I love DP but can't choose a secondary!

[Dzuh]

Hello! this is my first post to the forums. I love this game a lot and Dual Pistols has fully taken my heart, so I was wondering if there's any less common DP builds people would recommend? I'm currently levelling both a DP/MC and a DP/Nint and while i really enjoy both of them, I'm not entirely conviced about the secondary. Would really appreciate some suggestions!

 

Also interested in any DP builds people use for +4x8 or other end game stuff, even if theyre /MC or /Nint! I'm brand new so direction would help a bunch. Cheers!

[Coyote]

Time is a good secondary. And you could call the character Bullet Time 😉

[UltraAlt]

Well, I'm a character conception player.

What kind of dual pistol character conception are you trying to go with?

I could suggest a secondary based on that.

 

Including what you are planning on making your character look like helps me as well.

Have a backstory? (could be clue in there as well)

 

But, if you are power-leveling to 50 (which there is a slight reference to this being the case), then don't bother with my questions.

By power-leveling, you are blowing off the game to get what was stuck on the end of it.

Developing a character as you level up tends to make more sense if you are playing the game as you level.

Also, leveling give you time to get the feel of powers as you advance, a sense of reward as you "ding" to level, and, as far as I know, there is still far more content pre-level 50 than there is post level 50 (unless of course, you Ouroboros to go back and do all that pre-level 50 content!)

[Dzuh]

47 minutes ago, UltraAlt said:

Well, I'm a character conception player.

What kind of dual pistol character conception are you trying to go with?

I could suggest a secondary based on that.

 

Including what you are planning on making your character look like helps me as well.

Have a backstory? (could be clue in there as well)

I've never really thought much about concepts or backstory honestly; I tried out a whole bunch of combinations based on other MMOs I've played and Dual Pistols just felt the nicest to me mechanically. Not planning on PLing to 50, i don't even have 1 character there lmao

[brasilgringo]

DP/Elec would bring some good PBAOE mitigation in Force of Thunder and Thunderstrike (both doing KD, assuming you slot the KB->KD IOs) to support DP functioning well as an up-close PBAOE type blast set.  Each of those powers in Elec also has a better radius than Dragon's Tail.   You'd just have to get used to having Electric powers besides guns. 

 

What's nice about /MC is you can slot a lot of FF+ recharge procs that help you get your DP PBAOEs back up sooner.  Plus it looks cool lol.

That said, I really like Elec's mitigation.   See recent /elec blaster threads.

[Carnifax]

Quote

Time is a good secondary. And you could call the character Bullet Time 😉

 

My DP/Kin corrupter wishes you luck getting that name. I had to make do with Bullitt Time 🙂

 

DP/Temporal will work well. Temporal is a decent all-rounder and its "secondary effect" is more recharge which is nice. The single target attacks are nice and snappy, which DP likes and DP doesn't mind being in close for "BreakdanceOfBullets" (and rain of bullets).

 

NRG got buffed recently so that may be worth a look too. 

Edited January 12, 2021 by Carnifax

[icepir8]

I've got a dp/martial blapper that's tons of aoe and fun. I felt it fit my concept better than nin, and I wasn't too impressed with the critical aspect of nin like I thought I'd be. I can only do +3x8 farms though. Very flashy.

 

43% def to melee, 42% to ranged. 65% res to s/l and like 45%res nrg/neg. I didn't want to just S/L cap, because although I often hear most attacks in the game are s/l based, I always seem to get stomped in any content that isn't council if I try that route.

Edited January 12, 2021 by icepir8

[Hyperstrike]

41 minutes ago, Carnifax said:

 

My DP/Kin corrupter wishes you luck getting that name. I had to make do with Bullitt Time 🙂

 

But at least you get the cool car!

[Dzuh]

47 minutes ago, brasilgringo said:

What's nice about /MC is you can slot a lot of FF+ recharge procs that help you get your DP PBAOEs back up sooner.

gonna be honest, i have no idea what "FF+ recharge procs" are lool. i'm assuming PBAoE is point blank AoE?

[BrandX]

Love Dual Pistols, but as I've kept finding, on Blasters, for some reason, I don't have as much fun as Dual Pistols on Corruptors, Defenders and Sentinels.  Yet some how I've enjoyed my BR/Energy and Archery/Tactical Blasters.

 

I have thought about a DP/Tactical Blaster, ignoring the first Arrow attack completely (maybe an IO set mule) and going for Gymnastics and Eagle Eye.  😛

[Dzuh]

2 minutes ago, BrandX said:

Love Dual Pistols, but as I've kept finding, on Blasters, for some reason, I don't have as much fun as Dual Pistols on Corruptors, Defenders and Sentinels.

ngl i didnt even know you could take Dual Pistols on other classes. I'd love to give that a go if you have any suggestions? 

[brasilgringo]

38 minutes ago, Dzuh said:

gonna be honest, i have no idea what "FF+ recharge procs" are lool. i'm assuming PBAoE is point blank AoE?

It's an IO set called Force Feedback and one of the IOs in that set, the proc, gives added recharge to all your powers for (I think) 5 seconds when it procs. But the value of added recharge is insanely high, like 100% extra recharge.  It fits in powers that usually do knockback.  See below.

 

(Yes, PBAOE is point blank area of affect, like Hail of Bullets or say Dragon's Tail.)

 

Here's my DP/MC build for example.  See the last IO in Dragon's Tail, Storm Kick, and Bullet Rain.  When it procs, which is a fair amount, it will massively increase your recharge for a short period which has great benefits for DP for your nuke and for Bullet Rain.   Other powers in other sets, like Force of Thunder and Thunderstrike in /Elec, also accept it.  And Golden Dragonfly in /Ninja.  It's also available as a relatively low-level IO set meaning you can slot it early pre-50.  One of the reasons I spam Storm Kick, as well as Bullet Rain and Dragon's Tail on my DP/MC is to get the proc as much as possible so it helps the recharge of my (PB)AOEs and other powers.

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Edited January 12, 2021 by brasilgringo

[Carnifax]

1 hour ago, Dzuh said:

ngl i didnt even know you could take Dual Pistols on other classes. I'd love to give that a go if you have any suggestions? 

DP/Kinetics corruptor is hilarious. Zip in, Fulc Shift and then death by 1000 bullets. 

 

Dual pistols doesn't mind being in close, kinetics demands it. Other corruptor or defender sets which like being close : Time (you have an aura which debuffs the ToHit of anyone close). Nature & Rad (you have an aura which randomly holds stuff). Nature is more buffing, Rad has some nasty debuffs. Traps tends to find itself in close too to drop it's nasty pressies. 

 

 

 

[oldskool]

1 hour ago, BrandX said:

Love Dual Pistols, but as I've kept finding, on Blasters, for some reason, I don't have as much fun as Dual Pistols on Corruptors, Defenders and Sentinels.  Yet some how I've enjoyed my BR/Energy and Archery/Tactical Blasters.

 

I have thought about a DP/Tactical Blaster, ignoring the first Arrow attack completely (maybe an IO set mule) and going for Gymnastics and Eagle Eye.  😛

I feel much the same way.  I tend to prefer Dual Pistols on anything other than Blasters.  
 

1 hour ago, Dzuh said:

ngl i didnt even know you could take Dual Pistols on other classes. I'd love to give that a go if you have any suggestions? 

Dual Pistols is an underrated attack set that can often be tossed into the discard bin.  

Blasters, in particular, are a hyper focused damage archetype.  Blasters excel at leveraging burst damage and really just damage in many forms.  Dual Pistols lacks a snipe power which is a large burst damage attack as it exists in other sets.  Also, the T9 power for Dual Pistols (Hail of Bullets) has a long-ish animation time that puts you into melee range.  That long animation can hinder the high burst damage concept some folks go for.  

None of that is to turn you off of playing with Dual Pistols on a Blaster.  You do you.  However, you may come to find that a lot of players like to make their Blasters as ranged-only specialists.  If one goes down that path, then Dual Pistols can be a bit disappointing vs some other sets.  This loops back into the lack of snipe and long animation of the T9.  A T9 which happens to put you into a position you may not wish to be.  

So taking that opinion you can start to look at how other ATs function.  Defenders can bring some damage but that isn't what their role is about.  Their role is about making other players do moar damage.  Yeah, there are exceptions, kinda, but this is the general idea.  Dual Pistols has an entire mechanic designed around swapping ammo to grant various effects.  Effects like lowered damage mitigation of your enemy (standard ammo on certain attacks) or lowering their damage output (chemical ammo on almost all attacks).  Defenders happen to have the highest possible modifiers for this purpose which can potentially make this set really flexible if you want to explore that playstyle.  

Corruptors are very similar to the Defender as they both have access to supportive sets.  The Corruptor just makes that a secondary effect vs a primary effect.  Corruptors have the second highest modifiers for all of the alternative effects that Dual Pistols have.  So this is a somewhat happy medium between doing damage and bringing some team support.  

Sentinels do not have access to the full range of damage dealing powers that Blasters do NOR does that AT have the same base modifiers.  However, the Sentinel is conceptually the kind of AT that can sit back and pew pew with impunity.  I personally feel that Dual Pistols is far more successful on the Sentinel for this kind of play than it is on the Blaster.  I know that there will no shortage of folks willing to argue this, but I really do have my reasons for it.  

Now, back to Blasters.  So since the Blaster version of Dual Pistols lacks a snipe and it has a melee final power, the Blaster version here can excel as a close quarters combatant.  This is what is often known as the "Blapper".  The Blapper is the kind of Blaster that isn't too afraid to mix it up into melee like a Scrapper might (Blaster + Scrapper, right?).  

Dual Pistols can be a highly effective Blapper.  You can choose to skip certain long animation powers (e.g., Piercing Rounds) and substitute that with melee attacks.  This can create a fairly fluid sequence of attacks built around the attack "Pistols" and "Executioner's Shot".  You can then opt to skip almost everything else, except for your ranged area attacks like Bullet Rain, and leverage high damage melee instead.  Note, Sentinels *can* do this eventually, but it isn't nearly as effective at the moment.  Sentinels are just more comfortable at sitting back to pew pew.  

Pairing Dual Pistols with other Blaster secondaries known to be good Blapper sets is a worthwhile way to go.  For me, this means I make a character where I don't feel like I am ignoring half the kit and try to find a balance between the two.  

Unfortunately, Blapping isn't really for the faint of heart.  It isn't for everyone.  I probably wouldn't recommend it to a new player, but once you get the hang of it the concept feels incredibly powerful.  This playstyle can get a lot safer the later one gets in the build process AND with a significant level of investment into the Invention system.  So it can be rather advanced.  

Synergistic sets for Corruptors and Defenders are any sets that bring resistance reduction.  So there is a rather long list of that.  Really, any of the top tier supportive sets (e.g., Radiation Emission, Dark Miasma, Time, Cold, etc...) have something in their kit that works well with the Swap Ammo system.  

For Sentinels, any of the more self-contained defensive secondaries (e.g., Invulnerability, Super Reflexes, Energy Aura, etc.) can allow for some damage exploration that other pairings just lack.  

For Blasters, there is a world is your oyster view, and you're going to find a lot of worthwhile recommendations here. 

[Apparition]

Dual Pistols/Sonic Manipulation Blaster.  Sonic Manipulation has a toggle which lowers the damage resistance of everyone in melee range.  Since Dual Pistols likes being in melee range, go right on in there, let Disruption Aura soften the bad guys up, Hail of Bullets, and then Deafening Wave to finish off whatever is still standing.  Mmm, toasty.

[Dzuh]

32 minutes ago, oldskool said:

Post

i think i love you. thank you so so much for so much good info!! I'll probably look into Blapping once I get better at the game bc I tend to spend most of my time in melee range anyway without thinking about it, but a Defender DP sounds really sweet and I'll definitely give Corrupter a go too. ❤️

[oldskool]

2 minutes ago, Dzuh said:

i think i love you. thank you so so much for so much good info!! I'll probably look into Blapping once I get better at the game bc I tend to spend most of my time in melee range anyway without thinking about it, but a Defender DP sounds really sweet and I'll definitely give Corrupter a go too. ❤️

You're welcome!  Really happy I could guide a new comer towards the wonderful world of Blapping.  You may experience a lot of defeats early on, but that is also part of a long standing joke tradition of Blasters earning debt badges.  

Dual Pistols is my favorite ranged attack set precisely due to its flexibility.  Not ever power has the same level of value universally across all archetypes.  For example, Piercing Rounds can kinda suck for damage on some builds.  However, Defenders can really leverage the default resistance debuff it comes with (standard ammo is when you don't run any of the elemental types).  This is because Piercing Rounds for Defenders grants the maximum -20% resistance shred that the power is capable of.  For Corruptors that is -15%.  For Blasters and Sentinels that is -9.6%.  That -20% works with other powers that also reduce resistance like Tar Patch in Dark Miasma.  

Using Dual Wield for its knockback potential has a bit more value on Blasters than it might on a Sentinel.  Suppressive Fire can be completely converted into a damage power on Defenders with relative ease.  It is by default a better damage power on Sentinels.  On Blasters that power can either be skipped, used as a hold, or used creatively like on Defenders and so on.  

Loads of potential for lots different types of gameplay to explore.  Have fun!

[brasilgringo]

On the topic of other ATs with DP, there was a pretty cool TA/DP build posted on the defender forums right after i27 dropped, from what I recall. I used it as the basis for my TA/Archery def (changing a few things from DP->Archery).  Worth taking a look at.  Let me see if I can find it.  Yep, it's the first post in this thread:

 

[Nemu]

DP goes pretty well with everything.

 

On theme DP/MC is screams the matrix and it works well too. Don't under-estimate reaction time, slows like that screw with enemy AI and are very effective at slowing down incoming damage. Inner will can be life saver at clutch moments and it's ability to break mez is unique among blaster secondaries. If you want to try your hand at melee blasting this is a good entry point.

 

Poison/DP defenders work really well too for stacking -dmg. You can really neuter mob damage with that combo and defenders can benefit a lot from damage procs to keep their damage competitive enough for both solo and team content. This will play a lot like DP/MC blasters, the combo wants you to be next to foes to neuter them.

 

Those two would be my recommendations. If you can play a squishy AT in melee you can play anything in this game.

[brasilgringo]

43 minutes ago, Nemu said:

On theme DP/MC is screams the matrix and it works well too. Don't under-estimate reaction time, slows like that screw with enemy AI and are very effective at slowing down incoming damage. Inner will can be life saver at clutch moments and it's ability to break mez is unique among blaster secondaries. If you want to try your hand at melee blasting this is a good entry point.

 

True dat. My big "discovery" with /MC was setting Inner Will to auto and manually triggering Hasten.  That way, the second you are held or fall below the health trigger for Inner Will, it will go off automatically.

[UltraAlt]

13 hours ago, Dzuh said:

I've never really thought much about concepts or backstory honestly; I tried out a whole bunch of combinations based on other MMOs I've played and Dual Pistols just felt the nicest to me mechanically. Not planning on PLing to 50, i don't even have 1 character there lmao

If you have just been playing blasters, then I would suggest creating a Sentinel. 

Sentinels can use  dual pistols.

[kelika2]

pistol/fire for blazing aura and hot feet while you are animating rain or hail, and to explain fire rounds

pistol/ice for reasons, ice stomp just got some moderate damage added to it, and to explain ice rounds

(corr) pistol/poison for poison, and to explain toxic rounds

pistol/energy because minimalist secondary.  all i used was BU and Energize

pistol/time for that pbaoe cold burst after hail

pistol/psi to have another cone attack to go with empty clips, and wail for another hail follow up

[Dzuh]

11 hours ago, Nemu said:

Poison/DP defenders work really well too for stacking -dmg. You can really neuter mob damage with that combo and defenders can benefit a lot from damage procs to keep their damage competitive enough for both solo and team content. This will play a lot like DP/MC blasters, the combo wants you to be next to foes to neuter them.

Yo this sounds super cool, definitely giving this one a go! Thank you so much!

[Crysis]

On 1/12/2021 at 9:15 AM, Coyote said:

Time is a good secondary. And you could call the character Bullet Time 😉

Agreed, but I went with “Muzzle Velocity.”

 

As much as you can with the build, try to focus a DP blaster on softcapping defense for S/L and close to soft cap for Melee defense.  Time will help with this but you can also get there with others like /Martial or /Ninja.  HoB will give you a few seconds of boosted DEF to help you trigger the payload in center of spawn, assuming you have a stealth power to get in close like that.  I like /Ninja because of the stealth and nice melee sword attacks.  /Time has a mini nuke in there as well.  HoB followed by another mini nuke or AOE is a great spawn clearing combo.

[brasilgringo]

49 minutes ago, Crysis said:

Agreed, but I went with “Muzzle Velocity.”

 

As much as you can with the build, try to focus a DP blaster on softcapping defense for S/L and close to soft cap for Melee defense.  Time will help with this but you can also get there with others like /Martial or /Ninja.  HoB will give you a few seconds of boosted DEF to help you trigger the payload in center of spawn, assuming you have a stealth power to get in close like that.  I like /Ninja because of the stealth and nice melee sword attacks.  /Time has a mini nuke in there as well.  HoB followed by another mini nuke or AOE is a great spawn clearing combo.

Agreed. and If you put a +recharge FF proc in Bullet Rain and your secondary PBAOE you can fire those right after HOB and if/when the proc goes off, it helps get HOB back up a lot faster.