So far I’ve played several matches on veteran (couldn’t find a champion party), and running OE Bardin with the following loadout (from memory, so not a 100% full list of traits and such):
Axe & Shield (+2 Stamina);
Drakefire Pistols (Trait to generate less heat);
The rest of the equipment gives another +2 Stamina, all-in-one potion effects, and a chance not to consume bombs on use, as well as the obligatory barkskin;
I’m running the Ablative Armor, as well as the trait that makes the Pressure stacks remain even when firing the Steamgun. So far I have been so much as approached in melee so rarely that I might ditch the Ablative Armor for something more offensive (Bombardier is so, so alluring…). Drakes + Steamgun combo is so effective that melee is a rare occurrence.
Combining the Steamgun with Drakefire Pistols makes for an ultimate versatile Ranged career - the combo just mows hordes, specials and monsters alike without ever approaching them (though monsters tend to aggro due to so much damage). The only enemy that seems to withstand the sheer firepower is the Chaos Warrior due to its obnoxious armour, but that could be resolved by getting the armorpiercing talents for the steamgun.
And I just have to say… holy crap, it’s so damn effective. Actually, it’s so effective that I expect a nerf to hit this career, because it’s just dominating the battlefield. So far, I absolutely and unquestionably love it!
He is HEAPS of fun, and despite my first doubts, he is not OP at all. His ability is very well tuned, performes as it should, masterwork pistol is strong, but has high damage fall-off, coghammer is MAYBE a little too fast (and makes pick-axe completely obsolete), but his kit is just amagzingly versatile. On first glance, there are hardly any worthless talents or talents I couldn’t see working in one way or the other (and in surprising ways).
Only real problem: He will make RV completely obsolete. But he does set an example on how each carreer’s kits should be designed. Everything just grabs like… well, cogs.
Not sure about the career itself but the new weapons at least are absurdly powerful. I can agree he is heaps of fun to play but to me he feels extremely powerful with the current options he has.
Yeah its pretty damn good.
My one and only complaint is the third person effect for the minigun bullets, they should just took the gunrat effect and made it orange, when a dawi and a gunrat is exchanging bullets it should be something visually impressive.
But other than that minor detail, its perfect.
PLS no nerfing, thank you.
I really disagree. It has similar or better damage profile than something like a handgun, with 6 bullet magazine and pretty fast reload animation and all of this for just having to time the shots bit better?
Guess you could also throw in accuracy but its literally body 1 shotting most enemies on legend. Dno maybe I need some longer range map to really notice the dropoff but even then I can just shoot again.
I don’t know to me both of them felt absolutely stupid.
So the ult seems to be best with the instant wind-up full speed/accuracy to chew down bosses. Using it elsewhere, especially with friendly fire, can be kind of iffy, although again the instant max speed/accuracy helps alleviate it somewhat.
The new pistol seems like a highly competitive choice for special killing, less long range accuracy but somewhat more friendly towards misses. Having the burst fire should be fairly helpful against plague monks.
The cog hammer doesn’t really seem as good as the great hammer. It’s somewhat worse at dealing with hordes or larger quantities of specials, but has a fairly powerful heavy-attack headshot option. Unfortunately the bodyshot of it isn’t strong enough to kill any of the common melee specials on Legend, so missing the head is very punishing. I think the damage output would actually be lower against bosses with this weapon compared to great hammer.
Talent-wise ability wise I’m not all that impressed with the class. It’s got all-rounder damage output for killing hordes, specials and bosses, but doesn’t really offer a whole lot of benefit for the team. Comparing him to say, Mercenary Kruber, you gain some burst damage against bosses but lose all the other benefits offered by Mercenary Kruber while otherwise having a very similar experience against most enemy types.
10% allied range power is really quite awkward because of the game’s reliance on breakpoints. Utility belt is weird because we have teammates to carry bombs and not a massive supply of them, it’s not like there’s a way to generate extra bombs except for… Ranger Bardin.
The class also doesn’t really have a way to handle being mobbed, no emergency button essentially because of how the ult works.