10

Show them you mean business with Screamer Rockets

Nothing says ‘I Love you’ quite like a face full of high explosive carnage and Screamer rockets really let you spread that love around.

A common misconception is the name ‘Screamer’ comes from the sound the rocket makes as it flies through the air. The name actually describes the behavior of the person on the receiving end of the rocket barrage!

All in though, screamer rockets are a unique weapon that can take some getting used to, but once mastered can be devastating to the enemy. To begin your mastery, you will want to get comfortable with leading your targets at a distance. The rockets themselves take a second to get up to full speed, so this lag in acceleration will need to be factored in when aiming at targets at the edge of your range. Speaking of aiming, it’s common to aim at the ground around the enemy when using explosive rounds, letting the explosion hit at the feet and doing massive damage all over the enemy. However, with Screamer rockets, they have both an explosive AND a kinetic warhead, meaning you can do EXTRA damage if you land the rocket directly on the enemy MAV! This makes the Screamer rocket a great weapon for attacking Defender style MAV’s, as the kinetic warhead can punch right through their armor without having its effectiveness reduced.

There are some major drawbacks to using this powerful weapon though. They have a limited amount of ammo. 90 rockets seems like an exceptional amount, but with the fast firing rate you can expend that ammo quickly if you are not careful in picking your shots. There is nothing quite as disappointing as watching your last volley of rockets fly over the head of the enemy without hitting. Use patience and take the shots you know will hit.

Another drawback is the combination of their size and relative weakness. Let’s face it, the Screamer rocket pod is BIG. It’s going to be targeted and is a favorite target for enemy snipers. It’s also not the most durable of weapons, making it very juicy for an enemy sniper to destroy before you even get to wreck shop. The best defense to this is to just keep moving. Be fast and be mobile, making you a harder target to hit and protecting the screamer pods.

ScreamerMech1
When you do decide to deploy with screamer rockets, it’s best to take them as a pair, at a minimum. We personally recommend 2-3 screamer rockets, along with a complement of secondary weapons (user choice here). By having 2 screamer rockets, you double your chances of hitting with each volley, but more so, you reduce the chance that a sniper can destroy your whole primary weapon system in a single well placed volley.

WheelMechScreamer

If you want to go all in on Screamers, make sure you have the mobility to protect yourself. In Siege games, a scout with Screamer rockets can pose a very real threat to the enemy HQ, allowing you to apply pressure to the enemy team.

 

Let us know how you have used Screamers in the comments! (Video links HIGHLY appreciated! 😉 )

Comments 10

  1. There is the classic screamer spiral that gives the best spread pattern but is extremely weak and heavy. This configuration for a mav is best used as fire support.

    Another classic is the screamer scout you have a picture of (which seems to have some collision issues this patch) which uses the high mobility of the wheel chassis with the good damage potential of the screamers. This is a bit harder to hit targets with at range because you have to consider your own movements along with your opponents when arcing the screamer rockets across the battlespace.

    Beyond these two you get into less specialized builds that use screamers as an alternative weapon. Their strong points in a fight is that they have such a small splash radius you can use them at nearly point blank range and because their arc is sooo gooood (all others guns suck in comparison) after one or two shots you can easily hit targets at range.

    PS: What manufacturing company makes screamers?

    1. Post
      Author

  2. really nice mid-range support weapon, with a great falling arc(agreeing with serge) you can use them to accurately splash people well outside your range once you have a handle on the flight time. in close-range, with its small splash radius(once again agreeing with serge) you can very safely lay down the hurt on the enemy, the puffs of smoke that come from the explosions and its high rate of fire also make it pretty valuable when your trying to retreat from a fight, since your disorientating your enemy and obscuring their view, another benefit from its small splash radius is that its a support weapon you can actually support your teammates with even when theyre face to face with the enemy.

    i tend to prefer them in groups of two, because as the article describes, they really shine when your using them to hit the enemies parts directly, much easier when you have a tight grouping and more rewarding than using them in some disgusting spiral.

    some footage of me using them in arena:
    https://youtu.be/B6rNN4vx7eA

    1. Post
      Author

  3. I feel like saying this seeing as they’re going to be everywhere now that they’re being promoted.

    Yeah, they’re strong against defenders and other slow builds alright, but not necessarily because of that direct damage in itself.
    Rather because such builds can’t get out of that stream of rockets once caught in it, and it’s impossible for them to retaliate through the impact forces and smoke streams it constantly spams. Screamer rockets would not be nearly as cheap if their fire rate was halved but given double damage (even if this would make them more efficient on ammo).

    There’s a difference between “good” and “cheap”, Screamers are cheap.
    So save yourself some serious headache, stick with a good ol’ biped that can weave around the rockets. 😉

    1. i can definitely agree with this, screamers are weapons of terror, their strength is in how much they disorientate an enemy. and if your playing a defender who cant even evade the rounds, your not going to have a good time

  4. MMMM…screams … how I miss the days of the death spiral :)… this weapon has found it’s place now that it has had a rebalance. It feels underwhelming when using it but scary when you are the target a beautiful middle ground.. could use a sound buff to add to this weapon of terror. Here is a video on my take about the weapon.

    https://youtu.be/qqYwBniA5EU

    1. Post
      Author

      I am glad the death spiral is dead, but you can still make silly builds. I have a 5 screamer biped build that go 71kph. It’s silly, but a weapon of terror still.

      Thanks for the video!

    1. Post
      Author

Leave a Reply