Am I the only one finding commandos to be a good matchup against assaults?

Seriously, I'm having fun.

Commandos are about suppression. Suppression is done by volume of fire. Thus, commandos should have a 20% bonus to magazine and max ammo size per level. This gives them the ability to actually suppress a target, letting assaults maneuver in for the kill.

Depends on the racial variant:

Commando is more utility than anything else.

Can't seriously run cloaks, can't speed tank, can't strafe, can't run fast, can't jump high, large hitbox, bad scan everything.

10% damage bonus, 2 light weapons, and gimmicky melee bonus damage.

I don't know any "slayer" status Commandos.

Staffing / Movement / Hitbox are a big deal.

If Commandos have the same total health as Assaults, your'e better off running Assault generally.

I'm not asking for an increase in total health, but a reduction in health for Scouts and Assaults.


Scouts are the new Medium frames, and Medium frames are the new Heavies.

Commandos are about suppression. Suppression is done by volume of fire. Thus, commandos should have a 20% bonus to magazine and max ammo size per level. This gives them the ability to actually suppress a target, letting assaults maneuver in for the kill.

If I may expand on your commentary here...


Amarr= suppression with their high power long range lasers.

The suppression aspect here comes from the ability to remove enemies from high points and cause them to abandon their pushes. Everyone knows what happens when that little yellow beam touches them for too long. Even heavies die horrifically. Between the Laser rifle and the charge shot on the scrambler the Amarr Commando is an excellent platform for trolling on the battlefield and counter-sniper (Non-redline) tactics while retaining the ability to function as an assault suit in a push with the scrambler rifles themselves.

Caldari= mobile snipers, ARR means they can move about confidently and the sniper comes in handy when you find a good vantage point in your travels.

You hit the nail right on the head here. The Caldari Sentinel's ability to push with infantry by supporting with the Rail Rifle is a godsend, and the bonuses to Rails mean that you are a meaningful threat to redline snipers and forge snipers. Patience and positioning, and not being afraid to employ the rail rifle in a push are key here.

Gallente= Shock trooper/ defender due to their high hp and awesome CQC capabilities make them awesome brawlers at objectives, defending or attacking.


Gallente have a unique opening salvo in the form of the Plasma Cannon. You can use it to lob pain into a crowd and watch them burn as their shields drop, allowing for faster kills as you unload an AR into their chest. The Plasma cannon is also respectable as AV now, and I have been using the basic version to pick of Sica and Soma tanks by the dozen, and I have managed to kill two ADS with same weapon. The Gallente commando is an excellent suppressor platform. Also since the shotgun is bonused, if you're one of the people who sees scouts coming you can blap 'em back.

Minmatar= glass cannons.

Yes... and No. I tend to run damage mods and armor repair or Cardiac regulators here. Minmandos have the Unique pleasure of being the most efficient suits for Mass Drivers and Swarms. I do NOT recommend using both. I recommend a combat Rifle plus one or the other for survivability's sake. The Swarm Launcher is... Ok. I'm not going to sing it's praises and laud it as the second coming, because it needs work. Regardless of it's damage, it's ability to actually hit it's target is... dubious. The mass driver, however... is not a slayer weapon, unless you consider waiting for an enemy to mass for a push at a chokepoint and lobbing explosives into them while your assaults repel boarders. The warpoints for this move add up QUIIIIICK. Also of note: If you see a logi repping a sentinel the Mass Driver is THE weapon to utilize to break the rep chain. at skill 5, the falling shells will force the Logi to dive for cover, breaking the rep chain and accomplishing the need to separate them, or it will KILL the logi and separate them. Heavies become a lot easier to kill once they don't have rep tool lovin'

Prepare for the terror that is a Gallente Commando that can carry 2 Plasma Cannons can be fired twice each before reloading.

As fun as that sounds, I worry about AV balance.

Fix them CCP. Assualts have more hp than friggin heavy suits. Wtf?

Depends on the racial variant:
Amarr= suppression with their high power long range lasers.
Caldari= mobile snipers, ARR means they can move about confidently and the sniper comes in handy when you find a good vantage point in your travels.
Gallente= Shock trooper/ defender due to their high hp and awesome CQC capabilities make them awesome brawlers at objectives, defending or attacking.
Minmatar= glass cannons.

Commando's are pretty balanced, never heard anyone say anything wrong with them until now, I never felt I was at a disadvantage against anyone....I'm not sure what needs changing on them.

Scouts got buffed upto Assault level EHP

Assaults got buffed upto Heavy level EHP

where does that leave commandos? (hint: Assault EHP with no mobility)

Hey alder king math analysis is fine but in practical application im finding STD commandos competitive with assaults. So I must disagree with your assessment based on performance in practice over theory.

They are right about at the same effectiveness level as the new assaults.

What, are they supposed to be superior? I'm finding the ability to shoot a pack of random jerks with a plasma cannon and immediately attack with a duvolle or a shotgun to be rather effective. Lets not forget the ability to effectively engage vehicles and turn right around and continue killing infantry without a suit swap. The versatility is worth more than another high or low slot.

lol. Really? you worry about AV balance. No vehicle pilot worth their salt is going to get hit by 2 PLC rounds. Then travel time is too long and if they don't run away they have time to activate hardeners. 1 PLC round and AV grenades is a better AV option than 2 PLC rounds.

They are right about at the same effectiveness level as the new assaults.

What, are they supposed to be superior? I'm finding the ability to shoot a pack of random jerks with a plasma cannon and immediately attack with a duvolle or a shotgun to be rather effective. Lets not forget the ability to effectively engage vehicles and turn right around and continue killing infantry without a suit swap. The versatility is worth more than another high or low slot.

We are talking about Commandos and you are talking about AV nades... I think you are lost here... commandos cant hold nades, but we can hold remotes!

On the topic of double plasma cannon, it is unnecessary because if you max out your reload speed + commando reload bonus you are firing shots just as quick as you would with 2 plasma cannons.

Still in High School over there? I think you failed English/Language Arts. Quotes exist for a reason, to give context to what we say. Alena Ventrallis mentioned magazine size increase. Pokey was speaking on Plasma Cannons with 2 rounds in a clip, not equipping two separate Plasma Cannons.

Critical reading skills are important. I'm ashamed to have grown up in a country that spends such little effort educating our children, ones like Alder King.

After the assault buf of Charlie commandos do need too be reworked from the ground up, but to be frank that's been the case since they ere releasesd; they're just a poorly designed suit, and I say that as a player who has used the suit o the exclusion of almost everything else. Let's start again and get it right.

To me, the commando should be a tech-packed strategic glass cannon. The heavy frame should have the armour stripped down to the exo skeleton and replaced with profile dampening material and extra servos; the idea being that it can move quickly about the battlefield and remain undetected to the average non scout suit. You ply your trade, which should be flanking and suppression, by being smart and staying under the radar until your ready to commit. I'm also a big fan of them being demolition experts, because dammit I've seen Prwdator so every time you say commando I immediately think of hits exploding violently.

So. Lower Hp a touch, increase movement speed, drop scan profile significantly. Replace damage increase with ammo capacity increase, replace reload speed with remote explosive buff. Give them extraequipment slot too.

I'll take my Gallente Assault and Amarr Assault in pretty much every situation over the Gallente Commando and Amarr Commando.

If I try and fully tank my Assault suits and try and fully tank my Commnado suits, the Assaults will have more HP, smaller hitbox, better strafe speed



That looks quite nice. It also looks like you haven't actually played the game since Fan Fest.

The extra shots from teh Amarr Assault are a far superior bonus than a free damage mod. Clearly the Commando has the boon of that second Light Weapon Slot they'll need if they're running a Laser Rifle though, as you need to switch to you secondary as soon as someone is within 50m.

On the Caldari, well, all the Caldari suits need some serious CPU increases so any of the suits have the option to run rechargers/energizers, but aside from that you're talk on the sniper rifle is just a load of bullshit. Fun Fact, a Caldari Sentinel can survive 2 consecutive headshots from a Charge Sniper Rifle when a Caldari Commando is using 3 damage mods.
Running 3 damage mods on a Caldari Assault suits, or Caldari Scout, or Caldari Sentinel, the number of consecutive headshots to kill doesn't change.
Outside of a Domination match, camping a rooftop, that damage bonus for the Rail Rifle really doesn't help. Most often you're fighting within the effective range of other rifles, strafe speed becomes more important that that point because battles in DUST 514 are won by whomever has the best DDR skills.

That's also not how the plasma cannon works. It's not the Gallente Mass Driver that you pretend it is in that rhetoric. It has a splash radius of 3.5m. Most suits can jump over that. With the Gallente Commando damage bonus the splash can do up to 400 damage, but it won't. No one scatters when they see a baked potato coming at them. they rush the guy that shot it because of reload time. Congrats, you're stuck with an AR against armor tanking suits or a shotgun with an optimal range of 5m

The one thing the Minmatar Commando had over the Assault was HP. It's the lowest HP suit of its Role but slower than Assaults. It just lost that. Assaults can be on an equal HP ground and still move about faster. I'll take increased rounds per clip over increased damage with the CR. And the explosive damage isn't enough to affect number of shots to kill because 10% damage on a Strike weapon has no real effect.

You can call it "suppression suit," but I'm just going to call it what it is, "sub-optimal choice."

lol. Really? you worry about AV balance. No vehicle pilot worth their salt is going to get hit by 2 PLC rounds. Then travel time is too long and if they don't run away they have time to activate hardeners. 1 PLC round and AV grenades is a better AV option than 2 PLC rounds.