I am currently a 2-3 star player running T2s, and I already have my general loadout for general PvE:(Its a sword mostly loadout)
1. Barbarous Thorn Blade (for piercing damage)
2. Glacius (for elemental damage)
3. Gran Fuast (for shadow damage)
4. ???
For the fourth weapon I want a normal damage type gun for situations like gun puppies etc, but I want it to be applicable to any level. What do guys think is the best normal only gun?
The other problem I would have is in arenas, if there is a large mob in the center, I cant do anything w/ my sword. What if I am in a beast or construct arena? Then I am in trouble!
What do I sacrifice then for the bomb?
give up teh BTB if construct arena.
give up teh glacius if beast.
replace with a buster, tempest or (preferably for beast) nitronome.
or get a frigging leviathan.
problem solved.
Don't get a nitronome for beast, get a Dark Briar Barrage for that. It has bonus damage and don't annoy your mates (if you are not running solo).
Don't get a Leviathan either, when you have 3 specialized damage sword that would be [ridiculous].
If you are good at predicting what a level will look like, keep only 2 swords and switch for another weapon. But you should be able to hit mobs at the center even with swords.
As for which bombs, for damage my favorites are Ash of Agni and Dark Briar Barrage, because they both have good damage and are party friendly. Consider a Nitronome if you mainly solo.
Do you mostly run solo? or in groups? The Polaris is a powerful wrecking-ball, but it is pretty unfriendly to swordsman if used more than sparingly. It breaks up mobs and the shock status is contagious from enemies to players under close quarters. There is not much I hate more then running with a player that thinks the Polaris is a great primary weapon for team-play. If I was going to only have one gun in my arsenal and it was going to be an Elemental gun, I think I would go with the Nova Driver (prismatech line). The Nova Driver does more damage per shot then the other alchemers, but with out a status effect. The plus side to not having a status effect is not having to deal with status immune monsters.
I am pretty much the lone voice for this choice, but I love my Valiance (blaster line) for solo play. The Val is weak to nothing, it fires fast, large projectiles that cause slight knockback, has 3 shots before reload (or 2 shots pause repeat), and you can move while firing it (not an issue when comparing to Alchemers & Polaris). In solo play there are occasionally clutch moments were I am low on health and like to kite kill enemies that are strong to elemental damage like wolvers or gremlins. Also, I like to pick off menders (strong to elemental) with a gun during the last wave of 3rd round arenas.
One other thought. Nick mentioned that the Argent Peacemaker may be changing to pure elemental sometime in the not so distant future. If this happens the AP may quickly become the number one choice of sidearms for most swordsmen:
Your argument for the valiance, when you said "there are occasionally clutch moments were I am low on health and like to kite kill enemies that are strong to elemental damage like wolvers or gremlins," that was axactly what I meant by my original problem. I am done with reading this now, and wont post any more , so let this thread die!
Thank you for the help!!!!111
Move this thread to graveyard then, safer that way than changing the title
You don't actually want a normal gun. You want an elemental gun.
Gun puppies and howlitzers are weak against elemental. Polyps are neutral. So, elemental guns are the best turret killers. Beasts and gremlins dodge bullets anyway, so it doesn't matter that an elemental gun is weak against them. A normal gun will miss just as often, so you may as well do better damage to everything else.
The best elemental gun for solo play is the Polaris (kilowatt pulsar line), but the knockback from its expanded shots can make it difficult to use well in a group. Any of the elemental alchemers is also going to be good and will be more friendly to your team because there is no significant knockback from them. I particularly like the firotech line.