Shield in the center is for precision hits from weapons that can dish out similar (or greater) DPS to that of a Gjallahorn in a single time's Vengeance (Hawkmoon, most snipers, certain void FR's, void HMG's, etc.). The DPS with these in a single TV is on par with Gjallahorn normally, but when you factor in a WoL buff from a defender, they easily out-dps Gjallahorn. Launchers do not benefit from WoL. Everyone in your group, however, cannot be using grenades, weapons, supers that cause Atheon to move (pulse/lightning/solar/void grenades, majority of end-game rocket launchers, nova bomb/FoH with aftermath, etc.) - in fact, most grenades should initially be used to clear out remaining supplicants. After that, the damage from most of the non-movement forcing grenades are too low in damage on Atheon to rival the alpha DPS weapons out there, so focus on getting those precision hits and maximum damage shots. Additionally, most FR's damage suffers from fall-off and is reduced if he's not in that front-most location from the center platform and there are plenty of FR's out there capable of dishing out ~12k damage when every pellet lands in a single shot (more with WoL, of course). Of course, high stability snipers really take the crown on DPS.

I honestly don't think anything comes close to the damage a GH does. Factor in the time to get to the center platform, the 5 seconds lost when everyone jumps off, the neccessity of crit hits from the weapons you speak of and the GH wins hands down. Imho. My hunter holds 7 rockets, which I can all get off at him, (easily if I was not teleported). That's over 150k hit points just from my GH. Also you are not factoring the damage the Relic's super does, which is significantand cannot be put to use when following the enter platform startegy. The group I usually play with never uses grenades or Supers (other than Relic) on Atheon. Waste of time imho. Ultimately though, whatever works works, the rest is preference. Jtrangel has an interesting suggestion though. We beat him last week this way, a bunch of guys who had more or less never played together, in 2 or 3 teleports. 2 GHs staying out, the rest going in the bubble on the center platform.

1 maxed G-horn rocket from a level 30 with most wolf-pack rounds hitting Atheon = ~40k damage, but requires that Atheon not be moving. The more he's moving, the fewer Wolf-Pack rounds that land, so when you have multiple G-Horns being used on him, he's always moving and taking less damage. G-horn DOES make Atheon move due to him trying to avoid the wolf-pack rounds, like certain grenades (solar/vortex/pulse/lightning, etc), just not as significantly; but when multiple G-horns are used, he's usually always moving and can end up in locations where quite a few people can't get a good LoS to hit him without putting themselves in a position to get detonated upon by supplicant spawns before they can break detainment. G-Horn damage = ~40k for optimal condition (not moving) first rocket, ~28-32k for each successive rocket since he's moving, less if he's always moving due to multiple G-horns being used or someone threw a grenade that makes him move. Can safely get off 4-5 G-horn hits before a warp with reload speed modifier (if he's moving around corners due to too many GH's you're lucky to get off 4); forcing out any more than 5 shots of G-Horn and you risk getting a detainment field for you occurring mid-air = instant death. Yes, you can push getting off 7 shots (if you weren't teleported), but honestly, use the other weapons first and save breaking out the G-Horn as emergency for incase your party starts to wipe (as more teammates go down, less people to benefit from him not moving, so Gjallahorn becomes increasingly better as they die) or only use 1 round of it initially each TV to optimize its damage and save 4-5 rounds for the purpose of finishing him off. Average DPS per TV cycle of G-horn = 40k + 3*30k and 40k + 4*30k = (4 shells) 130k - (5 shells) 160k Hakwmoon (maxed) as a level 30 crits are ~4.8k-7k (depending on holding aces/luck in the chamber meaning 3 shots per clip are boosted damage) per shot, one can go through 4 clips (13 shots each) with HC reload speed mods on with every shot critting in a single TV (from the middle, no movement-inducing grenadesso... Average DPS for Hawkmoon full crits in a single TV = 12*7k (damage boosted hits from its mods) + 40*4.8k (all other hits) = 276k and that's without WoL... Do you see my point yet about why shield in the middle? It makes it incredibly easy to land crits with HC's/Snipers and brings Atheon far enough forward for FR's to hit for optimum damage per pellet. Depending on the sniper you're using, the recoil will likely force you to only get about 80-90% crits, but I've heard people claim to be able to unload 2.5 clips of a field scout Patience and Time with all crits in a single TV. They said their P&T crit damage (before WoL buff) is 14.8k per shot. 6 clip magazine 2.5 times (15 rounds) = 222k which is slightly more than forcing all 7 G-Horn rockets in a single TV and again, that's without WoL buff which doesn't buff rocket launcher damage.

Well, gonna say it again. Whatever works for your team. See your point but just saying what has worked for me so far, and the center platfrom took more cycles. 2 GHs and the rest sniping get him at 2-3 teleports if all goes well. Never done it that fast using middle, maybe because of our collective loadout.We never use grenades, nor supers. Maybe we need to give the platform another go as we all have Icebreakers and or P/T now. I can't speak much for hard as I have gotten to but have yet to beat Atheon. Some of my group have finally hit 30, so maybe this week...

Oh, sorry, I'm referring to Hard mode. In normal mode you can certainly push more shots without instant death risks. In hard mode, the problem isn't really the Atheon fight itself, it's the glitches that force instant-deaths and full wipes when they shouldn't have occurred; to minimize their threat you really need to focus on keeping the team alive for each warp. A late "bail" call from the person tracking the time remaining usually results in a party-wipe since the detainment fields pretty much kill you if you were high enough in mid-air when they occur, for example and since there are detainment fields, you want 3 people on each plate before those that don't get warped are detained on the plates so they can be opening it back up while they kill their field, otherwise if something goes wrong in the portal, you won't have the time to send someone in to save them.

I think if I had a team with all maxed gjallahorns I may change my technique, but what we do works with any maxed snipers in about 3 runs through gate. Ice breaker does about 15000 per critical (with bubble) Not as much as gjallahorn, but it is always ready. Rockets from the bubble are typically pretty dangerous, we advise to get them off on the way to the sheild, then just snipe until clip empty and change to primary.

Well, as I said, whatever works. :) It does vary according to preference, loadout and comfort with the startegy.

Your method works great if there are GHs. GHs should never go center, and with enough GHs, there is no reason to go center. However, if it's a group of 6 with no GHs, the precision weapons are better (IMO)

Maybe the best way is for non GH players to go center while GH stay out. I definetly use my SR when out of GH ammo.

I agree. I also agree that with a group with at least 3 active G-horns, it's actually better to get the relic super in as well and just have everyone on high ground. I'm kind of agreeing with you in my OC, I was just pointing out it isn't good if there aren't a lot of G-Horn players.