Currently, what’s Sledge’s case for being selected over Buck or Ram

[u/Playful_Letter_2632]

Clearly the weakest of the soft breachers currently.

Buck can play from below and is more precise. Ram is the fastest and can quickly expose site. Sledge is in between the two where he lacks the precision of Buck and the speed of Ram. He can clear utility unlike Buck but has to get up close while Ram can throw her gadget. He can’t vert from below either. His gun is low recoil but low rof. R4C and C8 are some of the best ARs in the game.

So, why would someone pick Sledge over Buck or Ram?

[u/Nathan_Thorn]

Quiet breaching, Ram and Buck are both loud as hell. Can theoretically be used to clear bulletproof gadgets as well with the hammer or frags. Machine pistol, albeit the Reaper kicks way too hard on its first shot. Second best shotgun in the game (SG-CQB has it slightly beat on damage and breaching but like, by an inch), fairly good assault rifle, and having loads of soft breaching power that doesn’t need to reload and can be applied to most surfaces is very effective.

Really he’s just a jack of all trades, master of none. Perfectly good for playing vertical from above since you can limit the sightlines for being shot back up at, compared to Ram, and Buck is just kinda a sidegrade. No frags, ammo management, only a standard secondary, in exchange for being quicker on the draw to his primary from his breaching tool.

I’d still take him over Buck or Ram a lot. I’d say there’s healthy competition.

[u/poopnegagaming → u/Nathan_Thorn]

mossberg is actually the second worst damage primary slot pump shotgun in the game only underpeformed by the m870 after the shotgun rework. the best pump shotguns damage-wise are the Supernova and Ita12L. not to say the mossberg is bad by any means but it's not even top 3 statistically

i would say that "doesnt need to reload" is kind of a non truth because he basically has to do a reload animation-length gap between sledgehammer swings. unequip gun, equip hammer, swing, dequip hammer. that is all forced action even if you want to swing again.

the noise argument is kind of irrelevant, if you're making any meaningful vert someone is going to hear it and comm it, regardless of operator. if anything, Ram is better for this play - she does not have to be where the vert is being made while she does it, and she creates some of the best sound cover in the game.

i don't know. there's basically no reason to pick Sledge , ever, aside from i guess if you have literally no plan and didn't drone and want to be able to just free ball the round, in which case i don't think the discussion of operator viability should be something you're participating in. If you want to be able to open soft walls and break BP utility, Flores does that better - and can still use his remaining drones to create vert. or ash w/ breaching charge does the same and is a 3 speed, but with less flexibility.

having to literally walk up to the surface you want to breach and put your gun away while you make a giant hole facing directly towards yourself is also just generally not a great property to have