Weapon Tut 1

UT2004 Weapon Tutorial by Ethan “Bumfuzz” Lima Like any first-person shooter, UT2004 requires you know how to handle your weapons correctly. If you can’t use them right, you’re not going to get very far. Here are some overviews and strategies on the weapons available… listed as they would show up on the in-game HUD:

>>>TRANSLOCATOR<<< For CTF and ICTF, the translocator is one of the handiest tools you have. Left-click on the mouse to shoot the trans, and then Right-click to teleport to where the trans fell. The basic and most obvious use of the translocator is to teleport yourself wherever you want. This is critical for getting into the best sniper spots. One strategy is to use the translocator as a sort of security camera. Take your trans, and shoot it in a safe, unnoticeable place near your flag. Go do whatever you want, and when you feel like checking up on your flag, you can press the Q key, which will give you a view of everything and everyone around your base. Planting your translocator has more advantages than just keeping tabs on your flag. It’s also good for getting timed pick-ups, such as Shields or Amps [Double Damage]. Plant the trans in a spot, and if you know when the pick-up and / or weapon will respawn, you can instantly trans to it to pick it up, effectively dominating the pick-up for yourself. Wild, spastic use of the translocator is a good tactic. For example, you can trans wildly around your opponent to confuse them, and then when you’re done, whip out your weapon of choice and blast them. Or you can try to translocate like crazy around your opponent, then into them for a one-hit kill. But what about those intense moments when your opponent is about to score? If someone’s taken your flag and they’re already half-way across the map or more, you’re screwed, right? Wrong. You could translocate quickly across the map and try to kill them, and then trans to the flag as quickly as possible. OR you could do this technique, which is a little trickier: Let’s use Instagib CTF on Face Classic as an example for this maneuver. If the opponent has gotten too far from you to chase, translocate as quick as possible to one of the ledges on your tower. Then, shoot your trans for the enemy tower, and let it fly. While you wait for the trans to get to the opposite base, start sniping your opponent from your tower. If you can kill them fast enough, and keep them from trying to get the flag back, you’ll effectively have them pinned. At this point, your trans should be close enough to the enemy base, and you can now translocate into their base to grab the flag quickly before they can score. That might sound like a lot in text, but in practice it makes more sense.

>>>SHIELD GUN<<< The shield gun is another one of those weapons that should be mastered, as it has a variety of uses for all gametypes. Left-click fires a burst of energy that only hits the opponent at close range. And when I mean close, I mean in-your-face close; the shield gun has a bad habit of not dealing damage to enemies even when it seemingly goes off right on top of them. So keeping the crosshair on your opponent is crucial when using primary fire. It’s best that you use the primary fire in charged-up mode, as just tapping the fire button when attacking someone won’t do much damage. You also need to use dodging techniques and walldodges in unison with the primary fire, or you’ll be an easy target for anyone. But if you can land a hit on someone with a full charge, you can take them out in one hit, just like the translocator. A better use of primary fire is to do maneuvers known as “shield jumps”. Basically what you do is you hit primary fire towards the ground mid-jump, which gives you a little boost. If you hold the button down longer, you’ll get a better boost, but you’ll also take more damage. If a server your playing on has a shieldjump mutator [many TAM servers have this], you will launch about twice as far into the air as you normally would, and take less damage. If you combine shield jumps with wall dodges, you can make some expert maneuvers to get yourself into all sorts of places, and confuse your enemies at the same time.Shield jumping is also great in CTF; use the shield jump in conjunction with the berserk adrenaline power, and you’ll make it back to your base in half the time. Secondary fire emits an energy shield that partially blocks attacks until it is depleted. This comes in very handy during DM / TDM / TAM gametypes; when your health is low, you can right-click for the shield and escape. You can also bind the alt shield to a key command, such as this: E= SwitchWeapon 1|AltFire|OnRelease SwitchToLastWeapon In this case, when you press the E key, you would switch to the shield gun, it would automatically use alt fire, and when you released the E key, you would switch back to your previous weapon. All in one key! This is an excellent keybind for any UT2k4 player. The energy shield is also useful when falling down from high places. If you ever need to make a big jump, you can pull the shield out and use the alt fire to take much less damage, or maybe even none.

>>>ASSAULT RIFLE<<<

The assault rifle is probably the least useful weapon in your arsenal. Primary fire releases bursts of ammo that are neither strong nor accurate. Secondary fire is a bit more useful; the grenade launcher attatched to the AR is the only part of the gun you’ll really need to use. Dual wielding assault rifles can be fun, but still not very effective. Assault rifles are really only good if you’ve just spawned and absolutely NEED something to defend yourself. So really the only gametype that its suited to is DM 1v1. And in most 1v1’s you are only supplied with 1 grenade. So in this case the assault rifle is only used as a deterrent to the enemy until you can get another weapon. The only other gametype it might be useful in is TAM, as most TAM servers load your AR with grenades… usually at least 8. Grenades can actually be quite effective… if you have good aim. It takes practice, but a well placed nade can do some good damage on an opponent.

>>>BIO RIFLE<<< The Bio Rifle is a tricky weapon to control, but if you can manage it, it can be very powerful. Primary fire releases little gobs of bio sludge that you can use to pepper enemies at a distance, and Alt fire loads up a giant glob of goop you can hurl at someone. The primary fire isn’t what you should really concentrate on. It is a bit hard to aim, and doesn’t do enough damage. It’s useful if you want to leave a trail of goop behind you for enemies to land on, or if you want to keep them at bay at a distance. You could also use the primary fire goo in conjunction with the alt fire of your shieldgun. Put some goo on top of each other in one spot, and then take out your shield. Hit alt fire, and you can make a “bio jump”, which launches you quite nicely in the air and shouldn’t give you any damage if done correctly. For serious attacking purposes, it’s the secondary fire you’ll really want to use. Rightclick to load up a huge ball of sludge, and then hurl it towards someone for massive damage; in many cases it’s an instant kill. But you must be able to combine it with good dodging / walldodging skills, or else you’ll be an open target while you’re trying to aim the shot. Also make sure you’re a decent distance from your opponent, as the goop blast will give you damage if you’re too close.

>>>MINE LAYER<<<

Mine layers are one of the two weapons only available in the ONS gametype [it’s also in the INV gametype, but only on RPG servers]. Primary fire releases robotic spider mines; up to 8 can be released at one time. Secondary fire uses a laser to guide the mines to wherever they need to go. Mines are great for taking out pretty much anything. Against infantry, you can fire a single mine towards someone. As they try and take out the spider mine chasing them, you can follow up with either another mine and / or another weapon. Against vehicles, they are devastating. About 4 mines can easily take out a Manta or Scorpion, and 8 of them can take out any vehicle at full health, except for tanks. You can also use primary fire to load a bunch of mines on top of a quick vehicle, such as a Manta. With the Manta covered in explosives, drive into any enemy node territory, and they’ll jump off the Manta and massacre anyone around the node. Secondary fire comes in handy when you need to take out a node, or if you’re attacking the main powercore. Shoot some spider mines in a hostile-free area, and then hit alt fire to guide them into an enemy node to quickly take it down. Just be careful when shooting the Mine Layer; you can easily hit yourself with splash damage when the mine explodes on someone else.

>>>SHOCK RIFLE<<< The Shock Rifle… undoubtedly the most important, and most skillful, weapon in UT2004. The shock rifle is known as a “hitscan” weapon; hitscan weapons are basically the instant hit weapons, including the sniper rifle and the lightning gun. Primary fire releases a quick beam of energy, and alt fire shoots a shock ball that is slower, but has a wider range than the beam. Primary fire is the first aspect of the shock rifle you should master. It not only does a good amount of damage [45 pts. Per hit], but it also knocks back your opponent a little bit. If there is a wall nearby, there is a good chance you can effectively “shocktape” your enemy. Shocktaping is firing one beam after the other into the enemy, rendering them almost incapable of retaliation. You don’t really need a wall behind the enemy to do this, but if there is, it impairs their movements, making them easier to hit again and again. After you’ve practiced enough with the primary shock beam, you should try out some shock combos. Shock combos, aside from superweapons, are the single most devastating attacks in UT2k4. A single shock combo can take out 2 or even 3 people if placed correctly. It’s done by shooting a shock ball with alt fire, and then shooting that ball with the shock beam. If you’re new to them, you should start off by doing standing combos. That is, do a combo while you’re not moving, as moving makes hitting the combo harder. Then once you’ve got the idea down, try doing some moving combos. The secondary fire or the shock rifle is really only to be used to initiate shock combos. It’s not really worth it to try and hit your enemies with shock balls; they’re a bit slow and

don’t do much damage. The only other thing you can do with a shock ball is what is known as a “shock jump”. A shock jump is much like a shield jump; you basically jump while you fire at the ground, and it gives you a boost in jump height. It’s good for getting back to your base quicker in CTF, without having to switch to the shieldgun and back again.

>>>LINK GUN<<< The link gun, although a seemingly crappy weapon, is actually very important, and useful. Primary fire releases green energy “bullets”, and secondary fire emits a shortdistance beam that looks like something out of Ghostbusters. Primary fire is not the most amazing part of the link gun; it’s not very accurate, and over long distances is not likely to hit much even in the hands of a skilled player. The only thing you can really do to improve its accuracy is to try and keep the gun shooting in a line. That is, don’t move the gun all over the place… try to make a steady stream of bullets that move more or less one in back of the other. Your best bet is to combine primary fire with the secondary fire, the energy beam. When you’re up close to someone, shoot some bullets at them. Then, follow up with the alt fire. The result is an effective combo capable of taking down an enemy relatively quick. Secondary fire also has the added bonus of making it difficult for your opponent to shoot. The link gun has two main uses, one of which is in Onslaught. It’s the only weapon in Onslaught that can power up nodes, and that is crucial to winning an ONS match. You can also link up with other players, known as a “link train”. This makes a beam that can be up to 3X more powerful than a single one. This, as you can imagine, speeds up the node building / healing process considerably. This link train is very effective in TDM / TAM as well. If you have cooperative teammates, you can create devastating link trains that maul your opponents. The only problem: the teammates who are linking you are left completely vulnerable to enemy attacks. So if the enemy decides to flank you from behind while you’re attacking someone in front, you might be in big trouble.

>>>MINIGUN<<<

The minigun is a pretty straightforward weapon; its uses are what you see. Left click for a barrage of bullets, and right click for a slower firing rate and increased accuracy. The minigun is what I like to call a finishing weapon. Say, for instance, you have an opponent who’s at 100 health. You hit him with a lightning gun shot, which takes him down to 30 health. So now, instead of trying to hit them with the LG again, you switch to the minigun and mow them down. Since the minigun has such a high firing rate and good spread, it’s easier to finish an enemy with it than trying to hitscan the enemy again with the lightning gun. This is the ideal use for the minigun, both primary fire and alt fire. Alt fire, with its higher accuracy but lower firing rate, is best used at a long distance range. But in general, the weapon as a whole is kind of “spray n’ pray”. Sometimes, you’ll have the cursor directly over the enemy, and for some reason the bullets don’t hit. And other times, you’ll fire a quick burst, and somehow they’ll all hit the target and kill them.

>>>GRENADE LAUNCHER<<< The grenade launcher [at least I think] is another weapon that only really shows up in ONS. Primary fire releases the grenades [up to 8 at one time], and secondary fire triggers them to explode. You can do a lot of different tricks with the grenade launcher. In ONS, a full set of 8 grenades can take out 50% of a fully healed powernode’s health. Loading vehicles up with grenades can also be very effective. For example, you could load grenades on a vehicle, and if someone tries to take it, you could right-click and blow them sky high. This tactic also works for infiltrating enemy bases. Load a vehicle up, and then make a suicide run into the opposing team’s base to damage them and their powercore. Here’s another tactic, although you’d have to make sure that team damage isn’t on the server. [You could do it with team damage, but it’ll be a suicide run]. Take your grenades, and load them on to one of your teammates. Follow your teammate, and when they get into enemy territory, have them jump into a group of people. Right-click to set the grenades off, and watch the bodies fly. If you’re playing on a modded server, you might also be able to launch people and cars with the grenades. This is great for getting infantry / vehicles from one place to another quickly, and over large gaps. Just be careful you don’t load the vehicles up with too many, as you might blow them up.

>>>FLAK CANNON<<<

The Flak Cannon is a combination between a “spray n’ pray” and “spam” weapon. Now technically, all weapons can be a spam weapon, as spam is truly defined [In FPS terms] as shooting the same gun over and over until it hits something. But the Flak cannon has come to be defined as spam, most likely because it’s a weapon most new players use. And the noobs who use them usually just shoot blind at people, often suiciding. Anyways… left clicking shoots a bunch of small projectiles, and right clicking releases a flak ball that you can lob towards enemies. Primary fire is much like a shotgun blast… it is very strong, and capable of taking out someone in one hit. With that being said, it should also be used like a shotgun. That is, primary fire should not be used at a long distance… you will not hit anything. It can also be ricocheted off of walls, to get people around corners. Secondary fire releases the flak ball, which like primary fire, releases shrapnel that can kill an enemy in one hit [if shot correctly]. This can be tossed towards enemies from a longer distance… great for taking out people who are higher than you. For example, is someone is on a ledge above you, toss this up there and it will probably drop down right on top of the. The Flak cannon also has “splash damage”. Splash damage allows you to hit a target, without actually landing a direct strike. Splash damage is mostly attributed to alt fire; you can throw a flak ball towards an enemy, and if it lands in their general area you’ll get a hit.

>>>ROCKET LAUNCHER<<< The rocket launcher is a strong firearm, and the other weapon that is considered spam. Right click to shoot off one rocket at a time, and left click to load and fire up to three rockets at once. Primary fire is usually what you’ll be using most of the time. The rocket can be shot either up close or at long range, although it is fairly slow and can easily be avoided. Secondary fire creates the trifecta of death. Although you don’t necessarily have to wait for all three rockets to load up; it’s perfectly fine if you only wait for two to load up and then fire it. The projectiles can be shot either in a line, or in a tight spiral. To create the spiral, you have to hold down the left mouse button while loading the rockets with the left mouse button. If you can land all three rockets on an enemy at one, you’ll likely get an instant kill. Both firing modes allow lock-on capabilities. That is, if you keep the crosshair on the enemy long enough, you will get a confirmation sound along with some dots around the main crosshair, signaling that they are now locked on. They will follow the enemy to an extent, but if they move too much the lock on gets nullified and they will all miss. To be honest, in the heat of battle, you won’t be using this feature, nor will you need to.

One strategy for rockets is to use the in a “surprise” manner. For example, in DM, TDM, or TAM, if you know or think you know an enemy is just around a corner, start loading some rockets. Then, just as they are about to release, dodge around the corner and aim for your opponent. Before they will have time to react, you’ll have fired a clusterf*** of destruction into them.

>>>AVRiL<<< The AVRiL is one of the weapons only found in ONS, and to be honest is right behind the assault rifle as far as usefulness goes. Primary fire releases a slow rocket, and alt fire has a zoom in function. The rockets you can shoot are only effective towards vehicles; trying to shoot them at infantry is not a good idea. When the gun has its crosshairs over a vehicle, it will automatically aim for it. And when you shoot, it will follow that vehicle until it either explodes after a set amount of time, is shot down, or can’t follow the object anymore. It’s important to note that the lock-on feature will only work if you keep you crosshair on the vehicle at all times. Each rocket does about 200 damage, give or take a little depending on what you’re driving and where the rocket hits. Secondary fire is about the least useful function of any gun. Yes, it’s a zoom function, but it is only active when you have you sights targeted over a vehicle. In most cases, the sound of a lock-on is enough to get you to shoot and hit something, so the zoom function really serves no purpose. >>>LIGHTNING GUN<<< The lightning gun is another hitscan weapon, and is also one of the best weapons to use to improve accuracy. Primary fire shoots a lightning bolt, while secondary fire is a zooming function. The primary fire of the lightning gun does a whopping 70 points of damage per shot. And if you nail a headshot, that doubles to 140… so you can see why it’s a favorite among many players. The lightning bolt also has a limited amount of splash damage, although it’s not much. It is a very wise idea to master this weapon; if you plan on getting anywhere in DM / TAM or pretty much any gametype, you really should practice your LG skill. My suggestion is to either (A) Go into a demo DM server and start killing people solely with the lightning gun, or (B) Go play some godlike bots on instant action. Secondary fire enables the zoom function. This is good for getting at people on the other side of the map. Zooming also [at least for me] gives you a better, more accurate chance of getting a headshot. The best strategy for the lightning gun is to use it in a one-two punch scheme. For example, let’s say you’re in a DM match, and someone just spawned with 100 health. You would first use the LG to take out most of their health, and then finish up with a quick weapon, like the minigun or link gun. This LG / mini pair is one of the most

effective combos you can use. And as your aim gets better, you can solely use the lightning gun to kill an opponent, quickly taking out any opposition.

>>>SNIPER RIFLE<<< The sniper rifle functions the same as the lightning gun, but is not as effective in combat. Primary fire shoots an instant hit sniper round, and secondary fire is the zoom function. The sniper rifle does a little less damage than the lightning gun, with only 60 points of damage. And even though it is an instant hit weapon, like the lightning gun, it just feels less accurate. Maybe it’s because of the puff of smoke it emits after every shot, obstructing your view, forcing you to shoot slower. Or maybe it’s because when you shoot someone, it doesn’t light them up like the LG, making it tough to figure out if you hit them or not. Secondary fire is the zooming function. Pretty self explanatory and it works just like the lightning gun’s. The zoom function has two really good uses. For CTF, it is ideal for sniping enemies coming into your base, and for taking out the flag carrier. And in ONS, it works wonders against people trying to load up powernodes, as they have to stay in a general, predictable area to load the node up. Not only that, but they’ll be so busy trying to load the node up that you can usually nail a headshot on them no problem. And most people, at a distance, are not going to try and fight a sniper; they’re only going to try and run around and away to keep from getting hit. These strategies all apply to the lightning gun as well. >>>REDEEMER<<< Ah, the redeemer, the single most powerful weapon you have at your disposal in UT2004. Right click to send the nuclear device to massacre everyone, or left click to guide it yourself towards its destination. When shooting the redeemer using primary fire, make sure you are well away from the blast radius. Otherwise, you’ll get obliterated along with everyone else. A good idea if you need to take someone out close to you with the redeemer is to plant a translocator somewhere. That way, you can shoot the deemer, and then translocate quickly before you get blasted. Secondary fire is the self-guide mode. However, when you are doing this, you are left completely vulnerable to attack. So it is important that you find a safe place to guide it from, somewhere where the average person isn’t going to think to look. Alt fire is a little difficult to control, and you’ll often be zooming around the map for ages before you find a target. But it’s the best way to get the redeemer from point A to point B, if you know exactly where you need to go. Make sure you use lots of complicated zig zags and such, so your nuke doesn’t get shot down. In general, primary fire = quick kills, and secondary fire = tactical takedowns.

In CTF, the redeemer is good for two things. (1) When you need to run the flag, and you’re still in enemy territory, fire off a redeemer with primary fire while running back to your base. This will give you a great chance at escaping danger. The best combo is to use the speed adrenaline power to shoot out of the enemy base, and then fire off a redeemer shot to kill anyone chasing you. By the time they get a chance to come at you again, you’ll be long gone. (2) Using the redeemer for last second flag returns is sometimes the deciding factor between winning and losing the match. Just make sure you’re in a “safe” spot when you shoot it, as you won’t be returning anything if you get caught in the blast radius. In ONS, the redeemer is awesome for taking out nodes and powercores. One nuke, if placed correctly, can take out a fully loaded node in one shot. That in itself can turn the tide from one team to the other. It also does a serious amount of damage to powercores, I believe around 20-30 points, maybe more. Using the weapons to their full extent is the only way you are going to be able to take on the best in UT2004. I’m sure there’s some stuff I might have missed, but these are the best uses for the weapons I’ve come across. And once you control your weapons, you essentially control the game. So get out there, practice, practice some more, and go kick some n00b a**!