Widowmaker survival tactics

Grenade launcher tips and tricks:

When you're using the grenade launcher, there's two important things to remember:
1. Grenades on the ground are NOT dangerous UNTIL they blow up.
2. Grenades travelling through the air are as dangerous as a rocket if they hit you.

As you know by now, my weapon of choice is the grenade launcher. It is a little more flexible to use than the rocket launcher. You can shoot round corners with it, lay a minefield, and grenade jump of course. Anyway the deal with the widowmaker is this: there's places in the level that are ideal for grenadiers - gold columns jutting from walls provide perfect spots to rebound grenades from. The classic example of this is near the red armour and super nailgun.

If you face the dark sides of these two colums, you can grenade someone lurking BELOW you: they will have to run out or suffer blast damage, and then you can hit them directly. Similarly, the area near the lift provides three main regions to fling grenades : down the lift at a straight angle (this gets people going after the yellow armour), against the small wall (see pic) - this provides a double bounce against the wall above the rocket launcher and will take out people respawning there. The final point is the gold pillar in the corner - aim there and you can get people going for the rocket launcher, but of course this is risky, and i prefer to bounce grenades at a 45 degree angle down the lift for the same effect. You can get more cover this way, by hiding behind the small wall.
The last grenade spot is where the Quad respawns. By jingoes a quad grenade can do some damage. You can hit two respawn points here, three if you're lucky. The first is near the two gold pillars over by the SNG, just grab the quad, stay on the platform and aim up and about thirty degrees to the right and you'll leave someone a very messy present... The second is on the ground below the archway that leads into the main arena. This is an easy shot.

More difficult is hitting one of the four spawnpoints inside the arena, this calls for a high trajectory shot through the arched roof tunnel, or a long low shot through the lower tunnel. If you have quad you should be able to get people with blast damage, but with ordinary grenades it requires a bit more luck. You should take the opportunity to jump across to the arch tunnel while you have the quad, and rain grenades on the main arena. Hang on - make that "rain QUAD grenades" ... :)

Camping spots

Everyone hates campers, but there's a few spots in this level just made for it.. not deliberately, but it just turned out that way. The best one is probably up on the small wall near the lift - you just walk up the wooden ramp, jump up onto the wall and hey presto you can see two spawnpoints, the rocket launcher and some medikits. Another good spot is on top of the gold pillar that is halfway between the bridge and the lift (above some low steps). You have to rocket jump to get this, and for my money it's not good enough cover - you are open to attack from front and back. You also have to jump down to get ammo and health, and make sure you have over 50 to get back up again... Not everyone's cup of tea, but you should be aware that it is there.

The rocket in the wall

The rocket in the wall near the teleporter is easy to get. The rocks will only trap wankers who can't drive their Quake player properly. See the picture for the best trajectory in and out. And go in, grab the rocket launcher and then REVERSE out if you find you keep getting stuck. Don't forget to top up on armour and rockets while you're there too.

The lightning gun

Alright, the lightning gun is in the water. There is a spawnpoint at the foot of the bridge, and you can take advantage of the lightning gun bug to kill people from under the bridge when they are on top of it. Personally I think that it is better to grab the LG, run to the lift and then along the corridoor to the main arena, where there are 2 big boxes of cells. Alternatively you can take the other way up to the top floor of the arena - along the back wall, up the flights of steps and around past the ring cage.

The super nailgun

Welcome to ambush city. Here you find three possible places where attacks can come from: upstairs near the red armour, and from the left and right on the ground floor via the central arena. Players coming from the top floor will in all certainty have either red or green armour, the grenade launcher and maybe the rocket launcher. If they have all these toys then they could have up to 30 rocket too. Expect to die. Players coming from the left (as you face the two gold pillars, standing where the SNG respawns) could have Quad, the GL and/or the RL. They will probably not have red armour though, so you may be able to .. ahem.. nail them. I know, that's a pretty shocking pun. Players coming from the right will have your spare nails for you! They will have picked them up from further down the corridoor, along with a rotten heathpack. These players are the ones to go for.
I'd go and get the red armour and +100 health (under the stairs) ASAP, then prbably go for Quad.

RESPAWN POINTS

There's 9 in the level (counting the player 1 start position, which is not used in DM).
1,2,3 and 4: are in the 4 corners of the main arena, about level with the top floor, but dropping down to the ground floor to avoid telefrags. These spots are average to start from. You can get a yellow armour and a super shotgun pretty quickly.
5: below the quad, near the green armour and medikit (under Quad). A good spot to start. You can either run round for the super nailgun, or the other way for the rocket launcher (up the stairs). Whatever you do, grab the green armour first, because it will halp you stay alive a bit longer.
6: near the split level steps, top floor. This is a fairly good place to start, you are right beside a green armour and some ammo. You can either run down for the lightning gun, but a more sensible option is to go for the ring, super shotgun and nailgun on the top floor of the arena. Then you can decide to jump down and try your luck or go big-weapon-hunting.
7: foot of the bridge. This is a good spot to start. You are right beside a +25 and a rotten health, the lighning gun and the rocket launcher are only a short jog away.
8: near the lift. This is probably the best spot to start. You are right beside the rocket launcher, two medikits (+25 amd rotten). Taking a short stroll down the dark corridoor will give you yellow armour and the grenade launcher, and you can also rocket or grenade jump up to the +100 health on the ledge nearby (see pic).
9: near the super nailgun, between the gold pillars. This is a mixed spot to start from. If no-one is around, it's really good because of the health, weapons and armour. But if people are around then you should just get the fuck out of there.

These respawn points are not in any particular order.

MISCELLANEOUS

When you shoot the wall to get the quad, you have enough time to get the grenade launcher and the 10 rockets before the door shuts. So you can either bolt in and get the quad, then get weapons - or get weapons then the quad. Your choice.

There's three +100 healths in the level, one of which can only be reached by a rocket or grenade jump.
1: near the super nailgun, under the stairs.
2: in the centre of the main arena.
3: near the second rocket launcher, on a ledge above the path back to the main arena.

Preferences for weapons - a good rule to go by is the higher the number, the more desireable it is. There's two exceptions to this rule though. The Super Shotgun is better than the Nailgun. The Rocket Launcher is (in most people's hands) better than the Lightning Gun.

Grab a +100 health any time you see one

Deny opponents armour! Take a green armour then a red, even if your green is not scratched. Better yet, if you have the choice of two armours, take the lower one and THEN the higher one. This denies your opponent any armour. You can also cause light damage and then take red armour again. You can do this easily on the widowmaker because you have a grenade launcher and a +25 near the red amour. Just stand near an exploding grenade and then collect the red armour and health.

I hope that this little guide has provided you with some information that you did not know before. If you have any comments then feel free to e-mail me. But if you just want to say 'the widowmaker sucks because...' or 'the rocket launcher is better than the grenade launcher because...' then don't bother, I'll just delete your mail.
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