I'm working on completing the HA directives (need one more to finish the expert tier) and the Lasher seems promising. However, while making a trial run with this weapon I found it to be a but clunky. It's obviously not a CQB weapon, but where is it best used? Is it effective when used for something other than supression? I realize that a 30 min trial isn't much to go on, but I'd like to get a handle on it before I drop 1k certs.
I love the lasher. A few things you need to do to make it a great gun. 1. Play as if you are using a battle rifle.So don't be the first in the room, and always keep a few allies within 5-15 meter range. In a 1v1 the lasher does not have great bullet velocity or fire rate, so most enemies will kill you before you get them to half health. 2. Only use the lasher in medium to large fights. Small fights have a higher chance of you being in a 1v1. 3. Try to fight indoors/ around a building. Fighting out in the open with a gun that shoots glowing orbs is a very bad idea. Every enemy sniper/tank/esf will know where you are in 1-2 seconds of you shooting. 4. For best results fight in a biolab(or a base like Subterranean Nanite Analysis). Try to get the higher ground(stand on top of stairs or boxes) and shoot at the doorway. It is best to shoot at the ground of the doorway as anyone trying to peak the corner will take damage before they can see you. And you get a lot of easy kills this way. 5. If you are fighting on an outside base try to get high ground either on a hill or my favorite,on the roof of a second story building. Some bases have A point in the open inbetween two buildings. These are the bases where the Lasher excels. When enemies run to A and hide behind boxes/walls just shoot at the ground next the your target. They have two choices. Stand still and die or break cover exposing themselves to your allies trying to recap A point. Always try to get in fights where both sides are hiding in cover taking pot shots at each other. This ensures that your targets will be standing still making your low rate of fire and projectile speed a non-issue.Try not to take fights where one side is steam rolling because a fast moving target is really hard to hit with the lasher until you get good enough to lead your shots(sometimes by 10 or more meters depending on distance). 6. Final tip. If you turn a corner and 1v1 an enemy run back around the corner and start shooting the ground. Then slowly pie the corner while firing. Once you start getting hit markers either pull back into the corner some more(if the enemy is trying to rush you/see you) or keep turning the corner(enemy decides to run away). This will allow you to kill the enemy without ever having direct line of sight. Hope this gives you some help on how to use the lasher. Just remember to play like you are using a battlerifle and try to find fights that are in a stalemate where enemies are holding cover. Attachments=extended mags and a 1x or 2x scope. Also a video going into more detail on how to use the weaon
Awesome, thanks for the thorough advice. See, this is what I figured, but that would make the directive difficult to manage.
you would be surprised how many kills you get with it. you can easily contain a dozen people behind covor and with splash damage kill them all
you can easily get rid of CQC targets (usually you kill an LA or engi in less than 10 bullets to the feet at 6-10 meters, while hipfiring) while still being extremely good at tremendous long range combat due to AoE damage not scaling with bullet travel distance and CoF bloom resetting way faster than normal. you have increased damage versus maxes (being AoE damage more effective on em, and calculated differently than on infantry targets), you can do absurd amount of damage if you fire at concentrated clusters of enemies, basically multiplying the damage for every target that eats AoE. and those unique features don't even consider the main purpose of the gun: SUPPRESSION. the best advice for a lasher player is DON'T ADS unless they are past ~18 meters or they are not firing you back. and AIM FOR THE FEET when hipfiring. seriously, there are reviews on the internet that say to ADS all the time, that's madness! why the hell would you ever want to ADS and go for bodyshots with a weapon that has FOUR to SIX TIMES LONGER BULLET TRAVEL TIME, DOUBLE TTK even if connecting all those slow ballz (much unlikely) and 1.5 HEADSHOT DAMAGE MULTIPLIER? its like going to battle a CARV with a special edition of the same gun with half the dps, 1/5 bullet travel speed and no 2X hs dmg. you still can win but you have to be TREMENDOUSLY more skilled than you opponent. lasher has AoE and if you go for bodyshots and miss (and you will, a lot) all those ballz will just slowly fly past your opponent and do 0 damage. if you aim for the feet you will damage your opponent in a continuously and effective way, killing him in less that you'd expect while ADADAD spam and be way less damaged. and god, look at that tiny tiny hipfire CoF, the weapon just screams to be hipfired!
Fun fact, the Lasher is the only weapon in the game that deals reduced damage to allies. Also, don't worry about ammo, with an extended mag, the Lasher X2 can maintain fire for ~30 seconds. On the defensive, just start shooting at doorways, the enemy will have to walk into your fire, the little red X will let you know they're coming.
A few weeks later, and here's some more advice: If you do get into a cqc scenario, hipfire, jump around, and aim at their feet. Try and be erratic in this scenario, so the enemy has a hard time shooting you, but aiming at their feet means you are hitting them for the splash damage. At least this way, if you do go down, they'll have had some damage to them, as well.
I wish that there was an option to put the Lasher into the Rocket Launcher Slot so you can swap back to your main rifle.
Lasher is my favorite rifle on heavy assault but you must go at medium distances if you want effectivity.
This sounds like a good way to give the enemy a free kill. Any HA will know your intent, turn on their shields and wait for you to turn the corner. They'll simply shoot you in the face with a dumb fire rocket launcher once you are visible. Any other class might just take the damage to spin the corner in order to shoot you in the face with a shotgun or toss C4 on you.
