Suit slots modify player’s armor to provide additional protection to a certain damage type, or utility in the form of increased speed or carrying capacity or ability power.
- Unlike weapons, Suit Slots need to be unlocked individually for each class.
- This guide only covers common-pool suit slots. Class-specific suit slots are covered in respective class’ guides.
Adrenaline Pump
Adrenaline Pump passively increases sprint speed by 10%, and it is available only to Light Assault, Infiltrator and Combat Medic. Has no upgrades and costs only 30 certs.
Some people swear by their pumps, but the majority’s opinion is that boost is too small to merit its use over other suit slots. The pump can be of interest to Stalker Infiltrators, so they can cover more ground while cloaked, and become a bit faster at melee attack lunges.
Watch Wrel’s video review (outdated, pump is now also available to infiltrators and medics).
Advanced Shield Capacitor
Light Assaults have ASC fully certed and equipped by default.
Increase the regeneration speed of personal shields, which normally take 6 seconds to fully regenerate.
- Rank 1: Reduces the time it takes to fully regenerate shields by 2 seconds.
- Rank 2: By 2.25 sec.
- Rank 3: By 2.5 sec.
- Rank 4: By 2.75 sec.
- Rank 5: By 3 sec.
Pros:
- Versatile, because personal shields protect you from all types of damage, including explosives and headshots.
Cons:
- Does not increase the maximum amount of damage you can take before dying.
- Does not provide any bonuses for the first engagement.
- Often it’s possible to retreat to a safe place to recharge shields, thus making ASC just a time saver, a convenience boost – you spend less time in cover, waiting for shield to regenerate, and more time in action.
Especially useful for:
- Heavy Assaults with Resist Shield, when playing in and out of cover. Resist Shield makes shields 54% more potent, and ASC allows them to recharge faster.
- For Engineers, who get reduced shield recharge delay by default.
- For very successful and experienced infantry players, who have no trouble dominating 1v1 fights, and just wish to be ready for the next engagement sooner.
- For any player that wishes to increase his uptime, and spend less time in cover, and more in the action.
Advanced Shield Capacitor is useful for battles of medium size or greater – 24+ on both sides, because you will encounter more enemies and get a chance to expose to fire those quickly regenerated shields.
Nanoweave Armor
Heavy Assaults have nanoweave fully certed and equipped by default.
Nanoweave Armor provides 20% resistance to non-headshot damage of most bullet-type weapons. This significantly increases your survivability, which makes Nanoweave the recommended suit slot for infantry combat.
Ranks
1 Cert: Rank 1
Adds resistance to Small Arms, which includes vast majority of infantry primary and secondary weapons, as well as Kobalt, vehicle-mounted anti-infantry machinegun, and Engineer’s Anti-Personnel MANA Turret.
[spoiler title=”List of affected weapons”]19A Fortuna
99SV
AC-X11
AF-18 Stalker
AF-18 Stalker AE
AF-19 Mercenary
AF-23 Grinder
AF-34 Mattock
AF-4 Cyclone
AF-41 Hacksaw
AF-4A Bandit
AF-4A Bandit AE
AF-4AE Cyclone
AF-4G Cyclone
AF-57 Piston
AF-6 Shadow
AF-8 RailJack
AMR-66
Artemis VX26
Artemis VX26 AE
AS16 NightHawk
Beamer VS3
Beamer VS3-FB
Betelgeuse 54-A
Bighorn .50M
Blackheart
Blitz GD-10
Blueshift VM5
Carnage AR
Cerberus
Chaos
CME
Corvus VA55
Cosmos VM3
Cycler TRV
Darkstar
Deimos VA29
DMR-99
Eclipse VE3A
Eidolon VE33
EM1
EM4 Longshot
EM4-AE Longshot
EM6
Equinox VE2
Equinox VE2 Burst
Eridani SX5
Eridani SX5-AE
Eridani SX5G
FA1 Barrage
Flare VE6
Gauss Compact Burst
Gauss Compact S
Gauss Prime
Gauss Rifle Burst
Gauss Rifle S
Gauss SPR
GD Guardian
GD-22S
GD-66 Claw
GD-7F
Ghost
GR-22
GR-22AE
Havoc
HC1 Cougar
Heartstring
HSR-1
Hunter QCX
Hunter QCX-B
Hunter QCX-G
Hunter QCX-P
H-V45
H-V45 AE
Impetus
KSR-35
LA1 Anchor
LA3 Desperado
LA39 Bruiser
LA8 Rebel
LA80
Lasher X2
Lasher X2 AE
Lasher X2-P
LC2 Lynx
LC2 Lynx AE
LC3 Jaguar
M1 Heavy Cycler
M12 Kobalt
M12 Kobalt-F
M12 Kobalt-H
M2 Mutilator
M6 Onslaught
M77-B
MANA Anti-Personnel Turret
Manticore SX40
Mauler S6
MG-H1 Watchman
MGR-L1 Promise
MGR-S1 Gladius
MG-S1 Jackal
MKV Suppressed
MKV-B Suppressed
MKV-G Suppressed
MKV-P Suppressed
MRC3 Mercy
MSW-R
NC Patriot Flare Gun
NC Triumph Flare Gun
NC05 Jackhammer
NC05 Jackhammer AE
NC05-P Jackhammer
NC08 Mag-Scatter
NC1 Gauss Rifle
NC12 Sweeper
NC14 Bolt Driver
NC4 Mag-Shot
NC4-FB Mag-Shot
NC6 Gauss SAW
NC6A GODSAW
NC6S Gauss SAW S
NC9 A-Tross
NCM1 Scattercannon
Nebula VM20
Nova
NS Baron G5
NS Baron G5AE
NS Baron G5B
NS Baron G5G
NS CandyCannon 3000
NS Deep Freeze
NS Patriot Flare Gun
NS-10 Burster
NS-10B Burster
NS-10G Burster
NS-11A
NS-11A Heatwave
NS-11AB
NS-11AG
NS-11C
NS-11CB
NS-11CG
NS-11CP
NS-11P
NS-15 Gallows
NS-15M AE
NS-15M1
NS-15M2
NS-15MB
NS-15MG
NS-15MP
NS-30 Vandal
NS-30B Vandal
NS-30G Vandal
NS-357 IA
NS-357 Underboss
NS-357B Underboss
NS-357G Underboss
NS-357P Underboss
NS-44 Commissioner
NS-44 Commissioner AE
NS-44B Commissioner
NS-44G Commissioner
NS-44L Blackhand
NS-44L Ravenous Blackhand
NS-44L Showdown
NS-44LB Blackhand
NS-44LG Blackhand
NS-44LP Blackhand
NS-44P Commissioner
NS-45 Brass Pilot
NS-45 Pilot
NS-61 Emissary
NS-61 Ravenous Emissary
NS-61B Emissary
NS-61G Emissary
NS-7 PDW
NS-7B PDW
NS-7G PDW
NSX Amaterasu
NSX Daimyo
NSX Fujin
NSX Naginata
NSX Tanto
NSX Tengu
NSX Tomoe
NSX Yumi
NSX-P Tanto
Nyx VX31
Orion VS54
Pandora VX25
Parallax VX3
Parallax VX3-AE
Parsec VX3-A
PDW-16 Hailstorm
Phantom VA23
Phaseshift VX-S
Phobos VX86
Pulsar C
Pulsar LSW
Pulsar VS1
Pumpkin Grenade (Halloween Event)
Quasar VM1
RAMS .50M
RAMS-AE .50M
Razor GD-23
Reaper DMR
Revenant
S12 Renegade
SABR-13
SAS-R
Serpent VE92
Shuriken
Sirius SX12
Skorpios
SMG-46 Armistice
SMG-46AE Armistice
SMG-46G Armistice
SOAS-20
SOAS-20 AE
Solstice Burst
Solstice SF
Solstice VE3
Spiker
Spitfire Auto-Turret
SR-7
SVA-88
SVA-GG
T1 Cycler
T16 Rhino
T1A Unity
T1B Cycler
T1S Cycler
T32 Bull
T4 AMP
T5 AMC
T7 Mini-Chaingun
T7 Mini-Chaingun AE
T7-P Mini-Chaingun
T9 CARV
T9 CARV-S
T9A Butcher
TAR
TAR-AE
TAS-16 Blackjack
Tempest
Terminus VX-9
Thanatos VE70
The Brawler
The Executive
The Immortal
The Moonshot
The President
TMG-50
TORQ-9
TR Patriot Flare Gun
TR Triumph Flare Gun
TRAC-5
TRAC-5 Burst
TRAC-5 S
TRAC-Shot
TRAP-M1
TRS-12 Uppercut
TS2 Inquisitor
TS4 Haymaker
TSAR-42
TX1 Repeater
TX1-FB Repeater
TX2 Emperor
Ursa
V10
VA39 Spectre
VE-H Maw
VE-S Canis
VS Patriot Flare Gun
VS Triumph Flare Gun
VX29 Polaris
VX6-7
Warden
XM98
Zenith VX-5
Zenith VX-5AE
10 Certs: Rank 2
In addition to previous rank benefit, adds resistance to Heavy Machine Guns, which includes some of vehicle-mounted machine guns, such as Basilisk and Drake.
It’s worth noting that when talking about weapons with splash damage, such as Canister, Nanoweave will only reduce their direct damage, but not splash damage component.
[spoiler title=”List of affected weapons”]C85 Canister
C85 Canister-H
G40-F Ranger
L-24R Spur
L-30R Vektor
M20 Basilisk
M20 Basilisk-F
M20 Basilisk-H
M20 Drake
NS-20 Gorgon
NS-20 Heatwave Gorgon
NS-20B Gorgon
NS-20G Gorgon
Xiphos Anti-Personnel Phalanx Turret
50 Certs: Rank 3
In addition to previous rank benefit, adds resistance to Gatling Guns, which includes another portion of vehicle-mounted machine guns, notably Valkyrie’s noseguns, Wyvern and CAS 14-E, as well as Vulcan and Aphelion.
[spoiler title=”List of affected weapons”]AP30 Shredder
Aphelion VEX-4
Aphelion VEX-4H
CAS 14-E
CAS30 Tank Buster
G20 Vulcan-H
G30 Vulcan
Hellion G20
M20 Wyvern
150 Certs: Rank 4
In addition to previous rank benefit, adds resistance to Soft Point Machine Guns, which includes Skyguard, Walker and all of the ESF noseguns, including anti-infantry noseguns. That said, Nanoweave will not reduce their splash damage, only direct hit damage.
[spoiler title=”List of affected weapons”]Antares LC
Aspis Anti-Aircraft Phalanx Turret
Light PPA
M14 Banshee
M18 Locust
M18 Needler
M18 Rotary
M20 Kestrel
M20 Mustang
M30 Mustang AH
Maelstrom Turbo Laser
Saron Laser Cannon
Skyguard
Vortek Rotary
Walker
1000 Certs: Rank 5
In addition to previous rank benefit, adds resistance to Anti Materiel Rifles, which currently includes only NS-AM7 Archer and its variants.
[spoiler title=”List of affected weapons”]NS-AM7 AE/NC Archer
NS-AM7 AE/TR Archer
NS-AM7 Archer
NS-AM7 VS/AE Archer
NS-AM7B Archer
NS-AM7G Archer
Recommendations
Rank 1 is an incredibly efficient investment of certification points. Must have if you have any intention of participating in infantry combat.
Ranks 2 through 4 let you survive an occasional vehicle shot. However, most of those weapons are not dedicated anti-infantry weapons, so you should not come under fire from them too often. And the few weapons that are dedicated anti infantry, draw most of their power from explosive splash damage, which is not resisted by Nanoweave. Get Rank 4 for your main classes, if you can spare the certs.
Rank 5 is effectively a waste of certs, since Archer is already so ineffective against infantry, especially with body shots. Don’t get it unless you own it already.
Mechanics
Damage resistance is not applied to headshots. Damage resistance does not stack with Heavy Assults’ Resist Shield ability or with Infiltrators’ Nano-Armor Сloaking. Instead, highest resistance is used.
Damage resistance is applied to bonus health from overshields created by Heavy Assault’s Nanite Mesh Generator / Adrenaline Shield.
An important thing to understand is that 20% damage reduction translates into 25% increase of your effective health and shields:
Effective Health = Health / (1 - Damage Resistance)
1250 = 1000 / (1 - 0.2)
However, the increase in survivability is even more significant if you look at Bullets-to-Kill values:
| Weapon Damage | BTK Increase |
| 200 | 40% |
| 167 | 40% |
| 143 | 33% |
| 125 | 29% |
| 112 | 38% |
And that’s when talking about weapons within their maximum damage range. Weapon damage degrades. So in ranged combat, the difference will be even greater.
Having Nanoweave almost guarantees you won’t be oneshotted by pump action shotguns, unless a perfect hit was achieved.
Sometimes, having Nanoweave can be the difference between taking some health damage or taking only shield damage. It is an important subtlety, because if you take health damage, you will need to look for a medic, use a med kit to max out your health, or run with lower total HP, which will of course decrease chances of your survival in the firefight. Using a Regeneration implant solves this problem for the most part, though.
ASC vs Nanoweave
In infantry combat, ASC is weak. Whatever advantage you get by having your shields up faster, only lasts for a few seconds compared to higher effective HP of Nanoweave. Unless you specifically adapt your playstyle to take advantage of that short time period, ASC is a convenience slot, and nothing more.
That said, having fresh shields sooner can help you survive things like grenades, rockets, knives or even a stray headshot – all of which ignores nanoweave.
People tend to love their ASC, it’s extremely addictive. The reason for that is that when you play without ASC, the full 12 seconds it takes to regenerate shields feel like an eternity, and you think “god, wish I had ASC right now”. Without the shields you feel naked, with shields you feel safe, and ASC allows you to get that feeling faster.
But you have to understand, that unless you take more damage in a time frame between 6 seconds and 12 seconds after you first took damage, ASC was worthless, it didn’t do anything for you, and that feeling of safety is only a placebo.
The main argument against Nanoweave is that it doesn’t reduce damage from headshots, and “every good player goes for headshots only”. But it is by far not always optimal to go for headshots only.
And according to my another sketchy analysis, taking a couple of headshots will not automatically make Nanoweave completely useless:
- If you take just a couple of headshots, nanoweave will most likely help you survive at least one bullet more.
- If you take three headshots or more, chances are nanoweave will not help you, or you will be dead.
Naturally the more headshots you take, the less helpful nanoweave is.
Flak Armor
Engineers have Flak Armor fully certed and equipped by default.
Flak Armor reduces blast damage you take from explosive weaponry, like grenades, rockets, tank shells and AP mines. Similarly to Nanoweave, each new Rank of Flak Armor provides resistance to additional damage types.
Ranks
1 Cert: Rank 1
Adds 50% damage resistance to splash damage from grenades and other common explosions. This includes splash damage from vast majority of sources, including vehicle weapons and rocket launchers. Only exceptions are C4 and Tank Mines.
Reducing the Indirect Damage component is enough to survive a direct hit from many tank cannons, but not all of them.
[spoiler title=”List of affected weapons”]Reduces Splash Damage from these weapons:
150mm Titan-R HEAT
AF-22 Crow
Breaker Rocket Pods
C150 Dalton
C75 Viper
C85 Canister
C85 Canister-H
CAS 14-E
Comet VM2
Coyote Missiles
Dual Photon Pods
Dual-75 Duster
E540 Halberd
E540 Halberd-H
Enforcer ML65-H
Enforcer ML85
Hades VSH4
Hellfire Rocket Pods
Hornet Missiles
Hyena Missile Launcher
L100 Python AP
L100 Python HEAT
L100 Python HESH
L105 Zephyr
L105 Zephyr PX
L-24R Spur
Lasher X2
Lasher X2 AE
Light PPA
M14 Banshee
M3 Pounder HEG
M30 Mustang AH
M40 Fury
M40 Fury-F
M40 Fury-H
M60-A Bulldog
M60-G Bulldog
M60-G Bulldog-H
M9 SKEP Launcher
M96 Mjolnir
M96 Mjolnir-H
MANA Anti-Vehicle Turret
ML-7
MR1 Fracture
MR11 Gatekeeper
MR11 Gatekeeper-H
NC15 Phoenix
NCM2 Falcon
NCM3 Raven
NS Decimator
NS Decimator-B
NS Decimator-G
NS Heatwave Decimator
NS-AM7 AE/NC Archer
NS-AM7 AE/TR Archer
NS-AM7 Archer
NS-AM7 VS/AE Archer
NS-AM7B Archer
NS-AM7G Archer
NSX Masamune
P2-120 AP
P2-120 HEAT
P2-120 HESH
P2-120-R HEAT
P525 Marauder
P525 Marauder-H
Pelter Rocket Pod
Phoenix AE
Photon A2A Missile Pods
Proton II PPA
Proton II PPA-H
S1
Saron HRB
Saron HRB-H
Shrike
Spear Anti-Vehicle Phalanx Tower
Spear Anti-Vehicle Phalanx Turret
Supernova FPC
Supernova PC
Supernova VPC
Supernova-R PC
The Kraken
Titan-150 AP
Titan-150 HEAT
Titan-150 HESH
Tomcat A2AM Pods
VLG Missile Launcher
Vortex VM21
Xiphos Anti-Personnel Phalanx Turret
10 Certs: Rank 2
In addition to previous rank benefit, adds 20% resistance to direct damage from Light Anti-Vehicle Weapons, which includes most of vehicle weapons that are often used against infantry, like ESF Rocket Pods, Fury, Marauder and PPA.
[spoiler title=”List of affected weapons”]Breaker Rocket Pods
Comet VM2
Coyote Missiles
Dual Photon Pods
Dual-75 Duster
E540 Halberd
E540 Halberd-H
Enforcer ML65-H
Enforcer ML85
Hellfire Rocket Pods
Hyena Missile Launcher
M3 Pounder HEG
M40 Fury
M40 Fury-F
M40 Fury-H
M60-A Bulldog
M60-G Bulldog
M60-G Bulldog-H
M96 Mjolnir
M96 Mjolnir-H
MR1 Fracture
MR11 Gatekeeper
MR11 Gatekeeper-H
NCM2 Falcon
NCM3 Raven
P525 Marauder
P525 Marauder-H
Pelter Rocket Pod
Proton II PPA
Proton II PPA-H
Saron HRB
Saron HRB-H
Vortex VM21
Xiphos Anti-Personnel Phalanx Turret (?)
50 Certs: Rank 3
In addition to previous rank benefit, adds 20% resistance to direct damage from Infantry-Based Rockets, which includes all of Heavy Assault’s Rocket Launchers and Light Assault’s Rocklet Rifle.
This lets you survive a direct hit from a Decimator rocket.
[spoiler title=”List of affected weapons”]AF-22 Crow
ASP-30 Grounder
Hades VSH4
Hawk GD-68
Lancer AE
Lancer VS22
M9 SKEP Launcher
ML-7
NC15 Phoenix
Nemesis VSH9
NS Annihilator
NS Annihilator-B
NS Annihilator-G
NS Decimator
NS Decimator-B
NS Decimator-G
NS Heatwave Decimator
NS-R3 Ravenous Swarm
NS-R3 Swarm
NSX Masamune
Phoenix AE
Rocklet Rifle
S1
Shrike
Striker AE
T2 Striker
The Kraken
150 Certs: Rank 4
In addition to previous rank benefit, adds 20% resistance to air to ground explosives. The list of affected weapons is fairly short and none of them are commonly used against infantry at the moment.
[spoiler title=”List of affected weapons”]Hornet Missiles
C150 Dalton
L105 Zephyr
L105 Zephyr PX
VLG Missile Launcher
1000 Certs: Rank 5
In addition to previous rank benefit, adds 50% resistance to explosive damage from C4 and Tank Mines.
[spoiler title=”List of affected weapons”]C4 (Damage Resist Type: 11)
Tank Mines (Damage Resist Type: 9)
Recommendations
Rank 1 is an incredibly efficient investment of certification points. Must have if you consistently get annoyed by explosive damage, or when fighting vehicles.
Rank 2 is useful, as it protects against popular secondary vehicle weapons, such as Fury, Marauder and PPA. Keep in mind that Flak Armor will not reduce Canister’s direct damage, and its indirect damage is already reduced by Flak Armor 1.
Rank 3 can be sometimes useful as it will allow you to survive a direct hit with Decimator, which is commonly used in close quarters by veteran Heavy Assaults.
Rank 4 is useless.
Rank 5 is expensive, but useful.
Mechanics
It’s important to realize that weapons with explosive damage usually have two damage components: direct and indirect:
- Direct damage is dealt only when the player is directly hit by the projectile.
- Indirect damage is dealt on direct hits, or when the player is close enough to the location of the direct hit.
Flak Armor 1 specifically reduces Indirect Damage of most weapons, while Ranks 2 through 4 add additional resistances to weapons’ direct damage.
Example:
- The player is being directly hit by a Decimator Rocket.
- It deals 975 Direct Damage and 350 Indirect Damage.
- Total: 1325. Player is killed.
- Flak Armor 1 reduces the Indirect Damage component by 50%, from 350 to 175.
- Total: 1150. Player is killed.
- Flak Armor 3 also reduces the Direct Damage component by 20%, from 975 to 780.
- Total: 955. Player can survive.
Tips and trivia:
Flak Armor is effective when used in tactical squads that move together in a tight pack. Flak Armor protects such squads from grenades, that could otherwise wipe out half a squad. PlanetSide 2 can have huge battles packed into small bases, and large groups of people tend to clump up in choke points. If you’re one of those people, you better have Flak Armor on, because sooner or later you’re bound to get exploded.
That said, bullets are by far the most common cause of death for infantry, so take that as you will. Some people just get annoyed from blowing up on mines and random grenades, and to some people mental sanity is worth more than statistical success.
Flak Armor reduces damage from your own explosives, which can be useful in some situations.
When you hit a target protected by flak armor with explosives, you will be notified by a special icon near your crosshair.
Grenade Bandoleer
Each rank increases your grenade carrying capacity by one.
- Rank 1: Can carry a total of 2 grenades, unlock cost of 100 certs
- Rank 2: Can carry a total of 3 grenades, unlock cost of 150 certs
- Rank 3: Can carry a total of 4 grenades, unlock cost of 500 certs
Grenade bandoleer sits good on skilled, opportunistic player, because he can bypass enemy lines, circle around from behind, and bombard masses of stationary enemy infantry from behind. Single Frag Grenade often wounds, but rarely kills, but if you lob three or four of them close together, you will be sure to get some kills.
Grenade Bandoleer is mostly useful in big battles, like 48+ on both sides, when people tend to clump up in doorways and tight corridors.
Grenade bandoleer is most often used in conjunction with Revive Grenades by Combat Medics, but it’s fairly useful for all classes. Note that running with 3 or 4 grenades plus other utility consumables can drain your nanites quickly.
Ammunition Belt
Increases the amount of ammo you can carry by one magazine per rank, up to 4 additional magazines. Heavy Assaults only have 2 ranks of Ammo Belt.
Ammo Belt stacks nicely with Extended Mags weapon upgrade, meaning that you’ll get more rounds per Level of the Ammo Belt if you have Extended Mags installed.
Ammo Belt for Engineer is a sort of inside community joke. It’s completely useless, because Engineer can refill his ammo at any point by using his Ammo Pack ability.
It’s not that useful to other classes either. Usually you can find an ammo pack or a terminal to resupply. If you can’t find neither of those, then you have to ask yourself “What the hell am I doing here, alone, in a middle of nowhere?”, and you can always just redeploy. Ammo Printer implant further makes Ammo Belt obsolete.
Ammo belt has a couple of niche uses:
- For skilled snipers, who don’t really need a defensive suit slot, and can easily run out of ammo once they get in a good position. If they redeploy, they will have to spend a lot of time getting back into a good position, and fight can easily be over by that point.
- For stalker infiltrators, using their pistols to engage enemies. Many pistols have limited amounts of spare ammo, and stalkers arguably value their implant slots more than suit slot.
Here’s Wrel’s grenade bandoleer and ammo belt video review:
Share with:
Recent Comments