25. Know the Trax Stingers’ Pattern

https://youtu.be/L-DESYFIAgY?t=295

Knowing the pattern of how Gridlock’s Trax Stingers get deployed will help you in using this very underrated operator more efficiently. I see a lot of players just blindly throwing their Trax Stingers on the ground and hoping that it will just cover a wide area since the Trax Stingers will try their best to deploy as many barbed mats and spread them as much as possible. But knowing how it spreads will help you cover a larger area with its barbed mats.

When you’re trying to block a path with the Trax Stingers, what you want to do is aim at the center of the path as much as possible. That will ensure that the barbed mats from the Trax Stingers will spread as far as possible. The barbed mats get deployed first from the center and it will spread in a counter-clock wise fashion. If the area is wide enough, it will deploy nineteen barbed mats. And if the path is narrow, the Trax Stingers will deploy as many barbed wires as it can, but it’s unlikely to reach its limit of nineteen.

24. Deploy Trax Stingers on the Flanks

https://youtu.be/jFoLd94ap4k?t=24

Gridlock’s main role with her Trax Stingers is to greatly reduce roamers and flankers’ effectiveness. A single Trax Stinger can cover a large area with barbed mats that greatly slows down defenders who steps on them, and what’s scary about the barbed mats from the Trax Stingers is that they inflict high damage, so it’s unlikely that a defender would just try to walk over them and tank the damage.

Each barbed mat can be destroyed by a single shot or a melee attack, but since even one Trax Stinger can cover a large area with several barbed mats, it can take a long time to carefully destroy each one of them without alerting the attackers. This makes Gridlock such an effective anti-roamer, and blocker of flanks. With Gridlock on the attacker side, the attackers will be able to concentrate more on pushing rather than worrying about their flanks.

23. Use the scope 2.5x A for her F90

https://youtu.be/uso73icofDo?t=29

Gridlock’s F90 is a great assault rifle with good damage, decent rate of fire, and good magazine capacity. Its recoil is also very manageable. But the great thing about it is the wide variety of scopes available to it. And one of the best scopes for the F90 is the scope 2.5x, better known to older players as the beloved acog. The reason why it’s a great scope for the F90 is because its reticle, which is a red arrow pointed at the center, really helps with pinpoint accuracy.

Its zoom level is also very high so it makes enemies appear bigger on the player’s screen, therefore, easier to hit. And this scope is perfect for Gridlock’s role as a back line support after planting the defuser because with her role, Gridlock would mostly be engaging enemies at medium to long-range. Gridlock also has 3-armor and 1-speed rating, so it’s not really that good for her to be at close range because it’ll be easy for her to get hit.

22. Don’t Sleep on Her Gonne-6

https://youtu.be/e5mHpL_fq6k?t=139

Most Gridlock players including me would go for the super shorty shotgun for their secondary weapon, but there are also times when the gonne-6 hand cannon would provide more advantages. Especially now that attackers can repick their choice of operator and loadout before the start of the round, Gridlock players should switch to the gonne-6 when they see that there’s a Maestro, Melusi, or a Castle on the defender side.

Especially because Gridlock is a really great pusher and defuser carrier, she should be able to take out a Maestro Evil Eye that is guarding the bomb site where she’s going to plant the defuser because that can really make it hard for her to plant it. A gonne-6 would also be very helpful for taking out a Melusi Sonic Defense Banshee from a distance, or bringing down a Castle Armor Panel quickly for a rush.

21. Do not Sleep on the Breach Charges

https://youtu.be/e5mHpL_fq6k?t=166

While in most cases, the smoke grenade would be more beneficial to Gridlock especially when she’s carrying the defuser, there are also some situations that the breach charge would give Gridlock a massive advantage. One of those situations would be when the Gridlock player opted to go for the gonne-6 hand cannon instead of the super shorty shotgun because she found out that there’s a Maestro or Melusi on the defender team.

The breach charge would be a great alternative to the super shorty shotgun because they would also be able to open hatches for Gridlock and create rotation holes. And for vertical attacks, the breach charges are super effective, because they can create large holes on wooden floors. The breach charges are also great for pushing, especially when your team plans to rush, because they can quickly take down barricaded doors or windows.

20. Trax Stingers can be Deployed on Uneven Surfaces

https://youtu.be/e5mHpL_fq6k?t=378

Gridlock’s Trax Stingers are very versatile and the only way to really cancel their deployment is by shooting them while they’re spitting out more of their barbed mats which isn’t really ideal. You can also try to shoot it mid-air as soon as Gridlock throws it, but that’s also going to be very hard. Wamai’s Mag-NET will pull a Trax Stinger but it will only mess up its trajectory, it will still drop to the ground and deploy its barbed mats. So, the best counter for Gridlock’s Trax Stingers really is Jager’s ADS.

As you can see, it’s very hard to stop the Trax Stingers from spreading their barbed mats, and unlike many special gadgets or utilities in the game, they can also be deployed on uneven surfaces like stairs. Stairs are usually used by defenders for flanking so they’re usually one of the spots where Gridlock should leave at least one Trax Stinger behind. Once deployed on a stair, the Trax Stinger will fill it with barbed mats as much as possible depending on the size of the stair.

19. Cut Off Flanks in Oregon

https://youtu.be/e5mHpL_fq6k?t=564

This applies when the objective spot is on the kids room and games room of the second floor in Oregon. This map has three stairs leading to the objective spot, and they’re very useful for defending when it comes to flanking when it’s late in the round. But as Gridlock, you can start off the round by blocking off those flanking spots with three of your Trax Stingers and you’d still have one left that you can use for other purposes.

If you respawn from the construction site, all you have to do is rappel to the meeting hall roof facing the construction site and destroy the window leading to the tower. From that window, you can throw one of your Trax Stingers towards the stair. On the opposite site, there would be another window which will lead to the armory hall. You can use that window to deploy one of your Trax Stingers to the stairs. That’s already two stairs covered with Trax Stingers with very little time used for deploying them.

18. Utilize the Vents in Coastline

https://youtu.be/e5mHpL_fq6k?t=764

Coastline is one of the best maps for Gridlock, not just because it’s small so Gridlock doesn’t have to travel too much with her slow speed rating, but because there are many great spots for her players to deploy her Trax Stingers on. Obviously, it’s best to use the Trax Stingers for blocking the flanks, and since Coastline only has two stairs, it’s best to put Trax Stingers on them early so they could cause problems to defenders later on.

And the fastest and safest way to do that is by using the vents on the rooftop. One of those vents is a popular spot for frag grenades so a lot of players are probably already familiar with it. And that’s the vent on the north west corner of the rooftop which leads to the cool vibes stair. All you need to do is to drop one of your Trax Stingers there and it will drop to the cool vibes stair and block it with barbed mats. As for the other stair, use the vet on the southeast corner of the rooftop.

17. Harass Enemies from Below

https://youtu.be/e5mHpL_fq6k?t=938

Gridlock is one of the only four attackers that has a shotgun as a secondary weapon. Therefore, Gridlock possesses the ability to perform a vertical attack from below, just like Buck, who is by the way one of the four attackers that I mentioned. Yes, I know his under-barrel shotgun is not a secondary, but you get the point. Anyway, this makes Gridlock a very versatile operator because not only can she cut off flanks. She can also instill panic to defenders by harassing them from below.

And she does so not just by destroying wooden floors with her super shorty shotgun and then strafing opponents with her primary gun. She can also deploy her Trax Stingers from below because they can pass through the floors’ metal beams. 

16. She has an EMP Grenade Now

One of the latest additions to Gridlock is the EMP Grenade. She’s one of the few attackers that has been blessed with it, which is really great even though it makes it even harder for Gridlock players to choose which her secondary gadget is going to be. I maintain that Gridlock players should still keep using the smoke grenades because it’s more useful for most situations.

However, since there’s an attacker repick now anyway, if you notice that one of your teammates is using a hard breach operator but none of the others have the capability to destroy anti-hard breach gadgets; and this always happens in lower ranks, then I recommend you to switch your secondary gadget to the Impact EMP Grenade. That will ultimately be a lot more helpful for you and your team because hard breaching is very important for attackers.

15. Use the Extended Barrel for her F90

Don’t let the image recoil pattern image of the F90 intimidate you into thinking that its recoil is very strong. In truth, it’s actually very manageable despite it having a pretty fast rate of fire. So, as long as you’ve attached a vertical grip to it, its recoil will be quite easy to control even without any added recoil benefit from barrel attachments like the flash hider, muzzle brake, or compensator.

So, if you’re opting for this primary weapon when playing Gridlock, what I would recommend for your barrel attachment would be the extended barrel. The extended barrel will greatly lower the weapon’s range damage drop-off, so you’ll still be inflicting high damage even when you’re at medium to long range. 

14. The Scope 2.0x is perfect for the F90

While I did say in one of the entries above that the scope 2.0x A is great for the F90, and it is a true statement. The best scope for this weapon would actually be the 2.0x one. And that’s mainly because of Gridlock’s role. Although I wouldn’t recommend her to really be on the front lines because she’s slow and easy to hit, it is a fact that her role is for pushing. That means having to deal with enemies at close to medium range, and at those distances, the scope 2.0x is perfect because it will provide the best balance between zoom levels and peripheral view.

13. Kanal Trax Stinger Deployment

https://youtu.be/e5mHpL_fq6k?t=1029

When the objective spot is on the second floor of Kanal, one of the most heavily defended angles is the green hall. I, for one, also have this as my favorite spot for defending Kanal because it can hold so many angles. Just like alyttleton said in the video above, you can use the unreinforced wall next to the entryway for creating murder holes and you can frag attackers that are coming in from the printer and through the new bridge. This is why I always get annoyed when other defenders reinforce that wall.

I digress, but it’s important to point that out because it’s the reason why you should always expect defenders on that spot. So, when you’re an attacker and playing Gridlock, one thing that you can do to frag the defender holding that angle is to use one of your Trax Stingers as bait. Simply deploy it onto the window from the balcony and wait for a few seconds. Once the defender starts shooting the barbed mats, you’d know that his aim is down and that’s the moment when you should vault and kill him with a pre-fire.

12. Beware of Jager ADS

It’s very hard to stop the deployment of the Trax Stingers because even Wamai’s Mag-Nets would pick them up but after a few seconds, they will still be dropped and the barbed mats from them will still spread normally. All Wamai’s Mag-NETS can do is mess up the direction of its deployment, similar to what it does to Sens’ R.O.U. Projector Systems. 

The only defender gadget that Gridlock really has to worry about when deploying her Trax Stingers inside the objective spot or on angles that are frequently held by the defenders is Jager’s ADS. Jager’s ADS would intercept Gridlock’s Trax Stingers mid-air and it would be completely obliterated. So, as the Gridlock player, make sure that you gather intel on an area first and make sure there’s no Jager ADS present before throwing your Trax Stingers.

11. When to Use Her SDP 9mm

It used to be that the only choices that Gridlock had for her secondary weapon were the gonne-6 and the super shorty shotgun, but now she has the SDP 9mm, which is a really powerful handgun. It has high damage, low recoil, and what I like about this handgun compared to other handguns in the game is that its iron sight is actually really good. 

I would still normally go for the super shorty shotgun for Gridlock because it adds a lot of versatility to her. However, it is true that a handgun will add a lot of offensive capabilities to her, so you might wanna consider using the SDP 9mm when your team already has a lot of shotgun users, or especially when there’s a Buck in your team who can quickly make rotates and additional lines of sight.

10. Flash Hider is a Must for the M249 Saw

One of the biggest changes that we’ve ever experienced in Siege is the recoil progression overhaul that came with the latest season, Operation Brutal Swarm. That overhaul was aimed to nerf the meta of using the LMG’s low recoil and huge magazine capacity to basically just overwhelm enemies. So, now with Operation Brutal Swarm, the recoil on long continuous sprays would be much harder to maintain.

But even though the game now favors short bursts as opposed to long ones, it doesn’t mean that suppressive fire has become completely useless. Sometimes, especially when your weapon has a huge magazine capacity, it’s just better to perform long sprays. And that is why the flash hider is very important for the M249 Saw. With the flash hider, longer sprays would be much easier to control.

9. Attach a Vertical Grip on her M249 SAW

Following the tip above about controlling the recoil of LMGs which is now a lot harder, the flash hider wouldn’t be enough. And that’s why this entry will be dedicated to the vertical grip. The vertical grip only affects the vertical weapon kick, and the M249 Saw now has a pretty strong horizontal recoil. But reducing its vertical weapon kick would still go a long way when it comes to controlling its overall recoil.

That is because by reducing the overall vertical weapon kick, you’d effectively stabilize each shot. And although it will remain rough because of the recoil progression overhaul, it would still be a lot easier than going with the angled grip. So, when selecting which grip to use for the M249 Saw. Be sure to go with the vertical one.

8. Cut Off the Rotates in Villa

https://youtu.be/e5mHpL_fq6k?t=867

Villa is one of the wider maps in the game. It has three stories including the basement, but in ranked, the basement is very seldomly utilized. Defenders would mostly always pick the top floor for defending and usually the second choice would be trophy and statue. Now, for attacking that objective spot, once you’ve taken control of the bathroom, you can deploy one of your trax stingers on the bottom of the astronomy stair.

The astronomy stair is the most used stair for flanking so it’s important to cut it off. Next is once you’ve cleared the astronomy room, you can see if the connector wall is open because sometimes defenders open that themselves to peek at attackers going by the skylight hall. If that’s open, you can throw one of your Trax Stingers towards the red stair direction and that’s another flank cut off. If it’s not open, you can open it yourself with your super shorty shotgun.

7. Rushing in Coastline

https://youtu.be/e5mHpL_fq6k?t=670

This applies when the objective spot is on the hookah and billiards of the second floor in Coastline. It will apply to other objective spots in other maps as well but I recommend trying this one on smaller maps like Coastline where you can plant just a few steps while coming from the outside of the mission building. 

Just as demonstrated in the video above, you’d want to start a rush with Gridlock with her gonne-6. That will trigger a Wamai Mag-NET or a Jager ADS which will usually be on the bomb sites especially in higher ranks. That will activate their cooldown and you can keep throwing your Trax Stingers around the objective spot as well as your smoke grenades. The sound of your Trax Stingers will max your footsteps as well as the sound of you planting the defuser.

6. Use the Trax Stingers as a Distraction

https://youtu.be/e5mHpL_fq6k?t=465

Gridlock’s Trax Stingers is one of the peskiest attacker gadgets in the game, and when you’re a defender, it’s always best to shoot them before they multiply further. But when you’re Gridlock, you can take advantage of that mentality that defenders usually have, and for pushing, you can deploy your Trax Stingers as a sort of bait for the defender that is holding the angle that you’re about to push.

More often than not, that defender will lower his aim in order to shoot the barbed mats from the Trax Stingers, and you can use that opportunity to get in and frag that defender. The Trax Stingers are also very noisy when they’re spreading their barbed mats. So, Gridlock and the other attackers can take advantage of that noise in order to mask their footsteps and push the objective spot.

5. Listen for the Trax Stinger Sound Cues

https://youtu.be/e5mHpL_fq6k?t=326

Now, the primary use of Gridlock’s Trax Stinger is for denying area to enemies. When they’re deployed on paths that defenders use for flanking, they’ll make life hard for those defenders, because in order to get rid of them, they would usually have to melee them, shoot them, or destroy them with an impact grenade. And each of those will create sound cues that will be easy to hear for the attackers usually, unless of course the defender is using a suppressed gun.

When a defender walks over it, there’s also going to be a sound cue which is usually the sound of the operator being in pain as demonstrated beautifully by alyttleton in the video above. Of course, if the defender that walks over it is a female, you’ll hear a female sound. So, even though you’ve got your Trax Stingers blocking the flanks, you can’t fully relax because there are ways for defenders to get through them. But if you listen well to the sound cues, you’ll know when they’re doing it.

4 The Super Shorty is the Best Secondary

https://youtu.be/e5mHpL_fq6k?t=153

Like Siege youtuber alyttleton in the video above, I personally run with the super shorty most of the time when playing Gridlock, and that’s what I recommend for you too. I love the ability to be able to break down unreinforced hatches whenever I want and create holes on unreinforced walls for rotates or another way of entry. It’s also great for destroying the top part of reinforced walls so that your teammates can throw their grenades to the enemies on the other side.

It’s also great for creating more lines of sight and what’s more is that Gridlock can use it for attacking vertically. Its drawback is that it only has three shots before the user has to reload it, but for creating an entry hole, two shots would be enough, and its pellet spread isn’t that wide but it can break wooden floors easily just as any shotgun would. With that, Gridlock can frag opponents from above or below.

3. The M249 Saw is still The Best

https://youtu.be/e5mHpL_fq6k?t=100

The M249 Saw variant is a light machine gun that is unique to Gridlock, and is the best light machine gun in the game. That is because it has all the qualities of an LMG like high damage, huge magazine capacity, and a wide variety of attachments available to it, but most importantly, it doesn’t have the biggest drawback that most light machine guns have, which is their very slow reload time.

The M249 Saw variant has a detachable magazine, so it basically acts like a normal assault rifle or a submachine gun. So, you can think of the M249 Saw as an assault rifle with a huge magazine capacity. This makes Gridlock a very powerful operator because she can apply suppressive fire with her light machine gun while also having the ability to reload it fast.

2. The Smoke Grenades are her Best Secondary Gadget

https://youtu.be/jFoLd94ap4k?t=87

While Gridlock’s other secondary gadget options would also give her some great advantages during certain situations, it is the smoke grenades that’s in general the most effective secondary gadget for her. That’s because it goes really well with her special gadget, the Trax Stingers. The smoke grenades will greatly help Gridlock when it comes to planting the defuser because they will provide large areas of cover.

The smoke grenades will also be able to cover the barbed mats from Gridlock’s Trax Stingers, so any defender who will attempt to go inside the smoke in order to surprise Gridlock will get slowed and badly damaged. 

1. Be the Defuser Carrier

https://youtu.be/hur9yo1eWf8?t=43

When you’ve selected Gridlock, you’d better press D as well so that the defuser will go to you from the start of the round. That’s because Gridlock is one of the best defuser carriers in the game. Because of her 3-armor rating and gameplay, Gridlock players would mostly have to go straight to pushing and not really roam around the mission area that much. That means even if she gets fragged, the defuser would mostly be near the objective area and it won’t be much trouble to retrieve it.

Of course, the most important factor that makes Gridlock one of the best defuser carriers is the combo of her special gadget and her smoke grenades. Gridlock can cover her defuser plant attempt using her smoke grenades, and she can also cut off angles and pathways that the defenders could use to counter her defuser plant attempt using her Trax Stingers. Her Trax Stingers are one of the best area denial devices in the game and are very effective when it comes to planting the defuser.

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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