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[Issue 45] Scrutinized: Ricochet


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Ricochet is one of the most popular turrets. Introduced in the early days of the game, Ricochet has always been one of the most powerful turrets. It is highly favored by tankers of all sorts, and I would go as far as to say it is, overall, the most powerful turret in the game. It preforms excellently at all modifications and will not disappoint. Let’s get rolling!


 

The Advantages and Disadvantages

 

Ricochet is an extremely powerful turret. At M3, Ricochet is capable of dealing an average of 372.3 damage in just under six seconds, giving it the highest burst damage in the game for a medium/long range turret. In the same amount of time, Freeze M3 dishes only 380 damage. You get the picture: Ricochet is extremely high on Burst Damage, and the damage per minute of Rico is also exceedingly high. 

 

Ricochet has an ability allowing it to hit enemies behind cover or where they least expect. Under the right hands, this ability is extremely effective. Even without this ability, however, Ricochet still stands as a very powerful turret. 

Ricochet has a high, constant impact force. Perhaps not as effective as smoky at knocking off enemies’ aim, Rico’s impact force it still useful. It is particularly effective at pushing enemies off cliffs or even off of the Gold Drop Zone. 

 

Ricochet also has a quite low shell velocity. At long ranges, it is very easy to dodge Ricochet charges with faster hulls, and it is difficult to aim at moving enemies. If both you and an enemy extremely low on damage, chances are your enemy will destroy you even if you shoot at him first. 

 

Ricochet’s main disadvantage is the fact that after all of its charges have been fired, it must stop to reload. When a Ricochet is reloading, it is quite vulnerable. It takes a full ten seconds for Ricochet to completely recharge, and if you are confronted by an enemy there is a good chance that you will be destroyed. While reloading, Ricochet is similar to a low-damage Smoky without critical hits and slow shell speed. 

 

Ricochet has the ability to damage itself when ricocheting rounds go awry. However, one can employ this characteristic to their advantage. If you need to self-destruct (e.g., the Goldbox alarm went off and you are extremely low on health), one can generally do so faster than waiting a full ten seconds.

Finally, Ricochet does not have unlimited range. When inside tunnels, many tankers make the mistake of constantly shooting the walls at a severe angle. Because of this, the charge won’t actually travel very far down the tunnel. Also, the limited range is just a general disadvantage in long range maps. 

 

Understanding Ricochet:

 

Below are a list of useful facts about the turret.

 

Auto Aim: 33 degrees in total. 15 degrees upward, and 18 degrees downward. Ricochet has the highest autoaim in the game, surpassing even twins. One wouldn’t notice on first glance, but Ricochet’s autoaim is actually identical to that of Vulcan. 

Damage per Minute (M3): 1861.5

Burst Damage (Damage per clip at M3): 372.3 in 5.95 seconds. 

Average No. of Shots required to destroy various hulls: 

Wasp: 5

Hornet: 5

Hunter: 8

Viking: 8

Dictator: 10

Titan: 12

Mammoth: 13

Hulls that can be unflipped with Ricochet when on their side:

Wasp

Hornet 

Hunter

Time required to completely reload clip from empty: 10 Seconds

Time between shots (M3): Just under half a second

 

 

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Choosing a Hull

 

The first step in playing with Ricochet is to choose a hull. Your experience with Ricochet will change greatly from hull to hull. Hull selections may depend on the maps and battle types you most frequently play. However, there are some obviously good and bad choices. 

 

#1. Ricochet/Hunter

 

This combo is not seen too frequently, yet remains perhaps my most beloved combination. Hunter is the perfect balance between armor and agility. Hunter seems particularly adept at playing with Ricochet. Packed with just enough speed to get places in a hurry, Hunter is still a medium hull and capable of sustaining serious damage. Hunter is similar to both Viking and Hornet; in my mind, it takes the best of both worlds: Hornet’s speed and Viking’s armor. 

 

Gameplay with Hunter/Ricochet requires some concentration, but the result of this concentration is very rewarding. Hunter is a devious little hull; it can remain unnoticed in enemy territory and swipe the flag when no one is looking. In my mind, Ricochet/Hunter stands out as the best option for the use of Ricochet. If one does not have Hunter in their garage, Viking would be the next best option as the two hulls are quite similar in terms of Ricochet gameplay. 

 

#2. Ricochet/Hornet

 

As pointed out in past guides, this combination is endemic among low ranked battles. Usually operated by a tanker unskilled in the art of turret rotation, this combination appears wimpy until one is cornered in the way of fire. Ricochet/Hornet is a surprisingly powerful combo, with the quickness required to retreat after a clip has been fired and the immense damage power of Ricochet. This combination is great at taking the enemy flag and has the speed to capture it, too. It can demolish other light hulls that stand in its path, but when confronted by heavier hulls, a user may find their armor insufficient.  

 

This combination is useful under the right hands. I would especially recommend this combo for use in CTFs—in other modes, other hulls are usually preferable. If one is not actively engaged in dealing with the flag, you may find yourself obsolete in the battlefield. 

 

Overall, this is a great combination in specific situations. 

 

#3. Ricochet/Titan

 

Generally I would not highly recommend Ricochet to be mounted on heavy hulls. In my opinion, Ricochet requires a bit of mobility in order to retreat after all shots have been fired, and both Mammoth and Titan’s sluggish speed prevent them from adequately doing so. 

 

However, I have found Ricochet/Titan to be a ferocious defender in most maps and also a surprisingly good combination in small battles. With Titan, one can select a defensive position near the flag, and destroy enemies that attempt to take it. If possible, find a position where you can use ricochets to hit common entrance/escape pathways with ease. Ricochet/Titan is also excellent at holding up choke points. Once again, make use of your Ricochet ability: in this situation, it is one of the only traits setting you apart from twins. Don’t be blown of course; your main goal should be the protection of the allied flag. If an enemy successfully takes a flag, follow them. Don’t be one of those flag campers who immediately give up hope after an enemy has escaped the flag base.  

 

Ricochet/Titan is also a very dominant combo in small maps, such as Ping-Pong or Island. In Island, one can use ricochets between the buildings to hit almost the entire map without changing positions. The map is so small that low speed is not that huge of a disadvantage, and a Titan can still capture and return flags without too many problems. 

 

Other combinations of Ricochet and other hulls can be quite successful, but the above three are my top picks. Ricochet/Wasp is probably the worst hull to be used on Ricochet, although this combination can still do well from time to time. 

 

The Basics of the Ricocheting

 

Like most turrets, Ricochet is all about making use of the terrain around you for your own advantage. This is obvious, as Ricochet’s special ability allows the so called “tennis balls” to bounce off any surface other than a tank. With Ricochet, there is a big difference between doing Well and doing Best. Ricochet is a powerful turret even without its ricochet ability, an ability that many tankers overlook. Learning how to use the ricochets to your advantage will drastically boost your effectiveness in the battlefield. 

 

If you know anything about physics, you would know that the angle in which the pellet hits a surface will be the same angle at which it ricochets off. If I shoot a wall and hit the wall at a 25 degree angle, the pellet will ricochet in the opposite direction, but also at a 25% angle. If I hit a wall at a 90 degree angle, the pellet will fly directly back towards me. However, Ricochet’s ricochets also have a sort of auto aim. Upon first glance, it appears as if Ricochet’s charges swerve about in the air in order to hit enemies. Under closer inspection, this isn’t exactly true. In the same way that Railgun or Thunder auto-aim upwards and downwards, Ricochet auto-aims upwards and downwards too. Essentially, auto-aim slightly changes the position in which a charge first collides with a surface. However, it also can change the angle at which it ricochets off an edge. But, while the charge is in the air, it continues in a constant, unwavering direction. 

 

There are very basic ricochets that one can use to hit enemies behind cover. If there happens to be a flat surface perpendicular to you and your enemy, simply hit the flat surface and the charge will ricochet to hit your enemy. 

 

But, things get more complicated than that. Ricocheting is a skillful and complicated art. It requires an entirely different set of skills than other turrets. One has to actively be searching for ricochet angles at all times, not just focusing on your enemy, but the terrain in all directions. It requires a sort of vigilance usually not required by other turrets. In my opinion, Railgun is the only turret that surpasses Ricochet in terms of skills required to operate to your best ability.  

 

There are a few rules of thumb that a Ricotier should best remember. 

1. If you hit the front of a ramp, the charge will bounce directly upward. 

2. If you hit the underside of a ramp, the charge will bounce directly downward. 

3. If you are on a ramp and hit a flat surface below or above you, the charge will ricochet forward at the same angle as the ramp.

4. Don’t shoot at the interior corners of structures; this will result in the charge flying back at you. 

5. This may seem obvious, but don’t hit surfaces that are at 90 degree angles to your turret. The ricochet will undoubtedly hit you. 

6. Every hull from Wasp to Hunter can be unflipped from their side by Ricochet’s impact force. Everything from Viking and onwards is too heavy to be unflipped. 

7. In one clip, you can fully destroy every hull up to Titan. Mammoth is the only hull that you can’t entirely destroy within twelve rounds. 

 

Here are a few examples of more complex ricochets:

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As you can see, ricocheting rounds not only bounce horizontally, but also vertically in a variety of ways. These complex ricochets usually have multiple ricochet points and travel both vertically and horizontally simultaneously. The most effective ricochets catch enemies while unaware, and put them in a position where it is very difficult to escape fire. 

 

Tunnels are a Ricotier’s best friend, as it is virtually impossible to dodge an enemy ricochet charge while inside of one. My best advice is to stay behind corners of tunnels and when an enemy is spotted, fire away. Be careful of closer ranged weapons charging. Even though Ricochet is extraordinarily high in damage, you are still vulnerable to Isida, Freeze, Firebird and Hammer. Also be wary of hitting the wall at too steep of an angle; you do not want your ricochet charge to blink out of existence before it reaches an enemy.  

 

A few maps provide especially advantageous ricochet angles, among them are:

Polygon, Silence, Hill, Industrial Zone, Noise

I will go back to a few of these maps later in this article. 

 

Another point to be noted is what to do if you confront an enemy while parallel to a wall. If you are facing an enemy head-on, there is often a decision between directly shooting at them or using a parallel wall to hit them with a ricochet round. The latter of these two options is usually the best choice. I make this claim for several reasons. First of all, it will be harder for them to dodge the shot. If you hit them with a ricocheting round, there is a lot more surface area of the enemy tank to hit: You could hit the entire front of a tank, and the entire side of a tank. Even if they back up quite a bit, they still will not be able to dodge a well-placed shot. The second reason is that it will knock off their aim. If you ricochet your round, it has the opportunity to hit the side of your enemy’s hull. Hitting the side is a lot more effective at knocking off an opponent’s aim. 

 

One feature that is very evident to a Ricochet User is the size of the charges and the fact that the charge cannot pass through a tank, living or dead. This fact is bothersome, as corpses and allies very frequently block the path of an otherwise well aimed shot. If you had been using another turret, such as thunder or smoky, this shot may have been made, as the projectile size for Ricochet is quite high. The trick to overcoming this disadvantage is to ricochet your charge off of surfaces in order to avoid dead/allied tanks that may come between you and your enemy. 

 

Be careful of shooting objects with curved surfaces, or walls that tilt slightly upward. It is difficult to predict the way a charge will ricochet off of curved surfaces. Usually, the charge will not head in the direction intended. On many maps, the border walls have a slight tilt upwards. This gives them ineffective ricochet angles that will not hit enemies unless they happen to be extremely close to the initial position where your charge hits the wall. 

 

General Tactics

 

Ricochet is a very dynamic weapon. It can excel in all kinds of battlepositions, from an observant defender to an aggressive flag-capturer. Gameplay with Ricochet varies greatly from hull to hull, so it is hard to firmly declare a single position in which Ricochet should usually play in.

 

 I think that we can agree that Ricochet’s primary feature is its incredibly high damage. But, Ricochet is by no means a Firebird and should not be played as one. Ricochet is a midrange brawler, capable of crippling almost any combination from a medium distance. Ricochet lacks the ability to damage multiple enemies at once, and Rico’s damage bursts last a minimum of six seconds. This effectively allows Ricochet to shine in small deadlocks, yet in larger confrontations, with multiple enemies in multiple directions, Ricochet’s firepower is still not enough to hold its own. Turrets such as Firebird and Twins perform better in such situations. 

 

Players sometimes make the mistake of playing Ricochet like a Twins. Ricochet and Twins are regarded as similar weapons; both shoot plasma charges across midranges and both are quite high in damage per second. Yet Twins is still quite a different turret from Ricochet. Twins’s power lies in its constant ability to suppress waves of enemies. With endless barrages of high-powered charges, multiple enemies will be set back by an effective operator of Twins. But Ricochet is not exactly a weapon designed to restrain enemies from crucial positions. 

 

When one has a clear goal in mind, Ricochet will operate at its best. When you spawn, don’t mindlessly approach the enemy base and kill a few enemies. This isn’t a terrible idea, but with a few clear objectives in mind, I believe you will find your scores improving in battle. Ricochet is a jack of all trades, but a master of none. If you need a flag returned, Ricochet is an excellent turret for the job. Combined with a faster hull, Ricochet can locate and destroy essentially any hull carrying the flag. Use a full clip of rounds and assault your target. Even if it is a mammoth, it will take usually take you under ten seconds to entirely deplete their health bar. If they are using a short range turret, use Ricochet’s longer range to your advantage. But, don’t make the error of blundering into a crowd of enemies. This is rarely a good idea, and with this turret there is no exception. Ricochet is not particularly good at opposing more than three enemies at once; you will fire all your rounds at various enemies, only damaging them a third of the way.  They will easily confine and destroy you within seconds. 

 

Despite its high damage and recoil, Ricochet is not a weapon designed for charging into the midst of a fight. The fact that allies and corpses block shots, that Ricochet can only damage one enemy at once, and that Ricochet has a limited amount of ammunition contributes to this idea. Rather, Ricochet is a waylay weapon. Attack enemies from behind and when distracted; make use of your Ricochets to hit enemies from behind cover. Brawl individual enemies from moderate distances. Don’t be overly aggressive, but don’t be cowardly, either. Effectively operating Ricochet requires a delicate balance between aggression and caution. Ricochet cannot consistently hit long range shots, and it can’t even shoot all the way across most maps. But charging into close ranges against several enemies is not fulfilling your turret’s potential. A Ricochet in the right place and the right time easily determines the outcome of a battle. 

 

Controlling Bridges

 

One of Ricochet’s most useful traits is its severe degree of autoaim. One can employ this characteristic to their advantage when it comes to bridges. Tanki has loads of them all over the game, and a Ricotier can safely crouch behind one and hit enemies attempting to cross. You may be familiar with this idea as it was displayed in a recent V-Log. The trick is to drive halfway up the ramp leading to the bridge. From this area, Ricochet’s autoaim is sufficient to allow one to hit enemies on the opposite side of the bridge. 

vQVQpx1.pngThe view from the Ricochet:

lqjX3KJ.jpgThe View from the Opponent:

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Using Billboards 

 

Billboards are often located in strategic locations for a Ricotier. The best example of this is in the map Hill. Hill is a very small, aptly-named map comprised of two slopes leading to a summit. On the summit there stands a very useful billboard. Even while you are safely hidden on your side of the hill, you can still hit enemies in almost every direction using the underside of the billboard to reach the enemy base. 

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Aiming and Timing

 

Looking at the big picture, Ricochet has fairly slow shell speed. Coupled with a limited range, Ricochet is not the best long range weapon. Yet, it is incredibly important to know how to hit enemies from longer distances. The key is to predict where your enemy is headed, and aim where you believe they will be in half a second. Of course it is impossible to hit your enemies 100% of the time, but chances are you will be able to damage them a good portion of your shots. It gets even trickier when you are firing on the move at other enemies also on the move. Ricochet’s charges have a sort of momentum. When one begins firing while driving in circles, you will notice that the pathway of your charge arcs slightly in the direction you are turning. When you firing perpendicular to the direction you are driving, your charge will not fly perfectly straight. Instead, it will curve slightly in the direction at which you are driving. If you are shooting at an enemy driving in the same direction as you, you needn’t compensate for shell speed a much as if the enemy were stationary. However, if you are driving in the opposite direction of an enemy, then you need to compensate even more.

 

 

Correct:

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Incorrect:

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Ambushes and Sneaking Past Enemies 

 

Like I mentioned earlier, Ricochet is not always the type of weapon that one would want to charge directly into the fray with. In CTF, a Ricochet user can be a lot more successful if he sneaks around enemies and ambushes them from behind. Ricochet has such high damage per second that an enemy will be close to death before they even have a chance to turn around. These tactics will work best in larger maps with more tactical diversity, such as Kungur, Barda, Rio and others. Drive along the edges of maps and attack enemies that travel through the centers. If it is a CTF battle, don’t necessarily focus on killing. Instead, try to nab the flag when no one is looking. If someone else has taken the flag, than distract and destroy enemies attempting to return it. 

 

Jumping

 

Ricochet is a decent weapon at jumping. It has high, constant impact force allowing one to jump even from Madness with ease. However, one may be surprised how few shots it requires to balance one’s self while jumping. It only requires 2 to 3 shots even for the longest jumps, and when you are jumping from small ledges, one charge is good enough. The danger of jumping with Ricochet is to overcompensate; if you shoot too many times, your tank will begin spiraling and it will soon be impossible to tell whether you will land right-side up. Also, be sure that your turret is pointed straight ahead. Even if your turret is slightly pointed the wrong way during a long jump, you may end up in a spiral of death. Ricochet is also a great turret for re-stabilizing your hull after a crooked jump.

 

Knocking Off Enemies

 

Ricochet is prized for its ability to knock off enemies. High impact force coupled with a semi-constant rate of fire will allow a Ricochet user to easily extinguish the concentration and accuracy of other players. The corners of enemy hulls are targets that, when hit, very effectively knock off an enemy. Also, get up close and personal with Railguns, Thunders and Smokies if you really want to annoy them. Shove the side of their hull and begin firing; it is extremely difficult for a Railgun or other long range turret to aim accurately in this situation. Just be careful of charging shorter range turrets, as their damage can overwhelm a Ricochet.

 

What should a Ricochet fear?

 

This is a difficult Question. Ricochet is a very powerful jack of all trades, so there is no one area where it is completely incompetent. Obviously, a Ricochet user should stay clear of Firebird, Isida, and Freeze but this is a general rule that applies to all mid to long range weapons. To answer this question, I will examine a few of Ricochet’s main flaws and advantages: Obviously, it is not a great weapon for long range. Also, it requires a good number of shots to hit an enemy in order to deal out a serious amount of damage. Ricochet is great at hitting enemies from behind cover and dealing out a large amount of damage in a small amount of time. What weapon can take advantage of Ricochet’s flaws and is unaffected by Ricochet’s advantages? I would claim that this turret is Thunder. Thunder can pop out from behind cover and shoot at enemies, then retreat once more to load. Ricochet will only have a narrow window to actually hit a skilled Thunder player. Even if Ricochet can use its ricocheting rounds to hit a Thunder, at long ranges these are very avoidable. Thunder excels at longer ranges, ranges that prove very difficult for a Ricochet to match. And if a Ricochet can use ricochets to hit a Thunder, a Thunder can often use its splash damage to hit a Ricochet while behind cover.  

 

If a Ricochet wants to compete against a Thunder, it will need to exploit Thunder’s weaknesses. Do whatever is possible to avoid initiating long-range brawl with a Thunder as it is highly unlikely for a Ricochet to win such a conflict. Instead, avoid going out of cover until you are very near to the Thunder, then charge them. In this situation, a Ricochet is far superior to a Thunder. 

 

Playing against Ricochet

 

Any great Ricotier needs to know the strategies used against them. Ricochet is a difficult weapon to play against, but there are still multiple effective strategies used to exploit Ricochet’s disadvantages. 

 

One main strategy is to hide behind corpses, other enemies, or even your allies. Any tank will block the path of a Ricochet charge. Corpses don’t last long, but they still make great cover. And if a foolish Ricochet user wastes all of his charges shooting against the corpse, then he is very vulnerable when the dead tank fades away. Hiding behind other enemies does not guarantee safety, but it certainly will protect you from Ricochets. When you are in a skirmish, try to maneuver about your enemies so that the Ricochet is on the opposite side of an enemy tank from you. Finally, you can use allies to protect you. This is a rather ruthless strategy, but if done correctly it will not cause any extra harm to your allies.  Once again, maneuver so that other tanks are between you and an enemy Ricochet. But, make sure not to decrease your allies’ maneuverability; otherwise, you may cause their untimely death. If you are carrying the flag, make use of all of your allies as shields against enemies. 

If a Ricochet has fired all of its charges, don’t be afraid to chase it down. You have a good ten seconds before they are fully loaded, so try to make use of this time period. They may not wait until their magazine is fully loaded. Many Ricoctiers will fire a single round like a Smoky. Fortunately, they are not very effective if they utilize this strategy. Still, avoid getting up close if you are a longer range turret. This will only make it easier for the Ricochet, weak or not, to hit you. 

 

The final strategy is to attempt to make the Ricochet waste its charges. This can be accomplished by ‘juking’ opponents or using a faster hull to spiral around their hull. If you are using a weapon with high damage per shot and a relatively long reload time, make use of cover and only pop out when you are ready to shoot. As previously mentioned, this gives the Ricochet a very thin margin of time in which to damage you; combined with Rico’s slow shell speed, they likely will not hit you at all. On a similar idea, pretend as if you are about to leave cover, but don’t. This is a strategy employed constantly in XP-BP battles, but works quite well in battles of all sorts. If you are using wasp and hornet, you can engage an enemy Ricochet mounted on a heavier hull in a ‘spiral of death’. This tactic is extremely effective for an operator of Freeze. Also, if your enemy can not turn his turret, there is little chance of his survival. Keep in mind that this strategy will not always work unless your enemy is using a slow hull. 

The basic idea is to circle your enemy. Either the Ricochet will spend all of his charges shooting at where your hull had just been, or he will wait until you stop circling him. If he stops turning his turret in order to hit you whenever you come back around your circle, just stop circling and damage him from behind. 

 

Well, there you have it. My guide to Ricochet, one of my all-time favorite turrets, is complete. I remember several years ago when I first purchased the turret. At the time, I did not realize that Ricochet had a reload; I thought that Ricochet was just like a Twins but more powerful. I also thought that Ricochet was pronounced “ricket” instead of “rickoshay”, mainly because my friend told me that this is how Americans pronounced Ricochet. He also told me that M3 Ricochet fired purple rounds, something that has proven false as well. I am still unsure of whether he was pulling my leg or simply mistaken. 

 

 

Play with Ricochet, and play it right. Concentrate while using this turret, and good luck!

Edited by Hexed
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I use Ricochet on my alt, it's very powerful. Can take out an M2 Titan in one clip (as said in article). It deals more DPS than Isida and Freeze on M2, but less than Firebird (barely). Very fun to use too.

Edited by NewbieCake

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