Ability: Personal Defibrillator Unit (PDU)

So how do I Assault, you ask? In my opinion, it’s pretty simple:

A Fully Automatic blaster like a Stampede or a Rapidstrike are great places to start. They’re clip fed, so they reload quickly, and they spray darts out even faster! I’d suggest taking one of those in your Primary slot. Be sure to use some high capacity clips as well! In your Secondary slot, I feel like a blaster with a compact form is your best choice. It won’t get in the way while you’re ducking, dodging, and rushing. An 80ft blaster would be great to let you engage from a slightly longer distance if necessary, but anything will do really.

The Stampede (Fully Automatic), the Rampage and the Longshot (Combat Rifles), the Rayven and the Stryfe (Semi Automatics) are all great choices for the Assault’s primary blaster.

Here are a few key points to remember when you’re playing Assault that’ll help you and your team toward victory!

• You’re the one who initiates the push, and you most usually won’t be the one who ends it. Don’t be afraid to take a few shots for the team so that they might get themselves into a winning position. A brave, unselfish Assault can be the defining factor in a skirmish for the Hill.
• If you’ve followed the suggestions above, you’ll probably be using a Fully Automatic blaster with high capacity clips. If this is the case, you have more shots and more fire rate than 4/5 members of their team. Use it to your advantage.
• Co-ordinate with your team so that you attack from different angle to the rest of them. Since you’re running in with blasters blazing, you’ll take the focus away from someone like the Demolitionist or the Medic, and give them a brief chance to land some shots on a flank.
• Your PDU is gold. But only if you use it properly. It isn’t always a rush to use your ability – you never know when the opposition might turn their attention away from you.
• Berserk is a pretty fearsome ability, being an almost guaranteed tag on one of your teammates, but don’t be too concerned about using your Grenade on the Warden’s Shield. If he comes after you, just run around him and mow down his teammates. If he’s able to catch you, you still have the PDU! And if he ignores you in favour of the Demolitionist or the Medic, layeth the smackdown on his team!

Now this is probably a MASSIVE OVERSIMPLIFICATION of the class… and I know of one person who would agree. His name is Jonathon “Delvance” Tam, and he’s widely regarded throughout SNW as Foam Fortress: Sydney’s premier Assault. He’s been kind enough to answer a few quick questions that’ll actually teach you How to: Assault (I may have edited some of his responses for the sake of making sense).

Echoes: What do you think is the most important attribute to being a good Assault? What sort of mindset should you try to have?

Delvance: The way I see Assault, is you are one of the key components in the team. Without Assaults, there is hardly any team/no team. As such, firstly, don’t view Assault as a lowly/fodder class. A well played Assault can turn the tide in many situations, even against seemingly overwhelming odds. The Assault is a balanced class, and the player must remain balanced. They cannot rely on one thing only e.g. rush/turtle neck, spam, pick off at 80ft. The Assault MUST continually assess the situation, decide what the team needs or talk to the team and see what the team wants from there, deliver the requirement in a position that will cause high impact. As an Assault, we can determine how the dynamics of a round flows out.

I guess in a way, the Assault needs to be THE most proactive and also reactive class/player. So it’s getting into that mindset, that if you WANT, you don’ have to be cannon fodder. And in fact, can be one of the most powerful and feared class in a standard play of CTF or KOTH etc

A decent assault, needs to have pride, not that they’ve ended up in a crappy role. They need to have the correct mindset. And with that mindset, the other skills are learnt easily or come naturally.

Echoes: What do you consider to be the Assault’s greatest strength? It definitely has many strengths i.e.most fire power, longevity, strong arsenal… But which is the most key to success?

Delvance: Key to Assault success… Firstly, definitely the mindset/approach to play mentioned before. I personally believe the Assault’s greatest strength in terms of the class is longevity and firepower. Our firepower can allow us to be on equal-ish footing against a higher number if the enemies are Medics, Blademasters, Ghosts inside engagement range for example and the fact we have the PDU, further evens up the odds for us.

The PDU itself is so flexible, just like the Assault. Whether used in flag run, creating massive presence on the frontline, or even going down then using it when your behind enemy line that have pushed beyond you and forgotten about you.

Mixing the PDU ability along with our firepower, allows us to respond to many occassions as needed, whether it’s front line distraction or breaking. Pushing. Trying to get behind enemy line.. and the firepower allows us to back up our plans with a big bite.

Our firepower, ability, combined with a good mindset and active approach (an Assault CANNOT be lazy and slow, that’s just being a lead weight for the team), and a very good understanding of its arsenal available, makes for a very potent and often under-rated force in Foam Fortress: Sydney.

Also due to the “Assault” nature, we are also more prone to Demolitionists and other destructive Abilities of other classes – an Assault under heavy frontline pressure, can sometimes prove to be an easy picking for a specialised class/ability.

Final Thoughts

What I’ve done here is given a rough guide on how to play Assault – at least in the way that it was intended. Thanks to some help from Jonathon Tam, we were able to get an even deeper insight into what should be going through the head of a good Assault, and how they should be using their kit.

I hope this article has been educational. I realise it’s a bit long, but I think it’ll go a long way in improving your general play as, and against, the Assault. If you enjoyed the article, let the Admin team know. Until next time (for the Medic, most likely), this has been Echoes pretending he knows how to play a class that he has never touched.