Ok, so i decided that as I have yet to drop any sentry gear, i thought i would try switching things around from my DPS/Striker build (241k DPS, 85k Health, 13K Skill, 65% damage mitigation) and wanted to see what all the fus was about with electronics builds.
Using what gear i had in the stash (mostly garbage) i have attempted to assemble an electronics build, but before I confirm my stats, is there an effective cap on skill power in that anything above a certain value is wasted?
i currently have 127k DPS 50k health and 42.7k skillpower and 62% damage mitigiation.
So is 42.7k skillpower a waste? could i afford to lower that in order to retain some better gear and perhaps boost other stats such as health and damage mitigation?
Depends on what you do. My opinion is stop at 40k and spend the rest in firearms and stamina. Tacticians will allow you to push your skills higher to the cap. Some cap at around 40k. Most do not. Pulse still needs around 45k is to completely cap it and Smart Cover needs over 50k. If you are running support for pve I recommend Smart Cover and pulse. Also depends on the mission too. Support station with immunizer is nice as it removes the pesky status effects and heals at 5k per tick when it's capped. As a skill user myself I say forget turret, ballistic shield, seeker mine, sticky bomb and the like. First aid with booster shot is nice as you can keep firing it and heal when while buffing your teammates. But in the end Smart Cover and pulse is the way to go. When capped Smart Cover is 50% attack power and 75% damage resistant. Pulse is 40% critical hit chance, and 100% critical hit damage. Get a assault rifle or marksmen with skilled and use tactical link you can spam it for some incredible damage output. But in the end you are support so help your buddies out!
See if you can get a gun to complement your build. Look for Talented, Competent, Vicious. Basically any talent that gels with using skills. Keep an eye out for skilled or commanding but only if they come free. Both contribute to signature skills, but I wouldn't spec to unlock them.
I have a 204 First Wave Vector with competent, talented and commanding. All these require electronics and a little fire arms. Dps jumps to 210k when competent is used with smart cover. Then from there I raise my skill power with talented and tacticians. Talented is a good jump start by the time my smart cover is out I have max pulse and smart cover.
Side note if you run smart cover and pulse. You cannot use a medkit while smart cover is deployed. The kit will cancel smart cover even if you run away from it.
According to Skill-Up 43K is the cap for both Pulse and Smart Cover. Both skills I use to solo challenging missions.
For me I use Tactician with 2 Stamina gear pieces, 3 Firearms and holster with all 3 and a total of 5 gear mod slots.
Firearms: 2889
Health: 78K
Skill Power: 32K (Electronics 1699)
Once I get the tactician buff up to maximum I can crit a headshot for around 1.1 Million with the First Wave M1A. That's where the tactician is great. It allows you to focus on the other stats (Firearms & Stamina) while not needing more than 25-30K Skill Power. (If find it easier than using the sentry build)
Even in a group Pulse and Smart Cover can provide them with massive damage. Alternatively, you might want to use First Aid (Booster or Overdose).
In a group you will deal less damage than the players you are buffing of course, but with high skill power, you are effectively boosting the potential of all your damage as explained by Drake623.
For Talents you definitely want to have Triage, and Tech Support can be great at keeping Smart Cover up for a longer duration without you having to refresh it.