I notice a lot of newer players choosing Assault as a class, and figured in the spirit of the Tips & Tricks thread that a gather of basic Assault information, how-to use effectively ideas, and some map specific strategies and styles might come in handy for newer DOD:S players. Though I'm not sure how many newer players are in eGO in general. Also, as I mainly play Assault, I figured that anything that people disagree with or add will make me a better player.
Tell me where I'm totally off my rocker, or if I've left out something critical.
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The first thing to understand about Assault is the basic philosophy of the class, which is spelled out explicitly in the name. Your job is to attack aggressively and be in the thick of things. You don't have the long range luxury of a rifleman, sniper, or even support. You don't have the defensive capabilities of an MG. You don't have the single awesome power of an eviction notice rocket. You're designed to get in the thick of it and take key positions from the enemy.
That being said, you're Assault. You're not Cannon Fodder. If you know there's an MG or sniper somewhere, don't die needlessly. There are plenty of ways for you to deal with a threat like this that do not involve going Lemming into a meat grinder. These guys are designed to be incredibly difficult to close distance on, darn near impossible in the hands of a decent player. Make them play your game.
Understanding this should make it easier to understand how to use the Assault class effectively, and everything it's been given.
To begin with, the most unique feature of the Assault class. The smoke grenade.
Improper use of smoke is one of the most annoying things to encounter, as it has the exact opposite effect of its correct application.
Many new players will throw smoke into places thinking "No one can see into smoke." For example, a wermacht Assault might throw it into the Allied second on Avalanche before charging in from Fountain, or right before the sand bags. In doing so, they hope to hide their run into the flag and make them a more difficult target to hit.
While smoke used like this can make you harder to hit, it's also a smoke grenade that's not used to it's full potential. You only get one per life, so don't waste it! A smoke cloud isn't huge, and only obscures a small portion of the battlefield. An MG laying down cover fire can still take you out if he knows all he has to do is fire into the smoke, since that's where you probably are. Meanwhile, you're in the thing as blind as a bat.
That "blind as a bat" effect is what you want to be doing to the other team, not yourself and your teammates. Deploy smoke not to obscure YOU but to obscure as much critical visual area for the enemy as is physically possible. Throw it at them, not at you. If it helps, think of it as a flashbang. Once that thing goes off, anyone in it can't see anything. MG's have no clue where or when to fire, snipers are now only a class with slow refire time and no way to pick you off at range.
For the Assault class, the well placed smoke grenade is the great equalizer. Use it wisely. If you do so, you and your team will benefit immensely.
Why is it such an equalizer? Cause you have to be close. Your tommy gun or machine pistol will make you a terror in close quarters, but you're just free points when you're down the stretch from someone.
Push avenues that emphasize your strengths. Apartments, sewers, and church are classic examples. If you find yourself able to wade successfully through opposition in apartments on Avalanche, but get capped as soon as you run for the Allied or Wermacht second, then you're experiencing what I'm talking about. Those long stretches (the hill down to Allied first, the whole front line down the Axis buildings til the sandbags) are perfect death traps ready to be sprung by every class that's built to beat you.
That being said, there are times when you need to join the pile of bodies getting stacked up somewhere. If your team is pushing something like fountain or bridge and needs warm bodies to capture it, make sure you're lending a helping hand. The most other classes aren't as equipped as you are to deal with a strong counter-push. MGs and snipers will probably be able to deal with incoming enemies, but they're usually deployed too far from the flag to capture it. Get in there to literally and figuratively take one for the team. Capture that flag, and be another person that has to be killed in order to stop a cap.
You do this because you're expendable. One dead Assault is not as game changing as an MG that's down. There's a reason that no one calls out "Can someone deal with the Assault they've got camping their second?" You're a force to be reckoned with, but you don't secure lanes like other classes, you travel the lanes!
With this in mind, help out those other classes! Especially MGs!
Drop ammo! If you don't know how, it's the 'H' key by default. Give it to MG's, rockets, snipers, and right-click fist support (j/k you avid support classers).
Pick up grenades, pick up grenades, pick up grenades! Think about how you deal with an MG. You toss smoke or a frag at it, right? Don't let that happen to your MGs! If they're deployed and the enemy knows where they are, it's just a matter of time for them. They can't sprint out of frag range as easily as you can. Pick up the grenade (default: 'E'), hope that it hasn't been expertly cooked, and toss it back.
Which brings me to the next point.
Cook your grenades, cook your grenades, cook your grenades! It may take you a little while to get the timing down, but three to four seconds is a good starting point for most places you're going to throw to. In case you don't know, cook your grenade by clicking and holding (you'll hear the pin pop out). This starts the countdown, and makes it harder for enemies to avoid having to type "NN" in allspeak.
Also, if you're sprinting when you unclick/release your grenade, you'll get a little extra distance on it. Try it out.
Lastly, the least difficult part of Assault. The guns.
In case you haven't got the message yet, or if you skipped to the end like some crazed fool, Assault doesn't have any range. Like zero. Sure, you can hit stuff at range, but usually not what you're aiming at. If you've ever felt like you put a full clip into a guy and he's still in the green after your dead, this might be why. With your Thompson or MP, keep things intimate. Don't go putting metal downrange in some sort of pissing contest with the snipers and riflemen. They win. Flank them, come in behind them, throw a grenade in there so they move somewhere else, do whatever you need to do to get in close.
When you're in close, aim for the chest. This isn't Shaun of the Dead. Your gun's going to raise up from recoil, so put a few short bursts into him and your gun will walk it's way up him.
There's few things more frustrating then turning a corner and being on the receiving end of a well-fired assault weapon burst.
And remember to fire in bursts! Don't just hold the thing down like it's the nozzle on a gas pump, or if you must treat it like that just act like you're trying to pump in exactly $20 and you've already put in $19.75. Quick squeezes, otherwise you're gonna be dancing that gun all over your screen and into your grave.
As for the pistol, it's like all those signs that say "in case of emergency." If you're in a firefight and run out of ammo, switch to it instead of reloading.
To facilitate this, you can select the pistol and then select your automatic before a fight. This allows you to hit the 'Q' key to quickswitch to your previous weapon. Some players might just hit '2' when they need it, but 'Q' has always been easier for me.
As for the fist, use it only when the above has failed you, or if you're feeling frisky.
Tell me where I'm totally off my rocker, or if I've left out something critical.
---------------
The first thing to understand about Assault is the basic philosophy of the class, which is spelled out explicitly in the name. Your job is to attack aggressively and be in the thick of things. You don't have the long range luxury of a rifleman, sniper, or even support. You don't have the defensive capabilities of an MG. You don't have the single awesome power of an eviction notice rocket. You're designed to get in the thick of it and take key positions from the enemy.
That being said, you're Assault. You're not Cannon Fodder. If you know there's an MG or sniper somewhere, don't die needlessly. There are plenty of ways for you to deal with a threat like this that do not involve going Lemming into a meat grinder. These guys are designed to be incredibly difficult to close distance on, darn near impossible in the hands of a decent player. Make them play your game.
Understanding this should make it easier to understand how to use the Assault class effectively, and everything it's been given.
To begin with, the most unique feature of the Assault class. The smoke grenade.
Improper use of smoke is one of the most annoying things to encounter, as it has the exact opposite effect of its correct application.
Many new players will throw smoke into places thinking "No one can see into smoke." For example, a wermacht Assault might throw it into the Allied second on Avalanche before charging in from Fountain, or right before the sand bags. In doing so, they hope to hide their run into the flag and make them a more difficult target to hit.
While smoke used like this can make you harder to hit, it's also a smoke grenade that's not used to it's full potential. You only get one per life, so don't waste it! A smoke cloud isn't huge, and only obscures a small portion of the battlefield. An MG laying down cover fire can still take you out if he knows all he has to do is fire into the smoke, since that's where you probably are. Meanwhile, you're in the thing as blind as a bat.
That "blind as a bat" effect is what you want to be doing to the other team, not yourself and your teammates. Deploy smoke not to obscure YOU but to obscure as much critical visual area for the enemy as is physically possible. Throw it at them, not at you. If it helps, think of it as a flashbang. Once that thing goes off, anyone in it can't see anything. MG's have no clue where or when to fire, snipers are now only a class with slow refire time and no way to pick you off at range.
For the Assault class, the well placed smoke grenade is the great equalizer. Use it wisely. If you do so, you and your team will benefit immensely.
Why is it such an equalizer? Cause you have to be close. Your tommy gun or machine pistol will make you a terror in close quarters, but you're just free points when you're down the stretch from someone.
Push avenues that emphasize your strengths. Apartments, sewers, and church are classic examples. If you find yourself able to wade successfully through opposition in apartments on Avalanche, but get capped as soon as you run for the Allied or Wermacht second, then you're experiencing what I'm talking about. Those long stretches (the hill down to Allied first, the whole front line down the Axis buildings til the sandbags) are perfect death traps ready to be sprung by every class that's built to beat you.
That being said, there are times when you need to join the pile of bodies getting stacked up somewhere. If your team is pushing something like fountain or bridge and needs warm bodies to capture it, make sure you're lending a helping hand. The most other classes aren't as equipped as you are to deal with a strong counter-push. MGs and snipers will probably be able to deal with incoming enemies, but they're usually deployed too far from the flag to capture it. Get in there to literally and figuratively take one for the team. Capture that flag, and be another person that has to be killed in order to stop a cap.
You do this because you're expendable. One dead Assault is not as game changing as an MG that's down. There's a reason that no one calls out "Can someone deal with the Assault they've got camping their second?" You're a force to be reckoned with, but you don't secure lanes like other classes, you travel the lanes!
With this in mind, help out those other classes! Especially MGs!
Drop ammo! If you don't know how, it's the 'H' key by default. Give it to MG's, rockets, snipers, and right-click fist support (j/k you avid support classers).
Pick up grenades, pick up grenades, pick up grenades! Think about how you deal with an MG. You toss smoke or a frag at it, right? Don't let that happen to your MGs! If they're deployed and the enemy knows where they are, it's just a matter of time for them. They can't sprint out of frag range as easily as you can. Pick up the grenade (default: 'E'), hope that it hasn't been expertly cooked, and toss it back.
Which brings me to the next point.
Cook your grenades, cook your grenades, cook your grenades! It may take you a little while to get the timing down, but three to four seconds is a good starting point for most places you're going to throw to. In case you don't know, cook your grenade by clicking and holding (you'll hear the pin pop out). This starts the countdown, and makes it harder for enemies to avoid having to type "NN" in allspeak.
Also, if you're sprinting when you unclick/release your grenade, you'll get a little extra distance on it. Try it out.
Lastly, the least difficult part of Assault. The guns.
In case you haven't got the message yet, or if you skipped to the end like some crazed fool, Assault doesn't have any range. Like zero. Sure, you can hit stuff at range, but usually not what you're aiming at. If you've ever felt like you put a full clip into a guy and he's still in the green after your dead, this might be why. With your Thompson or MP, keep things intimate. Don't go putting metal downrange in some sort of pissing contest with the snipers and riflemen. They win. Flank them, come in behind them, throw a grenade in there so they move somewhere else, do whatever you need to do to get in close.
When you're in close, aim for the chest. This isn't Shaun of the Dead. Your gun's going to raise up from recoil, so put a few short bursts into him and your gun will walk it's way up him.
There's few things more frustrating then turning a corner and being on the receiving end of a well-fired assault weapon burst.
And remember to fire in bursts! Don't just hold the thing down like it's the nozzle on a gas pump, or if you must treat it like that just act like you're trying to pump in exactly $20 and you've already put in $19.75. Quick squeezes, otherwise you're gonna be dancing that gun all over your screen and into your grave.
As for the pistol, it's like all those signs that say "in case of emergency." If you're in a firefight and run out of ammo, switch to it instead of reloading.
To facilitate this, you can select the pistol and then select your automatic before a fight. This allows you to hit the 'Q' key to quickswitch to your previous weapon. Some players might just hit '2' when they need it, but 'Q' has always been easier for me.
As for the fist, use it only when the above has failed you, or if you're feeling frisky.
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