Battalion's Backup

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Revision as of 16:12, 9 January 2011 by Sanguine (talk | contribs) (Fixed a typo: Batallion's Backup --> Battalion's Backup)
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The Soldier

The Battalion's Backup is a craftable secondary weapon for the Soldier. It appears as a military backpack-mounted radio transceiver, featuring a folded map secured by a couple of straps and an attached magnetic compass. Accompanying it is a bronze-colored bugle, and a tattered yellow triangular banner that is displayed when the buff is active.

Working essentially in reverse to the Buff Banner, this weapon aims to support teams defensively rather than offensively. Once the player's Rage meter displayed in the HUD is filled through taking roughly 175 damage from other players in a single life, the pack can be used to make all nearby teammates immune to Critical hits and grants them 35% resistance to regular damage for 10 seconds.

The Critical damage immunity applies to Criticals and Mini-Crits for all teammates within the radius, regardless of Critical/Mini-Crit application method. A Scout under the buff using Crit-a-Cola, for example, suffers no negative trade off for his own Mini-Crits. The Critical immunity also prevents all increases to knockback normally incurred by a Critical hit.

The damage resistance stacks multiplicatively with all other damage modifiers, such as Pain Train's hitscan weakness and Chargin' Targe's explosive resistance.

Rage cannot be gained from fall damage or self-inflicted damage, but it can be given by map effects. All forms of enemy-inflicted damage, including Afterburn, give rage.

Rage

See also: Damage

The Rage Meter requires 175 taken damage to fill. Self inflicted damage from rocket jumping does not contribute to filling the Rage Meter. Drowning and taking fire damage from torches (such as in Egypt) both contribute to filling the Rage Meter.

Function times

  • Attack Interval: 10 seconds.
  • Trumpeting Time: 3 seconds

All times are in seconds. Times are approximate and determined by community testing.

Item set

Main article: Item sets
The Tank Buster
Backpack The Tank Buster Bundle.png
Effect

Leave a Calling Card on your victims

Demonstration

Components

Blueprint

Buff Banner Reclaimed Metal Battalion's Backup
Item icon Buff Banner.png + Item icon Reclaimed Metal.png = Item icon Battalion's Backup.png

As a Crafting Ingredient

Refined Metal Battalion's Backup Grenadier's Softcap
Item icon Refined Metal.pngx4 + Item icon Battalion's Backup.png = Item icon Grenadier's Softcap.png

Related Achievements

The Boostie Boys
The Boostie Boys
Buff 15 teammates with the Buff Banner in a single life.

Previous Changes

October 6, 2010 Patch

  • Soldiers no longer maintain their rage level when changing loadout.
  • The Battalion's Backup no longer gives rage for falling damage.

Bugs

  • If you activate this weapon, then use the Equalizer taunt, you will fall through the floor or fly backwards instead of being gibbed.
  • Even after the update that fixed accumulating rage from falling damage, there are still ways to build rage that do not involve damage from enemies. These include:
    • Fire damage from fire sources on the map
    • Drowning
  • If a player activates the weapon and is subsequently backstabbed, the kill will register, but not as a Critical kill.
  • The Battalion's Backup protects from Crits in humiliation.

Trivia

  • The Battalion's Backup most closely resembles the US Military's Vietnam-era backpack-mounted radio transceiver, the AN/PRC-77.
  • Even if you activate the buff, as long as you keep pressing Mouse 1 you won't release the trumpet and the boost won't be activated.

Gallery

See also