Aerial
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— The Soldier on sending foes to their midair death
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An aerial, also known as an air shot, midair, or middy, is when a player shoots or kills an enemy that is airborne. This is used as an area-denial tactic that can be utilized by almost any class to prevent enemies from gaining height, or to throw the enemy off course and make them easier targets. The knock back from your attack will deny that player any more vertical or horizontal advancement, and disrupt the opponent's flight, making them an easier target.
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Aerials
Soldier
Due to the slow projectile speed of the Soldier's Rocket Launcher, landing accurate aerials can be difficult. Successfully hitting an airborne target requires the player to know where the enemy will be when the rocket reaches them. Because of this, in order to land an aerial as a Soldier, you need to have good timing, and be familiar with the projectile speed of the Rocket Launcher you are using.
The Rocket Launcher isn't the Soldier's only means of performing aerials, however. Explosive jumps can be stopped with the Shotgun to conserve Rocket Launcher ammo. One strategy is to aerial an enemy with a single rocket, then follow it up with a few shots from their Shotgun. The Reserve Shooter augments this technique by scoring mini-crits on airborne enemies for 5 seconds after switching from their Rocket Launcher or melee.
Aerials are a crucial aspect of one of the primary weapons available to the Soldier - the Direct Hit. This Rocket Launcher mini-crits targets that have been bounced into the air by an explosion. This effect does not apply to enemies launched into the air by other means. Regardless, the faster projectile speed of the Direct Hit, as well as that of the Liberty Launcher, make them extremely useful tools for any Soldier trying to successfully make an aerial hit.
Pyro
A Pyro can perform aerials with the compression blast, or by firing a flare from the Flare Gun. Performing an aerial with the compression blast is difficult, and only works in certain situations. When a compression blast aerial occurs, the enemy shoots at the Pyro from the air. The Pyro then reflects the rocket or grenade, redirecting the projectile to intercept the enemy's flight path. It is also possible for the Pyro to reflect one projectile at an enemy on the ground, launch him into the air and reflect a second projectile into the airborne opponent.
Flare Gun aerials offer the ability to ignite enemies and perform critical hits on targets that are already burning as the enemy is hit. Since enemies will be on fire upon landing, players equipped with the Axtinguisher can follow up the Flare Gun aerial with a guaranteed critical hit. If there is any water or a Health kit nearby, your enemy will probably attempt to land on or in it.
The Reserve Shooter scores mini-crits on airborne targets for 5 seconds after switching weapons, allowing Pyros to shoot jumping or compression blasted enemies for extra damage.
If there isn't any water or nearby health kits, the enemy will usually abort his flight path and retreat. The enemy is likely to have taken significant damage from the combined impact of rocket jumping, fall damage, and burning. The Flare Gun's range and guaranteed critical hit on burning targets can aide you in your attempt to kill the enemy before they retreat to a safe location.
Demoman
The Grenade Launcher and Stickybomb Launcher both fire their respective projectiles in an arc. While the Grenade Launcher is similar to the Rocket Launcher in terms of stats and function, the arc that the projectile makes as it fires through the air can be much harder to compensate for, and can take a player time to learn the difference between the two. The grenade projectile travels at approximately 1065 Hammer units per second, and will detonate under two circumstances; either on direct contact with an enemy or after a set interval.
In contrast, the stickybomb projectile fires somewhat slowly and heavily, at 805 hammer units per second. The Stickybomb Launcher can charge projectiles, similar to the Huntsman. While the Demoman does not suffer any loss of speed during a projectile charge, the Stickybomb Launcher can only carry a projectile like that for a short while. The Stickybomb Launcher replacement, the Scottish Resistance, suffers a slightly longer prep duration for a fired projectile than the Stickybomb Launcher.
While a bit more difficult to fire in time than the grenade, it is quite possible to perform aerials with a Stickybombs by detonating them in mid-air. Stickybombs do not need to make contact with an enemy to cause damage, and have powerful knock back.
Despite their power, the Stickybomb Launcher projectile is quite slow, and a Demoman being faced with a fast-approaching enemy would be better off using their Grenade Launcher. If an enemy has closed the gap too tight, a Demoman would be better off using their melee weapon to attack, as the explosive radius from either their primary or secondary weapon would deal a lot of damage to the user as well.
Engineer
With a Wrangler, an Engineer is capable of utilizing the rockets from his Level 3 Sentry Gun. While the Sentry Gun was always an invaluable counter to airborne targets, its limited range often impacted its effectiveness, and left the Engineer unable to prioritize certain targets when faced with an enemy push.
With the Wrangler's manual control, an Engineer is capable of deciding who he directs his firepower toward. In general, the technique is similar to the Soldier when using the Rocket Launcher to stop airborne enemies. Watch their trajectory, and wait for your enemy to begin their descent, aiming your shot to strike where they're going to land. As with any other more advanced maneuver practice is key.
The Wrangler offers a benefit that the Rocket Launcher and Grenade Launcher lack: a laser sight to assist your aim. With the Wranglers' laser, you can always tell where your rocket will go before you fire it. Be aware that this laser is visible to the enemy as well.
Sniper
With the Sniper Rifle's scope, an aware Sniper is capable of stopping most mid-air enemies in their tracks. Typically, one shot will prevent an enemy from closing in on a Sniper from above. Enemies flying through the air will have needed to damage themselves to gain that height, so a single shot won't just stop their advancement, but might also cause them to retreat. While smaller, stopping a Scout can prove just as simple for an observant Sniper.
Watch their jumps, and note when a Scout leaves a smoke trail behind his feet. This is a visual representation that he has used his double jump ability, and will be unable to dodge your shot. Ready your shot for where your enemy is going to be by letting them fall into your scope instead of trying to follow them with it.
Successfully performing an aerial with the Huntsman is, however, different in that the power and arc of the arrow projectile depend on the length of time it was initially charged. This can cause slightly unpredictable projectiles, a shallow flight path, and increased power in comparison to the Sniper Rifle. A single fully-charged arrow to the mass of an enemy can be enough to kill a medium-heavy class, such as the Demoman or Pyro.
Practicing aerials
Soldier and Demoman
Practicing Soldier and Demoman aerials proves to be a near compulsory step to quickly advance in consistently landing accurate aerials. Here are some tips on how to practice aerials as a Soldier or Demoman:
- Create a new server, running the map Walkway. Proceed to the launch pad options, and enable launch pad. You can set the launch pad power to whatever you wish. Fire at the bots as they fly into the air to practice aerials. Another helpful thing to do is to set the bots as Soldiers, Demomen and Scouts, as these will be the main classes you will be landing aerials on, and will help you to get used to the hitboxes on these classes models.
- Join an MGE server, play as either a Soldier or Demoman, and duel either a Soldier or a Demoman. However, it is recommended to duel a Soldier, as they Rocket jump more frequently than a Demoman would Sticky jump.
- Join a server running the map plr_hightower. Hightower is a map that is known for having many soldiers or Demomen performing explosive jumps to navigate the map.
How to counter
As an aerial shot is meant to put the opponent in a position in which he is unable to protect himself from incoming projectiles, learning how to counter an aerial can be crucial to surviving. Though one is able to take the damage in a way that may propel them to shelter, they will have difficulty avoiding a follow-up shot with their back to the enemy. Another tactic is to reverse your position with them by strafing your way to equal ground, and propelling your opponent in to the air with your own weapon, when using this tactic, be careful of enemy team mates around the area.
As a Pyro, you are able to use your secondary compression blast ability to redirect incoming projectiles to your opponent. Compression blasts can reflect almost any projectile, from rocket to arrow, right back to the player that fired it. The projectile reflected will be given mini-crit status, and will retain critical status if the shot was critical. With this advantage, a Pyro always has a fighting chance against someone attempting to perform an aerial, whether on the high ground or the low ground.
Common rules
- The ability to consistently perform aerials is seen as an indication of proficiency with a particular class. Continual practice is key.
- Aerials force your enemy in to a temporary immobile state. You decide where they fall and you decide how much damage they take as they fall. Since they're only capable of strafing slightly, an agile player can easily protect their self by getting away from the field of view of their enemy before they are able to try to retaliate. Though any retaliation will be difficult for them, as disorientation from their fall will make aiming difficult.
- If there is a Health kit nearby, your enemy will probably try to land on it. Use this to tell where your enemy will try to go, and hit them before they get there. If there is no nearby Health kit, they will probably flee to find a Medic. If a Soldier is the enemy being targeted by an aerial attack, he will most likely attempt to pull out the Equalizer and fight you with that. This can be an opportunity to easily finish them off with your primary weapon, or simply finish them off with your own melee weapon.
- Watch their trajectory, and wait for your enemy to begin their descent, aiming your shot to strike where they're going to land. As with any other more advanced maneuver practice is key.
- Projectiles spawn from the barrel of your first-person weapon viewmodel, resulting in a slight horizontal offset. This means you should compensate slightly more for airborne enemies moving away from your viewmodel than those moving toward it.
Related achievements
Scout
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Soldier
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Pyro
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Demoman
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Heavy
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Sniper
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See also
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