but I can fire off blaze and fire blast twice and do more damage in less time than one snipe. And theres no chance that it will be interrupted either...
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All of the snipes work around a 4 sec 'activation'. Interrupts can basically wittle this down to 2 secs, or 1.72ish secs, so you hit the Snipe, wait for it to release, then fire whatever else you want at whoever you want.
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My understanding is that Reduce Interrupt Enhancements do just and only that. They reduce the amount of time in which the power can be interrupted. They do not reduce the actual animation time.
The only problem I see is that if the enemies survive, they can hit you instantly. Super ultra amazing chocolatety flavored awesome range doesn't matter if the enemy has the same, or better, range.
TW/Elec Optimization
*bump*
Great guide, I <3 blazing bolt
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The only problem I see is that if the enemies survive, they can hit you instantly. Super ultra amazing chocolatety flavored awesome range doesn't matter if the enemy has the same, or better, range.
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Unless you three slot Moonbeam or Psionic Lance for range (base 175 feet), then, in that case, there will be literally only a handful of foes that can snipe back at that range. Moonbeam's range is so long, that you can snipe from outside agro response range for some critters. You know that range -- when you hit a foe and run and when you get far enough away, they stop chasing you... well, you can snipe from *that range* on a critter and it won't come looking for you because you're outside it's awareness range.
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[u]Sing & the Snipe Surprise[u]
[u]Forward:[u]
This guide is intended to improve CoX PvPers viewpoints on the various powers in this game, and to look at Snipes as an alternative means of dmg that is often overlooked in current PvP.
[u]Snipe Surprise:[u]
[u] [u]
So, the benefits of elec which I have posted elsewhere mention Zapp a good bit; and I have tried to point out how nice Blazing Bolt is for Fire/EMs in other postings. Any /psy def players in the room may know the fun wonder that is Psionic Lance. Then there's the less than stellar 'other' snipes. Those would be, in order of worthniess: Moonbeam, Proton Voley, Sniper Blast, Ranged Shot and Sniper Rifle. That's actually a BIG selection of snipes, and a good variety of dmg types.
-Fun tidbit in ranking is also that Proton Volley is pure energy, Sniper Blast is *not*.
Anyway, as a reference to a highly basic version of the concepts below being employed in-game; for anyone that fought the New Vanguard (a European sg that came to these servers for a few months), we saw how Gatling Reborn would slowly glide to the uppermost regions of a map, and eventually let loose what I assume was a nice BU+AIM+PB+Zapp+Thunderous Blast, all Boost Ranged.
This volley pretty much killed off whoever got hit by it, and was relatively hard to expect. Although there was a nuke in play, so duh the dmg would be huge, it's still a big chunk of dmg from nowhere, and the beauty of fitting a snipe into a chain, is that it'll tack itself on midway/later and probably doom your target to 400+ extra dmg at once.
So, what's the point of this? A snipe surprise is what!
So, you take the nice usual builds, throw in a rad/psy here, sprinkle a fire/em there, toss on an elec/em or two, whatever you please. The key is to have them all have snipes in their builds. Now on Test, it's very easy to slot snipes, you can go a lovable 2 dmg/acc, 1 dmg/rng, 3 interrupt, or 3 dmg/acc, 2 interrupt, 1 recharge, or some such combo, as well as you like.
When a target gets called, these nice dmg dealers can then choose to *lead off* with their snipe, *finish off* with their snipe, or snipe the opposing EMP, or someone else on the other team, and the results may be as follows:
[u]Leading Off[u] - the extra dmg outdoes any emping, killing the target off sooner.
[u]Finishing Off[u] - the chunk of dmg tags the runner and finishes them earlier, = less chasing.
[u]Shooting non-target[u] - the emp may be confused and go after this person with heals, or run themselves; if they don't, you now have an enemy that may choose to pop an insp, waste time healing, evade away, or be a prime *next* target with less hp on them.
Incorporating snipes, you can choose to coordinate for a [u]TRUE[u] damage spike. Imagine 4 x 500 dmg hitting at once - that' 2000dmg instantly on a target. All of the snipes work around a 4 sec 'activation'. Interrupts can basically wittle this down to 2 secs, or 1.72ish secs, so you hit the Snipe, wait for it to release, then fire whatever else you want at whoever you want.
Glancing at snipe BI's (just base dmg), we see:
Blazing Bolt - 8.9 pure Fire
Zapp - 7.7 pure Energy
Moonbeam - 7.7 pure Negative
Psionic Lance - 7.7 pure Psionic
with ranges of 150-175+ base, and recharges of 12 secs.
Comparing to 'heavy hitters':
Total Focus - 9.9 a mixture of Energy AND smashing (boo), rech of
Energy Transfer - 12.7 a mixture of Energy AND smashing again, both with recharges of 20 secs
So while the snipes don't look amazing, they're all rarely resisted dmg types, all recharge faster than ET or TF AND have super amazing range. They can all activate faster than Total Focus too, so you're not stuck there with your arms in the air waiting to die. When you think about blaster Unresistable dmg, having 30% hit as a large number does sound better than having to que up and fire off 2-3 smaller blasts for the same amount of dmg... split up among smaller numbers.
Now there is the downside in that animation/fire off may not be under 2 secs, and interrupts could still happen, but the great utility available here isn't to be ignored.
Snipes also follow people around like piranhas who've smelt blood in the water. Fire one off and zooooom it goes after the person. [u]No more having your favourite pocket blaster dash away after a running target[u], not with a Snipe doing that for them! While elec still has shortcomings and Fire and /psy outdo it vastly in animation times, using a Snipe Surprise in matches could pay off amazingly well.
This idea may not appeal to some, but consider how simple it would be to fit in one extra power that does this much damage, has so much coordinated power, and the potential to do all of the above, in terms of disorienting the other team, and getting kills. While this guide may spoil the surprise factor, utilizing any of these strategies in one match but not others would definitely put your adversaries on the defensive.
Hopefully this outline will encourage some to delve into the world of Snipes for PvP, and bring about some interesting strategies.