thats not what ppl were saying either, and its quite lucky when it happens (especially considering theres almost always more than 1 trap out).

Not saying this is a problem, just wanted to correct some of the statements regarding Charges that have come up in this thread...

Put the traps closer to yourself, a trap on each side and a trap in the center you stand on. Spaced right they have very little room to maneuver and will most likely set off the traps. If they try to go for you, you just back up in the opposite direction while spamming SMG or Sniper rifle. You only have to keep them a little bit away as sniper, especially if you have rank 3 RoF. Any fight outside of close quarters is a loss to a sniper with RoF, even if he only body shots you. Furthermore to the sniper's advantage for mid range fights is his small, thin hitbox. This makes it tricky to consistently hit him at mid range.

As for charging over traps, it doesn't work. The charge does set off the trap. You keep moving forward until you hit the ground and then you are a sitting duck. A charge is only viable with poorly placed level 2 traps.

Where do you keep getting this "other classes can easily blow up traps?" Grenade launcher and product bomb do not explode if thrown directly at the trap. You have to bounce them so they come to rest specifically at the spot the trap is laying at. To test these I basically had to aim the trap at where I was getting the grenade launcher or product bomb to come to rest. Mortar is similarly problematic, while you can do a more direct shot, the area where you can hit it is very small and incredibly sensitive to uneven surfaces. You are looking at 4-6 shots to take out the trap easily. By the time you kill a trap with product grenade, grenade launcher, or mortar the sniper will have had time to kill you 5 times over, easily.

Two skills can take out traps in realistic gameplay, assault's bomb and support's airstrike. That also leaves both gunner and tank with crap answers to traps.

That is the biggest problem with both traps and the assault's bomb. There is no answer to them. If any weapon's fire could destroy traps or bombs at least the sniper would have to stay on his toes a little and the assault's bomb wouldn't be a free license to retreat. It would also make their use take a little more thought.