Fly vs. Anchor – Which to choose?

To a lot of people the ability to move through the air is enough of a reason to overlook all the other skills. The ability to reach the unreachable, to get the high-ground, to soar through the sky, is some people need to ignore all other skills. But here they are faced with a problem: Fly or Anchor? Both skills are used for the same ultimate purpose: Reach places and circumvent physical barriers. But which is the ultimate? I’m sure a lot of people have their favorites, but to avoid bias here is an extensive empirical side by side comparison of each skill.

Duration

Because a skill is entirely useless after it runs out, the most important thing to ascertain is how much you will be able to use them before you run out of SP.
[Note: ALL tests bellow are done with only default SP. No SP mastery or any SP enhancing clothes]

Fly:

Fly will grant you a total of ~16 seconds of airtime, which, as you can see, is more than enough to get you… well, anywhere really… and hold you there for while. Do note that which time you “re-open” the wings (active after deactivating) it costs around 1/5th of your default SP, so naturally you’ll have less airtime if you need to reactivate them.

Anchor:

Anchor gives you a total of exactly 3 uses before you run out of SP. 3 uses might seem little if you never used it before, but keep in mind you can get pretty much anywhere an anchor can take you in 3 uses, often in only 1 or 2.

Result: For sheer duration, it’s a tie. Both skills will deliver exactly what you buy them for, ability to reach anywhere you want, with SP to spare in case you miss.

Speed

Because getting somewhere is only as important as how fast you get there. Speed is crucial in making sure you get somewhere before the action left or before it arrived. Speed is equally crucial if you decide you need a bit of breathing room, so you can escape before you fall victim to a lethal case of lead poisoning.
[Note: The time was measured from the moment of the jump to the moment the character lands under full control on the top platform.]

Fly:

 Approximately 8 seconds from bottom to top.

Anchor:

Approximately 6 seconds from bottom to top.

Result: I honestly expected the anchor to get a far more significant advantage on this one. However, it seems that, while the anchor is considerably faster traveling through the air, the startup delay is considerably slower.

As we can see here, in short distances the movement speed advantage of the anchor is nullified by it’s considerable startup delay. In such a short distance, both Anchor and Fly end up taking the same 4 seconds to reach the platform. Regardless, however, in longer distances the Anchor proves to be the fastest method of travel, shaving off a significant couple of seconds over Fly.

Control

In a world where there are generally several people trying to kill you at any time, the ability to control your movement sounds – mildly – important… The capacity to change course to pursue (or avoid) a player, or even the ability to correct a mistake, are crucial features. Getting somewhere fast is only important if you get where you want…
Fly: Grants you full, albeit slow, control over your character. You can easily change turn around, deactivate and instantly reactivate the wings or just sour above everyone. You are also able to switch and use any weapons you may be carrying.
Anchor: Only allows linear movement between 2 points at a constant speed. Cannot fire while hooking. Leaves the player “stuck” for a minimum of ~2 seconds while aiming the hook. Does allow instant cancelation (jumping will instantly cancel the hook) and instant “reactivation”, will leave the player “stuck” again for another ~2 seconds minimum every new activation.
Result: For sheer versatility Fly takes the cake. While Anchor simply provides a method of transportation from point A to point B, Fly actual grants you a whole new level of control where you can move and shoot from.

Versatility

Because the capacity to adapt is fundamental to survival (in real life and in S4), it is required that not only the player, but also his equipment be as versatile as possible. Movement and placing are only half the battle and we never know what the other half has in store for us. As such, the most a player can take from a skill, the more prepared he’ll be. Therefore, here are a few of the major advantages of either skills.
Fly:
- Allows the user to quickly get out of melee range.
- Allows the user to fire from above, straight downwards at enemies, greatly raising the chance of getting a critical hit.
- Can be used while reloading.
- Allows the user to fire while flying.
- Allows easier access to get to some “harder to reach” spots for an anchor.
- Activates instantly, without any delay.
- Generally faster than the anchor for smaller distances
Anchor:
- More SP efficient. It’ll generally get you further with less SP.
- Will freeze you in place midair if used, granting you a few seconds to aim anywhere.
- After the hook shoots, the movement through the air is considerably fast, making the user harder to take down.
- Allows the user to quickly wall jump from any surface it hooks onto.

Final Decision

After all the testing it’s time to pick. I suppose it should be obvious from the start that whatever you pick will depend mostly on how you play and all of the above data is merely a nudge in any direction, so my final saying is this:

It’s an age old classic: Speed vs. Control. If you play TD a lot or if you like to see yourself as a ninja, moving quickly from one place to the next before anyone notices what gives, then anchor is probably the skill for you. If you prefer to DM a lot, or TD more defensively, the extreme versatility of Fly will probably just be too good to deny. In an even simpler way to put it: If you want a quick way to go from point A to point B you want Anchor, if you want the ability to move and shoot freely through the air you want Fly.

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