The Martini-Henry is one of Battlefield 1‘s most interesting guns. It is a sniper rifle that is very difficult to use. You have no scope and one shot before reloading. If you made it count, the Martini-Henry could be a beast. But Battlefield 1‘s latest patch has transformed it into a something of a joke weapon.
You have to play as a scout up to rank ten in order to unlock the Martini-Henry. It’s an older gun that might as well be a musket compared to some of the games flashier weapons. It was also pretty damn strong. After the most recent patch, it’s become much weaker. The major change came from the damage it did to certain body parts. The patch reduced that damage. Here’s what the patch notes say:
Fixed Martini-Henry dealing too much damage to most body parts. It is now affected by a 0.9 multiplier to the lower torso and upper arms and a 0.75 multiplier to the legs and forearms, like the other rifles with sweet-spot mechanics
Every snipe rifle in the game has a “sweet spot” where it can kill an enemy in one shot. The sweet spot on Martini-Henry is very short. If your target was within thirty or eighty meters, it took one shot to the body to kill them. It just so happens that most encounters in Battlefield 1 falls into that distance range. It made the Martini-Henry hard to use but rewarding if you could aim. These new changes have seriously ramped down its killing power. You can see the change in action in this video by KennyKennTV.
The community has divergent opinions on the changes. For some, the lower damage doesn’t justify using the weapon anymore. For others, DICE has fixed a broken gun that was killing people with a single shot far too reliably.
“[The Martini-Henry] felt so satisfying,” Reddit user PaultheMerc lamented in a thread on the game’s subreddit. “The single bullet was the price. Now it seems unusable.”
“It is a useless gun now,” another player bluntly concluded.
“The fix looks good for me,” Junin__ST3 commented on the main Battlefield forums. “It was ridiculous to die instantly from a hit on the toe.”
A broader issue behind this change is that the rank ten class weapons have been disappointing to many members of the community who wanted powerful rewards. The Martini-Henry was one of the few rank ten weapons that had found popular use among players. That time seems to have passed.
Rest easy, Martini-Henry. It was fun while it lasted.
Comments
10 responses to “Battlefield 1’s Latest Patch Nerfs Popular Sniper Rifle”
This article is inaccurate.
1) The Martini actually has the widest sweet spot. It starts at the shortest distance (30m) but covers the most (50m from start to finish). It’s probably the best sweet spot for any sniper rifle in the game, because you shouldn’t be camping in the hills 150m from the objective anyway.
2) The changed multiplier wasn’t a nerf, it was a fix. The Martini had an incorrect multiplier that was too high. DICE brought it in line with the other sniper rifles.
Players are just complaining because it feels weaker in comparison to what it was – but what it was, was wrong. Scout is still arguably the best class in the game, and I’m glad. Scout/Recon was horrendously underpowered in previous Battlefield games, and BF1 fixes that. But this complaint is silly.
When I snipe it’s usually because I’m trying to take out other snipers that have been giving me the sh*ts. 150 – 300 metres is a pretty good range for that 😛
See, it’s so much more entertaining to sneak up on hill-camping snipers and kill them in amusing ways. Or, my personal favourite is just standing next to them and seeing how long it takes for them to notice.
But, some fun alternatives for killing bush wookies:
– Medic syringe.
– Limpet charge.
– Dynamite.
– Scout flare gun.
– Anti-tank rifle.
Ah I see the stereotype of every sniper being some dumbass camper is still alive and well.
Dude, I play a boat load of Scout in BF1. Primarily with the Martini, Gewehr 95 Infantry, or the SMLE Infantry. I PTFO as Scout. It’s pretty undeniable that a lot of Scouts don’t though – spending their time up in the hills on Empire’s Edge, Fao Fortress etc.
I snipe from about 1500m and hit just as many targets as I do at close range.
I’m pretty useless.
sigh.. martini is great for aggressive sniping. it’s damn hard to get used to and to be accurate, especially when the enemy is rushing. I use to snipe alot, but have amended my ways to favour close-range combat with my trusty A-10. Nevertheless, please Dice, please, do not nerf the shotgun A-10. Best weapon in the game IMHO. As @hotcakes pointed out, there are some fun ways to rid those pesky snipers. If you’re playing online with friends, have them suppress the snipers while you sneak up and dynamite their asses. They usually return to the same spot over and over…
People often forget that it’s a Scout class, not a sniper class. Yes you have a sniper rifle but now more then ever it is super important to be responsible for spotting for your squad and team. Marking tanks and soldiers alike should be your job. Also the flare gun is an invaluable tool. You’re helping noone sitting 500m from the action trying to get cool long range kills.
I’m just sad I never got to try it 🙁
The Martini Henry was .577 or 11.43mm rifle. That’s a huge round. It would cause significant injury.
To quote Wikipedia.
” It is clear from early medical field surgeons’ reports that at 200 yards the rifle really came into its own, and inflicted devastating and horrific wounds on the Zulus in the Anglo–Zulu War .”
“It has been used to hunt virtually every possible species of big game including deer, plains game, tiger, and even elephant.”