Hans Loadout Breakdown

[Pushentier]

Posting this in response to Yosh's request in the Discord announcements asking for people to talk about "Loadout X compared to Loadout Y". Going to try to break this down by Weapon, Expertise, Passive, and then maybe gadgets if I have time.

WEAPONS
Hans Tier 1 is called The Hook. 6 shot clips and ~2 second reload time
M1- Mouse one shoots shotgun shells in a circular pattern. You can fire about once a second, and if every bullet hits it does about ~30-40 damage.
M2- Shoots a single slug. You can fire about once a second. Body shots do ~20 or 25 damage. If you hit head it does ~35-40.
This gun sucks. Every other agent can kill you quicker than you can kill them at close range. Even if you get the drop on an enemy, missing one shot means you are a sitting duck for the next second. Since you are close range, it is so easy for players to juke around/through you to get out of your LOS and make it super hard to hit m1. Additionally, when other players shoot you your camera jiggles, so when up close against a Xiu, Squire, Larcin or Cav they can make this almost impossible.. The m2 is workable if you take every engagement at range, but in this situation you are still just a worse Chavez., since your bullets barely hurt.

Hans Tier 2 is called The Jab. 8 shot clips and ~2 second reload time
M1 - Shoots shotgun shells in an X pattern. You can fire three or so times a second, and if every bullet hits it does ~35 damage.
M2- Shoots a single slug. You can fire about three times a second. Body shots do ~15 damage. If you hit head it does about ~25 damage.
A lot better than the tier one. You have eight bullets in a clip, and it only takes four M1 shots to kill, making potential time to kill in close range to around 1.5 seconds. You can afford to miss a shot or two and still be able to pull of decent kills. Your M2 doesn't do much all things considered, but in the case that an opponent gets a gap on you it is still a decent option to chip at them while they run. Not much negative to say about this gun since it lets you live your close range dreams of mowing down other players. It still feels like other characters can do more damage up close, but fights feel fair. Not a bad option to use while leveling.

Hans Tier 3 is called The Uppercut. 2 shot clips and ~2 second reload time
M1 - Shoots shotgun shells in an X pattern. You can fire two times a second, and if every bullet hits it does ~50 damage.
M2 - Shoots a single slug. You can fire two times a second. Body shots do ~25 damage. If you hit head it does about ~50 damage.
The best shotgun. Amazing potential to do 100 damage in a close range burst and just destroy an enemy you sneak up on. If you know how to NPC, you can pull this off once or twice a game. This gun is also decent at engaging at long range because headshots are killer. The biggest downside to this weapon is that it takes two seconds to reload, so missing a close range shot can lead to you being punished. If you position well, you can run around corners when reloading to mitigate this weakness. Enemies can use this time to escape from you, and often times if you land your first two shots they will be at ~20 hp and WILL be running. Honestly though that is the only downside to this weapon. The insane burst potential makes up the small clip size. 10/10 would use this weapon over the other two EVERY TIME

EXPERTISE
Hans Tier 1 is called Incapacitor Orb (which might be a spelling mistake. Should it be incapacitator orb?)
When you use this, your weapon immediately changed to an orb that slows enemies and disables their expertise when you hit them. You can shoot it out at an opponent and then resume firing immediately. Not a bad option, the area is pretty big. The only downside is that it can slow down your firing by .25ish seconds when you activate it and shoot it.

Hans Tier 2 is called Static Cage
Probably the best expertise by far. When you click it you immediately drop a cage around you that slows enemies and disables their expertise if they walk through it. Because it drops immediately the animation does not stop you from firing or reloading like the other options do. The zone lingers for ~6 seconds, which means players who were not around when you first used this ability now have to avoid it. The sheer utility on this probably makes this the best expertise by far. You can use it to start fights. You can use it to RUN from fights. You can use it to block off doorways that you ran through so other players are less likely to chase you. You can use it to trap an enemy and then run away, while the cage serves as a beacon to other players that someone is there. Honestly the only downside to this ability is that if you use it early game, everyone within a square mile will know where you are, which can lead to some early deaths or prolonged fights in the beginning of the game. Also amazing in teams to lock down an enemy team in tight places for a LONG time. Still the best ability by FAR

Hans Tier 3 is called Shock Ray
Basically the exact same as the Tier 1 except the explosion radius is smaller BUT the disable effect hops between enemies like chain lightning. Haven't used it much but I found it is only good when engaging and way harder to hit when chasing. Might have a niche in teams but I prefer cage

Passives
Hans Tier 1 is called Dreadful Presence
When YOU break cover, a giant bright circle shoots out from you and reveals all nearby spies. This ability sucks and I would prefer to have no passive at all. Since it mainly only triggers when you are shooting at an enemy, it can serve no purpose if you are attacking a nearby enemy. In the situations where you shoot one enemy and accidentally reveal another one nearby you. Congratulations. You just scared the enemy nearby you, revealed them, gave away your position, and possibly made them think you were shooting at them. You have put yourself into a 2v1 situation, and you will probably die.

Hans Tier 2 is called Fear Projection.
It is the same as his Tier 1, but it activates when you reveal an enemy. This is MUCH better than the tier 1, because you can potentially make the horrible scenario that happened to you above play out for an opponent. Honestly though most players love third partying and it is quite likely they would do so anyway. But having your cover broken is an additional incentive I guess

Hans Tier 3 is called Energy Siphon.
When you hit an enemy with your expertise, you get 15% of your cooldown back. This is amazing. If you use static cage and catch one opponent you are already getting good value, but anything on top of that is insane. I personally think the T1 and T2 passives aren't very useful, so I almost always run this.

Gadgets
Bounce pad - Great for map mobility, escaping enemies, disorienting others players when they engage on you, rushing vaults, and honestly probably a million other things. Always take this.
Shield Brella - Amazing when you need to reload but have no corners to hide behind. Deploy it, reload, pick it up, and repeat. Also super useful for ensuring you can use healing stations. Lastly, you can keep it in front of you if you think an NPC is acting suspicious so that IF they do attack you , you don't start the combat super low on hp.
Auto Turret - Not great. You do enough damage close range already. Plus you generally pick fights up close and won't have time to deploy it.
Goo Pods - You have a slow built in to your kit already you don't need it.
Hack Trap - LOL who uses this
Tripwires - It is fine to lock down parts of the map, but honestly you need to play around your own survival and I don't see this tool helping with that much.
Holo Mimic - Probably amazing if you are patient and want to camp heavily trafficked areas / do surprise burst damage. I don't like it but I also run around a lot
Signal Scrambler - what even is this
Recon Drone - Fine if you are patient, want to mark an enemy and then run up on them. Not great at helping you survive so I don't use it.
Spyglass - Fine if you want to play safe. I do not want to play safe.

tl;dr - Hans weapons suck except T3. Hans expertise are fine but cage is 10x better than others. Hans passives aren't good except T3. Bounce pad is the best gadget in the game. Shield works well with Hans playstyle and up close fights. Most other gadgets are bad.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk

 

[Yoshiro]

Thank you for the detailed writeup!

 

[gurum0]

i have some nitpicks thou, w1 and w3 deal the same amount of shotgun form damage 45 if all pellets hit and they seem to have the same amount of pellets 9 meaning each pellet seems to do 5 damage x9 (45). w1 does 50 slug headshot damage and 25 bodyshot, w3 slug does 53 head, 30 body. before misery update w3 had pretty much the same fire rate as w1 so i believe w1 has a 0.8 shots per second fire rate and w3 got buffed to 1.8 shots per second fire rate. w2 does seems to shoot 3 times per second. if im not mistaken right after misery empire update w3 fired in a diamond pattern with 1 pellet in the middle, but at the current time i am writing this w3 seems to possess a 3 by 3 pellet spread similar to tf2 shotguns without bullet deviation. w2 the jab after misery update seemed to have its spread increased by 30 to 50% without a mention in patch notes, but it was confirmed by yoshiro on another post that a change was intended, but it wasn't meant as a nerf, so i'm waiting to see how it gets changed or reverted, and mentioned in the patch notes. the damage values of w2 you put are all wrong, as shotgun deal 30 damage with all pellets, 20 slug body and 35 slug headshot.

now for my opinions, passive 3 its the absolutely the best, as you can actually get a super low expertise with a mid/high rarity field upgrade or u can forego a expertise field upgrade since its almost similar to a grey one. passive 1 should actually have a tiny bigger range and much bigger pushback distance if a agent gets hit by it, and should activate if enemy spys break YOUR cover, and not when you break it, giving hans a tool to actually have a chance to run away if he gets ambushed, as he is so bulky and has no mobility. passive 2 its kinda what ever. as for expertises i actually find the cage the medium (2nd best) expertise and instead i find the expertise 1 the best and 3 the worst (this one actually needs a chaining radius buff since expertise 1 its so much more forgiving). cage its good for all the reasons you stated above, but my problem with it its that you dont really have control unless its super ingrained in you muscle memory the range and you get a instaneutralize as soon you deploy cage. for me all the cage does its basically forcing a close range 1v1 if u can get someone inside, but u lose the neutralize and slow the majority of the fights, because it doesnt really neutralize if enemies dont try to leave/enter cage, and i have won a lot of fights due to the neutralize effect, and i mean a lot, and this is not including the slow. with expertise 1 i can actually duel characters like chavez, by denying the shield (and no shield means no passive health regen with shield up) or the resistance area, i can deny larcin invis area and him running away/ running behind me, i belive i can also deny ace vulnerable if her after she procs it on me, or deny it all together if u hit her before she hits me, i can deny madame slip aways, yumi fields, and squire speed, and all of that consistently. with cage, a chavez can use the area/shield and regen inside and u have a big chance to lose a close range fight that way, ace still gets the vulnerability, yumi can just pop a slow/heal fiend and u cant deny her, i belive xiu and larcin can use their abilities though the cage. as for expertise 1 and 3, the 1 its so much more reliable since it has a big splash so u can just use it by aiming at enemy feet.

my main problem with hans its how inconsistent his damage is at close range (not point blank), since you dont hit perfect center mass shots your damage will be quite lower, most agents, even ace w3 can be used reliably at close range almost like a shotgun. but hans if u aim a bit to the right or left of center mass u might lose about 1/3 of your shot. i think all of hans should get their spreads reduced a tiny bit, so they are more consistent, as only both disruptors (yumi and hans) are the only ones that need to aim and walk to shoot consistently at medium-close range (by charging the pellet/ aim the slug), meaning they cant do the jumping around all the other characters can do to make harder to hit headshots on them, while walking themselves, making them easier to get headshotted by enemies.

btw a trick for hans enjoyers. you can do with expertise 1 or 3 if u prefer with w1 and w3 its to use expertise in the down time u can shoot weapon 1 and press expertise right away while spamming fire and not lose dps, as you shoot once, use expertise during w1 shoot cooldown and fire again almost instantly after the orb leaves your hand, and this tecnique actually made me win a lot more fights with it, than without it a bit after i started leveling up hans. i belive you can kinda do the same on w3, but you need shoot twice and use expertise right away after the second shot, as it seems the reload animation its smidge shorter if u you expertise right after the 2nd shot, but the w3 might be a placebo effect, but w1 im pretty sure it works.

 

[General Armchair]

I think Xiu can body-swap through a cage, but I saw a Larcin have his stealth canceled after I raised the cage a moment after he vanished. He did not look pleased when his decloaked a few paces away before he could even make it to the door.

My complaints about Hans mostly center around how I feel like his first and 2nd passives feel useless in solos since 99% of the time you engage opponents in 1v1 duels and in turn those two effects end up being completely useless.

A secondary complaint that I have is that I dislike how his first and third active abilities are "you enter a stance" style effects. I wish that it would just instantly fire when I press 'F' like the cage does. Entering the stance seems needlessly awkward.

My final complaint is that his third active skill won't knock opponents out of cover. Or at least it won't knock the test-agent in the training range out of cover. That's all that I've tested it on so far. I feel like active 3 has the potential to be my favorite if it would only knock people out of cover since then it opens the door to shock a room containing two or more opponents to bait them into fighting each other for me.

 

[gurum0]

well the enter stances seems to be a quirk disruptors have since yumi's expertises are kinda work like stances too (you remove or put projectile) and have to fire it to use just like hans. as i see it, cage its the outlier here, but that can be checked when they release another disruptor. passive wise 1 its really bad, since you as a shotgun character want to stay close to enemy, specially when you get the 1st shot off. thats why i said passive 1 should have a bigger knockback distance and radius and be activated when you get ambushed instead, so u can actually have a better chance to reset if isnt favorable to fight, quite similar but worse to squire base passive. passive 2 actually have its uses, believe it or not, specially at slug distances, because if u get the 1st shot at medium/long distance, the knockback can quite often disrupt the aim of the few 1st defensive shots of the enemy, gaining you the upper hand, hell u can get 2/3 slug shoots if you can track with jab while enemies are in the air disrupted if u get the initiative on them. that might not seem a lot, but that actually might buy you enough hp/time for hans slugs to not be as much of a detriment (and if you hit 2 jab slugs while making enemy miss thats a big bonus thats between 40 and 70 bonus damage without taking any retaliation), not to mention ur movement when aiming down sights its kinda gimped on hans and yumi (charging shot), so the aim disruption has a big value at longer ranges, even if it doesnt seem like it. i specially found it decent while leveling hans, since i have problems to use hans slug iron sights and hate them very much compared to the other agents much cleaner, visible, wide and/or bright iron sights, since i am forced to play in lower resolution scale to have acceptable fps due to potato hardware (older gaming laptop). i also stopped losing as much fights when i unlocked passive 2 while leveling hans, since i didnt push enemies away and allowed me to get more shotgun pellets on others, if i get the initiative and start a fight at close range.

 

[General Armchair]

Hans' passives don't actually knock anyone around. Go test it in the training range. All that the energy waves do is strip cover. The preview clips show people being knocked around, but that's not the effect that we see in game and I assume that the preview clips are from an older build and that people are confusing people panic jumping with a knockback.

 

[gurum0]

You are actually right, i just tested it and its just blows cover, and players in game are just jumping like hares in game. man thats even worse than i thought, specially passive 1, since you already blow their cover when you shoot them. so base hans basically has no passive and passive 2 its only barely useful in teams if enemies clump

 

[General Armchair]

Passive 1 may potentially still have value for spychecking guards within a guard room, but only in a world with a heat system that severely punishes the player for attacking guards in a guard room. We don't currently live in that world.

Passive 2 feels completely useless. I guess it has some team battles, but usually everybody starts immediately shooting once the shooting starts.

Passive 3 provides some value, but it feels kind of milquetoast. It certainly doesn't do anything to help you win THIS engagement. I might give you your skill back in time for a future engagement. I just wish that the other two passives provided alternative options for people that want immediate value.

For Hans' 3rd active skill, I have two ideas for buffs. First, perhaps it should simply be a hitscan laser instead of a small orb. It's titled "shock RAY" after all, That might make it easier to aim for people that desire a precision long range option for when they want to slug snipe. The other thing that I'd really like to see is for Hans' 3rd active skill to actually knock people out of cover like the first one does. One of the bigger fears that I have with Hans is picking up the briefcase and seeing that there are multiple players camping the same exits in close enough proximity that I cannot engage them without it turning into a big 2v1 fight. I don't know if those players don't realize that other agents are also in the same room or if they're all playing dumb so long as they feel safe with their own cover up. But if the shock ray would strip cover, then it could be a "Prisoner's Dilemma" tool where you could pop out of cover, shock the crowd that the campers are in, and let the chaos happen. With their cover stripped away, guards start causing chaos and I think that the campers are far more likely to start shooting at each other. I think that would make active 3 worth bringing compared to his other active skills.