Description[]
The thruster is an early game mobility gear, giving your gunner a dash that an be used for both chasing down enemies, or escaping them. Paired with early game weapons like the rocket cluster or the howitzer, the thruster can help your team establish early game map control and harassment.
Active Mobility
Strategy[]
The thruster can be a great asset in early game fights, allowing for flanking and kiting that can rarely be countered and very difficult to deal with, especially by tanks that have not leveled enough for bull rush due to it being a level 3 ability. In 1v1 fights, it is often used to chase down enemies or run away from them, but can also be used in 1v1 fights to quickly dodge actives with a large area of effect, such as the rocket cluster or howitzer active. It can also be used for flanking, propelling the gunner past the front line of defense into the squishy units in the back, though this can be a risky move for the low HP gunner. However this can be used to redirect the attention of the tank allowing your front line to move through, especially in cases where your front line is blocked off at a narrow bridge.
Pros[]
- Unlocks early game
- Relatively low cooldown
- One of the most reliable disengages and chase gear, rivaled by very few gear
- Combined with the gunners natural mobility, it compliments the gunners natural ability to harrass and kite
- Useful for dashing out of slows from gear such as sludge tank and mass field.
Cons[]
- Dominance declines late game against abilities such as bull rush, boosters, and Ace's ultimate.
- Takes up a body slot that gives less inherent stats to the gunner compared to other gears, dependent on tactical use rather than stats
- Overshooting can propel the gunner into vulnerable positions
- Set distance traveled
Countering[]
- Bait out the enemy thrusters. Because it is on a somewhat long cooldown, it leaves the gunner very vulnerable to all-in engages such as bullrush and pulverizers.
- Flanking the enemy can cause the enemy gunner to panick and thrust into one of your RIGS
- Other mobility abilities such as bull rush and thrusters
- Wait for them to use thruster and then land some kind of CC on them, such as slows and stuns to allow for your pilots of catch up.
- High speed tanks such as Knockout can sometimes catch up to gunners even with thruster, blocking off escapes with sludge tanks, or simply chasing them down if speced for speed
- Keep in mind putting a gunner on the retreat is just as useful as killing it, as it mitigates a compositions main source of dps leaving it's teammates vulnerable.