Gun/Sword Build?

[Archived Post]

I don't have any experience at higher levels, I've just messed around with various builds and powers until about level 13. I'm still trying to understand the stats angle and how they work together with abilities yet. I was thinking of a custom build, sort of a small arms expert with guns for range and dual swords for melee. His energy builder is guns so he can snipe away to gain energy, lunge in to attack and then back out to gain energy again. I'm sort of guessing at some of the stats, like Dex for range damage, strength for melee damage, Ego for energy+ to guns(?).

Any suggestions on what to change, how to improve or if you think this build is totally whacked out..

Thank you.


Build by championBuilder 0.2.4 (http://champions.zarzu.ch)

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Bounty Hunter: Level 40 Champion

Superstats:
Level 5: Super Dexterity
Level 13: Super Strength

Powers:
Level 1: Gun Slinger
Level 1: Blade Tempest
Level 5: Lightning Reflexes
Level 5: Jet Boots
Level 8: Shotgun Blast
Level 11: Killer Instinct
Level 14: Thunderbolt Lunge
Level 17: Bountiful Chi Resurgence
Level 20: Masterful Dodge
Level 23: Sword Cyclone
Level 26: Smoke Bomb
Level 29: Sniper Rifle
Level 32: Inexorable Tides
Level 35: Dragon's Wrath
Level 35: Acrobatics
Level 38: Focus Of The Unleashed Tempest

Talents:
Level 1: One Of Mind And Body
Level 6: Agile
Level 9: Energetic
Level 12: Mighty
Level 15: Enduring
Level 18: Tireless
Level 21: Indomitable

[Archived Post]

I'm sort of guessing at some of the stats

The stat breakdown (from what I understand) follows:

STR: Melee damage, knockback (from your moves), knockback resistance (enemy moves), tan. hold resistance
DEX: Crit chance
EGO: Crit severity (how much % more your crits hurt), int. hold resistance
PRE: Threat mod (+ for tanks, - for dps/support), increases pet health I believe
INT: Lowers power costs and cooldowns, increases pet damage
CON: Increases your health
END: Increases your endurance bar (energy), also increases energy you get back from attacks
REC: Increases your "equilibrium" (the double arrows that designate how much of your energy bar you naturally regenerate), also increases the rate your energy before the equilibrium regenerates and increases the energy you get back from attacks

Tan. and Int. are tangible and intangible, and are bit more iffy since breaking out of a hold/root is essentially the same in both cases: Mash Z.

Your damage (outside of STR for melee) is effected by what stats you super-stat, which is a tremendous boon for support/healers, but a nice bonus for everyone.

Your build looks fairly good, but realize that ranged energy builders (i.e. Gunslinger) work both at range AND in melee, so the only reason you really need to leave melee is to cut down on damage (except a few advantages/powers). Don't forget you can respec out of your second ability (the non-energy builder you chose at the start) and replace it with another (two-gun mojo is very nice).

You might also grab Acrobatics first, rather than second, but try both out (before you leave the powerhouse) to see which one you really prefer.

[Archived Post]

Gunslinger is a terrible energy builder. So very very slow. Remember that DEX, without EGO, means your crits are retty meh. You'll need to get EGO from talents and gear as best you can.

Also, blade tempest is pretty expensive, and Killer Instict doesn't help it.


That stuff aside I'm sure you'll find that you use shotgun blast and nothing else because it works better. Sure you'll want to use some other things to mix it up, but you'll do less damage and be less effecient and you'll die more. Then you'll decide to just spam shotgun. Then you'll get bored.

[Archived Post]

It seems you're going farely light on the Munitions powers so don't take Killer Instinct.

Gunslinger is a sad excuse for an energy builder. Since you're going Dual Blades anyway, take Rain of Steel instead. Sure it's melee, but it's also a cone and with the Grinning Ghost advantage you'll tearing things up.

As said before, DEX is at it's best with paired with EGO.

[Archived Post]

So something like this then:

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Bounty Hunter 2: Level 40 Champion

Superstats:
Level 5: Super Dexterity
Level 13: Super Ego

Powers:
Level 1: Rain Of Steel -- Grinning Ghost, Rank 2
Level 1: Blade Tempest -- Rank 2, Crashing Crescendo, Accelerated Metabolism
Level 5: Two-Gun Mojo -- Close The Gap
Level 5: Jet Boots
Level 8: Shotgun Blast -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 11: Lightning Reflexes
Level 14: Bountiful Chi Resurgence -- Resurgent Reiki, Rank 2
Level 17: Thunderbolt Lunge
Level 20: Masterful Dodge -- Unfettered Strikes
Level 23: Sword Cyclone -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 26: Smoke Bomb -- Concussive Escapes
Level 29: Sniper Rifle -- Rank 2, Tungsten Rounds
Level 32: Inexorable Tides
Level 35: Dragon's Wrath -- Tiger's Courage, Rank 2
Level 35: Acrobatics
Level 38: Focus Of The Unleashed Tempest

Talents:
Level 1: Quick Trigger
Level 6: Agile
Level 9: Mighty
Level 12: Enduring
Level 15: Indomitable
Level 18: Energetic
Level 21: Tireless

[Archived Post]

Why shotgun blast and not submachine gun?

I found submachine gun to take about half the mobs life away.

Anyway, I was going for a pistol and sword only build and took hold out shot. it has a great animation, you basically do a combat roll and pop up on one knee and fire off one round. If you are at 5% or lower end you get 100% crit. I have taken mobs from 75% health to dead with that one shot. You can also upgrade it for a small HOT.....the hot is very small....but its there.

Also, breakaway shot is sweet too. The animation is neat, you do a backflip away from the mobs and have your arms stretched out firing away, its a cone attack and does great damage. I think with submachine gun and that attack, you will kill a group of even con mobs. It also adds to your dodge or gives you defiance, not sure.

Oh, and do take two gun mojo as it gives you enrage, good for damage with your swords.

With the recent changes, not taking a defensive power till lvl 11 will make soloing near impossible. If you start with Swords you can get access to lightning reflexes early, if you star with the ranged end builder, you will have to wait longer for lightning reflexes....but gettting to lvl 11 is actually fast.

Anyway, I am going to reroll my guy and drop sub machine gun...even though I love the MP5....but I just want to stick with pistols and that is two gun mojo, hold out shot (for the cool factor), break away shot and the other PBAOE pistol attack that I just cant remember...it's not bullet ballet though. So, those would be the skills from munitions I would take and then pick up the others from Martial Arts, dual, single swords or unarmed.

Just one last thing. The ranged end builder might be easier as you can run around but if you use the melee one with no defenses, you might not last....based on the recent changes to defense. Just a thought.

Oops, forgot, endurance and especially recovery are very important if you want to open with your big attacks, otherwise you have to build end in the fight and then have at it.......something I learned the hard way.

[Archived Post]

what about talents? i am trying a dual wield/munitions build. it is geared to close combat more then long ranged. would i go after mighty and stuff like that at all? seeing as I am in close combat alot i figure i need some HP.

[Archived Post]

Dual wield, Dex + Ego / Str items, or Dex + Str / Ego items?

[Archived Post]

Dragon's Warth needs to be picked before Sword Cyclone. You need the Momentum buff from a fully charged DW attack to do decent dmg with Sword Cyclone.

[Archived Post]

I had a similar concept for a dual pistols/dual blades character, but it proved difficult to get good synergy going on it.

since the 9/10/09 patch though, I reworked that toon into a dual pistols/ego blades character, and it works very nicely. id blades now scale with ego (instead of endurance, which had to have been a mistake).

kinetic dart is the ego blades energy builder, it's ranged and superior to gunslinger anyway. take the advantage to make it proc ego surge.

for single targets or ranged targets, i use 2GunMojo, it's pretty good damage without being too much of an endurance hog, gives a stack of enraged.

for multiple targets and melee range, I use EgoBladeFrenzy. It does phenominal damage on a dex/ego build with ego surge active, nice wide melee range cone, and you can move while maintaining it to adjust position if needed (you can only move while maintaining it in ego surge form, I certainly hope this is as intended, melee needs all the help it can get).

Basically i activate the energy builder, and go in guns blazing, then eventually I proc ego surge, and by then mobs have clustered up pretty well, and I slice them to ribons with dual id blades and mad crits.

Personally, I think killer instinct is a good power for a dex/ego build even if you don't have many munitions powers. It never needs any advantage points (which are more valuable than power slots), it procs on a crit (3sec cooldown), and it gives an energy boost which scales with ego (good synergy for dex/ego). Whether or not you take Killer instinct should be based on A) whether you are dex/ego or something else. and B) whether you will use munitions powers often.

it's not how many munitions powers you have, its whether you will use one and crit with it every 3 seconds or so... every second past 3 seconds that you don't crit with a munitions power reduces KI's utility. So even if your only other munitions power is say shotgun blast, but you're dex/ego, and you shoot your shotgun at groups of mobs once every 3 or 4 seconds, then you will get good utillity out of KI.

myself, i currently only have 2gun mojo, but I use it often enough to warrant Killer Instinct as a good power pick. with dex/ego, at a 'teens' level, KI means about double the total maintain time on 2GM before running dry. Conceivably, at high level with much higher ego stat, it might keep something like 2GM running indefinitely.

Dual wield, Dex + Ego / Str items, or Dex + Str / Ego items?
with the changes to the STR melee damage buff in the 9/10 patch, the answer should be dex+ego/str items. since the str melee damage bonus is capped to 20% and is easier to get to. previously, I believe strength would have a better choice, since it's melee damage bonus was uncapped. But now, definitely dex+ego/str items.

or do what I did and pick a melee set which scales on ego (since the patch), and just go pure dex+ego with dex/ego items. (if you don't mind your blades glowing, and your body turning pink every time ego surge procs)