Bounty Hunter: Smiter or Assassin?

[tools guy-kun]

I've done some googling and reread each description numerous times, and I still don't know or come to a solid conclusion as to what would be the better option for the most damage output/stagger effectiveness. Can someone help me out here?

[Zidious G]

Ye I don't really get those new ones either. But with BH I always play ranged as much as possible and only use melee when I have to so I use enhanced power.

[Scout]

Originally posted by Punk Buster:

I've done some googling and reread each description numerous times, and I still don't know or come to a solid conclusion as to what would be the better option for the most damage output/stagger effectiveness. Can someone help me out here?

Unless you play cata+ always use +raw power on ranged characters.

[Combine00]

assassin increases headshot/crit damage, smiter increases damage on the first enemy you hit. both only affect melee, smiter makes single target weapons a lot stronger and assassin makes an melee weapon strong. with bh though i like enhanced power since i try to focus moreso on range and itll increase ult damage
check this guide for more details
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1816101198

[Zhou Yu]

Basically you should use Assassin if your good at hitting headshots with cleaving weapons, or just go with enhanced power.

[Alistair MacBain]

Originally posted by ???:

Unless you play cata+ always use +raw power on ranged characters.

If you dont hit a ranged breakpoint then enhanced power is pretty irrelevant for your ranged weapon.

[Deja Vu]

All: Targets that are staggered take either 20% or 40% more damage from melee weapons, depending on how heavily stunned they are.

Smiter: The first target hit always counts as staggered (20%). Good for bosses that aren't staggered often.
Mainstay: Deal 20% more damage to staggered targets, stacks with default bonus. (40% and 60%)
Assassin: Critical hits and headshots always treat the target as fully staggered (40%)
Enhanced Power: Deal 7% more damage to all targets at all times. This is applied before the baseline stagger buff so it comes out to something like 30% / 50% at all times. It's also the only one that affects ranged weapons.
Bulwark: Places a debuff on targets you stagger that makes them receive 10% more damage.

Basically Smiter for bosses, Mainstay for hordes, Assassin if you are using a headshot or crit heavy weapon (like rapier, or most kerillian weapons), otherwise use Enhanced Power. Bulwark is nice if you are playing a stun-bot but that's only good in premades so ignore it otherwise.

EP has slightly lower peak damage but it works on literally every target so it's usually best overall, unless you are specializing in an area or your build/weapon can benefit from Assassin.