Can anyone tell me how to use an alchemer prpoerly and whar UV`s are the mos usefull for them
alchemers
Two big suggestions for using an Alchemer:
1) Turn off auto-aim. Alchemer shots do best when you fire them between enemies or just to the side of them, rather than directly at them. Auto-aim will make it a lot harder to get those bounces to cooperate.
2) Use a 4* or better Alchemer. The 2* and 3* Alchemers WILL disappoint, I can pretty much guarantee that. They don't kick in until at least 4*, and 5* is when you start insta-killing with a charge shot.
Destroyerofthenort said it quite well, but missed a couple of vital points. Alchemer bullets bounce to the left on impact. Becaus of this you want to turn off your auto target and aim to the right of the monster. Alchemer bullets also have a chance to get stuck "inside" the monster and bounce around until the monster dies. When shooting large groups of enemies it's best to charge and aim for the semi-right side because charge shots bounce in all directions on impact before ricocheting to the left. Kiting wih alchemers is best done by shooting in such a rhythm that you shoot, then the gun drops before you shoot again, thus circumventing the reload mechanism and giving you the highest dps wih normal shots over spamming. Only spam if the enemy is within two shots of death. Damage UVs against constructs and undeads is probably the best uv, followed by ctr.
oh yeah! forgot to mention AT should be off for the attentive aspiring alchemer user. Thanks for adding that
Thanks so much guys ill try to get ctr uv and i have bonus dmg vs consruct low should i keep it?
Damage VS family UVs are rarely if ever worth keeping.
I noticed for Alchemers AT doesn't even kick in at anywhere beyond 4-6squares range. And usually since you should be moving around to shoot, AT doesn't kick in, either. However, charges are usually a different case and turning off autotarget could help somewhat.
It takes skill to learn how to aim a charge to utilise ricochets and maximum hits. It is usually more of an experience thing than something to be laid down and follow- unlike something like Valiance, alchemers are pretty high skill high reward guns that require experience and knowledge with using one.
About what coelydragon said, you actually want Attack speed increase instead of damage bonus VS family UVs. That or charge time reduction, depending on how you use one and what kind of alchemer. You will definitely prefer charge time for cryotech, as you can freeze an enemy with the charge and refreeze them again with charge. For other alchemers you could either use the charge or dualswitch them, in which case attack speed increase (asi) is preferred for the latter.
And now on to dualswitching, which no one covered in this thread.
Dualswitching is a specialised gunning style, for damage-per-second and less as a sidearm. What you do is you take one alchemer, shoot, shield, switch to another alchemer, shoot, shield, switch, repeat- it allows for infinite firing and extremely high damage per second on enemies weak to it, such as a nova/storm driver combo against a zombie. This is by far one of the highest damage output per second in the game, falling short to perhaps a blitz needle charge.
I also agree with Travelliath, 2 and 3* drivers are nothing like what their 4 and 5* counterparts can really do, and that is when they shine. the 5* charge fires out two more bullets and is definitely worth the upgrade if you love to use its charge.
On specific alchemers:
Umbra (shadowtech): Nothing to say here, it's a shadow alchemer and there's no other shadow alchemers. Use this for slimes, and to a lesser extent gremlins (maybe beasts?)
Nova (prismatech): While it lacks status chance, it has a notable higher amount of damage. I prefer this simply because it has pretty bullets. On a serious note though, this helps you to kill stuff faster, but you might want statuses for specific scenarios.
Hail (cryotech): The best abuser of the Driver charge attack, the high freeze chance means an enemy can be freeze-locked by a charge and get hit repetitively.
Storm (voltech): Also one of the more used alchemers, the shock status is pretty much self-explanatory.
Magma (firotech): Perhaps the least used alchemer (nova might be lesser used), the extra damage from fire is pretty situational, but can help in melting Ice Cubes. The damage-over-time can also be pretty deadly in Lockdown.
Charge spam > Dual Switch when you are able to make ricochets so much to one (inside), two or three monster near each other. The damage of charge when lots of ricochets kicks in... is about the same as blitz needle. It doesn't really matter which to aim left or right side when using charge, as long as it's not dead center (though it still ricochets sometimes).
I effectively have CTR Max on all my alchemers, and the charge damage is definitely comparable to blitz. There are many situations where you can one-hit three zombies with a well-placed shot. I prefer it to switch shooting in the clockworks because it's a less frantic playstyle, and the charge shot actually has a greater range than normal alch shots, which don't travel as far as any other bullet. Ultimately, charging relies more heavily on the precision of your aim than switching, and switching requires greater coordination of you; it's a motion you need to practice to master. Decide which you're better at!
Another reason I prefer charging: I have a curious problem when switch shooting two alchemers in a loadout of three guns (usually alch+alch+blitz in FSC). Since I have more than two weapons, I can't solely use the Next Weapon key to dualswitch my alchs, so I use Prev and Next alternatingly. When I do this while moving, it almost always locks my movement key in the direction I was running in, which often leads to getting stuck against a wall or in a fire trap. Probably some failing on the part of my processor, but make sure you don't have the same problem before shelling out a ton on ASI UVs that you can't use effectively.
Note: You can get ASI High from Swiftstrike, and paired with the Low from a Seerus Mask, I've found I don't really need any more ASI for switch shooting. Similarly, Chaos negates the need for CTR UVs entirely. If you're using such an offensive set you may not need to spend a lot on UVs.
Cleverpun can tell you.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=121403410
On that guide: Just want to say, it doesn't matter which "armpit" you want to target at when you are using charge >_>
http://youtu.be/ElPF14fPRL4?t=2m4s
Personally, as a gunner, i love my alchemer. Some cling to their blitz, others get their kicks out of polaris spam into narrow passages in PvP, i love nothing more than firing high damage rounds of plasma which rain death in groups
That said, alchemers gain their biggest advantage up against groups, or large targets; which will, more often than not, allow a ricochet inside of the foe. It should be said, however that the actual usage can vary by your alchemer of choice. With the nova driver (prismatech line (shadowtech would also fall under this category)), the one i have extensive use with as a main weapon, you will become a very much offensive gunner utilizing it's increased damage, but lack of status to your advantage; simply load up a charge attack into a group of slags, and attain laughably high damage over a group radius.
As for, say, the hail driver (cryotech line (voltech and firotech also fall under this category (have yet to use, but i am not royally stupid and daft as to it's purpose))), it becomes a matter of being slightly more hinged on support. You are still dishing out relatively good damage for a gun, especially in groups; but you are also aiming to get that all-valuable status in that allows you to pelt them with ease to lock them up/get them to slowly soften up, whilst your team proceeds to rip them apart up close.
In any case, a big plus for the whole lot of them is it's ability to bounce in many directions as well as it's damage that can be compared to a decent sword. This makes it a very viable option when you need mass damage in groups, or to apply the status and crowd control that you need when no bomber is around, or you just need that more offensive touch. The charge attack takes things a step further, and makes the one bullet split into 2 (or, at 5*, 4 bullets) on impact with initial target, with even more damage added on for that initial strike (which can be compared to some of the heavy swords in amount), yet at the same time allowing even MORE damage over a wide group radius without getting into melee radius like bombs form a prerequisite off of. That said, because it is high damage, it is plenty viable for normal shots as well. If you aren't killing a large group and need to dispose of a foe quickly, don't be afraid to unload the clip with normal shots.
By definition and nature, you may choose to lean on CTR before ASI, simply because of the way it works... however, any seerus mask combined with the natural level 10 CTR of the weapon is plenty sufficient to achieve a very high CTR. As a result, depending on your non-weaponry-based equipment, you may opt to hunt down the ASI as a purchased UV. Of course, while some will disagree with this; i will also add that due to the nature of it's elemental damage, a decent construct or undead bonus is always welcome and will serve well enough... but generally lean toward the former 2 options first if applicable (if you have millions to spare, feel free to keep rolling your UV tickets... otherwise, these will do fine)