X75

###### **Overview**

The X75 is an unpredictable weapon that shoots unique dynamic bullets. These small "shooting stars" travel quickly and burst on contact with an opponent, dealing area damage and knocking back opponents. Stars by themselves deal low damage each, and the semi-erratic shooting pattern makes it slightly harder to hit opponents. However, the unique knockback and movement supression makes the X75 a good defensive support pick, especially against groups of enemies.

###### **With the X75**

* A good strategy is to pin enemies against a wall and hit them with the X75 over and over again, as the shooting stars' knockback will slam them back into the wall repeatedly so they cannot move. This allows for an easy kill.
* The X75 is great for defending a player against charging opponents. The weapon can quickly deter them by quickly knocking back any incoming enemies. Players can also use the knockback feature to slightly boost themselves or their teammates, making it an excellent support weapon in a game of CTF.
* Remember the X75's shooting pattern which fires in oscillating (back and forth) angles. If you manage to land 3-4 hits on an opponent, you'll succeed in killing them. Its splash damage is also especially useful for crowd control and flushing out campers.

###### **Against the X75**

* The X75 is short in range. Typically when using it the shooting stars burst after barely leaving the edge of the screen. This means opponents with the X75 are vulnerable to long range attacks from weapons like the Barrett.
* As the X75 is a fairly unpopular weapon, many inexperienced players may struggle with the erratic physics of the shooting stars. Use this to your advantage and bait them into missing all of their shots, then attack while they are reloading.
* Beware of fighting in enclosed spaces: The X75's star bullets will do splash damage and knock players down, locking down and killing everyone in a small space. Similarly, avoid getting cornered. Backing up against a wall while fighting is a foolish move - as mentioned before, X75 bullets will knock you back into the wall over and over until you die, making you an easy kill.

## **Trivia**

* The X75 is similar to a fictional futuristic plasma rifle. There is no other weapon aside from the X75 that can shoot bullets that explode in midair.
* The erratic shooting pattern of this weapon seems random at first, but it actually follows an undulating pattern. The shooting stars are fired back and forth repeatedly, up to down and down to up.
* X75 stars are not affected by gravity, but will act like rockets underwater, flying back upward.
* The oldest versions of the X75's stars were much larger and more erratic, also known to have high penetration (grenade piercing) and bounce along walls. This allowed ricochet tricks to be performed, similar to the Shock Rifle and Pulse Gun. During this time you could also kill yourself much more easily by bouncing the X75 bullets off a surface back towards you. The stars could apparently lag out many players during this period.
* Following the "Water Update" of 5/3/22, the X75's bullet size and erratic firing pattern was drastically toned down. After the October update which featured the release of Boomerang, Uzi, and M60, the X75's ricochet ability was removed completely.
* Additionally, X75 originally had a smaller capacity of 5 and higher damage in a larger impact radius, but was later rebalanced to have 6 weaker stars with a decreased radius. The X75's knockback was initially higher upon release as well, which was later buffed even further before being nerfed back to its current state. This makes it one of the most rebalanced weapons in the game.
* During its period of absurdly high and unbalanced knockback, X75 surpassed even the M79 in rocket jumping potential, as it provided a similar amount of momentum with 5 extra bullets. It could be used to easily rocket jump up onto the spawn building in Training mode, and to effortlessly travel back and forth between bases in Capture the Flag at extremely high speeds.