Aim vs Tactics

[skoryy]

I've been thinking on a respec of my Rad/Atomic, since she makes a better Captain Atom analogue if she's flying instead of doing the speedster thing.  While I was working on that, I started thinking on swapping Aim for Tactics.  Against AVs and GMs, I'll alternate between using Aim and Ionize before the snipe in her chain but otherwise I rarely use Aim.  Tactics would give her a base 20% to hit bonus over her 6% now, I was wondering if it was worth it for more efficient quick form snipes or if I just should be using Aim more often.

Edited September 1, 2021 by skoryy

[Neogumbercules]

Just use Aim more often (and put the Guassians chance for build up proc in it). The to hit buff is nice, and the +damage is essential for a blaster. The proc just makes it into another build-up.

 

You can still take tactics too, but I wouldn't trade Aim for it. 

[Doomguide2005]

@skoryyHow are you coming up with Tactics giving you a base 20%.  Tactics is a base 10% To Hit for Blasters.  Are you taking a 6% adding a fully enhanced Tactics to it for ~20%

 

And what @Neogumberculessaid.

[skoryy]

1 hour ago, Neogumbercules said:

Just use Aim more often (and put the Guassians chance for build up proc in it). The to hit buff is nice, and the +damage is essential for a blaster. The proc just makes it into another build-up.

 

The Guassian proc is in Ionize to boost the nuke.   But yeah, I guess using Aim more often might be more useful, I was just curious which one was more net beneficial.

 

1 hour ago, Doomguide2005 said:

How are you coming up with Tactics giving you a base 20%.

 

40% To Hit enhancement plus the Kismet proc should get you to 20%, if I'm recalling correctly.

[Doomguide2005]

 

Quote

 

40% To Hit enhancement plus the Kismet proc should get you to 20%, if I'm recalling correctly.

Your base is 10% ... a 40%, well good news is  not effected by ED.  But 40% of 10 is 4 so the total would be a 14% To Hit buff and anything past 40 starts dealing with ED's diminishing returns.  Add in Kismet and you would be sitting at +20%.  To Hit enhancement is Schedule B

 

PS: Schedule A you can roughly double the base value (with 3 SOs worth).  Might be where your brain was pulling that amount.

Edited September 5, 2021 by Doomguide2005

[Shred Monkey]

I would check your to-hit numbers versus level 54 enemies and see if you're at the 95% cap without aim or tactics.  If you are, tactics won't help you unless you get debuffed.

 

Usually I try to get enough accuracy/tohit from my IOs to be at cap without tactics.  If I'm not able to achieve that, and then I'd take tactics, but it's pretty expensive on endurance.  I also generally put the Guassian's proc in Aim so I essentially have 2 build-ups and then I use them both before my nuke. 

[tidge]

For almost all content and circumstances: I prefer to have the Build Up / Aim power over Tactics (or the equivalent). If my Primary/Secondary allows both, I usually take both but delay the second until late in the build. For example, I find Chronos from /Time (for Blasters) to be superior to Aim, but occasionally (in high level content) I want Aim available when Chronos is down... I have Chronos recharging in ~22 secs, so this is about a 12 second window.

 

As noted by @skoryy the primary benefit is to hit the +22%(?) ToHit damage bonus on Fast Snipes. The actual accuracy/final to-hit is purely a secondary effect (barring considerations like enemy MoG, or PVP). The Aim/BuildUp boosts don't hurt other attacks of course.

 

Random thoughts I've posted elsewhere.

 

I also favor having the Gaussian's %BuildUp piece in the on-demand power for DPS ATs. If the player is surrounded by teammates and pets, it is possible to get more firings of the %proc (slotting it in Tactics, or equivalent), but IMHO this is not as reliable as just working on the DPS attack chains (including target selection). YMMV.

 

I like having the Kismet +Accuracy (really +ToHit) global for the same reason (e.g. fast Snipes)... the issue for me always comes down to finding the right power to put it in! The power has to be active for the +6% bonus to kick in. For Blasters, if can be a while before there is an applicable power. (Stalkers at least can put it in Hide, provided they toggle it on!) My experimenting with other ATs indicate that the Kismet bonus doesn't contribute if it is in an auto power and the auto power isn't available because of exemplaring. This shouldn't affect most (any?) Blasters.

Edited September 7, 2021 by tidge

[Seigmoraig]

You need to use Aim more often, it is a great boost to damage. Whenever I go for my T9 Nuke I pop Aim and Build Up for the extra boom factor 

[DreadShinobi]

I often skip aim on defenders as the tohit buff is typically irrelevant and the damage buff is only 50%. The major power slot comparison here is that in that slot for aim I can take assault for 18.75% dmg buff which is permanent and affects the whole team. Especially for my sonic blasting defenders that have low personal damage and focus on increasing team member dps, aim is not very significant. Defender base damage is low and often heavily supported by damage procs for their output (outside of sonic) which is not affected by damage buffs. This is the only archetype that I skip aim on and I would certainly not skip it on a blaster. 

Edited September 14, 2021 by DreadShinobi

[Cenozoic]

OP,

 

Both.  On Fire/Dev, I am running Targeting Drone + Tactics.  In theory, seems as overkill, but I can just mow through everything.  Aim helps with … reducing the standing population.  Tactics keeps the party going.  Much recommend.  Also Kismet +6% in Hover to make sure stay at 95% ToHit against 54s, even when their defense is up.

 

Accuracy > Damage