I have Leviathan and Nova Driver right now, and I'm going for a 4-weapon loadout for the achievements and to make myself more versatile; I have enough CE to pay the monthly fee anyway.
Divine Avenger is going to be my 3rd weapon, since I'm a big FSC runner, and I was thinking of getting a Shivermist buster or a Big Angry Bomb; not sure would one would prove more useful in the long run.
Given this loadout, would my Nova Driver still have any use as a weapon?
If I have to replace Nova because it's not any good with this loadout, it's going to be with Argent Peacemaker, for FSC.
AP is good for FSC, but almost nowhere else really. Piercing/Elemental is a horrible combo. It's resisted by everything except Fiends (which can sometimes dodge its shots) and Undead. It is great for Undead though. Plus it looks pretty. :>
hell yes nova driver is good
bombs are very bad imo unless ur using bombs only, where u get used to time ur shields according to ur bombs
DA is extremely useful in general, if u think about it, not only for fsc, it can hit through walls, it has ranged and overpowered charge attack with good knockback and it is a decent weapon even with regular attack, which also has good knockback
if that loadout is only for fsc, id at least recommend a needle(nova driver is fine but any bomb would be a waste) and eventually any other kind of weapon, that isnt a bomb
if that loadout is for every place, since u mentioned "in the long run", id definitely recommend a vailance instead and any other weapon of ur choice(i find both BAB and shivermist buster useless tho)
I was getting a Shivermist for crowd control and kiting, not for damage.
Getting a DA for sure. I just want to know if the Shivermist would be a good investment along with it.
yes and no, thers gona be tons of different opinions about that with the majority recommending shivermist
i wouldnt recommend a shivermist buster, but its definitely a good investment, if ur only other choice is a BAB
I'd rather have a BAB then a Nitronome, for the damage alone.
But honestly, since both DA and Nova are elemental, I was thinking about getting rid of my Nova altogether once I had DA, since DA has its own ranged attack (and a good one too).
Then I'd be left with Levi, DA, and Shivermist or Fiery Vaporizer. Or I could even ditch the bomb altogether and get a third sword, Gran Faust. Thoughts?
i think instead of getting a gran faust, u should get a big angry bomb and post a tutorial on how to use it in an efficient way
id love to make use of that bomb but ive kept failing so far
Your DPS is actually going to be lower than with a Nitronome because of the longer charge time.
Source: Wiki Bombing Guide
Anyway, packing a damage bomb isn't exactly recommended if you're not a pure bomber.
Also, regarding the Nova, you might miss your gun when you encounter a turret. EVEN if you have a DA. :D
Or at least that's how I feel, since my alt packs 2 swords + bomb, I keep running into situations where I wish I had my main character's polaris or umbra driver...
If you can find the patience to grind the Coliseum, I recommend giving the Electron Vortex a go. It has done me a lot of good, and is great for keeping enemies in one place, also works terrificly with a Divine Avenger combo. Decent elemental damage and shock for a bonus, the only thing to work around is the charge time and movement decrease, but it's all a matter of practice. I've used Vortex bombs for as long as I can remember, and it's good for most situations.
I'm still thinking of switching out Nova for Argent Peacemaker, just because I run FSC a lot. Would AP be useful against anything other than undead/Vana?
Heres my two cents. Blitz needle with CTR. ASI is not so useful for it. Try the blitz needle charge. it does 156 x 15 on vanaduke. 214 x 15 on trojans [ instant death in 3 or lesser party. with divine veil/ fiend uV instant death in 4] and kills slags in 2 hits. Highly versatile weapon with alot of pain to match it
I should've just went with Valiance all along. =(
BAB is a turd. Go for a Nitro. Damage is not the be-all, end-all in this game; speed of attack and charging run is. Besides, what is bombing gear for anyway?
My first suggestion for a gun is Polaris. It's really stupidly awesome. 3 shots, long range, knockback, long-range bullets that act as static bombs, status effect....and you can pick up a pulsar cheap.
Another creative answer to the bomb problem is Radiant Sun Shards. They trigger dodges, so they sort of suck against fiends, but clever usage will 1-shot trojans and severely wound lumbers. They charge fast, you can run fast while charging, and when you've got some CTR going you can spam them really fast. They also have reaaaaaallllly long range, like vial range. proper usage can make a sniper out of you.
Negatory; I dislike Polaris immensely. I don't like its speed, its huge knockback, or the fact that most bad players spam the holy Jesus out of it and end up causing more problems for their team then needed.
as a full-time bomber who has both nitro and BAB i can only say...BAB is extremely hard to use
but it is rly up to you and it seems like you just wanna some casual fun with a cool-looking bomb
Something I learned recently was that the AP was amazing for Greavers. Somehow it interrupts their charge attack and makes them pretty harmless to deal with. Since you can spam out so many shots, it works on groups of them as well. The dodging isn't too bad with Devilites either since you can quickly adjust aim and keep moving.
I used to only bring it along (reluctantly) for Vanaduke, but recently I've started taking it along on Fiend runs as well. It suits my playstyle nicely.
Single target greaver footage at around the 1:00 mark (and devilite footage just before that if you're curious). http://youtu.be/2Y0M_hfiiMA
There are two ways to go about FSC: one revolves around Blitz Needle, the other around Argent Peacemaker. The latter is losing favor as people realize in a good team, Blitz Needle out-DPS's Argent by a huge margin.
With that in mind, I would definitely load out with these two items:
-Blitz Needle (anti-vanaduke, good on trojans too)
-Divine Avenger (a staple for its high damage and charge attack)
Your last two weapons should be chosen based on your team. Considerations are that only one, at most two people need to bring a Shivermist Buster; if this is already covered, I would just go with a Polaris and Leviathan. If you don't care for guns, then bring an Acheron, highly effective on pesky oilers. FSC doesn't really have that much enemy variety, so in truth a 3-weapon loadout is more than sufficient if you talk it out with your teammates.
-Shivermist Buster (highly recommended for vanaduke)
-Polaris (anti-zombie, crowd control support)
-Leviathan (vanaduke mask phase, misc support)
-Acheron (oilers)
One last thing to note, Argent does NOT play nice with Blitz Needle. The circle-shoot strategy is completely at odds with the Blitz strategy, and causes Blitz users to get maced (because they have higher DPS, they get aggro and the Argent user will repeatedly break Shivermist freeze, allowing Vana to face the Blitz user who is stationary while firing).
IMO nova driver is the best elemental gun for a 4-man bomber (status ? i have bombs !) does the same damage than a explosive shot (polaris), first-swing levi sword and Umbra.
no UV:
Nova: 205 (Versus Constructs and Undead)
Leviathan: 193 - 203 (1-2 hit)
Umbra: 205 (Versus Jellys and Gremlin)
Others Alchemers: 175-178 ? (only Firotech + status can do more damage than a nova driver, but if you alredy have a ash of agni...)
Polaris: Normal 158 , Explosive: 190 (Versus Constructs and Undead)
Nova is good, becuase of the damage and bullet speed, but if you're thinking about vannaduke, he dosen't have as much weakness or ressistance, so added elemental isn't to helpful. One that deals a good status might be more useful against him.
Nova with High or above CTR is really good with manual aim.
The trick with alchemers is that the fragments can be made to hit the same target if shot right, ie. Manual aim a little to the side of your target.
Which in layman's terms - charge attack, manual aim a little to the left or right of your target, 300+200+200 nearly every shot to a Slag Walker.
ANY attack interrupts Greavers. First hit from a sword or a gun shot, any will do. They still finish the animation but they don't do any damage and no status cloud/projectiles.
~Gwen
Why only have one loadout? :3 I have five swords, three guns and three bombs I use frequently, plus several more I occasionally switch to. I also have several sets of armour that can be mixed to form even more sets.. get all the weapons you like (although only get one for each purpose, at least until you have a full set) and switch your gear accordingly.
Actual advice on weapons: Storm driver is my absolute favourite weapon in FSC, and I have a max vs undead DA. It's also useful in most other stratums. If you're going for a four weapon loadout I would definitely get either a Storm or a Cryo driver. I hate playing with a polaris on the team, it obscures monsters from my vision enough to stop me hitting them, often knocks them back into me if they're shot from ahead of me, and also knocks them out of my (and often everyone else's) reach so we have to wait for monsters to move closer. Just ugh. Don't get a polaris.
A shivermist will be more useful than a big angry for several reasons:
-Trojans are easier to deal with, especially solo, when frozen.
-Crowd control with shivermist.
-Freezing vanaduke.
-Crowd control. It's that helpful.
-Big angry tends to blow monsters around, which is not helpful unless you're solo.
@DementedDuck :
Eeyup
Nova: If you want PURE DAMAGE ( like the umbra)
Storm: If you want OK damage and shock (usefull if you dont have status bombs)
Cryo: Same as storm
My typical set up is a Grey Cowl, Vog Coat, dual heart pendant, Leviathan and a Gran Faust. Believe me when I say the GF utterly decimates, and the Leviathan as a backup is fantastic. It may seem a bit typical, but trust me, it works, especially with Striker. Again, typical, but utterly decimating.
4 Weapons eh?
Well, for a non boss run, or on the way to one, heres what I suggest.
Swordsman-
Barb Thorn Blade
Divine Avenger
Gran Faust
Valiance
Gunner *Barfs*-
Blitz Needle/Callahan/Plague Needle
Polaris/Argent Peacemaker
Biohazard
Leviathan Blade
Bomber- (Good to have a sword/gun with you)
Dark Briar Barrage
Nitronome
Shivermist Buster/Volatic Tempest
Either a Valiance or Radiant Sun Shards, Valiance recommended.
Nova isn't bad, but IMO the Voltech and Cryotech lines are better due to the added status. Probably Voltech for you since you were considering SMB. Speaking of which, choose that. BAB is cool looking, but incredibly hard to use due to the movement debuff while charging, long fuse time, and relatively small blast radius.