Best Fencer anti-air weapons?

[Honorable_D]

If only Powerdynes could be reloaded! D:

Normal drones are dealt with easily via Gallic sniping and blastholing/shotgunning the ones that get near the ground but for Red Drones and the Bees I have much greater trouble.

For the bees I've taken to dual chainguns and spamming the jump in place move to avoid their needle shots, works fine even on Hard but I feel there has to be a better way! Missiles either have crapping tracking speed (don't work on Red Drones) or don't do enough damage/take too long to reload. =/

[Nauya]

From what I've experienced, Fencers just generally have a bad time when it comes to the Red Drones, the best way to deal with them is to learn their AI and engage them one at a time if possible. They tend to shoot at you, then fly past you and repeat. Take this as a chance to hit them with something hard as they pass by like using multiple stationary jumps to get high enough to Blasthole it as it passes you or line up a heavy cannon / hand cannon shot to nail it as it flies by.

As for flying enemies in general, there's not really a catch all weapon to dealing with them easily as Fencer lock on weapons are slow and most other weapons require you to be accurate.

The best way I've dealt with aerial enemies on Fencer is to stay mobile and use quick weapons. For instance, using Blasthole (For ones that get close and for horizontal thrusters) or Dynamo Blade (It's max charge slash, while a bit unwieldy due to the initial boost, goes VERY far VERY fast and does a fair amount of damage) + A Shotgun, Canister Cannon, or the Galleon Rapid/Lightweight (For fast firing and vertical thrusters)

Then you just use Fencer boost jumping to kite them / dodge their attacks while blastholing anything that gets close to quickly eliminate them and just peppering the swarm behind you as they slowly get melted.

if you're confident with animation/boost canceling, the Cannon Shot makes quick work of virtually anything in the game including fliers if you just boost up to them and blast them in the face with it too.

In missions with flying enemies that spawn from sources, keep the same setup but for your second set, use some long range artillery like Heavy Mortars or Heavy Cannons to snipe the spawners as you use your other set to keep moving fast and kiting things.

Feel it out and try what works for you, but in general, try to equip a set that gives you both thruster types (typically a melee + a mid sized ranged weapon as heavy ones usually give you Zoom) so you can stay as mobile as possible.

[Bob]

Gallic is really all you need to kill them. Get a load out that lets you dash jump to the side a couple times, switch to your other set of weapon that has a gallic and just get 1 shot off every time you land to reset your jump.

You can try using other weapons that have no animations, but it is just going to take you all day to kill them for other reasons anyway, where as at least gallic gives you the option to take shots from a long distance if they are on NPCs at the time.

[kampfer91]

That doesn't help with the fact that fencer have problem trying to target multiple drone / bee unlike other classes and force to destroy one at a time .

[Zeddy]

Spine Driver paired with either Hand Cannon or Light Mortar is the most effective for everything.

[ChaoticGamer]

some odd reason I find shotgun is the best Anti-Air...maybe its the spray of it works, for sure there should be an autocannon shotgun for sure....

[ZiggyDeath]

Shotgun cannon, effective against all targets.

[Canadian Guitar]

So far, I'm really digging the Blood Storm missile launchers

[azamoth66]

The high altitude missiles seem to work well for swarms of bees and lesser drones. For the red drones you'll want something like a good heavy mortar or a good heavy cannon. If you are in co-op an air raider with a guide beacon is a huge help.

[RiisWolf]

The 30mm Cannon and blasting spear+heavy shotgun or shield. Snipe them out of the sky, penetrate and probably get more than one.
Heck, the 30mm is good against everything except moving fast.

[Honorable_D]

Heh, yeah, Gallic sniping has been my go to, but Red Drones are hella fast and the bees seem to come in huge numbers all at once...less than ideal conditions.

So sit seems I need to either get super pro at the Gallic or try out some aerial acrobatics + CC Piercers more.

Not sure if the shotgun is viable anti-air on harder difficulties...

[Zeddy]

This is going to sound absurd, but in 4.1 Fencer's best inferno anti air was Hell Flame Revolver. With all the buffs it got in this game I imagine it's going to keep being the case.

[kampfer91]

Originally posted by Zeddy:

This is going to sound absurd, but in 4.1 Fencer's best inferno anti air was Hell Flame Revolver. With all the buffs it got in this game I imagine it's going to keep being the case.

How something that have little range is a good anti air ...

[Zeddy]

Originally posted by kampfer91:

How something that have little range is a good anti air ...

I'm glad you asked!

Hell Flame Revolver, the last in the line, has triple range at 90m, probably more in this game. Most flying enemies fly low enough that it'll do, especially if you stand between buildings and funnel them.

Red flying vehicles on inferno in particular wouød spin directly over your head while attacking because their turn radius was just that tight. This synergized conveniently with the fact that dual flame revolvers could do nothing but fire straight up.

[Canadian Guitar]

Originally posted by Zeddy:

Originally posted by kampfer91:

How something that have little range is a good anti air ...

I'm glad you asked!

Hell Flame Revolver, the last in the line, has triple range at 90m, probably more in this game. Most flying enemies fly low enough that it'll do, especially if you stand between buildings and funnel them.

Red flying vehicles on inferno in particular wouød spin directly over your head while attacking because their turn radius was just that tight. This synergized conveniently with the fact that dual flame revolvers could do nothing but fire straight up.

Not sure how far in youve gotten in 5, but the flying AI seems a bit different than 4.1. Drone 1 sometimes flies fairly low, Drone 2 seems to prefer higher altitude

[RiisWolf]

I never like using the missile launchers since they're slow, clunky, and often too middling to be more effective than simply shooting them down with a single shot from a galic cannon.
Although if there is a super powerful missile launcher then those may be the best you got, especially against red drones, ESPECIALLY if an air raider planted a lock-on beacon on them, allowing you to lock-on multiple times on a single target.