First Impressions: Striker

[Jwimmer 2,835]

First Impressions: Striker

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As you all know, the striker turret is now in-game, with great fanfare. The 7-day contest with gold boxes, protection paints, and a chance to win the turret itself fully micro-upgraded has brought a massive amount of hype with it. However, the whole event begs the question: is it worth it? Here, I will go over several aspects of the turret, its fit in the game balance, and attempt to answer if it is worth it.

 

The design

When I saw the turret last week in hazel_rah’s profile, I thought it was simply going to be an early, unfinished design. I thought wrong. To be completely honest, it looks like a chicken with its head cut off. The design does not fit in with the rest of the turrets, which I think is a shame. Something like a dual-mode rocket launcher has an incredible potential to be an excellent design, but it really leaves me wondering who let the design pass through.

 

While design is definitely important, it is arbitrary when looking at the overall turret. The rest of the review will leave design to the side, and look at how it works in battle.

 

“Sniper” mode

 

We are all used to seeing shafts’ lasers and having a sinking feeling in our chest. The classic laser has almost always meant certain death, due to the instant damage. Now, it is gives a burst of adrenaline, due to the possibility of escaping the projectile. The rockets move slow enough that it is possible to dodge. However, the damage is very high. The four shots that it gives off easily kills a hornet without supplies. The main surprise other than the interesting design is the fact that the hull can move regardless of whether the turret is in sniping mode or not. This ability aids a major hand to it being effective on medium hulls.

 

“Arcade” mode

 

Striker's arcade mode is, like sniper mode, different than what we have gotten used to with shaft. While shaft’s arcade shots are comparatively weak, each missile shot does the same damage as it does in sniper mode. The only difference? There is 1 missile shot instead of four. This means that with double damage equipped, even if the shot misses, the splash damage does a massive amount of damage. Along with this, its reload is fast- just above two seconds. With a double damage, two shots can kill a stock M3 Viking. If this does not sound significant, it is. After the first shot has been fired, as long as the second shot hits, the Viking will be dead within 2 and a half seconds.

 

The part of arcade mode that negates the massive damage per second is the speed of the projectile. With a wasp or hornet, the shots are easy to dodge. If you encounter a striker short-range, just treat it like a Vulcan- circle it. The rotation speed is not fast enough to keep up, so you should get by relatively unscathed.

 

Hull matchup

 

This was one of my biggest questions pre-release. From the information we were given, it seemed like a good medium hull choice, but previous experience about turrets with lasers would say that it would match with a heavy hull. However, it currently seems like a great match for medium hulls, and possibly hornet. Mobility is important, due to the fact that the toughest targets are light hulls. The ability to get around a building quickly will be good, so I expect to see Striker matched mostly with Viking, but also some Hornet and Hunter.

 

Balance

 

This is tough to tell right now. At times, it seems very strong, but at others it seems almost helpless. On large, open maps, it will be one of the best turrets. If there are not a lot of walls for targets to get behind, it will be tough to escape. In this regard, it seems a lot like a long-range twins. To compare it to twins, with both at minimum damage, twins does roughly twice the damage that the rocket launcher will do in 2.2 seconds (1 shot). However, if it is close range, it will be doing a higher amount of damage, due to a decrease in damage over distance. This means that there is only a difference of about 400 damage in the same amount of time- only ¼ of hornet’s health. At range, the damage is comparable to railgun. These two factors mean that the versatility could be a serious competitor to that of Smoky, which has for a long time been considered the most widely-useful.

 

Is it worth it?

 

The short answer- it’s a gamble. I expect further balance changes to come, so it will most likely not be the same turret in a few months. Another factor is thinking about protections. As of right now, almost nobody will have protections. If the trend is similar to the most recent new turret, Vulcan, it will probably stay that way. Vulcan protections are very rarely used, even though it is a strong turret. I, personally, plan on getting Striker on my alt account. I see it as being a fairly safe bet, thinking about the versatility and damage it does. Another thing to keep in mind is your planned usage of supplies. If you are a heavy drugger, get it. The damage that it does on double-damage is immense, and should be a reliable turret to place you on the top of the table.

 

 

 

Conclusion

As with any new feature, it is tough to say anything definitively right when it comes out. The Striker turret seems super versatile, considering the large damage per second it does in both sniper and arcade mode. Opposite of what the in-game description says, it seems to pair with medium hulls. Getting it right now is a gamble, but it will most likely be worth it.

 

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This concludes my first impressions, I hope you enjoyed it.

-@Jwimmer, @jwimmer2

Edited December 23, 2016 by Hexed

[Hex 11,520]

Approved.

 

​I would say that Striker is definitely a safe bet...

Edited December 23, 2016 by Hexed

[faroseh 442]

Striker = Twins without its cover

[Ninja 10,468]

Phowar, quick release competition! Nice!

[railguniz4noobz 2,394]

How to avoid the sniper mode: hide behind cover for 1 second and pop back out. The striker turret now cant do anything to you. :)

 

Would not recommend buying it at all, its just a less powerful shaft with explosions that will kill yourself more than enemies.

[r_I_already_won0 2,339]

It's too weak, especially against skilled players. The charge time needs to be a bit less and the rockets need more tracking ability as well as vertical auto-aim, especially in arcade mode.

[arnav0506 2,777]

The biggest enemies of RL are:

Smoky, Freeze and Thunder. TBH, I describe it as a thunder with shaft mode :P Good Article though, influences me to buy it on my alt.

Edited December 23, 2016 by arnav0506

[Spit_Fyre 334]

A safer bet than getting this turret is getting it's protection :P

 

That last picture though. Looks like the devil incarnate.

 

 

 

... preferably in combination with hammer, because hammer has some vile, OP alterations incoming. I know what I want for Christmas  ^_^ ... or new year ... or valentines day lol.

 

 

Edited December 23, 2016 by Spit_Fyre

[asifmak 467]

Even writer hasn't owned that specific turret he has captured all the concept about it pretty good.

Thumbs up

[Jwimmer 2,835]

Phowar, quick release competition! Nice!

I played in a match on Chernobyl with like 5 Strikers in it. Got tons of pictures, and then went straight to writing.

 

The biggest enemies of RL are:

Smoky, Freeze and Thunder. TBH, I describe it as a thunder with shaft mode :P Good Article though, influences me to buy it on my alt.

I was playing against it with smoky, and could beat it close-ranged as long as it didn't use supplies.

 

A safer bet than getting this turret is getting it's protection :P

 

That last picture though. Looks like the devil incarnate.

 

 

 

... preferably in combination with hammer, because hammer has some vile, OP alterations incoming. I know what I want for Christmas  ^_^ ... or new year ... or valentines day lol.

 

 

Yeah I sacrificed myself for that series of shots. Saw the laser on my so I stopped playing and spammed screenshots.

[Spit_Fyre 334]

Yeah I sacrificed myself for that series of shots. Saw the laser on my so I stopped playing and spammed screenshots.

Forgot to mention - I totally agree about it looking like a headless chicken. Lol!

[TTK_229 1,080]

Mommyy he stole my ideaaa

[arnav0506 2,777]

 

 

 
I was playing against it with smoky, and could beat it close-ranged as long as it didn't use supplies.

 . Yeah, true that, but by using some skill, u can deviate his shots by impact force :D

[NERF836 202]

Striker = Twins without its cover

no I do not think that it is in my opinion they are two very diverse turrets striker has reload explosions sniper and huge range twins is medium range no splash damage consistently shoots and look cooler. And that's only a few I could go on.

[rishavtu 0]

just used striker... not really impressed with it.

Figured out that i must use it in massacre and avoid it in other maps till now....

[NERF836 202]

Needs new looks

[F.I.N.I.S.H.E.R 2,397]

Good review :)