Rifleman Archive

I want to become a master ranger/rifleman and put the rest of my points into medic. Will this be viable in pve/pvp or do I need suppression fire and warningshot?

If your going to solo, you need those, if your grouping you dont.

I'm going with the same combo you are, and have the same problem as I would like to keep my artisan skills. ButI wouldn't recommend you going without warningshot. If you solo it's extremly important and even when grouping it can save your life if a beast charges you. It's also usefull in PvP as warningshot acctually works against CH creatures.

I never trained that line, didnt feel like I missed out on much on my way to becoming a Master Rifleman.

I'm currently working towards master rifleman, and I have the support abilities up to warning shot. I really don't use warning shot or threaten shot very much. I find that the rifles are just too slow to make them useful, unless I'm using a spraystick.

How are the rest of you using the support abilities? Since rifle delays are so slow, how do you make them useful?

I have to agree with the Don't-Use-Them crowd... I used to, but with a T-21 it's just too slow. Especially if I fire off a ConcealShot and it misses and the foe charges. The time it takes to free up the gun to fire again for a warning shot is just way way too long.

I suppose I could spam ConcealShot with a spraystick, and I'd be able to fire a warning shot more quickly, but I'd also be doing less damage and each additional ConcealShot would run the risk of missing and getting the aggro. So it's impractical.

I sold back SuppressionFire (IV) back when it was found to be broken and since it's been fixed (allegedly) I haven't bothered to buy it back. With a slow high-damaging weapon, I can't afford to waste the attack forcing a posture change that won't even last long enough for my next action to queue up. If I make a foe dizzy, then I just run out of range and he'll stand up to follow me --- that's the posture change I use (against shooters, obviously; in melee, I use my Two Hand Sword sweep to force a posture change).

I've still got Warning Shot (well, Range Spec III, if that's not warning shot).... but if there aren't any OTHER bonuses like speed / accuracy or something to go along with them, I may end up dropping them late late late in my career.

im trying to think of the same route - i love the ranged support line though - most the time i group with medics anyways, so i like having it.

i use the suppression/flurry all the time in pvp, but if the timer goes on i will probably just drop it and get novice medic for stims.

solo all the time, and never use skills from the ranged support line.

At the moment I can hold back a Creature with Supp. As it bleeds from Mind 1 & 2. Once the timer comes in of coarse this wont happen. Of coarse I beleive the warning shot is just taking to big a risk cause it dont always work and I cant waste a shot since it takes awhile to fire again. I beleive you also get defence bonas to range weapons getting those skills.

Suppression fire is great for now, but will soon be nerfed.

I don't use warning shot often, although to be fair I used it all the time before I got suppresion fire.

Problem with warning shot is that if you use it the enemy runs away. I realize that's the point, but if they run 150m out god knows where and I'm trying to kill them for XP, well that's a pain, and if they run into a bunch of aggro mobs, dangerous.

Then there's the fact rifles are slow, which decreases it's usefulness, and the fact they have terrible close range accuracy, and really, if I'm firing warning shot, normally the creature is close, because I tend not to tick off things that I can't kill before they reach me on purpose, so if I need it it's because I screwed up.

I'm sure there are uses for warning shot, but I'm skeptical on suppression fire after the nerf.

You can use warning shot to bleed things you couldn't kill normally, then keep them away.

Problem is, odds are they're faster than you, otherwise you'd kite them. If they are then if you miss, you're probably screwed. If you hit, they're going off into the middle of nowhere, or worse yet, turning around for about .5 seconds then coming right back at you. All in all it's just easier to kill things you can kite and/or kill before they attack.

I don't PvP at the moment, but I can't see either one being useful there after they put the timer on suppresion fire.

None of the other skills in the lineare terribly useful.

Forgot about suppresion/flurry.

That's useful. I guess doubly so in PvP.

Whether it's worth ALL those skill points I don't know.

Warning shots are helpful but inconsistent depending on mob and your stance. I notice if I keep prone, the monster would run away out of radar. If I stand after warning shot, it comes back after running away for several meters which gives me time to finish it off before it reaches me. This is the only ability I used in the ranged weapon support tree. The rest seems useless for now.

I use faction pets and my CL14 pet to tank when things get hairy. Less XP per fight for more free skill points is a fair trade IMO.