Scout: Special Bolt Choice?

[Iluszachane]

I'm hoping a few experienced Scouts can chime in and share their favorite special bolt selection for the Boltshark, and why/how you use it. I usually take phero, but lately the explosive chemical bolt has been fun. It's far more simple and versatile than I thought when it first came out, and I've managed to find a few great uses for it. Example: apply 1 or more to the small group crowded around the downed teammate you're trying to revive. There's obvious synergy with pheromone grenades as well, as you can tag a handful of grunts and let the first explosion chain into the rest.

Looking for some seasoned opinions and fun anecdotal use-cases. If you can sell me on Taser bolts, please do so.

[kit]

I've seen Taser Bolts used effectively against dreads.
Phero is godlike in haz5, when you tag a praetorian or oppressor you practically clear a wave.

[tv]

Taser bolts turn large foes into dead paperweights. Stops bulks from destroying terrain in important locations. Nemesis, no more. Keep praetorians from ever getting close to defense zones or blocking tunnels.

I prefer Cryo bolt above all else, intercepting and freezing nuisance enemies into a burst kill with gk2 has become my mainstay. I use them with Tasers and make sure no large enemy ever gets the drop on the team.

I don't care for fire bolts, too hard to apply practically without pheromones or team mates butting in. Chem/ poison bolt needs a buff badly. Too little ammo, and the effect doesn't spread, also too hard to setup without using pheromones.

[Sokaku]

Originally posted by kit:

I've seen Taser Bolts used effectively against dreads.
Phero is godlike in haz5, when you tag a praetorian or oppressor you practically clear a wave.

This sums it up. On elimination, Tasers slow dreads consistently, also great on Detonators or any HVT with either BoM or ASIE on GK2 or anything set for weakpoint or Elec status boost to damage. 2 bolts will shock-lock a detonator in place for up to 20 seconds. With The Specialist that means you can lock down the Ghost on Haunted for 3 min between resupplies.

Phero is a great CC option and combines well with fire bolts.

Explosive are effective, but I find they're too tempermental. I use special bolts to distract or shick-lock enemies in place to either get pounded or ignored for a bit while I get other stuff done.

[Rayalot72]

Depends on the build.

Phero is nice for certain combos or just taking off pressure.

Explosive chemical is wave clear, but ideally you want a reliable enabler for it.

Taser is just anti-big stuff. Deals a surprisingly large amount of damage when multiple are stuck to an enemy (never do more than 3 since the beam caps at 2 stacks), while also slowing them down considerably to keep them away from teammates. Can serve as some finnicky wave clear in a pinch, but I'd only ever do so with IFGs to help make sure smaller bugs actually die.

I prefer Taser simply because it's not very difficult to get value out of compared to the other options, making it easy to slot into builds that don't otherwise want to interact with special bolts all that much. That stand-alone effect is also fairly potent for only half of the Boltshark, providing an answer to an entire target type (LSTs) on its own.

[Derpykat5]

Pheremones are without a doubt the easiest to use; just fire and forget. Chem bolts are pretty good if you know how to properly tag targets that are already under fire, but the delay on the explosion makes utilizing them in solo games pretty difficult. Likewise, Taser bolts are godly in solo just like every other puddle/electric fence style build, but significantly harder to properly utilize in a team of randoms.

[mello]

Sticking 2 Tasers on Ghost Detonators, Huuli Hoarders and other targets you don't want to move is very strong. Worked great on the Elf and Bunny seasonal events before too.

I rarely run Pheromone Bolts since I run Pheromone Canisters nowadays, so I can't comment on those.

[D-Lusional]

Taserbolts are in my opinion the best support-wise for your team. Place two of them under a dreadnought, oppressor, bulk detonator and even the haunted one and the bolts will stop them in their tracks, allowing you to move around and target their weakpoints, and stall the haunted one for a while to get distance away from it or do events stress-free. Just hope your teammates won't touch the bolts.

[Johnno]

Taser and cryo bolts, with specialist.

As others have said, two bolts into anything big and they end up nearly stationary. Glyphid dreadnought, bulks, ghost, oppressors.

For smaller stuff I usually make triangles (or just spam a larger area with a connected web) on the ground and stand on the opposite side of the approaching enemies. Just a straight line 'fence' also worse well enough.

[The man, the myth, the leg]

pheromone basically always

tazer for very specialised HVT builds. they arent that useful against groups

as for the OC primary bolts- both are good, i personally use cryo

[Chibbity]

1. Phero.

2. Phero.

3. PHERO!

[Patchy (sick)]

the ones that make your enemies explode after getting killed

[RUCKUS RELOADED]

♥♥♥♥ dude i really wish chemical bolts were better, it boggles the mind why the explosion is poison-type damage and not explosive

[TheClosetSkeleton]

I personally suck with taser bolts, however I love the pheromone build for 2 reason. First, it completly deletes spawn base enemies, so creature like breeders get murdered by their own spawn.

Second, it acts as a makeshift lure, allowing some breathing room in swarms, and helping with setups. It works extremely well in tandems with AOI gunners, and engis, cause they can abuse their other grenade, like the sticky one, by focusing the big pheromoned guy, and stacking explosions.

So all in all, from my limited experience, Pheromone bolts are great with decent teams, and are ok in solo, but as far as I know, if you know how to use them Tazers have greater utility.

[Derpykat5]

Originally posted by I'M GOING PSYCHO YEEEEAAAAAA:

♥♥♥♥ dude i really wish chemical bolts were better, it boggles the mind why the explosion is poison-type damage and not explosive

Poison is the superior damage type though?

[Muscles]

I like the exploding bolt, its very easy to set them off when you use the assault rifle with it and target the grunt who's most at the front. I use them with maximum special bolt capacity