I'm actually kinda looking into this line. Probably mostly for [Fecal Matter] and giggles, more than anything. Possibly I'll go ahead and troll a guildie with it if I really feel devious.
Anyways a couple questions:
The better line? (Bio and Neut)
Viable for Lockdown in any way?
How much CTR necessary to make viable?
Special Tactics I should be aware of? (Like Alchemer double shotting and stuff of that nature)
Most useful in what way?
How much fun does acquiring it give?
Seiran, can you clarify on the stronger charge damage.
Against neutral targets, like a wolver, it's understandable the neutralizer will do more damage, but what about against slimes and gremlins? The biohazard will do more damage against them due to the shadow weakness, right? It sounds like you leave a possibility that the neutralizer's charge is stronger at all instances, including slimes & gremlins.
vs neutral enemies, it's kind of like the difference between Blitz and Plague Needle, where Plague* Needle is definitely weaker and needs to get its poison effect to be as strong as Blitz (but the rest of the party gets a boost from the poison effect).
vs enemies weak to shadow, Biohazard is definitely more powerful.
sorry about the confusion :>
edit:
*Plague originally called Strike needle. oops
edit2:
cut out ASI vs CTR comparison for a new post.
Anyways a couple answers:
The better line? (Bio and Neut)
-Biohazard.
Viable for Lockdown in any way?
-Not in the slightest.
How much CTR necessary to make viable?
-Med+ is ideal, amazetacular with max, still viable with none.
Special Tactics I should be aware of? (Like Alchemer double shotting and stuff of that nature)
-Detonate the charges when the target is close to other mobs.
Most useful in what way?
-Crowd Control and general messing about.
How much fun does acquiring it give?
-Much fun.
CTR is more useful than ASI on Catalyzers.
@Seiran
The weapon you're looking for is Plague Needle. Strike Needle is the 4* Blitz.
Even with Poison, Plague Needle never does as much damage as Blitz.
ASI is way more better than CTR
im pretty sure for the Catalyzer line
Have you played around with a CTR Max Catalyzer? Its stupidly fast and fun.
It is a viable weapon in the Clockworks once you get used to its quirks.
Special Tactics I should be aware of? (Like Alchemer double shotting and stuff of that nature)
If you can anticipate where a monster will be, you can fire bullets and the monster will run into them.
The charges can cause a lot of knockback. Don't get caught by surprise if the detonations send the monster flying towards you.
Most useful in what way?
The Biohazard's poison can turn the tide against healers. You won't get stuck in an endless battle when you have two Darkfang Menders healing and reviving.
The other night, I got to compare with a friend and compared ASI vs CTR with neutralizer:
Her gear: CTR max (level 10 medium + charge med trinket + charge med from chaos set)
My gear: ASI max and CTR high (level 10 medium + CTR low UV on my neutralizer)
Our firing rates for charge attack were equal.
So here are the conclusions:
- CTR and ASI both affect your charge fire rate significantly. CTR affects the fire rate more.
- ASI keeps you safer by letting you move (and shoot/charge again) earlier.
So basically, if you're moving around often and playing safe as gunners usually do, ASI is a better choice. If you're being a turret and just laying on charges, CTR is a better choice for laying charges everywhere.
Personally I feel ASI is a better choice because, especially in parties, you tend to only be able to get 1 or 2 charges in, and the easiest way to lay the charges is to bait the enemies to start a melee attack, then tag them while they're attacking. This means you're usually in close range and want to be able to move before their attack gets out.
Which is better?
Biohazard, but to me aesthetics are everything, so I would get a Neutralizer, but you get whatever you want.
Better line:
Biohazard can poison, does shadow damage, which is perfect for Jelly Runs. It's only ineffective vs fiends and undead (silkwings, zombies, kats, trojans).
The neutralizer has a stronger charge attack, but no status. Of the monsters Biohazard is ineffecftive against, Neutralizer works on zombies and silkwings because of their slow movement speed.
Most people will choose Biohazard.
Viable for Lockdown:
No, not really. I've really, really tried to get Biohazard to work. The main way you'll ever get to hit people with it is if they're busy with something else, or if you combine it with Electron Vortex, and even that's tough since that's more of an anti-striker defensive bomb. You can use Biohazard as a retreating weapon though.
CTR:
It has about 1 second charge by default, so CTR isn't as necessary. ASI makes it way safer to use though (you can move quicker during/after the shooting animation, meaning you can detonate the shot earlier). Charges run out after 20 seconds, but monsters don't usually last that long. CTR+ASI together work very well though.
Special tactics..?
- With default attack speed, if you charge and then shoot immediately, you'll explode the charge on the left side of the enemy. Aim to the right side of groups if you're doing 1charge-detonate (it doesn't matter what side of the monster you're on).
- Stack charges onto one enemy then shield bump it into a group and blow it up.
- If you delay your charges, you can stack your charges on the same side of the enemy, increasing the knockback when you DO blow it up.
- Charges do not do damage if they explode inside unbreakable walls, so watch where they are when you detonate them.
- Works well with Vortex/ice/shock bombs.
Most useful...
...when you have the aggro, or the monsters are moving towards you. It makes it way easier to land charges on them this way.
It's least useful/hardest to hit with when they're chasing something else.
Fun
It's fun. I was trying to casually gather data for Neutralizer in a Vanaduke run and forgot to get damage numbers for two floors because it was too fun lol.