EMP grenade nerf

Discussion in 'Infiltrator' started by Spoprockl, Jun 10, 2017.

  1. Spoprockl

    With the new patch my favorite toy has effectively been nerfed twice.

    It no longer drains all ability charge, which was a huge selling point,
    and one of the new implants (Carapace) potentially renders it totally useless, especially vs Heavies.

    I know these implants are rare drops, but over time more and more people will get them, meaning that the EMP grenade will become more and more unreliable / useless.
    All it does against people with Carapace is mildly distorting their vision.

    It's still useful for destroying deployables and mines, and maybe draining the shield AND the ability charge was OP. But i'm dreading a future where i EMP a room before storming in only to be greeted by a fully functional Heavy with full health and a full NMG shield up.


    I hope the devs will find a way to keep it useful in combat without being overpowered.
    • Up x 2
  2. AgentRed

    After this I kind of wish they would give infil access to flash,smoke, or concussion nades
    • Up x 2
  3. Exitus Acta Probat

    I would actually prefer those on the infiltrator over the emp
  4. LordKrelas

    Concussion is a PITA, Flash is an odd-ball, and smoke blinds both Allies & Foes if it works.
    But would at least give Infils some tools, that aren't reduced to being barely useful.

    Yup..
    Full ability energy =
    Cloaked Stalkers, Cloaked Infils in general.
    Unimpeded Light Assaults.
    Medics healing all nearby allies without pause.
    Heavies not even losing their Advantage over all but Maxes for infantry.

    Can't clear a room or area of cloaked Stalker infils, nor prevent area-heal for a moment, nor deny Over-shield..
    Which means a Heavy loses shield, but retains over-shield making it basically identical to a normal heavy without over-shield.
    Stalkers need not worry about energy loss from grenades at all - Dark-lights their only spotter reliably.

    Carapace nulls the majority its combat effects.
    Occular Shields render the rest gone, and if popping a med-kit or regen-kit immunity to any such effects for 5 seconds.
    2 Implants, rendering the user immune to EMPs completely, while granting a massive buff to being revived, ease of healing..
    Add in Overshield, if heavy, and that's a machine that can't be affected by anything beyond a head-shot kill.
  5. CuteBeaver

    Yep, Iv taken to using the power knife indoors over EMP + crossbow bolting. (Side Note: We already saw the old Crossbow Bolt+ Knife get dethroned by the glorious melee update. Which is fine because sprint knife attacks are awesome but synergy with EMP from a distance has now taken a hit as well. If this keeps up Im going to have to rewrite every guide to advocate for double headshots with the commy versus Heavies in order to actually kill them.

    We kinda saw this coming on Reddit months before when people had asked for EMP be utility only. (Clearing spotters and stuff.) RIP EMPs for offensive usage or making a play. Don't get me wrong it still works on shields offensively but there is a chance enemies are protected from it (by two different implants now.) Heavies became even more of an issue if your not expecting this.

    At least there is still the power knife, and stab heavy in the face as an option... I really dislike inconsistency. I wish there was a visual component to some suits or implants so you could tell ahead of time what your facing. When SS originally came out i was super irritated because it meant false negatives with my motion spotter, (thinking it was safe when enemies were nearby) its only when someone on reddit pointed out the same result (false negative) could be achieved when DBG added crouch walking to avoid radar detection. I kinda gave up on that logic because it was based on actions and crouching around. (At least concerning SS example Redditor was right. However in this case no, its an implant not a real counter of someone making a choice and altering their movement/gameplay/doing something) Sorry if I am not making sense. Very tired. Point is unexpected, undetectable results do not make a good time for a stealth / ambush class. Anytime expectations do not match reality people in general (regardless of subject) get irritated. I'll have to double check but I am fairly certain that Carapace does not produce any Nay Nay Sounds. The only way your can detect its presence is by noticing there is no shield flash when you EMP the enemy. You wont see a double health-bar either. Looks identical to a normal health bar. Id be placated with a double health bar visual when spotted but i doubt that will happen.

    Not actually mad, just annoyed. Meh.

    Just incase this helps clear up confusion: Shield Shimmer can happen on Carapace but only when the person using it is cloaked... If they are not cloaked when you shoot them there will be no shimmer. When EMP'd they will never produce a bight flash, cloak or no cloak there will be no flash. Still its not something we can see coming or expect so prepare to deal with a few unexpected moments in future.

    If you want to go Meat Stalker with Carapace you would need to use Chameleon to get around the flash while cloaked. Otherwise its double bad because your going to flash for your entire healthbar when taking damage from stray fire. When EMP'd of course no shield pop so at least there is that.
  6. wolfexy

    Can anyone give me a reason for the nerf. EMP worked well and helped infis become useful in many circumstances mainly point pushing. Now it sucks and is hardly worth using.
  7. lamsai

    i wish emp grenade functioned like a concusion grenade vs vechiles