A36 Brimstone

Overview[ | ]

The A36 Brimstone is a powerful orbital airstrike purchased from the depot.

While lacking the bulk and immediate firepower of other Depot weapons, the Brimstone makes up for it by allowing the Agent to call down an orbital strike which can devastate an area. Each Brimstone comes with 3 targeting darts, and the quick reload allows a single Agent to rapidly mark multiple targets for bombardment.

One of the most expensive Depot items in terms of CP and GP, the Brimstone is a bit of a risk-reward item, and its use varies drastically depending on the game type.

Details[ | ]

The Brimstone functions as, essentially, a single-shot grenade launcher. Each shot must be loaded one at a time, and it has a flip-up ladder style sight which is used in ADS. At short to medium range, the reticule can be used reliably to paint targets, but at longer ranges the tracking dart will arc and fall short of the target unless adjustments are made. Due to the cost of the Brimstone, it's best to use it from medium range where the user won't be left defenseless against enemy agents. The dart can also be 'stuck' on targets such as Agents and Hardsuits.

Once a target is hit with the tracking dart, the enemy will have a brief 5 second window to get out of the area. At first, one missile will appear from the top of the level and begin falling at high speed. Just before impact, it explodes with a telltale sound similar to a whistling shell, and after another brief pause fires over a dozen rockets into the ground in a wide cone. Each individual rocket has a very small, but very powerful explosion, instantly killing any Agents caught directly. The rockets are also extremely effective against Hardsuits, dealing more then enough damage to kill two or more in a single strike. Despite their raw destructive power, however, this orbital bombardment can be stopped dead by any kind of obstruction - it will not penetrate through roofs and can only be used in exposed areas, much like Hardsuit deployment.

The radius of the air strike leads to some inconsistency, however. It is entirely possible for Agents to survive unmarked, and speed builds in particular can actually weave between the blasts, albeit likely with some minor damage. Even a Hardsuit can occasionally escape unscathed even if the beacon was stuck to their head. However, even with this degree of inconsistency, the explosion itself has somewhat of a psychological effect - and with two more shots to go, whatever survived the first strike likely will not last through a second, much less a third.

Due to its effective area-denial properties, the Brimstone is extremely useful in CTF and TKOTH game modes. Due to the lack of friendly fire, well-paced Brimstone usage can allow a point to be taken completely uncontested, and it can lock down the flag for up to forty seconds per refill. This has led to it being considered something of a "crutch" weapon by most of the playerbase, akin to the RL2a Swarm.

However, the telltale explosion and delayed damage makes it much less effective in modes like TDM and Kill Confirmed, where combat is more fluid and mobile. It's also less effective in Domination, where most points are hidden inside buildings, safe from the Brimstone's wrath.