Boomer Guide

by Creedo
version 0.98
================================================================================
Boomer is a strong mobile, Maybe the best in the game since Armor got weakened.
It has massive attack strength (probably the most reliably damaging in the game
behind knight and dragon) and he also gets the benefit of good movement, the
largest angle range, and very low delay. The only catch is that his HP and
defense sucks, so he can die in two solid duals. He's also hard to use, but
this guide is supposed to take care of that.

----------------------
Boomer's weapons:

Shot 1: A super-low-delay shot 1 that also happens to do pretty decent damage.

Arguably the best shot 1 in the game. It isn't used much because boomer's shot
2 also kicks ass. You can use shot 1 to beat someone's delay and get 2 turns
in a row on them (or make sure they don't get two turns in a row on you). You
can also use it to kill an enemy with only a little life, which gets you the
kill and saves some delay.
Delay: 730
Typical damage: 150

Shot 2: A very user-friendly shot 2, you fire four projectiles but they all
follow the same path and stay clustered, so it might as well be a single shot.
It also drills quite a ways through dirt.
Delay: 880
Typical damage: 250

SS: This shot requires 1.8 seconds of airtime (I think) before it 'opens up'.
If you have used armor or turtle's SS you know what I'm talking about. If you
don't keep the shot airborne long enough then it simply hits the enemy for a
crappy bit of damage (maybe 250ish). If it stays airborne long enough it stops
for a split second, flashes, and transforms into a golden boomerang that can
inflict 400-600 damage depending on how perfectly centered and 'clean' the hit
is. It causes a little bit more splash damage than your other shots, which
means a very near miss might be good for 200-300. What makes this SS really
awesome is the fact that boomer's slow-moving shot animation guarantees that
your SS will open up for almost any lobbed shot, as long as you aren't just
shotgunning it. You can get it to open with as little as .8 bars of power,
less if there's upwards wind.
Delay: 1280
Typical damage: 450+
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A quick note on damage, delay, etc:

Damage is based on how clean your hit is, and whether or not your shot was
partially blocked by dirt. The damages I give are based on a solid center hit
using true angle vs a mobile with average defense. In some conditions your shot
will do more or less. I'd say your best shot 1 will be 200 dmg and a miracle
shot 2 will do 325. One other important note on damage: your aiming slice has a
solid, bright green part and a faded, washed out pale green part. The solid
green in the middle of your aim slice is called 'true' angle, any shots where
your pointer is in this solid green part will do full, normal damage. The
washed out green at the edges of your aim slice is called weak angle. This does
about 20% less damage. You therefore should always try to use true angle, which
may require moving boomer to get your pointer high or low enough.

Delay is fixed, and for every second you take to shoot, the delay for your shot
will have 10 points added. Certain items also add to your delay. For example a
normal SS fired with no delay is 1280 'time units'. If you used 3 seconds to
fire the shot, you are now using 1280+30 time units, so that's 1310 time units.
If you use a dual+ item with boomer's shot 1, you are adding 250 delay to your
natural delay of 730. Dual+ is therefore 980 delay as long as you use shot 1
first. That means dual+ delay is only 100 more than using a normal shot 2.
There's a myth some players spread that doing shot 2 first gives better damage.
This is a lie. Use 1 first.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other strengths and weaknesses:

PROS:
-Good movement (climb and move distance).
-Huge aiming reticle - you can achieve any angle you want at any time.
-Pretty good gold-earning ability - lots of backshots, high angles, etc.
-Fun to use. Impresses people when you make nice shots.

CONS:
-Low HP/Defense - Boomer can die in two duals vs many mobiles.
-Can be difficult to use - wind strongly (and strangely) affects your shot.
-No bunging ability to speak of - your shot doesn't disturb the enemy position.
-Boring because everyone else plays him.
---------------------------------------------

HOW TO ACTUALLY USE BOOMER

--------------------------

Boomer has several different 'shooting modes', and you must be able to switch at
any time between one and the next. You can't just pick an angle and use it all
the time with boomer, because wind will force you to change it, and judging the
correct power to use with one angle would be too difficult when you see how much
wind affects your shot. I will list the shooting methods I use - keep in mind
that you don't have to master all of these methods and formulas to be a good
player, many players use a lot of feel to make nice shots with boomer.

Boomer shooting modes:

1. Shotgun - you aim directly at the enemy and cut loose at max power.
2. 'Normal' shot - use a fixed angle like 35, use feeling to find power level.
3. Lob/fixed power shot - in 0/low wind, always shoot with the same power and
use a formula to find the angle you need to hit them.
4. Backshot - allow your shot to blow backward to hit them, increases dmg/gold.
5. High angle shot - similar to lob, but you always use max power. Best when
wind is 0 or low. You can use formulas to find the right angle.
6. Hook - also a formula shot, use max power against the wind. Shot travels in
an inverted "V" shaped arc. Guess the angle based on wind strength/direction.

Your shooting plan:

-Backshot if there's a fairly easy/safe backshot available, because it's
about 20% more damage than usual, and also more gold. If you're playing
serious, remember: any true angle shot is better than a weak angle backshot.
-Shotgun whenever you can't backshot, as long as you can get true angle.
Also shotgun if you aren't confident the backshot will hit.
-If you can't backshot or shotgun anyone, follow these rules:

WIND TOWARDS THE ENEMY:

-Within one screen use lob or high angle if the wind is weak and you think you
can easily judge what angle you need to use to hit them.
-If wind is kind of strong, a normal shot is safest.
-If you can't get high angle for a lob, a normal shot with the lowest angle
you can get is usually safest.

WIND AGAINST YOU:

-If wind is gently against you, use a hook. Remember: in strongish winds, a hook
can blow backwards, and the closer the enemy is, the more likely it blows back.
-If wind is strong and you fear 'blowback', use a normal shot, angle 35 is good.
-Also if you cannot get true angle to make a hook or the enemy is very close,
use a normal against-the-wind shot, don't try to get cute with hooks.
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HOW TO AIM
----------

1. Shotgun -
This is the easiest shot - point your 'aimer' directly at the enemy and use full
power. I recommend using dragshot shooting mode for this, it takes less time
than the other 2 modes.

Shotgunning can (and should) be done at any range, even across an entire map.
One nice way to master shotgunning is to play on metamine and try to shotgun
enemies from one of the slopes on the end. I have found some useful tips
for shotgunning in this particular spot (the map is very popular). Credit to
Talent1127 for sharing the information. You can find some good stuff on his
guild's home page: http://omega.wynhost.com/forum/
Ok: metamine shotgunning -
From furthest left downslope to -
*Larger hill to the right of center: Angle 7
*Small 'bump' to right right of the larger hill: Angle 8
*First downslope on the right side: Angle 9
*Flat part between the two downslopes on the right: Angle 10
*Second (furthest) downslope on the right: Angle 11
*Top of the upper platform on the far right: Angle 12

Visual aid (created by Talent):

http://media.virtuafighter.com/media/gb/metamine_shotgun.jpg

Some other shotgun pointers:

*As your shot travels, it naturally drops down from gravity. Even if there's
wind pointing upward, it will still drop a bit as it travels across the screen.
So for full screen shotguns you may want to use something like angle 6 or 7 to
hit an enemy who is roughly even with you. When wind is against you, the drop
effect is greater.

*If you have an easy shotgun, try to aim just below center (hit their eyeballs)
... a clean hit in their weak spot can do 275+ damage.

*If you can get true angle and shotgun, ALWAYS DO IT. Anyone who complains
about this is a noob and a whiner.

2. Normal shot -
Pick an angle and use it a lot until you have a good feel for it. I like angle
35 because it will never blow backwards under any wind conditions. You may also
want to master a slightly higher angle like angle 50, for situations where you
need to lob over obstructing land or a teammate's head. There are also fixed
angle shooting formulas which tell you the power level to use in different
situations... I will mention them here.

Fixed angle 35 shooting:

1/2 screen distance: 1.5 bars
1.0 screen distance: 2.2 bars

Other angles: 1/2 SD 1.0 SD

----------------------------------------
Angle 50: 1.5 2.2
Angle 60: 1.6 2.3
Angle 70: 1.8 2.8

The following is a way of adjusting your power if there's wind blowing towards
the enemy. It is made to work with angle 70 shots. The original author is
DSELB (aka blesd).

For this formula, use angle 70, know what power you need in 0 wind, then lower
your power based on this wind chart.
The original image is at: http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/jasonyu/70
The mirrored image is at: http://media.virtuafighter.com/media/gb/set_70.jpg

The wind chart says to multiply the wind strength by the wind factor, for
example 10 wind * .045 (the factor when wind is pointing directly at the enemy)
... the result will be .45, about half a bar. Therefore in 10 wind towards the
enemy, you should shoot with about .45 bars of power less than you usually
would. That means an angle 70 1 screen shot (normally 2.8 bars) will be 2.35
bars of power if the wind is blowing at 10 strength directly towards the enemy.

On the wind chart, the red area means you should avoid angle 70 shots, a low
angle is probably better. For the green area, the further away the enemy is,
the bigger wind factor will be. For the yellow area, the closer they are,
the bigger the wind factor should be. You just increase or decrease your wind
factor slightly.

Other normal shot pointers:

*If you prefer to use feel, just be aware that low angles are easier to deal
with when there's tailwind. If there's a lot of tailwind, remember that a tiny
wind difference will alter your shot quite a bit. You might find it's quite
difficult to adjust your power in these situations, I recommend moving your
boomer a little to compensate for tiny wind changes. This is especially true
if you're shooting far away, moving boomer is a lot easier than finding the
exact amount of power you need.

Normal shots against the wind:

*When shooting against the wind, decide how much harder to shoot based both on
wind strength and direction. The more downward the wind points, the harder you
must shoot. In general you must shoot much harder against the wind using boomer
than you would in 0 wind, often harder than any other mobile would need to.
There are two formulas you can use to help you:

Angle 50 formula (original creator HongHong, translation from soyabean):

This formula is a very good method for making shots against the wind with
boomer. It is an alternative to hook shots and may help in situations where a
hook will fly back. It's also good for showing off and making nice SS shots.

Formula:
The full formula would be 50 - (WindStrength*WindFactor), power to be judged by
user using fixed power points described below.

1/4 screen: 1.5 bars

1/2 screen: 2.3 bars
3/4 screen: 2.9 bars
1.0 screen: 3.35 bars

If the enemy is between these set points you must guess beforehand how much
power to alter your shot, for example between 1/2 screen and 3/4 screen might
use 2.6 bars or so.

Once you pick your power, you now choose your angle.
Start at angle 50, and in 2 wind against use the power you already calculated.
If wind is stronger than 2 against, you can calculate a new angle using a method
similar to calculating hooks and backshots.
Multiply Wind Strength * Wind Factor. Then subtract the result from angle 50.
The new angle can be used with the same power you decided on before.

The wind factors are either very similar to or the same as your hook wind
factors. Therefore use this guide:
http://media.virtuafighter.com/media/gb/HookWind.jpg

Some examples: You are on left, enemy is on right.

Wind is at 9 o' clock (directly against you). Wind strengh is 15.

Enemy is 1/2 screen distance. Starting at 50, you have decided to use the 1/2
screen power 2.3 bars. The wind factor for wind pointing this way is .8, so
multiply .8 by wind strength (15). The result is a nice even number, 12. Lower
by 12 angles. Now angle 50 has become angle 38. Fire at angle 38, 2.3 bars...
and you should hit an enemy half a screen away perfectly.

Here I give a lot of examples, this makes sure you can do the math but
some of them also point out shortcomings or common problems with the formula:
-------
Wind at 6:30, strength 8
Enemy is a bit over 3/4 screen distance, we decide to use 3 bars (a little over
2.9) Wind factor is .7 so we get ...5.6 ... if we lower 5 it might be a
little short. Lower 6 and we worry it will be over. I would lower 5 and then
move forward a tiny bit. Then you can be sure it won't come short.
So the angle you use is 45 (after moving forward a bit) and 3.0 bars of power.

Wind at 6:00, strength 22

Enemy is 1/3 screen distance. We decide to add .2 bars of power, so 1.7 bars.
Wind factor is .5, which is easy... just reduce 22 by half to get 11.
Lower from 50-11 to 39, then 1.7 bars.

Wind at 11:30, strength 10

This is tricky. The wind is very floaty, and lowering your angle just makes the
shot go further. Therefore you may want to use the usual angles, but judge how
to reduce power in order to prevent the shot from flying too far. You may also
want to go with a lower angle for more predictable shots, or just switch to full
power hooks.

Wind at 9:30, strength 25

This is also tricky. The calculation for wind at this angle is Strength * .3
...you therefore want to lower about 7 angles to angle 43. However at angle 43,
any power level you choose will probably backshot. So for this wind you want to
reduce to a minimum of 37 and then judge the power level to use.

Wind at 6:05, strength 21

Enemy is 1/2 screen distance. We will use 2.3 bars of power.
Lower your angle by (Wind/3) and you get 7 angles. Angle 43, 2.3 bars is the
result.

Here is an alternate against-the-wind shooting formula (angle 35 fixed):

Credit to vexez for making it, you can find the original on his guild's page
at http://omega.wynhost.com/forum/

The way it works:

Assume that in the weakest possible wind blowing against you (2 wind), you
can hit a target 1/2 screen away with 1.8 bars of power. Using the chart
provided here, you can figure out how much power to add to make your shot
when the wind is blowing against you in different strengths and directions:

http://media.virtuafighter.com/media/gb/fixed_35.jpg

If my chart is unclear, maybe the original from Vexez will help:

http://media.virtuafighter.com/media/gb/Boomer35.jpg

There is also a version of this formula explained by Talent1127 and xFamex.

http://media.virtuafighter.com/media/gb/35_against_wind_alt.txt

Other cases -

*When the wind is blowing in other directions, some very vague rules are:
Wind towards the enemy makes the shot go further, but at low angles don't need
to lower power a whole lot to accomodate this.
Wind blowing upwards and towards messes up your normal shot the most, you need
to drastically reduce power because the wind carries your shot forever.
Wind blowing directly down or a bit down and towards requires adding a bit of
power, usually no more than half a bar.
Wind blowing diagonally down and towards you can almost treat as a normal shot,
or you can use slightly less power.

3. Lob/fixed power shot -

This follows a simple formula. It can only work within 1 screen distance. Use
about 2.25 bars of power, and simply change your angle to hit different areas
of the screen. You actually vary your power a little depending on how far
away the enemy is. I used to use the same power all the time but realized I was
missing a lot of seemingly sure shots that way. I figured out this method:

1/3 screen or closer: 2.2 bars

between 1/3 and 2/3: 2.25 bars
past 2/3 screen: 2.3 bars.

Anyway, you will learn to make the tiny alterations automatically as you play.
You can almost get away with using 2.25 all the time but you'll find you cannot
quite go 1 screen distance without a bit more power.

LANDMARKS:
90 hits yourself (of course) in 0 wind.
80 hits 1/3 screens away.
75 hits half a screen away.
70 hits 2/3 screens away.
60 hits 1 full screen.

Lob pointers:
*Lob is easiest in very small or 0 wind, and it can only be used if wind is
pointing towards the target. When wind is against you, the shot behaves quite
differently and your lob will fail.

*You can right click and drag the screen around to help you measure the angle
between turns. For example, right click and drag the screen so that the
all/teamtalk button is directly under you. If you want to shoot a target on the
right and the target is positioned directly above your half power (2 bar) mark,
you can hit them with angle 80 (2.3 bars and 0 or 1 wind of course).

*The distance from the edge of the screen to the divider the separates your
yellow SS box and the box that displays your angle.. is a sure 85.

*Right click and drag yourself to the left or right edge of your screen, so that
your body is half off the screen. Directly below the wind indicator at the top
of the screen is where an angle 75 shot will land.

*From the left edge of the screen to just in front of your third bar
marker is the distance for an angle 70 shot.

*The distance from the left edge of the screen to the end of your power meter
(the black part that fills up with red) can be hit with angle 66.

*If you've already mastered hook shots in low wind, the angle for hitting
someone with a lob will be about the same angle you'd choose to hit them with a
hook (assuming the hook wind is weak and you're aiming at someone roughly level
with you). In rare cases, you can switch between hook and lob shots by simply
using the same angle for your target, and merely switching from 2.3 bars to 4.0
bars to make the shot.

*Wind adjustment is tricky. A simple rule of thumb when wind is blowing

directly towards the enemy is to raise your angle by (wind strength-1) degrees.
So if I want a halfscreen shot in 0 wind (angle 75)... then in 4 wind I'd use
angle 78... 75+(4-1) = 81. For medium strength wind (like 7+) don't subtract
1, just raise your angle by (wind strength) degrees.

The formula is not perfect because as wind strength increases, you must make
additional adjustments, for example 12 wind requires adjusting 13 or maybe 14
angles.

If wind is up or down as well as towards the enemy,

the formula is skewed and you'll need to just use experience/guessing.
Up-towards makes it go further, so you raise your angle more. Down-towards
makes it fall shorter than expected, so raise your angle less. When wind is
strong you must compensate by raising your angle a lot more...
for example in 15 wind towards I might raise my angle by 17 or even 18 degrees.
For down/towards wind, raise your angle wind/2 degrees. For nearly down wind,
you can almost treat the shot like 0 wind, or you may only need to raise the
angle slightly.

This chart is incomplete but might clear it up:

http://media.virtuafighter.com/media/gb/LobWind.jpg

If you have trouble controlling power with this lob system, there's another
lob system for close range shooting (up to 3/4 screen distance) that uses
exactly 2.0 bars of power, which is easy to measure.
1/4 SD: Angle 81 (2.0 bars)
1/2 SD: Angle 72 (2.0 bars)
3/4 SD: Angle 62 (2.0 bars)

An alternate lob system that can be used 1 screen and a bit further:
Boomer can use the banpao system (sometimes called 3 bar formula because
your power level will be close to 3 bars) to aim faraway shots. It's
best suited to 0 or low wind, like a normal lob. There isn't much use for it
because boomer has well-documented high angle tricks using full power, and
there isn't really any advantage to using around 3 bars instead of 4. I guess
you could say this is for showing off. Anyway, if you want to try it:
Power varies depending on how far the enemy is.

1/2 SD: angle 80. (2.5 bars)

1.0 SD: angle 70. (2.7 bars)
1.5 SD: angle 60. (2.8 bars)

In between you must estimate for yourself. Remember it's 10 angles to

half a screen, therefore it's 5 angles for 1/4th of a screen. 5 angles
using this formula is about the same distance as 7 angles using the
1 screen lob formula (2.25 bars). Power should also be adjusted.. for
example between 1/2 and 1.0 screen distances, 2.6 bars may be best.

There's a useful power-substitution-formula that will allow you to use

this formula in upward wind. It allows you to make long range shots
in this difficult wind condition with more accuracy than guessing power
or attempting full power shots would. Remember it's for perfectly upward
wind, if the wind is even a little bit forward or back the formula will
not work.

Basically the formula gives you a way to measure how much power to subtract
from the fixed power levels used in banpao shooting. The original formula
was made by HongHong, but Talent on the feel forums tweaked it to come up
with something more accurate -

First measure your angle as you usually would with banpao, then do this math:
1/2 SD POWER: 2.5 - [(wind-2)/30] +0.05
1.0 SD POWER: 2.6 - [(wind-2)/30] +0.1

The result will be a very small number, and this number will be how much
power you should subtract from your shot in fractions of 1 bar. For example:
Enemy is 3/4 screens away exactly. Wind is 20 straight up.
Normal banpao angle and power (in 0 wind) would be angle 75, 2.6 bars.
Using the formula for 1sd, substitute the wind strength:
2.6 -[(20-2)/30] +0.1
First the easy part, we take care of 2.6 + 0.1 and get 2.7;
Now it's 2.7 - [18/30]
Dividing 18/30 gives us .6 ... so the math now is 2.7 - .6
final result:
Angle 75, 2.1 bars will hit an enemy 3/4 screen distance in 20 wind straight up.

More lob systems (using a fixed angle):

These measurements assume no wind -

Fixed angle 70: half screen = 1.8, full = 2.8 bars

Fixed angle 50: half screen = 1.5, full = 2.1 bars
Fixed angle 35: half screen = 1.5, full = 2.2 bars
Credit to talent on the Lord forums for sharing these.
There's also a windchart for the angle 70 lob, credit to dselb for it.
http://media.virtuafighter.com/media/gb/Boomer_Set_70.txt
First guess the power you want to use in 0 wind. Then you multiply the wind
strength by the wind factor on dselb's chart to get a very small number,
then reduce your power by that small number.

4. Backshot -
Backshots can be done 2 ways: Using feel and using the 2.5 bar fixed power
formula. I love formulas, but I recommend you learn backshots using feel...
That's because the backshot formula uses a lot of power and requires deep
knowledge of wind and lots of calculation. Basically, it's good but not so
good you don't need feel anymore. Naturally I'll explain both methods.
Backshots are important to master so the only way to learn is to get out there
and do them. However, don't cause teammates to lose while you learn ^_^ ...find
a friend and 1v1 or something.

The idea behind a backshot is this: Wind is blowing towards the enemy. You
turn your back to the target, and choose a fairly high angle (close to 70). You
shoot with the right amount of power, and your shot will fly up, get blown
backwards, and drift into the enemy. You'll notice when it hits that it does a
fair chunk of damage, more than usual. That's because (for boomer only) a
damage bonus is added for backshots.

Backshot pointers:

*Obviously the wind needs to be blowing towards the target in order to backshot.
A good rule of thumb is that you need at least 2 wind strength pointing towards
the enemy in order to backshot, and depending on the wind's direction 2 wind
might not blow your shot backwards (i.e. if wind is against but also very up or
very down, 2 wind might not be enough). Four or more wind strength is generally
safe for any wind direction.

*The wind strength determines, to some extent, how far your backshot can fly...
but what's almost more important than strength is wind DIRECTION. The more
upward the wind arrow is pointing, the further your backshot will fly. The more
downward the wind arrow is pointing, the shorter your shot's max range is.
A common noobie mistake with backshots is to keep attempting backshots that are
beyond the maximum backshot range... if the wind is pointing diagonally down and
towards the enemy, then you can safely assume you will never get a full screen
distance backshot. If the wind is pointing mostly down and a little towards the
enemy, your range is quite tiny, maybe a couple of inches at most.

*If wind direction determines the maximum range of your backshot, wind strength
determines how much 'stuntiness' you can put into it. "Stuntiness" is a goofy
made-up term I came up with to describe backshots that fly very far forward
before flying back. The more you can push your backshot forward (before it
flies back to smack the target), the more 'stunty' or fancy the shot looks.
Almost anyone can do a short range backshot where the shot flies forward half an
inch, blows back, and connects with the enemy after less than a second in the
air. It takes a stunter to do the same shot at the same distance but make the
shot fly forward half a screen before returning like, well.. a boomerang... to
hit someone just behind you after 4 or 5 seconds. The stronger the wind is, the
more power and distance you can safely put into your backshot. Therefore the
ideal wind for super stunts would be wind that blows towards the enemy and also
strongly upwards, at very high wind speed (20+). You can then actually make a
shot fly forward nearly a screen before it comes back to travel about 1 screen's
distance in the opposite direction. Wind strength does also determine the
shot's range to some extent, but I always check direction first.
*For backshots, more power does NOT always mean more distance. In fact,
backshot power is a little goofy. After a certain point, adding power causes
the shot to have less range. Then beyond that point, more power actually DOES
add more range. Then even further beyond that point, more power will not add to
the range. It's quite weird. Some rules of thumb:

--Max power is never recommended. If your shot cannot reach the target at ~2.9
bars, then more power is useless and will only shorten your shot.
--A very simple rule for short and easy backshots is: 1 bar will travel about 1
bar's length. This won't apply to every wind and every angle but it's a start.
--If you just barely cannot reach even at 2.9 bars, try changing your angle.
--If the wind is strong and also upwards, try angle 66 for the best distance.
--In very weak wind (2 wind against) a backshot needs a lot of power, at angle
70 2.5 bars of power travels a bit less than the distance from the start of
your power meter to the 2nd bar.

*Angle determines, to some extent, how far a backshot flies. Like power, it's a
bit funky. The basic angle for backshooting that a lot of players use is 70.

It's rare that you absolutely MUST change that angle to make a shot.
Occasionally, 70 won't cut it and you need to get more range. In those
situations, you might want to try a LOWER angle to get the shot to fly further.
It's weird but it's true, sometimes a lower angle will reach places the higher
angle cannot. However lowering your angle doesn't ALWAYS mean more range. Past
a certain point, lowering your angle will make the shot land closer. The closer
you come to the 'suicide angle'... the angle at which your shot hits yourself...
the less likely it is you can get more range out of lowering your angle. The
absolute lowest angle I've ever heard of for a successful backshot is 37, the
the lowest I've personally suicided with is 45. Therefore I think that angles
60-70 are the ones you need to play with to find your maximum range.

Lower than 60 might allow you to make your backshot look more 'stunty' but it
won't help you hit the target. One thing that IS safe to say is that raising
your angle to points above 70 almost never gets more range, and the higher your
angle the closer the shot will land. You can do angle 89 backshots even, and
they will land directly behind you regardless of wind.

*Generally if the backshot hooks downward sharply instead of travelling in a

smooth arc, you are using a higher angle than you ought to or else too much
power, and the shot isn't getting the best possible distance.

The backshot formula:

---------------------

1. Start at angle 60.

2. Lower your angle X degrees. X is determined by wind strength and direction.

You multiply the wind strength by a certain number, and that number can be
determined by looking at the wind's direction. For example, wind blowing
directly left or right you multiply wind strength by .5, so you'd lower
your angle by Wind/2 degrees. If you've done this step correctly you have
found the 'tk angle'... the angle at which your backshot will fly directly
back at you and cause you to suicide. Sometimes the 'tk angle' isn't truly
a suicide shot, it just barely misses your head. The point is that you've
found the absolute lowest angle you can possibly backshot with.

3. After step two, you will (usually) have some angle lower than 60. You now
are going to RAISE your angle based on how far away the enemy is. Measure
the distance between you and your enemy in 'distance units'. There are 30
distance units to a screen, so a half screen's distance is 15 units. You
measure your angle by the number of distance units between you and your enemy.
Remember: 1/3rd screen is 10 units, half screen is 15, full screen is 30 (which
requires some pretty uncommon wind to pull off). Raise 1 angle per distance unit.

4. Now that you've found the angle needed to hit your enemy, cut loose
with your backshot using 2.5 bars. That sounds like a ton of power, and it is..
but if you've done your formula correctly it won't hook down and fly forward,
and it won't kill you or fly way over the enemy's head.

Tips for use:

*As I said, sometimes the lowest angle you can possibly use for a backshot
won't necessarily be a suicide shot. When the wind is strongly upwards, you
should assume that your 'tk angle' will cause the shot to land 1 or 2 distance
units behind you... so you'll need to adjust your calculation at step 3 to
account for that (for example if the enemy is 5 distance units away but the
wind is very strong and upwards, you might only want to raise your angle by
3 or 4 degrees from the 'tk angle').

*You must compensate for height differences and mentally imagine the path the
shot will take. For example, if the enemy is half a screen away but also
below you, you don't want to raise your angle by 15 to hit them. You need to
raise the angle by less than 15. Imagine the path the shot will take to
successfully hit the enemy, then mentally draw a straight horizontal line from
the center of boomer's body to the imagined backshot path. The length of that
line is the number of distance units you actually want to use in your formula.

*If your shot can't reach with 2.5 bars, you can either raise your angle or
use more power. If you suspect you aren't near your maximum backshot range, you
should just raise your angle.. measure the number of distance units between the
spot where your missed shot landed and the enemy, then raise your angle by that
much. If the shot flies over them you can lower the angle using the same
measuring trick. If you suspect the shot has fallen short because of a lack of
power, you can try 2.9 bars. You can also just move boomer closer to the
target, which is quite safe and reliable. Try not to make the noob mistake of
attempting lots of backshots when you've already reached your maximum range.
Remember that the absolute best backshot distance will occur at angle 66,
using 2.9 bars of power only.

*Watch for small wind changes, if your last shot was in 18 wind and the next
shot is in 20 wind, you'll need to lower 1 or 2 angles in order to prevent the
shot from flying further than it did last time.

*If the shot dips down instead of flying back, you've given yourself a tk angle
that is too low. Redo your math.

*When wind is strongly downwards, your measuring technique becomes much easier.
You just want to start at angle 60 and raise your angle 1 to 6 degrees based on
the enemy's distance. You can't hit an enemy more than 6 distance units behind
you in this kind of wind. If the wind is strong, start at angle 61 and remember
that your maximum backshot distance will come from angle 66. Higher than that
is useless.

*Some links to make it a bit easier:

A: The original post by 0o0o0o0, who translated this info and put it on the
now-defunct gunbound-hq site:
http://media.virtuafighter.com/media/gb/backshot.htm
B: My personal backshot wind chart, if you find my style of math easier than
calculating numbers like .65 (Mine may have a few small errors, forgive me).
http://media.virtuafighter.com/media/gb/BackshotWindChart.jpg

*Dealing with tornados:

If you must hit an enemy on the other side of the tornado, and you're using
the 2.5 bar fixed power method to aim your backshots... find the original
backshot angle and then raise your angle by either 5 or 6 (for most situations).
A trick to help you decide how many angles to adjust:
Visualize the path of a shot that curls around the tornado perfectly to hit
the enemy. remember the more upward and strong the wind is, the flatter the
path of the shot. Once you've imagined a successful tornado backshot,
fire up your imagination again and trace the path the backshot would take
if the tornado were not there. Typically this will result in a backshot
path that ends up 5 or 6 angles behind the enemy's position. Estimate for
yourself whether 5 or 6 angles is correct, and adjust your shot.

It is also possible to have a shot enter a tornado, come out, hang in midair,
then fly backwards like a typical backshot and come into the tornado again. It
then exits the tornado at a point slightly higher than it entered the nado.
I don't have a surefire formula for this, but if you want to try it.. you'll
want strong wind that is either mostly upwards or diagonally up. Find
the angle you'd use to hit your target normally using the 2.5 bar method. Now
lower that angle by 1 degree and fire into the nado. the important part is to
not use too much power. If the shot has a lot of power exiting the nado or if
it hangs in the air too long, it will automatically hook downward instead of
fly back. I'd estimate that 1.7 or 1.8 bars is enough, but that also
assumes the tornado is pretty close to you. If you do it correctly the shot
comes out of the nado above your head at the same place it would if you wanted
to backshot without the tornado, and your enemy eats the hit. You only need
a very small adjustment of 1 or 2 angles to get the shot in the right position.

*Some key stuff I just wanna summarize: Backshot is not just a stunt, it adds
more damage and is therefore very useful. If you have a sure backshot, then I
recommend using a dual because the damage makes the delay worth it. However if
you cannot backshot using true angle, then don't be stupid and use weak angle
backshots. Weak angle backshots don't do any more damage than a normal true
angle shot, and often they do less damage. You're also making the shot more
difficult than it needs to be. One trick for achieving angle... if you have a
very steep upwards slope in front of the enemy, you can actually face towards
the enemy and backshot. You simply get boomer as vertical as possible and then
move your pointer as far away from the enemy as you can (while still keeping
true angle). If you can get angle 70 pointing away from them, that's great...
but if you must settle for e.g. 75 that's ok too. You don't want to use
something like angle 80+ unless the enemy is super close.

5. High angles - High angles are a basic boomer skill, even though they look like
showing off.
They are best used in 0 or 1 wind, and if there's wind it's best if the wind is
low and pointing towards the target. The way to execute a high angle shot is
pretty simple: choose an angle (usually over 80) and then cut loose with a full
power shot. If you choose the correct angle, you can hit any enemy on the
screen and even enemies beyond 1 screen's distance. The hard part is choosing
the right angle and figuring out how to adjust for slight differences in height,
distance, wind, etc. High angle shots are nice because they allow you to use so
many aim tricks to make a guaranteed hit, and you earn a ton of money for them.

Some high angle terms:

Full = four bars/full power.
Unfull = about 3 fingers less than full power, necessary in some situations.
SD = Screen Distance, the distance from the left side to right side of 1 screen.
When shooting 1 screen distance, assume boomer should be positioned half on and
half off the edge of the screen, and he will hit an enemy who is half on/half
off the opposite edge of the screen.

High angle pointers:

*You can measure 0 wind high angles using the little buttons and boxes on your
screen. Because you use your screen, it never changes and isn't like using a
ruler (i.e. 'cheating' haha). Once you memorize these measurement tricks, you
should never miss 0 wind high angles on relatively level ground.
Big props to Wood and Lithium for developing/passing on these tricks. A few tricks
I use all the time:

-A sure 87 full shot: The distance from your 'all/team' button to the 2nd
bar/half power mark on your power meter.

-A sure 84 full shot: The distance from the 'all/team button' to the ... this
depends on your playing mode. In tag/solo/jewel it's to the left edge of the
black and yellow striped section at the bottom right. In Score, it's to the red
number showing how many team lives you have remaining (the number on the left).

-A sure 81 full shot: The distance from the left edge of the screen to the right
edge, you and the enemy should both be half off the screen.

For easy shortcuts to measure other angles, see this image:

http://media.virtuafighter.com/media/gb/highangle.jpg

*Beyond 1 screen distance, you can measure by simply mentally marking where one
screen would be and then measuring from that point to the enemy. Sometimes this
isn't perfectly accurate, and I think the shot tends to fly a bit further than
you'd expect (i.e. if you start and 90 and lower 9 angles to hit 1 screen away,
you'd think lowering 18 angles would hit exactly 2 screens away. It actually
flies a little further).

*The distance between angles is large enough that an enemy can be sitting in
between two angles... i.e. an 85 full shot lands a bit in front of them, while
an 84 full shot lands behind them. There are two tricks you can use in these
situations:
-Move boomer a little forward or a little back until the enemy can be hit with
the angle you want to use.
-Use 'unfull' power, about 3.85 bars instead of 4 bars. Sometimes moving is not
an option or moving will force you to use untrue/weak angle.

*Speaking of untrue/weak angle, don't use high angle shots if you are forced to
use weak angle to do it. As always, a true angle shot is ALWAYS better damage
than a weak angle shot. There will be times though where you must decide what's
more important: Taking a guaranteed, easily measured high angle shot that you
know you'll hit with, or gambling on a true angle shot without measurement
tricks. Many players take the sure shot, but if you learn the fixed power lob
method you won't have to use weak angle as often.

*It is still possible to make shots with a bit of wind. The basic adjustment if
wind is blowing towards the enemy is to raise your angle by (wind-1) degrees...
so if you wanted to hit an enemy 1 screen away, normally you'd use 81 full...
but in 5 wind you'd use 81 + (5-1) = 85 degrees. Another guide suggests that
you need to move your boomer back a bit (about 1 boomer's width) and then raise
your angle using that formula. I'm not sure what's best.
If wind is blowing against you, high angles don't work anything like described
here, and often you'll find yourself in irritation situations where the wind
switches from 0/1 to 2 against you, and your shot must completely change from
one turn to the next.

*If wind is so strong that using the above formula suggests that you need to
raise your angle more than 90 degrees, than you can't high angle using full
power to hit the target.. the shot will fly too far if you use angle 90, and if
you go backwards from angle 90 the shot hooks strangely. One way to deal with
this is to use angle 90 and variable levels of power. A member of the Lord
guild posted a trick for dealing with vertical winds: the left column shows
some typical vertical wind strengths, and the right shows how much power you
need to make the shot land as if you were firing with 4 bars (full power).
For example: In 0 wind, angle 81 with 4 bars travels 1 screen distance.
If the wind is 15 up, you only want to use 3.4 bars to make the shot
travel the exact same distance.

wind | power
24 2.9
19 3.15
15 3.4
10 3.65
5 3.8
3 3.9
______

*The path your shot takes as it falls to earth is sort of diagonal, not just up
and down. Therefore if your enemy is a ways above or below you, then your full
power angle will be harder to estimate. An enemy who is higher than you needs a
lower angle than what you might see on your screen, and an enemy who is lower
needs a higher angle. An alternate method for hitting lower enemies is to lower
power but it's sort of guesswork how much to lower by... usually no more than
1/3 bar.

6. Hooks -
Hooks are another basic boomer skill, because they allow you to make shots
against the wind based on a formula. A normal shot against the wind is one of
the hardest shots to make in the game if all you have to go by is 'feel'. I see
perfectly good boomer players miss 1/4 screen shots trying to make a normal shot
at a fixed angle. Once you get the hang of hooks you can make the shot and you
only need to estimate the angle, the power is always the same. The method for
doing a hook is to pick your angle and cut loose with max power. Which angle to
choose can be estimated using some of the pointers below.

Hook pointers:

*You can measure low wind hooks (2-4 wind) using the little buttons and boxes on
your screen. Because you use your screen, it never changes and isn't like using
a ruler (i.e. 'cheating' haha). Your results will vary based on wind direction
and strength. Thanks to the mystery poster who created 'grid.jpg', which is a
visual representation of hook distances based on Wood's high angle guide.

-A 1 screen shot depends both on the strength and direction of the wind.
If the wind is weak (2-4) and pointing directly against you (i.e. east or west),
then a 1 screen shot is approximately angle 57.

-The distance from the left edge of your screen to the third power mark is ~70.
-A half screen shot in the same low wind conditions is about angle 74.

-The distance from your all/team button to the half power mark is ~angle 80.

*The more strong the wind is blowing against you, the closer the hook shot will
land and the more you'll need to lower your angle to hit a particular target.
There's also a greater chance that the hook shot will blow backwards. Wind
below 6 is generally not going to blow backwards except possibly for very close
shots. For wind at 8 or more, there's a chance a shot will blow backwards
unless you fire at a a low enough angle (i.e. you're shooting at a target 1
screen away). I've been told angle 89 never flies back.

*Wind direction matters a LOT if you want to judge:

1. IF the shot will hook
2. IF the shot will fly backwards
3. How far your hook will travel at any given angle

About 1: The more perfectly left or right the wind is, the more likely it is
that your shot will hook. For example 2 wind directly against will hook. Two
wind pointing a bit against, but mostly up or mostly down will not hook. You
will need to use your best judgment for wind directions that are a tiny bit
against but mostly up or down... you might find that at certain wind directions,
the wind might hook at, e.g. 17 strength, but not at 16. A pretty good rule of
thumb is that wind 4 against will hook in most wind directions.
A way to judge whether the shot hooks or not based on other boomer's shots:
If a boomer (not you) shoots and you see the shot bend/dip sharply as it
travels, then it is 'hook wind'. If a boomer does a backshot, then it is also
'hook wind'. If you see another boomer do a hook then... durrr.
There is also a trick that was reposted by Mauvecow to determine whether or
not your shot will hook. Imagine the circular wind indicator being divided
into degrees, i.e. 90 degrees is straight up, 45 degrees is up/against,
0 degrees is directly against, etc. Look at the wind strength, and then look at
the following chart. If the wind pointer is below the 'wind direction angle'
given on the chart, it will hook. If it's above that angle, it won't.
Wind / Wind Angle (direction)
1 / 0
2 / 60
3 / 70
4 / 75
5 / 78.5
6 / 80
7 / 81.8
8 / 82.8
9 / 83.6
10 / 84.3
15 / 86.2
20 / 87
25 / 87.7
(Credit to Mauvecow, reposted by shotgunkelly. Found on gbgl-hq.)

About 2: This is tricky, just remember the further your target is, the less
chance you'll get the shot to fly backwards. Also, the more up or down the wind
is, the less chance there is the shot will fly backwards... for example even 20
wind won't make the shot fly backwards if the wind is mostly up or down and
barely against. Experience is what counts here. Try a hook and if it blows
back, forget hooking until the next wind change, or aim for a faraway target.
Also be aware some angles are just buggy and want to fly back a lot, for
example 87 and 84 seem to fly back when they shouldn't.
About 3: The more downward the wind points, the closer the shot will land to
you. For example, if a 1 screen shot in low wind is 57, a 1 screen shot with
strong downward wind might be 50. Similarly, upward wind makes the shot drift
quite a ways after it flips over, so a 1 screen shot with strong upward wind
might be 65. In most winds, you will need to lower a few angles or raise a few
angles from the measurements listed earlier, how much you lower is a guess but
usually you don't need to lower more than 5 or 6 angles from the guidelines.

*Wind strength also matters, stronger wind makes the shot land closer regardless
of the wind's direction. Therefore even if you can make a shot in 10 wind
without causing the shot to fly backwards, you still need to lower your angle a
bit more than what my measurements might suggest.

Here is a wind chart to help you adjust your angle for hooks:
http://media.virtuafighter.com/media/gb/hookwind.jpg

Note that in all cases you are lowering your angle except for wind that is
blowing mostly upwards. In that sort of wind you'll need to raise your angle.

There is also a method for adjusting your hookshot to compensate for a tornado.
I credit Rearview for this info, it's on his guild's home page at
http://omega.wynhost.com/forum/

*If the tornado is fairly near the enemy, like ~2 mobile widths:
Find the angle needed to hit normally, then lower your angle by 4 degrees.

*If the tornado is 3-4 mobile widths from the tornado, lower your angle by 3.
*If the tornado is 4 or more mobile widths away from the nado, lower by 2.
Remember that the hook shot must finish bending before the tornado.

Some other information from Petroleum:

1). If hitting tornado at a high point, raise angle by 1 and use 0.3 less power.
2). If hitting tornado at a low point, just lower your power by 0.1.
------------
Summary stuff:

*Watch wind every single shot, because it matters more with boomer than anyone
else. You must not only watch for the meteor (wind change) weather effect, you
must also be careful to watch for variations between your current turn and the
last turn. "wind" is no excuse for missing a shot with boomer, because any
basic noob boomer must watch it carefully. For a pro to gripe that he missed
because he failed to see the wind is like saying "I shot my toe because I forgot
to see if the gun was loaded".

*It's kind of common sense, but if you didn't figure it out yet: If you can't
get a high enough angle facing forwards, just turn around and you can get the
angle you need while facing backwards. Backwards facing hooks and high angles
are common and useful for boomer.

*At the opening of the match, your shot 1 delay is lower than anyone. Therefore
if the target went before you, your response should automatically be to shot 1
unless the enemy was another boomer or A.Sate (who also has super low delay for
shot 1). Don't use up too much time aiming the shot 1 or you won't win the
delay race.

*Get in the habit of taking the smartest shot you can. If you know a weak angle
shotgun can kill the enemy, then use your weak angle shotgun. If you have a
choice between drilling through some dirt to kill someone or trying to shoot
over the dirt and risking a miss, then drill through the dirt. That isn't just
true for the final shot to kill someone, if you have ugly wind then don't feel
ashamed to clear some dirt for a shotgun angle rather than risk a hard shot.
Also don't be afraid to change targets if you have to, damage to any bot is
generally useful damage, a miss is never useful.

*Your SS needs time to open. If you use a high angle or lob, it always has
enough time to open. If you use a backshot or hook, it's iffy. Use it with
backshots if the target is pretty far. Use it with hooks if the target can be
hit with ~angle 80 I think. For very long shotguns, SS is no good... even 2
screen shotguns don't have enough time to open.

*For hurricanes, reduce power if the shot will be travelling upwards when it
enters, increase if the shot will be travelling downwards. How much to change
your power depends on how steep the angle is that the shot enters the hurricane.
A rule of thumb some boomers can use with high angle hurricane shots is to raise
1 angle if shooting up into the hurricane and lower 1 angle if the shot will be
coming down through the hurri. It's not foolproof though. One formula I've seen
suggest that for enemies who are one mobile width or closer to the hurri, lower
your angle by 4 angles. For enemies who are 2 or more mobile widths, lower only
2 or 3 angles. Hooking on the way up into the hurricane (especially where the
shot is at the top of the hook's arc) causes the hook to exit the hurri
in a drifty, weird way. It's almost impossible to reliably hit someone by firing
your hook upwards into the hurricane.

*Don't forget movement as an option for adjusting your aim. If a shot misses by
a hair, just moving boomer and doing the same shot is easier for some people
than trying to fire with a hair more or a hair less power.

*Remember that you can die in 2 duals, and it's especially common vs Sate, nak,
and often another boomer. When you die and choose your drop location in a score
game, drop far from those bots, and also drop where you think the wind will be
the easiest for you to handle (i.e. if wind is blowing gently left and you think
you're pretty good at hook shots, drop on the left side on the screen. If you
think you suck at hook shots but rule at backshots, you can drop on the right).

*Items: Every boomer should pack at least 1 dual because the ability to kill
someone who has nearly half their life remaining is damned useful. Beyond that,
I strongly recommend dual+, and teleport is often useful too, though I wouldn't
say it's absolutely necessary for boomer (who has no trouble shooting from deep
pits etc). Blood isn't bad, and the rest I wouldn't bother with so much. Some
players recommend bringing a wind change, but if you bring 1 wind change you
then must pack another relatively useless 1 slot item, leaving you room for only
2 of the valuable 2 slot items. My personal item load is dual, dual, dual+.

*Trickshots: Some out of the ordinary stunts you can try with boomer:

-Reverse hooks - try getting right next to an enemy and doing an 89

full power backshot if the wind is blowing towards them with a fair amount of
strength (8+). Your shot takes a surprisingly small arc, flies back, and you
get an ugly backshot. As you get better and better at estimating these things,
you can use lower angles and let your full power hooks fly back at further
distances. It's sort of like a reverse hook method for aiming at enemies
who have the wind blowing towards them. Or you can look at it as ugly
full power backshots.

-Super stunty backshots - if the wind is 20+, you can do full power backshots
that move in a smooth curve instead of hooking. There's a formula for judging
these: Use HongHong's backshot formula for determining the TK angle. Now
mentally divide the screen into 20 parts. You will raise your angle by
the number of distance units (20 being 1 full screen) between you and the
enemy. Lastly, just fire with full power. If the wind is strong enough and
you judged the distance correctly, you can make precise stunt shots this way.

-Timebomb SS - by using very low power, around 1 bar of power, you can get an
SS to open just in front of the enemy's face, which looks neat. It also has
some practical uses - you can use the lowest angle possible to connect with
the SS, which means getting true angle for your SS is simple. You can also
aim the SS very precisely at close range. The difference between an OK hit
and a perfect hit with boomer's SS is about 100 hit points. So being able
to aim it very carefully is useful.
The easiest way to judge your angle when aiming the 1 bar SS: Measure the
distance between you and the enemy in parts, each part is about 5 angles.
Each part is about the same size as the parts used to measure a 2.25 lob
(i.e. 15 parts to a half screen distance).
So to determine the angle, measure how many parts are between you and the
enemy, then multiply it by 5. Subtract the result from 90. That will be
the angle you need (at 1 bar of power) to hit with your SS. Note that
for very close shots, you should probably use angle 80 or so, not 85.
You don't want to risk damaging yourself. Also be aware that height
differences require a small power adjustment, i.e. use 1.1 bars if the
enemy is slightly above you. For hitting enemies beyond the angle 50
mark, you should also start to add power.
http://media.virtuafighter.com/media/gb/1barSS.jpg

-Booty shot - this goofy trick can be done with anyone. Charge the power for
any shot using slice, then juuust before you release the spacebar, turn and face
the wrong direction almost at the same time as you let go. You'll face the
wrong way but still shoot correctly, boomer appears to shoot from the rear.
----
Ok, that's it. Thanks for reading, and glhf.