The VS chaingun really feels incomplete. It seems to me like it would be perfectly balanced if it performed the way it's supposed to according to the tradition and nomenclature - plasma orbs that lash out and deal damage to anyone they pass by. Sure, it can work as a suppression tool, but there are three problems with this. 1) the splash damage is really, really small 2) it's only any use if you have the higher ground. Firing it uphill or up stairs is totally useless. 3) due to the splash damage being quite small, enemies you're trying to "suppress" can more often then not just step out of cover, shoot at you, run out of ammo, run away and pop a restoration kit, walk back into the lasher fire, and continue shooting you until you are dead. This literally happened to me when I was on top of an amp station, firing down at a group that was hacking one of the generators. The fact that the weapon doesn't even have proper firing sounds yet implies that they plan to do more work on it, but it would be really nice to hear from the devs on this. Obviously if you both increased the splash damage AND made it actually lash, it would turn into an unbalanced death cannon, disregarding that the other faction chainguns ARE massive death cannons, but one of the two needs to happen in my opinion.
Not sure if it is the lasher ive seen, but ive seen a VS infantry shooting glowing balls, which is not a LASHer
Been killed by a lasher before. It doesn't need to hit anything to hurt me, just needs to be somewhat close to me. No bullet drop either, so it's great over range. People barely use it though.
Problem with the lasher at range is projectile travel time. The thing is SLOW. You can nearly outrun it. You can definitely dodge it by moving out of the way / running serpentine. Not to even mention the cone of fire is pretty huge. People barely use it because it's totally useless in 90% of infantry combat situations you will be in. A burst-fired LMG is much more deadly at long range. A full auto LMG is more effective at close to medium range. A lasher is slightly effective when shooting at enemies who are on an equal or lower terrain level hiding in cover, but only slightly. You'd probably be better off waiting for one of them to poke his face out and burst firing headshots.
One of the advantages I see with the lasher is hitting people behind cover. It may not do a whole lot, but it will make them want to move. It's more of a displacement weapon. Needs to be improved in some way, just not sure what yet.
It's awful over range, as it hits for 3% damage at anything more than 20m. It also has the worst bullet spread of any weapon in the game, even more than the shotguns.
Ahh..the Lasher. IMO, the current PS2 Lasher using AOE spash upon impact is fundamentally flawed. Why? Shooting at head or chest level means a miss has a high chance to negate the guns special effect. In order to make the best use of the AOE damage, orbs must be shot at the enemies feet so any near misses will splash the target. TBH, shooting at feet sucks and feels derpy. The Lasher should lash. That means as an orb passes an enemy, it reaches out and does damage within a certain radius. Now Lasher users no longer have to constantly try to damage the enemies footwear and can concentrate on hitting them center mass. My ideal Lasher: Orbs would lash out to 5m. Orbs would not lash within 5m of shooter. Orbs would not lash friendlies. Orbs would not lash the target on a direct hit, but would still lash other enemies within the lash radius. Orbs would maintain current speed, ROF, and COF. Orbs and Lash would have no damage degradation over range, but simply dissipate at 50m. No headshot damage multiplier for orbs or lash. 100% orbs landed TTK would be in between the Orion bodyshot and full headshot TTK. 00 - 10m Jackhammer > Lasher > MCG 10 - 15m Lasher > Jackhammer > MCG 15 - 20m Lasher > MCG > Jackhammer 20 - 30m MCG > Lasher > Jackhammer
You know the lasher shot orbs which lashed right? Right column 5th one down http://planetside.station.sony.com/howto/weapons.vm and here is an old video I found:
I use a lasher pretty extensively. It's a great tool for certain jobs, and like any other tool, terrible at other jobs. I've fired it uphill and cleared several stairwells full of the enemy. It really shines in group battle against tightly clustered foes. It blows huge chunks when used to snipe at a distance (although I have killed people who just sit there). It's also harder than hell to hit a light assault flying near you. Think of it as the VS heavy machine gun. It's great for suppression and room clearing, but terrible to hit fast moving things with lots of angular velocity.
