Veteran isn't as bad as people say it is

Edit: Recommending any is pretty questionable, but the 3 below are what I would go for if you want to play melee-focused PS.

There are 3 ways to go about it.

First is my Ebola Vet build. With the tree changes you can drop Duck and Dive and Skirmisher to pick up Precision Strikes (which I’m doing now) or any 2 of IW, COD, and CK.

This isn’t as strong as running an offensive Zealot, and for how fragile it is the payoff isn’t great, but it’s very unique, and with plasma, it can flex into ranged focused role depending on team composition. It’s also an acquired taste, but that’s the most fun I can personally have with a melee PS Vet.


Second, there is this:

With BM Mark VI PS this can hit some pretty hilarious breakpoints including 2 headshot kills on Crushers and Maulers with push attack without +Carapace. +Maniacs is recommended as it enables some other very good breakpoints.

You can drop one of the Stam delay nodes for Rending Strikes (or Agile Engagement or Field Impro, even 1 point Focus Target for some help with boss damage), but that doesn’t do anything for PS breakpoints on this build.


Third you can do something like a mid-tree Bolter build with 3 Health Curios and play it as a Frontliner and Boss delete build, but again you can play a Bolter Zealot and do the same kinda better (a bit worse, but adequate boss burst while being better in everything else). It’s more of a hybrid and a bolter build really, but it leans heavily into playing frontline melee for the team.

It looks something like this:

I’d pick up Duck and Dive and a stam delay node with the leftover point if you are going for PS VI, but there are some other options. PS III doesn’t need the stamina delay that much. You can also drop Redirect Fire to go more into melee (or get CQK and Marksmen Capstone for even more burst against bosses) using the Bolter as mostly a boss damage steroid on V-E-G Maelstroms.

Thanks to @Antilus for the concept for this last one.



I hate this so much about WS Keystone. Extra dodge speed/distance feels great with PS (and it’s all I wanted from a melee Keystone), but both dropping it randomly or maintaining actively feels horrible.

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