Checking out dark tide again for the first time in 10 months due to the overhaul. Previously, I ran a Kantrael MG XII Lasgun + Powersword as that’s what was viable then (in addition to Bolter and Plasma). This build still seems to work fine, especially taking the left side of the talent tree. No ammo issues even without any talents that help ammo.
I never used to use autoguns because they were just bad. Generally not any better damage, but way worse accuracy and ammo. Only a couple were useful for horde clearing, but generally not worthwhile. Has this changed at all?
I’d like to try doing a build using the center of the talent tree and a mid range weapon. I’ve tried a couple different autoguns (Columnus Mk II Braced and Agripinaa Mk I Infantry) and the damage is fine, but the ammo isn’t even remotely viable on Damnation, even with the +25% perk.
Basically, it seems like the Vet doesn’t play any differently at all due to these talent overhaul because they are so defined by weapon, and its still just a few weapons that are worthwhile?
Did any of the other lasrifles becomes good? I don’t have high level versions of every weapon so it would take ages to try them all out.
The most noticeable change about autoguns is that they’re too ammo hungry for the way the game is balanced now. You’re either hardly using them or you’re sucking up every ammo pickup on the map.
Recon and helbore lasguns are the biggest winners, but the other variants of lasgun are also stronger than before thanks to them being the main focus of the entire ranged build path.
As for playing differently, the loss of reload on ult, reduced damage taken during ult, and having the ult start regenerating only after the previous ult has finished have all but nuked a range of popular vet playstyles.
The two Vraks HH autoguns are contenders for best ranged weapons in the game currently. Agrip braced auto is still a GOATed gun as well. Unfortunately basically every other autogun is bad, we’re all praying for infantry autogun buffs because they gutted the only good one of those this update.
I kinda like all the braced autoguns with the rend talents, since mostly they just got preposterously bad target efficiency vs. the Mk8. Like they were dumpstered by flak, no more. Headhunters still do well. My AG1 went into dumpster fire status since you can’t even pretend there’s rapid fire on the gun unless you’re in Executioner Stance. The other autoguns are still almost unspeakably bad, but the Columnus is less suffering for me.
no tricks, you can just run straight at gunfire with stripped down and proc duck and dive lol. I just like the graia because the right click is worth using. they are all very similar anyway.
I tried this in meat grinder and stripped down didn’t seem to work unless I was running ~90 degrees to the gun fire. I still like it for the speed but either I’m misunderstand something or the blessing has some weird stuff going on or it’s just not very helpful in reality.
Agrip having higher base cleave and I think stagger too? definitely feels like a noticeable bonus to me.
Calling the Infantry Lasguns stronger than before is not exactly accurate. The MGXII is insanely ammo efficient, but it was always very ammo efficient and being even more so now is not a significant buff.
It does less meaningful damage now. Sure, it’s slightly less terrible on Carapace than it used to be, but it’s still bad enough that it shouldn’t be used to take on full health Crushers or Maulers, so the buffs there don’t particularly matter.
A bunch of enemies can now survive close range headshots in Executioner’s Stance where before they couldn’t. Having to rely on an albeit buffed crit rate for most of the high priority targets to die from a close range headshot is a huge and unwarranted nerf.
Certain trash mobs survive close range headshots. It’s nuts.
Due to the high but fluctuating crit rate, the Infantry Lasguns are insanely good at inflicting useless overkill damage. Woo.
there’s something weird about meat grinder that isn’t indicative of the actual game for much. like a lot of the current talents that don’t work, actually have working UI trackers in the meat grinder (and the damage numbers suggest they’re working in both). bosses can’t be staggered with many of the lower power things, trying to dodge a mutant is so much harder than the base game. like I thought the slaps were gone, but after this last hotfix they’re working on live again…you can’t use the meat grinder to practice this, it doesn’t work there.
But it works on my machine™
and yeah its better in those respects, but unlike a lot of guns where the bad versions just feel terrible, the braced autoguns all put in work pretty decent at shooting targets really close when you don’t want to aim. so I don’t wait for a chance to cleave, there’s only point blank spraying. And being able to kill the gunhands easier, along with gunning down ogryns if I elect to, is pretty cool and a lot more usable than they were prior.
Autoguns and Braced Autoguns are still viable in the new patch but they took a big hit with the loss of the veteran +40% ammo passive and no more reload on ult.
Headhunters are still a mixed bag. The 1 and 3-shot headhunters are alright but the 2-shot headhunter is still garbage because the recoil is so high that if your first shot hits a head the second shot is guaranteed to miss unless the target fills your entire crosshair. If you stack +headshot damage bonuses you can do silly stuff like delete a beast of nurgle in one magazine. But it doesn’t have much build flexibility.