Trident and shield query

For me on a Raijin they started to work really well at lvl 10, got my first million entirely because of this build. There is no difference in damage based on distance.
There is this delay but for me it doesn't impact the performance that much, you won't see that as a problem later.

If you want to do more damage, shoot in bastion mode. I found tridents very convenient on a Raijin because I can move around and go in bastion mode only for some seconds while I shoot. This allows me to do more damage with them while still moving around. The delay on tridents can be used smart here, as you can time it with going in bastion mode, when you have to walk around a lot.

An advice from a huge admirer of this build - there are lot of places you can hit reds through the wall because of splash (it has largest splash radius of all weapons), use this and your damage done in each battle will go up fast.

The two shields of the Raijin are much stronger than the Lance's shield, which is made of three pieces with 102.000 HP each at L12, but usually only the central one takes hits so in most cases is like having only one of the 3.

Low level Tridents are NOT indicative of their performance at higher levels.  They are still powerful and worthy of respect, but Anciles and fast robots have helped make them a 2nd or 3rd choice to Zeus or Trebs, or even a whole other build for MR to LR. 

RDBs became the fad for a while but now SuckLames seem to be the "choice" MR setup.   But that doesn't change the fact that 3 hits each from 2 properly leveled and boosted with Bastion Tridents will hurt any bot that gets hit.  If going against Ancile bots, shoot 1 Trident at a time so that both projectiles aren't hitting at the same time and this will drain the Ancile quicker.  It's best to wait for someone else to drain it to allow your higher damage Splash to do its job... but sometimes it helps the team more to knock down that Ancile for the DB Griff that is stalking the bot you are shooting at. 

Read the battlefield to know what to do... as you would in any bot.

Again, though, if you don't want to level them to at least 9, before using them, you will be disappointed in most leagues. 

Guys this is exactly the feedback I needed : thank you.

I've the normal Raijin (red) with zeuses and am having great success with him ... Um it.
So the blue Raijin was a reward from this current event. I've no idea where the tridents came from tbh, but it seems a shame not to at least try them out.

From what you've all said, I was a bit too quick to write off the tridents. I did neglect to add that I whipped them out in Gold 1 ... At level four ... So I'm gonna get to eight and see what happens.



The tips on using them convinces me that they're valuable.


I've another question (sorry ... I might rename those thread Withnailer's whys )

I read on wiki or perhaps somewhere here, to keep bots and weapons at level eight?
Going higher puts you against the heavies

Tridents are useful. I have mine at level 4, but I will level them in the future. At level 8 they do 4920 damage per projectile; in other words, they do 14,760 per clip. 2 can do almost 30k damage (29,520 for the sticklers), and with pins on a natasha they'll do even more. So I'd say keep them.

Yep, a few things. The splash dmg will hurt any bot in its radius. I did recent tests, and radius seems to have shrunken to 20m like Tulumbas/Pins. So aim in the middle of 2 bots, and you can possibly hit both and double your dmg! Of course, those 2 bots must be close to each other.

With the rise of Anciles, it takes a little bit more finesse. During this time, I adjusted my tactics and still tried to do the above. If 1 bot with Ancile, say Ancilot, is close to another without Ancile. Aim Trident outside of Ancile, but able to hit both. A lot of times, the second bot is not entirely inside the Ancile, so even if a little part of him is poking out, then you will cause direct dmg to him. Plus the splash will wear down the Ancile at the same time. Hope this makes sense.

Trident rockets travel very fast, much faster than Tulumbas/Pins. This makes it harder to dodge, as some bots are fast enough to dodge Tulumbas rockets by zig-zagging. A lot of the new DIE bots have very fast walking speeds, so Tridents would be better as say an Inquisitor can easily walk behind cover and avoid Tulumbas fire. Of course you can lead the rockets, but if the bot is heading for cover, there is only so much you can lead. 

Against bots with dash like the Bulgogi, it's best to single fire the rockets as firing all 3 will cause them to dash away, and only the first set of rockets will hit. Also, use the extra 100m to your advantage as many do not pay attention to bots further than 500m, so it's easy to sneak up on them.

Trident dmg can be insane if used right. Back in the day, a 3x Fury Trident with only L10 weapons could break the 1M barrier for many. So the dmg is definitely very good if you can get them leveled up, and at least 3 of them on a Fury. I haven't run the numbers on Bastion mode Raijin, but that gives a 30% boost in dmg when used so it's almost like a 3x Trident Fury. 

This is more advanced. Once the target is out of range (>600m), then the Tridents will no longer adjust the aim vertically. But with splash, you can still hit them. This trick can be used to fire above the heads of reds hiding in a different elevation, and where your Tridents would normally hit cover. So that little dip in the bridge, the broken part on Yamantau. A sniper can be hiding there, and your Trident fire will normally hit the floor if you are also standing on the same bridge. But if you stand a little outside 600m (between 600 and 620m), then the Tridents will aim above their heads, and the splash will get them. 

This is really advanced. Understand that even 1m can be the difference when getting hit by splash. I was fighting mirror match on the open plains of Canyon, so RDB Griffin vs RDB Griffin recently. When bots are still and not moving, the 520m distance can be used, so just read the display to know whether they are in range. But this doesn't work when the bots are moving and kiting each other. So that means if the red Griffin is walking away from you and your Griffin is walking towards him, then your RDB will miss if you fire at 520m. So you have to use either physics to figure out, or just run custom tests to figure out the exact distance. I tried to run tests, but it was really hard to get the distance to be constant at 515 or any number between 510 to 520. But using physics and educated guess, I'd say somewhere around 515 is the distance splash can still hit. 

Rajins are red, Fujins are blue....
I'm sure you can go somewhere with that.

Well you can use tridents on fury too. it was meta b4 dash bots. when haechi was very big thread tt fury was nearly extinct. but now shockie bulg is bigger threat so tt furies did some comeback but i would still use zues over trident