The Cutting Edge Gadgets Guide

I wouldn't consider that a separate playstyle to specifically build around.

A loadout like that would consist of powers with significantly different cooldowns such as Cryo-Field (12s), Stasis Field (6s), EMP (3s), Implosion Mine (1.5s), Napalm Grenade (0.5s) so that you'd use the lower cooldown powers multiple times before the longer cooldown powers are usable again.

In the end it's still a rotation, just one with mismatched cooldowns.

My loadout (melee 0m-7m) with good numbers is: Implosion Mine/Thermite Mine/Cyro-Field/EMP Pulse/Whirling Dervish/Supercharge.

Or also....

Implosion Mine/Thermite Mine/Stealth (Fear Gas)/EMP Pulse/Whirling Dervish/Supressor Turret.

Would anyone mind giving me some tips for Gadgets? I just returned to the game, and was Sorcery, but it felt underwhelming and I saw on here that Gadgets was a good power, and I used to really enjoy it, so I switched to it. Now my problem is, I was doing more damage as Sorcery, is Sorcery better than Gadgets, or am I just bad with Gadgets? Admittedly I'm having problems with the Stealth mechanic, and it feels like a lot of work for very little return, compared to when I was using Sorcery.

Can't help you if you don't give any details. What's your playstyle? What loadout, rotation, stat build are you using? What content is this build for? etc etc

Sorry, was about to head to work so that was very vague. I don't really have a preference as far as play style, the only thing I don't really enjoy is switching to Stealth, it feels really buggy and is just overall a chore for me, so I guess what I'm asking is, is there any viable loadout without using Stealth, but can still put out a lot of damage? As for content it's for end game content, and build I was using I don't know off the top of my head, but I believe it was Gauss Grenade, Fear Gas, Stealth, Implosion Mine, Surpressor Turret, EMP Pulse, and Stealth had Cryo-Foam, Suppressor Turret, Asphyxiation Gas, and Surprise Attack.

Stealth isn't necessary at all, I don't use it in most of my builds. It's best on single targets or when you want the extra loadout space or when you want the detaunt/shield from it.

For general purpose DPS, since you are already using Implosion Mine I guess you're building for melee. You should look into Thermite Mine (instead of Napalm), Cryo-Field (instead of Foam) and EMP (maybe instead of Fear Gas but definitely in addition to Implosion Mine). Those are all melee ranged and deal decent damage, so consider if and how any of these fit into your rotation.

Are you playing from the tray or do you use weapons? Either way if you adjust your loadout with Cryo-Field and/or EMP in particular you'll need to reevaluate your Power consumption and consider cutting Turret (which is a bad idea on any PftT build anyway) and maybe downgrading some of the more expensive powers to less expensive ones.

I haven't been using weapons as they feel really underwhelming since the revamp. As far as building for melee, I really don't mind ranged or melee, would honestly rather play whichever puts out more damage, and whichever is more efficient. I'm glad I can get rid of the Turret as I don't really feel like it does much whenever it's out, and I forget to summon it a lot of the time because of the self destruction.

The Turret trashes your passive Power regen so if you're using lots of Power then it holds you back. Implosion Mine is the one most efficient ability we have since it's a 100 cost but its damage even beats Vortex Cannon. Basically you'll have the greatest damage potential in melee range and the powers I mentioned (IMine, EMP, CField, Vortex, TMine) are the ones that are optimized for that.
I recommend TMine with these since it's low cost as well, with decent damage for the cost, and sets up burning so that CField+IMine won't freeze everything you hit. It will also break encasements in case you do freeze something.
If you use Vortex, keep in mind that it reacts to Daze so you'd want to have a Daze setter on your bar (for example Stasis Field).

Since you're going to spec for full Might anyway I'd also consider building for SC with the matching head mod and Scrap of the Soul Cloak as your second artifact. The SC return from the head mod stacks with the SC buff of the artifact so every time you use your SC you're going to instantly restore quite a lot of that. Bunker Buster gives you the highest impact but Asphyxiation Gas (and Neo-Venom Boost) give you more consistency (since you can use them more often).

Crimson, do you really find Turret wrecks your regen?

I use Cryo Field, iMine, Gauss, EMP & Turret & I don't have any power issues, but that's with filling out my might/power stat. I have a low level gadgets villain though I'm levelling up while not much else going on so if it does cause issues I may drop Turret on him.

As an aside, my electric alt was in a super quick seasonal run with you this morning. I switched to heal but needn't have bothered as Freeze was down in about the time it took my shield to come off cooldown

See you're using IMine and Gauss which are both 100 cost so your rotation isn't all that expensive:

• Cryo-Field: 300/12s = 25/s
• EMP = 3*300/12s = 75/s
• Gauss/IMine = 9*100/12s = 75/s
• total = 125/s

Pretty cheap for a PftT rotation, that's the advantage Gadgets has in melee with Cryo-Field and IMine which are both really efficient.

It's a fact that Turret (and Robo Sidekick) decreases your passive Power regen so you just need to be careful with it. Not saying it can't work in a PftT rotation because clearly it can if you either have a cheap rotation or constant battery Troll support.

If you want to judge the impact it has on your particular build then compare your time-to-dry with and without the turret. Personally I think any rotation that runs dry in less than 30 seconds is too expensive, but that also depends on who you run with.

Yeah, the cheap rotation might be it.

I would say I'm definitely good for 30 seconds. Usually don't have any issues at all, aside from the 1st bosses in the RwC duos & the 2nd boss in the E3 duo. Alerts can go pretty indefinitely & don't think I'm a strain on trolls in raids. This might be a good time to mix it up a lil' though.

But for the villain, who is a mere 35 CR 42 SP I definitely might go with tMine or a shield depending on situation as power is a bit of an issue there. Part of the thinking behind a 2nd gadgets toon was to experiment a lil' more.

I'm also looking forward to try some new things with Deluge. New episodes are often an opportunity to create slightly different builds to optimize for new combat situations. Right now I'm using a WM-based rotation for melee and I have both a Precision-based and a Prec/Might balanced build for single target ranged DPS.

I tried a hybrid build when the revamp 1st went live but I have ocd issues whereby I can't veer from original weapon of choice (martial arts on main gadgets toon), so am somewhat limited.

I enjoy my pftt build for melee so if anything was to change there it would only be to lose Turret.

I do have a single target armory but even with Pano being very suited to single target I never really used it, & the ocd wouldn't have allowed me to use heat vision even before it was nerfed. The armory ended up locked due to not allocating enough SP to it so gonna have to start over there so that's a bit of a blank canvas. I guess it's either Taser Pull, Stealth (which I am also not mad keen on), or if I can find a single target hybrid rotation using martial arts that could be an option. If memory serves me correct the Starro end game raid was more suited to ranged dps so will have to work something out.

I know what you mean. I've been playing mostly Bow since character creation and exclusively since the revamp. It's pretty good for single target ranged so I really enjoy Pan-E. For melee I can use Smokebomb WM which is quite strong right now. For multi target ranged it's not very good so I'm going Might-heavy for that with an almost PftT build clipping Explosive Shot in between.

It's the same for me with Heat Vision. I like that it's viable now but I'm not going to touch it with my Gadgets toon. For single target I've been using stuff like Stealth->Sneak Attack, Taser, and (Acrobatics) Zip-Tie Attack.

For Precision-based builds Neo-Venom Boost makes the most sense for the SC since all the other SC only scale with Might and are weaker when you go for Precision. For Might-based builds I like Bunker Buster though - with the head mod, SC chest mod, and rank 80 Scrap of the Soul Cloak it restores ~1800 SC instantly on using it which is pretty good imo.

That's interesting using zip tie attack. Using movement mode attacks isn't something I've ever really considered.

I go with BB too. I get the thinking that you can use AG more often but I just prefer BB, I actually like using it. It might not maximise damage but until we get another piece of content like DWF, when each 3 boss fights are somewhat difficult, I'd just rather save the supercharge for what I deem to be the most difficult boss in an instance. I also have head mod & level 80 supercharge artifact. I don't use the chest mod however, I still use core strength or penetrating strikes (can't remember off hand). Does the chest mod make a noticeable difference in the SC regen to make up for the 2% 'damage loss'/defence mitigation?

This is all very helpful/interesting btw so thank you.

That's kinda difficult to say. Now that I think about it I realized that Extended SC is much stronger if you use cheaper SC since it always restores 5% of your total SC. Supercharged head mods restore SC proportional to the cost of the SC used so they're always good. With Bunker Buster you'll probably only use it 1-3 times per raid so even if this mod allowed you to use it one additional time, that would probably still be much less total damage than the flat 2%/2.5% damage you'd lose by not using Core Strength/Penetrating Strikes.

That's especially true if you want to save up your SC for critical situations instead of using it as often as possible. In that case you're most likely better off with Penetrating Strikes.

Now I have an idea for my Nature toon... Wolf Form with Extended SC, artifact and head mod should allow you to keep up the Wolf Form buff almost constantly.

So all these SC options scale? Whereas as you say with gadgets & using BB I'm probably better off with penetrating strikes, for ice & electric toons (& any 50% SC toons) I might change chest mods

Yeah Supercharged (head) mods and Extended SC restore a portion of your total SC, and the artifact and proficiency increase your total SC. The SC costs stay the same so if you stack all of these you could get a pretty good return - the cheaper your SC, the better.

I would use Sonic Cry instead of Gauss.

Gauss is fine in that loadout. I don't know any gadgets that would use it.