Munitions: A preliminary guide/discussion

***Updated 10/23/15***

If you're new to power and just looking for a quick loadout: I recommend you hit KI, then just cycle through Rails, 5BM, and Chain Gun. It's impossible to screw up and does decent damage in all situations. Consider this the RSF of munitions.
Intro
Listen up, maggots! This is a makeshift guide on Munitions, primarily focusing on PvE dps utilizing the AM "Bullet Frenzy". I am simply giving what advice I can, while sharing info given from other Munitions players. Please use this guide to get your bearings, and then try a couple of things on your own and let us know how you do. This is a collaborative guide, so your input will only make this better.

DPS Discussion
Buffs and Mechanics - There are a lot of buffs and names that tend to overlap. So let's clarify them.

Killer Instincts (KI): Simply a Might (+15% Might, despite the UI error stating a flat 15 Might) and Crit Chance (+10% to both powers and weapons) buff for 12s. In DPS role, this also activates Eye of the Tiger. Note, this cannot be "instaclipped" with any sort of trinket or consumable (as far as I have seen). Also very important, this buff is NOT reapplied by AM abilities. You need to keep this on cooldown.

Eye of the Tiger (ET): This is activated by KI or Survival while in DPS role. While this is active (shown by the bandana), your AM abilities return power over time (not 100% but close). This is reapplied by every AM ability as long as you keep the AM going, assuming ET is already active on you (bandana is already on you). Remember: Bandana = AM, not your might buff KI.

Bullet Frenzy: This is the AM aka the thing that makes you do way more damage with your AM powers. This is activated by using at least 3 AM abilities over at least 4 seconds. So if you cycle through 3 or 4 powers before 4 seconds is up, you will drop the AM buff. If you try to just use two long abilities that take over 4 seconds to cycle through, the AM buff will drop. It is important to recognize the difference between this and KI/ET. You can be wearing the bandana and NOT be using the AM (increased damage), and you can also be NOT wearing the bandana and still use the AM if you chose to do so.

Power Interactions or PIs: Long story short: Do not worry about them. Your damage once in AM IS NOT BUFFED BY HAVING A PI APPLIED. PIs will buff your damage ONLY if you are not using the AM. To make this very clear: You do NOT necessarily need a burning or graviton charged PI applicator in your loadout.

Distance: Munitions does better damage based on proximity (risk vs reward). Penryn had a great post about this:

AM DPS Abilities - Here we'll discuss our options within the AM. I will list them in descending order (highest DPS to lowest DPS). Basically, the quicker the attack, the better the DPS. I suppose the trade off is more power consumption = more dps.

Splosion: Instant PBAOE (point blank area of effect). Basically, time your attacks so that you can move in, drop this, then move out while blasting away with the rest of your rotation. It also damages objects.

50 Cal: Targeted small radius (same as Splosion) burst aoe (One hit after 1.5 sec channel, then 12 second burning dot for 12 small ticks). I personally do not use this that much, but is a good substitute for when using Splosion consistently is impossible. The DOT damage is negligible.

Chain Gun (CG): Long range, wide arc aoe (3 ticks, 2s). All 2s attacks do about the same damage. Use this if you like a wide arc that also damages objects. It's also towards the the top of the tree, so it's accessible. Kind of makes me think I'm Scarface.

Shrapnel Grenade Launcher (SGL): Targeted wide area AOE (2 hits, 2s). All 2s attacks do about the same damage, but this one seems to edge all the others on my tests. It's quick and bursty, and is lovely when it crits. Use this for the burstiness, a very wide radius, and the sparklies.

Rocket Launcher (RL): Targeted small radius aoe (4 hits, 2s). All 2s attacks do about the same damage. Use this one if you're trying to focus on a particular target as it has a small attack radius and will go through mobs in between you and your target. Also use this if you enjoy rocket launchers. Cause... rockets.

Partical Gun (PG): Targeted small radius aoe (3 hits, 2s). All 2s attacks do about the same damage. Use this one if you're trying to focus on a particular target as it has a small attack radius and will go through mobs in between you and your target. This also does WAY more damage if you sing the ghost busters theme while you use it (note: no it does not).

Railguns (Rails): Long range, medium arc sustained aoe (4 ticks, 2.5s). This does similar DPS to 5BM (maybe a hair more), but with a slightly smaller arch. I think this attack looks and sounds awesome.

Five Barrel Minigun (5BM): Long range, wide arc sustained aoe (5 ticks, 2.5s). This does roughly the same DPS as Rails, but Rails always seems to edge it slightly on my test. 2nd top DPS. Its cone is wider than Rails, and is the same cone as CG (below).

Super Charges

Mounted Turret: Long range, wide arc sustained 25% SC (12 hits, 3s). This does very poor AOE damage, and its ST damage is about on par with Rails. However, there is a defensive component, and is actually part of the AM. I don't think these reasons are enough to justify the low DPS however.

Biggun: Probably OP, and the one you will likely be using most of the time. 1 hit targeted aoe burst. It can destroy "minion" type mobs instantly (or at least do a ton of damage), but if you use this on a large group after a buff or two, you will see ridiculous numbers. I find many people use this to pad their stats. It can be very practical however when "doo doo" hits the fan and there are a ton of adds that need to get gone quick.

APS: This is "the troller supercharge", but if I want to give the raid extra support I'll toss it on my bar every now and again.


Other utility options - Not part of AM but still nifty.

Chain Grenade Launcher (CGL): Instant hit on target, then explodes and hits everything around your target twice, and setting a burning 12s dot. This is clippable by KI and does good damage for an instant burst, but overall doesn't add much to DPS when using it to clip with KI when it is off cooldown. I DO use this in PvP as it goes well with WM.

Survival: This detaunts, absorbs damage, and gives you the Eye of the Tiger (power return) buff. Great to have to help out with pick ups in a raid.

Robo Sidekick: Our old friend that we love to hate. But hey. Free dps.

Rocket Retreat: Pbaoe burst (weak) and throws you back 10m or so from your target. Use right after Splosion for a safe retreat that damages, but I don't think it's worth the time. Still fun.

DPS Guide (10/14/15)
How Roomba DPSes:

1. CG
2. RL
3. 50 Cal
4. Splode
5. Biggun
6. KI

Simplified Melee/Midrange Rotation:
CG > RL > 50/Splode(/KI)

Slightly Harder Melee rotation:
RL > 50 Cal/Splode(/KI when it is off cooldown) > RT

Super important note about the rotation above: Allow that full RT animation, as it helps you fulfill the AM timing requirements. If you do this rotation too quickly, you will undo the AM and go back to doing awful damage.

Range Rotation:
CG>RL>50 Cal (/KI when it is off cooldown). Note, this is obviously the simplified rotation above, youre just not using splosion since... you know you can't use it at range and stuff.

**Skimming makes moving while DPSing so, so easy.
RT = range tap
/ = clip

Trolling
Detailed troll guide:
https://forums.daybreakgames.com/dc...accoons-shiny-munitions-troller-guide.261227/

Quick and dirty troll guide:
Chain Grenade- Pot
Reload - Dump
Smoke Grenade - Def debuff/ aoe stun
Multi Net - aoe stun, ST pull, aoe pull, heal debuff. wow. wow. best ability in the world
Survival - Detaunt/dmg absorb. Sometimes I use Mini Nuke because I love the animation lol
APS - Your group shield SC

Please add your experiences and input. Please do not hesitate to point out any mistakes or anything I may be missing

Would love a troll guide here if anyone wants to type one up. I'll copy/paste and credit whoever submits it.

Would love a PvP guide here if anyone wants to type one up. I'll copy/paste and credit whoever submits it.

Snip. Useless parses. Oh. But here. Here's a good one actually. Just found it.



THIS DOES NOT REPRESENT AN OPTIMAL ROTATION. I simply did KI then cycled 5BM, CG, and SGL.

5 minute parse on 8 target dummies in league hall, in "near" range. Note that 5BM is a clear winner in AoE situations compared to the other two I have been on the fence about. Now let's see how they compare in ST. (will post this later)

DPS ROTATION PARSES

Note: All parses performed with the same spec (down to 50 cal, down to KI, down to shrap gren launcher, down to splosion, only the 3% crit chance inate, for simple purpose of not wanting to respec between tests), from same distance, targeting center most target, and each run is roughly 40s long. I agree that 40s is not ideal, but neither are target dummies.

The rotations was simple: CG (chain grenade)/KI > Mini > Rails > X (whatever I was testing). Hitting CG/KI whenever KI came off cooldown.

Again this is not ideal, but may be representative of an "average" rotation. It was important to standardize it for testing purposes.



AE Parses

50 Cal


Rocket Launcher


Chaingun


Shrapnel Grenade Launcher


Particle Gun


50 Splode:


SINGLE TARGET ROTATIONS

50 Cal


Rocket Launcher


Chain gun


Shrap


Particle


Splodey Splode



50 Splode:

Reserved. I would like some PvP input. I do not PvP in this game that much, but would love to post feedback from others here

hope you dont mind man imma try you loadouts

Im not that great at putting loadouts together myself.

atm Im using:

killer instinct, rail guns, biggun, 50 cal, chain gun, rocket launcher

but I usually go:

KI/50 > rail > chain > rocket launcher > 50 cal


with this I see anywhere from 15k-30k this is with 7650 might / 163sp / all synthetics

and my biggun I've hit for 40k and highest has been 70k so far, but that was in like the WoTL2 solo on metallo lol

Here are some ST DPS parses. You can interpret the data as you will. Each power was just used in simple succession. All testing done from point blank melee range. Each parse is roughly 2-3 minutes

NOTE: Some animations are indeed slightly shorter, but these graphs do also represent overall DPS as well. I was just too lazy to post both sets of pictures. I will do so later on.

This is an AOE parse from target dummies.



What I thought was interesting about this is Notice shrapnel greande launcher (a 3rd tier ability) had lower dmg than rocket launcher (a tier 2 ability) despite roughly 33% higher crit rate during this run.




This time all crit % about equal, and RL is clearly over shrap.

I get it that it has a wider aoe than rocket, but this is still no excuse. If others are having similar results, then THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE

I can't stress enough how much I wish there was another AM burning PI applicator other than 50 cal........

Yo, what do you think this the bet munitions single target/boss fight loadout and what's the the best aoe/trash killing loadout?

Wow. So. Apparently once Bullet Frenzy kicks in, it doesn't matter whether or not the according PI is on or not. So you don't need to worry about PIs. At all. yayyyyyy.

Loadout for everything:

Mini , Rails , Shrap (you could use Chaingun, but this one is prettier :X) , Splosion, VARIABLE, KI

VARIABLE = Rocket retreat OR Biggun OR Detaunt OR whatever

But if nothing is burning you don't get additional damage. Is this really the best load out

Good question. Wondering this too.

Neither of you read that post I guess.

Once the AM kicks in, it does not matter if you have a burning PI going or not. The AM damage does not receive bonuses. It is the same damage with or without the AM. Again, your first few hits WITHOUT the AM might be buffed by the PI, but once the AM kicks in there is absolutely no difference.

Try it out

I read the post just wasn't sure what mullet frenzy meant. Thanks for the clarification. And splosion really isn't that optimal for t6 raids. Bosses either have large aoes that force you to play range or have massive soon attacks. It really doesn't make sense why the devs would make a in your face power when the game doesn't cater to that sought of play style.

My Toon is still lower level so I don't have the 60% damage tactical mod yet. Would you happen to know if the damage modifiers affect the AM's damage (like Railgun's and Chaingun's 35%)?

@ Roomba. You do realize this is a new power. As in we haven't had access to it to know every detail. Thought you started this for pointers, not to be condescending. Thanks.

Did you measure the time it takes to cast each power? I haven't done so myself, but in leveling a toon it seems that Shrap has a shorter duration. If it is indeed shorter then it still might have better Dps despite the lower damage. Of course this is if you didn't already take this into account, which is why I ask, or if it is actually shorter.

Hello everyone,

I'm not sure, but it seems to me that you're trying to apply Advanced Interaction AM (Advanced mechanic) strategy to a Mobile Focused Attacks AM power.

Advanced Interaction AM powers such as Quantum, Gadgets, and Mental have the power back mechanic AND damage modifiers. I don't believe Mobile Focused Attacks AM powers such as Fire, Ice, and Munitions have the damage modifiers, but they do have the power back mechanic.

FYI: D.O.T. (Damage Over Time) AM also has a power return mechanic, but not as powerful as Advanced Interaction AM or Mobile Focused Attacks AM