Creature Handler Archive
Thread: Rifleman?
If you are having a tough time with mind damage, get your trapping skills up. If you make and use your traps, you can get some great mind damage and some pretty good effects too.
This isn't something I was intending to do, but something that was forced upon me by the way that scouts gain experience.
Eye_dye got his xp the old fashion way.. He exploited it with the /maskscent exploit early on.
Now you B_astards getting scout XP by fighting and doing real scouting things are ruining his fun.
I'm a rifleman and creature handler and, no, I don't use a rancor. I tamed my own Bull Ronto and Humbaba, thankyouverymuch.
While it's true that the pet doesn't generally attack the mind pool, that's not what I use him for anyway. He's my Meat Shield. I use him to KEEP my targets at range while _I_ kill them. I've taken out insta-death shooters with my baby before. He gets incap'd and I get no Creature Handler exp, sure, but he keeps the target busy long enough for me to kill it.
(truth in advertising note: the first kill, I got incap'd, but MindShot killed the guy as he was walking up to Deathblow me, and the second time I had 35 healthleft).
I didn't take Creature Handler to be "uber" or anything and I couldn't care less about Rancors. I -may- eventually try to tame one myself, but I'm in no great hurry. My Bull Ronto will have 5500hp when grown and that should delay things a nice little while.
Also, when I send my Bull Ronto against a shooter, the shooter is forced to kneel or (more often) stand. Which makes a -better- target for me than when the shooter was prone. I don't have to waste a shot trying to get the shooter to stand up.
I heartily endorse the suggestion that you can only control a pet that you could tame YOURSELF. Not to say you -have- to tame all your pets, but you shouldn't be able to control a rancor pet if you don't have the skill to tame one yourself. My take on the thing, anyway.
I'm torn on the whole rifle vs pistol thing myself. (warning, rambling ahead)
For one, I find rifles more aesthetically pleasing than pistols (in the game, at least). It's also fun to see those big hits, especially from such high range. And of course then there's the mind damage factor, which I imagine is pretty darn good in PvP.
But on the other hand, I hate the extra melee damage you take with a rifle, and I'm not really a fan of the longer delay either. Creature'salso seem to do health damage more than anything, so the two dont really mesh.
Then there's pistols. They may not deal as much damage per-shot as a rifle, but the speed is fantastic. The focused damage from pistol and pet(s) really kills things quick, and the reduced melee damage is great. Nothing makes me want to drop my rifle more than being bum-rushed by some melee mobs... a_random_thug03 hits YOU for a third of your life.
Does anyone know how high end rifleman and pistoleer weapons compare, DPS-wise? hehe
I also prefer pistols as my pets usually hit the health bar. However, there are enough points to become master CH and dabble with both pistoleer and rifleman. Headshot 3 is only 2 boxes up the rifleman tree and is their most damaging mind attack. Chest shot 3 is 3 boxes up in pistoleer and is theirmost damaginghealthattack. So you could conceivably get both of those. You can't reach the top of either tree splitting your points this way but it gives you great flexibility for PvE or PvP.
EyeDye_SWG wrote:
See thats exactly the problem, your a RIFLEMAN with rancors. THATS whats ruining the game, jerkoffs who are specialist fighters getting novice CH so they can have rancors on top of it, now THATS unbalance. NERF them NOT the people who make CH their main profession. I mean come on.....who the hell would be a CH if you only needed novice to get rancors (which should only be useable by a MASTER ch in the first place!!!!).
Master CH, Master Ranger, Master Scout AND Novice Rifleman(w/headshot3) is my plan