Pistoleer Archive

I keep messing around on a character builder as I'm trying to figure out where I want my character to go. I'm definately keeping master pistoleer, and the marksman pistol line. I also am sure I want Dirty Fighting I-IV in the smuggler line. I'm probably going to keep slcing I, and Underworld I-II.

I have some CH skills, and I've been trying to figure out how much I can have. I can have more CH if I get rid of the ranged support line. How important are those 4 boxes? I'm currently at Ranged III, as I never bothered to train Ranged IV. Supression fire sounds cool, but it's going to have that 30 sec delay, and I have low blow anyway. Will my ranged aiming hurt that much (I don't seem to miss with specials) if I get rid of it? Should I just keep a one or two of the boxes?

Thanks for any input.

I am on the verge of dropping it. The only reason to keep around is the treaten fire, andI hardly use it. The few times I do use it, one of two things happen.

1) it does not effect the mob.

2) because of my fast firing rate and lag, even if I stack stuff in the combat queue I am lucky if I can stop combat after hitting before one of my attacks brings it back to me.

Also as another CH, who isn't since it blows away everything else, I am at close range all the time so that does not help with chasing mobs off.

I will probably keep the lowest level one for /aim and the lowestscare shot but the rest of the tree is gone.

Personally...i think it owns....

Suppresion Fire : They finnaly fixed it, and Iuse it more than any other shot. Keeping your enemy pinned down, especially if its an anminal, is invaluable.

Warning Shot: Works great for me... especially on the big animal mobs... i throw this in about every 4th shot and watch my pet chasem around and beat the crap of em without taking much damage.

This line is a must have....no doubt in my mind.

If you have CH skills the range support tree is less uselfull. You're pet will tank anyway. so no need for suppression fire or warning shot.

Against NPCs who have guns, supression fire is a great way to keep them from running while your pets try to catch up, or you want to pistol-whip them a few times. And I've found that warning shot works for me about 50% of the time, and there is that fun little bug where they start moving really slowly when they try to run back.

~fejsze

SHHHH!! Don't mention the slow run bug!! I like it too much to see it go away.

I personally would not be able to survive White cons without the ranged support line, I probably use Warning shot and Suppression Fire more than my pistoleer specials. They are the 2 most undoubtedly useful shots you can have in this game. I stack my bleeds first thing, then use warning and suppression on creatures until they are dead, works so well. Vs NPCs with ranged attacks, I'll bleed em then suppression to keep them from chasing me. When you fire a suppression, it also delays their attack slightly when they are going through their posture change, and that will give me enough time to run up and beat them with my gun.

Pistol whip is still useful if you hit an enemy with about 4 or 5 in a row then back off and light them up with body shots. Each knockdown adds about a 10 second delay to they next action, and these delays stack as well. Jaegen points this out in one of his test posts as well. Usually they cant even fire back forabout 50 seconds orthey are dead, so there's no need to drain your own HAM just pistol whipping them to death.

Fejsze, is it really a bug? Seems right to happen every once & a while when you think of the concept of warning shot. I mean, you're scaring them away right? So if they are scared, why would they want to run back to you all the time...

Anyway, I'll never give up this line. Used with good tactics it's almost essential. Warning Shot and a quick Peace while you have a bleed on will usually send themaway to lick their wounds before charging again. Gives you enough time to throw a heal down, get a good stance and 'ask' them to come back with a strong special...

Being a commando there is no option for me. However I cannot imagine fighting without this. Suppression keeps animals down. Even if you're being attacked by multiple targets you can suppress and tab over to the next target. Make 'em bleed and when they advance again pin 'em down again. Suppression is without a doubt a huge key to my tactics.

Bonus: I can use these skills with my launcher pistol to climb the commando tree.

Depends what other skills you have. If you're a smuggler with access to Low Blow and Panic Shot then these are not as useful. Warning shot and suppression fire are both really good abilities for crowd control.

Apparently Posture Change moves are getting put on the same 30s timer as knockdown (pending further balancing). IF that does go live, Suppresion Fire will get a lot less usefull.

It will still be useful for stopping an enemy for a few seconds to get away or slap a pet on him, but it won't be useable to routinely kill above your normal con range...

So my answer is that yes the Ranged support line rules right now, but is slated to get worse soon...

As much as I hate to say it suppression fire needed to be changed. Three people with suppression fire can kill high red creatures with little danger. Heck even one person can kill 10k ham creatures if they can heal thier action pool.

Even so I find suppression fire is useful as the HAM cost is not as bad as knockdowns. That's a bonus and I use suppression fire in place of my KD whenever I can.

I have to choose between the supression fire line and scout trapping line. I'm a master CH working toward Master Pistoleer .. despite nerfs. Can't decide between traps or supression .. your thoughts?

Right now Ranged is worth a lot more than Traps. But with upcoming changes... I can't tell.