The requirements for the AW/ER unlock are somewhat more demanding than just 'Rifle BM' now
But as I have (probably) said before, with a determined team many things are possible
Time to see just how determined this team is
Seems our random weather for this run is fog
People tend to hate this one the most, even though 'in theory' it doesn't hurt you directly like storm or blizzard do
Following the usual BM strategy, the bulk of the team heads to the base location (armoury here), while 3 stay to collect the supply drops
On the way to base, you can see why this weather might be hated - it is very difficult to see units in the fog if you don't have healthbars shown
Items would be near impossible to spot, which will cause difficulties with scouting later
At least on the high ground there's no fog effect
Originally I thought our 'mando didn't want to kite so I took on that role, but now here he is
After holding off on levelling my abilities for this long, I finally commit to a support build
The flare gun ability from the WO rankset proves to be very handy in the early levels
I foresaw difficulties with ammo later down the line due to the fog, so I decided to go for a full support build with GR EN rather than allow for a transition into DPS later
Of course I don't have the EN rankset bonus to DPS either, so perhaps it is just as well I went for support
Now to see how well I can find items in this fog
One strategy is to path through as much high ground as possible, where the fog wont hide any items
The other trick (I think?) is items tend to be more visible as they just come into view range, so I try to focus on the edge of my vision circle while in fog
When the fog dissipates, this presents a good opportunity to check low ground areas for items that we might miss in the fog
Here you can see me positioning to attempt to draw the Arach out of base as soon as it kills the turret, but our DPS kill it before I can put that plan into action
It is difficult to lead them out of base due to the knockback on hit, but at least it keeps our Mk 79 turret alive
Just another case of kill+revive to cure ailments, nothing to see here
Getting an early TL ping on Thanatos is pretty nice
Especially if it wanders around outside our base area rather than charging into DPS range
Trying to throw as many smokes as possible into its path to give our team more time to kill it
It still manages to kill one of our number before we take it down, but it could have been worse too
That was a rather unfortunate charge
Some rather half-assed scouting attempts by me these last couple rounds, but with the fog up I decide its better to use my flares off cooldown to keep up our vision
It looks like we've still got ammo for this round, but we'll definitely need to find more soon
With all my energy spent, its about time to go looking for items again
Once again, checking as much high ground as possible to maximise my chances of finding items
And a lucky break in the fog! Let's see what goodies are in the low ground
I'll have to come back for those mags later
Looks like I'm going to be a bit late as it is
The exploitable weakness of the 'Maws is that they are affected by smoke - something we can easily spam in a rifle run
And just like that, all 4 'Maws are dead
And of course, the moment I get a chance to go scouting the fog returns
Remembering that I left a set of mags near here last round, let's see if I can find it again
As we can see, the smokes are turning out to be pretty handy, even when the kiter doesn't have a gas mask
Another fortunate break in the fog
Given our deteriorating ammo situation, this is our big opportunity to shore up our supplies
And so far, this is turning out to be quite the lucrative scouting run
I did not expect to encounter a hunter at this time between waves
Fortunately, my MGL ability offers me at least some form of self defense
The encounter with the hunter and having the bridge blocked is all costing me time, and it's already getting pretty close to the next wave
A second hunter... this is starting to get spicy
Seems I have quite the bounty to give to the team, now to make it back in one piece...
With the action for this round over already, it's time to get back out there
There were a few mags I saw near the central generator, plus the medkits I dropped
Was somehow lucky enough to mouse over that accidentally - I doubt I would have noticed it otherwise
Here I'm trying to figure out which kiter to give the medkits to
Spotting the Wraith Lord early is handy to help focus the team on it - with its extreme charge speed, it is a very large threat
It looks like the team should be able to kill the Wraith Lord and hold the entrance; I'll take on the duty of kiting south
With the situation at base stabilised, it's time to scout once again
Looks like we've got ammo for the people who need it
We've reaching the critical point in the game where we should be able to deal with the last remaining bosses, as long as we have enough ammo
I've seen enough rifle runs that get this far, only to run out of ammo and collapse.
Looks like we got a good kite away on Cacumen, this round should be in the bag
A rather unfortunate flare...
It looks like we should have the ammo to last the final wave, but anything we can find between now and 50 minutes could make the difference between a win and a close loss
Well, now comes the moment of truth
Even without being able to kite Magnus outside of base, him coming so early and on his own made it easy to focus fire him down.
And as is traditional, this is the part of the game where the 'celebrations' commence
There is always the danger of 'celebrating' a bit too hard, and this did look a little concerning
But, saved by the bell!
Congratulations to everyone who got their unlocks!
