P/P Thief was for me...

[Mouse.7382]

prob the most fun I've had playing a toon in many years of this game.

Been here since near the beginning and I've played nearly every class & spec.  Have done everything in this game, to the point of being bored (nothing to do).

So I decided last week to craft HOPE, and test out this Metabattle build for duel P/P Open World farm spec--and man, its just a fun spec to play.  I'm actually going through all maps just killing mobs, for no reason--just to chain kill trash with the 'pew pew' sound.

Sadly, tests on the training golem proved that this cannot be used in fractals/raids/champs etc---which is a kitten shame.

[Tails.9372]

If you like HOPE then you might also want to consider getting the other pistol skins with unique matching SFX. P/P actually used to be quite good at fighting champs but then A-Net felt like nerfing Invigorating Precition into the ground for no discernible reason. You can also expect to see further nerfs via collateral damage thanks to A-Nets crusade against DE.

[Doggie.3184]

P/P and P/D are in a very dire need to be buffed/improved~ even more-so with this weapon master stuff, because they have identical skill design to Rifle and Scepter/Pistol playstyles but weaker with less features than them both. Condi P/P doesn't even have another attack skill beyond the Stealth Attack and can't use the Deadly Aim trait because it's in critical strikes and can't dodge stealth in group play with fields everywhere. For Berserker the Stealth Attack is a DPS loss and they do low damage overall which is further lowered by the Deadly Aim trait for some reason.

P/D is just clunky~ forcing self-knockback and trying not to overshoot Repeater, wasting ini, and encouraging unfun animation canceling... and ultra single-target.

I have HOPE and Soo-Won Pistol and would love to be able to use them more but Thief Pistols have been a hollowed out shell since 2015 when they removed all it's traits without making any of it baseline. They used to have 1050 range and 50% chance to bounce on crits and were extremely fun. Plus damage has just scaled higher, leaving them behind. P/P are godlike on Engineer and will soon be Godlike on Guardian though; they will be nuking entire continents in a storm of flaming bullets for overpowered DPS that nothing could withstand. Good for them.

But I will continue spamming for Thief Mainhand Pistol buffs forever though as it's my favorite weapon.

Edited July 3, 2023 by Doggie.3184

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

On 7/3/2023 at 8:00 AM, Tails.9372 said:

If you like HOPE then you might also want to consider getting the other pistol skins with unique matching SFX. P/P actually used to be quite good at fighting champs but then A-Net felt like nerfing Invigorating Precition into the ground for no discernible reason. You can also expect to see further nerfs via collateral damage thanks to A-Nets crusade against DE.

CD sucks it needs a damage buff and pulse effect

Edited February 5 by Lithril Ashwalker.6230

[Dzheen.5291]

How, in my opinion, you can improve the pistol skills.

 

[SlayerXX.7138]

1 hour ago, Dzheen.5291 said:

How, in my opinion, you can improve the pistol skills.

I don't think it needs to be that complicated.  A simple damage buff on unload would do wonders. Something about: 0.4->0.47. So it does more then double tab, but less then triple burst. So double Pistol is the ini cheap mobile alternative to Rifle. Headshot and smoke field are enough to let double pistol stand out. Pistol dagger is just nerfed because they don't want people backporting in Instanced content. Don't think you can fix that without changing the dual attack.

Edited July 3, 2023 by SlayerXX.7138

[Azure The Heartless.3261]

On 7/3/2023 at 6:23 AM, Mouse.7382 said:

prob the most fun I've had playing a toon in many years of this game.

Been here since near the beginning and I've played nearly every class & spec.  Have done everything in this game, to the point of being bored (nothing to do).

So I decided last week to craft HOPE, and test out this Metabattle build for duel P/P Open World farm spec--and man, its just a fun spec to play.  I'm actually going through all maps just killing mobs, for no reason--just to chain kill trash with the 'pew pew' sound.

Sadly, tests on the training golem proved that this cannot be used in fractals/raids/champs etc---which is a kitten shame.

Try running a hybrid condi build that focuses on bleed. I run a sinister set with pistol pistol daredevil, and you can squeeze out more damage if you make sneak attack your predominant skill instead of unload. 

Also working on HOPE because pistol pistol is fun, and if something is fun and even marginally useful I tend to stick with it. 

Edited July 5, 2023 by Azure The Heartless.3261