The Quick and Dirty Guide to Dual Pistols
By
BasilAcid,
Posted on: 2010-10-29 20:39 in Player Guides
A brief yet informative guide. Ty Stormwind_Rider for taking the time to write it up. Admittedly I am abit curious what secondaries (for corruptors/blasters) or primaries (defenders) - you feel would mesh well together
@Deadboy
Yeah, a great guide. As for your question, deadboy_champion, I have 3 Dual Pistols characters.
A DP/EM Blaster, a DP/Fire Blaster and a DP/Kin Corrupter.
Of the three, leveling the DP/EM feels like easy mode. He's 48 while the others are 15 and 35. Though, I've yet to get to enjoy the big power that I think draws many people to DP/Kin. The /fire is more of a concept character, but I can see great things from a Build Up -> Fire Sword Circle -> Hail of Bullets combo.
My DP/TA corruptor is currently level 49 -- I love him. He is by far my most favorite character, both in concept and play. A lot of people ask how bad the redraw is and how it affects my play and, quite honestly, it doesn't bother me whatsoever. Conceptually, the combo makes for a great mercenary/weapons specialist-style character. Practically, he is a walking death machine of death, death, and more death. The combo of incendiary rounds -> flash arrow -> poison gas arrow -> glue arrow -> acid arrow -> oil slick arrow -> hail of bullets wipes out groups fairly quickly, and any stragglers are picked off with my remaining powers. The added bonus of ice arrow and an ammo swapped suppressive fire means I'm holding bosses, which is just ridiculously handy. Once I get him all IO'd to crap, I'd like to write up a guide...for funsies.
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Very nice guide, man.
I personally love the crap out of Dual Pistols. I waited for it for many years and now that I have it I have to say it's almost exactly what I wanted. I couldn't be happier with it. The animations, the damage, the versatility, I'm happy with every part of this power set and I like to think I use it extremely well on my DP/En Blaster.
There's one thing I wanted to tag in here, for the 'numbers crazy:' Piercing Rounds needs some balance work because as of right now it does not appreciably increase DPS whether or not an ammo power is applied. I find it extremely useful as a long-range attack in conjunction with Boost Range and a 'moment of opportunity' AOE [given its straight-line configuration] but come I19 it will probably become the only Dual Pistols power I will not take. It shares the same range as Bullet Rain, and while the latter does considerably less damage the animation time is quite a bit shorter and it is a radius AOE which ensures you will hit more than one target every time [where one is available]. For those who are insane like me and do weird things like fire powers off on the move, Piercing Rounds runs an inherent risk of missing AOE targets due to your movement shifting your angle of attack, whereas Bullet Rain is more or less guaranteed to strike what you're aiming at.
Here are the numbers [for the record, I didn't come up with these, Red did]:
[Incendiary] Pistols -> Dual Wield -> Pistols -> Executioner's Shot = 0.933 DPS and 2.55 EPS
[No Ammo] Piercing Rounds -> [Incendiary Ammo] -> Pistols -> Dual Wield -> Pistols -> Executioner's Shot = 0.904 DPS and 2.805 EPS
[Incendiary] Piercing Rounds -> Pistols -> Dual Wield -> Pistols -> Executioner's Shot = 0.933 DPS and 3.035 EPS
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Very nice little rundown of the powers. I appreciate the clarifications and guidance, since I'm still learning a lot of basics. I'm not sure if I want to go with Blaster or Corruptor or Defender, but I definitely want me a slice of the DP pie. Er... that didn't quite... you know what I mean.
Love your concept with the DP/TA Corr, Malk. Definitely gonna have to play around with something similar.
The Quick and Dirty Guide to Dual Pistols
This guide has been written because a DP guide doesn't exist.
As the title states, it's not a comprehensive guide to the set, but a fairly quick look to give prospective players of the set a better feel for what it does and how it plays, because as we all know, the in-game short and long text aren't particularly helpful.
Dual Pistols is available as a Primary for blasters and corruptors, and as a Secondary for defenders.
My experience with the set is with both blasters and corruptors, though my corruptor is by far the higher level of the two (38) and has every power in the set.
Overall, the performance of the set is solid, but not outstanding. It has a set of fairly useful abilities, and your IO slotting options are pretty wide, but you won't be setting any damage records.
Every power in this set does have an inherent accuracy bonus. Most are 1.1 (a base 10% higher), but Executioner's Shot is 1.25 and Hail of Bullets is 1.4.
Visual Appearance
The aesthetic design of Dual Pistols is clearly drawn from action cinema. Lots of rapid fire, fancy maneuvering, and the like. Think John Woo movies. Equilibrium is also clearly source material for the style (the gun kata influence can very obviously be seen in the movements of Hail of Bullets, the Tier 9 power). As such, if you are a stickler for “realism,” you may be annoyed by the visuals of this set. Your character WILL spin his pistol on his hand, throw them in the air, and engage in all sorts of unnecessary footwork. But it's STYLISH.
POWERS
Each power will be listed at the level it becomes available, blasters and corruptors before the slash and defenders after the slash.
Pistols
Level 1 / Level 1(mandatory)
Your character fires one of his pistols at the target. This power will alternate which gun is used.
Pistols is the basic low damage, fast recharge attack you get in any blast-type set. It does all lethal damage and inflicts a minor defense debuff on the target. If Swap Ammo is active, 30% of the damage instead becomes cold/fire/toxic. You also lose the defense debuff, and the slow/DoT/-dmg effect of the new ammo type does NOT apply.
IO Sets Allowed: Ranged Damage, Defense Debuff, Accurate Defense Debuff
Dual Wield
Level 1 / Level 2
Your characters spins backward, taking a step forward into a crouch with both pistols held horizontally, wrists crossed, and fires both at the same time.
The same second attack as most blast sets, Dual Wield does more damage than Pistols, and recharges slower. Without Swap Ammo, it will knockdown the target. With Swap Ammo, you get the 30% damage type change, plus the bonus effect for ammo type: Cold(Slow)/Fire(Extra Damage over Time)/Toxic(-damage debuff).
IO Sets Allowed: Ranged Damage, Slow Movement, Knockback
Empty Clips
Level 2 / Level 4
Your character fires both pistols rapidly in a cone in front of himself.
This power is a fairly standard cone attack with a range of 40 feet in a 30 degree arc. The damage is less than Pistols (about 9/10). This power will inflict a minor defense buff without Swap Ammo, and the standard effects with Swap Ammo. Many players dislike this power because you have to maneuver to catch multiple people in the arc, and because it does low damage. It is a pretty underwhelming power, and Bullet Rain becomes available at level 8, and is overall a better power. However, Empty Clips is an AoE attack, which means if you have multiple enemies to hit, it's still very efficient to use, IF the aggro doesn't kill you. It does have a fairly reasonable endurance cost and recharge moderately fast.
Important Note: This is the only AoE attack in Dual Pistols that can slot Achilles' Heel: Chance for Resistance Debuff. If you can get your hands on one of these IOs, then Empty Clips is worth the power choice.
IO Sets Allowed: Targeted AoE Damage, Slow Movement, Defense Debuff, Accurate Defense Debuff
Swap Ammo
Level 6 / Level 10
If your character has his pistols drawn, he will spin them in his hands quickly when changing ammo type, otherwise there is no animation.
Swap Ammo is the primary gimmick of Dual Pistols, allowing you to change part of your damage type to cold, fire, or toxic. Taking the Swap Ammo power gives you three toggle powers: Cryo Ammunition, Incendiary Ammunition, and Toxic Ammunition. When you activate a toggle, part of your damage type changes to that toggle's respective type, and the secondary effects of your attacks change. Cryo does cold and gives enemies a slow effect as well as a recharge penalty. Incendiary adds extra Damage over Time. Toxic gives the enemy a penalty to damage. You can only run one of these toggles at a time, and they do not cost endurance to use. All of the visual effects of your attacks, except for Pistols, will change. Ice bullets have a blue shot with snowflakes drifting behind them. Fire bullets have a yellowish-orange shot. Toxic bullets have a green shot with a spiral surrounding the trail.
IO Sets Allowed: Not slottable
Bullet Rain
Level 8 / Level 16
Your character holds his pistols out to the sides and lifts them up while firing, curving a series of bullets at your target and the area around him. The effect is much like curving bullets from the movie Wanted.
Bullet Rain has a range of 80 feet and a radius of 15 feet. Your main target and every enemy within 15 feet of him may be hit with this power. It does the same damage as Pistols. It does knockBACK without Swap Ammo, and the usual effects with Swap Ammo. It is an excellent AoE power, with the usual associated high endurance cost and long recharge time.
IO Sets Allowed: Targeted AoE Damage, Slow Movement, Knockback
Suppressive Fire
Level 12 / Level 20
Your character fires a quick shot from a crouch with one leg forward, then recovers.
This power does virtually no damage, and stuns your target at a Mag 3, which means it will work on most Lieutenants and Minions, and not have any effect by itself on Bosses and above. With Swap Ammo active, 30% of the tiny damage becomes the new damage type, and the power will Hold the target at Mag 3 instead of Stun. This is generally better than Stun, because then they won't wander around in a hyperspeed daze. However, depending on your secondary set, sometimes you might want to Stun instead (for instance, Energy Manipulation for Blasters) to stack together.
IO Sets Allowed: Ranged Damage, Holds, Stuns
Executioner's Shot
Level 18 / Level 28
Your character stands tall, spins his right pistol in his hand several times, then fires a shot which will hit the target's head (instead of body like most attacks).
This is a high damage, short range (40 feet, half the normal 80) power, much like Blaze from Fire Blast. It does take a long time to animate as well (2.57 seconds), and the attack is at the end of the animation. This power does Knockback and a minor Defense Debuff without Swap Ammo, and the usual effects with Swap Ammo. You may want to skip this power if you dislike the time it takes, or you don't want to get that close. Defenders can probably pass over it without too much angst. It is the highest damage power in the set except for Hail of Bullets, however. Alternately, if you have a great deal of recharge bonuses, you could drop Pistols and use Executioner's Shot along with Dual Wield as your main single-target damage.
IO Sets Allowed: Ranged Damage, Slow Movement, Knockback, Defense Debuff, Accurate Defense Debuff
Piercing Rounds
Level 26 / Level 35
Your character throws both pistols into the air, spins around, catches them, and thrusts the pistols forward while firing.
This attack does high damage at a range of 80 feet and is actually an extremely tiny cone (it's really just a straight line from you to your target). Any enemies in that line along with the target have a chance to be hit as well. This power hits a maximum of 3 enemies. It does a Resistance Debuff without Swap Ammo, and the usual effects with Swap Ammo. Very good damage, twice as much as Pistols, and just a little bit less than Executioner's Shot. It does have a lengthy recharge and high endurance cost, however.
IO Sets Allowed: Targeted AoE Damage, Slow Movement
Hail of Bullets
Level 32 / Level 38
Your character begins a “gun kata,” takes several steps, and firing several times with each step at all angles.
Hail of Bullets is Dual Pistols' “nuke” power. It functions like a regular Point Blank AoE attack, doing relatively high damage in an area around you. It does NOT drain your endurance after use or prevent recovery. The power does a lot of knockdown without Swap Ammo, and loses some of the knockdown in exchange for the usual effects with Swap Ammo. It also grants a moderate defense bonus to you while you are using it.
Important Note on how this power works: You make an accuracy check for each enemy in the attack's radius (25 feet). On a miss, the power does nothing to that enemy. On a hit, Hail of Bullets then does multiple ticks of damage. EACH tick has a 60% chance of actually hurting each enemy that was successfully “hit.” This means the damage from Hail of Bullets is not entirely consistent, since each enemy will take some damage ticks but not others.
IO Sets Allowed: PBAoE Damage, Slow Movement, Knockback
*****
And that's Dual Pistols.
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The Quick and Dirty Guide to Dual Pistols