How Do I Deal with Harassers?

These days, when I'm sitting at a Sunderer, I know what to pull in response to pretty much any situation in order to at least lend weight to support it.

Except one: Harassers. I haven't figured out what I'm expected to do to drive them off, let alone kill them.

Shooting them with small arms does nothing worth mentioning. AV weapons seem to scare them briefly when I can land a hit on them, but that's not regularly. Even lock-on weapons don't work, because they'll never stay in sight for the time for the lock to stick.

When I've got access to vehicle terminals, I've tried my AP Lightning, that's worked out okay, but no kills, they just run after taking a hit. I recently tried piloting a Harasser and got destroyed by an AV Engi turret, are they any good, or are the projectiles too slow?

Is there any way to actually get a harasser off your squad with any consistency?

Liberators... assuming you faction has enough AA and is killing enemy AA.

step 1.
roll tr.
step 2.
follow the zerg and use marauder or vulcan.
step 3.
collect certs.
step 4.
mlg kdr spm.

wait for nerfs.

Roll TR
Buy Striker
Laugh

Wait for the driver to make a mistake...

Or force him to. If you're driving something big, put it in his path. Running into a Sunderer pretty well wrecks a Harasser's chance of escape.

Tank mines and hope is about all a single guy can do against a good harasser team.

But if you have more people, concentrate fire with dumbfires, engie turrets, and lock ons. Or pull vehicles yourselves.

Join the TR we have more DAKA than you

Before the Harasser is detected:
-pick the right sundy...one well certed with blockage.
-Take time to actually park that sundy in a place where it's defensible and it's rear, which is the strongest armor, facing the most exposed (Many squads fail here) direction.
-Take a half minute, switch to engy, and prepare some obstacles around your sundy--a few mines that can ruin their day, and turrets to stop them cold for a few seconds are more than worth it after all.
-Have the owner unlock the sundy to squad and platoon.
-Designate one or two to protect that Sundy, at least one that's an engy! Ya it's a crappy job, but darn important.

Once it's detected
- Tell your squad where the harasser is and spot it...(of course that required a mic, which for some unexplainable reason the majority of PS2 player choose not to have---argg).
-get both guns of the sundy firing at the darn thing--even stock guns now reduce a harasser.
-Yell the direction of the harasser and Yell out to those nearby to focus fire.
-With both stock Sundy guns blazing and one or two other squad members with light weapons the harasser will NOT be able to complete the job.

After it's run off for repairs
-call in a friendly harasser or air support to finish the harasser.

Most harasser crews will go find another target if they realize it's well defended. It just takes a bit of thinking ahead and team work to deter one.

How to beat one harasser:
Step 1: Get 4 allies.
Step 2: Get two harassers.
Step 3: Kill one harasser with two harassers.
It's foolproof!

The best ways to "deal" with harassers.

A max with AV weaponry has the power to kill harassers but it will lose in a straight up fight. The best bet is to have well established cover using this method however a harasser will likely retreat before a finishing blow is dealt.

There is no way in hell a heavy assault can kill moving harassers alone however a coordinated group of HAs with lock on rockets can kill a harasser before it can retreat. A heavy assault group will likely succeed but it is difficult to coordinate this type of attack with just random people.

An ESF will likely be able to keep a harasser on the move but it would likely be difficult to finish it off due to its speed and maneuverability. I have no doubt a ESF can obliterate harassers with rocket pods but it is a lot more difficult than one might imagine if the harasser has a skilled driver. Harassers are simply too unpredictable with their quick turn rates.

Liberators can pretty much rofl stomp harassers with a dalton but this can be difficult unless the skies are clear of ESFs.

Galaxy stomping is a possibility but this requires experience and skill to achieve. I don't really recommend this tactic unless someone is well practiced at doing it.

Other harassers. The best harasser team wins.

A well certed lightning with AP rounds. I am not going to exaggerate here... It takes a lot more skill from the lightning to win this little skirmish than it does for harasser drivers/passengers. The lightning driver cannot afford to miss and must be ready to repair if the harasser retreats rather than chase it unless 100% positive it can be finished off.

A MBT will likely smack a harasser into the dirt due to its superior firepower, hit points, armor, and faction utility. Magriders can really be a ***** to escape from while vanguards can nullify surprise attacks. A one manned MBT might be a bit of a contest depending on the drivers skills.

log off

lol! is this guy serious?

I'm completely serious. Liberators are/would be the ultimate counter to Harassers if they weren't so weak to everything.

Unless of course the Harasser has a walker...

Stride I agree with everything you said, but I think your giving tanks too much credit from what I've seen.

I got full reload etc etc, and I can go shot for shot with a 2/3 harasser from the front only and he will still likely win. That's connecting every shot, which is, well, it take some concentration, and that's from the front only. That said, I'm fighting to the death, while they will often want to live to fight another day. If I can get three AP shots they will normally leave me alone. I swear all harassers have composite because three ap rounds just get them smoking.
Do not repair. Run for the hills.

Believe it or not the skyguard actually does quite well. its slightly better then AP if you can keep on him. I never actually killed one with a skyguard yet, but one did decide to sit in front of me with an AV weapon, and I had him down to 20% before I died (there was a second harasser)

Magriders are the slowest tank a one-time boost is practically a non-factor against the harasser, harassers can go right under them too, and just kill at leisure. Magriders can barely turn fast enough to score hits. I'd rather a 1/1 lightning then a 2/2 magrider against a harasser any day.
Vanguards, while able to delay death, lack the ROF to beat harassers.
Prowlers get two shots I imagine that helps a ton.

If your going to beat harassers with tanks. you need superior numbers, and you gotta bundle together like bison facing a lion.

You could get into the Sundy and shoot at it. In fact Sundies do an excellent job of deterring Harassers, and the Basilisk is an excellent gun for it too.

The Annihilator is a great choice for a HA to chase away a Harasser, it takes the same number of Annihilator rounds to kill a Harasser (without the armor cert) as it does to kill an ESF but the Harasser is slower, can't fly, and can't have flares/smoke and afterburners/boosts in the same loadout.

Any planes can wipe them out easily...

the 2 default gun on the sunderer will get em, if they are greedy, they will die....
If not, they will run...

Fracture MAXes, well, any AV MAX. I like the comets. *edit: not the pounders... or whatever they're called. The TR's MAX grenade launchers. They pretty much suck on em*
Strikers, Lancers, Phoenix. yeah, it works.. If only one guy is shooting it, then it's not going to kill em, it might kill the repairer...
Any heavy tank with a 2ndary gunner. Kills any harasser with ease.
Another harasser... If it's an AI harasser, they are the easiest to deal with, they're not going to kill your sunderer, unless you let em.
If it's an AV one, spread those mines, spread your people, if you have any, start shooting at it. Repair the sunderer. . They may try to run you over, the mines will help.

It's really not hard to take em out...

And yes, a magrider can easily kill a harasser. If they even get so close to you, you've nearly already killed em, just with the 2ndary gunner if you have the saron/hally.. Landing shots isn't too hard, especially if you're on the move.
Nearly all lightning tanks seem easy to kill though.... They are not a threat to a harasser..
Like the guy above said, he'd rather have a 1/1 lightning than a 2/2 Magrider, well, I don't know what to say. 2/2 any heavy tank is harder than any single lightning. I'd rather face 5 lightnings than 1 of any 2/2.....
Mostly cuz, the lightning users always spam their shots, missing nearly all of it. THe single shot lightnings are tougher, since they try to hit. However, since they are moving and shooting, they are missing. Unlike the magrider. Can move and hit with ease.

So yeah, there are many ways to take out a harasser... Unless you're just solo.. Then it's best to get a plane..

Just read more of the guys post above.
Vanguards, using 2/2 will obliterate any harassers, especially if they have the enforcer.

The sad reality is that doing the responsible thing, like guarding a Sundy is both the most important role to take and the most boring. While your friends are on the inside scoring kill after kill, you are left to thwart off attackers, repair damage, and move if necessary. Very few Sunderers are properly tended to by 2+ players. It's why they get farmed so easily. TheKing's post is pretty spot on with your effective options.

Jump in that Sunderer with a friend. Two Basilisks will shred a composite armor 4 Harasser in less than 10 seconds. The Harasser has a 2-3 man team, you need a 2-3 man team to counter them.

I use my magrider a lot and it's fairly well certed. Maxed on everything other than a few ammo certs basically. Harassers go down like wet noodles everytime. The damage from fpc shots and saron spam is just too much damage too fast for them to handle. Harassers always go down by the time that second or third FPC hits assuming the saron gunner is doing their job. At the end of the day it all just coming down to skill and being able to make a hit really...

Yes, a harasser can go under a magrider but if the magrider sees them coming there is no way they are going to pull that off quick enough. The hardest harassers to kill will usually circle around a tank anyway though rather than attempt to go underneath one.