Tactical, in particular, feels EXTRA weak.

[John Boltgun]

Among some more broad non-class specific issues which I have outlined below, I feel EXTRA squishy and helpless as a Tactical. Not sure what the deal is, maybe it's just me. By the time I was level 10 with Vanguard, Heavy, Sniper and Bulwark I was more than capable of doing Ruthless runs without feeling over my head. Now with a 12 Tactical I am struggling hard on Substantial difficulty.

Perfect Parries really ought to at the very least interrupt other little jobber bugs from their attacks.

Getting caught in a Perfect Parry cycle while surrounded gets you killed. Melee spamming while surrounded gets you killed. Trying to weave the two together is best but still gets you killed.

You get like 5% of your contested HP back per hit so there's no incentive unless you have a Melta, which is a bug so that won't last, which sucks because the Bolters feel like spit guns. And Grenades don't restore any Contested HP which is wacky, so those aren't an option.

At what point does Tactical feel good to play when NOT using the Melta, Incinerator Rifle, or Underbarrel Grenade Launcher-equipped Bolt Rifle? Which weapons don't feel like you're roleplaying a Wiccan tumblr hex-for-hire at the tyranids? I am losing my mind, the class has so many weapon options and unless I want to cosplay a mini-heavy with the Melta I'm getting eviscerated. Feels like stubbing my toe mid-mission is a death sentence.

[Captain Worthy]

Meltaguns have a bug that make them overheal contested health, when that goes away it will still be the best gun type for regaining contested health. The bug is about healing back even more than the white bar shows.

When fixed, it'll still hit the largest number of enemies in the shortest amount of time while doing more damage than anything else, thus giving you more health back than anything except maybe a lucky execution.

If you feel you die easily when you get surrounded, then I guess you need to learn how to avoid that situation. Dodge rolls and frag grenades help a lot with that.

[$unwish]

the ♥♥♥♥? 275% increased damage for the whole team against extremis+ enemies feels weak? the best boss killer class. no? Considering you can use melta it makes it the best class for ops probably, or at least very close to it.
Well if you don't want to use those other weapons it is not a class problem but a weapon balance problem.

[John Boltgun]

Originally posted by Captain Worthy:

Meltaguns have a bug that make them overheal contested health, when that goes away it will still be the best gun type for regaining contested health. The bug is about healing back even more than the white bar shows.

When fixed, it'll still hit the largest number of enemies in the shortest amount of time while doing more damage than anything else, thus giving you more health back than anything except maybe a lucky execution.

If you feel you die easily when you get surrounded, then I guess you need to learn how to avoid that situation. Dodge rolls and frag grenades help a lot with that.

Yeah I should elaborate better: Meltas damage is not a bug, I know. If I do not want to use the Melta, there is little I can do about getting surrounded, however, because Bolters can't hardly kill one little gaunt with a huge percentage of one magazine, let alone a whole swarm.
Dodge spamming gets you killed too, because they have those little leap attacks (not the one with the blue warning) and so you can't space off from them without some offensive AoE ability reliably. I honestly only feel useful when using the Melta and I hate it, I want to use Bolters too.

[John Boltgun]

Originally posted by $unwish:

the ♥♥♥♥? 275% increased damage for the whole team against extremis+ enemies feels weak? the best boss killer class. no? Considering you can use melta it makes it the best class for ops probably, or at least very close to it.
Well if you don't want to use those other weapons it is not a class problem but a weapon balance problem.

My tactical is level 12 so far, I don't have the 275% yet. Also that is not up 100% of the time and it seems wasteful to use it on lil gaunt swarms. I also should clarify- I am struggling when /not/ using the Melta. Bolters are awful and cannot clean swarms at all.

[Akrythael]

That's actually one of the best classes. Try the plasma gun for example, it's really good too.

[Ahriman]

Originally posted by I Am Alpharius:

At what point does Tactical feel good to play when NOT using the Melta, Incinerator Rifle, or Underbarrel Grenade Launcher-equipped Bolt Rifle? Which weapons don't feel like you're roleplaying a Wiccan tumblr hex-for-hire at the tyranids? I am losing my mind, the class has so many weapon options and unless I want to cosplay a mini-heavy with the Melta I'm getting eviscerated. Feels like stubbing my toe mid-mission is a death sentence.

110% down to your aiming skills if those aren't the weapons you want to use. I ran mine with Stalker and Heavy Bolt Rilfe all the way to max before I thought to grind the Grenade Launcher, and just recently started getting the Plasma up for some variety. With Stalker and Auspex, even before you get the stacks upon stacks of damage modifiers, you can wipe out Rubrics and Warriors like no tomorrow, while the Heavy Bolt Rifle will be able to deal with both Gaunts and Tzaangors in short order if you can rapid aim headshots back to back.

So in other words, the Tactical feels good from the get-go if you can aim well, that's about it. You kinda have to remember that the Tactical is quite literally meant to be the Jack-of-All-Trades of the classes. You are not going to be gunning as well as the Heavy, or meleeing as great as the Vanguard, or sniping as great as the Sniper, but you have the flexibility of your toolkit combined with the best team damage buff in the game.