Yes, you’re right.
Well, it’s more of my personal experience with the Dragoons than anything else. If you are a fan of reading personal first-person blog entries, then this one is for you. Otherwise, enjoy the show and get a move on!
Where does the Dragoon shine? What role does it serve?
The Dragoon is an energy weapon that happens to have burst damage. Even though the damage is not instantaneous (like the Shocktrain) or continuous and extremely damaging at close range (like the Scourge), the Dragoon’s range and damage is more than enough to deter opponents to come out into the open.
As such, it shines on maps like Dreadnought, Carrier, Springfield, Canyon and Yamantau, where there are just too many open angles for Dragoon carriers to play with.
Frankly, I stay on the Dragoon Fury for 80% of the entire match (8 minutes) and as a result, I mostly have the ability to throw bodies during the late game, which aren’t shabby to be honest (I have an Orkan Kumiho, Orkan Haechi, Taran Haechi and Thorkan Inquisitor left at this point in the game, which I use to bully the remaining members of the enemy team).
Nowadays though, a Dragoon player can even use it in close range and do a lot of damage – Haechis, Kumihos and all the soft-body robots would think twice before engaging you!!! I have used the Dragoon Fury successfully on maps such as Shenzhen, Dead City and Moon – forcing the enemy to spend resources to finish me off while my teammates have them for lunch (Expert League has lesser idiots than the lower levels. That is, unless you get into King of the Hill, where everyone sells their brains and become less than bots…)
How to play a Fury Dragoon?
Well, most people already know how to play a Fury Zeus, so it’s more or less the same principle to be honest. However, on open maps, just go to the maximum range, shoot the enemy and watch them melt as they shed virtual tears due to your extremely cheesy setup!
My current Dragoon Fury setup has two level 10 MK2 Dragoons and one level 10 MK1 Dragoon on it. Needless to say, every single enemy that I meet gets the fear of God when they see me shooting at them – even the physical shield of the Bulgasari is no match to the Dragoon’s energy!
What is your take on the Dragoon?
On open maps? Dragoon is a beast. The Scourge needs to come closer to get better damage, while the Shocktrain doesn’t have enough range to deal with it. Even the Tulumbas and Trident max out at 550-ish meters (I do not have the exact numbers, pardon me for that), so on most counts, the only solution for a Dragoon on a Fury is a Hydra setup…which may not be enough if the players decides to play conservatively and place an Ancile on it.
With that being said, it’s not that easy to operate a Fury Dragoon on close-quarters maps, especially with the all-in setup that I do with it. However, I still get a fair amount of damage, so there’s nothing really much to worry about.
How does one counter a Dragoon?
People counter Dragoons with Tulumbas Spectres on mid-range maps with suitable cover, as well as Hydra, Zeus and even Gekkos/Molots at some point. Of course, the normal suspects who carry Dragoons inside a game (Fury, Carnage and Natasha) have three hard counters: Trebuchets, knife fighters and the Pursuer (these stealthy robots are crazy, especially on maps with lots of cover). Take note: Bulwark is a completely different beast altogether…The Bulwark Dragoon should be banned outright from War Robots!!!
Of course, the fact that Dragoons are expensive to make plus the limited choices for its platforms make sure that it is not as common as the usual energy weapons on the field. Besides, let us not forget that there are a couple of players out there who actually have well-leveled Dragoon and needless to say, they are deadly in the right hands.
Common sense dictates that one should target Dragoon carriers as soon as they are seen on the field: When a Dragoon is alive, the team’s gameplay options become less.
Final thoughts
Dragoons are overpowered in the correct hands. With that being said, a team cannot field an army of Dragoons inside a game – the team that does this will definitely lose a ton of beacons. Besides, Dragoons, for all their crazy numbers, utility and strength…are rather hard to upgrade…
So, hope you enjoyed reading!
