Spectre (+Salvo) is incredibly satisfying.

[some (momi)]

Props for creating a stealth that actually feels good to use; I thought for sure it'd be unsatisfying/underwhelming in this game.

That said, enemies forget your positioning almost immediately (if you fire then wait to recloak); it almost feels like cloaking should generate a "ghost image", that lasts until you decloak, or it takes a single hit. That'd also play into the "you can move while stealthed, if you move slowly" angle of the design.

That said, Salvo was basically the best weapon to get in combination with it, so, that definitely skews the experiences. I also had -100% shields, +hull ; coupled with Hull Regen over time ; so I was soaking a few random hits and building up to strike back.

Charge shot not working with Spectre was a little disappointing, however. I also didn't like that leveling up/choosing an upgrade de-cloaked you for a brief second; I had to constantly remind myself to wait until I fired, to choose an upgrade.

[Stavbearer]

Oh boy. I just tried that and took a bunch of slipstreams so that I could move while cloaked, and I got 168% global damage, plus a flat 16 or so damage from solar heart because of all the slipstreams, plust the 2x cloak damage. That is the first time I've ever melted the pink boss.

[some (momi)]

That sounds like an impressive build @Stavbearer, nice! Glad it worked out for you! <3

Yeah, being able to stockpile damage, especially with Spectre/any damage buffs (and even without) melts things incredibly fast. It's really nice tbh; the RingLaser circle boss always takes forever for me to kill (since im bad at positioning to get inside/out), but one good salvo in the center... and down he goes.

Life is good with Spectre/Salvo.

That said, I have to constantly remind myself when i play other ships that I'm NOT Spectre, and I actually need to move around/play the game. XD

[TheGreatOxKing]

Just discovered the Spectre/Salvo combo and what's worked well for me is to focus on fire rate, blast damage, and projectile count while using the Calibrate mod. With certain wild mods (Double Strike), the amount of missile spam you can create is just absurb. You become a glass cannon in the beginning, but if you're just slightly boosting, turning, and shooting, you're almost always dealing max damage and only have to deal with the stray hit.

I tend to stick with a temporal shield just because it slows everything and can have a huge radius upgraded, but the assault and engineer bodies both worked well on my highest scores. Recently been playing with Spectre and Carrier more and they can both work well with a Salvo build if you focus on their shortcomings a bit more.

[Daynen Drakeson]

Try spectre with railgun and calibrate plus as many twin strike mods as you can stand.

"Oh look! A boss! Let's point...and laugh!" BOOM.

[Anrita]

Spectre + salvo seems to have better compatibility than I expected, but I find spectre in general to be hindered by the frequent need to abandon stealth to chase experience orbs.

[some (momi)]

If you go slow enough, you can move in stealth. What I usually end up doing is waiting up for a large barrage, killing everything on screen - then running into all the exp orbs I can and glide myself back into stealth when possible.

Gliding plus small thruster adjustments lets you move far further in stealth after a wave - just something to try.

Agreed though, sometimes you need to abandon stealth; but you can soak those hits, and regen them later.

[Bozobub]

If you just tap forward thrust/strafe, or strafe any direction but forwards, you won't break stealth at all.

[Anrita]

I play on Mayhem, though, so there isn't any time between waves. The number of enemies increases as you progress through the waves, and salvo kills them outside of orb pickup range (even with Ataraxia). So, it inevitably ends up following the pattern where I dodge the new enemies while collecting experience, then look for a place to go into stealth, and the moment I'm in stealth, fire again. It makes stealth feel like a short-term weapon power-up rather than, well, stealth.