Cert me an AA reaver!

So, I'm running out of stuff to get on my NC guy and I've been thinking that being an AA ESF might be fun. This is my loose plan:

Rotary/Coyotes
Hover Airframe
Nanite auto-repair
Flares

I have several questions:

1) Is the rotary still the way to go with the nosegun? I don't see too many people using air hammers.

2) Is there a reason to run anything other than the hover airframe? Seems a pretty universal choice.

3) defense slot: is there an argument for anything other than auto-repair? Maybe stealth?

4) Flares vs. fire suppression: I was leaning toward flares because lock-ons suck (and to frustrate other coyote users ), but maybe I should go with suppression instead?

I have thousands of certs that I'm potentially prepared to plow into this, so that isn't really an issue.

1) No, but the vortek is in its own category really. It works.

2) Yes, the scythe dominates hover duels so it's kind of silly to fly like that in anything except a scythe, and the reaver keeps decent hover power while using racer anyway.

3) Nope.. nanites forever.

4) Lockons are easy enough to outrun in a racer + fuel tank reaver. Fire supp is too strong in A2A to not take.


I can't recommend any loadout except vortek+tanks+racer for AA in the reaver. Don't take any fair fights with scythes, just run up to people and vortek them. If you take 1/2 a guys health and a hover fight starts, it's okay to hover with him for a while instead of always suicidally rushing, but in general I would avoid defensive hover dueling play as much as possible.

It can be a pain in the *** to run away from the top scythes until you get them off guard, but I'm convinced it is objectively the best strategy. Playing like this means you are using what strengths the reaver has been given instead of trying to fly a crap version of a scythe. It means you are rarely fighting a duel for 30 seconds in one place and getting interrupted, it means you are actually fast enough to run from some bad situations, and it means you can patrol more of the map in less time. It's also a strong loadout for flying in a squad.

Rotary + racer works wonders for hit & run. (stealth can be interesting here): fly max speed at unaware target until vortek optimal range, one clip it and fly away. Possible loadout with AH instead of rotary and AB fuel tanks instead of coyotes.

Stock mustang + hover for hover dogfight (and lib hunting): better accuracy and velocity helps if the opponent goes farther with RM while hover airframe gives you an insane Vthrust.
Avoid long range hover dogfight with scythes, hitbox and muzzle velocity differences disadvantage the reaver.

Maxxed FSS>>Flares since it repair the equivalent of a coyote volley/almost an AA/G2A rocket and is also useful against most of others threats (Flak/AA MG/Nose guns ect).

Get 2 friends with ESF, all equip A2A missiles, lulz at the rage tells?

For pure AA use fire suppression. Barely anyone uses A2Am and coyotes are too spammy to make flares a viable options. 1 fire suppress is going to heal more then 1 volley of coyotes and FS will help you in ever dogfight not just the ones with people using Coyotes or A2Am.

If you are really good in an ESF I'd say vortex but if you are just starting just stick with the default nosegun until you can competently kill most people you find 1v1. Vortex requires a special set of skills to push it pass useless and into its full potential.

At the moment, I'm 6th in the game for vehicle kills with Coyotes (on Sattora) and do pretty well with them.
I use Racer, Nanites, Fire-Sup with the Vortek. The Vortek is the best nose gun in the game for close range combat, which is also where Coyotes shine. I strongly recommend that as your choice.

Also, fire suppression gives you 25% health every ~40s. That's huge, especially if you're taking on an enemy with AB tanks or Coyotes (flares will only block one clip of Coyotes).

But in the end, your nose gun choice will depend on your flying style. If you're going to get in the enemy's face, the Vortek is always your choice. You'll out-DPS any enemy if both of you are hitting all your shots (like if you're nose-to-nose at point blank range) but you'll need fire suppression to come out on top (and Coyotes during Vortek reloads is icing on the cake). You can take the Mustang and stay back for a hover duel, but an equal skill Scythe will beat you with better bullet velocity and its much smaller profile.

EDIT: I should clarify about Racer frame...
The most important skill in the air (in my opinion) is situational awareness. If you see the enemy (or enemies) first, you can choose the engagement situation and get in critical first hits that win you most fights... especially leading with Coyotes, which impact at the same moment as your nose gun rounds. Racer frame will make it significantly less likely that the enemy will get behind you without using their loud afterburners. It also allows you to accelerate faster to get into Coyote range in a hover duel. Hover frame is better for a long-range Mustang fight, but again, the Scythe will always be better at that anyway.

Ditch Flares and get Fire Suppression. If you feel like you want to try it without training wheels of Hover frame, then consider Racer frame, the brakes and hover on a Reaver without Hover is nothing like how badly a Mossie behaves.

Also I'd suggest sticking to the M20 Mustang. The rotary will require a certain play style plus given the last balance pass, you really want mag size 2 upgrade on it from day 1.

And speaking of balance passes, don't go dumping a ton of certs if you can wait, let the April balance pass play out first.

Air hammer is good if you wana go some peasant farming too, people say its **** for it but i find its good.
It has limited use in air but coyotes is what you'd use as air here, and air hammer rounds between reloads.

I just took out a guy that considers himself an ace with that set up and he whined at me after.
Don't give a **** about the duel meta that you must use ab tanks and the default gun, it's a lie and is not the most effective way to kill aircraft and that is your job as A2A.
Coyotes or A2AM is good.
If you want to go behind enemy lines or there is too much heat then fuel tanks come into a role as it adds to your survival.

Not many do it but Reaver benfits alot from Racer 3.
262 kph now and 370 afterburner is awesome.
Getting into reverse maneuver is easy with the reaver without hover, hover is a crutch.

with hover, you can oscillate with ascend/descend at a considerable rate, but of course that takes skill and knowledge of a maneuver less than 0.01% of the game knows about...

Question for the OP, are you looking to outduel opponents or just get kills? If you want to outduel other ESF, good luck, you're a bigger target, a less maneuverable target, and your nosegun is harder to hit with. In a "fair fight" you are pretty much automatically at a disadvantage.

With that, why would you ever want to be in a fair fight? I've mostly just done A2G, but once I finally finished off Auraxing rocket pods I started playing around with A2A and this has led me to some success:

Vortek Rotary
AB Pods
Engagement Radar
Vehicle Stealth

FACT: If a Mossy or Scythe gets the drop on you, you're dead. You can't outrun them, you can't out-manuever them, and if you turn to fight you'll be at 1/3 health before you even get a shot off.

With Engagement Radar you should never, ever, ever be caught off guard. Stealth provides some protection from lockons and gives you somewhat an opportunity to get the drop on other ESF. AB pods are so you can book it if the situation is not in your favor.

Stealth only helps you against bad players, good pilots are playing with headphones and can hear cruising ESFs at 400m+, 600m+ if there isn't much else around.

which server? i hope not Cobalt..

Engagement Radar is such a bad cert choice i have no words to describe it. Just put on your headset and listen to whats going on around you (its called situational awareness), it costs NO certs and you can put something actually useful in the slot.

I still run flares on my AA loads even though fire suppression is better, just to spite lock-on users.

of course, when you do happen to run into a coyote spammer, (if flares are working as intended) you can dodge 2 volleys of coyotes which is as much as 70% of your health. So there is that upside.

Honestly i think reavers are more like an attack aircraft(mainly air to ground) with the ability to engage air targets which is less effective rather than an air superiority fighter.
Basicly, you can say reavers are A-10 and the other ESFs are like F-22s.
Reavers are for only hit and run close air supports : unload all explosives on the ground and get out of the combat air space repair and do the same process again

Jump over to the vehicle sub forum, there are some great guides on ESF loadouts with in depth discussion.
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Oh wait

Bro. Too soon, bro.

From which movie is your signature?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1136608/