If I had to guess, there are some really-really good AL players who know the best tactics in both an individual and team setting. Defeating swords, hammers, grenades, all ballistic/plasma weapons and all vehicles is cool to watch and could provide a tremendous advantage on certain maps and certain situations - in the right hands. Lonewolf noobs still die, just takes a little longer.
What AL can do: 1- Unstick stickies. 2- Blow up a vehicle intent on splatterng you. 2- Easily defeat any weapon, vehicle or melee. 3- EMPs nearby shields on exit. 4- Reflects rockets and grenade tosses, sometimes right back at his opponent.
Those in AL can rotate the camera view so when you come out of AL, you’re instantly facing whichever opponent or direction - ready to deliver your own melee. If he was close enough for the EMP, his shields are down.
> If I had to guess, there are some really-really good AL players who know the best tactics in both an individual and team setting. Defeating swords, hammers, grenades, all ballistic/plasma weapons and all vehicles is cool to watch and could provide a tremendous advantage on certain maps and certain situations - in the right hands. Lonewolf noobs still die, just takes a little longer.
>
> What AL can do: 1- Unstick stickies. 2- Blow up a vehicle intent on splatterng you. 2- Easily defeat any weapon, vehicle or melee. 3- EMPs nearby shields on exit. 4- <mark>Reflects rockets and grenade tosses, sometimes right back at his opponent.</mark>
>
> Those in AL can rotate the camera view so when you come out of AL, you’re instantly facing whichever opponent or direction - ready to deliver your own melee. If he was close enough for the EMP, his shields are down.
>
> Youtube has a bunch of videos: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Reach+Armor+Lock+tactics
>
> What are the best tactics for both an individual and a team?
> > If I had to guess, there are some really-really good AL players who know the best tactics in both an individual and team setting. Defeating swords, hammers, grenades, all ballistic/plasma weapons and all vehicles is cool to watch and could provide a tremendous advantage on certain maps and certain situations - in the right hands. Lonewolf noobs still die, just takes a little longer.
> >
> > What AL can do: 1- Unstick stickies. 2- Blow up a vehicle intent on splatterng you. 2- Easily defeat any weapon, vehicle or melee. 3- EMPs nearby shields on exit. 4- <mark>Reflects rockets and grenade tosses, sometimes right back at his opponent.</mark>
> >
> > Those in AL can rotate the camera view so when you come out of AL, you’re instantly facing whichever opponent or direction - ready to deliver your own melee. If he was close enough for the EMP, his shields are down.
> >
> > Youtube has a bunch of videos: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Reach+Armor+Lock+tactics
> >
> > What are the best tactics for both an individual and a team?
>
> I don’t recall this.
I had heard about this before and it has happened to a few mates of mine in games.
> > I had heard about this before and it has happened to a few mates of mine in games.
> >
> > I found this youtube clip of one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvyfHe5G4lk
>
> Interesting… I’ve never seen a rocket behave like that in my time in Matchmaking.
Seems like there is programming code built into AL that occasionally causes grenades and other weapons fire to produce some lucky/humorous/oh-shucks moments.
Except for Hunters in campaign/FF I always try to aim rockets at the floor/ground right at an opponent’s feet. Too easy to dodge/jump an incoming rocket with some distance/awareness = miss an opponent entirely. A rocket’s splash damage is high.
So, what are some of the best AL tactics? What are the best methods to defeat AL when a team is using it?
> > I had heard about this before and it has happened to a few mates of mine in games.
> >
> > I found this youtube clip of one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvyfHe5G4lk
>
> Interesting… I’ve never seen a rocket behave like that in my time in Matchmaking.
I will have to see if i can dig up an old vid for you and render it. It is a rocket travelling parallel with the ground at a hieght of about 6-7 feet. It then passes over the top of a randomly thrown exploding grenade. What seems to happen next is one of the fins on the rocket breaks off. It changes direction and heads straight towards me ina spiralling motion giving my mate a betrayal he didnt even try for.
It is probably one of the strangest things i have seen a rocket do in Halo including them blowing up in your face because some guy was lucky enough to have one of his DMR bullets hit your rocket as it exits the tube.
I’m a fan of AL. Use it in FF 90% of the time, and often on multiplayer (well only on Team Slayer, but that’s what I play most anyway…).
It’s very powerful on CC maps, say Sword Base, Countdown, … Less on for instance Zealot, Pinnacle.
It’s main brilliance on Team Slayer might be just to survive after you won a 1v1, … Normally you would be an easy kill for a second enemy, but now you have so much more chance to escape and recharge.
I often use it to pwn people who rush with sword or double melee. But it’s not as easy on experienced players. On sword base it’s absolutely brilliant against grenades. I will often use it to avoid damage when I’m too late to dodge. Or use it right after throwing a grenade at my feet in a small room.
What I absolutely love is using the EMP on someone who jumps towards me or get’s out of an air lift… They can see it coming but can’t avoid it, priceless.
With a little time and distance, AL should be able to defeat the needler user. i.e. Absorb the incoming, then come out of AL when he needs to reload. Covie brutes and elites often use AL to stop the needler & needle rifle.
AL is a legitimate Armor Ability that is sorta canon to Halo (mentioned in H3 and HR campaigns). I’ve yet to use AL in MM, and it’s seen very little use in campaign or FF. I’m not that good a MM player, but I’ve had opponents use AL to stop sword lunges I’ve made, absorbed many of my grenades, and have kept me nearby only to die from one of his team mates. I get it. I also think it’s cool, in experienced hands.
Seems to me that the skilled players don’t like AL because a lesser player can defeat them occasionally, in part by using AL. Any legitimate in-game asset that can be used to help you secure even a minor victory should be encouraged. After all, everyone can make the same choice in AA.
And… anything that can nettle a solipsistic titan is worth a shot.
> > I had heard about this before and it has happened to a few mates of mine in games.
> >
> > I found this youtube clip of one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvyfHe5G4lk
>
> Interesting… I’ve never seen a rocket behave like that in my time in Matchmaking.
It’s inconsistent, but it can happen. I’m a heavy rocket user in TS and I’ve had my share of this happen. Frag Grenades, though? No, they always bounce in some opposite direction. Plasma Grenades? Yes, they can bounce right back at you and stick if you’re close enough but usually need to be right next to the person in AL for this to happen.
In my years of playing Reach, the only thing I think they should remove from AL’s many list of abilities is turning the camera while in lock. Your camera should be facing the direction you’re locked in, that’s it. Allowing the player to immediately turn around once unlocked is just too much.
> With a little time and distance, AL should be able to defeat the needler user. i.e. Absorb the incoming, then come out of AL when he needs to reload. Covie brutes and elites often use AL to stop the needler & needle rifle.
>
> AL is a legitimate Armor Ability that is sorta canon to Halo (mentioned in H3 and HR campaigns). I’ve yet to use AL in MM, and it’s seen very little use in campaign or FF. I’m not that good a MM player, but I’ve had opponents use AL to stop sword lunges I’ve made, absorbed many of my grenades, and have kept me nearby only to die from one of his team mates. I get it. I also think it’s cool, in experienced hands.
>
> Seems to me that the skilled players don’t like AL because a lesser player can defeat them occasionally, in part by using AL. Any legitimate in-game asset that can be used to help you secure even a minor victory should be encouraged. After all, everyone can make the same choice in AA.
>
> And… anything that can nettle a solipsistic titan is worth a shot.
So you’re saying we should have encouraged jumping into walls in Complex pre-patch? We should encourage cheats if they’re available to everyone? Break the game to suit your needs? That’s the logic you’re employing.
> > With a little time and distance, AL should be able to defeat the needler user. i.e. Absorb the incoming, then come out of AL when he needs to reload. Covie brutes and elites often use AL to stop the needler & needle rifle.
> >
> > AL is a legitimate Armor Ability that is sorta canon to Halo (mentioned in H3 and HR campaigns). I’ve yet to use AL in MM, and it’s seen very little use in campaign or FF. I’m not that good a MM player, but I’ve had opponents use AL to stop sword lunges I’ve made, absorbed many of my grenades, and have kept me nearby only to die from one of his team mates. I get it. I also think it’s cool, in experienced hands.
> >
> > Seems to me that the skilled players don’t like AL because a lesser player can defeat them occasionally, in part by using AL. Any legitimate in-game asset that can be used to help you secure even a minor victory should be encouraged. After all, everyone can make the same choice in AA.
> >
> > And… anything that can nettle a solipsistic titan is worth a shot.
>
> <mark>So you’re saying we should have encouraged jumping into walls in Complex pre-patch? We should encourage cheats if they’re available to everyone? Break the game to suit your needs?</mark> That’s the logic you’re employing.
Well, I wouldn’t go that far with his explanation.
> > <mark>So you’re saying we should have encouraged jumping into walls in Complex pre-patch? We should encourage cheats if they’re available to everyone? Break the game to suit your needs?</mark> That’s the logic you’re employing.
>
> Well, I wouldn’t go that far with his explanation.
I guess he missed the part about it being “legitimate”. This pretty much excludes glitches and cheating.
Whether a legitimate armor ability “breaks” a game or not is simply an opinion. Some think uber snipers with AC break the game too, but each of us has a choice to make. Deal with it… or not… Hunting down an AC sniper or AL abuser is part of the game. A challenge…
I refuse to use armor lock out of principle. I find it cheap and somewhat cowardly. Same with Promethean Vision in 4 … although, I do use it on occasion; when there’s a lot of enemies with camo and I’m not too familiar with the map.
I never use armor lock.
Kind of like the 3-sided bayonette in WWI … soldiers caught using it should be executed promptly.
I fight with honor. And with sprint so I can run away. lol.
I do many of the things you listed. The problem is when your team is never capable in working as such. I avoid armor lock when my allies prove incapable.
I will use the tools given to me regardless of what other people think. If it gives me the upper hand and is perfectly within the perimeters of the game, then by all means.
Also, if you know how to use armor lock, you know how to defeat/avoid it. Obviously don’t run right into someone’s face while they’re in armor lock. Lol
(I listed that as I think it is the most obvious, among many reasons to be careful around AL.)
jk. Seriously though, AL is a legitimate armor ability. As legitimate as AC and jet pack. It can be countered with ease if you know what you are doing.
/reply
As an AL user, I can say that it is a powerful tool- in the right hands. The EMP affect can stop many at close range, and a carefully timed one can deflect a rocket. Practice is the best way to master it, :).
> Need some lotion for that butt-hurt?
>
> jk. Seriously though, AL is a legitimate armor ability. As legitimate as AC and jet pack. It can be countered with ease if you know what you are doing.
> /reply
>
> As an AL user, I can say that it is a powerful tool- in the right hands. The EMP affect can stop many at close range, and a carefully timed one can deflect a rocket. Practice is the best way to master it, :).
Like a turtle retreating into his shell … so he can put on lotion … and either wait for his team mates to finish his fight for him … or for his shields to recharge as if saying “No fair! I wanna re-do!”
I hope they include Armor lock in the new Halo TV series; every time a grunt fires a plasma round all the spartans just lock up into little balls while everyone stands there looking at them thinking “Super Soldier?”
