Thumper Tips, Theorycraft and General Info post

Discussion in 'Heavy Assault' started by Nehlis, May 11, 2020.

  1. Nehlis

    Couldn't find a lot of guides or specific info regarding this weapon. Made this thread so that people can share tips and clarify some things.
    Just bought it, already love it. I find that its amazing at clearing those extremely crowded point holds. You know, those matches where it seems like the entire enemy population is packed neatly into one of the small buildings. I'm surprised I don't see it used more often to clear out superclusters like this.

    A couple of questions I have about the weapon that I could not find answers for on forums or the wiki:
    1. Disruptor rounds are stated to destroy small deployables. I'm assuming that means squad beacons, shield regen fields, Motion sensors. Does this also apply to hardlight barriers, spitfires, mana turrets? I'm assuming no but since the weapon and the specific attachment in question is so rarely seen I've never been able to confirm.
    2. Incendary Rounds, does the damage over time stack? Or does the DoT simply reapply with each successive hit? In either case, what situation would you use them over the basic AI rounds?

    As far as my theorycrafting contribution goes, I've always thought that rumble seats have been underutilized, the Valkyrie especially so. I feel like a cloak or fast attack flash with a thumper on the back could cause some serious damage to outdoor clusters, since it can get into otherwise high risk positions and get out fast. Coupled with a fury especially you would have a very effective 2 man battle flash.
    Valkyries loaded up with 4 providing close air support sounds fun on paper, but I've yet to see this tested at all. I don't really have any time on Valk so any pilot input would be appreciated.

    Thoughts or additions?
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  2. VhynSeven

    As far as I know :

    1/ - my guess is the blast deals increased damage to every deployable, one-shotting Motion Spotters and such, but not ACE deployables (that would OP). 2-3 grenades, maybe.

    2/ - the DoT is supposed to stack, but is currently bugged and does not.

    When it comes to which ammo to choose, the regular ones would be my go-to choice. The Disruptor has a more supportive role, softening fortified nests (HA, medic fields, ACE tools...). If the Incendiary would be fixed, then it would be great against nests that are hard to shoot into.
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  3. Nehlis

    I've messed around with a quick number crunch and I think I get the main benefits of the alternate ammo types.
    Incendiary:
    You lose 200 maximum splash damage in exchange for 150 damage over time. The minimum splash is still 100. Therefore you would end up with an overall damage profile of 300 to 250 instead of 350 to 100. On a 1000 hp infantry if we assume no direct impacts, healing, flak or heavy overshield, you would need 4 maximum damage splashes, but would never need more than 4. Can anyone confirm if the damage stacking is still bugged? Also does the fire damage count as explosive type and get mitigated by flak armor?
    If it does work properly, I would recommend using with auto trigger, since they mitigate each other's weakness.
    Disruptor:
    200 damage, 125 shield damage, 20% ability energy, destroys small deployables. Obviously good against heavies, since splash will drain overshields faster and medic encampments. Weakest of the 3 ammo types IMO. Would be amazing if it could inflict the Havoc status effect, maybe would be OP.

    I feel like if you are using launch accelerator it would be be best to use standard frag rounds and aim for direct hits. Auto trigger is good for frags but especially incendiary (when the stacking works). I don't think there is a situation where I would ever take Lightweight materials, the convenience factor doesn't really outweigh the raw dps boost of Auto trigger or the better accuracy of Launch accel. The benefit is also completely nullified if you use it in a rumble seat.
  4. Liewec123

    distruptor ammo is handy when the enemy has lots of spawn beacons, if any of the splash touches the beacon, it goes POOF.
    i like using Javelin to jump to wherever all of the beacons are hiding and take them all out super fast :)
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  5. Badman76

    I've been using

    Auto shotgun, extended mags
    Thumper, frag rounds and auto trigger
    Decimator

    concussion grenades

    Adrenaline shields
    nano armour
    med kits

    Athlete and sidewinder implants

    Very happy so far with this build, i did try the jackhammer but I seamed to get outgunned by the auto shotgun LA so i switched and not looked back.

    I main the decimator, use the thumper for long range combat, crowd control and shooting around corners, shotgun is for cqc. i almost always forget to use my grenades and knife
  6. Nehlis

    On a side note, I've been playing around with the Hunter QCX Incendiary Bolts, the explosion seems to function almost the exact same in the Training Room as the Incendiary Grenades for the Thumper. 4 AoE indirects will kill regular infantry. 2 directs will kill Infantry, but not immediately, there will be a small window where the fire does damage where the target is still alive. We can assume that it uses the same explosion profile until proven otherwise (100 splash, 150 burn).
    Completely overkill, but you could take incendiary thumper with Incendiary Hunter QCX. You would lose every straight gunfight, and probably would get weapons locked in no time flat, but the option to meme ever harder is there. Going to try it on Stalker infil soon.
  7. SirPanfried


    I did experiment with a meme build I dubbed the "Thicc but Quicc": lightweight materials, Athlete and Sidewinder implants. Nobody really expects a grenadier to move that fast. That said, lightweight materials just doesn't offer enough of a benefit compared to the other two attachments. My suggestion would be to remove the Thumper's speed penalty and replace Lightweight Materials with "Lightweight Cylinder" that trades a slightly faster reload speed for the angular recoil increase.
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