Can it completely stop grapples during its animation? Countless times an Assassin has front grappled me, only to avoid my Level 3 Charge by smoke bomb jumping afterward, even though I was clipping with her the second I got out of the grapple. This is something that has been bugging me.
The smokebomb negates the grapple of the assault's charge 3 and the knockdown/stun of various other skills. Normal grapples (like the assault's grenade launcher secondary or the gunner's red skill) still grab assassins right out of their smokebomb and this is the recommended way to deal with smokebombing assassins.
That's good to know, should I then attempt to headcrab if I have my Assault Rifle out? I don't think there would be enough time to switch to the Grenade Launcher to be able to grapple.
Headcrabs are always good if you can pull one off. But it's good to be proactive and whip out that grenade launcher if you can anticipate the need to grapple an assassin. Once you grapple him out of his smokebomb, it'll be on cooldown and you've got him with his pants down.
I think you mean, once you are done grappling him, youll have to switch to AR and blast him down, but hell already have lunge/cloaked/sprinted away.. lol.... just hover, charge 2, ar spray.. dont upgrade charge.
As assault I prioritize for Charge 3 just so I can deal with Assasins in a way that is satifying. Uppercut off the stage.
I dont upgrade till 3, until way late game, I find charge 2, AR to be must as effective.. heres why: Charge 2 deals damage from the air (while hovering), charge 3 does NOT, nor will it grapple if used from the air. I get lvl 2 hover right after lvl 2 bomb/charge, to deal with sins. Assaults should almost NEVER die to a sin, once you get lvl 2 hover.. they are worthless against you if they cant face grapple.. and charge 2 = dmg from hover.
I do agree that having level two flight time, after watching assault tips videos, does make assassins useless. I've been hovering ever since... The thing is that I don't have too much of an idea on how to prioritize skill upgrading for assault. I ussualy go: Bomb2+Charge2, or Bomb2+Passive2, Flight if there are many sin's and Bomb3 then Charge 3. But you must admit getting front grappled by an Assassin and responding with an uppercut or gun-but is awesome!
Personally, I go as a standard Charge 2 / Bomb 2 flight 2 Passive 2 Bomb 3 Passive 3 Charge 3 Flight 3 in that order, though I sometimes trade bomb 2 for Passive 2 in the order, if its a map where I need the extra jump height right away to gain the high ground advantage..
I usually start with bomb2/passive2, get charge2/bomb3 as soon as I can. Then upgrade flight and my passive last. Don't bother with charge 3 unless the annihilator is well handled, just for the recharge, as I use it a lot to get around.
I will post these ways to deal with assassins here as well: Assassins, if they do not kill you with a grapple, will be in a position 2 feet in front of you. They will normally smokebomb jump, unless your health is very low, which they will try to finish you off. Smart ones will sometimes just dash away without smokebombing, just to mix things up now and then. If they smokebomb EVERY time the grapple finishes, your charge will not affect them. What will affect them: -product grenade will blind them, they wont aim their jump too well, they may end up only feet away and in a corner. -throw a bomb, because while the smokebomb animation anchors them perfectly still, your bomb will headcrab, and their mid-air explosion will be such a beautiful reminder to keep their knife away from your face. -every secondary weapon has a grapple. While they are stuck in place, a charge will not land (including knockback or grapple), but walking up with a secondary weapon grapple will still land, take them out of smokebomb animation, leave their smokebomb on cooldown, and allow you to follow with a charge that can't be blocked. If they dash away instead of smokebomb, a charge wouldn't be easy to dodge as a smokebomb would make it. If you charge and they dont immediately smokebomb, they are probably dead. However, if you do not charge (fire your shotgun) and they immediately start dashing away, you won't catch them with a grapple. It is a guessing game; if you guess they smokebomb jump and prevent it, and they actually chose to smokebomb jump, you will kill them; if you guess they dont smokebomb jump, and they dont smokebomb jump immediately, you will kill them. Assassins arent invincible and unkillable. They do seem better on pc because a lot of them dont do dumb-assassin things. I played xbox, and was highly amused with an assassin walking up from the front and trying to grapple without a lunge. I haven't been able to kill an obvious assassin in quite some time because I havent seen any on steam. I should play console more
Well, I know a lot more about the Assassin's Smoke Bomb now, but I just have one more question. A level 2 Charge will still damage the Assassin, correct? Or will it negate that also? Because if it can damage her even when she is beginning her Smoke Jump, that would be another reason to stay at level 2 for me.
