Gridlock is a character that I did not expect to enjoy when she and her companion Mozzie were released earlier this year, but over the course of this season, I’ve come to hold this 3 armor character in high regard. With her durability as an aforementioned 3 armor, her accommodating weapon selection, and her surprisingly useful gadget, Gridlock has become a staple in my online play and I hope that, with this article, you’ll give her some more thought in your games to come.

Ability - Trax Stingers

Gridlock’s gadget is a self deploying trap that is similar (in concept) to Lesion’s Gu needle as a physical obstacle placed by the operator. Unlike Lesion, however, once placed, the stingers will continue to multiply as each stinger spits out another one of itself until the pattern is complete, as partially pictured below. When a defender walks onto a stinger, they take an initial 10 damage but will only take more if they continue to step through other stringers or back onto the one they first stepped on. It’s an odd ability, yet there is a little more depth to it than I personally had thought during her reveal. The ability is impactful, which is exactly what you want from any operator, giving her an edge in versatility as the spikes can be used to block off your flank from roamers or flushing out defenders from the objective. This is just a superficial look at how her ability works and I will gladly give more tips on how the stingers can be used differently, but the heart of my passion for Gridlock lies within her loadout.

Loadout

Primary: Gridlock brings two choices in her primary guns, the F90 assault rifle or the M249 SAW light machine gun. While the F90 is a formidable version of IQ’s and Kaid’s AUG assault rifle, the M249 is a beast of a gun. Between its high damage distribution and the unobscuring ACOG’s availability, this LMG is even given a magazine rather than a belt, meaning the slightly smaller 60 bullet clip reloads faster than any other LMG in the game. The combination of all of these things make the M249 SAW a force to be reckoned with. To be fair, it does have its drawbacks, found mostly in its lower than ideal fire rate, but nevertheless, this unique LMG is the star of the show for most Gridlock players and is the reason I first latched onto the character so heavily.

Secondary: Gridlock finds a little harder of a pick between her secondary guns as both have their distinct uses. She can bring in the Super Shorty shotgun, weighing in with three - count em - three shots per “clip” or she can take the more reliable SDP 9mm pistol. Instinctually, I first started playing with the Super Shorty because a shotgun is always nice to have, but while I did find use in the shotgun as a way to make peek holes through destructible walls, that usefulness became a lot less significant than I had anticipated. One specific corner that I found myself falling into a lot was when things got down to the wire and I didn’t have time to reload my primary, even with the M249’s quicker magazine clip. In those instances, I had put myself at a huge disadvantage for the shotgun’s sake. Because of cases like this, I use the SDP. Now to be fair, I have a personal affinity towards pistols, so this may not be a popular opinion, but it comes down to what each individual is comfortable with using and the limited three shots from the shotgun just wasn’t enough for me to survive with.

Utility: The choices Gridlock has for her utility tools are between smoke grenades and breaching charges. There isn’t a lot to cover as far as these are concerned as both have the same uses across all operators, but one specific thing to mention regarding the smoke grenades is that they can be used fairly well as a way to conceal Gridlock’s Trax stingers. A case can be made for the breaching charges as they are handy if the Super Shorty wasn’t picked, and therefore soft breach isn’t available, but with the benefit of smoke-planting the defuser, smoke grenades are often the better choice.

Tips

Something that I’ve found that works well with Gridlock’s Trax stinger is when they’re laid out in an area with a lot of barbed wire already placed. While the stingers are loud when being deployed over a prolonged period of time, they’re rather hard to see as they blend in with the barbed wire. If the defenders aren’t careful, their own tools can catch them off guard, not only damaging them, but putting them in a position of either revealing their location by destroying the remaining stingers or trying to make the best of a bad situation by moving around them as best as they can.

A common use of Gridlock’s ability is to plant the bomb defuser and then cover the room in stingers. The fact that your teammates do not take damage from these spikes means you can shut down a room and know exactly when the enemies are pushing to disarm the bomb defuser, either by their characters' screams or the sound of the stinger being destroyed. Admittedly, this tip is a little on the obvious side as you’re just placing an obstacle down, but this setup is perfect for camping the defuser. By making a “kill hole” with the Super Shorty shotgun, you can be peek through it in order to stop the defender from defusing. The wall could also be wall banged in this instance if the shotgun wasn’t brought, but it’ll take more time and practice to get comfortable doing that.

The final tip I have for Gridlock’s stingers is to think about your impact on the team as a whole. From the start of the round, you get three stinger deployments which may seem limited, but when you take into account how much ground they each cover, you’ll realize how pervasive a threat they can be. Through my play time, I’ve found that if you come into a situation where you’re thinking as to whether or not you should use the ability, I would recommend you say yes and give it a toss. It’s not that you should throw the stingers any which way. Rather, it’s that you shouldn’t be preoccupied with debating their use. Whether it's covering your flank or restricting movement in the objective, all it takes is one shot to the head to be out for the rest of the round and your team is better served in that case by having the gadget deployed instead of on your body.

Gridlock definitely blindsided me with how enjoyable she is to play. She’s a tank that can throw a lot of people off, be it by pushing up an undefended side or being on the front line of the action, dictating the movement available to any defenders. If you like big guns and big personality, then this is the operator to unlock.

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