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Introduction to Pro Detonator: -prime 1 Howdy y'alls, and welcome to the second installment of Yukie's pro anything guides. This article will talk extensively about the proper use of Thermal Detonators. Specifically, I will talk about the Combat Engineers using thermal detonators as a skill, but the technique can be used by any class who happens to pick up a pair of them. Now it's hard to TK anyone with thermal detonators unless they're really, really clueless. But mark my words: warn everyone that you're about to pro det: -prime 1 something before you go about doing it. If they're smart they'll move waaaaaaay out of your way This guide assumes that the CE (Combat Engineer) will be playing an "Army style" (ahem "roam style" or "marine style") game as opposed to a "dirty friggin' worthless noobhill camping" game. If you plan to play a noobhill (and all of its aforementioned decriptors) game then stop reading this guide, uninstall Warcraft 3, burn your computer, and kill yourself. Do it now. Pro Det: -prime 1 is only for Army style games. But what is Pro Det: -prime 1? Hehe... Pro Det is just what I call the incredibly psychotic use of thermal detonators in defeating bosses. A CE with pro det can defeat all kinds of bosses, if he's careful and intrepid enough*. In fact, in order to start using pro det, you pretty much have to be messed up in the head. But that's Okay, because as mental as we are, we get to blow stuff up. Lots and lots and lots of stuff. The Basics Before you can even begin to learn pro det: -prime 1 in a game, you must first tell your fire team leader to type -tc 7. Being pink is critical to the pro det learning process. Now as starting off as a level 1 combat engineer, you will want to put your first point into Nanosteel net. Why Net? Well, most people max out engy skills to 5 first, but I find this to be somewhat wasteful. You're going to be needing net a lot more than you will be needing repair or detonation cord. At level 2 I tend to get energy processor, because the extra 15% in mana regeneration is all kinds of totally sweet (and pretty much required when you want to lay more than 1 thermal det to kill a boss) However some people may want to put a point into crit if they happen to find the Energy Cell early in the game. Lastly I level up engy skills all the way to 5, and after that's done I'll level up nanosteel net to 5. How totally awesome is -5 armor and 6 seconds of immobility? Don't even answer that. Whenever you're about to pro det a boss, make sure the entire team is behind you. If someone's running around behind the boss you will probably explode his nubcaek little behind to pieces. Besides, he can lure the boss in a different direction and totally screw up your pro det. So always forcefully yell at your teammates to move or you'll blow them up. Remember, we're deranged, so we don't care if we TK... it's for the good of the people. Their sacrifices (or failure to pay attention) will not be in vain! Lastly, as pro det users, we must always use the buddy system. In this case our best buds are the pancor jackhammer, or a teammate of which we can run to screaming "OMFG SAVE ME I'M BLEEDIN OW IT HURTS OMG SAVE ME THERE'S SO MANY." The problem with finding the pancor jackhammer is that it is incredibly elusive. In small games it can be very hard to find. That's why before going out to recon in the early waves, it is customary to pray to the gods and perform the ritualistic dance. In order to do this, stand in front of a civillian and make sure you two are facing each other. Now, try to jump over him, but make it too far so the game won't let you and say "Distance too great." Your marine will make the jump animation but won't jump, so he'll just keep doing the animation, suspiciously looking like he's humping the poor civillian in front of him**. This is when you pray. It doesn't really matter what you tell them, but just make sure to be formal and polite. This is 100% scientifically proven to work. If you have your doubts, just ask PipeDream, who will confirm the validity of the ritual with boatloads of Quantum Physics equations you are guaranteed not to understand. The Specifics Thermal detonators cost 175 mana to use and have a gigantic blast radius. You can set the primer (time before explosion) with -prime x, where x is a digit from 1-9. They will deal 20,000 damage to all units within the radius after the allotted primer time. The blast itself is composed of 2 explosions that each deal damage. This is important because you want to trap bosses within both explosions in order to deal full damage. Note that explosions will always happen at the top of radius first before moving down. When picked up as an item, Thermal detonators come in pairs that can be stacked up to 5 in total. They work exactly the same as the skill. Strategy Dets have a wide variety of uses. Aside from blowing up bosses, you can use them to blow up parasite spores or caves. A total of 5 parasite spores will spawn randomly on the map and there are a total of 6 caves of which zulus can spawn. Blowing up the spores means less parasites will spawn from them (if you get them all, you will receive bonus EXP and you will no longer have to deal with parasites) and blowing up caves means less zombies will spawn (and bonux exp). Be sure to use -prime 9 when blowing these up because it's always better to be safe then sorry. It is, however, less efficacious to actively seek caves or spores during the misson... instead it is probably in your best interest to only blow them up when you are passing by and have the time. Pro Det: -prime 1 Strategy How to defeat bosses with thermal detonators. The trick in laying thermal detonators is understanding how the explosions occur. After the detonator has been planted you will have 1 second to move out of the blast radius. 1 second, however, isn't enough to escape the total blast radius of the detonator. The trick to surviving is that the explosions will occur at the top portion of the radius first before blowing up the entire circle. So move directly downward in 1 direction (moving diagonally or changing routes will waste too much time and lead you to certain death). In effect, you will be narrowly escaping the blast radius before the explosion reaches its very outer limits. • Image: Oh crap, better run! • Image: Lighting up a cigarette • Image: You sir, are owned A typical pro det will first involve activating sprint, then netting the boss, planting the termal, and running like hell. Activating sprint before you even run up to plant the det is essential because you don't want to waste time hitting Z + T when you have 1 second to run for your life. In the later waves your net can hold a boss for 3 or more seconds, and this can prove to be an invaluable asset in reaching the final boss. For instance, by the time loki comes around you should have net to level 2-3, which should buy you just enough time to SMAW him. It is probably in your best interest to save mana and use SMAW instead of thermals to defeat Loki. • Image: Oh no, Loki! • Image: Trap yo dumb ass • Image: Enjoy your SMAW Pro Det: -prime 2 Strategy In situations where you are unable to plant the thermal and run directly downward, you will have to use -prime 2 (you will probably use -prime 2 67% of the time). The strategy is the same, but in this case you will have just enough time to move in any of the cardinal directions (east, west, north, south) but remember to move in a straight line. -prime 2 should only be used in conjunction with level 2 or more net (unless dealing with slow targets such as the flesh composite) because most bosses will be able to run out of the radius as well. With prime 2, it is in your interest to try and run directly upward. If the boss should follow you up, the blast radius will hit him sooner since thermal det explosions always start top to bottom. • Image: Uh oh, 2 bosses... • Image: Holy Crap, I'm going to get a Two-fer • Image: Yeah, I totally just got a two-fer Once you have a good awareness of the blast radius this will become very easy. Your pro det can be facilitated with a Machine Gunner carrying a M240 Machine Gun and U-238 ammo who can "permastun" (that is, keep the boss constantly stunned so that he is rendered immobile) the boss, or a (imba) Delta Operator who has U-238 ammo. Note that you can safely run away from the blast radius without sprint, however, it's just easier with the movement bonus. A Delta Operator or Force Recon with sprint can get away with Pro Det: -prime 1 if he is very confident. An Infantry Unit Leader who can cast tactical stance on you would be helpful as well. Here's me owning a Flesh Composite followed by owning Lyganesh: • Image: Revelation is the best chapter EVER • Image: Crap, I messed up After messing up the first det, I ran down and planned to kill 2 birds with one stone: • Image: OK, round 2 • Image: I rule Conclusion Note that due to Moirae's high resistance, you will have to use two thermal detonators + 10 chain explosives in order to defeat him. Plant the first detonator to hurt him, then move on and plant the chains. You will have to wait until he's nearly over the chains before netting him and planting the thermal. -prime 1 is the best way to go about blowing up moirae, but if you have a stronger level of net, then feel free to prime 2. Eris is probably the smartest boss in the game, because she will actually run outside of the thermal detonator radius. You need level 5 net to even attempt to pro det Eris, and you want to use -prime 1. Otherwise feel free to just smaw her and rapid fire. Pro det is cooler though. You will have to use your judgement in avoiding civillian casualties and the destruction of item boxes. It is also not in your interest to lay detonators when there are several other zulus near your boss, lest you want to be poisoned (thus having movement speed reduced) or given the proverbial Discharge of GG (short circuit. Otherwise known as "RANDOM CHANCE FOR YOU TO DIE" ***). * "A fool knows no fear. A hero shows no fear." ** Azazel don't fix this bug! You will anger the NOTD Gods! *** It is scientifically proven that the ritualistic dance for the NOTD Gods will give you 100% "Discharge of GG"-free games. By the way, all of the screenshots except for the -prime 1 ones are from 1 game . This just goes to show how much a CE can rule if he has pro det. Basically, he makes the FO totally useless in smaller games |
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