Let's End This: Mule Kick vs Speed Cola vs Double Tap

[perfectlemonade]

Author’s Note- This is mainly for co op. It’s pretty much accepted to go with the original four in solo. But in co op, it gets kinda dicey. I always go with Jug and Revive, so we’re assuming that these two are a given. The others, well, that’s what this thread is for!

Let’s End This: Mule Kick vs Double Tap vs Speed Cola

Hello everybody! Hope you guys are having a wonderful day. I have just gotten home from school, where I was taking my chemistry final exam. That class has been kicking my butt all year. I thought for sure I would bomb the final! Turns out, I got an 83 on the test! It’s not the best, but it’s pretty good compared to some of the other kids in the class. :D

Okay, I’m done talking about chemistry. What I wanted to come to you guys about today is the problematic question I often ask myself when playing the classic maps. As you know, Mule Kick was added to all the maps in September, which has caused some problems to rise when choosing your perks, especially in the World at War ones. I had decided long ago that I hated Mule Kick—the lack of being able to switch to an ‘OH SHIT’ weapon killed me one too many times—but when helping our pal Vodstok with his new, above top secret project, he made some really great points for buying Mule Kick over Double Tap or even Speed Cola. And has even made me change some of my views on the perk.

But first, let’s see what each perk does. I am far too lazy to write out my own perk breakdown, so I’ll just use this instead:

*Speed Cola* (3000)

Speed Cola speeds up your life! Well, mainly your reload time, which it decreases by 50%, meaning that you can reload all your favorite weapons faster! It can save your life in many situations, especially in camping, 3 and 4 player strategies where the zombies are constantly coming at you, leaving little time to reload. If you specialize in running large trains you might disregard this perk due to its high cost (2nd most among all perks), but as mentioned earlier, it increases your sprint time by about 2 seconds.

*Double Tap* (2000)

Your tap will now be doubled with this rapid-fire-on-steroids perk. It increases your fire rate 33%, meaning that automatic weapons fire with 33% of their normal RPM. Semi-auto's, pump-action and three burst guns get a quicker trigger. What does this mean? It definitely constitutes two things: 1) you will kill zombies faster and 2) your HK21 and RPK will be elevated to overpowered status.

However, Double Tap can also lead to another thing: waste of ammo. This can be prevented by firing into a horde/line of zombies (via a rape train or effective route) or by only using Double Tap for your HK21, the latter of which a lot of people do.

*Mule Kick* (4000)

Feeling heavy, like you can take on the world? Well, you can with 3 guns! The most expensive perk to date gives you, that's right, one more gun! However, the 4000 does not cover your gun purchase, so you're looking at putting down at least 4500 on being able to maximize this perk's usage. Otherwise, it's just a useless perk.

As you can see, every perk has their setbacks, be it a potential waste of ammo, additional time it takes to whip out a panic gun, or simply the sheer cost. But you’ll have to figure something out eventually and take your losses, because there’s only two slots available and three perks to buy.

So, Vodstok and I were talking about Verruckt, right? We both agreed that Speed Cola was in, no doubt (for the most part, Speed Cola always gets in. Except for one map). But we came to a disagreement when we came to Double Tap vs. Mule Kick. His argument was that, on a tight map with a lot of blind corners like Verruckt, you really need a so-called ‘running gun’ (namely, the Ballistic Knife) to give you that extra pop in your step so you can juke any zombies that stand in your way. Next you need a killing weapon and lastly you need a point-whoring weapon. And I saw the appeal in this. I really do. I understand why someone would want this setup. I mean, that extra 10% in your running speed the Ballistic Knife can give you is HUGE. And, on a map with Pack a Punch, the extra 10% can also really help you with those cross map revive sessions.

However, I disagree with what he’s saying. Why, you may ask? Well, let’s think it through. For most maps, and Verruckt is certainly no exception, your killing gun and your running gun are one on the same. I mean, I never go with the Ballistic Knife on maps like Verruckt, because you have the Ray Gun. The Ray Gun is a potent, potent killing machine. And this killing power is only amplified with the addition of Double Tap. While the Ray Gun does carry its splash damage, which is also amplified by Double Tap, in a sense, by the time it loses its firepower and you find yourself requiring more than two or three shots to take out zombies, you will be switching over to traps anyways. So really, what’s the point of the Ballistic Knife? Sure, it can help for high round dodging, but is it really worth it? Is it really worth the slower rate of fire on your point whoring weapons, which can have dangerous side effects as you try to keep your points up in the high rounds?

In my opinion, no. All you really need is a killing weapon and a point whoring weapon. The killing weapon will get you out of tight spaces on these maps without Flopper. Will it save you when you are cornered? Not necessarily. But will it clear a path in the zombies enough so you can dash through them? Yes. It will. Besides, if you have a Winter’s Howl and a Ballistic Knife on Verruckt, which one would you run with? Food for though.

And the Winter’s Howl actually makes this transition very nice, as I’m now going to talk about what I see as the exception to my philosophy. Yeah, you know what it is. I’m talking about FIVE. The map so many love to hate. As you know, there is no true power/panic weapon on this map, which means you have to rely on your own skill and a Crossbow to get you out of tight corners. So really, you only need a running gun (preferably a Crossbow, but there’s only one of those to go around) and point whoring weapon, right? Well, this works pretty well, until the Pentagon Thief rolls around, that is. This is often the downfall of so many great co op games. And this is why you need Mustang and Sally. These bad boys absolutely DESTROY the Thief. On any round. I keep them for only that and Insta Kill. Which leads me to proclaim FIVE as the only map in which Mule Kick is recommended. But perfect, should you buy it over Speed Cola or Double Tap, you may ask?

Well, I’d usually go with Speed, but the killing power that Double Tap brings to the table is insane. Especially if you’ve got an LMG or a Commando—something without the best rate of fire in the world, but can be easily remedied with some Double Tap. That is why I have started to abandon Speedy entirely on FIVE and just gone with Double Tap and Mule Kick. It may feel weird at first, as I'm sure you've become accustomed to quick reloads on most maps, but you will get used to it, eventually. It is not a 'gamechanger', so to speak. On the other hand, however, Double Tap can speed up the game tremendously, which is the very reason I value it on FIVE, as it already slow enough to begin with.

So, to sum things up, the basic idea is that most killing weapons and running weapons are, in fact, the same, so there’s no need for Mule Kick. The exception to this rule is on FIVE, where the Pentagon Thief will really mess you up. And that is why you need Mule Kick, so you can have a Thief killer (Mustang and Sally will do the trick) and maybe even get through the round with a Bonfire Sale.

Well, that’s all I’ve got! If you have anything to add, leave a comment! I’m out. PEACE.

-perfect

[shirtlesservice]

I agree with you on the issue if this is on Verruckt only...

Other maps I always go with staminup and Flopper.

Also, when you get to a certain point, its worth switching out your main killing weapon for the ballistic knife or a CZ or other pistol if there is no infinity damage gun.

The speed boost may save your life.

[perfectlemonade]

I agree with you on the issue if this is on Verruckt only...

Other maps I always go with staminup and Flopper.

Yeah, of course. Hence the reason this is in the classic map section.

And, I'm not sure about this, but isn't a Ray Gun a pistol? So basically it's the same thing as a CZ. But yeah, eventually, it would be a smart idea to trade out the killing weapon. But by that time, you'd be trapping, so the killing weapon becomes nonexistent entirely, so the need for Mule Kick is still not there. If you get what I'm saying.

[Superhands]

If we're talking about classic maps, Mule Kick is useless to me. Before round 30 you don't really need 3 guns, after round 30 you're gonna wanna think about using traps to get all of your kills and you only need a point-builder and a Wunderwaffe for dog rounds. Either a Wunderwaffe or dog-killer for Der Riese. The dog killer is never essential, half a clip of the point-builder followed by a Bowie slash will do the trick. The Wunderwaffe can save your ass in a jam, but a lot of the time it won't do the trick. So neither is essential and it's your choice, as long as one of your guns is a wall gun for point building.

[shirtlesservice]

I agree with you on the issue if this is on Verruckt only...

Other maps I always go with staminup and Flopper.

Yeah, of course. Hence the reason this is in the classic map section.

And, I'm not sure about this, but isn't a Ray Gun a pistol? So basically it's the same thing as a CZ. But yeah, eventually, it would be a smart idea to trade out the killing weapon. But by that time, you'd be trapping, so the killing weapon becomes nonexistent entirely, so the need for Mule Kick is still not there. If you get what I'm saying.

Which is why I also mentioned the balistic knife, because (if Im not mistaken) it lets you run faster than all other weapons.

And I came right to this topic through the recent posts... totally didnt notice it was in the classic maps section :oops:

[way2g00d]

Like always I will try and make this short. This is from my previous co-op expereinces.

I get Mule kick until I get my weapons of choice. In tough maps like Verrukt and Five I get mule kick instead of Revive, this way I can farm points with weapons I get from box until I get ray gun, monkeys and crossbow from the box. After Round 30 I down myself and get Quick revive. In high rounds (>40) Mule kick is useless if its a map that has traps. Crossbow/Wonder weapon and point maker is all you need. Rest is all traps. yea ballistics helps but its not a end of the world if you can't get it out of the box. Don't spend too much points trying to get that, cz or specter will do just fine while running loops. For five and Verrukt, Ray gun is the only power weapon for that map you can count on. And By "count on" I did not mean killing zombies but for defensive reasons. Screw winters howl, its completely useless. If you have to revive always make a full map loop. Don't rely on winters.

I still like the standard four perks. But get mule kick if you are struggling with box in starting rounds. Downs are just part of the game. All that matters is how you setup your guns for high rounds.

Hope this helps.