Man do I feel dumb...

Saw the sale on the Phoenix and thought "Probably won't but anything else with the free station cash, so why not?" Well I feel just like the smartest light bulb in the drawer. The thing blows. I'd much rather fire 5 rockets quickly doing 2500 damage potentially than I would fire a rocket that I can control that does 750 damage and after it's all said and done, takes twice as long to reload as any other launcher due to it not reloading while you're controlling it. Most I can do with it is get some assists.

I've been playing on an NC alt lately, it may not be as effective but it is by far one of the most fun weapons i've found in this game.

Although with that said, if a handful of people start focusing the same person with it, theres really nothing that guy can do to keep from losing that tank.

It sucks for the first 20-30 shots before you realise all along you been doing it wrong and do not understand its potential. The Phoenix is amazing when you get ir right. Yes you will be mainly getting assists but so what? You are stopping armour from approaching.

The phoenix works best in pairs. There is no other way around it. Solo shooting with a phoenix is meh. Get 2 players communicating and you can lock down any chosen area within the range of the weapon.

It's the same with the Striker. ****** solo, awesome in pairs, unstoppable in groups. Due to its ease of use it appears in group play more often than the Phoenix does. Which is a shame cause the phoenix is phenomenal in group play. Get 3 or 4 of you shooting Phoenixs and it is Bye Bye to any and all armour / air in range of the launcher.

Keep practicing, join in with another heavy and get your friendly engineer to drop ammo for you, you'll be locking down areas in no time!

Whatever you do, don't admit defeat and point at the weaknesses of the weapon. Search for its strengths and play to those intead of its weaknesses.

best use of the phoenix is against farming ESFs they are a nice prey for a phoenix. besides that the phoenix is great at taking out sunderers behind rocks etc as long as you work together with at least another heavy assault who has the phoenix.

It is a great weapon it is just alot more situational then the striker.

And there are alot of people who would disgree and still call the phoenix OP so...

But when you play by yourself there is no doubt the striker is a better weapon.

I have it asswell, and i have loved it from the day they introduced it, it has been nerfed twice, corrected 3 times and people still complain so it cant be that bad as you make it out to be

750 damage is vs Infantry. It does 1750 to Tanks

insta gibs hovering aircraft. why more players aren't using it that way i don't know.

Guess I'll give it another go. My main fail is I always forget about the little acceleration boost that happens at like 100 meters...

Until you get used to the handling, I suggest you shoot it slightly into the air then angle it down then practice maneuvering the missile around objects. Don't bother shooting at Harassers or Flashes with it, they only have to make a relatively small movement for you to miss them completely if you're just getting the hang of the Phoenix. I love the thing to death and I don't make hits on either of those very often.

Pretty much this. The Phoenix actually has a 2.67 multiplier against armor, which means it's pretty much on the same level as the stock dumbfire launcher. Except you can control it. Thought it was crap too until I learned this. I wish this number was listed instead, perhaps with an asterisk for a disclaimer against infantry or something.

Mostly because it requires the ESF to be almost motionless for up to 10 seconds. Out of the hundreds of times I've aimed it at one, probably killed less than 10.

The armor buff certainly reduced the usefulness of the Phoenix but I still find it a fun weapon to use. It seems a lot less capable of firing out of spawn rooms than it once was. It's excellent for finishing off retreating armor who think that because they've crested a hill, they're safe.

Effectiveness, to me it's the weaker of the three ESRL's but there are moments it shines. Guiding them into MAX who are AA'ing or locked down - hurts. Can knock out turrets from safe positions. Pucker factor when the distance gauge turns red and the on-fire tank is retreating. Creepiest moment in the game when I killed an AV turret. The enemies face filled up my screen before the static kicked in.

Favorite forum whine of the day.
"I can't reload my TV guided rocket launcher while I'm controlling the rockets"
Gotta admit, that's a good one.

Strikers aren't **** solo...

Man were all feeling stupid about that one.

Definitely the most fun that could be had in planetside 2 at the moment.

Phoenix is good for:
A. 1 shots ESFs (causes them to go down to 1% health, burn then explode).
B. Effective at sniping infantry from relative safety.
C. Its fun once you master it.

Phoenix is not good for:
A. Killing ground vehicles. (not enough dps to overtake an engineer repairing)

Its a toy meant to be placed in the "Fun" loadout.

That is true. But their strength is in their numbers. God I hate Strikers. And I hate ZOEs. It's basically a case of choose your poison when I'm fighting these days.

I tried to keep myself bias free but damn those Strikers... In groups..

It's terrible alone but very handy when used by enough people to focus fire on the same vehicle. Kinda like the Annihilator.

It isn't that bad.

1)I find it to be better option than lock-on launcher against tanks in most situations
2)It has an ability to take down an ESF but you must wait for the ESF to start firing rocket pods because then its most vulnerable. It is also good against Liberators flying @300m trying to bomb infantry.
3)It especially shines in taking out enemy MAXes, three people firing Phoenixes can pretty much nix enemy burster nest giving way for friendly air to deal with the rest of enemy troops

Phoenix is good for solo play aswell.

Want a **** launcer for solo play, try the lancer. Big 750 dmg.

Lancer 750 dmg is also against infantry.. against Tanks its 1500 or 1250 not sure in that case. Go to VR and try. Its the same nuber full charge shots to kill a sundy as number of rockets with Nemesis/Hades.

Our Vanguards pound the ennemy tanks from afar. We finish them while they repair, thinking they have retreated to safety.

Also, a great tool in duo against MAXes.

I love my Penix. Don't we all?