Rifleman Archive
Thread: Looking for some advice on some Rifleman skills
Here's the situation; My Lowca Girl is Master Ch and close to Master BioEngi, rest of points is tied up in master Scout and Medic. I am playing her really non combat orientated at the moment (crafting, taming), however, lack of meat supplies making me rethink that.
I was planning on surrendering all skills that I don't need, and getting her some combat skills instead, to help kill stuff for meat farming purposes faster.
I would have 17 points left after Novice Rifleman. So my question is what to spent them in in the Rifleman tree.
I don't PvP, and I don't need to kill big game (thats what my Wanderhome char is for), but I'd like to spent those points to get the best out of damage, some good specials, and acceptable speed and to hit rate out of the rifleman tree (of whats possible with that few points of course).
So, you guys have any suggestions for me ? Any tips would be appreciated.
By the way, I am not really interested in Pistol, I find them to boring looking, though I am crossposting in the Carbineer board too, 'cause I am not 100% sure if its gonna be rifle or carbineer.
/agree
Though a Rifleman / CH is a nice combo... Actually what I was originally aiming for before SL, heheh.
If your heart is set on Rifles, try and get yourself to 3 0 0 2 . You'll be decently accurate, and fast, and there's some nice specials in there like Master Headshot, Mind Shot 2, Surprise Shot, Flurry Shot... good stuff. =)
Not including Novice Rifleman, it'd cost 21 skill points, so not too bad for what you get outta it... and it where you won't be as tough as others, can still have some fun with combat.
Best of luck to ya, and welcome to our ranks.
Might try that.
Erdraug wrote:
Actually is itwas me I would go with 0 0 3 1. Why since you are a CH you can use pets to aggro spawns and use flushing shot 2 for AOE attack and take out lairs super fast. Just use pet to aggro the lair or mobs you are after then when pet gets aggro on each open up with flushing shot 2. You will notice your meat harvest skyrocket.
Bingo! Just what I was going to suggest - and exactly the tactics I use myself. You miss out on some accuracy from the first branch, but since you'll be using mostly an AoE attack, you're bound to hit something
If I would go to 1/0/0/3... then I would get the second mind DoT, and Flurryshot2... from the description in game, flurryshot is very similar to flushing shot, just different status effects... wouldn't this be a better path..?
I would get an AoE attack, but lots more of the skill mods for rifle speed ?
Thanks again.
Like you suggested, get the speed first. flushing2/flurry2 are the same attack, same damage just a different status effect. I'd spend as much in the support line as possible for the speed bonuses.
The only problem is the combat xp is the slowest to get, but it's ultimately the most important to a rifleman IMO.
i have been using mindshot1&2 then peacing then toss the trap and peacing till it sticks and then headshot2 till dead. works pretty well on creatures that have more than 5k ham. with the upcoming changes i am starting to not regret my decision to toss away BH weapons for rifle.
Pretty much fixed on 1/0/0/3 now. For the Mind DoT, and the speed mods and some ranged AoE.
Like I said in my first post in this thread, don't really want a combat character, she is a Tamer and Bio Engineer in the first place, just 'some' combat skills to help a bit with meat collecting.
I have a Master Commando/Tka on a different Server, so I am very well aware of the 2.5 melee modifier... never running around with a rifle in hand always the hand over the hotkey when something gets close
On the KD+Dizzy not working on creatures... don't quote me on it.. but I have read somewhere that this is bugged, and should work the same for NPC's and creatures alike. Should be fixed next publish. I hope its true
If you are going Rifle and dislike pistols, be sure that you are aware of the 2.5x melee damage modifier applied when holding a rifle during a melee attack. No matter what you decide to do, you will be dead if you cannot keep melee attackers off of you and your only choice is rifle. Your pets will help, but one of the upcoming CH changes apparently is that targets will ignore your pets and come after you more often, so you need a strategy.
Most people are recommending the AE (area effect) shots, and I cannot disagree. However, do not overlook Concealshot at Concealment I. Concealshot is slow and uses a good deal of mind pool, but Concealshot doesgood random pool damage and does not trigger an autoresponse attack from your target (they do not know you are shooting them). That means you can attack high-level MOBs, and as long as you do not miss twice or get detected some other way, you can take down the target relatively safely. Right now, a social MOB's friends will see you and respond, but this is apparently being fixed soon. So one approach is that, if they never see you, they cannot get within melee range to hurt you. WIth limited skill points, this may be an attactive approach for you.
Another more popular approach with Riflemen/women is to use Warningshot obtained at Ranged Support II or III (I forget which) to keep the target from getting too close. You hit them with your shot(s) of choice (usually Mindshot 1 and Mindshot II to bleed them plus some othernon-bleed damage shot so you get credit for the kill), and then hit them with Warningshot when they charge you. If warningshot takes, they will flee from you.
If you can get to Ranged Support IV, Suppression Fire 1 also helps you because it creates a posture down effect. This will stop them for a time, giving you a chance to get away or hit them with something else.
But regardless of your tactics, if a melee MOB gets to melee range on you and your only choice is to fight with your rifle you had better be able to take down the creature quickly: otherwise, you are dead because every point of damage they do is with 2.5 points while you are holding the rifle. You can get a spraystick for its pistol-like speed (and damage output), but it is still a rifle weapon so you will still get the melee modifier. However, with spraystick you can continue tohit with rifle specials, suchas headshot. Better yet, give yourself all the options you can. Get the best pistol you are certed for and switch to it until you can get them off of you. The downside is that you cannot use rifle specials or get rifle XP for damage with the pistol, but neither do you get the 2.5x modifier with the pistol. The upside is that you can use warningshot or suppressionfire1 with the pistol because they are general ranged weapon abilities. Switch to pistol, get them off you with warning shot or suppression fire, then switch back to a rifle.
If you can get /flurryshot1 or /flurryshot2, note that the dizzy effect is only really effective with NPCs or PCs. Dizzy creates a chance of knockdown with a posture change. You can dizzy creatures, but it does not seem to knock them down. Also, all rifle-specific posture change effects (flurryshots andstartleshots) force changes up. Thus, if they are already standing, the rifle posture changes do not affect them. You need /suppressionfire1 to force downward changes for when they are standing. Also, it is a chance of knockdown on posture change, so every posture change does not get them to fall down. But when it works, it is sweet. With the AE effects of /flurryshot2 (AE dizzy) and /flushingshot2 (AE stun andposture change up), some riflemen have reported knocking down multiple NPCs at once.
Hope that helps.