Pointman or breacher?

[Spoonay]

First off, I really like doorkickers. Good job Killhouse.

The only thing I'm having trouble with is deciding what classes to pick for my missions.
Especially the pointman and breacher. What's the trade off?
It seems like the pointman is the go to guy to lead the squad but wouldn't the breacher be the guy to lead as he's more able to deal with opening doors and stuff?

[axios2006]

Breacher may use shotgun to breach doors. More rapid. Also shotguns have bullet dispersion so they hit multiple enemies if they are close enough.

Pointman is very useful in very close spaces and when mobility is the priority.

Personally, I use often breacher or assaulter as leader.

[Koranis]

It depends on your playstyle, really. I, for example, almost never use breachers. My teams are almost always composed of pointmen and guys with silencers. I prefer a silent approach and lightning quick assaults. Whenever I need a breacher means I was to slow or didn't take out the best route and I feel as if I failed :P In some scenarios it might be close to impossible though and luck plays a major role.

[Multihog]

In my experience, breachers are kinda worthless. I mostly use pointmen and assaulters.

[Tyrant (My Vision is Augmented)]

Breachers just aren't used by me... A charge to the door is almost always the best way in -- sometimes multiple charges from multiple entry points. For me, the key aspect usually becomes managing my inventory of door charges. Assaulters and Stealth guys are my go-to. If that's not working out, swaping out a team-member in a "problem area" with a faster and more agile pointman will usually do the trick, or occasionally mixing up charges with stingers and flashes.

That shotgun just takes WAY too long to be of any use in the game, I know that's why they are packing the heavy armor, but assaulters, pointmen and stealth guys just feel far more versitile and useful as a whole. If you only get 4 guys (or even worse - 2 guys) wasting a slot on a breacher or even a shield guy is just a poor idea. If you get to bring 6 or 8 guys? Absolutely - toss him in there as an extra tool in the tool box for when things go wrong. As it is currently - with many missions, a breacher just isn't needed.

[Seriana]

I really feel the Breachers are useful in the closed in maps (Houses and such) Anything past living-room sized rooms and they start to become less effective. If there's no hostages in play then the breacher can really clear a room quickly when needed. Sure assaults and the stealth guys can do so in roughly the same speed, but I'm partial to shotgun...

[Desiire]

Once you unlock a lot of the pistol abilities, like double tap and the CAR platform the breachers themselves almost become entirely useless. A pointman can clear a room with two-three tangos while still moving with no issue. A breacher? Not so much unless all three of the targets are in a tight grouping so the spread of his shotgun can do anything.

The shotguns are fairly realistic in this and I like that -- a lot of games make shotguns in to scatterguns. The shotguns in Door Kickers have the right kind of range and the right kind of spread. Can a shotgun clear a room? Sure, absolutely, but it won't do it very effeciently. A shotgun is a guaranteed one or two hit kill if the spread is right, but your spread doesn't get very far until the targets are mid-range. If you're cleaning a bedroom, an assault rifle or shotgun is just an absolute burden. A guy with a silenced MP5 or a handgun can turn on a dime, lock on to targets and fire without any loss of maneuverability as opposed to the guys with long arms

As of right now there's not much of a reason to use breachers other than to blow the doors off of their hinges. A breacher DOES carry a sidearm and I'd recommend switching to that to clear very tight spaces and to use the shotgun if you're, say, in a lobby or a living room that has direct line of sight in to a hallway or something, but the breacher moves at like 33% less speed than the pointman. For his additional gear it's not really worth it unless you don't mind taking a whole minute to clear a house instead of half a minute.

That's just my two cents though.

[Middy]

Interesting reading. Does anybody have a good idea on how to make breachers a more viable option, maintaining the balance and class variety at the same time?

[Vulpe Nebuna]

Maybe choose another armor for them (default is the heaviest one) and choose the shortest shotgun? Also, of course, upgrade them.

[machine]

As of Alpha 10, I really love the breacher class now. I'm setting him up on the opposite side of the door (in relation to the rest of the team) combined with the one shot breach perk, to open locked doors in no time. He then moves in as last man after he switched to pistol. In addition to that it's now quite easy to sync the breaching with a flashbang from another trooper.

Edit: A short video demonstration

[Rambovic]

WIth Alpha 10 i really love the pointmen class because they are really op.

[StrangeLittleMan]

Originally posted by giwemi:

WIth Alpha 10 i really love the pointmen class because they are really op.

Soo cool to watch a replay of 6+ pointmen charging into a building without the use of flashbangs or whatnot..
Pewpew <3

[Rambovic]

They do not even need to double tab because everything is down instantly.