25. Break Things
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=97
To really master Sledge, the player must understand the basics of playing him. Primarily, Sledge’s role is soft entry, because he can use his Tactical Breaching Hammer to break anything that’s “soft” in the map. And by that what I mean is unreinforced walls, unreinforced hatches, wooden floors, and so on. But he can also break things that aren’t “soft”, because his tactical breaching hammer is also excellent in destroying bulletproof defender gadgets.
But going back to the basics, Sledge specializes in creating entry holes on unreinforced walls or unreinforced hatches. With one swing of his hammer, he can create an entry hole large enough for an operator to enter, and what’s great about using his tactical breaching hammer is that it breaches unreinforced walls more silently compared to other breaching devices like Ash’s Breaching Rounds or Buck’s Skeleton Key under-barrel shotgun.
24. The Breaching Hammer has a Limit
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=159
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s go deeper into the details of his special gadget. A lot of people do not know this, but Sledge’s use of his tactical breaching hammer is limited, so the player actually has to take care not to waste its swings. Its limit is twenty-hits, not counting the times it only hits the air. But if you swing it on an unbreakable object like a concrete wall, or even something that’s breakable but wouldn’t be of use to you, you’d end up wasting its limited use.
So, when using Sledge, do not go crazy on using his hammer. There’s a reason why it’s named tactical breaching hammer after all. It means you should use it in a tactical manner and not just swing on random things. Once the blue bar on the lower right part of your screen runs out and you cannot equip the tactical breaching hammer anymore, it means it has run out of its uses and it cannot be brought back.
23. He’s the Best Vertical Attacker
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=257
Well, now that Buck has lost his frag grenades, there’s definitely a strong argument for Sledge being the best when it comes to vertical plays. That is because despite the limit of twenty-five uses for his tactical breaching hammer, Sledge can still make what looks like an unlimited number of soft breaches during the round. Let’s face it, even though its use is limited, who has run out of the tactical breaching hammer’s uses when playing seriously?
With Sledge, you can break huge portions of wooden floors, further exposing the defenders below, and he can also break unreinforced walls on the same area where he’s performing his vertical attack in order to get better angles. And since Sledge can use his tactical breaching hammer a lot of times, he can keep breaking wooden floors for a long time and distract the defenders below while the other attackers proceed to push horizontally.
22. Clubhouse Examples
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=273
Clubhouse is one of the maps where Sledge thrives, especially when the objective spot is in the basement. When the objective spot is in the basement, it’ll always be best to take control of the kitchen, and of course make sure that there are no roamers in the logistics area. Once you’re in the kitchen area, break the wooden floors near the hatch as well as the floors on the corners. That will expose the usual spots where defenders hold their angles.
There are also spots on the kitchen hall that are important to break, especially the spot right after the short stair from the east entrance. The spot that is right beside the entrance from the bar is also a really good spot to break because it will give you an angle which will allow you to aim at the door of the bike room. Sledge is also really useful when the objective spot is on the master bedroom and gym, because normally, defenders will have Castle reinforce the windows of those rooms.
21. Destroy More to Create More Angles
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=351
I talked about this briefly in one of the entries above, and it seems like a lot of Sledge players forget this very simple tactic because they’re too excited to frag the defenders below after breaking a part of the wooden floor. But as Siege youtuber alyttleton demonstrated in the video above, you can manipulate the map further when you’re using Sledge in order to create angles that will better help you in fragging the defenders below.
A fine example of that is when performing a vertical play on Kafe Dostoyevsky and the objective spot is on the first-floor kitchen and service area. Normally, a defender would be anchoring the sink spot or freezer area, and as the Sledge player, you’d want to destroy the portion of the floor in the dining room right behind the hatch when you’re facing trains. And you should also destroy the wall behind you. That way you’ll have a longer angle and you’ll be able to see outside the large window of the freezer.
20. He’s the Best Counter to Castle
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=396
Apart from having excellent weapons and secondary gadgets, Castle is actually so underrated because he can waste a lot of utilities and time with his Armor Panels. If attackers do not want to use their utilities to destroy his Armor Panels, they’ll have to melee it nine times, and although it actually took more than that before, nine melee attacks will still take a long time. And if attackers want to do it faster, they’ll have to use their utilities.
Utilities like Ash’s Breaching Rounds, a shot from a gonne-6, Flores’ RCE-Ratero Charges, breach charges, and worse of all, sometimes, players feel the need to use their hard breach devices. It will be a complete waste to use all those utilities on Castle Armor Panels when they can be used for many other things, and you can just easily use the attacker repick option and pick Sledge. With Sledge, Castle’s Armor Panels are almost useless because Sledge can bring them down with just one hit from his tactical breaching hammer.
19. Keep the Defenders Guessing
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=565
When you’re performing a vertical attack with Sledge, most of the time, you’ll have to crouch down in order for your tactical breaching hammer to reach the floor. And that’s one of the reasons why you shouldn’t stay at the same spot where you just broke a portion of a wooden floor, because chances are, your head will be exposed and you’ll get easily fragged by defenders below.
Another counter to Sledge when he’s performing his vertical attack is the nitro cell, and there’s quite a lot of defenders who have a nitro cell in their arsenal. That’s one of the reasons why you should move as soon as you break a portion of the wall so that you won’t easily get killed from a nitro cell. So, when performing a vertical attack, the best thing you could do is to break the portions of the wooden floors that you need to break without staying at the same spot for a long time.
18. Vault over Something
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=599
As mentioned above, one of the counters that Sledge players should look out for is the nitro cell. It has a wide area of effect, so even if you don’t get directly hit, chances are, you’d still die if you’re within its radius, or at least get badly damaged. That is why you should utilize the environment to your advantage when you’re performing a vertical attack.
As you can see from the video above, there are many objects in the map where you can vault into when you’ve broken the parts of the wooden floor that are essential for a vertical play. When you’re above a table or something and not directly above the wooden floor, there’s much less chance of you dying from a nitro cell. It can also help protect you from being strafed from below.
17. Fast Drop Your Drone
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=693
Most of the time when players use Sledge and they want to go down an unreinforced hatch, say the logistics area in Clubhouse, or the bathroom from the rooftop in Coastline, they would destroy the hatch first and then send their drone in. That’s a waste of valuable seconds, and defenders will expect that drones will follow after a hatch breaks.
What you can do instead is to place your drone on one corner of the hatch that is far from the point where you plan to hit it with your tactical sledge hammer. And once you’ve hit that portion of the unreinforced hatch, it will break and it will bring down your drone with it along with the debris. This is one of the fastest ways to deploy a drone and the noise and debris will mask the sound and sight of your drone.
16. When to Use his Impact EMP Grenade
The impact EMP grenade is the newest secondary gadget in Siege and Sledge is one of the few Attackers that have been blessed with it as one of his choices for his secondary utility. I would still strongly recommend running with the frag grenades when playing Sledge because that utility will give Sledge more versatility, however, it’s important to note that Sledge now has the impact EMP grenades as one of his choices for his secondary gadget. Because there are times, especially in the lower elos and when solo queueing, that no other teammates would bother selecting hard-breach enabling operators.
15. Vertical Play from Below
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=797
A lot of Sledge players do not realize that Sledge can also be used for a vertical play from below even without his M590A1 shotgun as his primary. Though this will be a bit tricky and it’s only doable in certain maps and areas, it will still be handy to have this knowledge when you’re playing Sledge and you’re attacking an objective area that is located on the highest floor of the building and therefore cannot be attacked from above.
In Clubhouse, you can attack the gym area from below by vaulting over the billiard table on the floor below the gym area. This is very important to do because most of the time, there would be defenders anchoring that area. What I would do differently though is that I will not destroy the hatch because that wide space can be used against you. In Coastline, you can attack the bar from below by going to the office on the lowest floor and vaulting on the long desk.
14. Don’t Use His Shotgun
Normally I would advise players to not sleep on the other guns that an operator has that are not the one that I say is the best. That’s because those alternative weapons are also good if not better when it comes to certain situations or certain areas. However, apart from having close range superiority, Sledge’s M590A1 shotgun doesn’t really bring a lot to the table.
That’s because most of what the M590A1 shotgun can do to manipulate the map can also be done by Sledge’s tactical breaching hammer. Because Sledge has his special gadget, he doesn’t really need a shotgun to create entry holes or rotation holes. He also wouldn’t need a shotgun for breaking down wooden floors or for creating more lines of sight. So, it’s better for Sledge to just run with his assault rifle because that is the weapon that’ll give him more versatility.
13. Fast Rotates
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=890
Because Sledge can make an entry hole with just one hit from his tactical breaching hammer, he is one of the best when it comes to roam clearing. That’s especially because when he creates an entry hole on an unreinforced wall, it’s relatively silent compared to other utilities that can create entry holes. So, chances are, when the attackers are hunting roamers and the entry is initiated by Sledge, the roamers will be surprised.
And they won’t just be surprised, it will be hard for them to escape as well because of Sledge’s ability to quickly create rotation holes. So, when a roamer is trying to escape to another area, Sledge can take a shortcut by destroying a wall that leads to that area and he could flank the roamer. Of course, Sledge can also do this with unreinforced hatches which he can use to quickly go down and cut off a roamer.
12. Run with the Frag Grenades
The frag grenades are basically the best secondary gadgets for Sledge. As mentioned in one of the entries above, it just gives Sledge a lot more versatility, especially when Sledge is performing a vertical play. That’s because even when Sledge breaks the parts of the wooden floor above the objective area that exposes the defenders’ usual strong angles, a lot of times, the defenders are still able to find somewhere to hide.
And for those cases, the frag grenades really come in handy, because Sledge can use them to flush the defenders out of those hiding spots, and in a lot of times, just straight up kill them. There are also times when the frag grenades can be used for pushing an area when you know that a defender is holding it. You just need to throw one of your frag grenades towards the spot where the defender is holding and chances are, that defender will run and you can use that opportunity to come in and frag that defender.
11. Go with the Suppressor
This applies of course to Sledge’s L85A2 assault rifle. That’s mainly because his assault rifle doesn’t really have a strong recoil, especially when equipped with a vertical grip. So, the user is free to attach a suppressor to its barrel instead of the ones that provide recoil control benefits. That way, without sacrificing a lot of recoil control on the weapon, the user will also enjoy the stealth benefits from the suppressor.
The suppressor hides the muzzle flash and the directional threat indicator of your shots, so when strafing opponents from above, there will be less chance of them knowing exactly where you’re shooting them from. Of course, it also dampens the weapon’s gunshot sound, making it even harder for the defenders below to figure out where you’re hitting them from. And this will really help you avoid being countered by defenders’ gunshots or nitro cells.
10. Upward Vertical Attack on Coastline
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=893
Coastline is one of the few maps in Siege where Sledge can perform a vertical attack from below even without the use of his M590A1 shotgun. That’s because he can vault onto some objects and hit the wooden floor above with his tactical breaching hammer. He can do this from the office area on the first floor by vaulting over the long desk and hitting the wooden floor above. That’ll destroy the floor of the bar and expose the defender that’s usually anchoring there.
Sledge can also attack the hookah area vertically from below by going to the sunrise bar on the first floor and getting on top of the bar table. From there, he can keep hitting the floor behind the hookah’s couches which are commonly used by defenders for rotation. If you destroy those parts of the wooden floor, you’ll be able to frag rotating defenders and you’ll also be able to guard the defuser well if it’s planted around that area.
9. Quick Drop on Hatches
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=765
One of the best ways to rush and perform room clearing with Sledge is through him dropping with the unreinforced hatch that he just destroyed. It’s very simple to do, all the Sledge player has to do is to crouch on top of the hatch that he’s going to destroy and once he’s ready, he just needs to hit it with his tactical breaching hammer. Most of the time, the sound of the hatch breaking will mask the sound of Sledge’s body hitting the floor, and he’ll be able to perform room clearing with this tactic fast as he will be able to catch the opponents by surprise. Note, however, that you should only do this once you’ve gathered intel on the room.
8. You can Hammer Down Grenades
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=653
One of the best ways that you can use your frag grenades is by hammering them down straight to a defender. Yes, it’s an old trick but it still works and it’s very effective when it comes to surprising enemies. But be sure that you’ve gathered enough intel before you do this, otherwise, you’d end up just wasting a very valuable utility.
The intel on enemy positions can be gathered through drones, or through the angles that you can create above by breaking wooden floors with your tactical breaching hammer. Once you spot an enemy below a portion of the wooden floor that hasn’t been broken yet, all you have to do is to throw one of your frag grenades on that spot and hammer it down. That will make it go straight to the defender below and frag him.
7. Smash the Evil Eyes
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=538
When you’re playing Sledge, you practically have the power to smash almost every defender gadget there is, even the toughest ones like Maestro’s Evil Eyes, and let’s be honest, it’s one of the peskiest defender gadgets in the game. It doesn’t just shoot lasers that hurt like hell, it also gathers intel on you and your team and it can even see-through smoke grenades. So, it’s always best for attackers to disable this gadget as fast as they can.
The good thing is, its camera can now be smashed with a melee attack. However, that wouldn’t stop it from gathering intel through sound cues. So, when you’re playing Sledge and you get the chance to get near an Evil Eye, smash it with your tactical breaching hammer instead of just attacking it with a normal melee attack. That way it will be completely crushed and it won’t be used to gather intel anymore.
6. Destroy Barbed Wires
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=498
One of the most beloved utilities by defenders is the barbed wires. They’re very simple, but its simplicity is actually what makes it very troublesome. At the beginning of the round, the operator who chooses to run with it gets two barbed wires and he can deploy it on the paths that attackers usually take for attacking. A barbed wire will slow down an attacker a lot when that attacker chooses to walk over it instead of just destroying it first.
And the reason why some attackers choose to walk over it sometimes is because the most usual way to destroy them is by attacking them with melee two times. But those two melee attacks on a barbed wire will make a lot of noise and that will essentially give your position away to your enemies. Luckily, when you’re playing Sledge, all it takes for a barbed wire to be destroyed is one hit from the tactical breaching hammer, and it will be quieter too.
5. Smash the Bulletproof Cameras
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=472
Kind of like what was discussed above about Maestro’s Evil Eyes, the bulletproof cameras can be shattered by a melee attack, however, even if its camera has been shattered, it can still continue gathering intel through sound cues. And yes, attackers can also shoot its sides in order to completely destroy it, however, doing so could leave that attacker vulnerable to enemy fire.
That’s why it’s always best to destroy it completely from the front, and Sledge’s tactical breaching hammer is the best special gadget for doing it. That's because with Sledge’s tactical breaching hammer, the other attackers won’t have to use their gonne-6 or other special gadgets for destroying the bulletproof camera and instead just use them for better purposes.
4. Use Two Layers of Floors
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=325
I said in one of the first entries that one of the best ways to avoid getting countered with a nitro cell is to step over a table or chair while performing a vertical attack. That way, you’ll be putting some distance from you and the nitro cell if one is thrown in your direction. But the best way to avoid a nitro cell is by going over another floor and continuing the vertical play from there. There are many places in the maps where you can do this and Clubhouse is a fine example.
Just like what was shown in the video above, the player destroyed portions of the floor on the kitchen hall, and that destroyed portion can also be seen from showers in the second-floor if you destroy the wooden floor there. Of course, the destroyed portions of the wooden floor in the kitchen will also be visible from above if you go to the logistics and destroy its wooden floors. Most defenders also wouldn’t be expecting you there, so you’ll be generally safe from being strafed.
3. Utilize Your Map Knowledge
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=269
Map knowledge is very important to all operators, but especially more so for a vertical attacker like Sledge. A player could be very familiar with the maps, but if he’s not familiar with vertical attacking, chances are, he’d be destroying random portions of the wooden floors, and those portions wouldn’t be so useful. So, when you’re practicing vertical attacker operators like Sledge, it’s also important to know which part of the floor is above the usual angles that defenders take.
Those angles are very important because they’re usually the strongest angles in the objective area, and to have those spots unusable for defenders because they will be exposed from above is a big advantage to the attacking team. The vertical attack from Sledge will also force defenders to keep repositioning themselves, and whenever they move from a hiding spot to another, they risk exposing themselves to attacker fire.
2. Crouch Before Swinging
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=205
This is one of the most basic, but also one of the most important things that players need to remember when they’re playing Sledge. Whenever they’re going to make an entry hole through an unreinforced wall, it’s always better for them to crouch first and then swing the tactical breaching hammer. Because with that, Sledge will be able to seamlessly enter the area as soon as the portion of the wall breaks, as opposed to an entry hole done while Sledge is standing.
That’s because when you create an entry hole while Sledge is standing, you or your teammates would still have to vault over the entry hole in order to enter the room. And oftentimes, that extra animation from the vaulting action can be costly. It can leave you vulnerable to defender fire, traps, and it can also mess up your aim. So, when playing Sledge, do yourself and your teammates a favor and always crouch before making an entry hole.
1. The Scope 1.5x is the Best for Him
https://youtu.be/5hc69zl5kZQ?t=65
When it comes to Sledge’s L85A2 assault rifle, the highest zoom that he can get would be from the scope 1.5x. And there are some debates on whether Sledge should go with it or one of the 1.0x sights. The argument stems from the fact that Sledge will mostly have to deal with his enemies at close range and therefore, the 1.0x sights will be superior. I disagree with that assessment, however, because the scope 1.5x will not really give any disadvantage to the player during close quarters combat.
That’s because the 1.5x zoom level wouldn’t really take a lot of peripheral view from the player, and yet it will provide just enough zoom level so that Sledge will be able to target his enemies really well, especially their heads. Sledge will also have to do a lot of vertical plays and it’s important for him to be able to see the enemies clearly when performing a vertical play, and the scope 1.5x is just the right scope for that.
Attention operator, please be advised. There is a new directive from Six. Read up on these related articles, and prepare for deployment:
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