I plan on getting a Hail and Storm Driver for my future gunner loadout. My brother has a Nova Driver though, so I'd like to ask if the Nova Driver's extra damage makes it take less shots to kill something. If so I'll consider it, if not I'll just get the Hail and Storm.
Does Nova Driver's extra damage make a difference over other Drivers?
Sun, 03/11/2012 - 04:24
Sun, 03/11/2012 - 11:17
#2
You can one shot mecha
You can one shot mecha knights with the charge if you get the ricochets.
Sun, 03/11/2012 - 11:22
#3
Nova is better, unless you
Nova is better, unless you enjoy status effects.
Real question is, why both hail and storm? Neither supports each other in status. If its to switch status against status resist enemies, nova performs better.
Sun, 03/11/2012 - 18:28
#4
Nova does arround 30% more
Nova does arround 30% more then other alchemers per shot it's quiet decent
but there is also magma driver.. with its high proc chance fire up most of the time and dps goes very high with it (t2 - 33 to 50~ and tier 3 - 72 to 100~ every 2 sec for 8 sec damage depens on monsters fire resistance (fire attuned monster inmunue to fire proc but not to elemental dmg from shots)
Stay away form hail :D
storm is a good option if you are not in to polaris
my suggestion for loadout : blitz+callahan(better safe then sorry! very good compliment to combo biohazard with knockdown effect)+biohazard+polaris
Mon, 03/12/2012 - 09:03
#5
I have both Magma and Nova.
I have both Magma and Nova. Nova does more reliable damage, but there's just something more satisfying about setting everything on fire. Fire also does the same residual damage on all mobs, where Nova would be stuck doing abysmal damage (e.g. igniting gremlins versus the normal attack).
Mon, 03/12/2012 - 18:42
#6
Magma Driver Video
Mon, 03/12/2012 - 19:29
#7
The Royal is Absolute
I, Nova, say that you should replace hail by nova or magma. Nova and Magma have more DPS and Storm have more AoE in tight crowd.
Mon, 03/12/2012 - 19:49
#8
Watch that video and see what
Watch that video and see what I mean by the pyromania. The burn rate is so high its just funny.
Mon, 03/12/2012 - 21:41
#9
In my experience, Magma kills
In my experience, Magma kills about as fast if not faster than Nova in most situations. It won't 1hko certain monsters that Nova can, but the burn will usually finish them any way. Two or three fire ticks is enough to make up for any lost damage, and the majority of monsters you fight will ignite by the time they die. Magma is also noticeably more powerful against neutral monsters, so you can take it to RJP or a similar area and do reasonably well with it.
Mon, 03/12/2012 - 22:36
#10
Magma?
Are you sure? The 4* version (Firo Driver) is pretty crappy from what I've seen.
Hail has utility and some degree of crowd control, while Storm has massive dps in crowds. Plus both of them sound and look totally badass. However I'm not sure whether Nova kills significantly faster than Hail/Storm in soloing, so I had to ask.
Mon, 03/12/2012 - 23:28
#11
Firo Driver (4*)is bugged as
Firo Driver (4*)is bugged as i stated before it suppose to do "Moderate" fire but it does "Minor" fire proc. Firotech mk2 fine tho it's proc does proper damage so does magma but Firo Driver proc is bugged over a half year now since devs and game masters doesnt give a nick of crap to players report or suggestions it stood broken.
Tue, 03/13/2012 - 03:46
#12
Well the tic of fire is
Well the tic of fire is higher than the damage nova got more than magma. The Nova will deal more damage to every recoil too, so if you burn multiple targets it's ok, but single target or against fire mobs it's much weaker. So I'd go Nova all the way.
Tue, 03/13/2012 - 07:09
#13
note
Gun damage increase does not impact fire damage so if you're using shadowsun and/or gun damage trinkets nova is better
Tue, 03/13/2012 - 16:41
#14
No, it doesn't, but magma
No, it doesn't, but magma does decent by itself without fire damage being huffed. Even at +6, one tick of fire makes up for the difference. Today when I was leveling Nova, I learned that a 4* Nova wont outdamage level 10 magma even without fire. Both at level 10, I predict it would do ~15-20% more damage.
Tue, 03/13/2012 - 18:06
#15
Nova does 30% more raw damage
Nova does 30% more raw damage output per shot but fire adds arround 45-50%+ dps
Magma exceeds nova unless fire inmunity
Tue, 03/13/2012 - 18:17
#16
Go for Nova, but if you
Go for Nova, but if you really want some status alchemer then go for Storm since shock is elemental damage and has AoE and offers crowd control (i should also mention that it destroys people in lockdown), meanwhile, fire not always works well against monsters weak to elemental damage (which makes sense since fire isn't elemental and is some kind of damage on its own) and all monsters have different fire resistance and aside of damage fire offers nothing else. If you really want to burn enemies its better to just drop AoA to soften them down and just kill them with off with Nova.
http://tinyurl.com/skdmg for fire resistance info refer ticks columns in Ash of Agni sheet.
Tue, 03/13/2012 - 18:24
#17
Antigua line
Is there a reason to go for Nova when you could go for Argent Peacemaker?
I was leveling a shadow alchemer and a prismatech alchemer, but once I got the Silver Six and the Blackhawk, I think that they are vastly superior to their Alchemer counterparts. I understand the richochet can be excellent damage, but a 6 shot magazine gives WAY more response time for shielding and playing defensively.
Tue, 03/13/2012 - 18:27
#18
They aren't superior, they
They aren't superior, they are about equal, if you like AP more, then use it. Nothing stops you .
Tue, 03/13/2012 - 18:36
#19
~
"Is there a reason to go for Nova when you could go for Argent Peacemaker?"
Easier to get recipes, can ragecraft 2* version for UVs.
Wed, 03/14/2012 - 16:25
#20
Without going into the DPS
Without going into the DPS debate, I've gotta say that the Magma Driver's among my favorite guns. Most realistic and coolest visuals out of any of the alchemers, and of course it's just awesome to be able to light things on fire.
Thu, 03/15/2012 - 00:58
#21
Nova just is more viable
Nova just is more viable anywhere - I mean you're [screwed] up at FSC with a Hail ... Nova is "cheaper" in that point.
Thu, 03/15/2012 - 10:04
#22
I have a very capable friend
I have a very capable friend who is quite handy with a hail driver in FSC. Freeze is a nifty effect, quite nice for large clusters of zombies. Its more utility than DPS, much easier to kill an immobile mob than one that leaps around a lot (e.g Vanaduke). And people seem to forget that freeze damages when it ends on mobs. You can shoot once, leave it frozen to kill other things, and when it unfreezes I think it just barely outdamages one Nova shot. But if you're impatient, just go for Nova.
Oh, and clean up your language, rules say you shouldn't swear on the forums.
Thu, 05/31/2012 - 15:54
#23
Not to necro or anything
I'll post here, so no "Use Search Bar" police come after me. Anyways, does the new buff to guns and bombs change anything. Also, if I plan on using the regular attack more than charge, is nova driver even father superior (I'll use charge, just not spam it)?
Thu, 05/31/2012 - 16:29
#24
Yeah
Because of the buff, the gap in damage between the non-status and status alchemers/drivers is even wider than before.
Doesn't matter if you are using charge or normal shot much with them. The status alchemers give reliable status either way, though the buff made the charge do much more damage for all of them.
Spamming charge attack isn't a bad idea anyhow. Even given how much less often you shoot, you do more damage if you aim well.
The initial shot from the charge does double the damage of a normal shot (more or less depending on what you are shooting at and what depth - sometimes more, sometimes less than double) plus 4 normal shots that can ricochet twice like normal. Basically with some skill and luck, if you don't hit two enemies with one shot/ricochet (which you SHOULD be able to do reliably) you are doing 14X the damage of one normal shot with a charge shot if all shots/ricochets hit.
Assuming you can fire off a charge shot as fast as four normal shots (that's two, reload, two) which you can get up to 12 hits with, it's still more damage all at once, if that makes sense to you.
Alchemer charges are incredibly powerful and effective if used right. The normal attack is quite good too, though.
As said above, you can make up some of the lost damage with the magma/firo line from fire status, but it's more of a damage-over-time thing.
I know I'm not alone in preferring to just kill stuff outright instead of setting it on fire and waiting when I'm using guns.
Thu, 05/31/2012 - 19:21
#25
...
The buff affects all guns equally. If the nova did 30% more than the status alchemers before, it will still do 30% more after the buff. If you don't believe me, do the math.
The nova is a solid choice, but if you want a status nova, and are going to be using mostly regular attacks, I would suggest storm. If you are going to be using mostly charge attacks, I would suggest hail. The freeze allows you to better line up shots, and gives you some breathing room while charging.
Fri, 06/01/2012 - 06:06
#26
Offtopic
I have been recently thinking of reintroducing an alchemer to my arsenal and the question I have is, are hail and storm the only alchemers with their own unique sound effects? because I find the firing noise of the umbra line ( CrUnCh!-cRuNch!) very annoying.
Ty in advance.
~Luke
Fri, 06/01/2012 - 08:51
#27
Can't we get like a flamethrower instead?
"I have been recently thinking of reintroducing an alchemer to my arsenal and the question I have is, are hail and storm the only alchemers with their own unique sound effects? because I find the firing noise of the umbra line ( CrUnCh!-cRuNch!) very annoying.
Ty in advance."
have you tried the wiki? i know the 2 you mentioned has unique effects (assuming nova is the default), I cannot recall whether magma has an effect.
also, I recall someone on this subject say that nova would outperform in about half of the situations, because fire needs time to catch up magma to nova, and if you are constantly firing and hitting every shot, nova would take it down faster, unless you do a hit and run style in lockdown, but if I was doing that I would use storm driver
note: I only have the 4* version of the nova driver (prisma), and have not tried any of the other alchemers.
Fri, 06/01/2012 - 13:59
#28
On the same vein: I totally
On the same vein: I totally want Supernova. Supernova does NOT have a damage advantage over Polaris, but the particular tactical advantage it provides would be best used against shot-dodgers like Gremlins to keep groups at easy dodging distance.
Fri, 06/01/2012 - 17:45
#29
@atacii
[Edit: Herp Derp. Ignore my funky maths. The numbers are right but their relationship isn't what I said here. I set out to explain one thing and said something totally different and wrong instead. -_- Sorry Atacii. >.<]
If gun A does 100 damage, and gun B does 30% more, then they're doing 100 and 130.
If both guns get a boost of 10% damage on normal attack and 20% on charge, they're doing 110 and 143 respectively, making the margin now greater than 30%. In Practice, they do quite a bit more than 100 and 130 damage each, so the margin is much more than a few damage greater than it used to be.
Regarding the charge attack, the 20% buff was applied to the charge attack AFTER applying the buff from the normal attack, the charge attack being a % higher than the normal attack, not a set value.
Breaking the math down on this one as well if (for example) the charge is doing 200% the damage of a normal attack (in some cases it is a bit less than this, in others it is A LOT more) the charges would have been doing 200 and 260 respectively before.
If we multiply these out the same way, for gun A we're looking at 220 + 20% which is 264 and for gun B that's 286 + 20% which gives 343.
343 is a lot more than 30% bigger than 264. The margin between Nova Driver and Storm/Magma/Cryo is quite a bit larger than before.
Fri, 06/01/2012 - 16:57
#30
^ -.-"
seems to be a lot of rubbish (sry, toastnaut) but i´ll select 1 quote only:
"343 is a lot more than 30% bigger than 264. The margin between Nova Driver and Storm/Magma/Cryo is quite a bit larger than before."
264*130%=343.2
343 isn´t even 30% bigger than 264 :D
343 is 1.299242424... times 264 => ~29.92%
percentage is the same with or without dmg buff but the absolute difference of damage between nova and other elemental (and shadow?) drivers have changed to nova´s benefit
Fri, 06/01/2012 - 17:19
#31
...
*sigh*
Normal attack.
100 * 1.3 = 130: This is 30% more.
100 * 1.1 = 110: This is 10% more.
130 * 1.1 = 143: Ditto.
110 * 1.3 = 143: This is also 30% more.
Charge attack.
264 * 1.3 = 343.2: Yup, still 30% more.
...I fail to see your point. Did you actually try calculating any of your numbers? =/
Fri, 06/01/2012 - 17:47
#32
LOL
Sorry, I got caught up in my point and somewhat ignored what my numbers did. Herp Derp... I sure feel smart now. XD
I've been collecting data for the wiki and those aren't the actual numbers, just theoretical examples that I didn't think enough about how they compared to each other. That's hilarious that I missed how those two worked out.
In PRACTICE, my point was that the buff is more than advertised in the patch notes because of how the math worked out, and I explained it horribly there and ended up posting it in a way that wasn't clear or accurate.
Also, that the amount of damage that they're apart by now is much bigger because damage went up... which is not really what I said above now that I read through it again. >.<
Before the patch, at depth 24 the nova driver was doing 182 damage and 306 on the normal and charge attack respectively against undead and constructs. Against fiends and slimes, it was 112 and 240 respectively.
Now it's doing 198/383 against undead and constructs and 133/317(!) against fiends and slimes. Sadly, I don't have data for the other 5* alchemers yet since the buff (which is why I used made up example numbers that ended up not helping me a bit.) Damage has gone up by so much that even for a small % between them, it's a big difference in how much straight-up damage you're doing.
The talk is about usefulness, DPS (often, even though it's not that important,) and making up damage in status effects.
You're doing a lot more damage with the Nova/Ubra drivers since the patch, though the percentile difference between the status ones is the same. I have no idea how it escaped me that my example numbers weren't doing what I said, considering I had the calculator sitting right beside me. -_-
That's what I get for trying to explain one thing, getting caught up in another, and then confusing the two.
Sat, 06/02/2012 - 03:02
#33
The gap has widened.
Why? Because the burn has not, I think, been buffed. Pretty simple.
The extra damage is quite large, and it definitely makes a difference.
I highly recommend the Nova Driver over other drivers, especially hail (which is very mediocre compared to storm as well).