Mauler as a sidearm?

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Now of course what I’m about to say is in the assumption that load outs return and that selecting you secondary weapon is still an option in Halo 5.

So the Mauler is by far one of my favorite weapons ever (thought it was some type of alien nail gun when I first came across it) and I want to see it return even if it is a map pick-up.

But since it is considered the Brute’s side arm the idea of being able to spawn with it does seem like a possibility.

Now if it were to be considered the first fear is ending up with another Bolt shot and no one wants that.

The Mauler of course doesn’t have the Bolt shot’s range and power but further balancing may still be required.

I’d like to note that my ideal Mauler wouldn’t be duel wieldable so that it’s power wont have to be limited.

So what do guys think? Is it possible and would you find it fun? Is it not worth the risk of ending up with another Bolt shot or being OP in some other way?

2

In my honest opinion, I think the Mauler would be a good replacement for the Boltshot. I feel with the mauler it’s hard to get a one shot kill, unlike the Boltshot. However, if they tweak the Boltshot, I think both would be great sidearms.

3

> In my honest opinion, I think the Mauler would be a good replacement for the Boltshot. I feel with the mauler it’s <mark>hard to get a one shot kill</mark>, unlike the Boltshot. However, if they tweak the Boltshot, I think both would be great sidearms.

Impossible unless you’re dual wielding them. The melee is still pretty quick, and encountering one unexpectedly in close quarters means you’re dead unless you have a shotty/hammer/sword.

4

> > In my honest opinion, I think the Mauler would be a good replacement for the Boltshot. I feel with the mauler it’s <mark>hard to get a one shot kill</mark>, unlike the Boltshot. However, if they tweak the Boltshot, I think both would be great sidearms.
>
> Impossible unless you’re dual wielding them. The melee is still pretty quick, and encountering one unexpectedly in close quarters means you’re dead unless you have a shotty/hammer/sword.

Exactly. It’s not as quick as the Blotshot since it would usually take two shots to kill someone fully shield. Otherwise they would have to pull off the shot punch combo.

5

Meh…I’d rather have the Boltshot. Balance issues aside it’s simply a more interesting weapon than a baby shotgun. There’s some worthwhile versatility in there which should be exploited (through a major redesign, focusing on making it less clunky to use but at the same time less frustrating to face. Ex. put the charge up on a curve so rather than activating a different firing mode holding the trigger simply shortens the range and ups the spread and power over time, with the final result being less powerful and having less range than the current iteration), not shunned in order to find the most convenient path to a more balanced game.

6

If Melee wasn’t heat-seeking and your Spartan didn’t lunge 50 feet then perhaps a Mauler-Melee combo would be acceptable.

But the Mauler in its current state would just promote insta-kills at close range. Though I feel melee is the main issue here.

In every game past Halo CE, it is way too easy to just spray a few bullets into someone then tap the Melee button for the finisher. Same problem would exist with the Mauler, except more significant.

Balance aside, the Boltshot is potentially a much more skillful weapon than the Mauler would ever be.

7

Oh lord no, I could go on pretty good sprees in Halo 3 with the mauler alone, it’s a semi-power weapon. If it were to be a loadout option then it would have to be heavily nerfed, just like the plasmas, and that would ruin the weapon - just like the plasmas.

I love the mauler and want it to return but the community backlash would be horrendous if it became a loadout weapon, especially in it’s current state. It should return as an on-map pickup.

Personally I’d prefer it if loadouts only included UNSC weapons and their covenant and forerunner counterparts were on-map pickups. It would allow for a much wider variety of on-map pick-ups, just like the old days e.g. finding carbines etc on the map.

8

If you’re implying that the mauler should replace the boltshot as a loadout weapon then absolutely hell no. The mauler is even more powerful because it’s easier to use and has higher capacity and no cooldown between shots.

If you want the boltshot completely replaced by the mauler a a MAP PICK UP ONLY then I’ll favor that.

9

> Balance aside, the Boltshot is potentially a much more skillful weapon than the Mauler would ever be.

Tone down the aim assist and slightly increase the charge time, then I can see a weapon with a learning curve.

10

If loadouts return, then I hope they double-up on the weapon choices and do a good job of balancing them.

The Mauler would be a great “Covenant” choice assuming it never approaches “pocket shotgun” status. Give the Mauler a powerful punch but balance with any number of changes, such as slower reload time, small clip size, wildly inaccurate spread.

This would free up the Boltshot for a redesign. I’m okay with a Forerunner sidearm that is a bit more mid-range than the Pistol; accurate and with a good rate of fire makes for a great sidearm choice for those who like to keep their distance. The overcharge just doesn’t belong, so either significantly reducing the hit power or doing away with the overcharge (again, it shouldn’t be any more powerful than the Mauler) would give the BS much more balance.

11

> <mark>If you’re implying that the mauler should replace the boltshot as a loadout weapon</mark> then absolutely hell no. The mauler is even more powerful because it’s easier to use and has higher capacity and no cooldown between shots.
>
> If you want the boltshot completely replaced by the mauler a a MAP PICK UP ONLY then I’ll favor that.

No I wasn’t implying that.

I think both could potentially work as long as they don’t turn out to be power weapons at spawn.

In my ideal Halo we don’t have weapons that are supposed to be side arms treated as power weapons. It looks kinda silly IMO.

12

> Now of course what I’m about to say is in the assumption that load outs return and that selecting you secondary weapon is still an option in Halo 5.
>
> So the Mauler is by far one of my favorite weapons ever (thought it was some type of alien nail gun when I first came across it) and I want to see it return even if it is a map pick-up.
>
> But since it is considered the Brute’s side arm the idea of being able to spawn with it does seem like a possibility.
>
> Now if it were to be considered the first fear is ending up with another Bolt shot and no one wants that.
>
> The Mauler of course doesn’t have the Bolt shot’s range and power but further balancing may still be required.
>
> I’d like to note that my ideal Mauler wouldn’t be duel wieldable so that it’s power wont have to be limited.
>
> So what do guys think? Is it possible and would you find it fun? Is it not worth the risk of ending up with another Bolt shot or being OP in some other way?

I personally don’t see the point.

Mauler was born to give the weapon sandbox a dual wieldable Shotgun. And currently we have too many CQC weapons; Sword, Hammer, Shotgun, Scattershot, we don’t need another one.

Not to mention that I think that the entire secondary firing mode on the Boltshot should be removed (and the Boltshot massively redesigned) because giving players a pseudo Shotgun off spawn (even if it’s nerfed or a Mauler or a nerfed Mauler) is going to cause fits.

13

> > In my honest opinion, I think the Mauler would be a good replacement for the Boltshot. I feel with the mauler it’s <mark>hard to get a one shot kill</mark>, unlike the Boltshot. However, if they tweak the Boltshot, I think both would be great sidearms.
>
> Impossible unless you’re dual wielding them. The melee is still pretty quick, and encountering one unexpectedly in close quarters means you’re dead unless you have a shotty/hammer/sword.

Correction, encountering one unexpectedly at point blank means you’re dead. Not necessarily close quarters. You can easily put enough distance between you and the Mauler user because of it’s incredibly limited range.

14

Why not have both the mauler and boltshot as secondary options? I see no reason they could not coexist.

15

> Why not have both the mauler and boltshot as secondary options? I see no reason they could not coexist.

I agree.

16

> Why not have both the mauler and boltshot as secondary options? I see no reason they could not coexist.

Well, the Boltshot would dominate the Mauler, and Halo already has too many guns that do the exact same thing in it, so I for one, and hopefully many others, would like to see them try NOT to do that anymore.

Just look at the Assault Rifle/Plasma Repeater/Storm Rifle, Shotgun/Mauler/Boltshot/Scattershot, Sniper Rifle/Beam Rifle, Rocket Launcher/Incineration Cannon, DMR/NR/LR, SMG/Spiker/Suppressor/Plasma Rifle. There are put simply too many weapons that are WAY too similar. And more emphasis should be put into making these weapons LESS alike, instead of just slapping a coat of paint and a subtle tweak on something already there and calling it a “new gun”.

Weapons, even direct equivalent ones should be distinctly different from one another.

Assault Rifle, Halo CE Plasma Rifle, and Sentinel Beam are great completely unique Automatics.

Sniper Rifle, and Focus Rifle are great completely different Sniper weapons, though the Focus Rifle could use a damage/heat ratio rework so it kills more quickly.

Spartan Laser, Plasma Launcher, and Incineration Cannon would be a fantastic trio of anti-heavy vehicle weapons. But the Rockets, and Fuel Rod are so similar, and between them too similar to the Incineration Cannon. The FRG is basically just a superpowered version of the Rocks, while the Incineration is just a single beefed up rocket at a time.

Shotgun, Energy Sword have great contrast as CQC power weapons. Especially since one is a GUN, and the other is a Melee weapon. The two behave differently enough in-game too.

Grenade Launcher, Plasma Pistol, Needler, and Brute Shot all filled a really cool “pseudo power weapon” niche. Each weapon completely different, each not really belonging to a classification among other weapons.

Battle Rifle, and Carbine both had a really unique playstyle, the differences in rate of fire, effective range, and damage definitely secured this duo as unique to one another. Unfortunately for the DMR and NR, the damage per shot was so close to similar, and the rates of fire weren’t incredibly distinguishable, meaning the two weapons felt pretty much the same when you used them. And the DMR and LR are even more similar.

17

Not so much the Mauler but I’d like to see a starting shotgun with the Mauler’s power.

Let me clarify, the way I see loadouts working out better and being more acceptable in future installments is by limiting the starting weapons to UNSC weapons, or whichever weapon for that playable race, like Covenant weapons if Elites are playable again. For the primary weapon players would have the choices of DMR, BR, and AR, for whatever the players’ preferred ranges are. For the side arms they should compliment the primary weapons, so the pistol for long ranged precision, the SMG for mid range, and something like a sawed off shotgun for close range.

The sawed off would have the power of a Mauler shot, so about enough to strip shields in the right range, which means it can be followed up by a melee for a kill. Since it is still a starting weapon, I think it should have to be reloaded after each shot, making it ill-advised to charge a group like a good player could do with a Mauler, especially if you miss your shot.

In addition to the secondaries, for fans of dual wielding from 2 and 3 and old arena shooters like Marathon and Unreal, I think those starting 3 secondaries should be able to be paired with another of that weapon. So no mix and matching weapons like in 2 or 3, which ultimately made a weaker sandbox of weapons to balance things, but when a player comes across a matching secondary it essentially upgrades the lone weapon. It still would function like having a single weapon (i.e. the firing trigger would fire both weapons, and you can melee, throw grenades, and switch weapons without losing one of them) but you receive a boost in ammo capacity, rate of fire, and damage output, bring it on par with the primary weapons or even slightly more so. It would also be much easier to balance than in past Halos.

That is what I’d like to see at least.

18

> Not so much the Mauler but I’d like to see a starting shotgun with the Mauler’s power.
>
> Let me clarify, the way I see loadouts working out better and being more acceptable in future installments is by limiting the starting weapons to UNSC weapons, or whichever weapon for that playable race, like Covenant weapons if Elites are playable again. For the primary weapon players would have the choices of DMR, BR, and AR, for whatever the players’ preferred ranges are. For the side arms they should compliment the primary weapons, so the pistol for long ranged precision, the SMG for mid range, and something like a sawed off shotgun for close range.
>
> The sawed off would have the power of a Mauler shot, so about enough to strip shields in the right range, which means it can be followed up by a melee for a kill. Since it is still a starting weapon, I think it should have to be reloaded after each shot, making it ill-advised to charge a group like a good player could do with a Mauler, especially if you miss your shot.
>
> In addition to the secondaries, for fans of dual wielding from 2 and 3 and old arena shooters like Marathon and Unreal, I think those starting 3 secondaries should be able to be paired with another of that weapon. So no mix and matching weapons like in 2 or 3, which ultimately made a weaker sandbox of weapons to balance things, but when a player comes across a matching secondary it essentially upgrades the lone weapon. It still would function like having a single weapon (i.e. the firing trigger would fire both weapons, and you can melee, throw grenades, and switch weapons without losing one of them) but you receive a boost in ammo capacity, rate of fire, and damage output, bring it on par with the primary weapons or even slightly more so. It would also be much easier to balance than in past Halos.
>
> That is what I’d like to see at least.

I can see where you’re going with this. And agree with a lot of it.

First off I absolutely agree with the idea of picking a Primary for your preferred range of combat and then choosing a sidearm that compensates for your choices weaknesses. Eg. AR for CQC and a Magnum to compensate for the AR’s lack of range.

But I’m not sure if a medium range secondary will actually be useful and compensate for anything. How about a CQC sidearm for those with long range primaries, a long range side arm for those with CQC primaries and special weapons like the PP (but balanced) for those with medium ranged primaries?

Based on this I’d imagine the load out options looking something like this:

CQC primaries: AR and SR.

Medium range primaries: BR and Carbine.

Long range primaries: DMR and NR.

CQC Secondaries (recommended with long range primaries): SMG and PR.

Special Secondaries (recommended with medium range primaries): PP(CE version) and something UNSC.

Long range Secondaries (recommended for CQC primaries): Magnum and Maine’s Needle Pistol.

Does your vision of load outs look anything like this? I’d love to see your version of it.

But is there any reason why I shouldn’t be able to choose a PR as a secondary because of my cosmetic choice to be a Spartan?

And your idea for duel is interesting. Finding players duel wielding during a match would be a lot less common because due to load outs when you kill an opponent he/she might not drop the same secondary you’re using. Based on my list you’ll only have a one in six chance of finding a matching secondary to duel wield and that’s only UNSC and Covenant weapons, I didn’t even list the possible Brute and Forerunner secondary weapons. However I still worry if that 343 put in duel wield it’ll lead to duel wieldable weapons getting nerfed like the Halo 3 Magnum (Never again) but none the less your idea sounds like it has a possibility of working.