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Damus Trifarn
The Yellow Lantern Corps
4
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Posted - 2013.07.30 19:39:00 -
[1] - Quote
If you are reading this then you are interested in becoming a Heavy, and I salute you for your bravery. You have refused to take the easy way out and have denied the AR, choosing to eradicate your enemies the way you choose rather than with the weapon of the masses. I am writing about my journey as I invested in the heavy so that you may have a better journey and a better experience with this beast that is the Heavy Suit.
I started Dust 514 because, well, it's F2P, which is awesome (free stuff FTW!), and I've always been the kind of guy to use LMG's and I've always done well in this role, so why not do it now? For reference, I have always been the type to use the LMG in MAG, BF3, and CoD, though CoD does not count since it has none of the fun or the elements of the other games (I do like zombies mode, though). Anyway, I skilled into it after getting Dust sometime late last summer or something like that, and I didn't really like my experience as it seemed repetitive and bland, but I'm not the person to get rid of free stuff, so my character sat around for months collecting passive SP, and when I finally decided to come back (post-Uprising patch) I found that I had 4.5 million SP ready to put into anything I wanted. So naturally I decide to first pour it into the HMG and Heavy suit. Here are 2 things I quickly learned: aiming an HMG requires immense patience to master and requires anticipating the enemy, and that the Heavy suit requires very careful module specialization. I decided to invest in the Sentinel class (looking back I have no idea why), and hated it. The SP requirement was way higher than the basic and I thought I made the worst mistake ever. Over time, however, I have come to appreciate my choice, and I'll get to that later. Back to aiming: it requires time. Learning to aim it is a painfully long process but worth the effort. The points I emphasize on the HMG are to make use of cover, make the enemy chase you, and use hip fire sparingly. The only time to not aim is when you can no longer keep up with the enemy due to turning speed. The Heavy suit has slow turning speed, and the HMG is not very accurate so fight in a way to nullify those weaknesses (examples: the enemy chasing you around corners can use up his stamina, eliminating bunny hopping or out maneuvering in some instances, the aiming decreases bullet dispersion over time, letting you get more bullets in, and using cover helps eliminate your large hitbox). All of this suggests, of course, that you will be in a close quarters area, usually around those hubs that have 3 objectives close together in skirmish or in an area where many people are engaging each other in ambush. After learning about the HMG's best situational uses, and, consequently, where a Heavy should be, I catered my modules to suit it. Firstly, you'll want heavy damage modifiers to make your HMG's damage actually worth something. It takes a high slot, so if you want more than one go basic, if you want more low slots go sentinel.I invested in Armor Repairers and Cardiac Regulators, and trust me, you'll want these too. Armor repairers are very necessary because a) you are not entirely dependent on a Logistics merc, b) you increase overall survivability when defending, and c) you will have 20+ armor at minimum anyway from the bonus that comes with the skill that unlocks the ability to use armor repairers, so it's like you have an armor plate with no penalty on the side. Cardiac Regulators are also a must because a) your suit will definitely need the stamina to get from objective to objective in that hub to defend as needed, b) you can actually move decently for a period of time, and c) allows you to lead enemies around more easily or escape if you need time to let armor repairers do their thing. The combination of these modules helps immensely because they give your suit survivability and mobility, and once I discovered this I never looked back. I prefer to stack 2 enhanced armor repairers with 2 complex cardiac regulators on my Sentinel ak.0 to get immense stamina, though you may want the kinetic catalyzers for speed. If you have a suit with less low slots then stack armor repairers first, because there is a lot of armor that needs potential repairing. That said, I invested in armor repairers first and then went to cardiac regulators. My first suit has a basic HMG, Toxin SMG, locus grenades, a basic sentinel suit, basic damage modifier, and an enhanced armor repairer with a complex cardiac regulator. My next suit has the Sentinel A/1-Series with a MH-82 HMG, Toxin SMG, Locus grenades, an enhanced damage modifier, 2 armor repairers and a complex cardiac regulator. My best suit, simply dubbed "Titan", has the Sentinel ak.0, the Boundless HMG, complex damage modifier (bought with AUR for now), 1 enhanced armor repairer, 1 complex (bought with AUR for now), and 2 complex cardiac regulators. To get the loadout for the Titan you will need the electronics and engineering skills to get extra PG and CPU, and I'll have to get even more to get more proto stuff. If you have stayed with me this far, congrats and thank you for experiencing my time with the HMG. It will be a rough trek to get to that SP requirement to get all this stuff, and it will be stressful, but you can do it and be a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. If you have any questions as to why I chose certain things or want more clarification on what to get in certain situations or just want more tips I'll be happy to help. If you want to see how I do in combat then add me as a contact and I'll invite you to my squad, and if you're impressed then I'd be happy to help you further. And while you're at it you can join my corporation too  |
Damus Trifarn
The Yellow Lantern Corps
4
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Posted - 2013.07.30 22:49:00 -
[2] - Quote
Royce Kronos wrote:Wall of text. Cannot compute. Please reformat and resubmit. Edit: Though I would agree. There is good advice in this post. 
Hope that helps. As for making more of these, I will definitely do so. It's a fun way of sharing my experience and helping others decide what they want to do, and I'll help get some more Heavies out on the battlefield one day. |
Damus Trifarn
The Yellow Lantern Corps
5
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Posted - 2013.07.31 00:51:00 -
[3] - Quote
Thanks, I just saw your "Immortal Heavy" guide. It's great stuff. Also, is your name a reference to Dwight from the Office? |
Damus Trifarn
The Yellow Lantern Corps
9
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Posted - 2013.07.31 14:38:00 -
[4] - Quote
As far as Sentinel, I've found that it does what the name suggests: defends. Module difference is the key give away. You have 4 low slots and 1 high slot in the proto Sentinel. This means two things:
1) You only have room for one heavy damage modifier since it's a high powered slot.
2) You have room for more armor repairers, armor plates, cardiac regulators, and kinetic catalyzers.
Basically this means that you sacrifice your ability to do more damage, decreasing offensive abilities somewhat, though you can easily increase damage through HMG proficiency if you have the SP. In return, you get increased mobility and armor, boosting defensive capability.
The Sentinel is a defense oriented Heavy suit while the basic is geared towards more offensive capability.
As to what to choose, I think it's a matter of preference. I don't mind less damage on my HMG (I rain death on my opponents regardless), but others may find the extra stamina, speed, or regen to not suit their style.
As for the SP requirements, I've only got 5.1 million SP so far and I've got proto HMG, Sentinel, Cardiac Regulators, and everything else is enhanced except for grenades. If you go Basic you can probably get something else to proto with the savings compared to Sentinel. I'd do proto heavy damage modifier if you go that route since you can get two of those on the basic suit. |
Damus Trifarn
The Yellow Lantern Corps
9
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Posted - 2013.08.01 14:33:00 -
[5] - Quote
Blake Kingston wrote:Weird, I'm hip fire all the time. Maybe you can soak it with more powerful heavy suits, but starting off you just die if you stand still and aim (never mind that strafing can be used to help with aim). Why not crouch as well, if you're gunna aim? Slightly less profile that way as well?
I find that crouching to shoot with a Heavy suit makes me too ineffective at strafing cause I'm already slow enough as is, so I need all the speed I can get. When it comes to hip fire, I tend to rely on aiming more. I don't know what it is, but even going that slow my strafing does trick even while aiming. I just have to go out of aiming every once in a while to throw them off when my speed suddenly picks up.
Complex Cardiac regulators have definitely been worth it. I've got two Complex Cardiac Regulators which gives me a total of 518.59 Stamina and 62.23 stamina recovery rate.
Math time!
2% per level x 5 = 10% bonus to efficacy from Cardiac Regulation skill
+1% bonus to max stamina and stamina recovery from biotic upgrades skill (lvl 1)
Base stamina: 125, add 1% of 125 to get 126.25 base stamina
Cardiac Regulator with bonus multiplies it by 2.099, round it to 2.1, you get 265.125, actual upgrade goes to 265.12.
Add another cardiac regulator with 100% bonus you should get 265.12 + 265.12 = 530.24, but factor in stacking penalty (which is -1.72% of total efficiency if you calculate theoretical yield and actual yield) and you get 518.59 max stamina.
Stamina recovery is 15 + 1% bonus to make 15.15.
Add Cardiac Regulator with bonus and I get 15.15 x 2.1 to get 31.815, actual bonus is 31.81.
Add the second one and I get 31.81 + 31.81 = 63.32, factor in stacking penalty (-1.72% which in this case is -1.09) you get 62.23.
Well that was a nice warmup before school.
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Damus Trifarn
The Yellow Lantern Corps
12
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Posted - 2013.08.06 14:20:00 -
[6] - Quote
I wouldn't mind at all anyone can use the info or add onto it. |
Damus Trifarn
The Yellow Lantern Corps
16
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Posted - 2013.08.08 00:33:00 -
[7] - Quote
Megaman Trigger wrote:I started using Flux grenades on my HMG Sentinel and it's worked out pretty well in a few matches. I run a armour heavy set-up, so stripping their shields gives me an edge in a firefight.
Thanks for the recommendation; I've been thinking about using flux grenades for a while. I'll try it and see if I can have the same success that you are.
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Damus Trifarn
The Yellow Lantern Corps
16
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Posted - 2013.08.08 16:55:00 -
[8] - Quote
Megaman Trigger wrote:Flux are good if you can get the drop on someone or have the time to use them against a shield-focused enemy, but they're not so good if you run into a group and get seen.
I've found that A/V Grenades work as decoys if/when I get caught with them and need to fall back. Since the icon doesn't show what grenade it is and it's unsafe to look at the grenade in a firefight, most enemies will retreat to cover when you throw an A/V with the assumption it's a Locus Grenade.
As much as I dislike not being able to tell what grenade is being thrown at me, I would love to try A/V trolling sometime. 
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Damus Trifarn
The Yellow Lantern Corps
16
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Posted - 2013.08.09 21:54:00 -
[9] - Quote
Darn, guess I'll just have to rely on hurling death at my opponents with locus grenades. |
Damus Trifarn
The Yellow Lantern Corps
16
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Posted - 2013.08.10 14:03:00 -
[10] - Quote
Megaman Trigger wrote:I've found grenade viability to vary based on opponent and situation; for example: I've been chased by a very jumpy Nova Knifer and not been able to get a good bead on them with the HMG, they also had an insane recharge on their shields and would flee when I got them low enough, but took them out with a cooked Locus thrown where they'd land. On the other hand, Flux have made life easier when defending a point against a swarm of red-dots charging from one direction.
I hardly ever run into people brave enough to use nova knives, so I'll probably end up using my flux build more than my locus build. |
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Damus Trifarn
The Yellow Lantern Corps
18
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Posted - 2013.08.13 14:38:00 -
[11] - Quote
Great guide Megaman, really gave me some insight on how armor tanking Heavies work. I'd love to get in a squad with all of you sometime and see how it goes. Bears and I are definitely more focused on mobility, so having you around would very interesting and a deadly combo to say the least. Thanks for putting the guide up, by the way. I'll be sure to refer others to your guide if they are interested in armor tanking a Heavy. |
Damus Trifarn
The Yellow Lantern Corps
19
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Posted - 2013.08.13 23:09:00 -
[12] - Quote
No problem, and you have some great insight. Inspired me to put up a thread comparing Armor tanking Heavies vs. Mobile Heavies if you'd like to look into it. |
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