Stealth Black Hand
| Stealth Black Hand | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Faction | Nod |
| Function | Anti-Everything, Active Camouflage Infantry |
| Health | 100 |
| Armor | 150 |
| Armor Type | Lazarus |
| Primary Weapon | Laser Rifle |
| Sidearm | Silenced Machine Pistol |
| Speed | 110 |
| Explosives | 1 x Timed C4 |
| Cost | $400 |
The Stealth Black Hand is a specialized Infantry unit of the Brotherhood of Nod. It's the only unit capable of remaining partially invisible to the enemy.
Appearance
When decloaked, SBH is clad in slim, full bodysuit in colours of Brotherhood of Nod. When cloaking is active it changes colour to cube patterned transparent blue. The cloaked form is visible to enemy from roughly 10 meters, although this distance decreases the slower SBH moves.
Function
SBH is mainly used for rushes, laying nukes and sabotaging/ stealing enemy vehicles, although the moderate damage and good range of Laser Rifle also makes it possible to kill light armored Vehicles. SBH loses it's cloaking capability when it has less than 50 health left total.
Strategy
Usage
Solo SBH
- Ambushing enemy infantry
due to it's stealh, SBH has upper hand in 1vs1 fights against infantry. The most valuable targets for the team would be sneaking Hotties, Deadeyes, Sydneys and perhaps Havoc. To successfully kill a stationary sniper, it is advised to use SMP at point blank for consecutive headshot damage multiplier, as the rounds shot make no sound and sniper needs to ascertain the position of the enemy while SBH damages it, and then finish the victim off with Laser Rifle after running out of bullets in SMP. It should be noted that SBH have the weakest armor type in game, which also receives bonus damage from Mobius Volt Automatic Rifle, and has no ammo capacity to quickly kill more than 1 infantry at a time, so choosing place and opponent for ambush is highly advised.
- Sabotaging/ Stealing Vehicles
Inexperienced Players will seldomly get out of their vehicles in places where Automated Base Defences can't cover them, presenting a chance for a resourceful SBH to steal momentarily empty vehicle. If it is booby-trapped with Remote C4, driving over the former driver solves the problem in most cases. Most players however will not leave their Vehicles unattended, thus forcing SBH to use Timed C4 on them. preferable targets would be vehicles with less than 400 hp at the moment of planting.
- Planting Nukes
Only the Select Few are permitted to use this tactic. SBH will have to buy Nuke in Equipment menu, sneak into enemy base and await opportunity to plant the Nuke without cover, however SBH will have to live long enough to plant it. After successful planting SBH should start shooting at the building by which it planted the nuke in order to get killed and let the other team safely disarm the nuke. The rest of the players is advised to plant nukes only in sight of sniper cover/ right before a Vehicle rush, as the beacon takes 50 seconds to succesfully lock on to the building.
SBH Squads
- SBH C4 Rush
Requiring at least 2 SBH with reptools, they are a mirror of Tech sneaking, as it involves getting to the enemy base unnoticed, demining Mines and planting explosives on MCT. it should be noted that while 2 SBH rush is possible, 2 Timed C4 will bring building down to 66 health, and another 3 full Laser Rifle magazines and 3 rounds need to be emptied on MCT to kill it.
- SBH Outside C4 Rush
Timed thrown on the building itself does only 17 damage, and full magazine of Laser Rifle does 8. There are however instances when it's easier to gather ~8 SBH and throw all timeds at the same moment on the building, and when they detonate, finish the building off with rifles than to sneak/ destroy building with brute force. Major drawback of this rush is that it is very, VERY hard to organise and usually leaves Nod base with only Militant Squads derping around, so it would be wise not to buy SBH before rush participants are gathered.
SBH serves only as assistance in this rush, taking stank from driving tech to let him kill the building without enemy stealing the vehicle. Sensible maneuvering required (a.k.a. not shooting at the c4'd building before they blow up).
Counter
"Searching for SBH" is very popular GDIs passtime game. sadly, beside mining the vital locations, detecting SBH is basically playing Tag with an invisible opponent who might not even be in your base. As stated before, Mobius Volt Rifle does extra damage against SBH, also applying electrocute status effect, disclosing the location of injured SBH for next few seconds. Good results are also produced by McFart and Patch, who, while lacking the quality of area coverage of Mobius due to lower rate of fire, match the speed of SBH, denying it outrunning them, and also apply the burn status effect, similiar to electrocute. EMP Grenades carried by Gunner and Sydney also are a viable countermeasure to check suspected area as EMP forcefully decloaks unit within its are of effect, although it's better used against stanks.
Forewarning
Since SBH is like PTSD therapy for inexperienced players allowing them to meet an enemy at less than 30 meters and live through it, it is a heavily overused unit within Nod. While victory is certainly acquired by teamwork and succesful sneaking, it is not uncommon for Nod team to lose because many unaggresive players are having fun walking around collecting Crates. Buying SBH without clear purpose in mind is almost always detrimental to your team. Please refrain from such actions.
GDI Spy
SBH spy is by far the most dangerous one, as it cannot be detected by neither enemy or Obelisk, and is not expected as it only drops from Mystery Crate, which masks who got what spy, thus making it possible to (with the right timing, of course) plant succesfull Ion.