Uncharted 2 Multiplayer – Boosters

Uncharted 2 has plenty of choices when it comes to boosters, but which are the best ones?

Boosters Slot 1 (15)

Point and Shoot – Increase pistol blindfire accuracy ($2,000/Level 2)

Not that useful, since blindfire accuracy with pistol is pretty good already, and there are other more useful boosters.

Usefulness: 2/5

From the Hip – Increase long gun blindfire accuracy ($5,000/6)

Has surprising potential, but difficult to use.  See my post on Down the Irons vs From the Hip.

Usefulness: 3/5

Break Up – Increased damage to breakable objects ($11,250/Level 10)

Useless if you ask me, most of the multiplayer maps don’t even have that many breakable objects to begin with.  In fact the only one I can think of is on the high tower in Sanctuary.

Usefulness: 1/5

Down the Irons – Better accuracy when aiming long guns (18,750/14)

This is probably one of the best boosters in the game, since it reduces AK47 recoil significantly, and everyone starts out with the AK.  In fact, it’s so good, most people can’t pick anything else once they get this.  If you favour the FAL over AK, don’t pick this as it doesn’t offer any improvement whatsoever.  See my post on Down the Irons vs From the Hip.

One downside though is that using this too much may make you overly reliant on it to get kills, and thereby locking yourself out from using better boosters such as Situational Awareness.

Naughty Dog has slightly nerfed the effectiveness of Down the Irons in the latest patch.

Usefulness: 4/5 in Title Update 1.03, 5/5 in previous versions

Hell Blazer – Move faster with the GAU – 19 (27,750/18)

Only 2 maps with a GAU-19, Village and Plaza.  The respawn time on the GAU is very long, and sometimes I don’t even notice it respawning at all, so I don’t suggest using this booster.

Usefulness: 1/5

Turtle – Move faster with the riot shield ($40,500/22)

Useless IMO.  For one, there’s not even enough riot shields in the levels for this to have a significant benefit.  And not to mention nades will still kill you.

As of 1.05 I have reconsidered my opinion on the riot shield…it is actually a decent item in certain situations, however compared to other slot 1 boosters I still don’t think that Turtle is worth it.

Usefulness: 1/5

Sure Shot – Better accuracy when aiming pistols (64,500/30)

Sure Shot doesn’t actually offer any improvement to pistol accuracy or recoil, it only affects the Micro SMG and pistole.  Since you’ll probably never aim with the SMG or pistole, it’s not a very useful booster.

Usefulness: 1/5

Walk softly – Silent movement (79,500/34)

With Walk Softly, your character no longer makes any footstep noises while running around.  It’s not very useful, since there are only a few levels where this can apply (Temple) and Situational Awareness makes it useless totally.

Usefulness: 1/5

Juggler – Faster pistol reloading (94,500/38)

I tried Juggler once.  Even though I use the pistol most of the time, I didn’t really run into many scenarios where I would need to reload mid fight, one of which would be where you have to kill at least 3 guys with pistol run and gun.  It’s probably most useful combined with Half loaded, or in Sniper/Pistole matches.

Usefulness: 2/5

Rapid Hands – Faster long-gun reloading (111,000/42)

This booster cuts down reloading time for rifles by approximately half, which can mean the difference between getting the kill(s) and dying.

Usefulness: 4/5

Situational Awareness – When standing still, press the up button to see enemies through walls (129,000/46)

This booster is a bit of a mixed bag.  It’s great to be able to see people through walls, but keep in mind it has a maximum range which you can spot enemies, AND you have to stop to do it.  Sometimes when using you might get moments where you get ‘too much info’ and get confused by all the red arrows you see on the screen at once.

Levels which Situational Awareness is good for (in Deathmatch), are the ones with lots of tight spaces which you can ambush people with Steel Fist or Shotgun weapons, for example Sanctuary.  Other uses include if you are camping spawn at the fort with a FAL, you can use this to see if anyone is sneaking up on you.  It’s also pretty useful in elimination matches, especially since there are no respawns.

Situational Awareness also helps stop people with shotguns/pistoles sneaking up on you.  Take note of what weapon each player is carrying, and if you see them coming around the corner, throw a grenade just so they reach it as it explodes to take them out.

You’ll also have to give up on Down the Irons to be able to use this booster, so that means you’ll need more finesse to use the AK47.  Also don’t forget, you can report enemy locations to your team, further increasing this booster’s value.

Usefulness: 4/5

Evasion – Immunity to siutational awareness (210,000/50)

Evasion is can pretty handy if you are facing off against a team who are above level 46.   It can ‘spook’ SA users into either using it less or becoming more paranoid and playing safer.  However, it is also a gamble, since if the other team does not have any SA users, you have wasted a booster slot.

Usefulness: 3/5 if you opposing team is above level 46 and they are using SA. Otherwise 0/5

Veiled – Badge of honor: No blindfire reticle (300,000/51)

Used for levelling up, Veiled removed the blindfire reticule, but in return gives you $10,000 for every 5 kills you do with blindfire.

Invalid – Badge of honor: Half health (350,000/52)

Used for levelling up, Invalid reduces your health to 50% (crushing difficulty is 65%), but you get $20,000 for every 5 kills you get with it on.

Glass Jaw – Badge of honor: Take double damage from hand-to-hand attacks (1,500,000/57)

Boosters Slot 2 (15)

Bandoleer – Carry more ammo (2,000/4)

With Bandoleer you can carry, and start with 50% extra ammo.  This applies to all weapons except the RPG and Hammer.  Pistol whores like myself find Bandoleer quite useful.  See, Pistol ammo is quite scarce in most maps, and on a long killstreak, you’ll find yourself running out of ammo without it.

Usefulness: 4/5

Scavenger – Get more ammo from each pickup (8,250/8)

Personally I find Bandoleer more useful, since you already start with more ammo as opposed to having to refill up yourself.  Also note that you can get full ammo by first picking up a different weapon then picking up a ‘fresh’ version of the gun you want, thereby reducing the usefulness of this booster.

Usefulness: 1/5

Keep Firing – More bullets in each clip (14,250/12)

As the description says,  you can fire more shots before reloading.  This doesn’t change the total amount of ammo you carry though, and I found when I was using Keep Firing, I’d constantly run out of ammo, especially for pistols.   It helps when using AK without Down the Irons, as you have that extra burst to be able to kill someone, and might give you enough ammo to kill another person in a run and gun fight.

Usefulness: 3/5

Fleet Foot – Move faster while aiming (23,250/16)

With Fleet Foot, strafing action is about 50% faster.  This can make a huge difference in a shootout using the ‘strafe left/right’ tactic as your opponents have to react faster in order to hit you. Slightly nerfed in 1.03

Usefulness: 4/5

Explosive Expert – Carry an extra grenade (32,250/20)

Now you can carry 3 grenades instead of 2.  This is really personal preference, I find 2 nades plenty most of the time, but if your playstyle involves alot of nades, then by all means.

Usefulness: 3/5

Treasure Bearer – Move faster with the treasure (43,500/24)

Useful in Plunder matches if you’re a good team player 😛 .  If you don’t have it, it’s faster just to throw the treasure to your team.

Usefulness: 3/5 (Plunder only)

Sure Foot – No knockdown from explosions (52,500/26)

Sure Foot makes you able to survive close explosions which would normally stun (and not kill) your character.  This means you can counter M-32 users, missed grenades/RPG shots.

Usefulness: 3/5

Launch Man – Increased M32-Hammer ammo capacity (58,500/28)

Hammer ammo is doubled from 6 shots to 12.  This is a huge difference, especially if you are good with the Hammer, which, could potentially lead to 12 kills.  Of course, you need to be able to get your hands on the Hammer consistently for it to be worthwhile, and you need to be able to use up all the shots without dying first obviously.  Also note that if you pickup the Hammer with Launch Man equipped, the increased ammo cap stays even if you drop it and someone else pick it up.

Usefulness: 4/5 (if heavy Hammer user)

Monkey Man – Climb faster (72,000/32)

Still testing.

Scoped in – Reduced pain wobble while scoped in (87,000/36)

If you main Dragon Sniper or FAL, this is a relatively good choice, as people shooting at you while you are scoped in will no longer mess up your aim.

Usefulness: 4/5  (for heavy sniper /FAL user)

Deposit – Earn more money for objective medals (98,250/40)

Objective medals in Plunder, Chain Reaction, Turf War games will give you double cash (capture 5 territories etc)

Rocket Man – Increased RPG – 7 ammo capacity (120,000/44)

RPG ammo is doubled from 2 shots to 4.  If you are good on getting your hands on the RPG, it’s an extra 2 kills everytime, otherwise there are better boosters (which are always active).  Of course, only useful on maps with an RPG such as Lost City, Temple, Fort, and to a lesser extent Village and Train Wreck (since the RPG is only available after some time).  Also note that if you pickup the RPG with Rocket Man equipped, the increased ammo cap stays even if you drop it and someone else pick it up.

Usefulness: 3/5

Revenge – Drop a live grenade upon death (134,250/48)

Useless, especially at this high level.  Unlike Modern Warfare where you magically drop a grenade even when you didn’t have one, you need to be carrying one for it to go off when you die.   Also the grenade takes extra long to explode, meaning anyone who kills you with a melee hit still has enough time to get away before it explodes.

Usefulness: 1/5

Half Loaded – Badge of honor: Less bullets in each clip (400,000/54)

More useful as a levelling tool,   Half Loaded gives you less ammo per clip, but you get $12,500 for every 5 kills made.  In patch 1.05, it’s hardly a disadvantage due to the lowered number of bullets required to kill someone.

Come Get Some – Badge of honor: Nearby enemies see your name through walls (2,000,000/58)

This works like the reverse of Situational Awareness.  Within a certain range enemies can see your icon through walls (just like teammates).  Every 5 kills with Come Gets Some nets you a cool $25,000.

For a while, Down the Irons and Fleet Foot are the best choices until you hit the forties.  After that, you have stuff like Rapid Hands, Situational Awareness and Badges of Honor, so it’s best to remember that those two boosters aren’t the answer to everything.  I find Situational Awareness very useful and have since swapped out Down the Irons for it, but I now have to run with pistol more often.  You should also swap boosters depending on the map.  Close quarter maps like Temple and Sanctuary I find Situational Awareness better, but for more open maps like Village and Plaza, Down the Irons may be more useful.  I would highly suggest learning how to use a FAL or the 92FS instead, leaving the slot open for a better booster.

Also some boosters work well together.  Situational Awareness and Come Get Some sort of cancel each other out in a weird way.  Juggler or Rapid Hands may also offset Half Loaded slightly.