Raptor

Unreal Tournament 2004
"The Raptor maintains a stranglehold on combat air superiority.

Constructed of tritanium-ceramic alloys, the airframe allows fast response and high durability. A grid array of magneto-conducting cells covers its wings, powered by dual phase-induction plasma turbines. The grid array vectors gravity away from whichever direction the pilot chooses, allowing the Raptor to accelerate.

Armed with two solid-state plasma projectors and a homing missile mount, the Raptor can decimate specific targets very quickly, although Raptor pilots must be cautious of guided rockets and stationary turret attacks from the ground."

- UT2004 manual

Fire Modes
The primary fire mode of the Raptor fires team-colored plasma shots with splash damage and is useful against both infantry and vehicles.

It's particularly useful against Goliaths, since a Goliath cannot cover the area above it with its weapons. You can stay hovering on top of the Goliath and chip its health away with plasma blasts without fearing retaliation (until the Goliath driver decides to bail out of the vehicle and fire his own AVRiL at you). Other ground vehicles can be disposed of in similar ways - a Scorpion is no problem as long as you fly far enough to dodge its sticky plasma lines, and the Hellbender isn't a threat either if you can avoid skymine combos (beware of its rear turret, though).

Against a Leviathan, the Raptor can be useful if you stay circling above it (to avoid being hit by rockets) as you keep hitting the Leviathan with your primary fire. It takes quite a while to kill a full health Leviathan in this way, but can be done. A Leviathan with passengers manning its turrets is far more difficult to take down, however.

The secondary fire mode fires a rocket which automatically follows Raptors, Mantas and Cicadas. However, the turn radius of the missile is quite low, therefore it misses very often, leading into long lasting fights between Raptors. Leading the target is helpful in this scenario.

Tactics against the Raptor
The Shock Rifle performs extremely well against the Raptor. The primary fire of the Shock keeps on pushing the Raptor around, making it harder for the pilot to hit. Besides that, the Shock beam does quite a lot of damage.

The Energy Turret works even better, since it has better damage, rate of fire and knockback effect, along with a zoom for better aiming.

The Hellbender's rear turret is also very strong because it does massive damage (a fully charged shot usually kills the Raptor) and the Raptor hasn't got a real chance to dodge it except hiding behind an obstacle until the Hellbender is down.

In order to destroy a Raptor with the AVRiL it is advisable not to fire the missile directly at the Raptor. This would give the pilot an immediate warning and - in most cases - enough time to break the lock by hiding behind an obstacle. A better tactic is to fire the missile only in the rough direction of the Raptor and lock it when it is close to the Raptor. That way the pilot has much less time to evade the missile.

Unreal Tournament 3
"The FZ-5 Raptor maintains Axon's stranglehold on air-to-ground combat superiority.

A grid array of magneto-conducting cells, powered by phase-induction plasma turbines, covers its articulated wings. The grid array vectors gravity away from the Raptor in the direction the pilot chooses, enhancing mobility and giving the Raptor the ability to hover in place at will.

Armed with two solidstate plasma projectors and a homing missile mount, the Raptor is effective offensively, but given the grid array's susceptibility to damage, the Raptor is best used for stealthy interdiction rather than frontal assault. Due to the vehicle's delicate nature, Raptor pilots must always be cautious of guided Longbow rockets and turret attacks from the ground."

- UT3 manual

Primary
The primary fire mode fires team-colored plasma shots with splash radius at fire rate of 5 shots per game second.

Damage scales depending on time the projectile was in flight:

This means that Raptor is extremely deadly in close encounters, as is able to kill pedestrian players well under one second, provided the pilot is able to catch them in the splash radius. Raptor is also one of the fastest way to destroy Goliaths, power nodes and power cores.

Secondary
The secondary fire mode launches a rocket that homes in on other flying or hovering vehicles. The rocket is relatively fast, deals 300 damage against vehicles and 200 against players, but turns very slowly and, unlike AVRiL, doesn't predict movements. The fire rate is one rocket per 1.2 seconds.

Faster vehicles, like Manta or Viper, can sometimes escape the rocket, or trick it into crashing into ground, but it's still a very effective weapon against them.

When duelling with other Raptors, the deciding factor of the winning is who makes a mistake first. Two Raptors can circle around each other indefinitely, firing rockets that never hit. In certain situations, the solution would be to leave the Raptor and attack opponent's Raptor with AVRiL. However, ambushing a stationary or slow-moving Raptor will likely bring you a free kill.

Cicada, being slow and unable to attack Raptor, stands no chance against it. Note that Raptor pilot should position himself above the Cicada, otherwise, its shock turret will easily deal quite a lot of damage. Cicada's rockets pose no threat to the Raptor, though.

Although it's rare to have Fury and Raptor on one map, Fury, with its ability to quickly jump, it clearly at advantage here.

Rockets don't home in on other vehicles or players, but they still do quite considerable damage. Although plasma is much more effective at close range, rockets can be used to attack stationary or slow-moving targets from large distance. Most of the time, however, it would be more effective just to close in and attack with plasma instead.

Using the Raptor
At any time, watch out for enemy AVRiL fire, especially when attacking heavier vehicles that need some time to destroy. The driver might decide to jump out and fire AVRiLs your way. In any case, never just hover in mid-air - this makes you an easy target for regular Rocket Launcher rockets, which don't give any lock warning, or even for a Goliath or SPMA. Both vehicles can take down a Raptor with a single hit, the Goliath even gets an "Eagle Eye" reward for doing so and there's nothing more satisfying for SPMA drivers than picking off an enemy Raptor in mid-air. Also, watch where you're flying; SPMA camera shells are deadly for a Raptor crashing into them.

Energy turret is also something to watch out. However, plasma can destroy turret in a matter of seconds if fired at close range, so it might be a viable tactic to ambush the turret.

Going against the Raptor
The best weapon against a Raptor is the AVRiL Longbow. Two hits definitely destroy a Raptor and at medium range there's often no escape from the rockets. As always, firing the AVRiL only roughly in the direction of the Raptor and locking on later will delay the warning the pilot gets and give him less time to hide behind obstacles. Also, the closer the AVRiL rocket gets, the less it tries to "plan ahead", which greatly reduces the chance of it crashing into some nearby wall.