Lightning Scepter tips/tricks/hints/advice

[Dopey Shepard]

If anyone's unsure as to what pick with it

Melee: Katana. Best melee for it? Why? It propels you forward. LS firing slows down your movement so with Katana you can get extra speed and airtime as well as altitude (makes enemies miss more on average). Other melees will just straight up not work like Hammer/Pickaxe. They require you to get down to the ground to make a hit before bouncing you back in mid-air. By firing LS continuously you don't have that much room fro doing Hammer's animation attack but Katana? You can always cast it, no matter what. Best melee for the weapon 100%

Mods: A lot of projectiles so Elementals are a good way to go since every projectile can apply that elemental stack. Other than that, you can build your typical Best Epic Shots like Bubble/Thorn/Firework

Perks: Speed Demon/Stamina both work quite well. Stamina can help you a lot if you know how to do a certain strat - you release the firing button, do a Katana melee, or a dash, or basically both of them, get huge momentum to get away from the crowd, then keep firing. All that can be done in a single motion as in, without landing your crab

If you are running NO elementals I suggest you take Elemental Specialist perk - this one allows you to do 50% more damage to enemies affected by a single elemental. Since LS comes with Lightning Shot by default, you can't get rid of it- this is just free 50% on anyone affected by lightning. AND since lightning is AOE, meaning you can easily spread this thing around when doing Horde Islands or even fighting Elites, in either case you are easily getting your 50% damage output making E.Specialist the best damage dealer only dethroned by stuff like Damage Combo if you have the right build to keep your Combo at 5x/8x

Since your shots have limited range DO NOT build Big Shot/Fast Shot. Anything that makes you shoot further or "closer" are not that good IMO. I tried Fast Shot. Even with lvl 1 I had a hard time aiming at my targets because my shots were just too high. Big Shot reduces your already limited range so don't take it either. Because of all that do NOT build Eagle Shot or the one that gives you damage bonus to close targets unless you are doing a melee build anyway. With LS you should be keeping your distance away from enemies so that THAT specific perk doesn't trigger (forgot the name lol)

Sharp Shot is a good mod to take as it gives you 4 base damage. I'm not sure how exactly LS's damage output really works. It's just all gibberish if you try to do it with Dummy Skull, but since base damage goes up by whopping 4 it has to be the best common rarity perk if LS's base damage is 1 or 2. Don't forget a lot of that damage comes from Lightning itself so Lightning Shot level up is a must (can't remove it from the weapon, you will be stuck with it permanently)

If you feel like your shots miss quite a lot, that's because you are either:
a) not aiming with the weapon or
b) you have no Grip Tape, so build that. That way you don't even need to aim to be accurate with your shots. It may be counter-intuitive as you want big AOE but it may actually work out better than you think, by being able to hit the target that you want, like an Elite or a Boss

LS is a decent weapon, definitely not the worst, and even with reduced movement you should be able to extract a lot by doing certain perks and strats

Happy Crabbing))

p.s. if I've been able to help with anything, send me points plz, thanks in advance

[Dopey Shepard]

Oh and as I just found out, Money Shot is incredibly OP on it, which is actually not the case for other fast-firing weapons because slow-firing Arcane Wand/Rocket Launcher seem to do better with Money Shot than Fast-Firing ones

I think it's actually so OP noise has to basically nerf it sometime later

I had 3000 crystals with lvl 1 Money Shot on the first Elite island. WHAT?!

[AngryAbbot]

Publicado originalmente por Dopey Shepard:

Other melees will just straight up not work like Hammer/Pickaxe. They require you to get down to the ground to make a hit before bouncing you back in mid-air.

I just attempted a run with Pickaxe (and LS) and was landing hits without touching the ground. Try it and tell me that I'm wrong, because I might be, but it felt like I may have lost altitude but I didn't actually have legs on the ground.

BUT, man, I am STRUGGLING with the Lightning Scepter, lol. At least a dozen tries on normal and can't complete one. Been trying to go Health > $$$ > Elemental > Luck (base health > paycheck/tony's > lightning/fire > autoload) and have been getting garbage RNG.

I'll change up my usual grabs and try the Grip Tape as you suggested. I like the Monet Shot but it's only been a choice once in 12 or so runs. Feels like health and $$$ needs a boost or I need to git gud. Last major patch had same problem, turned out I needed to git gud.

I don't play beta or even look at the notes so this update was a huge surprise for me, and I got to say (even though I'm struggling with it) that I am really impressed and happy with it. The maps look so much cooler and everything is tight and tidy. Chests drop in new locations (to help the infinity chest drop mods?). This game is clearly a labor of love for the dev.

[AngryAbbot]

Just did another run with Pickaxe. Hits without landing. Maybe there's something I'm missing?

[Alpagaus]

Publicado originalmente por AngryAbbot:

Just did another run with Pickaxe. Hits without landing. Maybe there's something I'm missing?

The ground, clearly.

[Gladio]

Since i managed to diamond the staff just yesterday, i'd like to add a couple of mods and setups i've found pretty good:
- For Skill and Melee, i've found the Air Strike and the Hammer to be a pretty good pair: both give you much needed single-target damage, while the Staff is by itself a Crowd Control machine. Hammer also gives you great mobility and is great to make an escape backwards.
- Aura Shot works on your electric droplets and is a great way to rack up even more damage.
- As many have said before me, Money Shot is cracked on this thing, as is Sharp Shot just so you can kill Nests with it, as well as deal with Giant Ants marginally better.
- Global Damage is the name of the game since element now scales on it, so you can forgo weapon damage mods in favor of global damage perks and/or more elemental buffs.
- "Get gold when you heal" perk and Regenerator work very well with the new health mechanics and with how easy it is to rack up a lot of health with mangos and bananas. Since Regenerator gives you static amounts of health, you can amass quite a fortune with just a little missing health off your huge stack of it. By the same token, Heal Shot is also insanely good with the Staff as you make many small hits in a wide radius, which results in a lot of passive health gain *and* money.

[Dopey Shepard]

I just attempted a run with Pickaxe (and LS) and was landing hits without touching the ground. Try it and tell me that I'm wrong, because I might be, but it felt like I may have lost altitude but I didn't actually have legs on the ground.

well technically you don't need to be ALL the way down on the ground, but if you have a never-ending LS, that also raises your altitude quite a lot because any explosion happening underneath you may propel you in the air, where you WILL remain by locking in with LS, keeping on fire because you have Auto-Reload with Ammo Ring Relic

In those cases, trying to do Hammer/Pickaxe will like, not even work, because they both require you to get down close to the ground for the thing to go off

You aren't touching the ground per se, but getting extremely low with either of those melees

Either way, I still think Katana is the melee for LS because of its movement properties

[Bug Guy]

Publicado originalmente por Dopey Shepard:

Oh and as I just found out, Money Shot is incredibly OP on it, which is actually not the case for other fast-firing weapons because slow-firing Arcane Wand/Rocket Launcher seem to do better with Money Shot than Fast-Firing ones

I think it's actually so OP noise has to basically nerf it sometime later

I had 3000 crystals with lvl 1 Money Shot on the first Elite island. WHAT?!

I noticed that too, was ridiculously rich using LS compared to my other runs using arcane wand and burst pistol. easily 3 or 4 times more crystals from the first two biomes with money shot on LS versus the others. Not my most scientific of observations, but still

[Dopey Shepard]

Publicado originalmente por Bug Guy:

Publicado originalmente por Dopey Shepard:

Oh and as I just found out, Money Shot is incredibly OP on it, which is actually not the case for other fast-firing weapons because slow-firing Arcane Wand/Rocket Launcher seem to do better with Money Shot than Fast-Firing ones

I think it's actually so OP noise has to basically nerf it sometime later

I had 3000 crystals with lvl 1 Money Shot on the first Elite island. WHAT?!

I noticed that too, was ridiculously rich using LS compared to my other runs using arcane wand and burst pistol. easily 3 or 4 times more crystals from the first two biomes with money shot on LS versus the others. Not my most scientific of observations, but still

Yeah, dont worry, you don't need to be a scientist to know the difference between thousands depending on island where you are at. Hopefully it's gonna be fixed. In the meantime, just avoid it altogether for balance reasons. I don't pick up a lot of things in the game not to break my run with some OP cheap stuff

[Casurin]

if you have the luck to get moneyshot + efficiency and then some islands with tanky enemies it is incredibly OP with Lightning

[Limdood]

So, to expand on how LS works:

It functions like the Electro-Orb....it deals very very rapid AoE damage to things your shots pass NEAR. Effectively, the Lightning Staff has a permanent Aura shot, but with the damage based on weapon damage, rather than a static amount based on mod level.

Slower projectiles maximize "time near" targets....whether that means the projectile is approaching the target to hit them, or passing by them. Normally I'd suggest ignoring the advice not to take fast shot and just learning to aim under, but in this case, while fast shot does improve range and accuracy, it slightly reduces damage, for the same (inverse) reasons that slower shots improve damage.

two major mods for damage that weren't mentioned in the original post up top:
- Glue shot is probably the biggest damage boost you can get with this, for the same reason glue shot works so well with aura shot...but unlike aura shot it stays relevant on damage without having to stack a specific epic mod.
- Bouncing shot extends your range and helps a LOT on islands with restrictive terrain (mainly ceilings) like the ice bridge level....100% damage on bounce helps too.
- Honorable mention here to piercing shot, which is great if you DON'T have glue shot (or if firing into crowds, 1 piercing might still work with glue). Piercing shot means that bullets don't just end when they strike the target, and synergizes well with bouncing shot, since the bullet can damage, pass through, bounce, and still deal a bit of that (+100% after bounce) area damage.

defense wise, bulletproof and the ring that gives 25% chance to avoid damage are solid picks to avoid damage from being sniped by certain enemies (ants, sniper crabs) or obliterated by certain multi-projectile barrages (lightning/shotgun crab, elite pumpkin).

It synergizes well with abilities that need enemies to stay in one spot for maximum effect....air strike, laser beam, and to a lesser effect electro-orb and ice blast, since the momentum-killing nature of lightning is good for stunning enemies in place (unlike ice, which often makes them slide).

Tools to avoid the long reload will help your airtime, and by extension, majorly help your survivability and minorly help your offense. Efficiency is VERY powerful since each tick of the AoE is "weapon damage." and even 1 efficiency can often give you effectively limitless ammo provided you're hitting. Without efficiency, big mag, autoloader are of limited use, but not "bad"...and ring of reloading, All You Can Eat and ammo ring can all give you endless airtime (the reload with ring of reloading takes about the same time as a single air dash, so you won't even lose altitude). Juiced is a solid pick as well.

[burningblaise]

Publicado originalmente por AngryAbbot:

Publicado originalmente por Dopey Shepard:

Other melees will just straight up not work like Hammer/Pickaxe. They require you to get down to the ground to make a hit before bouncing you back in mid-air.

I just attempted a run with Pickaxe (and LS) and was landing hits without touching the ground. Try it and tell me that I'm wrong, because I might be, but it felt like I may have lost altitude but I didn't actually have legs on the ground.

BUT, man, I am STRUGGLING with the Lightning Scepter, lol. At least a dozen tries on normal and can't complete one. Been trying to go Health > $$$ > Elemental > Luck (base health > paycheck/tony's > lightning/fire > autoload) and have been getting garbage RNG.

I'll change up my usual grabs and try the Grip Tape as you suggested. I like the Monet Shot but it's only been a choice once in 12 or so runs. Feels like health and $$$ needs a boost or I need to git gud. Last major patch had same problem, turned out I needed to git gud.

I don't play beta or even look at the notes so this update was a huge surprise for me, and I got to say (even though I'm struggling with it) that I am really impressed and happy with it. The maps look so much cooler and everything is tight and tidy. Chests drop in new locations (to help the infinity chest drop mods?). This game is clearly a labor of love for the dev.

cant complete a run on normal is crazy. wanna post a VOD or clip of your run? maybe i can help see whats wrong

[Rideps]

I'm just going to throw out there, that since it's already a lightning based weapon, going for a crit build with Critical Lightning (though that is now nerfed a bit) and just going all in on the shock is very effective.

I want to say that I can shill my time shot crit build nonsense here, but with a multihitting projectile like this, it's hard to actually tell if time shot is increasing the number of potential crits or decreasing them. Too much number soup.

[Dopey Shepard]

Publicado originalmente por Rideps:

I'm just going to throw out there, that since it's already a lightning based weapon, going for a crit build with Critical Lightning (though that is now nerfed a bit) and just going all in on the shock is very effective.

I want to say that I can shill my time shot crit build nonsense here, but with a multihitting projectile like this, it's hard to actually tell if time shot is increasing the number of potential crits or decreasing them. Too much number soup.

You must be at the point where it doesn't really matter anymore. You just 1 shot everything super fast so it's irrelevant

[Rideps]

Publicado originalmente por Dopey Shepard:

Publicado originalmente por Rideps:

I'm just going to throw out there, that since it's already a lightning based weapon, going for a crit build with Critical Lightning (though that is now nerfed a bit) and just going all in on the shock is very effective.

I want to say that I can shill my time shot crit build nonsense here, but with a multihitting projectile like this, it's hard to actually tell if time shot is increasing the number of potential crits or decreasing them. Too much number soup.

You must be at the point where it doesn't really matter anymore. You just 1 shot everything super fast so it's irrelevant

Yeah, sure, when you have enough stacks of critical lightning to make that hit consistently I probably am. But with any low damage weapon, even one stack of critical arrow can increase your early dps even with a single sharpshooter.

[Limdood]

Publicado originalmente por Rideps:

I'm just going to throw out there, that since it's already a lightning based weapon, going for a crit build with Critical Lightning (though that is now nerfed a bit) and just going all in on the shock is very effective.

I want to say that I can shill my time shot crit build nonsense here, but with a multihitting projectile like this, it's hard to actually tell if time shot is increasing the number of potential crits or decreasing them. Too much number soup.

it isn't even necessarily the lightning that does it....get a random totem to remove lightning shot - it STILL has unbelievable multihit levels, since it spams out it's bullet damage crazily fast (at LEAST as fast as time shot) just by the bullets being NEAR the target.

It really doesn't synergize with CRIT, so much as it makes absurd use of crit PROCS: critical arrow, critical blast, and critical lightning. ANY level of crit makes those proc an insane amount. Consider that when you're firing at the home island dps skull, you can hit 80-100+ DPS. The projectiles from lightning staff only deal 1 or 2 damage...About half and half really, so lets say 90 dps, with 30 damage instances doing 1 and 30 damage instances doing 2 damage...so 60 damage instances every SECOND.

Toss in a single sharpshooter for +6% crit and a 10% proc rate on crits from a single critical arrow and you're triggering (1%+6%)*10%*60 = 0.42 critical arrows per second, or 1 every 2.5 seconds on average. scale that up AT ALL, in any fashion and things get REALLY crazy REALLY fast. (and it's the same with critical blast, and even better with critical lightning, averaging 1 per second because it triggers with a 25% proc rate on 1 level).

That isn't

just 1 shot everything super fast so it's irrelevant

That's 2 common crit perks into a run