Is the Phoenix worth it?

The pros I noticed were: Does an insane amount of damage to air vehicles and obviously ignore any flares.

But other than that, is it worth the purchase, or should i just shell out for the annihilator?

Anything else that's particularly good about the Phoenix?

Its incredibly meh in my opinion. If you want to hit a tank behind a rock at distance you can change your angle. Not a big deal. Ignoring the fact the phoenix has the turning circle of a articulated truck.

I'd spent your certs/sc elsewhere unless your friends are using phoenix's also and you've all agreed to buy one. It's a cool weapon for a while, but once you realize it's limitations your still be going with a dumbfire for most circumstances and it's not often a pilot is dumb enough to hover for the time needed for the slow phoenix rocket to hit.

Well situationally it's arguably the best defensive AV weapon in the game (between ~50m-290m).

However out of that situation; you're AFK when firing it, it has low over all DPS, and it's rubbish AA-wise (some claim it isn't, but I've yet to see any video of people regularly hitting ESFs with on - I kill about as many ESFs with my LMG as I do my Pheonix personally).

So to me it's not something you'd likely generally carry over a Decimator or Annhilator, but more situational like an AA launcher.

I don't like it all. My preference is that I want to feel like I am in the action so I can't deal with a rear support role like phoenix or sniper.

I generally just use the crow for NC. Decent enough for times when you need to help deal with a column of tanks and sunderers and dumb fire is ok. Ground to air lock ons are normally a waste of your time as a player in my experience. But annihilator may have better tracking than crow maybe I don't know.

You can't rely on the Phoenix for AA. It is a little like trying to hit a humming bird with a paper aeroplane.

As a general rule I would say that you should not get the Phoenix as your first rocketlauncher (beyond the Standard one). Any of the lock on launchers would do but as you say the annihilator is a good choice as it can lock on to both air and ground. Remember however that it is not as good as the 2 specific lock on launchers for either air or ground as it deals less damage (12.5% less actually) and it takes slightly longer to lock on with (.5-1 second more).

It is a little more situational than the other ESLs. I only use it when I have lots of cover because you are easy kill in camera mode. I also use it as squad weapon for gibbing tanks and sundies at 250m. I have shot down ESFs with it but that's a small amount of kills compared to the hawk or annihilator when I use those.

go with the crow first for AA it is basicly an upgrade Air and Infantry wise. tough i often feel like a pheonix would help me alot on my NC alt, but that may be just because i don't have it

It's AA properties are neglectible. I literally have as many air kills with my Phoenix as I have with my Desperado (1).
The missile speed is very low and it basically has the same agility of a Galaxy. Ok, that's not true, a Galaxy can be very agile.

Other then that it's very situation. And I'd rather have either the Hawk or the Crow, because they are both lock-on and dumb fire.

The decimator does the same damage as the phoenix and is dumbfired. Just get the annihilator and decimator. They are the best RLs NC can get.

If you can only afford 1 though get the annihilator.

eh, not really.

It is fun to use but is not something useful. Low range, low speed, locks you in place while it is in flight.

It's really just mediocre. While I hate using a weapon that locks me in place (because that's a massive disadvantage in a FPS obviously) it can be angled around corners to land reasonably good damage with fair reliability. But it handles poorly, you're locked in place, and the rocket is too slow to chase air or even harassers effectively.

It does have a battlefield niche though, against vehicles which are sitting beyond Shrike/Decimator range. But only slightly beyond, since it can only travel like ~290m total. And obviously the further the range, the lower your DPS (since you have to finish guiding the previous missile to start reloading, to fire the next one.)

Personally I'd much rather have a skill-rewarding AV weapon like the Lancer, where I only have to peak for the barest instant to deliver my full damage, while constantly remaining aware of my surroundings. A large NC railgun used for AV would be very fun. As long as both (the railgun and lancer) have a controlled max range or damage falloff, since all long-ranged infantry-based AV needs a good nerf right now. (Especially engineer turrets.)

Its a TERRIBLE weapon!!! Chance of usage after purchase is less than 0.0001% of the gametime u play and chances u find a land vehicle to use against is probably too far or too near!!!! And when u get the chance to use it u probably under heavy fire and a good chance u die while using!!! LAST even if u manage to pull it off and hit yr target for example a sunderer or lightning, u probably need 4~5 hit to kill it which is like more than 10 sec per shot + reload, u probably found the target moved or under repair!!!! And there's nothing u can do to stop the engineer!!!!

In conclusion, PHOENIX is such a terrible weapon, even a suicide bomber with C-4 will rather not use it

Many hate topic against the Phoenix and this mine

https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2...that-make-phoenix-the-empire-launcher.151838/

Its far from being the worst RL out there but its quite situational, a good weapon for farming. As a first choice for an NC I'd suggest the Hawk(NC AA lockon launcher), should be around 1500 damage, since the default launcher(Shrike) is quite decent against armor and MAXes with its 1750 damage vs 2000 of the Decimator(costs 1000 certs/750sc).
The Phoenix is good for firing on enemy armor from cover, from both tanks and enemy snipers, and does the same damage as the Shrike(default NC RL), 1750 damage on Vehicles and 750 on infantry. Another good point of the Phoenix is that use can use it to effectively take out enemy engie turrets, you can one-hit both turret and engie.
If you plan on going against enemy air, as NC, just forget it. The Hawk(AA lockon launcher) can be a nice support to friendly AA but most ESF will just flare and go away, the smart ones at least, or lolpod you where u stand.
Best and, sadly, only decent AA option as an NC atm is the skyguard. You might hit the ocational hovering ESF or lib with your phoenix but it's a rare enough event to be recorded in history as an anomaly.

The Hawk definitely, since it can be used as a lock-on launcher or dumbfired, unlike the Annihilator that requires a lock to fire.

It's an Average rocket launcher. Certainly has it's niche.

People complain about the DPS being low. This is due to it having a slower reload speed than other RLs, but also because of the time it takes to travel to a target. However, if you are using it in relatively close quarters combat against tanks, it can be quite good!

(I believe) It has the second-highest damage of all RLs. Whilst in-game it shows 750, this is the damage it does against infantry. The damage against Vehicles/Aircraft is not listed, through from testing in VR, it can take down vehicles in fewer rockets than most of the other RLs.

This makes it a good squad-based weapon. If you are co-ordinating with others, you can take out seemingly-safe enemy sunderers, tanks that are relatively far away, and two shots will kill a MAX.

The ability to steer the rocket can come in very handy when defending a base. On many occasions I have missed my original target, only to steer my rocket into something else and do damage to them.

So, on the whole, it is not the best, but it is fun to use! Co-ordinated use with others makes it a viable squad-based weapon, though it isn't the best if you're going solo.

In a nutshell..Nope!

The situations where it's useful are very rare and generally only occur when you have 5+ people with Phoenix's in tight co-ordination. The reason it's not very useful is threefold...

It makes you stand up when you fire, partially negating the benefit of being able to bend it around cover. Secondly, the reload time is so slow, a single engineer with a level 1 repair gun can out heal your dps. Lastly, the projectile velocity is so slow any moving vehicle can outrun it, so it's only practical against stationary targets.

Just stick with the crow, hawk and shrike.... they are cheap and effective... annihilator/decimator actualy do less damage for the ammo you can carry compared to the crow/hawk/shrike and the phoenix is extremely situational, so much in fact that its not even close to being worth 1k certs, in most cases its a meh or useless weapon.

No, If you are interested in buying a rocket launcher, get either the decimator or the Hawk (AA- lock on + dumb fire mode). The phoenix is so incredibly situational, that it hardly warrants purchasing.