Rifleman Archive

For fighting medium difficulty critters (Rancor Maklock etc...), I wear a good set of enc sliced ubese, no gloves or helmet. If I'm just mucking around unbuffed, then I'll forgo the armor all together, in favor of a nice set of BE clothing (anti-bleed10, mask scent15, medic skills32, & melee defence4 & anti-stun 17), and let my secondaries & 0000medic keep me going. For high end content, it's 9 stat buffs & full composite, or not at all.

As for the brain drain? No doubt there.... In the full comp, Iuse dance buffs, music buffs, have maxed secondaries (for a mon-c that is), swillBrandy, binge on Ahrisa, use Canape for a quick pick-me-up, and still have both Thruster & Muon on the hotbar. I like the thruster for when you may not be able to get clear of the fight before that downer hits you... ie DWB or Sisters. Thruster's downer is easier to live through.

When it comes to your weapons... You might look for a nice laser rifle until your fast enough to speed cap those. They have a broader damage range, and are a point down on the AP scale, but the high max damage, good accuracy, and lower HAM cost will do you well. With the cost of those, you can buy 5 or more heavy hitting laser rifles, get them sliced and take the best for the same price as one T-21, and have a weapon nearly as stong, if not stronger in PvE. Your damage per shot will be all over the map, and facing targets with damage mitigation will hurt you, but against grindage your DPS should be on par with the T-21. Until you speed cap, then the 21 is king.