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PW combat tactics


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There is no walk through, but the two most basic PW tactics is:

1.stay stationary and use your skills to inflict as much damage as possible as fast as possible, while taking as little as possible, that's what combat trance is all about, and knowing the right optimal time to apply shield sap (before the mob runs out of shield to draw off) getting resistance items plays a large role as well (especially like ivory ward) and staying upgraded on shields.

2.kite, keeping mobs at edge of your dmg envelope using grav link and burden type devices or shut down devices like shatter to disrupt their reactor charge to minimize their dmg output to you, and knowing when to allow them in your envelope to sap them or not.

 

PW are anything but "point and shooters" there are all kinds of niceties to their skill set, and since they can't cloak as jenny or kite as well as terrans, they tend to have a edge of your seat experience in combat more so than the others, if you get in over your head with a mob, they have far less escape tactics than the others and will pay accordingly. Don't forget hull damage control for a PW, while they don't have the escape tactics others have, that's their "gut it through" skill, allowing them to sock up more damage than others do (praying you kill the mobs before they finish you off :))

 

You will find that grav link is underrated by many, but especially at tier 5 its going to be your best friend when paired with shield sap. L5 gravlink has a unmentioned debuff, it debuffs the mobs to impact and explosive dmg, thus increasing your dmg output when using that ammo type. If you should be so luck as to loot a taniwa device (active impact/explosive debuff) it does stack with grav link, or if you have a other player with a debuffer that really helps.

Edited by Mattsacre
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Thank you Matt,

Nice, Shield Sap timing is, for me liken to Psionic Shield and Energy Leech, AS FAR As the timing go's, But totally different functions.

I still wish we could see the NPC reactor levels

 

Gravity Link has a different meaning for me now.

Gravity Link, My understanding before was only to stop the NPC from running away out of the PW's range BUT..

It also has the benefit of keeping the NPC at a Managable distance while Kiting and out of their Weapons range. You know those Progen engines. :)

 

The fact that L7 gravity Link has the Impact and Explosive debuff explains why PW's want Terran's mixed with Progens. Now I see why the Jenquai are under-utilized and The psychology behind it.

 

Like A Jenquai I'll want someone in my group that will help me destroy the NPC that I have or that they have

that can Debuff that NPC.

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if you feel jenquia re underutilized you may be mistaken, progen after L3 PL have access to 4 dmg types (chem,plasma,impact,explosive), there is only 1 PL in the game that has energy dmg. So if they want the mob to be debuffed for chem they have a line of debuffers for that, but with the exception of looted only items and grav link (note PP don't get GL) they are dependant on other player classes, the best plasma debuffers are jenquia items. If a terran/progen wants to max their plasma dmg, they are going to need a  jenny along. The blacksun pirate debuffers that are race/class restricted are that way for that reason, they make one class dependant on another to gain access to the best debuff of the type of dmg they specialize in.

 

Jenquia's that want plasma dmg to pair with their plasma debuffers ...ever notice all most all the plasma beams are Getco ? There are very few plasma beams that are a perfect fit for a jenquia, all of their perfect fit beams are energy based, so they are dependant on other classes to get energy debuff (traders are an exception, there are energy debuffers that JS can get, like TS can get to explosive debuffers)

 

Sleven, read what I said, I said TIER 5, for a PW that's 7 dots. PW GL is a 7 tier skill, PS its a 5 tier skill. At the 5th tier GL debuffs for impact/explosive, the devices always are functional at any level you can access them. GL at L5 kicks in with it's debuff, they are different buffs, thus they stack. One is skill based, one is active. Like plasma resist equip and active are different buffs but stack to get you +20(+30)= +50 resist.

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Thank you Matt.  Now I know how NOT to play my PW the same way I play my TE.

 

The problem I see with PW is their 3 device slots.  It will be hard to equip a debuffer, a damage resistance and a shatter device.

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Can't remember what the actual debuff was , someone that's numbers cruncher or access to the code will have to tell you that, but GL5 is comparable  to a L5 device, paired with a taniwa (L5 loot device) that stacked, you got around in debuff what a L9 was for other debuff devices..somewere in the 55-60% range like a basilisk L9 or a chimera L9.

 

As to the effects other than debuff impact/explosive, yes it's a effective tool, especially while kiting or mob crowd control, now that it actually does agro when you hit it, it is also a decent pulling method. It debuffs mob for maneuverability while slowing their thrust as well, so a terran loves it becuase they dodge missles less, they do more dmg with explosive missles, can kite more effectively when its a fast mob, as a jenquia they also should like it, the number one tactic of a jenny is cloak and get behind a mob, and shove some plasma/energy up the mobs tailpipe, while it don't increase energy/plasma, it does widen the window of engagement for a jenny, the mob being less maneuverable take much longer to turn around and return fire to jenquia if they should  gain agro from the progen.

 

Yeh the 3 device slot is the burden for a PW, as many active buffs as you can get you do before wading into combat. You almost always want a ivory ward when you actually fight, as well as something that buffs combat trance. good thing sting and other items are activated buffs you buff up and switch devices, having something that increases engineering helps in speeding up this process, it cuts down in the online time for equipping items.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hull is like another type of shield, it is resistant to certain types of dmg and weak to other (namely chem), so that may throw of what you are seeing. But the way it is "supposed" to work is it reduces the dmg you take per shot +/- any inherent resistance. Unless they changed how it "actually" works, it in reality acts as a hidden reserve of hull HP that is subtracted from in parallel with you showing hull.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Seems like max grav link and Shield sap is the way to og then? With max on projectile, passive skills, build weapons, Shields and reactors, this leaves you With 0 Sp's left at lvl 150 if you reduce engines and devices to lvl 7. Would this be a decent point distribution? 

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