New Targeting Drone Mechanic Question

[Shred Monkey]

My understanding is that if you are in the "out of combat" state, targeting drone gives a 60% damage bonus to the next attack.  This is sort of a mini build-up for your first attack.  However, there's no indicator that I can see that tells me when I am out of combat so I don't know when this triggers and there's some grey area when I am trying use this intentionally.  (please add an indicator like the Hidden indicator for stalkers.... this would help with snipes as well).

 

My question is this... Do the following powers cause me to enter the "in combat" state or do I remain out of combat when using them:   Smoke bomb, proximity bomb, time bomb. 

 

My assumption is that they don't put me into combat (assuming I don't get attacked while using them).  But I would like to know for sure.

 

Also, I think it would be nice if smoke bomb actually forced you in into the "out of combat" state.  It would allow for a slick playstyle where you use smoke bomb to setup a mini-boosted AOE attack at the start of a fight without waiting the 8+ seconds get the boost.

 

[The Godchild]

Easiest way to tell when you're 'in combat' is the yellow circle around your snipe power...assuming you have a set with a snipe. No snipe...yeeeeeah that's a bit of a pain I would assume.

 

As for Deice powers in relation to triggering in-combat

Smoke Grenade: Doesn't aggro anyway, so no...doesn't trigger in-combat. Surveillance also falls under this same no-aggro catagory.

Trip Mine: Oddly this doesn't trigger it either

Time Bomb: Ditto

Gun Drone: Ditto again.

 

Seems like 'pet' type powers never trigger in-combat...which makes trip mine and time bomb hilarious to use mid-mob then turn and super-snipe or boosted-nuke something before the rest of the goons realize what just happened.

58 minutes ago, Shred Monkey said:

Also, I think it would be nice if smoke bomb actually forced you in into the "out of combat" state.  It would allow for a slick playstyle where you use smoke bomb to setup a mini-boosted AOE attack at the start of a fight without waiting the 8+ seconds get the boost.

That would just be like giving a blaster Placate....I don't see that happening anytime soon unless they ramp the recharge on smoke grenade toa  level that would make it almost unusable >.> If you really want to get the boost back....just run away >.> That works just fine I find...

Edited October 4, 2019 by The Godchild

[Shred Monkey]

10 minutes ago, The Godchild said:

Easiest way to tell when you're 'in combat' is the yellow circle around your snipe power...assuming you have a set with a snipe. No snipe...yeeeeeah that's a bit of a pain I would assume.

 

As for Deice powers in relation to triggering in-combat

Smoke Grenade: Doesn't aggro anyway, so no...doesn't trigger in-combat. Surveillance also falls under this same no-aggro catagory.

Trip Mine: Oddly this doesn't trigger it either

Time Bomb: Ditto

Gun Drone: Ditto again.

 

Seems like 'pet' type powers never trigger in-combat...which makes trip mine and time bomb hilarious to use mid-mob then turn and super-snipe or boosted-nuke something before the rest of the goons realize what just happened.

That would just be like giving a blaster Placate....I don't see that happening anytime soon unless they ramp the recharge on smoke grenade toa  level that would make it almost unusable >.> If you really want to get the boost back....just run away >.> That works just fine I find...

Yeah.. DP doesn't have a snipe.... that's great that they give an indicator for the snipes.  I didn't know they did.  Maybe they could add a ring on targeting drone, too.

 

Also, there is a new AoE placate power blasters can use... err.. where did i see it?  ...the concealment pool maybe?  I don't think making smoke grenade put you out of combat is that overpowering... its only an added 40% buff to a single attack.  To use it during normal combat would probably decrease you damage output since you get no damage from using smoke grenade itself.  Plus if you're getting hit at the time, you may not get any boost.

 

Anyway, I like the mechanics it as it is.  I'm glad the bombs don't trigger it.  I do wish I had an indicator, though.  There's not even a buff icon.

[The Godchild]

3 hours ago, Shred Monkey said:

Yeah.. DP doesn't have a snipe.... that's great that they give an indicator for the snipes.  I didn't know they did.  Maybe they could add a ring on targeting drone, too.

That would be a freakin' sweet idea actually, I'm 110% behind it.

 

3 hours ago, Shred Monkey said:

Also, there is a new AoE placate power blasters can use... err.. where did i see it?  ...the concealment pool maybe?

Misdirection from concealment is what you're after. And sadly...like all non-stalker/VEAT placate powers, its generally more like an aggro dump then a re-hide option. I use to use smoke bomb on my nin stalker like....a decade ago and it was utterly trash, yeah it was an aoe....but it didn't actually put you back into hide and while solo...the enemies just ignored it since you were the only target around.

 

Granted, with how the new snipe works and targeting drone...there's a chance they might have rigged Misdirection to actually do something significant but I honestly have no interest in finding out.

[Shred Monkey]

OK... I started monitoring Damage Bonus in game, and it's pretty easy to see when I've the bonus kicks in.  SO.... that problem is solved.   But I also learned a few other things.  First, the out of combat boost is 60% in addition to the 20% boost from targeting drone.  (I thought it was 60 total not 20+60).  Second, Defiance boosts way more then I realized.  In fact, my total damage bonus is generally higher when fighting non-stop then it is with the 60% out of combat bonus from target drone. 

 

 

[The Godchild]

Yup! Defiance is great if you can just keeping hammering out attacks. Dropping a trip mine here and there isn't a bad way to get a damage boost as well as making a little safe space for yourself if baddies get too close. I usually have 129% damage buff...but dropping a mine right before opening up with a snipe boosts it to almost 150% so that opening hit make a pretty big mark...and gives you a mine to hide behind if the target wants to voice their objections to you ventilating their head.

 

Also...since a friend did up DP/devices as well, Time bomb > Trip mine > Hail of bullets makes for a pretty ridiculous opener since time bomb has a 5 second delay before kaboom, trip mine doesn't trigger in-combat even if it goes off...and the resulting HoB will perforate everything with the jacked up damage bonus before time bomb goes off and finishes what's left. Almost wanna roll up dp/devices myself since that sounds fun as hell to do.