Manual To BETA

Introduction to Aerial
Welcome to Aerial, Merc! This guide assumes you have already read Handbook to Merc and did indeed joined as Regular on your first game, and decided to just now try out Beta.

Aerial plays much differently and are also very important when it comes to combat. They keep the sky safe and oppress the enemies from above, making sure that other squads always have light to see and a safe sky that rains down fury on its enemies.

Out of all the 4 Squads, Aerial is arguably one of the most important ones in helping you win the war. The long-term benefit of not having to worry about bombs from the sky, having constant vision, secure dropships and flanks, and easy location of where Zurganids are. When there is no Aerial, you really feel it.

Being Aerial
Unlike Regular, Aerial takes to the sky in their battle; the downside is that their chest or back slot is taken up by their flight kit, and they're a bit slow on the ground. Flying is rather simple. Just use Mousewheel Up and Mousewheel Down to control your height. Swimming Through The Air will tell you more on what each height actually does, but the most important parts are that you're faster the higher up you are, and that Sky is largely isolated while Roof and Ground can interact.

As Aerial, you deploy from the Aerial pad, which ejects you into the air, ready from the get-go. You should instantly attempt to light up Plares, as they last a long time and emit HUGE light, allowing the Mercs to easily see their enemies. You WILL encounter Swimmers, who can fly even faster than you can and will either harass the ground forces or kill you so you can't do the same to the Zurgs. Keep them off the other Mercs, and try to at times also support ground forces by shooting their enemies if needed.

Your top priorities are the Plares and Swimmers, because they're both things that only Aerial can do. If you get a break from doing either, try to annoy Zurgs any time you get a chance to help support the Mercs. If there's a push towards a hive going on, follow along so you can hopefully kill it from the sky if it tries to uproot and run away. In general, if there isn't anything specific for you to do, stay near a Tonk or the Dawn Crawler and shoot at any Spitters or Swimmers plinking at them.

Fighting as Aerial is all about HIGH SPEED! Swimmers and you move at very high speeds, even by the standards of CorpMerc, and it will be a bit hard at times to hit your target. It's fine to not be able to keep up, as there is 3 other squads to play as, and Aerial isn't for everyone, as their job tends to be easily the hardest. Your best way of hitting Swimmers is using SMG's or any automatic weaponry and try to rush them down with bullets. You can also use a instant hit weapon such as Mondragon to do high instant damage without needing to spray or get close. Swimmers are not very durable, even with EXO level ups, and lack any kind of armor, meaning each SMG bullet will do full damage very quickly and take it down as if it was a mere mindless. If all else fails, you can go Broadsword/Shield+Sword, as once again, Swimmers lack durability and armor, and the shield will help you negate some hits. Going Shield+SMG is also not a bad idea, but your accuracy will be terrible.

Do your best to keep the Dawn D intact as well; if it's landed, cover them from the Roof layer and try to keep Swimmers from freely harassing the Mercs and wasting ammo as well as lives.

In Short, Aerial is all about the Sky. Enter the Sky. Secure the Sky. Guard the Sky. Rain fury on the Ground. Stick together with your fellow squad-mates if possible, as you are the smallest squad typically and each death matters a lot. Even though Delta and Gamma have population restrictions and Beta doesn't, you'll still often be understaffed.

Beta Gear
As they're a specialist squad, Beta has access to some gear and abilities that no other squad does. Here's a brief list:

Other Tips

 * As said before, STICK WITH YOUR SQUADMATES, 5 Beta Mercs together are much more powerful than 5 separate Beta Mercs doing separate things, and you can cover and heal each other if things go wrong.
 * Keep your distance from Swimmers unless you are using a sword. They hurt quite a lot and will down you fast if you are not careful.
 * Remember that ROOF/SKY can be told depending on if roof tiles are covered in blue as well. The difference between the two can mean a lot
 * ROOF lets you be hit by ground weapons, while SKY won't. Try to stay in SKY as much as possible to avoid being retaliated upon by Spitters.
 * Always try to support the Ground Squads when you aren't fighting Swimmers or otherwise. Taking out Spitters or Predators that are trying to flank and kill Mercs is never a bad option. Especially if they already got someone near death or a corpse near them.
 * Always try and use the recall ability when you're out of ammo or health, as this ability teleports you back to the Dawn Crawler.