Mister Raccoon's Shiny Munitions Guide (2019 Edition)

Discussion in 'Oracle’s Database (Guides)' started by Mister_Raccoon, Aug 16, 2019.

  1. Mister_Raccoon Well-Known Player

    Howdy once again, folks.
    This here is a followup to my previous, and now very outdated (circa 2015), Munitions Controller Guide.
    A lot has changed that benefits the controller role in general so we'll go over that but we're also going to cover a half-decent DPS loadout as well this time around.

    As always this guide assumes you already have a fundamental understanding of how your basic controller and DPS roles work as a matter of principle.

    Controller Discussion

    With that out of the way there's a few things I need to point out before we begin with the loadout and rotation stuffs.
    The crowd control of the Munitions Troll is not, in it's current state, going to be nearly as effective as the folks in the Quantum/Gadgets/Mental camps. Don't get me wrong, there's a couple of real stand-out powers, but if your expectation is to hold a whole group of mobs in place for the same extended periods of time you're going to be disappointed.

    I'm very biased when it comes to exactly how to play Munitions effectively and my strategy varies greatly between it's two roles. So this build is unorthadox in that it is focused on how to do what needs to be done very quickly while creating as little stress as possible for the Tank by avoiding certain powers. It'll all be clear soon, I promise.

    These days though, we no longer have to prioritize one debuff over another in our loadout. Every single power in your arsenal now also applies the PoT buff to yourself and nearby allies whereas before we might have had to swap between damage and healing debuffs dependent on the content we were playing. This means you can effectively have every possible debuff and any crowd control effect those debuff powers impart at your disposal for all content.

    The Loadout
    Shrapnel Grenade Launcher - Attack Debuff
    Smoke Grenade Launcher - Defense Debuff
    Multi-Net Launcher - Healing Debuff Flak Cannon - Attack Debuff
    Reload - Power Dump
    Survival - Detaunt/Utility
    Active Protection System (APS) - Supercharge group shield/Strong PoT

    Remember, the idea is to create less issues for the tank while nailing your Crowd Control (CC) effects and dumping as much power as you can all at once.

    Smoke Bomb actually has pretty decent crowd control, stuns a group in a good AoE, and does zero knockback. Basically everything you need in a debuff. The animation is short and sweet too so you should have time to get back to neutral and block if necessary.

    Shrapnel Grenade Launcher is your attack debuff and, not sure if due to recent changes or my meager dominance, it no longer knocks enemies back like it used to rather offering a hard knockdown to a small group of enemies. Its animation is also short and to the point.

    Multi-Net Launcher is GREAT crowd control in addition to the debuff. But if you're not careful it'll also pull enemies toward you if you hit the range attack button immediately after netting up the enemy. Unless that's what you want at the time, I guess. Beside the obvious strain it may put on your tank, it would really, really, really suck if you pulled in some heavy hitting adds at an inopportune time... so practice with this one a bit first. I almost wish this were the defense debuff instead of the health/regen debuff just because of the sheer satisfaction I get when I see a whole group of mobs being held uncomfortably in place by green nets a la Mortal Kombat's Cyrax.

    About Debuff Priority
    Typically when asked for debuffs, what they mean is defense. That's why smoke bomb should always be in your loadout. In my experience if a hit is going to one-shot someone, it's going to do it whether the damage debuff is applied or not. So it's only use, aside from the crowd control, really is to take some of the sting out of what the tank is taking.

    On the flip side, very few mobs will ever require a healing debuff making it's utility very situational. But the crowd control effect of them nets is nothing to take lightly. So I'd recommend it over the attack debuff unless you haven't mastered how NOT to pull mobs toward you.

    So in summation the debuff priority is Defense (Smoke) > Attack (Shrap) > Health/Regen (Nets)
    Although it's a good idea to have all of them applied, if you only have time/power for one or two, be sure to prioritize.

    Power Over Time
    You see, back in my day, we had to give up a debuff on the loadout -usually nets- to make room for an ability that's sole purpose was to provide PoT (Power over Time) to the group. It's that little lightning bolt up there in the corner where your buffs go. You know... that thing that should always be up.

    These days all of your debuffs and your power dump also apply PoT to the group. That little green lightning bolt should never be down for any longer than the animation between one power and the next. Make sure of it.

    Survival and YOU
    Survival seems like a wasted slot in a Controller loadout, eh? Not entirely so.
    Sometimes things get a little nuts. Sometimes you'll see your squadmates dropping around you for whatever reason. And sometimes the Controller is the only one removed from the heat of combat enough to react to this in a timely manner.

    That's when having a detaunt that prevents crowd control against you for a moment is invaluable. Countless times this move has allowed me to creep right into the thick of mobs to revive a tank. You never really realize just how useful it is till you find yourself in this situation without it.

    APS - Your Oh S#!T Button
    This should be obvious but that APS is the bee's knees, friends. Provides a sturdy shield for the entire group while pumping out rock solid PoT. Perfect for just about any emergency situation and an absolute life saver for helping to keep up the power supply of groups who tend to burn through power quickly as it gives you a chance to breathe and get your weapon combo up for longer-term power regen for yourself.

    Regenerating Your Own Power/Emergency Power Dumping
    Equally as important as providing power to the group is keeping your own power up so that you can use that to power the group. Unless things have changed your own power regen is tied to your combo tier. There are 4 such tiers indicated by the color of the combo number. White, blue, yellow, and the highest being orange.
    Lucky for us our debuffs also contribute to this combo. You don't always need to shoot for orange but you should hit the yellow tier whenever possible.

    Should you find your team fairly low on power normally the first reaction is to power dump with Reload. However, Reload doesn't contribute to your combo which means you'll be useless to your team in seconds if all you do is power dump. So try and incorporate reload into a weapon combo.

    What I normally do, with the hand blasters, is Reload, 2-3 ranged attacks, Reload. 2-3 ranged attacks, ect. Rinse and repeat until you've got your team back on the right track, power-wise.

    Artifacts

    Amulet of Rao and Parasite's Power Harness are absolute musts and for our third we'll be ditching the Claw of Aelkhund in exchange for the Entwined Rings of Azar since our loadout does not use a weapon buff.

    Power Harness gives your whole group power and a precision buff when you use debuffs and the effect stacks for each debuff applied. Amulet of Rao makes your debuffs and their cc effects stronger as well as allowing them to be applied to more targets. I would prioritize leveling Rao first.

    Entwined Rings allow you to heal the party for a percentage of your total Vit every time you power dump. It's not much but it also provides Vit bonuses as you level it up.

    DPS Discussion
    Now I know I spent a lot of time talking your ear off about making power choices that mitigate any potential hardships for the tank. Thankfully we don't have to worry about that so much on the DPS end since, as a damage dealer, your Dominance stat shouldn't be anywhere near high enough to interfere with any pulls the tank may have in play.

    The damage output of Munitions is heavily reliant on two things:
    1) Taking advantage of the burning power interaction.
    2) Positioning yourself to hit as many enemies as you possibly can with any given power.
    So the idea is to have one power which applies burning to a group and then making it rain bullets in a large area on that group to kill lots of enemies at once very quickly. As an added benefit, the Munitions DPS player can actually move freely about the battlefield in the middle of most of their attacks so you can adjust positioning as necessary. There's a lot of room for experimentation here but this is what has been working for me...

    The Loadout
    Railguns
    Five Barrel Mini Gun (5BMG)
    Chain Gun
    Big Gun
    .50 Cal
    Shrapnel Grenade Launcher

    So the average rotation looks something like
    Shrap (applies burn) > .50Cal > Railguns > 5BMG > Chain Gun > Railguns > 5BMG (burn should end in the middle of this move)
    You should use big gun after .50Cal to clear a group of trash mobs all at once. It's slightly less impressive against single targets but then the whole Power Set kind of is.

    Overall this is a pretty solid loadout for all content provided you practice positioning yourself to get the most bang from each power. Anything less is a waste of blue meter.

    You can actually crank up the damage by a fair degree if you invest in maxing out the Solar Amplifier artifact. You would then swap Shrapnel Grenade Launcher for the Iconic Power Heat Vision. At max level this artifact modifies Heat Vision to put out more damage and explodes on completion, applying massive damage and the burning effect to all enemies surrounding your target.

    There are a number of pros and cons to going this route though. For example, in order for this to even be a viable substitute for Shrap you absolutely have to max out the artifact which is time and resource consuming. On the flip side of that, having a maxed artifact imparts more than just it's unique ability on the user... the passive stat boosts provided are all actually very well geared toward people who like to use superpowers as their primary damage source as opposed to weapons. Heat Vision also has a pretty long startup time which makes it feel like kind of a waste against single targets.

    General Discussion
    I haven't done a ton of testing recently but Big Gun seems to be weaker than I remember. Either that or I've been spoiled by the Amplified Heat Vision provided by my max level solar amplifier. The effect is more or less the same without applying burning to the targets.

    I'm also really not that well versed in artifacts. I have the base ones that improve Controller performance (heals a bit on power dump, extra targets for debuffs/controls etc) but beyond investing into Solar Amplifier to experiment with DPS potential I can't personally attest to which are the "needed" artifacts. Anyone who would like to make their case is welcome to enlighten me. Will credit you if your insight is used to improve this guide.
  2. ObsidianChill Community "Trusted"


    Alot has changed for the controller role since stats revamp in regards to each controller role (and power in general) having a supercharge generator. With the controller powersets these are one of the debuff abilities and for munitions its Shrapnel Grenade Launcher. Without that ability on your loadout you are losing massive supercharge regeneration for your loadout and the advantages of running Flak Cannon are non existent as both powers still provide the knockdown CC and the stun that flak has will be instantly overwritten by any other ability or tank. Also in terms of rotation you would start with your supercharge generator as that will be the longest cooldown while you time to set up your next 2 debuffs to proc your gear and possible artifact buffs directly related to the debuffs.

    Also Mini-Nuke is no longer a debuff power..
    • Like x 2
  3. Mister_Raccoon Well-Known Player

    God I'm such an idiot sometimes.
    I had no idea they made shrapnel an attack debuff, taking the debuff away from nuke. IIRC shrap used to be what was your main burning PI application.

    Thanks for the correction!
  4. lieutenant Active Player

    Not 100% true people such as yourself need to learn to chain cc moves to make power usage more efficient for everybody instead of having your nose stuck in a score board to tell you how good you are at the game. Much like basketball numbers don’t tell you everything about the performance.
  5. Mister_Raccoon Well-Known Player


    I didn't mention anything about numbers or leaderboards or whatever. Did you even read this thing?
    I put great emphasis on doing what needs to be done, crowd control and all, without putting any strain on the tank as well as pointing out the neutral game stuff we can do to be helpful to our team such as being Johnny-on-the-spot for revives and observing the battlefield.
  6. Captain Cobolto New Player

    is there a breakdown of the dps done by skill? i haven't found a breakdown anywhere yet