Eagle Eye

Eagle Eye is an Eagle Empire commander. His theme revolves around sharpshooting, and use of small arms.

## Abilities - Passive

Sniper build speed increased by 100%.

Snipers and AP Snipers can be grouped.

Sniper and AP Sniper deviation reduced by 50%.

Sniper and AP Sniper reload reduced by 20%.

Miniguns have an automatic AntiAir option.

Miniguns fire instantly.

Sniper, AP sniper, Cannon, 20mm Cannon, Shotgun, Flak, Rockets, and Miniguns have laser sights.

(High Seas) Harpoons have laser sights.

Miniguns have 2 fewer rounds per burst.

Medium and heavy offensive weapons reload rapidly after not firing for one reload cycle plus 20%.

## Abilities - Active

Sniper, AP Sniper, Minigun, and Shotgun have explosive projectiles.

Machine Guns have 2 additional rounds per burst.

## Overview

True to his theme, Eagle Eye's abilities heavily emphasize the use of Snipers, with his abilities providing them with a wide array of buffs, like the double build speed, reduced shot spread, and the faster reload.

Their adjustable laser sights assist in aiming, and allow for easy, quick shots once calibrated and sighted in. This feature is also present on several other weapons, and aside from helping with the accuracy, can also be used to scout the opponent's base for concealed objects (in particular, detecting an opening door).

Laser sights can be adjusted by holding down the right mouse button and using the scroll wheel. Scrolling down will adjust downwards and scrolling up will adjust upwards.

One of the unique abilities of Eagle Eye is enabling the Snipers and AP Snipers to be grouped, aimed, and fired in tandem. This allows them to clear multiple tightly spaced weapons (such as Machine Gun walls), or pepper a single door with a volley of shots, once each Sniper from a group is aimed in at target.

Machine Guns and Miniguns also receive improvements, with the former gaining 2 more rounds per burst, and the latter gaining the ability to fire instantly without a usual spool up, as well as an automatic anti-air option, toggled via the right-click context menu.

His active ability provides most bullet-based weapons with explosive rounds, which will deal splash damage around the point of impact. Unlike regular bullets, explosive rounds *cannot* be deflected by slanted Armour.

Weapons affected by the active ability are the Sniper, AP Sniper, Minigun, and Shotgun. Included is a chart showing how much explosive damage each projectile gains:

Active Damage Values
 Splash Radius
 RoundsEachBurst
 Total Damage

## Playstyle

Eagle Eye excels at gaining and maintaining map control. Numerous Sniper perks grant him an upper hand in sniper duels, while abilities affecting the Machine Gun and Minigun strengthen his anti-air capability.

Keeping at least one Sniper up and running at all times is the key to getting the most out of his abilities. Grouped Snipers can be used in lieu of Shotguns in order to make short work of opponent's anti-air. A Sniper group can also be used to deliver a swift door snipe, by aiming each Sniper in the group at the weapon's door, and then tapping the refire key ("E" by default) the moment the door can be heard opening.

Laser sights are an important asset. Besides helping during the sniper battles - as mentioned earlier - they also affect several other weapons. Of special mention is the Cannon, one of the two heavy weapons receiving a laser sight (the other one being the 20mm Cannon). The high precision granted by a laser sight can make the Cannon significantly more threatening, although one should be wary of the inherent deviation of the weapon, occasionally causing the shots to veer off the target, even with perfect laser calibration.

Notably, the Firebeam and the Plasma Laser do not receive the laser sights, and are completely unaffected by Eagle Eye's abilities.

The Upgrade Center is an important building to Eagle Eye, as almost all weapons benefitting from his active ability require this technology. One particularly aggressive strategy is to try and field multiple batteries of Miniguns as fast as possible, in order to charge and release multiple barrages with the active ability, potentially causing serious damage to the opponent early on. Care must be taken however, as a Minigun attack can be completely neutralized in several ways (for example by building slanted Armour). Miniguns are also exceptionally vulnerable to Snipers, highly expensive, and slow to build. Should such an attack fail, it leaves Eagle Eye in a dangerous position, where he has no meaningful means of offense besides an Upgrade Center, facing an opponent who may be well on the way to heavy weapons technology.

His advantage in obtaining map control can potentially synergize well with builds utilizing weapons vulnerable to anti-air.

On the flipside, Eagle Eye, similarly to Scattershot, has abilities strengthening his own anti-air tools. His passive abilities cause the Machine Guns to fire 9 bullets instead of 7 each burst, while his Miniguns, having the automatic anti-air option, and the instant spool-less fire, can serve as effective means of defense even against Howitzer attacks. In exchange however, Eagle Eye's Miniguns fire two less rounds per burst in comparison to other commanders.

## Counters

Making the most out of Eagle Eye's abilities requires a heavy use of Sniper. This makes him a relatively APM-heavy commander, as keeping a constant harassment of the opponent while maintaining their own base requires high degree of dexterity and awareness at the same time, made even worse if Eagle Eye player decides to make use of multiple Snipers.

As they are low-hp early game weapon, Snipers are quite vulnerable, especially if exposed, where they are most effective. While they can be easily replaced due to double build speed, they cost Eagle Eye as much as any other commander, meaning every lost Sniper takes a toll on Eagle Eye's economy.

Snipers themselves can sometimes be countered by simply not giving Eagle Eye any targets to harass in the first place. His effectiveness is therefore slightly diminished on maps where it's possible to build Wind Turbines safely behind the base or the terrain.

Miniguns, while highly effective as anti-air, and posing a legitimate threat with the active ability, are nevertheless very costly in resources (at a hefty 200 metal per Minigun) and build time, require an expensive Upgrade Center, and are at the same time highly vulnerable, especially to Sniper attacks. As mentioned earlier, shutting down Eagle Eye's Minigun rush puts him at a tremendous disadvantage.

Eagle Eye typically struggles against defensive commanders, such as Overdrive or Architect. Should they survive the initial aggression and establish a stable economy, they can easily shrug off Eagle Eye's harassment.

Aside from the laser sights on the Cannon and 20mm Cannon, Eagle Eye has no abilities at all affecting late-game weapons, potentially putting him at a disadvantage against offensive commanders, such as Warthog or Scattershot.

## Trivia

* Eagle Eye has a hidden passive of reducing all weapon's drag by 10%.
* Eagle Eye received several nerfs a year or two after release. Initially, Machine Guns used to be one of the weapons also affected by his explosive rounds ability, allowing to easily deal catastrophic damage using the active ability. Additionally, AP Sniper rounds used to cause an explosion on *every single brace they penetrated*, as opposed to current state where this only happens at a point where the bullet stops. Both of these properties were removed in the patches, on top of reducing the Minigun burst by 2 bullets, in order to improve the balance of the commander on close-range maps.