my gatekeeper is different?

ok, first off, I know the gatekeeper is a touchy subject right now. I'd like to state that I'm not talking about nerfing or not nerfing it. I'm only talking about its supposed anti infantry power.

I've have read a lot of posts where people say the gatekeeper is incredibly effective anti infantry. I've even seen people say it's more effective against infantry than the saron and enforcer, at any range.

Maybe my gatekeeper is different. But in my opinion it really sucks against infantry. Like if my gunners are shooting at infantry with it I ask them to stop and kick them out if they don't because it's a waste of ammo unless there completely in the open and stationary.

It takes 6-7 direct hits or almost an entire clip (Harasser) of splash hits to kill an infantry. How is that overpowered against infantry compared to the enforcer and saron, which both have much larger splash radius and more splash damage. Also they can kill in 2-3 hits or 3-4 splash hits. And, at close range the saron can mag dump and wipe a cluster of infantry in a second. How is that less effective against infantry then the gatekeeper?

Again, all I'm talkin about is its anti infantry power. Not asking for a nerf, just why people think it's so powerful anti infantry compared to the other two.

Looking at the Prowler variant, damage is thus:

Max Damage:

170

Min Damage:

170

Max Indirect Damage:

75 before 0.6m

That's 245 damage (including the splash applied from the direct hit) against an infantry target. All Infantry have 500 health and 500 shields, save for Infiltrators, who have 100 shields less. That's 5 direct shots to kill any infantry target. With 36 shots available, that's 7 potential kills per 1.75 second reload, and a nice pile of spare ammo. At 500m/s velocity, tracking targets is easy, so scoring hits is quite simple compared to the Saron and Enforcer's 300m/s velocity.

The Saron's damage is thus:

Max Damage:

284

Min Damage:

284

Max Indirect Damage:

200 before 1m

Min Indirect Damage:

1 after 2m

That's 2 direct hits and one splash (or 3 direct) For a kill, that's 2 potential kills per 3 second reload.



The Enforcer's damage is thus:

Max Damage:

500

Min Damage:

500

Max Indirect Damage:

334 before 0.5m

Min Indirect Damage:

1 after 2

That's 1 direct hit and a splash to kill, limited mostly by fire rate and drop, reload is less of an issue due to the rapid reload fanciness it has.


The Gatekeeper has a very significant advantage due to velocity, fire rate, lack of drop, and lack of recoil - targetting is easier, and gunners don't have to deal with bloom or recoil - the Gatekeeper is more effective then most dedicated anti infantry weapons. Only the Marauder and the Canister are significantly more effective, and those are only usable at close range. Removing gunners for shooting at infantry is tantamount to deleting buckets and buckets of potential certs.

Edit for a bit more info:
A gatekeeper will fire 5 rounds in 1.875 seconds. It typically takes approximately a second for a stationary target to start moving (Given 100ms lag in either direction, especially), so by the time many infantry realize they are under fire, they have already lost shields and a portion of their health.

On paper yes, your numbers are right. But honestly, it takes a considerable amount of time to kill someone with a gatekeeper especially if the vehicle or target is moving. In practice I feel the gatekeeper is less effective by far.
I have literally come around the corner to face a lightning and a infantry in my harasser with gatekeeper, Gunner focused on infantry, I was trying to dodge ap shells, lightning killed us before the gunner could kill the infantry. This does not happen every time, but if we had saron or enforcer, the splash from the hits on either target would have damaged the other, due to them being clustered, netting us at least a kill in that situation. Due to me dodging the lightning, on anything but purely even terrain it is impossible to maintain 100% accuracy, without 100% accuracy, the lack of significant splash increases TTK greatly. And honestly, no one in this game has 100% accuracy with anything they actually use regularly. I'm just saying, imo, both the saron and enforcer are more effective against infantry.
I mean, on paper, a lot of weapons don't suck. But there is a reason they are barely ever used.

Edit:'the number of Certs I miss out on doesn't compare to the number of deaths suffered from decis at close range while the gunner try's to kill the multiple infantry shooting us. If there are two heavies with launchers vs one gatekeeper harasser, I'd say the odds are in there favor unless I can roadkill one before they get a hit. Or we are at great enough range to easily dodge the rockets.

And not to be rude or anything. But what is your experience shooting infantry with the gatekeeper, because I'd rather have the Vulcan if we're talking AI potential of AV TR weapons.

The Gatekeeper against infantry is really really bad.

Nononono, the Gatekeeper is OP against infantry! I tried it in the VR and I was able to kill 7 soldiers EACH CLIP and VERY QUICKLY.
In fact I was so fast they couldn't even return fire, that's how fast I tore through those dummies...


-an average nerfling

All weapons are going to suffer hitting small targets like infantry when the vehicle and the target is moving...A weapon that is pin point accurate has a good ROF high velocity round and a large magazine is going to have an easier time, then a harder hitting, slower velocity, smaller magazine weapon, because it requires less trigger control.

Take for instance the Halberd, sure its a one hit kill, but if you miss its a 3.25s reload. In that same time frame you would be able to fire 8 gatekeeper rockets and miss 3 and still get the kill in the same time frame. If you miss 2 Halberd shots now we are talking 6.5s or 17 gatekeeper rockets, which gives you a huge margin of era to kill 1 infantry. Obviously Enforcer and Saron are faster firing then the halberd and kill in less rockets then the Gatekeeper, but they are still less forgiving overall then the gatekeeper.

Infantry is a small target, but if you can control your aim and keep on target its not that hard, toss in a little trigger control and you'll have a much easier time...

I could say the same thing about the enforcer and saron though, work on your aim, toss Ina little trigger control and they are way better vs infantry. As a TR harasser main, I would rather have the halbard over the gatekeeper if I know there are infantry around, simply because the gatekeeper vs infantry is pointless. Have you actually used it against infantry on the battlefield, where they duck in and out of cover and you and they are both moving? Saron, enforcer, and halbard are all better vs infantry imo. And I feel that most competent gunners and drivers will agree. En masse, yes five or six gatekeepers can mow down an infantry front easily. But five or six enforcers or sarons will do it better, UNLESS the targets are more than 300m out advantage goes to splash and alpha damage over pinpoint accuracy.

AV weapons shouldn't have splash unless they're a Hybrid/HEAT round. Boom. Problem solved.

The GK is bad against infantry, and so are the Saron and Enforcer... By design. I'm completely ok with that. Honestly, I'd be happy if they nerfed all 3 into the ground just to shut everyone up at this point.

Of course you could say the same for the enforcer and Saron, and I would and do as well. But keep in mind the keeper is even easier then those two weapons, because it has a significant projectile velocity advantage, no COF, no DROP, no Recoil, fast ROF and huge magazine capacity...It's only disadvantage is you have to land 2-3 more shots, but considering those other traits getting an extra 2-3 hits is no big deal and if that doesn't work you still have 15 more in the mag until its dry and you need to reload...

I play all of the factions and I play all of the weapons. The issue in my opinion is simply its velocity, bring it down to 300m/s and then its drop will start to come into play and it will be on par with the other weapons. It would not take away from its damage output, but it will make it less effective at range and fore the gunner to lead targets more...

lol enforcer and saron can't even kill inf with nothing but splash hits in a whole magazine.

You say 6 hits, and yeah, that's a few, but it's got the velocity and accuracy to make that really possible. It's like a slow firing 50 cal...

Compare that with a 1 shot every .75s Saron and 3 hits required.

Enforcer AV I think is the best, it doesn't have the velocity, but it has the accuracy and it's 2hk with 8 in the mag (and active reloading on top of that)

GK htough carries enough ammo on the Prowler to secure 5 kills (presuming 100% acc like I did with enforcer, of course that never happens with neither) pre reload...

It's NOT amazing, and truthfully with a top rated gunner the Halberd is best. I wouldn't even say it's AI power is out of line, but it's certainly better than Saron IMO, and just about equal with Enforcer AV.

Obviously don't shoot inf over vehicles with it.... but if there's nothing else to shoot... hell, the main canon is prolly gonna run dry first anyways.

The Gatekeeper has the mechanics of the old PPA with the stats of the Lasher, plus AV damage. Magazine size is a negligible limiter with among the fastest reloads in the game only surpassed by sidearms and the small magazine VS SMGs by 0.01 seconds.
So what about this gun isn't anti infantry?

Gatekeeper is really bad against Infantry, I know that you can spout crap about kill-times, but in game it's a different story. You are presuming that every person can land every shot and that every factor in the game is perfect for them to hit their shots. It's not like that in-game, people shooting at you complicates aiming, and so does people moving. People who stand still in a warzone out of cover die. Regardless of what weapon is used to kill them.

You can't be serious.

You're in a vehicle and it does splash damage with automatic fire, your two big points are completely negated: landing every shot, and people shooting at you. On top of the fact that range has no effect on its performance, why do you think the old PPA was such a pain in the ***?

Because it was on a tank that could get to places no other tank could get to.

Incorrect, my first vehicle aurax was indeed the PPA, on a harasser.
Want to take a wild guess what my top weapon is at how many kills?

Your ego ?

Its not about personal bias's or things like that.


The PPA was in a whole different situation because it could get into areas the other ES AI weapons couldn't on there platforms.

PMS 9000?

Sure, 0 kills on that.
5,290 kills with the Lasher, I don't know how splash weapons work do I?

The main issue is that the Gatekeeper is viable against infantry up to 300m away, thanks to its insane velocity with no CoF or recoil. Sure, you'd rather have the Halberd for AI at the ranges where you can actually hit the target, but what to you think is the realistic range for that? At 150m, the infantryman has a bit over 0.5 seconds to dodge on reaction, even if you have godlike aim. Even at, say, 75m, he can easily move around erratically enough to make hitting him a matter of luck more than skill. Considering you get one shot every 3 seconds or so, the odds aren't in your favor. With the Gatekeeper, if there's no cover, there's no range where moving erratically can save you, since it has the RoF and sustained damage to wear you down with splash and occasional lucky hits.