Kckzi's Assault Guide

Ive decided to write a guide for the assault class. I remind you that my education stopped at the third grade and that I do appreciate any well thought out feedback, because I realize I might have overlooked some things. Also, my guide is not written for people who just want to pub stomp. I try to gear it towards playing against high level players.

Credibility
Hopefully, some of you recognize my name already but if you dont recognize my name, I am currently #7 in kills and #25 in earnings on the leaderboards. I am also on team Destiny who competed in the FN cup (lost to GP in the semifinals) and play as many private games against the better MNC players as possible.

Responsibilities
Assaults duties are actually quite simple. Your job is simply to slay as much as possible and make it easier for the rest of your team to deal with turrets/bots. You can always help out at the team by killing turrets/bots, but realize these are not your strengths and should not be a top priority. Most maps revolve around controlling the top middle area, which make it easier for you and your team to control the juice pads and the annihilator. The great thing about assault is it is easy to dislodge (using bomb/mobility) other teams when they have control of a certain area by using your mobility and bombs, but it is also hard to keep control of the area if you are out girthed or out matched. Once ball goes down, you do the most damage with your bomb, so it is your responsibility to use your mobility to keep the ball down and drain it.

Weapons
Assault Rifle: I have this gun out 99% of the time I play. I use this gun to shoot at everything I see that isnt friendly, even if I dont intend of killing it. Shooting turrets will give you turret assists and shooting bots will give you cash to, even though it doesnt pop up (3 for slim assist, 7 for black jack assist, 65 for jackbot assist). Also, this is the most effective weapon you have against pros.
Grenade Launcher: I dont use this gun much myself because I do not run Rate of Fire (more on this in the endorsement part), but it is the best gun for killing turrets, bots, and the money ball. I sometimes use it to kill pros if they are far away or to bounce it off walls, but it isnt the most ideal gun for pro killing.

Endorsements
Gold armor is a must. I bet someone will post about how good they are at armorless assault and how it is a viable option. It isnt if you play against good people. It takes a bomb and a fart to kill an armorless assault and considering how good players shoot as a team at a single target, the best possible outcome if you play a decent opponent is you spend most of your time sitting in the back healing or dying. Armorless assaults just don't have enough health to push ground or hold ground and give the other team a huge advantage in map control. After gold armor, it really is all preference between skill recovery, rate of fire, and accuracy. You can put them in whatever order you want, but I wouldnt run anything other than those three. I also wouldnt suggest running skill higher than bronze (even though I did for a long time), because the difference from silver to bronze is only like 0.7 seconds for a bomb. I personally run (in order), Armor, Accuracy, Skill. What I make up in having bombs and charge come back 2/3 seconds earlier, I lose in Assault Rifle damage (no RoF) and my grenade launcher shoots REALLY slow, so I cant push bots or kill turrets that fast (though, my bomb is decently effective at both of these).
If you want to know what some of the better assaults run, here is what I can gather.
PeachyPony: Armor, Accuracy, Skill (same as mine).
Miracle: Armor, RoF, Accuracy.
Ninja Wallace: Armor, RoF, Health Regen.
The Dude: Armor, Accuracy, RoF.

Skills
First a quick summary of the skills, you should know what they do by now, but just in case.
Passive: 2 gives you jump height and higher critical chance. 3 gives you higher critical chance.
Bomb: 2 comes back faster, does more damage, and has bigger radius. 3 comes back EVEN faster, does EVEN more damage, and has an EVEN bigger radius.
Charge: 2 comes back faster and does more damage. 3 comes back EVEN faster and adds a grapple that does a lot of damage.
Fly: 2 allows you to fly longer. 3 allows you to fly EVEN longer.


This is my buy order.
Passive 2 and Bomb 2 at start.
Charge 2.
Bomb 3.
Fly 2.
The first two skills I buy when I start a game are passive 2 and bomb 2. Passive 2 makes you jump so much higher and gives you so much freedom of movement. There are jumps on every map (except spunky), that allow you to never have to pay for jump pads. I also buy bomb 2 over charge 2 in the beginning because I find bomb 2 helps me get kills faster early game than charge does (which helps me pay for charge 2 quicker). Also, Bomb 1 is completely useless while you can still use charge 1 to get out of bad situations. Plus, most people can predict a charge and countercharge or even grapple you midcharge, so it is really not the most effective pro killer. I buy charge 2 next though, because it comes back so much faster and can really help you get in and out of bad situations. I use charge more to get chase people and to run away from people than I do to get damage. Next I save for bomb 3 because it my entire class is based off spamming bombs every chance I get. I am going to have an entire section dedicated to proper bomb use after this. The last thing I buy is fly 2 just for more mobility since it allows you to fly a lot longer for only 150 bucks.
I do not bother with level 3 fly, charge, or passive because they all cost too much money for how little you get back in return. I know some people like charge 3, but the grapple really just feels like I am paying 400 bucks to be vulnerable to other people and like I said earlier, most people can dodge charges effectively. Fly 3 and passive 3 just dont seem worth the 400 bucks they cost, when you could just save another 100 for juice or help your team in other ways.

Bomb
Yes, the bomb is so important to me that I have an entire section dedicated to it. A few general things to remember is to lead your targets, if someone is close to the edge, place a bomb to one side so it blows them the other direction (and off the map for free ring outs), you can toss your bomb over glass protectors, and around small corners, and that most people are running armor, so after a bomb, you will probably need to sprinkle them with some AR.
The most obvious way to use the bomb is like it is a grenade. Throw it at someone and just spam the x button until it blows up. Thing is, try to wait for the bomb to hit the ground because it seems to have a smaller blast radius while in the air and typically try to throw the bomb where the other player is moving towards (lead the target).
Set up people into your bombs. When you engage into a fight that you will have the advantage in, consider where the enemy (based on his class speed, charge availability, jetpack or not) might run to if he feels he has to run from the fight and put a bomb there. If he sees you put the bomb at his best available exit, he is stuck and will have no other choice than to fight. If he doesnt see you put it there, he is dead while retreating. Sometimes you want to just throw a bomb down knowing there is someone about to engage you and you want to fight him INTO the bomb.
The thing that annoys me most when I see new assaults is they throw down a bomb in a completely obvious area, stare directly at the bomb, and then wait for someone to run over it. Problem is most people can see and hear the bomb before it is blown, so if you throw a bomb down waiting to blow it up, put it in high traffic areas where the sound/sight might be less obvious. I like to throw bombs into my own bots where it is hard to see, when they go to kill my bots, I blow it up and finish them with my AR. Also, if you have them cornered into their base, it is very easy to throw bombs into their base OVER the glass, this is one of those times where bomb accuracy is useful. Most important thing is be CLEVER and UNPREDICTABLE with your bombs.
Use the bomb defensively if you have to. If you are being chased and are in a narrow corridor or one of those bridges, aim down, throw a bomb and keep running. Give the guy the option of running through your bomb (and dying or being flown to the away) or letting you get away. Obviously if you are fighting in a wide open space where they can run around it, dont try this, but it will save your life.

Jackbot
Jackbots are easy for the assault and I would actually consider them partly the assaults responsibility if the assassin is being bothered by an explosive rounding sniper. Bomb does a ton of damage and you can stick the jackbot with limited risk to yourself. At the very least, shoot the jackbot with a single bullet into it just to get the 65 dollar assist (this goes for all classes).

Moneyball
If the moneyball drops, it should never go back up. Ever. 30 seconds is a long time for 5/6 people to not be able to get a single shot on it. If the ball goes down, it is usually YOUR duty to do damage and keep it down since you are mobile and do the most damage to it. Drop bombs on it (does insane damage) and use the GL for the most damage. If you are close to your juice bar being full or need a few more dollars, use your AR because itll make your juice go up faster and get you more money (since moneyball gives you a dollar per hit and a machine gun is faster than a grenade launcher). Once you get juice, use the GL for damage. When there money ball is down and you spawn in after a death, consider bomb jumping out of spawn to get to the money ball faster.

General Tips (Possible Repeats I Find Important Enough to Say Twice)
-Always be bunny hopping or flying. If you are on the ground for longer than a second, you just make it easy for the other teams assassin. It also makes it easier to hit you if you are not moving vertically and horizontally.
-You can fly out of ice traps by using the "Y" button (or whatever yellow skill is) to simply fly out of them. Doesn't work if you try to jump/fly out of them. Don't stay in ice traps if you don't need to.
-Being a p***y or a coward is not a bad thing. Play to your classes strengths and use your mobility to pick the fights you want to be in. If you think you are outgunned, or outmatched, or just low on health, turn around and charge the hell out of there. Keep your streaks as long as you can!! You get more money for them.
-Pick your fights wisely and play like a vulture sometimes. Pick off people that are low with your mobility.
-Shoot everything for the money. Bots give you money for assists. Turrets give you money for the assists. Pros give you money for the kills and assists (even if they are being grappled to death). Jackbots give you a LOT of money for an assist.
-On LazerRazor, Ammo Mule, and Steel Peel, control the top middle where the anni/juice is. This gives you access to the anni/juice and also helps your team push bots past midway.

Trick Jumps (Some Might Be Obvious And Some Might Be Useless)
LazorRazor -
1. Jump on the glass near front bridge. Jump on bridge, or the spawn ring itself.
2. Jump pad on ramps side of spawn, just jump and fly at peak. No need for the jump pad.
3. Near where the ramps are, before you hit the tunnel (near the bridge). You can fly AROUND the wall and then hit the jump pad (use charge in the air). It's a clever way to get behind people in the tunnel, or if you are being chased in the tunnel or in that area, you can use it to escape the chaser (especially, if you hit the jump pad and go to the second level).
4. On the bumper on the ramps, you can jump from on top the bumpers, and then land on the bridge (just for fun, not really efficient, since theres jump 2, like ten feet to your left).

SteelPeel -
1. On elbow (the thing to the left of spawn), you can jump on the bumper on the side, then the glass, then jump up to the spawn ring. You can also jump on the turret nozzel, then the glass, then the spawn ring. Just depends on which direction you are coming from. It's a great way to avoid certain battles and get out of elbow, since you can get on the jump pad.
2. On the other side of elbow, before you hit the donut, you can get on the bumper on the side, then the glass, and then to the top of the donut. It's a great way to avoid spending 50 bucks on the donut jump pad.
3. On the glass for the last jump (on elbow, near donut). You can jump off to the left, and then charge (let go of fly for a split second while charging, you'll go farther, then fly IMMEDIATELY after the charge is done, you'll lose some altitude, but this jump is impossible without it). You can make it to their bot lane on their right side.
4. On the OTHER side of the last to jumps. If you fly around the outside of the glass, and come back towards the donut, there is a small ledge. You can fly there if you are getting killed from inside the donut and will give you a second to breathe/heal, if you are in trouble.
5. If you fly to the top bridge, instead of buying the jump pad in the spawn ring, you can charge right before you hit the bridge (it's like the small ramp on the bridge sides), and you will go flying past the middle. I don't think it's one of those jumps you can do 100% of the time, but it's worth trying.

Ammo Mule -
1. On either side of the map, if you get on top of the bumper where the ramps are at, you can jump on the wall that seperates the the middle ramp area, to the jump pad room, then from there you can get on top of the bridge. It's usually only convenient if your coming from the middle.

Grenade III -
1. You can fly from any of the top bridge areas to the perches in the spawn areas.
2. Also you can fly from one perch to the other team's perch using charge (let go of fly for a second for extra distance). It can be done with level 1 fly, but if your new, just wait until level 2.
3. On the side of both lanes, in the middle of the 3 bridges. There is a jump pad on the far sides. You can jump on the walls, then jump from on top the wall to on the bridge, without buying the jump pad. Also, its actually quicker.
4. On the inside of both lanes, where the jump pads go to the center, you can jump, out, charge and go around the middle bridge. It's a good way to surprise/flank people who are on the other side of the bridge wall.

Spunky Cola-
1. On the far jump pad that leads to top middle, there is the ledge on off the side that leads into the spawn.
2. If you are on the second level, you can fly above the ledge, and AROUND the wall. If people are sitting on the other side of the wall, you can flank them in the ***. It's also a good way to escape people.
3. With the last jump, you can fly ontop of the wall and keep flying, you'll essentially slide up the curve that will lead you to the top of that wall.

Just in case I want to add on later.

Should be more guides like this tailored to higher level play.

Bunny hop, bomb, bunny hop, bunny hop, bomb, bunny hop, bomb, juice, buy more juice, bunny hop some more, throw more bombs, buy more juice. That's all you needed to write.

<3

Agree on the "shoot bots/turrets/pros just once to get assist cash" I love that and do it with every class when possible.

thats kind of a fact for every skill in the game, even tank.gunner deploy.

Nice to see an assault guide that preaches gold armor. Good guide!

Uh, no it's not. You're reading FAR too much into his not mentioning charge 3 comes back sooner. Stop being so pedantic; it's tiresome.

ugh.
so he needs to tell you about charge 3.
in a guide telling how he plays.
when charge 3 isnt at all a part of his strategy.
YOU should add it into YOUR assault guide.

i personally found that picture to be overly intrusive.

edit: cleared

Not everyone says gold armor is necessary on any build. It all comes down to preference, which is something you seem to forget when you "argue over gameplay." If a build works for you but it doesn't work for other people, that's not up for a who's right/who's wrong debate, it's just based on variables such as player skill, style and personal preference.

Some people are much better at not dying than others, and therefore don't find armor is necessary. Perhaps right now the meta game is skewed towards more armor-heavy builds...who knows what next month will bring?

I happen to like gold/silver armor on most of my builds because I get myself in dumb situations where I need an extra buffer. Kckzi gave very good reasons for his running of gold armor. You probably have your own good reasons for not running it.

No build is right/wrong...just better or less suited for an individual's playing style.

Why are you so intensely insufferable? Avoiding getting shot isn't a matter of "laziness." You take assumption and conjecture to such ridiculous extremes, it's laughable.

OK, I changed the charge thing for the sake of changing it, but please remove that annoying picture and stop derailing my thread.

Also, on topic, I appreciate discussion about different assault builds and such BUT this guide was written to help people in private games against decent competition. Running armorless assault is only preference when it comes to public games, but I didn't write this guide for the purpose of teaching people how to further pub stomp. This is a guide about how to be effective in a private game situation which I know you don't play.

Like IlliniJen said, it is not a matter of laziness. You simply just can't be effective against good people without it. Doesn't make it overepowered, doesn't make you lazy for using it. It just a tool that should be utilized to hit the full potential of the assault class.

This. I'd say there's maybe an argument to be made for gold skill recovery and silver armor, considering how fast your CHARGE 2 (charge 3 is garbage) respawns. Otherwise, it's gold armor forever and always.

I don't want to sound like Deadeye here, but when the best Assaults in the game are telling you you're wrong about Assault, you just might want to reconsider.

Good guide but i dont think i could use the AR without ROF. I am so used to Armor, ROF, Accuracy that it is hard to try anything else but recently i have been swapping accuracy and ROF and it seems to work for me.

You can always start off with the skill regen build to negate the slow recharge times the low level skills have and then switch to RoF in the later game to get the pros that have purchased passive armor upgrades to make them stronger.

I tried Rof, Acc, Crit for an armorless build, and I really didn't like it. As assault, I need to be fighting people at all ranges under all circumstances. This means that I need to have the armor to push and fight. Gold RoF doesn't do that much better than silver for the AR. Since the AR is my main weapon, my preferred setups are: 1. Armor/RoF/Clip 2. Armor/RoF/Accuracy

I find that accuracy allows my AR to be effective at a slightly longer range. I like clip for hit-and-run type situations where I need to be firing for a while. I started an article on whether accuracy is really necessary for assaults. I plan to do some testing, but the thing that I have been noticing is that gunners with gold accuracy tend to do really well. I intend to try some tests as both assault and gunner shooting down an assault. I plan to try this with different armor setups and endorsements as well.

I keep flip flopping between armor/rof/acc and armor/rof/clip and I prefer acc. Even at bronze it makes such a huge difference and I think negates the need for clip because more of your shots hit. Obvious observation is obvious, but I'm really liking acc over clip at bronze on both the gunner and the assault.

Nice guide Kckzi. It's a shame some fool had to come in and post a bunch of nonsense. Since when is armor getting nerfed?