Seems like it hasn’t been revisited for balancing in ages. Until I stayed in Damnation with my meme build that uses it, it felt bearable. In Auric though, even on vet build using Weapons Specialist that helps with reloading, it just can’t keep up with amount of crap game throws at you from all directions. And it’s not even that powerful enough at that level. Unless it’s literal pointblank situation, even at short range it takes 2 or even 3 (sometimes) shots to kill a flamer, and about the same for the doggo too (who even thought it will be great idea to make that thing so karking durable? I can kill it with a single heavy swing of caxe, but a terryfing high caliber hunting rifle takes 2-3 shots to end it, like what?). Bleeding bless helps, but its application is inconsistent. Same goes for elites, even at point blank it doesn’t consistently kill a Mauler with a body two-barrels shot. At short range regular gunners will require two shots as well - unless bleeding procs then one usually is enough (for plasma it’s usually isn’t though).
The gun also has a pretty irritating delay at the end of its reload sequence where it’s already seems like it’s almost cocked - but in fact it isn’t. So if you sprint at that moment, after stopping again to shoot you find out you can’t and need to wait a bit (sometimes that “a bit” turns fatal)
I think it needs its damage output somewhat increased, and reload sequence either sped up notably - or it should be allowed to reload it while sprinting natively (without spending any more bless slots, this gun needs all the help it can get).
The double barrel is a tough weapon to balance I think. With Weapon Specialist vet it’s incredibly powerful, HS can stack a billion crit and get a lot from it. But almost every other build I’ve tried, it kinda underwhelms. All the shotguns got nerfed when they increased elite HP as well.
I would not mind a choked mark of the gun, as is the gun has really good damage values but for single targets it’s not the easiest to land all the pellets.
I think it’s already pretty much balanced by being forced into a niche - short range fights. The problem is it feels underwhelming even in this niche atm. If it’s given a bit more damage, it’s made a bit more effective at short range vs specialists (ffs, 3 shots for a flamer and doggo at short range is just ridiculous), even if they’ll allow reload it while sprinting - it won’t break any balance and won’t make it “meta”. It will stay niche / meme weapon, but at least it will feel nice to play with.
The conclusion to this issue shouldn’t be “We must buff the weapons so they can handle the enemy spam.”
It should be “We must reduce enemy spam.” Period. Not much more to add here.
Also, I would honestly just assign this to skill issue because the thing is, the go-to Vet build that I go into Auric with is literally the double-barrel build, the thing you claim to be too weak. Sometimes I felt so bored that I dropped the golden toughness modifier for the Shout to make it more challenging. And I’m not even a Havoc sweatlord.
So I don’t really think we should buff stuff because right now the enemy spam is ludicrous. I’d say nerf the op stuff that is the reason for enemy spam existing, like Flame Staff, Gold Toughness, the crazy toughness regeneration all talents provide together, that sort of thing.
I don’t use VoC in my build, it’s Infiltrate build. Also I actively avoid purgatus and many other crutches (kraks, smite, now arc rifle as well), so our experiences may differ substantially, at no point my games in Auric were “easy” with that build.
Infiltrate with a double-barrel? Now that’s interesting. But to be honest I have a feeling that it’s just the case of the ability doing a lot of heavy lifting in making you feel miserable while playing, as Infiltrate sucks ass.
The AI director is on krak no matter if there are people on your team using OP stuff or not btw.
What does it show though? 300k-ish damage with the gun - that’s as how much I had with it in my last game. I had just 500k damage in Auric, but that’s simply due to less melee damage than on this screenshot. How does it make the gun “good” or disregards the feedback that it still feels kinda miserable to use it?
It’s okay, and with two charges and hunter’s resolve sub-talent it gives you enough backbone to survive in close quarter brawls, assuming you are a bit faster than me and can consistently activate it before you’ve lost half HP.
When I say it sucks, I mean it’s basically just Shout but worse because it gives you breathing room for a bit, just like Shout, but enemies are not staggered. Worse, when you use it, enemies immediately switch and target other players. The only use I ever saw for it is clutch rescues, but I can do just that with Shout.
The main problem is that the double barrel can be good with the right build, but it’s a weapon to hit multiple enemies rather than single elites and specialists. Be careful what you wish to be buffed, because this gun can already go crazy on Hive Scum with the 3rd shot and pickpocket. The reload clunkiness could be fixed however without a second thought.
My suggestion would be to simply add a second variant that focuses more on single target shots, similar to the Arbitrator shotgun with tight spread. The mastery skin also has a longer barrel, so it would already have a skin for the second variant.
You and OP are talking about two different things here. OP is basically saying Double Barrel no longer hits one-shot (or I guess the special) breakpoints anymore due to elite HP buffs and that feels terrible on a weapon meant to delete whatever you put in front of it then go into reload.
What I want: a mutie one-shot breakpoint and some distance so it’s less terrible against mid ranged targets. Also for the recoil to stop kidnapping the camera but that’s a me issue.
So dealing 34% of all damage (+bleed due to Flechette) is bad now? Is the gun bad or you just can’t properly spam Weapon Specialist and shoot it without reloading?
There are reliable one-shot breakpoints with Agile Engagement (you can even oneshot maulers with alt fire body shot).
Flechette procs are consistent since 3 stacks of Weapon Specialist grant 100% crit chance.
Telling the gun with infinite cleave blessing can’t keep up with Aurics pacing is very funny.
If you haven’t taken the infinte cleave blessing for a spin I highly recommend it. Dumping guaranteed crits with infinite cleave into crowds is amazing. Still a bit situational but makes it very nice to use.
