Shoulder Weapons feel kinda not worth it?

[TakeMyLunch]

Beyond the Sniper Cannon I found every shoulder weapon has been really meh.
Am I just using them badly or something? Ammo/Recharge for them isn't a problem... just that it feels like I get just as much for less weight, if not more, from normal weapons.

The only standout on that is the Sniper Cannon I found that has effectively been a "Delete that thing over there" button and is well worth the cost thanks to the absurd range and instakilling of certain enemies if I hit their weakpoints.

Everything else feels like it's just a "Big" version of other weapons but the cost just doesn't seem worth it compared to just... having the normal version of the weapon.

[danya0122003]

I generally agree with you, but i do find one other shoulder weapon to be decent, and it's that very slow missile launcher, most of the time it insures that you hit the enemy, and deals a decent amount of damage as well, so it's pretty good.

As for other shoulder weapons, i do agree, sniper cannons are pretty good, but most other shoulder weapons don't really do much, one use i suppose is on Heavy frames, where you forsake most of your modility for overwhelming firepower, but that's about it

[Remu]

x2 BulgVolc2 is pretty good imo, it's like using x2 Songbirds in Armored Core 6

[danya0122003]

Those are pretty good too, but they're more like support weapons, rather than distinct ones, they're average in a good way

[ebolaisamongus]

Shoulder weapons are kind of like your role players to shore up the weaknesses of primary weapons. Since the BP/mana consumable is purchasable from Yoyo, higher BP consumption from secondary weapons is less of a worry.

I like the Dansleif for additional damage to kill an enemy in the case where my melee weapon takes out 80=90% of their health rather than one shotting them.

The Havr is also really good for slower bosses because it deals both Physical and Thermal damage and has aight tracking.

Gungir is good for floating enemies and has a shorter lock on time compared to primary weapons.

[Solaire of Belaire]

There are a handfull of back weapons I'd call strictly "good".

Starting with missiles, Gungnir and Trident are both decent, and fun to use because they dont have strange flight arcs and deal decent damage. The rest have weird arcs or dont deal nearly enough damage (often both) to really consider using outside of niche setups or "just cuz" reasons. Sankbloom especially. Its rapid fire, but because of how little damage it does AND its strange flight pattern, its dificult to use or enjoy. GOSM looks like it would be fun, but its submunitions kind of just fall at the feet of the enemy, making it next to useless unless youre jumping about and dropshotting it on enemies.

Rear cannon weapons fair a little better for choice. BulgVoc is a decent enough ballistic option if youre using weapons with long cooldowns, even with its weird quirk of having lower crit damage than normal damage. Gram is alright, as an unguided rocket weapon. Dainslief and Obzart both are fine, good sub weapons. LindGolm is a charging gun with almost instant shell production, so you dont have to worry about anything but its charge time, and since it has range comperable to the Beam Sniper, its a decent pick. Shame about Femt and how its split damage kind of kills its usability. And the awful spread on the back-mounted shotguns, or shotguns in general really.

Treb weapons are just not worth using. Period. Celpek is okay thanks to its range, but you cant make use of the GOGL utility while its deployed to maximize its range, which sucks. And the fact that ALL Treb weapons require a stop and deploy, while disabling your ability to do anything else, and only allow for one at a time to deply, make them not worth it.

The Sniper Cannons are arguably what the Treb guns should be. It makes no sense to me that I cant boost around with a saturation fire minigun, but I can while scoped in on a precision weapon. In the current state, Sniper Cannons are insanely powerful, and will decimate certain bosses without any issue.

[danya0122003]

Yeah, most back weapons really aren't that good, unless you go for aesthetics, and yet sniper cannons are among the most busted weapons in the game, take a look at "SSC T08A3 GAR", the damn thing's got not only massive damage, but also one of the highest ranges i've seen in the game, you can snipe across like a third, if not half of Forbidden Domain no problem.

And then there are the trebuchet cannons, i expected them to be artillery, what i got is dissapointment wrapped in a nice looking package.

Like, the variety of parts (in general, not just back weapons) is nice, but it's gotta say something about the game that my build remained mostly the same throughout it's entirety.

[Hydremajor117]

Honestly, as it is right now ?
I'd rather want passive boost items in the back slots

Like a Radar that boosts targeting stats
Boosters that improve Handling and speed
Added shields that increase Barrier value and regen

This sort of thing

[danya0122003]

That would be pretty damn good actually, so far the only passive buffs i've seen are certain utility frame parts, and even then, it's mostly immunities to one or another effect

[Laughing kookaburra]

2x shillis with 10k+ jump ability shreds

[Not a Teddy Bear]

Originally posted by Hydremajor117:

Honestly, as it is right now ?
I'd rather want passive boost items in the back slots

Like a Radar that boosts targeting stats
Boosters that improve Handling and speed
Added shields that increase Barrier value and regen

This sort of thing

So two extra utility slots lol

[Not a Teddy Bear]

Rear arms kinda aren't worth it tbh. You not only gain a bunch of weight from them but need weightier and slower frames to have them reliably. Kinda better to have the extra speed most of the time and use decent primaries. It's why melee is so broken. Don't need rear arms when you can blitz at 90 kmph with a DRK or SABI and chunk out a boss for 25% of its HP. Then a Trio or Arrowhead can kill anything you need it to at range.

[K13Cove]

You can double up on the damage you get during boss/enemy openings pretty easily with shoulder weapons, even with just one of them. Some rear weapons are more than BP efficient to be spammable throughout your progression of a zone as well.

BugVolc 2, Gungnir, GC T02 FALG — all three of them offer decent damage output for the amount of BP consumed.

[Rock]

I'm having a blast with Celpek and Halvr. I'm still on my first playthrough so there's a lot to discover, but those 2 gives me long range artillery options which have been super handy.
I'm atm using full set of Varche and it's utility is hella good. One use and you get all of your ammo energy back. Just eat a snack after that and you are good to go.

I can see if you have a lighter frame your options would be super limited and lighter frames need to be speedy because of their low defense stats, so extra weight can be really bad for them.

[Solaire of Belaire]

Originally posted by Rock:

I'm having a blast with Celpek and Halvr. I'm still on my first playthrough so there's a lot to discover, but those 2 gives me long range artillery options which have been super handy.
I'm atm using full set of Varche and it's utility is hella good. One use and you get all of your ammo energy back. Just eat a snack after that and you are good to go.

I can see if you have a lighter frame your options would be super limited and lighter frames need to be speedy because of their low defense stats, so extra weight can be really bad for them.

I think the most unfortunate thing with all trebuchet back weapons is that lock in to use, and its only one side at a time. Otherwise I'm sure a dual Celpek setup would sctually be alot of fun. Sans the inability to make use of its long range and multi lock gimicks simultaneously. DP/BP utilities are basicay required for any setup that predominantly uses range weapons, doubly so for back weapons. Varches is best on setups with more DP, but Faluracan is a good all-rounder piece

[danya0122003]

Honestly, the Varches frame took me through the entire game, with the Halvr missile launcher, the GAR sniper cannon and interchangable primaries, nothing could truly stand in my way