Anyone got a nice build for Standard Bolt Rifle without GL?

[Gorgos]

I am trying to make this work on Lethal but I either have issue with accuracy, damage or ammo economy. Anyone got a working build that is fine for both Chaos and Nids?

[DanaramaPyjama]

Tactical use emperors vengeance.

For the bolt rifle I essentially use the top 3 perks then drop down for spread and go across the bottom. Alternatively you could just stick to the bottom for even more ammo, but that headshot damage perk on the top row is pretty required imho.

Basically as far as standard bolt rifle goes I just tried what Italian Spartacus did in his tactical build video and it worked fine for me so never changed it 🤣

[DanaramaPyjama]

Oh and use the alpha I think it is with the 9 firepower and the more ammo.

At this point you're not worrying as much with ammo now at least

[Gorgos]

Hey brother, I like where youre going with this build here.

Do you use Kraken Rounds perk of Tactical? Im torn on this one personally because Bolt Rifle already penetrates some enemies I wonder if its overkill to get one more penetration instead of 10% flat damage increase.

Also which team perk do you prefer?

The headshot perk you mentioned you think is needed; is it the one that gives 25% daamge to headshot when youre below 30% HP?

Good stuff here

[DanaramaPyjama]

Originally posted by Gorgos:

Hey brother, I like where youre going with this build here.

Do you use Kraken Rounds perk of Tactical? Im torn on this one personally because Bolt Rifle already penetrates some enemies I wonder if its overkill to get one more penetration instead of 10% flat damage increase.

Also which team perk do you prefer?

The headshot perk you mentioned you think is needed; is it the one that gives 25% daamge to headshot when youre below 30% HP?

Good stuff here :empirecross:

Hey dude.

So for me the first bolter perk 10% headshot damage is the one I meant really. Honestly I don't ever plan to be low health but I've got that one too, because you can't go downwards from the first perk.

As for class perks, I go

Kraken, relentless pursuit, emperor's vengeance, aligned aim (team perk) priority targeting, precise calibration, expert timing and marked for death.

I've tried the other team perks. The recoil reduction personally I can't even feel it. And as for contested health? Id just rather the 5% damage tbh.

So for standard bolt rifle I've gone top 3 perks then down. But heavy bolt rifle I've just stuck to the bottom row. It already has more ammo by default so thought might as well min max that bad boy

[HHH]

If you're gonna use the plain bolt gun, you might as well just use the heavy bolt rifle. It's very similar but, in my opinion, much comfier to use. if I remember correctly, the heavy bolt rifle also gets perpetual penetration and the regular bolt rifle does not. In either case, I go with the following build:

Kraken Penetrator Rounds: The difference this makes in trash clearing potential is extremely noticeable and way more worth it than a flat damage boost. All trash goes down in one headshot, so you can take out multiple enemies with a single shot if they line up correctly.

Relentless Pursuit: Synergizes well with Battle Focus and allows you to put majoris enemies into execution at point blank with headshots after a gun strike. You can also butter yourself up with a quick minoris gun strike in most situations.

Emperor's Vengeance: Nice QoL boost that ensures you have at least 1 mag to work with for any encounter.

Transhuman Physiology: The difference this makes is worth it over a tiny 5% damage boost, in my opinion. It's also extremely good if there's a Bulwark on the team with the perk that makes contested health fade more slowly.

Vital Data/Priority Targeting: VD is nice for the zoanthrope and neurothrope spam, but Priority Targeting is also situationally great. You might miss being able to mark trash so they get deleted even quicker; you will notice the difference from marking a huge horde and hitting them with kraken rounds since landing perfect headshots on everything all the time isn't realistic.

Battle Focus: Core to any Tactical in my opinion. You will get a ton of mileage out of this with Priority Targeting and defensive play, but it's still good for taking out majoris in your face quickly.

Close Targeting: This perk tier is a bit of a wash. The other two perks will affect your auspex scan negatively in different ways, so it's up to you if you really want to put up with their downsides. I don't.

Signal Jammer: Preferred over the other two because it's not on a fixed cooldown and isn't situational. It will always be doing its job.

Take the bolt gun perks that increase headshot damage and ammo reserve.

I'd take the gun variant with the best accuracy over the ones with bigger ammo reserves. The game plan is to go for headshots but don't bother wasting shots on trash unless it's a nicely sized horde. Switch to your bolt pistol. If you engage every clump of trash you see with the bolt gun, you will probably run out of ammo quickly.

Bait majoris into gun strikes and take them out that way if it's safe. It's more efficient. If that isn't realistic, shoot in controlled bursts at their head. The bolt gun drops in accuracy with sustained fire so it's important to remember to not go overboard.

A good way to approach any clump of mixed enemies is to take out as many possible with just one mag and hover at near-empty, then engage the most convenient majoris enemy you see. Execute them and you'll gain your spent magazine back.

Besides that, you're always going to be fighting slightly uphill with the plain bolt gun. It's not as monstrous as the grenade launcher, melta or even the plasma incinerator. You will need a lot of finesse and good aim to make it work. Good luck.

[Roan Shiran]

I wonder if Krakens are worth it. They are many classes and weapons that specialize in minoris clearing and I dont know if its good choice to compete with them in that field.

[DanaramaPyjama]

Originally posted by Roan Shiran:

I wonder if Krakens are worth it. They are many classes and weapons that specialize in minoris clearing and I dont know if its good choice to compete with them in that field.

It's really difficult to quantify if it's any good tbf.

But if I'm swamped, quick gun strike (get my 25% damage boost for 5 seconds) and some Kraken hip fire....

[Gorgos]

Originally posted by HHH:

If you're gonna use the plain bolt gun, you might as well just use the heavy bolt rifle. It's very similar but, in my opinion, much comfier to use. if I remember correctly, the heavy bolt rifle also gets perpetual penetration and the regular bolt rifle does not. In either case, I go with the following build:

Kraken Penetrator Rounds: The difference this makes in trash clearing potential is extremely noticeable and way more worth it than a flat damage boost. All trash goes down in one headshot, so you can take out multiple enemies with a single shot if they line up correctly.

Relentless Pursuit: Synergizes well with Battle Focus and allows you to put majoris enemies into execution at point blank with headshots after a gun strike. You can also butter yourself up with a quick minoris gun strike in most situations.

Emperor's Vengeance: Nice QoL boost that ensures you have at least 1 mag to work with for any encounter.

Transhuman Physiology: The difference this makes is worth it over a tiny 5% damage boost, in my opinion. It's also extremely good if there's a Bulwark on the team with the perk that makes contested health fade more slowly.

Vital Data/Priority Targeting: VD is nice for the zoanthrope and neurothrope spam, but Priority Targeting is also situationally great. You might miss being able to mark trash so they get deleted even quicker; you will notice the difference from marking a huge horde and hitting them with kraken rounds since landing perfect headshots on everything all the time isn't realistic.

Battle Focus: Core to any Tactical in my opinion. You will get a ton of mileage out of this with Priority Targeting and defensive play, but it's still good for taking out majoris in your face quickly.

Close Targeting: This perk tier is a bit of a wash. The other two perks will affect your auspex scan negatively in different ways, so it's up to you if you really want to put up with their downsides. I don't.

Signal Jammer: Preferred over the other two because it's not on a fixed cooldown and isn't situational. It will always be doing its job.

Take the bolt gun perks that increase headshot damage and ammo reserve.

I'd take the gun variant with the best accuracy over the ones with bigger ammo reserves. The game plan is to go for headshots but don't bother wasting shots on trash unless it's a nicely sized horde. Switch to your bolt pistol. If you engage every clump of trash you see with the bolt gun, you will probably run out of ammo quickly.

Bait majoris into gun strikes and take them out that way if it's safe. It's more efficient. If that isn't realistic, shoot in controlled bursts at their head. The bolt gun drops in accuracy with sustained fire so it's important to remember to not go overboard.

A good way to approach any clump of mixed enemies is to take out as many possible with just one mag and hover at near-empty, then engage the most convenient majoris enemy you see. Execute them and you'll gain your spent magazine back.

Besides that, you're always going to be fighting slightly uphill with the plain bolt gun. It's not as monstrous as the grenade launcher, melta or even the plasma incinerator. You will need a lot of finesse and good aim to make it work. Good luck.

Im torn between your build and full ammo perk line xD Gonna try both your approach and Danarama's.

[DanaramaPyjama]

Originally posted by HHH:

Close Targeting: This perk tier is a bit of a wash. The other two perks will affect your auspex scan negatively in different ways, so it's up to you if you really want to put up with their downsides. I don't.

If you take expert timing instead of close targeting, you do 100% more damage on scanned enemies. If you team it with priority targeting, your auspex lasts 12 seconds which is 4 seconds longer than base.

I wouldn't recommend taking it without priority targeting as then it would only be 4 seconds. But 12 seconds, double damage? Yes please

[HHH]

Originally posted by DanaramaPyjama:

Originally posted by HHH:

Close Targeting: This perk tier is a bit of a wash. The other two perks will affect your auspex scan negatively in different ways, so it's up to you if you really want to put up with their downsides. I don't.

If you take expert timing instead of close targeting, you do 100% more damage on scanned enemies. If you team it with priority targeting, your auspex lasts 12 seconds which is 4 seconds longer than base.

I wouldn't recommend taking it without priority targeting as then it would only be 4 seconds. But 12 seconds, double damage? Yes please

It's very attractive when paired way, yeah. On tyranids, you can abuse synapse backlashes and it works out fine, but on chaos you will feel the burn a little against tzaangor swarms (but to be honest, those are a pain in the butt no matter what). I think it's good that tacticals are blessed with actual options for some perk tiers as opposed to other classes where they have flat out useless perks.

[DanaramaPyjama]

Originally posted by HHH:

Originally posted by DanaramaPyjama:

If you take expert timing instead of close targeting, you do 100% more damage on scanned enemies. If you team it with priority targeting, your auspex lasts 12 seconds which is 4 seconds longer than base.

I wouldn't recommend taking it without priority targeting as then it would only be 4 seconds. But 12 seconds, double damage? Yes please

It's very attractive when paired way, yeah. On tyranids, you can abuse synapse backlashes and it works out fine, but on chaos you will feel the burn a little against tzaangor swarms (but to be honest, those are a pain in the butt no matter what). I think it's good that tacticals are blessed with actual options for some perk tiers as opposed to other classes where they have flat out useless perks.

100% the most fleshed out perk set.

[DanaramaPyjama]

For minoris enemies, I use my chainsword double stomp perk a lot