It seems to me that the reason so many people complain about Sunbreakers is because they're all trying the same strategies that they know damn well won't work, but they continue to use them anyway in hopes that maybe this time will be different.
And then of course you come to the forums and oh look there they are complaining that they've tried the same thing over and over and over again and it still won't work, which apparently means the super needs a nerf.
That or they just simply haven't taken the time to figure out any strategies that don't involve rushing and praying it works or just simply running away and hiding.
So here's a few tips from me (a Titan main) that might help you deal with myself and other members of my preferred class
(notice I said "class" not "subclass". I'm a Titan through and through and still use all 3 subs. Defender in Mayhem is OP as -blam!- btw).
In case you're thinking of creeping on my k/d searching for some "ammo" to use against me in some way to discredit my advice, I hover between 1.4 and 1.6 on all 3 of my characters and for about a month I held a 2.0 on my Hunter (then I played a really shitty couple of weekends in trials as a level 31... didn't go so well. Barely, BARELY went flawless. But I digress.).
Regardless of any of my stats you might be looking for, take the advice for what it is. If you've got better stats than me, cool, good for you. But if you're better than me and are still having frequent issues in areas that I'm not (in this case, dealing with Sunbreakers) then what's that really say about you?
Now, I don't have a Warlock (used to) and I don't use Bladedancer so my suggestions regarding their supers and their abilities are based on what I've seen used and what has been effectively used against me.
Some of these suggestions require that you caught the Sunbreaker off guard, but most of them are assuming face to face encounters. And, let's face it guys, Sunbreakers in super think they're invincible. They're almost ALWAYS off guard because they don't think they need to be. But against aware players, we definitely do.
We'll start with the supers....
Supers:
1. FoH
2. Nova Bomb
3. GG (fire, jump, jump, fire). The "jump, jump" is to avoid the inevitable panic hammer that's thrown your direction when they're hit with a GG. The hammer will be especially inaccurate if you happened to catch them looking another way. They're just gonna turn and throw hoping for a hit.
4. Stormtrance (use blink to get behind or around him and proceed with the kill) This. Shit. Works. Like a -blam!-ing charm. We're slow, guys. Use that to your advantage. I know, I know "Titan skating" "fastest class". Let's be real here. How many Titans you see in PvP that have mastered skating? Be honest.
5. Arc Blade (use blink to get behind or around him and proceed with the kill). Again, we're slow. This seems a bit more difficult to pull off that the Stormtrance version. But damn is it surprising. First time I got rekt by a Bladedancer that did this I went "No. -blam!-ing. Way. Dude." Lol. I was pissed.
6. Radiance (2 Fusion Grenades). Pretty self explanatory. Stick, move, stick, kill.
7. Shadowshot (fire, jump, jump). As with GG the "jump, jump" is hammer avoidance. Shadestep will do you good here too but panic hammer throwers aim at ground level so your best bet is to get airborne after your shot.
8. Ward of Dawn (weapons of light sniper headshot, or weapons of light + fusion rifle, weapons of light + shotgun, weapons of light + continuous primary fire). Oh and like I said.. Defender in mayhem... OP as -blam!-. Bring it Sunbreakers.
9. Another Sunbreaker (duh)
Non-super:
1. Suppressor grenade, finish with weapon damage. Best counter available imo (biased. I'm a titan, remember?). Not much explanation needed here. If you know how to place a suppressor, you know how to place a suppressor. If you don't, keep reading.
2. Smoke Bombs (disorienting, DoT prevents health regen, disables radar. Follow with a shadestep or two to not be where he thinks you are, finish with gunfire). Having 2 melee charges helps. When I first posted this in a reply on a different thread, someone actually asked that I remove this one so you guys wouldn't realize how awesome these little "wizard farts" are. Seriously though. Use the -blam!- out of these. If you like Monte Carlo, you'll have a shitload of these babies to toss around and piss people off with.
3. Sticky grenades + gunfire. Not the greatest counter ever and more often than not requires a fair amount of hammer dodging to pull off. But it can be done and it's happened to me a fair number of times.
4. DoT grenades (such as incendiary) effectively limit health regen so they don't get their shield back when killing a member of your team. If you're a Sunbreaker, this shit is -blam!-ing irritating. There's nothing worse than being hit with an incendiary, killing one opponent and then being gunned down by his buddy because your health didn't regen.
5. Blink + High RoF shotgun (2 shots, get behind or around them. Blink still has an immunity clip). You can still be a bilnky little asshole you know... The perk ain't -blam!-ing dead, guys.
6. Flashbang + gunfire (this is pretty self explanatory yes?)
7. Shadestep, fire, repeat until they're neutralized (scout rifles and hand cannons work well here as they do the most damage per shot and you'll only have time for 1 or 2 shots between dodge rolls). Can also be done with Blink.
8. True high impact sniper rifles (like Black Spindle) will 1shot headshot. We've all got one... come on now.
9. Heavy MG fire kills quickly. May need to dodge a hammer or two. MGs in year 2 are a much more effective option than rockets for pretty much everything imo.
10. 2 rockets. Yes, 2. Just fire another -blam!-ing rocket. You know it takes 2, stop acting surprised when they don't go down with 1. Other supers can tank rockets too in case you weren't aware.
There are more ways to effectively handle a Sunbreaker in super but this ought to get you started. Really one of the biggest things is learning how to dodge the hammer throws. A lot of Titans will just spam hammers at people while they run around without much thought. To be fair it doesn't take much thought... but still. Only the stupid ones actually get their max 7 hammers off. Because if they got 7 hammers off it means they just wildly spammed the trigger til their super ran out.
The other big thing is map awareness. You won't be much good at dealing with hammers if you don't know ow where to go on the map or never paid much attention to the layout/design. Stay the -blam!- out of choke points and small rooms. I'd think this was fairly obvious but... you know.
Stick to open areas, avoid walls and obstacles to your side and back (using obstacles for cover would be the only reason to be near one)
Even the smallest maps have more open areas. When you hear the hammer activate, get to those areas to drastically increase your chances that the above strategies will be successful.
And let me say this... I am not opposed to a slight nerf in damage resistance and other small fixes. You wanna bring us down to 50%, I'm cool with that. If I have to kill trade with GG face to face so be it (armor with solar resistance should still allow a tank though).
But let's not do this thing where we beg for nerfs until the subclass is completely useless in super which is basically its only saving grace. We had an entire year of holding our supers just to use them on other class mains so they didn't wipe our whole team in one go (hey Nighstalkers... that shit isn't much fun is it?).
Anyway, that's all I got. If you've got your own effective counters feel free to share (or keep them to yourself. I wouldn't blame you). Kinda seems like there's plenty of people that could use the help (no offense intended).
Edit: Certain weapons will give you an edge as well. Such as...
Fourth Horsemen
Suros (with spinning up)
Thorn (DoT stops health regen)
Sleeper Simulant (one shots. How did I forget about that?)
Edit: For the naysayers that doubt the validity of these strategies... I didn't just pull these counters out of my ass. I've either used them effectively myself or have observed the tactics used effectively against me when I'm in super. I'm not the best player in the world, but as so many people like to say "it takes no skill to use a Sunbreaker", so clearly that's not a factor anyway.
Edit: OK, since some people can't be bothered to read and just simply assume what my stance is, let me make this perfectly clear... This post is not intended to defend the super itself. I'll say it again just for clarification in case reading it the first time didn't stick... THIS POST IS NOT INTENDED TO DEFEND THE SUPER ITSELF. I made this post purely as a means to assist other players who are struggling and to offer some of my own strategies on how I effectively deal with Sunbreakers. I am aware the super is OP, I am aware that Bungie is likely going to nerf it, and I am aware that some fixes are necessary to balance the subclass.
Tl;dr - There is no tl;dr for this post. Read it through or disregard it. Up to you.
English
#Destiny
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It's obvious that the best way to deal with a Hammer Bro. Is to jump on their head after they stop throwing hammers.
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46 RepliesEdited by Zoey: 10/25/2015 7:57:34 AMI'll skip over your supers and go right into ability and gunplay (not to mention half are useless because of how small the maps are: [spoiler][quote]1. Suppressor grenade, finish with weapon damage. Best counter available imo (biased. I'm a titan, remember?). Not much explanation needed here. If you know how to place a suppressor, you know how to place a suppressor. If you don't, keep reading.[/quote]Alright cool, so Defender-only tip, not many Defenders in PvP (I wonder why that is) [quote]2. Smoke Bombs (disorienting, DoT prevents health regen, disables radar. Follow with a shadestep or two to not be where he thinks you are, finish with gunfire). Having 2 melee charges helps. When I first posted this in a reply on a different thread, someone actually asked that I remove this one so you guys wouldn't realize how awesome these little "wizard farts" are. Seriously though. Use the -blam!- out of these. If you like Monte Carlo, you'll have a shitload of these babies to toss around and piss people off with.[/quote]Mediocre tip, I don't know how any Sunbreaker who gets hit with a smoke can't get the kill, and then just walk out of the smoke. "Oh no, slightly blurred vision", that's nothing, look in their direction and throw a damn hammer, the blast radius will probably kill them anyway (I did this, if you think it's so difficult to kill from inside smoke). NEXT! [quote]3. Sticky grenades + gunfire. Not the greatest counter ever and more often than not requires a fair amount of hammer dodging to pull off. But it can be done and it's happened to me a fair number of times.[/quote]Aim for where they're going to land, problem solved, dead, Sunbreaker wins again, not sure how you lost those fights [quote]4. DoT grenades (such as incendiary) effectively limit health regen so they don't get their shield back when killing a member of your team. If you're a Sunbreaker, this shit is -blam!-ing irritating. There's nothing worse than being hit with an incendiary, killing one opponent and then being gunned down by his buddy because your health didn't regen.[/quote]I'll give you this one, although you could just walk behind a wall and wait for the DoT to wait out since you have what, 25 seconds in Sunbreaker? Stop rushing in when you know you're going to lose and have a massive advantage [quote]5. Blink + High RoF shotgun (2 shots, get behind or around them. Blink still has an immunity clip). You can still be a bilnky little asshole you know... The perk ain't -blam!-ing dead, guys.[/quote]*Throws hammer at floor* NEXT! [quote]6. Flashbang + gunfire (this is pretty self explanatory yes?)[/quote]Only really works if you come from the side or behind, but once again, not many Titans playing Striker... I wonder why that is... [quote]7. Shadestep, fire, repeat until they're neutralized (scout rifles and hand cannons work well here as they do the most damage per shot and you'll only have time for 1 or 2 shots between dodge rolls). Can also be done with Blink.[/quote]*Turns in direction of Shadestep, throws hammer* NEXT! [quote]8. True high impact sniper rifles (like Black Spindle) will 1shot headshot. We've all got one... come on now.[/quote]Wouldn't be mad if there was a gen 2 Efrideet's or something, but there's not, Spindle is the only Y2 sniper with that impact, and asking people to use a bad PvP sniper in PvP just for one situation is idiotic. [quote]9. Heavy MG fire kills quickly. May need to dodge a hammer or two. MGs in year 2 are a much more effective option than rockets for pretty much everything imo. [/quote]"May need to dodge a hammer or two" - and have shit accuracy in the air while you do it, you'll die to a hammer when you hit the floor and they'll get all their health back... Next? [quote]10. 2 rockets. Yes, 2. Just fire another -blam!-ing rocket. You know it takes 2, stop acting surprised when they don't go down with 1. Other supers can tank rockets too in case you weren't aware.[/quote]*Fires one rocket, dies to hammer, Sunbreaker gets all their health back*[/spoiler] ...Next? Oh, weapons, alright. [spoiler][quote]Fourth Horsemen[/quote]...I'm not sure why you mentioned this, the range makes this worthless against Sunbreakers [quote]Suros (with spinning up)[/quote]*Dies to a hammer while charging ROF* [quote]Thorn (DoT stops health regen)[/quote]>Bringing up Thorn in year two? C'mon now [quote]Sleeper Simulant (one shots. How did I forget about that?)[/quote]Viable at mid-range+, mediocre otherwise[/spoiler]
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*Hammerfag
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[quote]Hey, I main a Titan. And this is why we are not op[/quote] Lmao
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Get back to me when Hammer of Sol gets the good old inevitable nerf. You can't escape it, no matter how much you pretend it can be countered by anything. For example: a Suppressor Grenade? Really? 9 times out of 10 the Sunbreaker is gonna kill you before he get suppressed. 2 Rockets? Good luck firing off one let alone two before you get killed by a Hammer. The only things that actually work are supers, and depending on the Super, you might have to be specced for Sunbreaker killing specifically, which is not as useful as if you were to spec for all around killing.
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Easy counter to a hammer bro, just use a fire flower and kill them.
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1 ReplySo... Your fix is to list each possible strategy and claim that some of them work some of the time? Yeah. Okay.
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3 RepliesIf I don't have a counter u run away wait till their super ends then kill them
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Saving this for later so i can whip it out and figure out whats the best strategy when i hear that hammer clank
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The only sure fire defense against a hammer bro is to run away and GET TO THE CHOPPA!!!
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Just walk away, it's that easy, travel time on the hammer is easily outrun, titans are slow. There are a few, very few who can "skate" well enough to actually chase, but in 99% of cases, walking around the corner solves the problem because titans are slow and hammers are slow.
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312 titan, 291 hunter, second titan. I haven't looked up the stats of anyone in this thread, but I love all the titans being like "I used to have a 1.0, now I have a 2.5, because I am awesome and we were underpowered before." I am terrible in Destiny PvP and don't care about it except inasmuch as I am forced to play it for marks or quests, so I am not saying this out of competitiveness. It is just comically OP at this point.
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I agree mostly. Sticking a sunbreaker twice isn't the easiest while in sunsinger while avoiding death. Plus it takes longer to throw 2 grenades (don't forget it decreases cooldown, not no cooldown) than to throw 2 hammers. But then again who uses sunsinger in normal crucible besides trials
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Yup. I'm a Titan main and I'm thinking people have forgotten how frustrating Defenders and Bladedancers were in the early days of Destiny before we figured out counters.
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From my experience, everytime the other team hears a "clang" they see the titan and immediately team shoot him down
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While you do have valid points, all of them actually, the 19 ways to shut a sunbreaker down heavily rely on the sunbreakers ability to hit a target mid-air, look at the radar and reaction time. I'm quite sure that most sunbreakers will not care for a blinking or jumping target, due to the massive hitbox of the hammer. Getting close to shotgun one isn't a great idea either, even if they are blinded. One hammer on the ground and the explosion kills you (might be an idea to put self-damage on those hammers). Still, no doubt those tips will help some players deal with it for sure. Small step towards a balanced playfield.
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Just going to drop this off cause I thought it was cool.
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Thanks for the read. Interesting stuff you assembled here.
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Let me just switch to my Sunbreaker and see how good everyone else is at killing me.
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One more. The sleeper
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When I hear a hammer I run. Another thing that works is to simply jump, it's hard for them to hit you in the air. Blink works really well.
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Defender is still the most OP vs. Sunbreaker. My bubble takes 3 hammers to drop, my titan with max armor, solar resistance, blessing of light (so I have extra armor after the bubble drops) takes 3 more shots. You have to throw 6 hammers to kill me, and in that time I've invective'd the living crap out of you and am walking away with my force barrier up.
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13 RepliesIs it just me or am I the only one who can headshot sunbreakers with a sniper? I use the raid sniper and I sniped (headshot) 2 sunbreakers when they had full shields right once their super was activated.
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The two methods I find best are running away like one does when you hear a golden gun activate and sitting behind a corner with an Invective like shotgun. I have also had decent luck kamakazeing hammers and traces if I have back up.
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Shotgun to the back of the head. Never done it to one of them, but sure as shit every time I try taking my Titan into the crucible I get shot down quite immediately. I do better with the fist of panic.
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