TranquilBiscuit ofVaLoR
Fatal Absolution
Dirt Nap Squad.
2047
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Posted - 2014.04.17 15:07:00 -
[1] - Quote
before i start this, i'm gonna give a brief introduction of myself, and my DUSt 514 story. WARNING: this is going to be a relatively long post. i'll put a header to show where the main post starts, in case you're too lazy to read about this next part.
i'm TranquilBiscuit ofVaLoR. i started this character some time in February 2013, though i have an alt that was started in January 2013. i started my scout career a few months after i started playing. i started out doing REALLY BADLY, like 2 kills 10 deaths badly. but i stuck with it. why? because it was a challenge. i've always believed that reaching goals doesn't matter if you cheat or do it the easy way, because who cares? anyone can do it the easy way, and you can hardly call it an accomplishment.
so my goal for DUSt 514 was to one day become one of the best scouts in the game.
i kept with it. for an entire year, i constantly trained as a scout, and overtime, became exponentially better. patch after patch i watched myself get better and better. unexpectedly, over time, i became known in the scout community. i started getting compliments, and people started acknowledging my skill. that feeling alone was great, because it made me feel like someday, i'd actually be able to reach my goal. people asked for advice, and even WANTED to squad with me. by Uprising 1.7, i was better than i'd ever imagined i'd be. hell, i'd finally gotten a 2 KDR!
i'd like to imagine that i'd at least somewhat reached my goal to become one of the best scouts in DUST 514. however, that's not place to decide, so i guess i'll never know. 
anyway, then comes 1.8. scouts finally get the buffs they've been asking for. cloaks are also introduced. in the beginning of Uprising 1.8, i was just loving my new scout ck.0. my weekly KDR shot through the roof. normally, it was a 4-5, then after 1.8, it averaged a 6-8 KDR. i considered 30+ kills a game normal, but something had changed. it didn't feel as special as it used to. after some time, i had an epiphany. THE CHALLENGE, the entire reason i went scout in the first place was gone. scout was easy mode, to the point that it was fotm. all that practicing, all that time i spent getting better didn't mean sh*t because of how ridiculously easy it was to be a scout.
right when i was on the brink of quitting, i had an idea. what if i could do like what i did with the scout? what if i could take one of those most underpowered, yet most entertaining roles, and master it? enter melee tanking.
IF YOU'RE TOO LAZY TO READ THE ABOVE, THE REAL THREAD STARTS HERE
i should start out by saying that 1.8 is not the first time i've tried melee tanking. i also did it in 1.7 to test the effectiveness of it as a competitive tactic.
the suit i chose to be my melee suit is the minmatar medium frame, because of it's ridiculous stamina regen, speed, and abundance of high slots.
since i didn't have any other suit other than the caldari scout, i had to skill into it, so i started out using the ADV minmatar medium frame that i got using the sidearm event sp, then after 10 hours of grinding sp, finally got the minmatar medium frame mk.0.
i started out trying to rely solely on melee to kill my target. most of my games, i rarely got above a 2 KDR, with my worst match being 16 kills 16 deaths. after hours of practicing though, i started adjusting to the melee, and instead of trying to melee EVERYTHING, i only melee'd when i knew i could. basically, i was using the same tactics with melee as you would with nova knives. you can't use it on EVERYTHING, but instead use it to kill unsuspecting enemies or as a finisher. my best match so far using melee has been 25/3.
let's get down to the bare facts. with 3 complex myofybril stimulants on a medium frame, you get 454 melee. pretty decent, but not enough to rely on solely, especially when fighting heavies.with 4 myofybril stimulants on a medium frame, you get 550 melee. very good, one shot's most scouts and medium frame, and kills almost any heavy in 3 or less hits. with 5 complex myofybril stimulants on a medium frame, you get 595 melee, which isn't much better than 550, so i just replaced the 5th myofybril with a shield extender.
i went through all sorts of weapons, trying to decide which weapons i wanted. my favorite melee animation was the shotgun, as it doesn't obscure your view, and feels like it hits right in front of you, though in the end, i decided to go with ACR/SMG combo, because it gives me much more versatility if i have to fight outside of melee CQC. the ACR melee animation is just terrible, as it blocks your view very badly, and seems to hit a little bit off from the middle. the SMG animation is pretty good, so when i go to melee, i usually switch to my SMG.
from my first day with melee tanking, i've noticed that if you're trying to melee someone head on, then it's VERY important to be creative with how you do it. don't just run straight at them. jump around, shoot, disorient them. you'll get the best results by being unpredictable.
after a while, i decided to replace another melee mod with a shield, so i had 454 melee and 333 shield, instead of 550 melee and 260 shield. this fit seemed to work best, because i had melee that rivaled a shotgun, AND enough to shield to be competetive without melee if need be.
overrall, day 1 of my road to mastering melee tanking went well. my KDR wasn't very great, but that's to be expected, being a medium frame with less hp than many scouts, and trying to melee people.
however there were problems. i'll only state 2 here for now.
1.) Hit Detection. the hit detection on melee is by far the worst in the game. you cannot rely on melee to hit at all, and has about a 60% hit rate.
2.) Brick tanked scouts. i'm sorry, but it's a shame when you have 550 melee and have to hit A SCOUT twice to kill him.
Anime > EVERYTHING
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