What blessings are people finding best for the new shotgun? Ye ole’ scatter shot + man stopper seems much less appealing here with the higher base cleave and much more aggressive damage drop off past 8 m. Maybe scatter shot + flechette could be OK? Or manstopper + flechette if getting crits elsewhere eg weapon specialist? Dunno all these seem like you’d just end up with a less practical version of running the same thing on Kant shotty.
Both Barrels seems like the only other blessing even worth mentioning, that does sound very worth the slot.
I might hold off on trying to build a proper one till crafting rework drops anyway, but what are people thinking are the best blessing combos currently?
I’ve only got one decent drop to work on so far on my zealot, and (ironically) both these blessings came up as the first two I came across - Man Stopper on a blue at Brunts and then Scatter Shot when working it up at Hadron. I’ve got anti-mutie and infested on the perks - again, defaults.
I really like the gun for its “fun” aspect, but I’m only using it on regular T5s. I can’t imagine it on anything higher. As @alsozara said, and I agree, the equip time is strangely slow for a ‘sawn off’ shotgun. It should be as fast as the other shotguns imho if not quicker, being an uncomplicated stock and short barrels.
Thereafter … I don’t know really. It just feels like a poor mans kickback. If the balance is that you can move faster than an Ogryn with it then okay, fair enough, but even with quick reload I think it struggles too much vs armour compared with the current best choices out there. Unfortunately I can’t help but think that every meta weapon needs to handle armour given it is so prevalent and takes a long time to cut through otherwise.
Anyway. It’s fun to put down a mutie at point blank, but I find I’m just using it to thin mixed hordes which hardly gives it a niche.
Personally i think this could be the best blessing setup for this weapon if it gives enough cleave/pen to go through say multiple ragers.
Sadly getting t2 blessings is not my speciality so have not tested it.
My current setup is scattershot / whatever the new reload perk was called. I think maniac roll is pretty mandatory to get more consistent trapper breakpoints.
Yeah just checked the damage calc and it reckons the new shotty has a base cleave of 4.5, which is definitely a good bit more than the old shotties, but honestly less than I’d figured, so yeah I kinda retract my previous statement that man-stopper + scatter shot is less valuable here. I do wonder if flechette could help with consistency at mid range on a weapon specialist build.
I guess just gonna pray the itemisation update makes it much easier to experiment with this stuff.
High crit chance anyway on zealot, but I re-slotted Shroudfield and, anecdotally at least, having a guaranteed cleave felt pretty nice on a pack of ragers. Not sure on the scatter shot component as I’ve not tested if that just sticks indefinitely between volleys? Or does it cool down after a few seconds? Maybe someone here knows.
Scatter shot is for if you want to spam. Guaranteed crit through WS or SF is nice for a mainly melee quick swap shoot swap back build but if you want to keep your gun out for consecutive shots scatter shot goes a very long way to keep you critting after the first shot.
Answering my own question; the stacks sit indefinitely until your next shot (at least in the psykhanium) - so you can take some time between blasts without fear of the crit chance dissipating as it were, and of course each crit on a horde cleaves more enemies and so increases your chance to crit again.
Both Barrels and Hit & Run are pretty good on Zealot. I tried it with Terrifying Barrage but that blessing’s is way too inconsistent. On Veteran I’ll probably give Both Barrels & Scattershot a try when that blessing becomes available.
