Discuss the operators - Pulse

[The3rdWalker 1,263]

This series has been re-created to facilitate the gameplay, metagame, and strategy discussion that often gets buried or lost in the abundance of others posts that flood this sub.

The goal of this series is to not only give new players a primer on an operator, but also for midlevel or competitive players a chance to share the knowledge that they have accrued in their experiences and maybe let people know something that they did not know before.

Today's operator is Pulse.

• Iceycat's Pulse Guide 
• Serenity17's Pulse Guide 
• Pulse Wiki

The community has outlined a couple of things that they want to converse about with every operator, but feel free to branch out should you feel a piece of information warrants its own discussion.

• The operator’s primary or ideal role in the team. (DISCLAIMER: Operators can be played in a number of different ways. There is no single way to play an operator. This is probably the most subjective segment of the discussion series, and hopefully will spark debates or help us learn things we did not know before.)
• The operator’s gadget and how it will help the team achieve its goals. Please share any tidbits you may know to help expand discussion.
• The operator’s loadout, and how best to optimize it. This includes primaries, secondaries, and secondary gadgets.
• What maps and game modes does this operator do well on?
• What maps and game modes does this operator struggle with?
• What teammates synergize well with this operator?
• What opposing operators check or counter this operator?
• What strategies have you adopted while playing this operator? What is something that a new player should know * when playing this operator, or what is something you know that would help a veteran player take that next step?
• What is your overall opinion of this operator? Where would you rank them among the other operators?

[The3rdWalker 1,263]

Pulse is good at a few things:

• Defending the objective and calling out where attackers are about to breach from, and sometimes pushing out from that first. This is better on some maps and objective locations than others. Overall, kind of mediocre strategy, too, as it limits the usefulness of his gadget. He's great at shooting people while they're planting breaching charges on un-reinforced walls. IQ, Buck, and to a lesser degree Sledge will mess a Pulse doing this up bad. Mark contacts for your teammates and call them out; 5 people wallbanging 1 poor sap simultaneously is lots of fun.
• Roaming and flanking. Pulse is a monster when played properly this way. What you want to do is roam around normally, and periodically do a sweep with his heartbeat scanner. If you find a contact, approach it from the other side of a thin wall, quietly. Wallbang or nitro. Sometimes you can do other things; eg: leap out a window and toss a nitro onto a rooftop where you know several attackers are who are about to breach. Don't forget you can pick people up from above and below, as well.

Weapon picks:

• Primary: Shotgun, all the way. Pulse's scanner is short-ranged, so by nature you're going to be in people's faces. Might as well do more damage when you are. Also better for wallbanging with, and gives Pulse more mobility by being able to shoot out hatches either to jump through, or throw a nitro through.
• Item: Nitro. All the way. The heartbeat sensor gives you info as to where to throw before the attackers even know you're there. You can also slap it on the other side of a wall/ceiling from the attackers, and blow it for kills through the wall, and a breach that you can run through to finish people off. It's also great for hatches; if people are around the edge of a hatch yet aren't peeking down, fling a nitro up through it and blow it up in midair. (Anyone with a nitro can do this, but Pulse doesn't have to guess or rely on sound.)
• Pulse is really good when you know what you're doing, but basically just Castle if you don't.

Things to be aware of with the heartbeat sensor are:

• It's really short-ranged. Like, really short.
• You can fast-switch away from it by pressing your weapon button(eg: 1 for primary weapon on PC.), instead of just letting go of the gadget key. This is essential.
• Related to point 1, IQ out-ranges Pulse by a lot. If she's competent, she's going to kill Pulse every time if you're using your gadget. Then you get into a meta game where you try to get her without the gadget giving you away. Fortunately, there aren't many IQ users around who use her gadget much.
• It's not real time, it updates quickly but there's a pause between updates. People can move between those. Be aware.

Map knowledge helps Pulse a lot, in determining where people are or are likely to be. You want to use cameras to get a general idea first if possible, then get closer and bring the gadget into play.

Beginners, if you notice yourself walking down a corridor scanning ahead or behind looking for someone around corners; you're doing it wrong, and they're going to shoot you before they're in range, or before you can react. Pulse wants a wall between himself and attackers, and wants to pick and choose when to engage.