ARES Assault

## Overview

**Based On:** Accord Assault, ODM Tigerclaw, Astrek Firecat. From the now dead MMO Shooter "Firefall".
**Role:** Physical Ranged DPS
**Description:** An ARES Assault Pilot uses their battleframe to rain destruction over an area while staying highly mobile.

## Job Gauge(s)

### Weapon Mode Gauge

Indicates what weapon mode you are in
Primary (Plasma Cannon) or Secondary (Assault Rifle).
Primary skills are transformed into their secondary skill counterparts when in secondary mode, and vice-versa in primary mode.

### Fusion Charge Gauge

Indicates how much power you have charged up for your next Fusion Shot.
Min-max values are 0-100.
Charges up at 20 per sec. when Fusion Charge is cast.
Times out and cancels its charge if Fusion Shot is not cast within 5 seconds after achieving full charge.
Fusion Charge changes to Fusion Shot while charge is greater than 0.
While charge is greater than 0, no weaponskill except Fusion Shot can be cast, and the entire charge is used up on cast or if the charge times out and cancels.
### Accuracy Gauge

Indicates your current Spray and Pray accuracy.
Min-max values are 0-100.
Potency of Spray and Pray tapers off from full to 0 as this gauge depletes.
Deplates at 20 per sec. while Spray and Pray is active.
Recharges at 10 per sec. while Spray and Pray is inactive.
Cannot use other weaponskills while Spray and Pray is active.

## Basic Guide

Your Skill rotation only has one skill on the global cool down, but is about using the various OGCD skills appropriately.

You will have a separate rotation depending on whether you are in Primary Weapon Mode or Secondary Weapon Mode, although the skills for each mode and the uses thereof largely mirror each other.

Primary Mode is used for area damage to 3 or more enemies, while Secondary Mode is for quickly burning down single targets. The main attack skills of Secondary Mode are also faster paced, having half the cool down lengths as their Primary Mode counterparts.

In Primary Mode, your main GCD attack is Plasma Shot. Every three casts of Plasma Shot, your OGCD skill, Triple Shot, will come off cooldown, allowing you to weave it in.

In Secondary Mode, you will do the same thing, but the previous two skills will become Burst Shot and High-Velocity Shot. Plasma Shot is a gain on 3 over Burst Shot, while Triple Shot is a gain on 2 over HV Shot, since its shots will bounce back and forth between enemies. Unfortunately, Triple Shot will not scale up on any number of enemies greater than 3, since its shots only bounce 2 times (hitting 3 enemies).

The next OGCD skills to keep track of are Spray and Pray for secondary mode and the Fusion Charge/Fusion Shot combo for primary mode.

Spray and Pray is a toggle ability that starts/stops continuous fire, doing heavy DoT to your target. Other weapon skills can’t be used while this is on. While it's on, your accuracy job gauge gets depleted, and the rate of DoT will taper off to 0 as it does. The gauge recharges while you aren’t using continuous fire. So the trick is to use continuous fire whenever your gauge is high enough to dish out damage faster than you would do with your normal Burst Shot/HV Shot repetitions. You will just have to get a feel for this through experience.

Your primary-mode version of this is the Fusion Charge/Fusion Shot combo. Fusion Charge will begin charging your other job gauge bar: the Charge Gauge. This bar will take about 5 seconds to charge after you start charging it up, and you won’t be able to use any weapon skill besides Fusion Shot while it holds a charge above 0. Fusion Shot will deliver an AOE over a huge area that gets stronger the higher you’ve charged the bar, and will of course drain the entire bar. At a full charge, this attack is a gain on 6 enemies, over the 3 enemies you would use Plasma Shot/Tripple Shot for.

Overcharge can be used in both weapon modes for a 15-second self-buff to damage and skill speed. Use it on cooldown.

Next up we have Assault’s movement skills, and boy is this battleframe mobile. First you will get Afterburner. This is basically the same thing as Dancer's En Avant, but goes 50% farther, and just like Dancer, it will have 2 charges come level 68. Unlike Dancer, this skill is gained sooner at level 30, and it transforms into Inferno Dash at 50. Inferno Dash encourages you to use it as much as you can to spread fiery trails through your enemies. You will have to learn your encounters to know how much you can use it for this while still having it ready when you need it to move.

Assault also has yet another movement skill: Crater. This one strikes your destination with an AoE instead of leaving a trail of fire in your wake. Also take this skill into account when figuring out how much of your movement you can use for damage without using it all up before you need it for movement.

Last but not least is Immolation. This just burns enemies around you for a while. It’s a nice touch to use after Crater once you get it, but you will mostly just use it on cooldown whenever you can get within melee range of your foes.