Coming at ya with another Pistol/Shotgun build! This one is the one I use for most dungeons/raids. If you're looking for a solo questing and survival build, check out my similar P/S thread here: Solo - Where we're going, we don't need no stinkin' cast times. (Pistol Solo)
THE BUILD
Much like my solo build, none of the power attacks here have a cast time. Simple point and click (and boom) interface.
The TL;DR here is that through clever use of Shell Salvage and the Salvage Expert passive, you should rarely, if ever, run into a situation where you are out of energy for both weapons, standing there plinking away with your basic attacks. The build also does consistent single-target damage with a healthy DoT component. It is slightly weak in the AoE department, so read below for your options there.
ACTIVES
Dual Shot - Pistols
Flourish - Pistols
Shell Salvage - Shotgun
Trick Shot - Pistols
Hair Trigger / Seeking Bullet - Pistols
Raging Shot - Shotgun
PASSIVES
Fatal Shot - Pistols
Lethal Aim - Pistols
Salvage Expert - Shotgun
Double Down - Pistols
Heavy Caliber Rounds - Pistols
GADGET
IDK lol. I use Mistress' Bashosen for the extra AoE and stun. Use what you want.
ANIMA ALLOCATION
100% Damage. Drink an anima potion if you feel like you need more health but don't waste any anima points on it. Healing is completely unnecessary.
BUILD ROTATION
Not much of a rotation, but there are a certain number of priorities you need to keep in mind to maximize DPS. Part of this build relies on using Shell Salvage to ensure you keep loading the same type of shells (Dragon's Breath) and keep the DoT from it stacked as high as possible. With fairly good timing and a little bit of luck, you should be able to maintain the maximum of 6 stacks pretty much the entire fight.
Here are your main priorities:
If played correctly and with a tiny bit of luck, you should almost never be in a situation where you are completely out of energy for both weapons.
RECOMMENDED WEAPONS
I am currently using Anima-Touched Pistols of Efficiency. I understand Anima-Touched weapons are very difficult to come by now, so the good news is that really any set of Pistols should work for this build. However, since we are swapping quite a bit between Pistols and Shotgun abilities, I wouldn't recommend anything that's too heavily reliant on matching chamber bonuses as there aren't huge windows of opportunity to spam only Pistol abilities (e.g. Sov-Tech Harmonisers, Anansi Probability Adjusters). I prefer the Efficiency suffix on my Pistols as it lets me use Trick Shot more, which is the hardest-hitting ability in this build.
Morven wrote an exceptional analysis thread on Pistols here: DPS - Preliminary Extraordinary Pistol Analysis
For my Shotgun, I've been running with Double Barrel of Alacrity. This is just an all-around solid choice for a Shotgun secondary. Plus, they're cheap right now. I prefer the Alacrity suffix on most of my secondary weapons. It doesn't add any DPS but it does help you get into the fight and out of the fire more easily. Other good choices are the Ifritian Despoiler and SPES-C221. The Redeemer is kinda fun too, if you want to throw around a little bit of healing as a DPS.
BUILD ALTERNATIVES
There aren't any, really. None that don't require a Shotgun, anyways. You can certainly swap out the Pistols for a different weapon and set of abilities, as long as you keep in mind the whole build revolves around using Shell Salvage and another energy restoration ability to keep you from running dry on energy. If you've got a similar Shell Salvage build, please do share it!
THE BUILD
Much like my solo build, none of the power attacks here have a cast time. Simple point and click (and boom) interface.
The TL;DR here is that through clever use of Shell Salvage and the Salvage Expert passive, you should rarely, if ever, run into a situation where you are out of energy for both weapons, standing there plinking away with your basic attacks. The build also does consistent single-target damage with a healthy DoT component. It is slightly weak in the AoE department, so read below for your options there.
ACTIVES
Dual Shot - Pistols
Flourish - Pistols
Shell Salvage - Shotgun
Trick Shot - Pistols
Hair Trigger / Seeking Bullet - Pistols
Raging Shot - Shotgun
PASSIVES
Fatal Shot - Pistols
Lethal Aim - Pistols
Salvage Expert - Shotgun
Double Down - Pistols
Heavy Caliber Rounds - Pistols
GADGET
IDK lol. I use Mistress' Bashosen for the extra AoE and stun. Use what you want.
ANIMA ALLOCATION
100% Damage. Drink an anima potion if you feel like you need more health but don't waste any anima points on it. Healing is completely unnecessary.
BUILD ROTATION
Not much of a rotation, but there are a certain number of priorities you need to keep in mind to maximize DPS. Part of this build relies on using Shell Salvage to ensure you keep loading the same type of shells (Dragon's Breath) and keep the DoT from it stacked as high as possible. With fairly good timing and a little bit of luck, you should be able to maintain the maximum of 6 stacks pretty much the entire fight.
Here are your main priorities:
- Never cap on energy. Full energy is lost DPS.
- Use Trick Shot on cooldown to keep the Exposed debuff up.
- Use Flourish when off cooldown, unless you're already at or near full Pistol energy.
- If this happens, squeeze off a Dual Shot, then Flourish and and spam Dual Shot while the 15% damage buff is up. Don't wait for matched chambers.
- Use Raging Shot to keep the Dragon's Breath DoT up and stacked as high as possible.
- Spam Dual Shot.
- Use Hair Trigger or Seeking Bullet if you're out of energy, though this should rarely happen.
- This build lacks sustained AoE, so Seeking Bullet is a good choice for encounters where there are multiple targets that need to die quickly. (NYR, Lairs, Polaris, Darkness War, etc.)
- If you're kinda middling on energy (3-6 range) and Flourish is about to come off cooldown, you can try a basic attack or two to see if you get a pair of matched chambers. If you get lucky, use Flourish immediately and go to town.
- Use Shell Salvage under the following conditions:
- You're running low on energy for both weapons and have 5 or more shells loaded.
- You just used Flourish and the damage bonus expired.
- You're low on Shotgun energy and have 4 or less shells loaded.
- You accidentally loaded the wrong kind of shells and want to take a chance at getting the right ones back.
- ALWAYS remember to load Dragon's Breath shells. Just push the Shell Salvage button again to reload them if you had them already.
If played correctly and with a tiny bit of luck, you should almost never be in a situation where you are completely out of energy for both weapons.
RECOMMENDED WEAPONS
I am currently using Anima-Touched Pistols of Efficiency. I understand Anima-Touched weapons are very difficult to come by now, so the good news is that really any set of Pistols should work for this build. However, since we are swapping quite a bit between Pistols and Shotgun abilities, I wouldn't recommend anything that's too heavily reliant on matching chamber bonuses as there aren't huge windows of opportunity to spam only Pistol abilities (e.g. Sov-Tech Harmonisers, Anansi Probability Adjusters). I prefer the Efficiency suffix on my Pistols as it lets me use Trick Shot more, which is the hardest-hitting ability in this build.
Morven wrote an exceptional analysis thread on Pistols here: DPS - Preliminary Extraordinary Pistol Analysis
For my Shotgun, I've been running with Double Barrel of Alacrity. This is just an all-around solid choice for a Shotgun secondary. Plus, they're cheap right now. I prefer the Alacrity suffix on most of my secondary weapons. It doesn't add any DPS but it does help you get into the fight and out of the fire more easily. Other good choices are the Ifritian Despoiler and SPES-C221. The Redeemer is kinda fun too, if you want to throw around a little bit of healing as a DPS.
BUILD ALTERNATIVES
There aren't any, really. None that don't require a Shotgun, anyways. You can certainly swap out the Pistols for a different weapon and set of abilities, as long as you keep in mind the whole build revolves around using Shell Salvage and another energy restoration ability to keep you from running dry on energy. If you've got a similar Shell Salvage build, please do share it!
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