LOK-1 ammo efficient builds

[Raven]

I love the LOK-1 but I don't enjoy running out of ammo every 5 seconds, are there any more ammo efficient builds for it?

[Chibbity]

There are some that are more-so than others, but it's tight on ammo regardless; that said it's basically 100% accurate which makes up for it.

I'm a fan of Neurolasso OC, since it's basically a clean in disguise; and you don't have to give up ammo like some of the other popular OC's.

Blowthrough mod will give you 3 potential penetrations, which will help with ammo economy if you can make good use of it.

[Frisky]

blowthrough + executioner will help minimize bullets needed to kill targets, which saves you lots of ammo in the long run so long as you manage hitting weakspots
obviously take ammo in the first part of the upgrade tree

[thebadman]

3A+5A for bullying specific targets and then melthing them with synergy shard, if you have ECR overclock it will be best generalist build.

If you do not have that OC and want lok to be better at swarmclear then take 3C blowthrough and deal up to 400% with your shots across 4 bugs, your platform gun can repel bugs making blowthrough value easy get, especially if you defend swarm phase in tunnel as most spawns will be coming from cave making them predictable on top of having low platform requirements.

[Archmage MC]

Blowthrough + Executioner if you want the highest damage possible. Otherwise the one where it'll ignore walls but have lower fire rate. Those will always hit.

[SCamp]

21x11 - Explosive Chemical Rounds

Small window recommended in order to quickly get locks on a single target. If you want to be ammo efficient, you only fire if you can get 3 locks on a single target. Use either blowthrough or Electro-Chemical Rounds. (You might consider not using Tier 4 Shutter Speed Sensor if you have trouble getting the timing down.)

x1312 - Executioner

You mostly have to be picking locks at the back of the pack, or shooting into dense groups to get pierces with this. Not hard. Small window recommended, but not required. Ammo and Damage in the first tier are both good.

xx111/xx112 - Seeker Rounds

Pick ammo or damage, I prefer damage. Pick any sized window you want, I usually use Zoom Lens. I normally use xx111 as a combo weapon with my secondary and xx112 on elimination missions. (Blowthrough partially works, but you cannot hit enemies along the bullet line; you can only pierce enemies after the primary target has been hit. So it's not recommended.) I highly recommend building damage because you can't miss, even against armor (you still should be aiming for weakpoints).

Armor Break Module

ABM can be used to substitute for Seeker Rounds or Executioner. There really isn't much to say about it, as it's a clean. Just remember to full-lock all the time with it.

===

General Build Notes...

Tier 3 SMRT mod is a trap. Don't bother with it. It spreads your damage around and interferes with certain lock mechanics by sometimes not making you meet required thresholds (can't 3-lock injured enemies for ECR/ExCR, can't max-lock single enemies for Executioner/ABM).

Note that xx112 build can be used for maximum damage Executioner builds, but it requires someone else to be electrocuting enemies for you.

Tier 1 Ammo vs Damage - This is mostly usage preference. I'm leaning heavily into damage after using Lok1 for a while. The only use case where ammo is forced would be with Explosive Chemical Rounds where you completely give up direct damage and instead need more ammo for spamming explosions.

Ammo saving in general:

You should be aiming at weakpoints with the bullet line. Always. Even with Seeker Rounds.

Blowthrough rounds require either enemies to be bunched up, you locking onto enemies in the rear and/or creative aiming, curving your aim to hit enemies from weird angles. You usually want to pick a small window so you can control where your shots will be going.

Being able to combo your primary and secondary weapons will save you a ton of ammo against larger targets (praetorians and prespawns mostly; oppressors can suck an ebonut). Tier 3 Electro-Chemical Rounds and Tier 5 Electric Generator mod paired with Shard Diffractor (built for heat+Hydrogen Rupturing) or Beach Cutter (Inferno OC).

Even if you don't build Lok1 for comboing, use your secondary, turrets and grenades to kill things. If you're running out of ammo with Lok1, you're probably not using the rest of your kit that is tailor made for eliminating hordes of trash so you can use your primary for high value targets.

[DJDiceZ]

Chemical Rounds used with utmost efficiency is very economic. Arguably the highest total damage build on LOK1, with the only potential contender being an Executioner build that would require a lot more effort to use at full potential. It's the one OC where i don't feel like i have any ammo struggle with the LOK1. But "utmost efficiency" is not always how you want to use it.

Ideally you'd build for the Explosive Chemical Rounds OC:

- Max Ammo. On other builds you'd prefer the damage, but on this one Max Ammo is an absolute must. I hope i don't have to explain the thought process. It's superior in almost every way mathematically and practically.

- Macro Lens. This one is so good on the base gun already, but with Exp Rounds, it allows you to actually put the 3 locks on the targets you want, and spread them out properly so that you can trigger explosion on many enemies at once. The insane range macro lens provides is almost reason alone to take it. Locks still stay tethered at a pretty wide angle, it gives you more control, and doesn't struggle any more at picking up enemies. So instead of having 1 lock on 15 targets, you have 3 locks on 5 targets.

- Electrochemical Rounds. Complementary with the tier 5 upgrades, it allows you to burst down bigger targets with repeated 3 shot bursts, giving you much more dps and damage/ammo economy. Smart targeting is a QoL upgrade (that still has a few downsides but if you enjoy it all power to you, as with all other mods), and penetration actually causes some issues with triggering the explosion.

"The explosion won't occur if the final shot killed the enemy and the Super Blowthrough Rounds mod is equipped. " - DRG Wiki

- Aperture Extension. The lock speed doesn't make a huge difference on this build though it's understandable if it is your preference, but you gotta keep in mind that more locks means you're less likely to aim at a swarm and fail to get 3 locks on a target, and even multiple ones with ease. Especially with Macro Lens. In theory lock speed means slightly higher DPS though. But more locks has worked far better in my experience.

- Electric Generator Mod. The other mods require full lock to work, which is very much the opposite of what you're trying to achieve outside of trying to cause multiple explosions on a big swarm: Do small bursts of 3 rounds. Electric Generator Mod will allow you to explode AND electrocute enemies, enhancing the damage you deal with subsequent shots (meaning you require less ammo), disrupting the enemy, and dealing a bit more damage from the status.

This means that if you wanted to use the least ammo possible to kill enemies, you'd either try to get a triple lock in a bug that is at the center of a group to damage and kill all the enemies around which works splendidly with small enemies, or you'd triple shot a high health target to trigger the explosion, wait out for the shock damage to wear it down, then shoot again right before the debuff ends to benefit from the bonus damage. This would allow you to kill a praetorian for example, with the least ammo possible. Obviously always aim for the weakspot if you can and it doesn't expose you to too much danger. You might need to get close to hit certain awkward weakspots like wardens (you can hit them from far away, it's just that it requires a more specific angle).

But sometimes you want to kill enemies fast and that's fine, you still get a lot out of chaining 3 shot bursts on enemies.

The explosion will happen earlier if the enemy dies, meaning that you can cause an explosion in a single bullet with a group of swarmers, killing them all in a single bullet. This is also true of medium targets like grunts when hitting their weakspot, you may be able to kill them in less than 3 shots and still get an explosion off of them, and both of those can save a lot of ammo.

So on top of being powerful, ECR has solid ammo economy. The OC is definitely strong, but it is mostly offset by the fact that it's not always easy to use it as well as you could. Blowthrough Executioner is incredibly strong on paper, killing many enemies in 1~2 shots, but lining up the bugs and the weakspot can prove to be quite tough. Fun but tough.

[Torres, The Devourer]

I know this isn't a lok-1 build, speccing your secondary for max ammo is also especially useful. I recommend a max ammo breech cutter, but a max ammo shard and PGL should do the trick as well.

[Landor]

I find the reduced rate of fire with Seeker Rounds to be a blessing in disguise for ammo consumption, it helps reign in the tendency to just dump ammo clearing a few swarms because "haha robo gun go brrr".

[Raven]

Originally posted by SCamp:

21x11 - Explosive Chemical Rounds

Small window recommended in order to quickly get locks on a single target. If you want to be ammo efficient, you only fire if you can get 3 locks on a single target. Use either blowthrough or Electro-Chemical Rounds. (You might consider not using Tier 4 Shutter Speed Sensor if you have trouble getting the timing down.)

x1312 - Executioner

You mostly have to be picking locks at the back of the pack, or shooting into dense groups to get pierces with this. Not hard. Small window recommended, but not required. Ammo and Damage in the first tier are both good.

xx111/xx112 - Seeker Rounds

Pick ammo or damage, I prefer damage. Pick any sized window you want, I usually use Zoom Lens. I normally use xx111 as a combo weapon with my secondary and xx112 on elimination missions. (Blowthrough partially works, but you cannot hit enemies along the bullet line; you can only pierce enemies after the primary target has been hit. So it's not recommended.) I highly recommend building damage because you can't miss, even against armor (you still should be aiming for weakpoints).

Armor Break Module

ABM can be used to substitute for Seeker Rounds or Executioner. There really isn't much to say about it, as it's a clean. Just remember to full-lock all the time with it.

===

General Build Notes...

Tier 3 SMRT mod is a trap. Don't bother with it. It spreads your damage around and interferes with certain lock mechanics by sometimes not making you meet required thresholds (can't 3-lock injured enemies for ECR/ExCR, can't max-lock single enemies for Executioner/ABM).

Note that xx112 build can be used for maximum damage Executioner builds, but it requires someone else to be electrocuting enemies for you.

Tier 1 Ammo vs Damage - This is mostly usage preference. I'm leaning heavily into damage after using Lok1 for a while. The only use case where ammo is forced would be with Explosive Chemical Rounds where you completely give up direct damage and instead need more ammo for spamming explosions.

Ammo saving in general:

You should be aiming at weakpoints with the bullet line. Always. Even with Seeker Rounds.

Blowthrough rounds require either enemies to be bunched up, you locking onto enemies in the rear and/or creative aiming, curving your aim to hit enemies from weird angles. You usually want to pick a small window so you can control where your shots will be going.

Being able to combo your primary and secondary weapons will save you a ton of ammo against larger targets (praetorians and prespawns mostly; oppressors can suck an ebonut). Tier 3 Electro-Chemical Rounds and Tier 5 Electric Generator mod paired with Shard Diffractor (built for heat+Hydrogen Rupturing) or Beach Cutter (Inferno OC).

Even if you don't build Lok1 for comboing, use your secondary, turrets and grenades to kill things. If you're running out of ammo with Lok1, you're probably not using the rest of your kit that is tailor made for eliminating hordes of trash so you can use your primary for high value targets.

thanks, what do those "xx112" things mean, by the way

[SCamp]

Originally posted by Merendyne:

Originally posted by SCamp:

<snip>

thanks, what do those "xx112" things mean, by the way

It's a shorthand of a weapon build by tier. "x" means you can pick anything in that slot.

"xx112" for Lok1 would be...

x -> pick damage (1) or ammo (2)
x -> pick any lens mod on this tier; narrow (1), wide (2), zoom (3)
1 -> pick Electro-Chemical Rounds
1 -> pick faster lock speed
2 -> pick 20% damage on full locks

Other users prefer using ABC for shorthand; so "xx112" would be "xxAAB".

If you don't know about it yet, here's a community website for builds: https://karl.gg/build