Weapons and their purposes for PvE

[Jet1337]

I'm trying to understand the situations where most of the game's weapons shine in PvE. I'd like to know:

-The best situations to use ground pounders
-Which AR/LMG/SMG is the best of the best
-Which sniper rifle is the best and where they are best used
-Where Bug guns are useful
-If guns with a bio nano are useful beyond taking down armor plates
-Why the carving knife is highly prized ( I understand it's the only tradeable sword, but swords are not hard to obtain )

I may have more questions later, but these are just off the top of my head atm.

[Ryker Vorton]

Let's see if i can throw some answers for ya...

-The best situations to use ground pounders

ideally when you have large groups of enemies crowded on one place, for example on the synthetizers during the afflicted sieges. Can be fun also to use it in combination with Decoy while fighting hellbugs or scrappers, release the decoy, let them crowd on it and boom!

-Which AR/LMG/SMG is the best of the best

Different opinions depending on the people. For SMGs my favorite is the castithian Springer (variation of the tachmag pulser but with larger ammo clip). For ARs, uhm... still trying to find my favorite one myself. LMGs the most popular seems to be the Saw, but as i like to use a machine gun "as" a machine gun, meaning substained fire from a vantage point, the Thunder is my choice. What are the differences? TRhe say is precise when you start firing, then starts getting more and more bloom (grouping is larger), the Thunder starts with less precision but quickly tighteens the grouping, using it in aim mode can be really nice.

-Which sniper rifle is the best and where they are best used

Again, depending on the user. For bolt action there is no better than a "Headshot" custom bolter (special item dropped only by warmaster, requires Ark Breaker DLC) If not, i like any of the VOT bolter series. For semiauto, there is no rival to the SS2 Ranger (except the "Devil's Advocate" from a past event. Still, i like the Mamba better, it can be obtained fromt he Paradise vendor but it's native EGO level is 5000 (never tried an ego downgrade on them)

As to where... everywhere where enemies wont be running around like beheaded chickens. I find them specially useful on Dark Matter missions and during the silicon valley incursions.

-Where Bug guns are useful

I don't like them, only used them to get my skill up to 20 and vendored/gave them away, so my opinion in this matter doesn't count.

-If guns with a bio nano are useful beyond taking down armor plates

Bio destroys armor plates (each armor plate reduce all incoming damage by 10%) and they slow down enemies (doing overtime damage on them while slowed down) Bio is my favorite nano.

-Why the carving knife is highly prized ( I understand it's the only tradeable sword, but swords are not hard to obtain )

Because it is the only sword with nano effects, the only one tradeable and one of the two swords useable without DLC requirements (the other one is the extremely rare chance of getting a sword from a lockbox) Other than that, a Chimera Fang is much better.

Now a question for you: How on earth did you get to EGO 5900 without knowing all these basic matters?

[Keeper Riff]

— Ground Pounders are good against swarms: Hellbucs, Afflicted, even Volge if there are many of them around.
— Best AR: Bio or Rad Heavy Assault Carbine + 3 Burst Mod + Commando Scope + Crit Barrell
Best SMG: VOT Pulser or FRC Sub-Carbine (Tachmag eats ammo too fast, VBI has to be shot in aim mode which defeats the purpose)
Best LMG: SAW with 3 Burst Mod (adds about 20% fire rate) and at least one (better two) recoil bonus.
— Bug guns are good for gaining points at Sieges and incursions as they bite many mobs you don't even see.
— Bio nano — that's their main purpose, to destroy armor. All other bonuses make little difference. But when mobs don't have armor, they usually die so fast that any nano effects hardly make any difference.
— Carving knife is the only blade that has bio nano.

^^I concur the poster above about snipers. With a little addition that Volge sniper can shoot beyond drawing distance.

[Azimov]

No bmg love? Probably just as well. If only the devs would tone down the healing glare! But it is useful against the mini-mobs like small hellbugs, weaker raiders, and those other tiny moblets that dart around milly vanilly.

Some enemies are more susceptible to certain types of weapons it seems. I like to use fire against those annoying raiders or sometimes syphon. For Volge I like to use a high rate of fire weapon with electric nano to strip off the shields then bio to slow them and degrade their armor though many people just prefer to use rad weapons against them from I see when inspecting nearby players, and for the SS once I got a quick reloading French Hen modded I started using it and found it very effective. I generally suck at sniping, but a snipe rifle with electric nano is often great for keeping your target dancing in place if you don't kill it with the first shot.

A lot of good advice in previous posts, perhaps there is a wiki somewhere that has this stuff (I mean the types of enemies and weapons effective against them), if not it there should be.

Cheers, see ya at the Crater sometime. You can buy me a drink.

[Jet1337]

ideally when you have large groups of enemies crowded on one place, for example on the synthetizers during the afflicted sieges. Can be fun also to use it in combination with Decoy while fighting hellbugs or scrappers, release the decoy, let them crowd on it and boom!

In my experience, big boomers do a better job, plus they do more damage or seem to. Ground pounders don't have a big radius to their explosions so they don't affect many targets in a crowd. The only time I ever use mine is on the hellbug monarchs at major arkfalls and on Desuko before trion fixed that fun exploit. I was wondering if there were any other special places that they were good for.

Different opinions depending on the people. For SMGs my favorite is the castithian Springer (variation of the tachmag pulser but with larger ammo clip). For ARs, uhm... still trying to find my favorite one myself. LMGs the most popular seems to be the Saw, but as i like to use a machine gun "as" a machine gun, meaning substained fire from a vantage point, the Thunder is my choice. What are the differences? TRhe say is precise when you start firing, then starts getting more and more bloom (grouping is larger), the Thunder starts with less precision but quickly tighteens the grouping, using it in aim mode can be really nice.

I didn't know about SAWs getting a better fire rate from the 3-round burst mods. Also, I see a lot of people wanting SMGs more than any AR or LMG. Why is that? SMGs suffer a big drop-off in damage at longer ranges than ARs. I roll with a Perforator with all T5 mods and that thing rapes everything short of TL10 Visceras and those Darkmatter mechs. I was wondering if there there was a better AR/LMG/SMG that was more effective against them or if there's a better weapon for that.

Again, depending on the user. For bolt action there is no better than a "Headshot" custom bolter (special item dropped only by warmaster, requires Ark Breaker DLC) If not, i like any of the VOT bolter series. For semiauto, there is no rival to the SS2 Ranger (except the "Devil's Advocate" from a past event. Still, i like the Mamba better, it can be obtained fromt he Paradise vendor but it's native EGO level is 5000 (never tried an ego downgrade on them)

As to where... everywhere where enemies wont be running around like beheaded chickens. I find them specially useful on Dark Matter missions and during the silicon valley incursions.

I stopped using snipers because their DPS sucks and because trion "fixed" the charged snipers because of PvP complaints, but I've heard that some of them are the best weapons to use against bosses like Progenitors and Monoliths. Is that true?

Bio destroys armor plates (each armor plate reduce all incoming damage by 10%) and they slow down enemies (doing overtime damage on them while slowed down) Bio is my favorite nano.

I know bio does all that, but is the DoT it procs more powerful than the other nanos?

Because it is the only sword with nano effects, the only one tradeable and one of the two swords useable without DLC requirements (the other one is the extremely rare chance of getting a sword from a lockbox) Other than that, a Chimera Fang is much better.

That still doesn't justify why people are willing to spend millions of scrip for one. Plus, unless I'm mistaken, they are pretty much useless in major arkfalls, warmaster raids, or anywhere where the theat level is high. I did have fun with them before trion fixed the sword glitch. Still to this day, never had I enjoyed this game as much as I did with that glitch.

Now a question for you: How on earth did you get to EGO 5900 without knowing all these basic matters?

For the longest time I thought that the only weapon worth having was a badass AR and that's what I've stuck with. Call me a noob, but I've been successful using them. I've tried using other weapons, and no other weapons makes piles of bodies faster than a good AR. I was just wondering if I was right or if I was missing out on something.

[Ryker Vorton]

I stopped using snipers because their DPS sucks and because trion "fixed" the charged snipers because of PvP complaints, but I've heard that some of them are the best weapons to use against bosses like Progenitors and Monoliths. Is that true?

Sometimes it is. For example, on Helion my hellfire semiauto sniper is really really cool, you actually see, no matter how many people are shooting at it, every one of my rifle shots cuts a nice slice of it's HP bar.

For the monolith i like to use a combination of Mamba for the legs (5-6 shots takes out the armor, 3-5 shots takes out the drive) and then i switch to a bolter for the tachmag drive, achieved several 250k hits with it and im not even max ego.

I know bio does all that, but is the DoT it procs more powerful than the other nanos?

Not that i know off

That still doesn't justify why people are willing to spend millions of scrip for one. Plus, unless I'm mistaken, they are pretty much useless in major arkfalls, warmaster raids, or anywhere where the theat level is high. I did have fun with them before trion fixed the sword glitch. Still to this day, never had I enjoyed this game as much as I did with that glitch.

Because some people managed to turn it into a "status item" and where there are "status items" there are always people willing to pay whatever it costs to have one. Good move on the sellers side.

Other than that, This game could really use more melee specific dynamics, the melee perks mostly sucks, their triggers are just crap. I find swords fun to slaughter mutants, and they seem to be quite effective against scrappers, but still, it is all about just fun, any well used weapon can dispatch mutants faster than a sword (and without being hit) and even a BMG can be more effective on scrappers.

For the longest time I thought that the only weapon worth having was a badass AR and that's what I've stuck with. Call me a noob, but I've been successful using them. I've tried using other weapons, and no other weapons makes piles of bodies faster than a good AR. I was just wondering if I was right or if I was missing out on something.

That's how it should be, ARs are way more powerful than SMG's in real warfare. I was a bit dissapointed that most ARs in the game ends up being weaker than a smg, but today had a nice surprise with a purple solstice AR and how it took care of a bunch of darkmatter faster than my springer, yay!

...Still, contrary as how it is in real weapons, the AR was less precise than the SMG.....

[Keeper Riff]

I didn't know about SAWs getting a better fire rate from the 3-round burst mods.

I've tested it on FRC Carbine (less magazine to burn through), but the SAW has similar effect.

Also, I see a lot of people wanting SMGs more than any AR or LMG. Why is that?

Mostly depends on playstyle. If you like to take a covered vantage point and shoot enemies before they cold get to you, AR/LMG is your choice. If you like to jump into the fray and run around, changing cover all the time, then SMG suits you better because they have better accuracy when shot from the hip and have faster reload.

[Midnight]

I've tested it on FRC Carbine (less magazine to burn through), but the SAW has similar effect.


Mostly depends on playstyle. If you like to take a covered vantage point and shoot enemies before they cold get to you, AR/LMG is your choice. If you like to jump into the fray and run around, changing cover all the time, then SMG suits you better because they have better accuracy when shot from the hip and have faster reload.

True dat...the closer you like to be to the enemy when you kill them, the better a smg is for you...firing from the hip from 5m away, into a crit spot, is its specialty...you can mod them for falloff to get more AR like range, but modding for damage and picking the assault class that suits the range at which you fight most is better...smgs for close range, AR for medium and lmgs if you like to fight at long range...bio is good for high armor targets, radiation for medium to low armor targets with shields, fire for medium to low armor targets without shields

[stefb42]

An enemy procced with bio nano deals less damage while affected, could be as much as 50% less, same thing happens to players, next time the helbugs proc you with bio note your damage, you'll see its halved for the duration of the bio proc

So bio strips plates, slows enemies down and reduces the damage they deal

[King Stud]

What guns work with the controlled burst mods then? I've put one on a VBI AR, but instead of increasing its ROF the burst mod worked as intended and made my full auto AR fire slower, but it did increase ROF when I put one on my blast rifle. ????