Tired of constantly being wasted by stalkers/infiltrators playing other classes, months ago I certed out a stalker. Of course, the more I played the better I got. Even got the '300 infiltrators killed by an infiltrator' achievement'. Didn't even know that was a thing. I had set out with the revenge idea of hunting only infiltrators out of the frustration of constantly being killed by them. Of course, you learn things. For example, best places to hunt. For me, in my opinion, in this order. Hossin, Oshur, then Esamir. Anyway, after months of playing, now this has gotten kinda boring. One thing though. In all my hunting, there were MANY TIMES I came across enemy armor and sundies, where there isn't a whole lot a stalker can do. Put down prox mines, find a nice spot to pop players from as they spawn. Yesterday, I gave thought to a previous weapon I had given up on because of it's very limited range. But there I was, sitting almost underneath these sundies, why not. The Hunter QCX Crossbow, equipped with the explosive bolts. At Indar yesterday, once I relearned range/elevations needed to hit targets, I was having a bit of a blast. Lost count of the number of assists I had. Even took out many tanks and sundies on my own. Then there's max's. Took a few of them out too. If you've never used the Hunter and explosive bolt combo, you'll want to go to VR and practice with this thing. The drop on the bolts is TREMENDOUS. One thing I did note, having went back to my engineer more lately, is that the explosive bolts do much more damage than the AMR's now. Dislikes. Well, the drop rate, sure. Also, even with extended ammo selected, you only get 30 shots. It's was taking me 12 to 15 shots to take something out on my own. So engineers, periodically throw down ammo packs even though nobody is around. Then there was the Hunter -vs- infantry. This blew my mind. There we several instances where I came upon enemy players. One instance was a stalker who ran by me at The Crown. The preceded up the stairs to one of the vehicle terminals. I ran right after them. They uncloaked to change the terminal over. I was aimed right at the side of their head, 2, maybe 3 feet away, BOOM! nada, they were able to jump up and get me before I was able to reload. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME??!! I found that with the Hunter with explosive bolt was taking me 2 ~ 4 shots to takes players out. I don't get that at all. Again, EXPLOSIVE BOLTS.
The crossbow does 650 damage normally and has a headshot multiplier of 1.5. It's enough to kill with a headshot. When you switch over to explosive bolts, the damage gets reduced to 300 and headshot multiplier is removed. Instead, it gets 200 indirect damage, the ability to damage vehicles and can even deal Archer-like damage to MAXes. Overall, it is a very useful backup, but not really a primary or even a secondary. If the explosive bolts were to be made stronger against infantry, then it would simply become a cookie-cutter. If you spend time sitting under sundies, you may as well get the AV knife instead.
Takes some practice but the Explosive bolts do really well against aircraft since it gets the "infantry rocket launcher" damage type, dealing 225% more damage against ESFs and +70% against Liberators. Can be worth knowing as it might save your tank or whatever when some pilot gets too comfortable with their god-chariot hovering just above your vehicle and feeling safe because you cant aim up with your vehicle. 1-2 bolts sends most ESFs running for the hills like they always do when something bites back.
Day #2 using the Hunter and explosive bolt combo. Didn't do nearly as well as the first day. What's turning out to be the biggest pain in the butt is ammo. Even choosing the extended ammo option, you only get 30 shots. You're constantly running around looking for ammo packs, from whichever side. If you don't find any, you respawn to the nearest sundy or base then having to run all the way back to where the action is. Gonna start doing what I did with my engineer when the AMR's came out. Spawn a cloaked sundy getting as close to the action as I can without being detected. Would love to see ammo for this increased. So Engineers, please, drop those ammo packs.
I gave thought to that a few times. Aircraft barely moving or stationary. Issues being, with only 30 shots, you find it quite hard to practice in game play. And yes, lots of practice. Besides the huge drop of the bolt, they are quite slow also. Did take out a couple Valks that were on the ground.
