Returning player (1yr off)…Just hit Level 400.
Opinion/Advice
A. What is the best exotic per category below?
B. If you could only own one weapon (per account/user name) below, what would it be and why ?
ASR: The Bighorn, The Eagle Bearer, Chameleon, Capacitor
LMG: Bullet King, Pestilence
SMG: Lady Death, Chatterbox, Backfire
Pistol: Liberty, Regulus
Shotgun: Sweet Dreams, Scorpio
Rifle: Merciless, Diamondback, The Ravenous
Sniper Rifle: Nemesis. Mantis
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I have tried different builds and nearly all the exotics you have listed (don't have Eagle Bearer, Big Horn or The Ravenous), but the best all round weapon IMO is the good old Pestilence, it has that debuff that enemies die when you're not even shooting at them.
Plague of the Outcasts = Hits apply a debuff dealing 100% weapon damage over 10s. - This stacks up to 50 times. - Whenever an enemy dies with this debuff, all stacks are transferred to a nearby enemy within 25m.
I've had a good time with scorpio. PvE content just seems a lot easier and times on the league events have come down considerably.
That said, I am currently running a hunter's fury/crusader shield build with the memento backpack. Since my build already demands up-close combat, it fits well with a shotgun -- especially since hunter's fury buffs shotgun damage.
I was pleasantly surprised to find the damage drop off isn't too bad, and this shotgun works well at distances that I wouldn't expect a shotgun to work. I had always considered shotguns in thsi game to be useless, so I commend the team for designing the scorpio.
It also seems to be very effective against hunters.
I'm playing with the Scorpio shotgun something like 95% of the time...
On a Hunter's Fury build, it's a lot of fun!
Originally Posted by linc.harris6670 Go to original post
The Scorpio ist the most versatile exotic weapon in my opinion (and I also think a bit overpowered just because of that). Although you can create very fun and powerful builds with e. g. the Chameleon, the Chatterbox, the Pestilence, both Nemesis and Mantis, Bullet King, Regulus and of course the Capacitor – the Scorpio still has the advantage that it works very well in a DPS-build (e. g. Hunter's Fury), that it is always one of the best options for very blue'ish tank-builds, and even builds with primarily or only yellow core attributes (e. g. healers). And of course Eclipse-builds revolving around status effects also can utilize a Scorpio very well (not because of the attribute "status effects", as this does not affect the Scorpio, but because of the spread of the applied status effects).
Especially as the status effects and the damage bonus make the Scorpio such a good choice against tanky enemies and bosses for each and every build, I think that this weapon might be just a but too versatile in comparison to other exotics.
As for the question which weapon I'd consider the best per category:
ASR: The Bighorn, The Eagle Bearer, Chameleon, Capacitor – because you get ridiculously good bonuses for AWD and skill damage at the same time (imagine an AR that would add 85,000 armor for each red core attribute). Especially in combination with the Memento backpack skill builds can reach a pure weapon damage that is 75% of a build with only red core attributes.). Capacitor thus is overpowered and with the amazing weapon mods even a very good choice for a DPS-build.
LMG: Bullet King, Pestilence – for the nice debuff. Although the BK has it's niches...
SMG: Lady Death, Chatterbox, Backfire – at least for PvE. As I think that good SMG-builds can be build with it the easiest. E. g. a Backfire build for PvE would trade in too much red minor attributes or Brand bonuses in order to achieve a good hazard protection, which you would not need with another SMG.
Pistol: Liberty, Regulus – that's a par to me. Both can be incorporated in very interesting build. While I think a Regulus build can be more powerful, Liberty builds are easier to create and utilize. Thus a draw.
Shotgun: Sweet Dreams, Scorpio – see above
Rifle: Merciless, Diamondback, The Ravenous – because it makes up the best secondary choice for some builds for me. All exotic rifles are imho not as good as regular HE rifles, so creating builds for them does not really appeal to me. But the Ravenous is at least a nice backup.
Sniper Rifle: Nemesis. Mantis – also a par. They both have to be played in a special way, but also both can hit very hard.
ASR: The Bighorn, The Eagle Bearer, Chameleon, Capacitor
Musthave for skill builds.
LMG: Bullet King, Pestilence
King could be used for IH raid, Pestilence has some fun niche build, both are meh, tbf
SMG: Lady Death, Chatterbox, Backfire
Meta for PVP
Pistol: Liberty, Regulus
Both are OKish
Shotgun: Sweet Dreams, Scorpio
Scorpio is OP PVE shotgun
Rifle: Merciless, Diamondback, The Ravenous
Really good but niche weapon
Sniper Rifle: Nemesis. Mantis
Very good one, Nemesis is complicated to use
Capacitor is head and shoulders above the rest. Easy to obtain. Very good accuracy/Recoil. Benefits from red and yellow cores while also buffing skill damagem. It's the best all-around weapon.Originally Posted by linc.harris6670 Go to original post
I know there's an argument for Chameleon builds...but I feel maintaining its buffs is too sitiational. Added to the SMG-like bullet spread makes using it annoying. It's by no means bad. Just not as good as it could be.
Bighorn is...meh. The fire modes are gimmick-y and too sitiational, while the gun doesn't actually do anything better than a more specialized weapon. A regular police m4 or famas does arguably more damage, and the classic m1a does the rifle job better.
Eagle-Bearer is not only locked to RNG in a raid, but has an exotic talent that's just too risky in too many situations. It's a hard pass for me.
Bullet king doesn't do enough damage.Originally Posted by linc.harris6670 Go to original post
Pestilence is the choice here.
All three are kind of meh. Both Chatterbox and Lady Death are good options for speed running challenging and below. But have very little use in heroic, legendary, or raids.Originally Posted by linc.harris6670 Go to original post
Backfire has at least some usefulness in difficult content if you're willing gear around mitigating its self-bleed.
Honestly, I'd pick Chatterbox for this category. I need a speed running tool. I don't need a gimmick anti-bleed build.
Libery' recoil is stupid. I never use it because it's too annoying.Originally Posted by linc.harris6670 Go to original post
I don't have a Regulus. But I have to imagine it's better.
[QUOTE=linc.harris6670;15406758]
Shotgun: Sweet Dreams, Scorpio[/quote[
Scorpio hands down. Sweet Dreams never stood a chance.
I've heard Ravenous is good damage if you're willing to do the switch shoulders game. But again....raid locked.Originally Posted by linc.harris6670 Go to original post
So for me I'd choose Merciless. At least with the Braced talent you can turn it into a decent weapon. The Diamondback talent gameplay has never been good.
Mantis.Originally Posted by linc.harris6670 Go to original post
Nemesis is good on paper. But with the way enemies move it's not a very practical weapon to land shots with.
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If I could only have 1 single exotic weapon, I'd choose capacitor.
If I could only have one exotic, it would be Eagle Bearer - but I make a lot of use of Tenacity and I prefer the 21% DtH of an AR. If you don't play aggressive, with selective facetanking - then it won't do anything for you. I don't skill build, so I don't Capacitor - but it's a great choice if that's your style.
As much as I love Sweet Dreams, Scorpio is better - the CC is just nuts, and the SixTwelve has the best shotgun DPS to boot.
Bullet King still makes me giggle, but Pestilence is a beast. If you're ever having issue with Named Enemies or Hunter's, try Pesti. The stacks make them quickly burn all their armor kits, if you have trouble finishing them before they can pop one.
Chatterbox is my speed running BFF. Hunter's Fury was born to pair with it - reloading is for suckers. Though not if you only roll Heroic+.
Ravenous is OP, based on DPS that doesn't even account for it's talent, but I don't have that. Merciless only works with high WH, Diamondback only works if you can hit your targets [it's awesome for Negotiators, as all hits are Crit if you can tag the highlighted - plus you can full load CD, since you don't need any CHC]
Also don't have Regulus, but I wants - almost enough to PUB IH, maybe when new content brings me back. Liberty can be fun.
Mantis. Nemesis is just waayyy too slow - though can work in group play.
Pre-2.0, Diamondback was amazing. Post-2.0, it's still stupid strong if you are willing to play it's talent game. 100% CHC means you can max out CD, and use the extra attributes/brands that you normally need for CHC to boost other things [either WH, HS or protections]. Pair with an SMG.Originally Posted by Sircowdog1 Go to original post
I used a Level 30 Negotiator's Build with Diamondback to breeze through the first 6 levels of WONY. Granted, I don't use it much anymore, but that's because I fell in love with EB+PfE.