Phoenix has a 2.67x against ground vehicles (Doing 2002.5 damage on a direct hit). It's a great alternative to the decimator versus engie turrets, lightnings, harassers, and flashes. Dang near useless vs MTBs and sundies. Provided they're an easy target, they are decent against low-flying (Usually hovering) ESFs. Hitting an esf is pretty hard though. Far more than it should be.
The Phoenix needs to get an upgrade. Maybe: -Turn on a dime (So it can actually hit flashes and harassers when they swerve). ATM it steers like a galaxy without the excessive drift. -Get a built in booster so it can catch up when a damaged Lightning (Or what have you) is near-dead and running away. It used to have just this. But this much needed feature was lost thanks to the tantrums thrown on the forums by the oppressively high child population on Planetside 2. -Or both. (Though this may indeed be a bit too powerful against said children). ++++Edit++++ Just wanted to add this for general knowledge, The Phoenix Rockets are the ONLY ones that don't get headshot bonuses. They really should work like sniper bullets versus infantry. Chest shot does 750 damage, headshot gets a nice multiplier (It would be quite difficult to take advantage of this against anyone other than sniping infiltrators and distracted max suits). And yes, taking a rocket to the face should one shot any infantry EXCEPT a max suit ( It should do about 80% or so to maxes though, because a headshot should mess stuff up).
people think its bad because its bad. you'd be much better off with Hawk/Crow, Phoenix is the worst thing i've ever wasted money on.
Then you're using it wrong. The Phoenix is amazing when used from cover. Add to that the fact that the missile doesn't actually show where it's going and you can hit a vehicle that's pulled behind something to repair for the kill.
only if its within 300. only if its low enough on health for 1 rocket. (a single engineer can out heal a phoenix) only if its in a spot were the awkward controls allow a hit. only if you don't get sniped while standing (because you can't crouch) still for 10 seconds. only if the vehicle is a sunderer/MBT otherwise they can simply drive faster than the missile. (and laugh as it despawns behind them.)
I've used the controls, they're really not awkward. It turns much faster than people make it out to be. Complaining about damage is pointless, it does as much damage to vehicles as the Decimator does. An Engi can out-repair any rocket launcher. And the fact that infantry expect to be able to kill tanks at 300+ meters is a sign of how badly tanks have been treated in this game. The Phoenix is the only ESRL with a range that's not stupidly long.
nope, it does the same damage amount. the difference is that all other rocket launchers reload when you fire the rocket, phoenix only reloads once you've driven the rocket to the target (or its despawned) effectively making the reload time something like 10-20 seconds (factoring in the 5 second reload) depending on how long it takes to explode/despawn. so its dps is far lower (most of the time way under half) of all other rocket launchers.
I suspect the fact that you find the Phoenix difficult to use (proven by the fact that you called the controls "awkward") makes you bitter towards it, therefore you're looking for any excuse to shift the blame from yourself to the weapon. In reality, the Phoenix is extremely useful. Of course it's not better than every launcher for every situation, no one is saying that, but it's still an excellent purchase. Yes, it has low DPS because of the way it reloads, but you can't just fixate on that and call the weapon bad. The burst damage from the high-damage round, and the accuracy potential are what make up for the low DPS. A Shrike or a Decimator my have higher DPS on paper, but what good is that DPS when you can't even hit a magrider strafing in and out from behind a rock? The Phoenix has the potential to hit targets that other launchers couldn't touch. Grab a buddy or two and focus fire if you really want to see the Phoenix's potential.
i call it awkward because it is awkward, its jerky and irresponsive and the majority of your screen is needlessly blacked out with the most useless HUD "art" fun fact: a max can melee a lightning to death in the same amount of time a phoenix can kill it at 250m. thats not "low", thats ridiculous, you might aswell be firing feathers. (it's around 55 seconds btw.)
Except... it's not. It works fine, and if you're serious about the HUD, stop nitpicking. It's not helping your credibility. Actually, it should take you about 43 seconds to kill a Lightning at 250m with a Phoenix, assuming you're hitting it in the front, and not exiting the missile a second or two before impact to reload faster. It should take a MAX around 57 seconds to melee a Lightning to death, assuming the driver is AFK and you're able to find the "sweet spot" where your melee attack is actually able to damage the Lightning. So, since the possibility of meleeing a Lightning to death with a MAX is almost nonexistent, but a Phoenix could very easily kill a Lightning at 250m that's hiding behind a rock, and while firing from behind a wall. I think the winner is obvious. A 43s TTK may not be ideal, but that's still a dead Lightning that no other launcher could touch.
you honestly think that will ever happen? "i'm getting shot, i could get out and repair but i'll just sit here." *30 seconds later* "i'm still getting shot, oh no!...better sit here some more." *15 seconds later* "drats they got me! and i was playing so well!" lol
It's more likely than your "I CAN MAX MELEE A LIGHTNING TO DEATH" scenario. Of course it's not that simple, stop being ****ing daft. Obviously a Lightning 250m away is going to take measures to survive if it's being sniped by a Phoenix. I never claimed it was amazing at soloing Lightning tanks from 250m away. I said it could hit it, and deal respectable burst. Toss in a bit of teamwork, grab a friend or two with Phoenixes and that Lightning, and any other armor within range is done for. It's not like it's up to you to combat the entire enemy armor division, and therefore the Phoenix is a horrible weapon. You have teammates that will be helping. I may not kill every tank I see with the Phoenix, but neither do you with any other launcher, but I get a lot of easy hits, and a lot of assists. Hits and assists that would be extremely difficult, if not impossible with other launchers. How often do you 1-shot ESFs, crush Liberators, and hit vehicles hiding behind rocks with any other launcher? Not often. If you don't like the Phoenix, whatever, fine. Clearly nothing I say going to convince you otherwise, but get the **** out of here with your "IT'S BAD AND YOU'RE BAD" nonsense. It's tiresome.
The only thing that bugs me about the phoenix is when it doesn't go into 'camera' and it shoots straight into the ground. Would also be nice to get the full 300m as well.
If the option is to be behind cover or go out of cover and face the 8 Vanguards thats been bombing you and your team, most would probably try to stay behind the cover and repair through this "strange" damage that is being done through the cover. You can also cut a few seconds on the TTK on the Phoenix if you guide the missile to a point where you think/know it is going to hit the target and cancel the camera view, the missile will still travel forward(but drop) and you can start the reload before the first rocket hits. Phoenix is a strange weapon, when I use it I think its both OP as hell and crappy as hell. If you are in range its kinda silly how good it is, specially against liberators, slow moving/hovering ESF and sunderers parked somewhere "safe" but its also kinda silly how bad it is when you try to hit something thats moving fast, is just 300m away or is close to you and trying to kill you.
I once missed a magrider by accidentally flying my rocket below the tank itself. That **** needs to be nerfed.
did i once say you're bad? no, i said "it's bad", never once referring to you. and i pointed out that you can melee a tank to death in a similar amount of time just as a comparison to show how utterly useless it would be to try and kill something, even 2 phoenix users couldn't out dps a single engineer repairing. i use the Hawk, it's an easy 2 shot on ESFs and its a lock on so it will follow them behind cover (and be able to out run them (unless they have racer 5), something the phoenix could never do), and i can dumb fire it for tanks and infantry, and once you learn the arc you can hit targets further than 300m, with a nice short 5.2 second reload, not 15 seconds trial the hawk, its so much better than ph0enix
What exactly needs to be nerfed about that? You missed. Nothing needs to be nerfed. Ever seen one of those fights where there are vehicles clinging to every bit of cover available? The Phoenix can go around that cover and gives a serious strategic advantage. When I run a platoon, I assign Engineers to get on AI Turrets and shoot down incoming Phoenix missiles because they're a big threat to a group of tanks that's engaged against enemy armor.
This is completely untrue. I'd say the Hawk is a direct upgrade from the Shrike, but better than the Phoenix? No. Different? Yes. Lock-ons are unreliable, and when the ESF update drops, lock-on launchers (other than the Striker) will suck. Against air targets, the Hawk is about as useful as the Phoenix, just with different drawbacks. Locking onto an ESF with the Hawk gives them a nice, loud "BEEP BEEP SOMEONE'S LOCKING YOU BRO" whereas they would never see a Phoenix coming. Then there are also flares and line-of-sight that diminish the Hawk's usefulness. The Phoenix has trouble dealing with extremely far away and/or fast-moving air targets, but I still prefer it over lock-on launchers for AA because I can rely on my own skill over wonky, and soon-to-be-nerfed mechanics. You're not going to hit anything that isn't AFK from 300+ meters away with a dumb-fire rocket, why even try to argue that? You're just grasping at straws at this point. Also, the Phoenix can be dumb-fired.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say how I like having both. Generally though, it depends on the amount of air and the types of pilots flying around that dictate which launcher I'll pull out. Or if anybody else is bothering with AA. Just getting the lock-on is enough to drive most ESFs away temporarily.
The biggest hit to the usefulness of the phoenix is when there are any infantry whatsoever pushing on your position and the fact that the DPS drops dramatically compared to most rockets unless it's one of those places that the phoenix can actually maneuver to. But if the cover is just tall enough, it's impossible for the phoenix to hit anything that's right against it. And Kodaa, if you're seriously killing ESF's with the phoenix. Then those pilots are doing something horribly wrong. Because I've seriously found it easier, safer, and quicker to hit those hovering pilots with decimator rounds than to even attempt with the phoenix anymore. I also find that any dumbfire is effective within 200 meters if you know how to lead it. Tanks and even most harassers aren't capable of rapid enough course correction to avoid it in most cases. I won't say it's absolutely useless. But the Phoenix is currently so niche in range, role, and when it's effective it's not even funny. I'd actually prefer something like the lancer myself, since while it may not be awesome alone. It turns into a death star in squad form that kills things out to render distance. Won't go into the striker
