Aphelion VEX-4

The  is a top gunner weapon available to the Magrider. It is unlocked through purchase with Certification Points or Daybreak Cash.

The Aphelion Vanu EXperimental 4 is a unique anti-vehicle chain gun, capable dealing high damage-per-second to vehicles at close ranges with a hard-hitting shots firing at a moderate rate-of-fire. The feature that sets the Aphelion apart from other anti-vehicle ordnance is the chain gun's 'energy build-up' mechanic which, at any time after the weapon has fully spooled up, causes it to release a rapid high-damage wave of energy outwards, dealing considerable damage to vehicles and penetrating up to two targets.

Like other chain guns, the Aphelion must spool up to reach its maximum fire rate, beginning at a fire rate of and spooling up to  after 1500ms (1.5s) of the trigger being held. If the trigger is released, the weapon's rate of fire immediately resets.

The Aphelion's residual energy waves allow the gunner to choose between damage-per-second and damage-per-magazine. Firing an energy wave deals high immediate damage up to longer range, which does not consume any additional ammunition, and allows the chain gun's cone-of-fire to reset, but releasing the trigger will also reset the chain gun's rate-of-fire, which adds up to an overall loss in damage-per-second compared to simply laying on the trigger.

Ribbons and Medals
It is possible to earn both Ribbons and Medals while using the. Each ribbon is a standard reward for achieving a set amount of kills with the chain gun. Medals are awarded upon reaching kill milestones with the weapon.

History

 * September 4, 2015 Update
 * Added to the game.
 * July 7, 2016 Update
 * Main Battle Tank secondary weapons, MR11 Gatekeeper, Aphelion VEX-4, and M96 Mjolnir, have been added to their respective directive line.
 * October 24, 2016 Update
 * Aphelion VEX-4 CoF min from 0.85 to 0.7
 * Aphelion VEX-4 CoF max from 0.85 to 1
 * Aphelion VEX-4 CoF recovery rate from 10 to 20
 * June 12, 2018 Update
 * Max damage range from 20m to 40m (Magrider)
 * Min damage range from 50m to 80m (Magrider)
 * Aphelion crescent beams now pierce through vehicles and infantry, passing through up to 2 targets total.
 * Crescent wave no longer has damage fall-off, and now deals 800 damage at all ranges. (The previous damage model was 800@20m to 680@50m.)
 * Crescent wave projectile lifespan from 7sec. to 1sec., this limits the crescent's range to 300m.
 * Dev Note: We've extended the damage ranges a bit to make the damage over time more consistently, and bump it out for ranges players typically tend to fall into when making use of these weapons. For the Aphelion, we also wanted to give the crescent wave some more niche usage with our new piercing tech, and give it a bit more umph beyond 20 meters while preventing abuse at long range.
 * March 30, 2022 Update (The Arsenal Update)
 * The reload speed certification lines for top guns, air vehicle non-nosegun (and non-bellygun) weapons have been standardized at 10/14/17/19/20% reload speed.