Platoon Leader Guide

A Platoon Leader Guide

Stats:

* 44 - 52 Ranged Damage (Damage will vary depending on rankset and rank.)
* 15 range
* 1 armor
* 2.9 movement speed (Movement speed will vary depending on rankset and rank.)
* 420 health (Health will vary depending on rankset and rank.)
* 200 energy

Skills:

* Soldier Skills
* Marksmanship
* Leadership Skills (Aura Skilltree)
* Leadership
* Training

* Soldier Skills 1: Grants +2 Fitness, Dexterity, and Mechanical. Can perform Self-Aid and reduces reload/unjam time by 15%.
* Soldier Skills 2: Grants +2 Fitness, Dexterity, and Mechanical. Can now use Burst-Fire and reduces reload/unjam time by 30%.
* Soldier Skills 3: Grants +2 Fitness, Dexterity, and Mechanical. Gain .1 movement speed and reduces reload/unjam time by 45%.
* Soldier Skills 4: Grants +2 Fitness, Dexterity, and Mechanical. Obtain the Gas Mask that will make you immune to smoke and gas grenades. Can now use Rifle Butt which pushes enemy light units away by 2 blocks and deals 11 damage. Also reduces reload/unjam time by 60%.

Marksmanship:

* For each and every level you will gain 4 dexterity (8% ranged damage, 4% attack speed, and 1 range) while also obtaining the critical strike system that has a 12.5% chance of proccing for every bullet. Your critical strike damage will also be upgraded by 2.5 per level.

Leadership Skills:

* Leadership Skills 1: Grants an aura that gives you and surrounding allies 5% increased damage, +.02 movement speed, +10% reload speed, and the ability to use binoculars.
* Leadership Skills 2: Grants an improved aura that gives you and surrounding allies 8% increased damage, +.035 movement speed, +15% reload speed, and the ability to use a field aid kit.
* Leadership Skills 3: Grants a further improved aura that gives you and surrounding allies 11% increased damage, +.05 movement speed, +20% reload speed, and the ability to use smoke grenade and laser designate.
* Leadership Skills 4: Grants the final improved aura that gives you and surrounding allies 15% increased damage, +.065 movement speed, +25% reload speed, and the ability to use Concentration and Medical Pod.

Leadership:

* Leadership 1: Allowed to recruit 1 LN that isn’t an Automatic Rifleman, Combat Medic, Combat Engineer, SDM, Javelin Gunner, and Flamethrower.
* Leadership 2: Allows the recruitment of Automatic Rifleman and Combat Medics while also improving AI.
* Leadership 3: Allows the recruitment of 2 LNs in total.
* Leadership 4: Allows the recruitment of Combat Engineer, SDM, Javelin Gunner, and Flamethrower. Also when combined with Training 4 you are able to obtain Platoon Leader Sergeant.

Training:

* Training 1: Improves the damage, attack speed, range, magazine capacity, and reload time of your recruited LNs.
* Training 2: Allows recruited LNs to learn their 1st set of abilities.
* Training 3: Improves the damage, attack speed, range, magazine capacity, movement speed, life, and shields of recruited LNs.
* Training 4: Allows recruited LNs to learn their 2nd set of abilities. Also when you combine this with Leadership 4 you are able to obtain Platoon Leader Sergeant.

Play styles:

There’s about 3 play styles that I think can actually work quite well.

1. The 1st one is literally where you go for LNs first and then going training and auras. The most standard of PL builds. 4 Leadership => 4 Training => 4 Leadership Skills (Aura). The rest can be poured into either marksmanship or soldier skills, but I recommend putting the rest of the points into soldier skills for the extra bonus that is awarded for Concentration (instead of being 25% increased damage aura => 40% increased damage aura).
2. The 2nd one is where you go to Auras first and then LNs later. 4 Leadership Skills (Aura) => 3 or 4 levels into Leadership => 4 Training. This is usually used in boss mode where the PL is subjected to being the Aura boi. If he has both the aura and his NM SI, then he’s a really good support for the dps.
3. The last one is where you go commando PL. A one man army who cares nothing for his LNs. 2 Soldier Skills => 4 Marksmanship => 4 Leadership Skills (Aura) => 2 Soldier Skills. The 1st two levels is for burst fire which you will later on complement that dps with crits and your auras. Later on you max out your soldier skills for the maxxed benefits of 40% increases damage from the ability, Concentration.

Normally I go as the normie PL build, because currently if you can keep all of his minis alive that are given to you and you are able to find the right LNs for dps. You’ll literally be able to solo carry your team harder than any normal person in the game. Usually I would go for 4 LN Automatic Riflemans or 4 LN Flamethrowers. I would also place the weapon “Styner BR-3” onto my hero unit and pass items that are able to provide more dps towards the LNs instead of minis. Most minis do not have the option to crit and also their damage does not get increased from the Training skill tree. So passing the dps items to the LNs is a much better idea. Using the abilities of minis and LNs including your hero to the fullest is a must. Platoon Leader is a micro-intensive hero that can lead many units into battle and support many rear-ends. You must have an extensive knowledge about all of the abilities that the minis/LNs/hero has or just every hero in general. Many of the abilities that the minis and LNs have are heavily based on the hero units themselves, but are degraded in various parts due to not being “properly equipped.” Being able to fully utilize his abilities and all of the minis/LNs will allow you to dominate the battlefield.

Picking SIs:

Build #1 SIs:

* IS BL - These SIs are the fundamentals of the build. Allowing your minis, LNs, and nearby allies to have increased atk speed, dmg, reload speed, and movement speed.
* IS BB - If you want the increased atk speed, reload speed, and movement speed while also wanting a free mini, you can do this.
* BL BB - If you want the increased dmg and a free mini then you can do this.
* BB IS (PL’s NM SI) - You can have a free mini of your choosing while also having both BL and IS aura with improved aura radius (18 radius => 25 radius).

Build #2 SIs:

* Same SIs can be picked from Build #1 SIs and Build #3 SIs depending on whether you want to go rambo PL with auras or a PL with an army/LNs.

Build #3 SIs:

* QT HE - Still has low xp and wants to reload faster, have more vision, more range, and detection
* VT CL - has high xp and wants to dish dmg without jamming
* VT MA - just more dmg
* VT BL -  t3 recommended, but can deal a lot more damage than VT MA
* BL CL - solid t3 killer without jamming along with auras to complement
* MA BL - It’s neat if you don’t want to go VT a.k.a. Glass cannon
* MA CL - Solid build without jamming and dealing good amounts of damage

In-Depth Gameplay:

* As a PL main there is something that should always be done when you have an army and that is to save as many lives as possible. As a PL you are given the option to save as many minis and LNs as you can while utilizing the abilities of an entire army. I will go into the specifics of what minis can do including LNs and the PLS and PL for the many abilities and combos that you can make. If anything PL is a super-hybrid-carry class that can change the tides of war as long as the PL is competent and on his toes.

Rifleman:

* Mini riflemans have the ability to self heal, burst fire, and throw a grenade.
* LN Riflemans have a 3x crit with additional dps bonuses from Training, an ability to self heal, the abilities to throw grenades and smoke grenades, and the ability to use burst fire. They also have riflebutt so they can shove t3’s away.
* If you have a lot of riflemans then with the bpen (bullet penetration) system now being linear, you can position your squad of riflemans to bpen loads of t3s. Leading t3s to edges and making them turn left or right will make them squished up and much more linear than being wide, thus allowing you to fully bpen the entire group. You can also utilize the grenades and smoke grenades while in sticky situations. If you know you can’t deal with a group and you’re surrounded then you can decide which direction you want to go to. Then throw grenades in the direction you want to go to soften up the crowd while simultaneously throwing smoke grenades behind you or spreaded so you can easily escape. With burst fire on you can stutter-step your way out of the crowd while also a-clicking certain individuals to escape. Just be very careful with the bpen system since your own units can also bpen your other units if there happened to be units leaping into the squad.

Automatic Rifleman:

* Mini Automatic Rifleman have the ability to self heal, 3x crit, and the ability to use suppressive fire which will allow him to shoot faster because he can ignore the burst counter entirely.
* LN Automatic Rifleman has the ability to self heal, 3x crit, the suppressive fire ability, and incendiary rounds. He has more dps due to Training and is able to shred through more zombies than the normal automatic rifleman, whilst ignoring the burst counter if suppressive fire is used.
* Now I’m not entirely sure if people are aware of this, but with the burst counter being ignored by suppressive fire and the AR is now able to shoot 3 times instead of bursting 3 times and waiting. This is a huge difference that is put into the game. If an AR is able to grab a minigun or use suppressive fire he is now able to ignore the burst entirely and shoot 3 times every time the attack speed allows it to. Which is usually incredibly low like .1 atk speed. You are now effectively shooting more rounds than an actual rifleman using his burst fire. Thus creating the ultimate dps machine. However, you need to make sure your automatic riflemans are at a safe spot if you want to maintain his hardcore dps. They are slowed by 90% and if proned to increase more dmg, they will become unable to move. I can only recommend proning and using suppressive fire in dangerous areas if you have the reaction time or vision to see leapers/invis/flyers from afar so that you can shoot them down leisurely. Using these ARs to hold down specific areas will also increase the survivability of the team because he can solo a lot of areas by himself. The only downside is that his minis and LNs can die really fast if he doesn’t support himself correctly.

Combat Medics:

* Mini medics have the ability to cast Self-heal, and the abilities to use blood transfusion and Nano-injection, however it is only the basic abilities of healing. So the medic can’t treat severs and poisons.
* LN Medics have the ability to cast self-heal, and the abilities to use blood transfusion, Nano-injection, Adrenaline, and Pain Killers. Still has basic healing so can’t cure severe and poisons, however is able to use drugs. Adrenaline is able to increase movement speed and atk speed by a huge degree. This can greatly aid teammates if there’s a lot of ailments and healing to be done while also giving drugs to kiters or to dps to stimulate their atk speed. Pain Killers are able to increase the max hp by 100 and able to ignore certain movement debuff, such as cliff injury or prone and etc. It also increases movement speed to a certain degree where you can just outrun anything. It is a very handy drug to use that can keep people alive while reducing movement debuff and increasing movement speed. They also have riflebutt so they can shove t3’s away.

Combat Engineer:

* Mini combat engineers have the ability to cast self-heal and are able to place down an M1 MMG Sentry Gun. You do not need to place a magazine into the sentries as long as you self destruct it and place a new sentry. You’ll have a brand new machine with 200 rounds in it.
* LN combat engineers have the ability to cast self-heal and the abilities to place either an M1 MMG Sentry Gun or an M1 Flamethrower Sentry Gun. Can also repair and throw cluster rockets that deal 600 dmg per rocket. The ability throws 3 rockets within a radius of 4 that can be thrown within a radius of 20. MMG turrets are quite simple, but I recommend using the flamethrower turrets to really shred through t3s, especially if they swarm up. Using MMG turrets is highly recommended when you have the advantage of terrain and vision of the area. They also have riflebutt so they can shove t3’s away.
* The turrets can be used to facetank certain leapers to take care of yetis, leapers, flyers, and etc. It can be used as a great get-away, but to use it as only that is also a great way to lose on major dps. You should always be using the turrets to maintain high dps and survivability for yourself and the team. Also if you can’t really micro too well, but love the PL class then you can go to CEs and build turrets to keep your stuff alive in case you get jumped on. Then you won’t need to micro too much while also keeping your cool in the midst of battle.

Squad Designated Marksman (SDM):

* Mini SDMs have the ability to use binoculars, can 3x crit, and have the self-heal ability.
* LN SDMs have the ability to cast self-heal, 3x crit, able to place down cameras, and have weak-point targeting which allows them to deal 15% more damage towards armored targets.
* SDMs are a great way to binoc your way to victory. You are able to free your inventory space of flares because you can use binoculars. The PL himself has binoculars while his PLS also have binocs. By having extra SDMs means more vision to utilize your range and damage. This can also be very helpful when dealing against PMCs. Being able to reveal them before they can is very important. Utilizing binocs while getting chased by invis allows your units to shoot them too. Main reason why I usually don’t carry a flashlight, but I would still carry a flashlight just in case. Setting up cameras can provide a lot of extra vision. This also decreases the need to use flares so u can save up for more important missions and areas to flare in case of ambushes/surprises. Scouting ahead with binoculars is also a great way to recon your way to victory. Being careful of enemies and their plausible paths should always be considered when you have an army that can die incredibly fast if revealed first.

Javelin Gunner:

* Mini Javelin Gunner has the ability to cast self-heal and the ability to cast an MRL. This MRL has 2700 - 3100 dmg and deals less damage towards armored targets. It’s more useful vs. t3’s, t2’s, and just mass clear in general. If anything you can also use this to weaken certain t1’s. Like Hunters, yetis, and lacertis.
* LN Javelin Gunner has the ability to cast self-heal, the ability to dis-arm, the ability to cast an MRL, the ability to place a claymore, and the ability to set down an explosive charge. They also have riflebutt so they can shove t3’s away.  I’d recommend using javelin gunners to help the actual javelin gunner fuel up his explosive charges so he can save on energy whilst throwing out his own rockets. You can also support the team by placing a lot of claymores and throwing rockets yourself. However, the bad side of using MRLs is that they have low damage vs. t1’s and have a 2 minute cd. They can hurt allies if communication b/w the kiter didn’t work out so well. So you have to be careful on what you’re rocketing. If anything I can only recommend this to people that have a lot of experience with explosives, or if you have movement scanner, or a lot of vision.

Flamethrower:

* Mini Flamer has the ability to cast self-heal, a passive napalm burn that only stacks once depending on how many mini flamers there are, and the ability to use Fuel Discharge. 450 damage cone within a radius of 8.
* LN Flamer has the ability to cast self-heal, a passive napalm that is similar to the heroic units napalm, which can stack up to 10x, has the ability to use Fuel Discharge, and the ability to use Plasma Shield. Which will grant 400 shield points. They also have Hard Armor. A passive that reduces incoming damage by 15%. They also have riflebutt, so they can push t3’s around and clear the way.
* Flamers are a great way to clear your way out of a sticky situation or dealing with minor zombies in a blink of an eye. Instead of waiting for a grenade to land or for an MRL that will take a 1 second cast time. You can immediately cast Fuel Discharge if anything ever gets near. This is also great to utilize when there are jumpers. Such zombies would be yetis and leapers. If you are able to have enough flamers then you can delete the yetis from existence, but usually only 1-2 flamers are needed to delete leapers. Flamers do not cause bpen as well or any type of friendly fire.

Platoon Sergeant:

* Platoon Sergeant has the ability to cast self-heal, the ability to use binoculars, the ability to use an MGL, which will deal 550 damage within a radius of 4~5 that is within a castable radius of 15. Has the ability to also place down a camera, toggle burst-fire, 3x crits, and has a passive aura himself. Which increases weapon range of all nearby allies by 2 and decreases ability cd by 8%. They also have riflebutt so they can shove t3’s away.
* The PLS is a super LN. He is spawnable/droppable when you reach lv4 on both Training and Leadership. Thus requiring a lv8 PL. He is very worth getting because he can do a lot of scouting/recon with his binocs and camera while also being handy in sticky situations with MGL. Utilizing his burst-fire just like any rifleman can also clear t3s and t2s quite quickly.

PL:

* The PL himself is a hyper-carry depending on what mode you’re doing. He can be the man you never deserved or perhaps the one-man support. His auras along with his army can have a huge effect on the battle that takes place. Many times as PL I’m able to deftly swipe away the kills from your boi Eclipsed/Warrior/Dusk (Jav Gunner Main). By utilizing his abilities to the fullest you’re able to get a mixture of a hybrid from him. His abilities to recon, dps, lead and army, and support with auras is all mixed together if you can get him to higher levels. If you can keep the entire army alive while being entirely active on the battlefield, you’ll sooner or later garner the acknowledgement of being a really good player. However, this doesn’t come easy, because you need a lot of knowledge of the other classes that are his minis/LNs. You need to know the hotkeys of all the abilities in order to quickly maintain the hordes of zombies coming your way. You need to be very aware of the game mechanics and what zombies can do, while actively being on the frontlines. How PL can be super useful is being on the frontlines and always rotating b/w kiters and helping them out, is how I play. By frontlines I mean literally being on the same ground floor as the kiters and being near them. Your minis/LNs do not have enough range to actually shoot from clifftop without moving. You will need to always be on the move and not rest for a single moment until you achieve that victory.