imported_Timeshadow

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the ranged mace attacks aside from poisonous ray are terrible. poor damage and scatter about 1/3 of its targets rendering them awkward to use and irritating on teams.

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That's not entirely true. They're a good way to cut downtime while you wait for other attacks to recharge and there's nothing more frustrating than having to chase a runner down, especially if you aggro something else in the process.

As for the scatter, that's a matter of control. It's just like playing an Energy Blaster or anything else that has knockback. Wild use can and will cause problems but skilled employment just might save your life or a teammate's. Knocking a Freakshow Tank Swiper on its a** is a fine way to keep it from hurting you. Using Mace Beam Volley against charging Tsoo can go a long way toward protecting squishes. Plus, it's freakin' hillarious

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That being said what are the main reasons that i dont see melee crab builds and or ranged bane builds? Does it just not suit them? It looks like crabs have a few melee powers and banes have a few ranged ones. Does it just suck that bad?

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In short, yes, it just sucks that bad.

As a previous poster stated, the Bane branch is designed for melee combat. It's signature is the ability to deliver critical hits from Hidden status. Banes even have the ability to deliver an "Executioner's Strike" if you use Shatter while Hidden. Ranged attacks don't crit from Hide so only taking them would severely hinder your ability to do what Bane's do best; kill things.

Crabs, while equipped with melee attacks, don't benefit from them nearly as much as Banes do. They're ability to deliver large amounts of Energy damage from range dwarfs their melee capability.

That said, I took some of the mace beams on my Bane build and some of the arm attacks on my Crab build. I like being fairly balanced. But I wouldn't consider using them exclusively. There's a very obvious seperation between being unique and being gimped.

Arachnos Widows are the more melee oriented of the two ATs. In terms of specific builds, Night Widows and Bane Spiders are rather melee centric. I'm in the mood to do a breakdown so please bear with me.

Arachnos Widows: Night Widows are renowned for their killing power. A good number of their attacks are classified as high damage powers and their ability to greatly increase their own Defense and that of their teammates via their Mind Link power makes them comparable to Claws/SR Scrappers. However, most of the damage they do is Lethal which, as you probably know, is commonly resisted.

The Fortunata branch provides you with a wide variety of powers. You can blast and control in both single target and AoE capacities. You can even move into melee range if you retain some of the powers from the Blood Widow pool. A melee capable Fort would be my personal recommendation because I like being able to do it all (My main is a Kheld ). If you choose to go that route I'd suggest you post a build here as there are a lot of choices you have to make.

Arachnos Soldier: Bane Spiders are known for being more Stalkerish. They have lower melee Defense and are more reliant on stealth to deliver heavy blows. Unlike Night Widows, Banes have access to a number of ranged attacks in the form of Mace Beams. Though some people avoid these powers, their Energy damage and Toxic DoT can be useful. Plus, they look freakin' cool

Crab Spiders are the more ranged centric variant. While they have access to melee attacks, most people avoid them in favor of their AoEs. Crabs are capable of greatly increasing their Resistance and have a self-heal in the form of Serum. The combination leads some to build them for tanking. Crabs are sometimes referred to as "Pocket MMs" because of their ability to summon up to five Arachnobots to assist them.

NOTE: Some people choose to retain a large number of the powers from the Wolf Spider pool and pick up a few key powers from the Bane Spider pool. These builds are known as Huntsmen. There's a great guide for this variant listed in the Guides and FAQs section.

It's perfectly doable but most would advise against it. All that redraw can slow you down a bit and you might find it rather annoying. Plus, the various Mace Beams provide the more exotic mix of Energy damage and Toxic DoT as opposed to the rifle's purely Lethal damage.

That aside, it's not unheard of. If you wanna do it, go for it. It really won't hurt your performance too much.