Let's Discuss Shaft!

[FogOfWar_XXX 793]

Sooooo, did I miss something in the last few days regarding shaft?  Like since New Years?  I ask only because my last few days of game play I've been racking up kills and less deaths, thus overall, better overall K/D in a manner far removed from the norm.  I went back and looked at patch updates for shaft and I found none in the last update.

No joke, I've been running an assembly line in a lot of games in terms of kills (okay, not "mowing" everyone down, but much higher kill counts) these last 4 or 5 days.  It's like I can one shot hulls again, like it should be, and I'm scratching my head over what is different.  I'm not drugging and I can't say I'm been surrounded by dictators OD'ing me, so I'm a little confused to why the increase in performance lately.  Like I said too, it's not an increase in hits (it's a shaft, in scope you miss very little) and thus damage, it's true one shots, medium hulls, EVEN a mammy or two.  Mammy had to be a in a bad place or struck maybe and I didn't see them, but the mediums, clean hit, as God intended.

No complaints, just trying to figure out why the change.

[qwds 185]

Someone in my team could heal me by shooting at me with Shaft.

Was wondering what that ability is called and how you can get it. I couldn't find it among the upgrades for Shaft. Thanks.

[Dopamine 2,161]

2 minutes ago, qwds said:

Someone in my team could heal me by shooting at me with Shaft.

Was wondering what that ability is called and how you can get it. I couldn't find it among the upgrades for Shaft. Thanks.

It´s a premium augment for shaft called ´´healing emitters´´. You can get it from ultra containers in the legendary category or occasionally it may be included in the monthly challenges.

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

5 minutes ago, qwds said:

Someone in my team could heal me by shooting at me with Shaft.

Was wondering what that ability is called and how you can get it. I couldn't find it among the upgrades for Shaft. Thanks.

 

1 minute ago, frederik123456 said:

It´s a premium augment for shaft called ´´healing emitters´´. You can get it from ultra containers in the legendary category or occasionally it may be included in the monthly challenges.

Picture for visualisation. 

 

 

[qwds 185]

3 hours ago, TheCongoSpider said:

 

Picture for visualisation. 

 

 

Thank you for the reply

[qwds 185]

Here's a list of tips for the Shaft/Mammoth combo, mainly for Team Deathmatch. I'm sure it's nothing new though, but I felt like posting...

If anyone has more tips for Shaft togheter with any type of hull in any type of gamemode, feel free to share. :)

 

Tips for Shaft/Mammoth in TDM:

Camping

Your success in matches depends on your ability to find a good spot to camp at! Ideally, it should 1. give you good cover, 2. put as much distance between yourself and the enemy team as possible, 3. allow you to find and hit as many in the enemy team as possible.

Depending on how dangerous the enemy team is, you can choose different prioritizations between protection, cover and distance, vs. opportunity to get kills, with where and how you camp. Your biggest threats will be long-range weapons: Shaft, Guass, Striker and Railgun (IMO in that order) and short-range weapons on light hulls if they play aggressively - prioritize these and in this order! Of course, players who use a lot of supplies with any combo and playstyle might also be a large threat who should be prioritized.

Be situationally aware! Because of Mammoth's slow speed and nature of using Shaft you need to play close attention to where the enemies are and going. If necessary, turn your turret and hull at the same time to look around faster (unless you're using a mouse). Only go into scope-mode when you've picked a target. Leave scope-mode after a few seconds if you can't find one.

Sniping

Hide your laser by aiming on things infront of your target, then quickly move your aim to take the shot. The best way is to aim on something directly infront of you so that nothing of your laser can be seen and there's no sign you're in scope-mode. I like to stand so I see my target on one side of the scope and a wall, building, etc. on the other, then quickly move my aim to the target when my Shaft is fully charged.

Use the horizontal lines in your scope for aiming. You can then quickly point your reticle directly at the target when you're ready, without needing to make any vertical adjustments. This is only useful if you use your keyboard.

Always charge your shot fully, even if you're shooting a light hull - you don't know if they're using supplies or what M-level they have.

Taking cover more quickly: reverse behind cover while also turning (in any direction). It will make your silhouette disappear slightly quicker behind cover. It can definitely make a difference when an enemy Shaft is taking aim at you!

Overdrive

Don't hesitate to play aggressively if you have full health and a charged Overdrive - you have twice your health at your disposal. Unless the enemies are using supplies, that makes you quite formidable! If the opportunity presents itself to play aggressively and get a lot of kills, take it.

When you camp, use the Overdrive as a healthkit (unless you use supplies). Use it when you can no longer survive one more shot by the weapons that's a threat. If it's an enemy Shaft for example, you need to use it when you've only lost a small amount of health.

If enemies are close and you plan to destroy when with your Overdrive, make sure that they won't escape from you. You can also lure them close to you by pretending that you haven't noticed and reacted to them.

Edited January 13, 2022 by qwds

[rapon 89]

The best Hull for Shaft is Hornet, and no other hull comes even close. Hornet + Healing Emitters is the best combo for Shaft IMO.
Let me explain!
Hornet, being a small hull, gives you the capacity to get to narrow spots or corners or spots to camp or snipe someone. Alsom being a fast hull it allows you to have a more dynamic playstile, switching spots in case no one comes on your sight. This way you are saving time not waiting 5 minutes for an enemy to show up. 
The second best thing for hornet is his OD. Let alone the AP and Supercharge, it allows you to see where are the enemies throughout the map so you have a better understanding of where to snipe and, for a sniper, gathering info about where enemies are IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING.

Healing Emitters is the best augument because, giving the increased reload, you can heal enemies in between charges (or shoot enemies for cheap damage). Base shaft deals a pretty good damage, being able to 1shot a light and medium hull at mk8 and lvl20 drone.

[qwds 185]

16 hours ago, rapon said:

The best Hull for Shaft is Hornet, and no other hull comes even close. Hornet + Healing Emitters is the best combo for Shaft IMO.
Let me explain!
Hornet, being a small hull, gives you the capacity to get to narrow spots or corners or spots to camp or snipe someone. Alsom being a fast hull it allows you to have a more dynamic playstile, switching spots in case no one comes on your sight. This way you are saving time not waiting 5 minutes for an enemy to show up. 
The second best thing for hornet is his OD. Let alone the AP and Supercharge, it allows you to see where are the enemies throughout the map so you have a better understanding of where to snipe and, for a sniper, gathering info about where enemies are IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING.

Healing Emitters is the best augument because, giving the increased reload, you can heal enemies in between charges (or shoot enemies for cheap damage). Base shaft deals a pretty good damage, being able to 1shot a light and medium hull at mk8 and lvl20 drone.

Although I use Mammoth with Shaft, it's not hard for me to imagine that Hornet is the best overall hull for Shaft.

However, playing with Mammoth/Shaft, those moments where I can rely on its health and OD to stay alive in an awesome camping spot and getting huge amounts of kills and supporting the team, while the frustrated enemies are rushing you, are so satisfying that nothing comes close IMO.

[Abellia 504]

On 1/12/2022 at 7:31 PM, qwds said:

Always charge your shot fully, even if you're shooting a light hull - you don't know if they're using supplies or what M-level they have.

This is why everyone thinks Shaft sucks now.

[qwds 185]

On 1/16/2022 at 9:31 PM, Abellia said:

This is why everyone thinks Shaft sucks now.

You often meet players with much higher M levels than you have, that's true.

[Abellia 504]

12 minutes ago, qwds said:

You often meet players with much higher M levels than you have, that's true.

You mean lower, since I'm able to do well by not fully charging my shots and not waiting 12+ seconds, and you should clearly always full charge your shot unless you're fighting people with undergraded modifications of equipment.

[FrozenRailgun 1,771]

On 1/16/2022 at 3:31 PM, Abellia said:

This is why everyone thinks Shaft sucks now.

IICR, I saw a dude complained that even the post-rebalanced Shaft didn't decrease the number of its users.

I doubt it sucks even with the hard-capped (not really though)10 second reload time.

[qwds 185]

2 hours ago, FrozenRailgun said:

IICR, I saw a dude complained that even the post-rebalanced Shaft didn't decrease the number of its users.

I doubt it sucks even with the hard-capped (not really though)10 second reload time.

I personally don't think it sucks at all. For aggressive play, the buffed arcade shot makes Shaft work as it is now IMO.

Edited January 20, 2022 by qwds

[TrestleRider02 21]

I bought the Shaft augment called Adrenaline, but it is not listed among the augments for Shaft in the Wiki Augments detail.  Did I pay for nothing?  Is it even working?

 

In my garage, when I equip with Adrenaline, the description is:

This augment increases your turret's damage in proportion to the decrease in your tank's health points.  The less health points you have, the higher amount of damage your turret inflicts.

 

Never mind, I see that it is a universal augment at the top.

 

I still do not completely understand Adrenaline.  When equipped, does it mean at full health the damage a shot makes is less than if I did not have Adrenaline?

Edited February 5, 2022 by TrestleRider02
new information

[NikmanGT 4,362]

14 minutes ago, TrestleRider02 said:

I still do not completely understand Adrenaline.  When equipped, does it mean at full health the damage a shot makes is less than if I did not have Adrenaline?

Nope, when at full health, the Turret with adrenaline augment equipped will deal basic stock damage (damage that will be dealt by Shaft without any augments). As your health decreases,  damage of your turret increases. Damage is inversely proportional to your health, lower your health, more damage will be dealt by your turret. 

[FrozenRailgun 1,771]

On 2/5/2022 at 3:11 AM, NikmanGT said:

Nope, when at full health, the Turret with adrenaline augment equipped will deal basic stock damage (damage that will be dealt by Shaft without any augments). As your health decreases,  damage of your turret increases. Damage is inversely proportional to your health, lower your health, more damage will be dealt by your turret. 

Note, it stacks additively with Boosted Power, not as a separate multiplier.

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

I'll be recording some of my battles of varying lengths on two separate accounts that main Shaft.

One of them is F2P-esque, where it is below Legend, using basic crystal augment, an unmaxed Crusader/Ares with one hull augment, a small set of upgraded protection modules, and a low-tier drone. 

 

The other is P2W-esque, where it is quite after Legend, using Armour-Piercing Sight and Healing Emitters, a number of maxed hulls with Immunity options, every relevant protection module decently upgraded to at least 40%, and a near meta drone. 

 

Here is the link to the playlist. It will periodically have newer recorded videos being added.  

 

 

[qwds 185]

What augments do you recommend for Shaft?

I'm especially curious about Heavy vs Light capacitors.

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

2 hours ago, qwds said:

What augments do you recommend for Shaft?

I'm especially curious about Heavy vs Light capacitors.

Currently, the only augments you should consider buying for Shaft are Adrenaline or Short-Band Emitters. The other augments are not worth the cost, especially with how horrible the current economy of the game is. 

Edited February 25, 2022 by TheCongoSpider

[qwds 185]

4 minutes ago, TheCongoSpider said:

Currently, the only augments you should consider buying for Shaft are Adrenaline or Short-Band Emitters. The other augments are not worth the cost, especially with how horrible the current economy of the game is. 

Appreciate the answer.

[Abellia 504]

4 hours ago, TheCongoSpider said:

Currently, the only augments you should consider buying for Shaft are Adrenaline or Short-Band Emitters. The other augments are not worth the cost, especially with how horrible the current economy of the game is. 

What about Mammoth? It makes shaft much better, augmenting your capabilities to camp.

[qwds 185]

3 hours ago, Abellia said:

What about Mammoth? It makes shaft much better, augmenting your capabilities to camp.

I guess if the heavy capacitor augment doesn't make it possible to one-shot any more tanks, like mediums with armour supply or heavies without, it won't make a huge difference when you camp, probably? Destroying them will still require two hits.

Edited February 26, 2022 by qwds

[wolverine848 13,097]

1 hour ago, qwds said:

I guess if the heavy capacitor augment doesn't make it possible to one-shot any more tanks, like mediums with armour supply or heavies without, it won't make a huge difference when you camp, probably? Destroying them will still require two hits.

Ummm... doesn't your DD offset any DA equipped by target?

And why do you think you should be able to destroy a slower heavy hull with 1 shot?

[qwds 185]

On 2/26/2022 at 4:33 AM, wolverine848 said:

Ummm... doesn't your DD offset any DA equipped by target?

And why do you think you should be able to destroy a slower heavy hull with 1 shot?

Maybe it would make the game unbalanced to be able to do that, I don't know. I was just saying that afaik it probably wouldn't make that big of a difference when you use Shaft if the increased damage didn't make it possible to one-shot any more hulls than ordinarily, and the increased reload time wouldn't be worth it maybe.

[qwds 185]

If there's anyone here good at math, it would be interesting to see damage per minute of Shaft's arcade shot vs. the other mid and long range turrets.

Anyone willing to help out? It might be difficult with the critical hit damage, but maybe it can be done...