This video has subtitles in:
Magyar - translated by Asophix
This is the first video of our new Command & Conquer Tier List series. We're gonna rank all of Soviet's infantries, vehicles, naval units, and aircrafts based on how viable they are in the online meta. I'll also provide reasoning and a competitive analysis of why I ranked a certain unit in their corresponding spot.
Note that this tier list is NOT based on a unit's overall strength. Units here are ranked by their viability in the meta. You may see a very strong unit being ranked low on this list - That is because they do not see many uses in online competitive gameplay.
Time codes for units:
S - Tier:
War Bear - 0:08
Terror Drone - 0:22
Twin Blade - 0:46
A - Tier:
Hammer Tank - 1:13
Bullfrog - 1:36
V4 Rocket Launcher - 2:19
Akula Submarine - 2:41
B - Tier:
Natasha Volkova - 3:03
Sickle - 3:27
Mig Fighter - 3:45
Dreadnought - 4:04
C - Tier:
Flak Trooper - 4:35
Tesla Trooper - 4:52
Apocalypse Tank - 5:17
D - Tier:
Conscript - 5:39
Stingray - 6:00
Kirov Airship - 6:18
F - Tier:
Sputnik - 6:40
Music used in this video:
Dirt Rhodes Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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Hot Pursuit Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
Outfoxing the Fox Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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As many comments have pointed out, Conscripts deserve to be at least a high C. They'd go up to B-Tier when in the right hands (Dimon's REALLY good with Conscripts!). Sputnik should have been S-Tier. I was dumb. Remember that this Tier List is not based on how strong a unit is. A very strong unit may be placed in low tier because they aren't viable in competitive gameplay (think tournaments). These rankings would look very different if we were using the perspective of casual players.
I bet if you made a video about Empire then Tengu would be the tier A =)
@@yonatanyoffe6831 Tengus are hands down S-Tier!
@@xyhc-cnc S indeed. especialy in empire vs empire. last time we did a Match up like that xyhc. all i knew is it went back and forth in the war of tengus. who cares about the emu war we got the tengu war. miss playing With ya, CWedvin
Cake Cake we can play some time if I happen to run into you in game
Conscripts are super viable in Pro Play, plus when you garrison they always are cost effective. They can also synergise well with other soviet units as you've mentioned, definitely should be higher on the Tier List (B minimum)
it feels wrong when soviets are supposed to rely on brute force while all S-tier units are scouts and versatile units
Thats actually quite common in brute force factions. The lack of mobility means they lean heavily on their few mobile units to help control the faster enemy forces. (conversely, more mobile factions tend to lean heavily on their few tough combat units) ZH China leaned heavily on Migs and Helix, CnC3 GDI made extensive use of Pitbulls and Orcas.
That's not common but the game's flaw .
@@BlitkriegsAndCoffee except Tiberian Dawn Nod and RA1 Allies mostly rely on their fastest vehicles like Recon Bikes and Light Tanks.
@@BlitkriegsAndCoffeeand nod comes out with redeemers and spectres and it's gg ez. At most levels nod can just be used as a brute force faction (mainly in kw though)
The fact that the new Apocalypse Tanks have their rocket launchers removed unlike those in RA2 is unforgettable
If they had any sort of measures to defend themselves from air they would be much better.
But that ruins countering, RA2 competititve is tank spammign most of time
@@Kikematamitos still very slow unit
@@tastethecock5203Like mammoth tanks
The total absence of Sputniks in online matches made me forget they even existed to begin with lol.
1200 credits ;-;
@@kingkongredalert3521 Prospector cost 1400, at least in earlier versions. And take a lot longer to deploy. Sputnik also deploys a lot faster than Prospector.
I love how I'm carefully absorbing all this information but I don't even play RA3 pvp.
Lol might save your life someday Coronavirus: tell me which unit I should build and I won’t kill ya
you shoudl play it cuz it is the best cnc
And I don't even play RA3 lmao
Apocalypse : I AM THE GREATEST UNIT IN LAND UN- War bear : hold my Salmon
Playing RE3 casually made me realized that I used Twin Blade more than I expected, didn't realize that unit was also among top tier in Competitive.
whats not to like about them though. Good vs infantry vehicles and structures fast movementspeed can transport units through the air including any vehicle. They are no doubt the workhorse of the soviet warmachine.
@@mwperk02 Yeah, the existence of Cryocopter made me rethink my ground unit choice. Twin Blader just works as the best in masses. Pair them up with a bunch of MIG, some bomardment unit to disable anti-air tower or snipe airport and we are good to go. Heck, the sneaky Terror Drone+Twin Blade to harass the collectors are my favorite.
I literally can't play Soviets without spamming at least 20 twin blades
@@benismann And Terrordrone with Mig Fighter.
Seems like the soviets are underwhelming, especially in air-heavy meta. That's to bad since they're the memest faction. Tesla troopers, Kirovs and Apocs are iconic units defining the series and it's sad they simply aren't that viable. The Empire looks like the most overall balanced faction, while the Allies are simply to good at everything
@AndrewtheDuke what? Have you not seen the ra2 competetive scene. Soviet are very powerful. Sure they lose out to allies in late game but if we're talking competetive matches, most game don't even make it to late game.
But I have seen competetive online games where soviet's have won on many occasions. Bur yeah, allies and empires usually come out on top. Watch FTW tournaments and watch out for Dimon to see for yourself. Easily the best soviet/empire player I've seen.
@@rooky3526 RA2 soviets are quite good, particularly at midgame against average players, but they are overdependant on Rhinos, in YR they got hit hard, I am not gonna talk about Yuri as we all know how it rolls, but in allies vs soviets matches once allies start rolling out BFs+GGI combos you are going to get an awful fight. Personally I find Mental Omega mod good at bringing the soviets a lot of street creed back, the kirovs there are faster and sturdier, the fact you get an infiltrator unit allows you to match the veterancy steal adding your units the 40 percent hp bonus and your late-game ground and air units can actually put a good fight, for instance I have found the Catastrophe Tank, the Soviet Latin Confederation subfaction tier 3 tank actually more effective than the classic rhino and far better than the original apocalypse as they are cheaper and you can garrison a desolator or a pyro to make them more flexible.
@@commandermcnash5137 Yeah, I've heard of mental omega but I've never really got interested to check out some competetive matches on it. As for ra2. Soviets did get hit, but they are still incredibly powerful. If we're talking about early to mid game. Then there is no question, regardless if you're allies or yuri, against soviets those faction will always be on the backfoot and as per the number of competetive ra2 and yuri's revenge games I've seen over the years.....A lot of competetive games don't make it out of mid game. I get the feeling that you watch a lot of competetive ra2(yuri's revenge) matches, so you would know how painfully true this statment is. If allies or yuri are able to stall for late game then it swings in their favor. Those BF with 4 ggi's to deal with tanks and 1 navy seal to deal with fodder and pesky deso's work like a charm. But if we're talking about a stalled super late game on the other hand where there are no more resources, then this isn't even a discussion it is an inevitably. Yuri will win period. Those genetic muation on slave miners then crushing those brutes to generate income is straight up hax. Anyways. Point is each faction has a stage in the game where they are powerful. For soviets it's early-mid game, for allies it's late game, for yuri it's late-super late game(no more resources on the map). But the thing with competetive ra2(yuri's revenge) is, a lot of games turn into a soviet vs soviet match up. Not a lot of games go past roughly 10 mins, you see. And I'm not talking about average players here, I'm talking about competetive players. Go search for it yourself, it's easy to theory craft but soviets litter the tournament brackets. There are yuri's and allies for sure, but expect a lot more soviets. You talk about soviets over dependance on rhino's, but fact of the matter is....that's all the soviet's ever really need. Rhino's + fodder (dogs) as your main attacking forces, terror drones to flank and harrass, flak track for anti air (plus some situational flak trooper on stand by at your base), deso's for zone control and lastly iron curtain. This is pretty much all the soviets need. Especially against allies, it's a real challenge to get to the late gamesince you are expected to play on the backfoot agains Soviets. Fyi. It's different in ra3 though....allies are more powerful in that game.
Yup the game is ruined due to the developer focus on too much on ideology instead of real balancing
Very accurate list. Very rare to see. I would promote conscripts due to their incredibly low cost, molotov + terror drone combos, spamability (specially in maps with lots of garrisons, like BBB) and their very positive garrison exchange economy, they deserver at least a B. Tesla Troopers appear in competitive matches rather often, especially against empire because they pretty much neutralize King Onis. They make you inf bulky, unforgiving to other infs and deadly to armor/aa. Should get a B. Dreadnaughts should be a C. Expensive, slow to make, never hit a moving target and can only be used as a surprise measure, like Kirovs.
Sconded on ranking the conscript higher. From what I've seen...they have a place in online competetive play especially on maps with a lot of buildings on it. I'd like to rank tesla troopers higher, but their high cost for an infantry is really hurting them....they are excellent at holding their ground and fending off attacks though, especially if they came out of proxy barracks.
This is very useful considering I am in the early stages of dreaming up a Mod that celebrates all three games in the series with units from all three games
That's how you know if you are an RTS enthusiast... If the video about RTS game was uploaded 5 min before and you are the second person to see it in the whole world!!!
Haha did you have the notification on or were you just the lucky second viewer?
Your videos are really really good and informative Bro you deserve more subs!
It’s ironic that units designed to be powerful are not favored competitively.
I'd argue that Tesla Trooper should at least be a tier-B, at least because its crazy useful against Empire and their ground-based armies and tier-2 pushes. If a decent Soviet player gets at least about 5-8 of those out to back up their Hammer army, they become really hard to beat in a direct confrontation. They hard-counter tengus by shredding those too quickly, or switching to secondary mode, if tengus land on top of those. Unless Empire heavily invests in hordes of Imperial Warriors (or just abandon the idea of defeating the Soviet head-on), they get absolutely creamed. Granted, their specialisation is rather narrow, but they are really good at what they do - can attest to that as a somewhat high-ish skill Empire player, my single most hated unit besides the Cryocopter :)
C Tier - Apocalypse Tanks D Tier - Kirovs Me: Wait wot?
Competitive tier list here. Apoc and Kirovs are not viable online.
Because they don't bring back the investment, an apocalypse can be easily kited, swarmed and overall destroyed by any decent player, they cost a lot and are slow in terms of movement and turret turn rate and they don't give enough damage to make it worth it, what is worse, due their huge hitbox they are unwieldy and can be easily destroyed by artillery or even AT infantry. As for the kirov, they are just pathetic, what you are buying is a mediocre suicide bomber which has to damaged itself to get into position and moves at a ridiculous speed, anyone with just a decent AA task force will bring down it long before it has managed to get into an enemy base, Kirovs are basically the bogeyman of the franchise, you got scared from them when you first saw them moving to your base back in RA2, after all these years you already know if you are playing against soviets you just need to have some decent AA to warrant the enemy has effecively thrown thousands of credits to the bin in these blimps, Kirovs in resume are failed USA Spectres.
@@commandermcnash5137 Kirov are kinda lame tbh ...they are only good when you have an army of them but cost more and takes long.... apocalypse tanks are not that bad tho but you get use to them in some situation.
bribin spies, crispy...
@@commandermcnash5137 Kirov spam and deploy them in the weakest/defenseless side and you'll know what is the real meaning of destruction
I feel like it should have been worth mentioning how absurdly OP V4s can get when even a single terror drone exists, stun anything and it’s taking a LOT of damage from that missile. There’s a reason it flies so slow after all, it H U R T S. even if they kill the drone, they usually have to push at least a little bit to do so, letting you get some damage or snipes in (or if you know they are gunna poke for the drone, switch to the cluster missile on your V4)
Nice Work, great sharing with us 💞 💜
man i really like your content and you're the only one I think who is still making ra content but I really don't like reading but great content tho i hope you make a beginner guide cuz when i was playing this at 9 years old i just click without knowing anything and now i actually want to be good at this game
Conscript's ra3 guide is very strange. They kill there peacekeepers 1x1, but molotov doesn't one shot peacekeepers with shield. They overestimate and underestimate him at the same time.
I am really glad you made a video about this and can you please make w soviet naval tutorial?
Naval unit guides are scheduled to come after all other unit types, and right now we are still finishing up the infantry guides... So unfortunately you might have to use the brief naval unit analysis in this video for now. I do have a Stingray Rush Build Order guide also ;)
I disagree with one thing, Flak drops + Twinblades can make much use, Flaks and their mines are pretty good. Same thing goes for Tesla Troopers who IMO make much use in Soviet mirrors.
Seems like glorious old time of heavy war machines is gone and it's rise and dawn of mobile warfare. Truly Twinblade changed whole gameplay of Soviet union in RA3.
Cloud of Twinblades is the most fun way to play as Soviets.
come to think of it, Sputnik is the only thing I never built on war factory, including ore carrier but I build them in ore refinery.
Its been years since i've played cnc and i guessed why every unit was ranked as such correctly.
I would love commentary!
A casual tier list would be good
I know you don't see them as much but if you get 4 airships together generally you can eat most of the anti air to destroy your targeted area, life savers sometimes especially against somebody who builds buildings close together lol but I wish I seen them more in tournaments
Thank you i didnt know how to counter agaisnt some of the soviet units :D
Bullfrogs are easily one of my favorites.
Stingray can provide weapon for hammertank vice weapon slot..
Great video eeally helpfull but i will add 2 pros for the dreadnought 1- with a dry dock his healt regen faster than samage taken during special ability so you can in sacrificial fire during the whole game. 2- patriotic quotes of the dreadnought aren't here for nothing because he cannot be corrupt.
He can still be bribed
@@xyhc-cnc sure? The wiki state this true and game experience ( from 3 years ago so maybe it's has been patched )
I can see sputnik useful in one situation when you want to take 2 expansions far and opposite to each other, and you can sell it to get money back so it's ok
Empire tier list next maybe
Greeting from Hong kong , nice video
Thanks!
I wonder if marine-reliant builds are effective for soviets. Twinblades, Akulas, Bullfrogs, Migs, Dreadnoughts are high tier and all can operate from a naval base. And i feel like winning the sea can increase Kirov’s efficiency by keeping them more safe. Also i think superweapons must be a priority for Soviets. The low mobility of soviet high-tier units like Apocs, teslas, V4s make them defensive by nature and CnC has this amazing way to reclaim initiative and force an opponent to attack you - he can’t just wait for your Iron Curtain/Imploder to charge. Soviets also have lots of special abilities that might shine in defensive. And, while on defensive, you can play these annoying hit-and-run harassment games with terror drone, stingrays, twinblades. So, basically, an attrition game until you amass more stuff then an enemy. Are soviets good at it?
Soviets can harass pretty well with Twin Blades (especially good with Bullfrogs). Early on they can harass Empire with Terror Drones and Sickles. With Soviet, you usually play steadily, keep on expanding and defending, and eventually power through with a massive army on land or a ton of Twin Blades. Teching up for Hammer Tank early on is also pretty important. Try to break through and end the game whenever you can. Some games with Soviets actually end pretty early.
You generally don't want to open with Naval. Soviets mostly invest on land. Naval harassments are pretty important to keep your opponent from expanding into water though, giving you the economic lead.
XYHC This really sounds like what you did as a zerg in SC2 back in a days when muta was in meta :D You do eco plays, play defensive overall, fight for map control and expansions, build a shitton of roaches (aka Hammers) early game and mutastacks (aka Twinblades) obliterate everything.
The thing I really hate, the only thing I really hate about Soviets in this game is Conscripts, they are so bad, nobody ever uses them - ever. Except for that - they`re good. )
Super curious with an Empire list. Really curious where the Rocket Angel would be.
Sounds like you know what's going on ;)
Lol bottom
@@bingchillingsimp5811 Bottom? 12 Rocket Angels can decimate an entire base!! You do know that there both Anti-Air AND Anti-Ground units? The best way to counter them is with Reapers which are already grounded. (Or plenty of Hydrofoils if in the water. But these can be whipped down too if only a couple.) There's not much that can stop a dozen plus Rocket Angels!!
@@MarkSmith-tv6cp You must never play this game online, rocket angel is one of the worst unit in ra3, slow, fragile, needs high tech, vulnerable to splash damage, free food for AA vehicle and fighters. 6 bullfrogs can kill 12 rocket angels at ease with splash damage. Yeah rocket angels has lockdown beam but I don't think you are capable of such intense micro
@@krischen2428 There is no on line anymore. It's different v's Skirmish mode. Unless your playing half a dozen Brutal it's a good unit to quickly clear important buildings such as refinerys. Yes there expensive but can be worth it.
very good effort .. PrinceSaleh ..say hello
I think if bullfrogs got some form of anti land option, Soviets would gain more balance. If it was toggleable like the Harbinger it would make sense. Of course flak cannons would be somewhat useless against armor, but it could be a good anti infantry option. Maybe jack the price up $50-$100 and/or add a land-air turret change ability have a noticeably inconvenient cooldown, that could make it so that Soviets would have the option to, if they can crush an air rush early, punish the enemy by breaking into their base with bullfrogs full of flak troopers that can then sprint at all the vehicles and buildings with c4
If they can change their flaks to ground, they could even works against light armored vehicles. Both Stingrays and Sickles become obsolete.
I understand that this is in the tournament meta, but I feel like you went a little too harsh on the Sputnik Pros: -MUCH faster unpack than Prospectors and Rising Sun buildings -Twinblade/Sputnik combo is op af for rapid base expansion - ... Cons: Yeah everything else lmao. What about the Uprising DLC units?
The fast unpack is because Soviets cannot prebuilt structures. By the time spitnik is done unpacking and you start placing down a structure and it finishes building, Allies and Empire would already have their building finished.
Apocalypse and kirov will be S tier if you build it enough Edit: (if)
Everything is S-tier in enough quantity
@@vitaliitomas8121 SS tier for sputnik
is the online population playing the last EA patch or are they playing any of the community patches? my favourite units are the soviet C-D tiers
Official C&C Online tournaments currently use 1.12.6, which is a community patch. Some are switching over to 1.12.8, which is still in beta (Overall, there are no balance changes in those, except lots of graphic improvements, bugs fixes, and slight map adjustments to facilitate wall building or better mirror both sides)
Sad to see my Tesla Trooper boys are C rank, nothing said is untrue, but those guys carried me back in RA2 and i spam them out during the campaign and vs AI
Competitive players: NOO YOU CANT JUST USE SPUTNICK,THER ARE USELESS AND STUPID MONEY COST Casual players like me:where are going? Lets go to the beach!
Ah no more bath time?!!
@xyhc-cnc did you miss Tesla tanks or am I misremembering and they didn’t exist in RA3
they're campaign-exclusive in ra3
@@xyhc-cnc that’s kind of sad. Are they in king sputnik for multiplayer?
I didn't even know you could Pilot snipe with Natasha...man, those lets plays REALLY missed some good stuff
my beat strategy to counter allied bases is apocalypse tanks + bullfrogs
Some sickles should be mixed in.
Wait the actor that played Natasha Volkova is in The Mandolorian. Who did she play?
The shock trooper. The lady mando teamed up with in episode 4 and the two finales.
@@xyhc-cnc She got sacked too. For making comments on social media which were not appreciated. Gina Carrera. Lovely girl too!!
You say, that conscripts power is in numbers. There is some pro level game, where somebody wining the game with just hundreds of conscripts?)
Eloida Sarmi it happens
pump out enough conscripts and even heavy anti infantry units like riptides can get overwhelmed.
You said molotovs one-shot peacekeepers, but in the video it required 2/3 volleys.
Don’t look at Tank buster’s surveillance footage.
I mean the conscript is usefull I just build a bunker and let the conscript defend in vs ai
I disagree with Conscripts on D. It may have been in the past but there were a lot of good build orders smitting Allies on most maps with Conscript pushes. Than again it is a ranking for the current meta and I'm out of touch. Still Conscript forever on B.
ZxGanon ya I definitely ranked Conscripts too low. Maybe it’s because I play empire too much
Who is the target audience for your tier list videos? You say "competitive tier list." However a lot of your tier list seems to assume that the units are not in the hands of a top tier player.
*sad kirov noises*
Sickles take damage from aa turrets when they jump so all only aa turrets and units have a ability to crush dolphin and sickle
Hey look, there's a bunch of dolphins at my water ref! Quick, let's send the Bullfrogs over!
You Are Really Active With comments. Do you view your comment sections alot?
Narwhale Kittens Backup I sometimes see the notifications
i need uprising unit too and competition unit between origin and uprising.
Sorry but the Uprising meta does not exist. Uprising does not have multiplayer because as the devs admitted, the new units are a balance nightmare. (Will definitely do guide videos on Uprising units in the future tho)
Where's the reaper?
Rip Kirov in RA3
conscripts, being hard counter of peacekeepers is A or B tier not D tier lol. v4 is worst compared with athena and wave force.
but i like v4 i always win with them
@@racelkatyusha403 a wave force is inarguably more accurate than v4. also on defense, wave force can take out v4 and dodge the v4 rocket. athena can do the same, except v4 can maneuver to avoid full damage, but for special ability, aegis shield is much better than v4 spread.
Nah, only if you have bears and even then. A couple peacekeepers shred through conscripts as their Shotgun does AoE and can even push bears back; soviet player needs 2 units and godlike micro to get around a simple row of peacekeepers. Only worth using if you have garrison because their range is increased and it denies their very low HP.
Kirov should be buff more
Where is battle engineer
im mad that they dont even puted apocalypes tank with rockets or flak
Well we have reaper hurraaay?
Wait for the corona mod, they plan to give Apocalypse tank with some AA missiles.
i have never played pvp, and i have known for long that twinblades are simply too overpowered produce a few dozen and they wipe bases like locusts
Is there online competition? XD
I found it SO CRUEL that TESLA TANKS are in the game. But NOT available on Skirmish mode. Loved those on Red Alert 2 (Which has the better gameplay imo.)
In RA2, tesla tank is almost as bad as tank destroyer, if you ever play online
@@krischen2428 Nope!! That's that then.
@@krischen2428 Tesla Tanks on Skirmish when available can be fantastic once they are starred up.
Oh no my Kirovs in D tier :(
Terror Drones are broken
I bet Sputniks only exist for Ai’s to use
Don't you think that it's hard to make strong Soviet units without breaking their old era atmosphere? Like this empire of rising sun has future technology, or this boring allies with their experimental tech. What will Soviet faction have if they're well... rely on old tech.
The wiki states that Soviets rely on advanced but conventional tech.... and a lot of big beefy boi armor and firepower.
flag trooper shoudl be much higher in the list, they can kill an mcv in an instant
One Javelin trooper will kill MCV faster than one flac trooper. I mean second power of both of them.
sad sputnik noises :(
Очень жаль, что RA 3 - дисбалансный кусок г-на. Советы, будучи символом линейки, де-факто самая слабая и беззубая (особенно на фоне Альянса) фракция.
Soviets are most underpowered faction and they nerfin flaks?What in the world dumbs they are?!And lets imagine RA3U miltiplayer,where soviets got almost nothing compared to 2 already stronger factions.Disgusting...
I am a D? But I am a gud conscript
Promote to C
Sovient airfields do not come with repairs? Erm what about the crane? That repairs every unit (Except infantry of course!!)
If i play RA3 Soviet: air Empire: water Allied: land
Soviet air and allied land?
Allied has harbinger gunship and cyrocopter tho...
That what I saying.Allied have better air.
@@malfuriouz7717 ... RA3 Uprising doesn't have multiplayer.
@@earvindinoso7689 forgive me i haven't played the game for long time and i just crossed the comment section
Second! =D
Kinda Shame Kirov is D-Tier while in RA2 & Mental Omega is S-Tier
kzhead.info/sun/o5ieaZaOn2qXg5s/bejne.html
To be honest, soviet, isn't in meta of RA3. Tier 3 units are stupidly weak ,infantries are pale compare with allied and empire. flaks and tesla troops to costly, too many impractical units and cryo ruin the whole game.
Gonna say, I have come to hate the "Kirov reporting" meme, if you got killed by a Kirov you really deserved it.
Cryocopters ruined red alert 3 lol.
RA2 was way better! Even graphics was better...
1:20 Helpless again air? Are you sure? You forgot that you can leach Beam your own AA vehicle and gain there ability to attack air right? Also the hammer tank with Leach Beam can steal enemy weapon when killing them. Since the Soviet lack of repair shop, you can use those damage bull frog into good use.
This tier list, for online gamemode/competitive scenarios. In competitive games, you won't have time to think about your micro unit's abilities when you face humans. Hence it is more effective to combine hammer and bullfrog, than to expect leechbeam to kill the enemy AA and retrieve his weapon.