 Shockproof |
Ghost: Artful Dodger | Tier 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Basic (3 pt): When tased, the shock effect has a 30% chance to backfire on the Taser, knocking them back. | ||
| Ace (6 pt): When tased, you are able to free yourself from the taser interacting with it within 2 seconds of getting tased. | ||
Mechanics[]
Aced Shockproof's old animation
As noted, the basic Shockproof skill causes the Taser's special attack to backfire, removing the need to injure or kill the Taser to escape electrocution; however, players will not become immune to shock attacks, as the backfire isn't immediate or guaranteed. The description is somewhat misleading; a shock effect happens once every second, each rolling a 30% chance of the shock backfiring. As a tasing effect lasts for slightly longer than 10 consecutive seconds before it incapacitates, there is effectively only a 3% chance that the Taser incapacitates a player, although the player is still vulnerable to other gunfire that can down them.
When aced, players suffering electrocution can use the interaction key within 2 seconds to reflect the attack back, stunning and knocking the taser down and freeing the player.
Strategy[]
As the skill only provides protection against a single special attack, use is highly situational. The core version provides no guaranteed protection, as players will still be shocked for a period of time, and will still fire uncontrollably and be vulnerable to damage. Further, the aced skill requires players to counter-attack manually, again requiring users to suffer the effects of electrocution.
As Tasers can easily be countered by sticking with competent allies, or by using your involuntary gunfire against them, the high cost makes it a very questionable purchase. Even if aced, the perk provides no complete immunity to the attack, only works on a single special enemy, and only stuns the Taser; as such, players should strongly consider their options before picking it.
This skill is somewhat more useful if you are planning to use certain ammo 'eccentric' weapons. Examples include: The Flamethrower Mk.1/MA-17 Flamethrower (with their limited range), HRL-7, any of the grenade launchers, any of the bows or any of the weapons that have an extremely small magazine-size/fire-rate ratio. As being caught off-guard by a taser when you are carrying one of these weapons can often result in an almost-guaranteed knockdown without some kind of outside intervention, this skill can often save a lot unneccessary knockdowns (especially if you're playing solo).
As being stunned immediately reloads the ammo in your current magazine a somewhat useful tactic with the weapons that have a high-magazine capacity but also carries a lengthy reload time (the best examples being the Flamethrower, the Vulcan Minigun or any of the light machine guns) is to take this skill and simply let yourself be stunned. After a couple of seconds if you can't kill the Taser then the effect will just wear off and you will have the majority of your freshly-reloaded magazine left to shoot, at the cost of a few wasted rounds. Of course you will still be vulnerable to enemy fire while you're being stunned so it isn't without its losses.
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- Previously, the aced Shockproof had an animation of the heister grabbing the electric prongs and pushing them together, zapping the taser and removing 50% of his health.
- The Taser's stun darts technically still create a closed circuit when "reflected" back by the victim, thus realistically wouldn't cause a backfiring shock.
- Modern-day taser devices often have a hard plastic shell to insulate their wielders from any accidental shocks, which makes the effects of this skill highly implausible.
- Tasers are designed to confuse the body's nervous and muscle systems, thus causing violent and uncontrollable bursts of spasm to incapacitate a target quickly. As the jolt is an instant effect, it would be unrealistic for someone to even stand, much less voluntarily disconnecting the (un-insulated) darts from their body and send the shock back to the unit.
