new shotgun on vet is absolutely busted

[cith]

and it's incredibly fun to run. weapon specialist with the +ammo on melee kill. use the shotgun either as a stagger tool or a finisher, never double barrel only single barrel shots. take survivalist and you never have to reload and have a blast chopping it up with melee / ranged combo. extra fun with combat knife.

[Grumpy Sunshine]

Why would I use that build when I can just play Zealout though, y'know, the class that was designed specifically around that play style?

[Haggis]

Originally posted by Grumpy Sunshine:

Why would I use that build when I can just play Zealout though, y'know, the class that was designed specifically around that play style?

I prefer the Veteran for it. You can have much more toughness with much more toughness damage resistance and better ways to regenerate toughness (vet stealth is not only longer but also gives 100% toughness back; veteran shout restores toughness and gives an extra +50; that +50 above 100% means you nullify even melee attacks completely, and the Veteran can easily fit in Iron Will which grants +50% toughness damage negation while above 75% toughness, which is easy to keep up with the two career abilities, plus you can restore an extra 20% toughness when you swap weapons with On Your Toes).

Sure, the Zealot gets slide immunity, cannot be stunned in melee, and can survive getting dropped to 0hp; but I regularly take a significant amount of chip damage as the Zealot, and there's always the danger of being unloaded on by 5+ ranged enemies which will destroy ALL of your toughness and half or more of your HP; while the Veteran would still be at 70% toughness (or higher) after getting caught out in the same position.

Not having to reload your guns is also amazing. A quick tip is to get 1 melee kill, swap to restore 1 ammo, and then swap back and get another 1 stack from a kill, and then swap back again to load it in; so you can restore 2 bullets in the shotgun (or bolt pistol or revolver) in 2 melee attacks. Usually you get 3.3% ammo per melee kill stack, which stacks 10 times, so after 10 kills you would restore 33% of your clip, which in a clip of 5 would only give you 2 rounds; so you get the same for just getting the bonus from a single stack and getting it twice in a row as you would if you killed 10 enemies. So keep swapping weapons after kills if you have the ability to do so. It also triggers a bunch of other bonuses for you if you build right.

[cith]

Originally posted by Haggis:

Not having to reload your guns is also amazing. A quick tip is to get 1 melee kill, swap to restore 1 ammo, and then swap back and get another 1 stack from a kill, and then swap back again to load it in; so you can restore 2 bullets in the shotgun (or bolt pistol or revolver) in 2 melee attacks. Usually you get 3.3% ammo per melee kill stack, which stacks 10 times, so after 10 kills you would restore 33% of your clip, which in a clip of 5 would only give you 2 rounds; so you get the same for just getting the bonus from a single stack and getting it twice in a row as you would if you killed 10 enemies. So keep swapping weapons after kills if you have the ability to do so. It also triggers a bunch of other bonuses for you if you build right.

yoo nice tip. Thanks!

[The Gunsmith]

Originally posted by Haggis:

Originally posted by Grumpy Sunshine:

Why would I use that build when I can just play Zealout though, y'know, the class that was designed specifically around that play style?

Not having to reload your guns is also amazing. A quick tip is to get 1 melee kill, swap to restore 1 ammo, and then swap back and get another 1 stack from a kill, and then swap back again to load it in; so you can restore 2 bullets in the shotgun (or bolt pistol or revolver) in 2 melee attacks. Usually you get 3.3% ammo per melee kill stack, which stacks 10 times, so after 10 kills you would restore 33% of your clip, which in a clip of 5 would only give you 2 rounds; so you get the same for just getting the bonus from a single stack and getting it twice in a row as you would if you killed 10 enemies. So keep swapping weapons after kills if you have the ability to do so. It also triggers a bunch of other bonuses for you if you build right.

ahh so it'll "round" to the nearest "round" if you follow and is more efficient at the low end, i could feel this happening but couldn't explain it ty for putting into words.... and improving my technique >:)