The Cutting Edge Gadgets Guide

best gadget melee loadout and rotation?

There hasn't been any Gadgets news in a while, but I have been testing a few things:

Debuff Stacking
Normally it is impossible to stack debuffs of the same type on a single target, but I found a way today using the Heartbreak Trinket. Heartbreak can be obtained from the Valentines Day event. When it is summoned, it does AoE damage and inflicts crowd control. Also, it will inflict debuffs on the targeted enemy up to 3 times per cast. The debuff that Heartbreak inflicts can be stacked with regular Controller debuffs.

Here is an example using Fear Gas in Controller role at 13428 Might:

Fear Gas (No PI):
276 per tick

Fear Gas with Heartbreak Debuff:
302 per tick on first application
297 per tick on second and third applications

Fear Gas with Defense Debuff:
307 per tick

Fear Gas with Defense and Heartbreak Debuffs:
339 per tick on first Heartbreak application
333 per tick on second and third Heartbreak applications

The defense debuff on Heartbreak is a bit weird. It seems the debuff for the first application is stronger than the second/third applications for a cast cycle.

If you setup the PI with both Debuffs active, you get 399 or 404 damage per tick.

That is another trick you can use to buff group damage.


Ranged AoE Rotation
After talking with Crimson Mayhem, we came across a promising Ranged AoE rotation for PftT users. It consists of:

Gauss Grenade -> Fear Gas -> Paralyzing Dart -> Downdraft

Downdraft is a Flight power. If you're an Acrobatics user, Throwing Knives will work in place of Downdraft.

At 19770 Might in Damage role, that rotation was producing 12.1k/s to 13.5k/s of damage. A simple melee rotation of Gauss Grenade->Fear Gas->EMP->Implosion Mine was doing 14k/s to 15k/s.

That's pretty good for a ranged rotation that can be cast at max distance. The only downside is moderately high power consumption.

That loadout also works pretty well when used in conjunction with the Boo-tility belt. The 4 Boos can be summoned at max range and add an extra 6k/s damage at CR 220+ in multi-target situations.



Supercharge Generators
Supercharge Generators were buffed in GU 80 so they will receive the full benefit of Supercharge generation boosting mechanics. This is best seen with the Scrap of the Soul Cloak artifact. Previously Stasis Field didn't receive much of a buff from using the Artifact. Only the damage component SC generation tick did. That has been changed so the Supercharge generation tick receives the same percentage boost. That makes building supercharge easier.

I did some build experimentation as well last week and came up with a strong multi target max ranged hybrid build. I'm using HB Solar Flame and the Turret "superclip" that was popular a few years ago.

Stats

• CR 225
• Might: 20626
• Power: 34661
• Precision: 9889
• WDPS: 3405

• Superpowered Focus
• 60 SP in damage crits
• 195 SP in Might&Power
• 75 SP in Precision
• 7 SP in Acrobatics
• 9 SP in Hand Blasters and HB Mastery

Equipment

• Red: Precision&Might
• Yellow: Precision&Power
• Blue: Might&Health

• Weapon: Blast Adapter
• Head: Supercharged Asphyxiation Gas III
• Neck: Escalating Might
• Chest: Penetrating Strikes
• Hands: Max Damage
• Feet: Empowered Glide

• Elite A: Precision
• Elite B: Might

• Tetrahedron of Urgrund Rank 80
• Scrap of the Soul Cloak Rank 80

Loadout

• Gauss Grenade: electrify setup and rotation starter
• Battle Display: self weapon buff
• Cryo-Foam: main source of damage on the main loadout
• Stealth: more loadout space for the superclip
  • Asphyxiation Gas: cheap Supercharges mean higher consistency
• flex slot, I've been using Throwing Knives here to distribute my Power consumption (see below)
• flex slot, I like Distract here for a cheap breakout and shield that you can clip in at any time

Rotation
/ clip
% jump cancel

Version 1:
Gauss Grenade/Battle Display/Stealth -> Cryo Foam/Suppressor Turret%Gauss Grenade -> Solar Flame/Cryo Foam x5 -> Solar Flame/repeat

1. Gauss Grenade/Battle Display/Stealth: electrify and weapon buff setup, then Stealth to launch the superclip
2. Cryo Foam/Suppressor Turret%Gauss Grenade: superclip that applies the Stealth proc on your main target
3. Solar Flame/Cryo Foam: since Foam stacks with itself and has a 0.5s cooldown, just keep spamming it
4. Solar Flame/repeat: the whole sequence 1 can be clipped after Solar Flame again

This is the compact version that leaves two flex slots on the main loadout which is pretty good. However since Foam throws you out of Stealth instantly (unless you do the superclip) that means you need to clip Stealth right behind the Gauss Grenade/Battle Display setup. That's a Power consumption of (base) 700 within a second, then 300 more for the superclip in the next. The overall Power consumption of this rotation isn't particularly high but bursting out 1000 Power over two seconds can cause troubles in content for you or the Controller.

Version 2:
Gauss Grenade/Battle Display -> Solar Flame/Cryo Foam x 2 -> Solar Flame/Throwing Knives/Stealth -> Cryo Foam/Suppressor Turret%Gauss Grenade -> Solar Flame/Cryo Foam x2 -> Solar Flame/repeat

1. Gauss Grenade/Battle Display: setup
2. Solar Flame/Cryo Foam: filler rotation that is executed four times over 12 seconds instead of five times like in version 1
3. Solar Flame/Throwing Knives/Stealth: superclip setup, the timing can be exchanged with any of the four Solar Flame/Cryo Foam steps to adjust Power consumption over time
4. Cryo Foam/Suppressor Turret%Gauss Grenade: superclip
5. Solar Flame/repeat: clip back into step 1

In this version, instead of a large burst of 1000 Power over two seconds, you have one burst of 400 (step 1) over one second and another of 800 over two seconds. That does a lot to even out the Power consumption and makes it smoother for the Controller to keep you up without issues. Again, even the first version isn't particularly expensive over time, and the overall rotation costs are the same between both versions. The advantage of version 2 is that it's more flexible because it has several opportunities to chain Stealth and the superclip. Version 1 only has one, and that's the Gauss/Display setup step that only happens once every 12 seconds.

I've been quite successful and satisfied with this build in content, although I didn't run The Escape Elite with it yet and Panopticon Elite doesn't have situations where it excels. In the regular version of The Escape and in the elite version of Darkseid's War Factory it has performed very well for me. On sparring targets I'm consistently hitting 14.6-15k DPS over 30 seconds which is quite strong for max range. Depending on your Controller support you can also adjust this rotation for midrange by using Surprise Attack instead of Gauss Grenade at the end of the superclip. I managed to hit 16k+ DPS with that but keep in mind that Surprise Attack makes the rotation significantly more expensive.

For comparison: with my melee build (Weapon Expert Focus with Bow into Smokebomb WM, Cryo Field and Mines) I'm doing around 19-20.5k DPS over 30 seconds.

With the max range multi target build I'm doing around 14.6-15k DPS over 30 seconds.

First, wow! Great job on guide.

Second. thank you in advance for any help you can give.

I have been away from the game for quite a while so I’m trying my best to get up to speed.

Here are my stats:

Level 30
Skill Points - 110
Gadgets
Martial Arts
All but bottom row

Acrobatic

• All but Grapple Line, Zip Tie and Throwing Knives

Iconic

• Batarang Multi

Stat Points - Hybrid

• Critical Attack Chance - 20
• Critical Power Chance – 20
• Critical Attack Damage – 40
• Critical Power Magnitude – 9

Loadout - Control (from left to right)
Gauss Grenade, Stick Bomb, EMP Pulse, Stasis Field, Defibrillator, Battle Drone

Loadout – Damage (from left to right)
Batarang Multishot, Gauss Grenade, Paralyzing Dart, Vortex Cannon, Stealth, Perfect Poise

Loadout – Stealth (from left to right)
Cuff’em, Thermite Mine, Implosion Mine, Backflip Attack, Return to Normal, Battle Drone

I would appreciate everyone’s feedback, comments, input.

Are you going for a "traditional" controller role build here? If so, you don't need both Gauss Grenade and Stasis Field on the same loadout. Both of them act as NPC Defense debuffs. The difference between them is that Stasis Field is your Supercharge Generator while Gauss Grenade isn't. Stasis Field can be cast one every 6 seconds while Gauss Grenade can be cast often as you like. Stasis Field generates encasements while Gauss Grenade doesn't.

How are you using EMP Pulse in this loadout?

That's an unconventional loadout.

Some questions:
How are you playing this loadout? Are you mixing in weapon attacks or purely casting powers? Are you wanting something that will do maximum damage or is this more of a themed loadout? What kind of damage rotation are you using?

Penryn,

Thank you for responding. Please understand I am far from being an expert here. I tried the best I could based on my understanding of the game mechanics.

Not sure what you mean by "traditional". My goal was to maximize my ability to survive in solo mode until such time as I improve my skills, my load out, the rotation of the powers, etc.

My goal in the load out was to maximize the daze ability. Not sure if that's best or if I did it wrong but that was the goal.

How are you playing this loadout? Are you mixing in weapon attacks or purely casting powers? -
Playing it soloing. I mix weapon and casting, hence my selection of hybrid. I am pretty good at get the weapon attacks to do the high level attacks.

Are you wanting something that will do maximum damage or is this more of a themed loadout? -
Hmm, great question. While I do want to max damage, I do want to stay close to the Batman as my character style is exactly, or as close as you can get, to looking like the Batman. People stop all the time thinking I'm the NPC Batman. That said, I would like to maximize the damage as well as be able to perform my controller abilities in a group.

What kind of damage rotation are you using?

Basically I pretty much go left to right while also doing weapon attacks.

So the rotation goes Batarang Multishot, Gauss Grenade, Paralyzing Dart, Vortex Cannon with weapon attacks. The goal is to take advantage of the NPC daze.

I hope my responses made sense.

My name in game is Moon Light in case you want to find me.

Thank you again for your help. Its very much appreciated.

If you are interested in reading about survivability, there is a section guide dedicated to it:
https://forums.daybreakgames.com/dc...tting-edge-gadgets-guide.288758/#post-3986605

Have you tried using Holographic Decoy? It taunts all nearby enemies while it is out, stuns nearby enemies, sets up the Dazed power interaction, and transfers a portion of incoming damage. The taunt is the main draw of Decoy. It is very useful especially on a solo build.

I also like using Distract in conjunction with a pet trinket. Distract is a shield that frees you from any crowd control effects and detaunts. You you activate a pet trinket, let the pet damage the bad guys, cast Distract, and watch the bad guys go damage your pet trinket. That's useful for buying time.

For Controller loadouts, here is a relevant guide section:
https://forums.daybreakgames.com/dc...tting-edge-gadgets-guide.288758/#post-3986608

When I'm playing Controller in group content, I usually run:
Stasis Field, Sticky Bomb, Holographic Decoy, Distract/Neural Neutralizer, Defibrillator, Battle Drone

Stasis Field is my Defense debuff and Supercharge Generator. Sticky Bomb is my Offense debuff and main crowd control power. Appropriate usage of Sticky Bomb can keep a NPC locked down for an extended duration. Holographic Decoy is my "OH CRAP!" power when I need to rally a tank or keep a mob group busy for a few seconds. I'll swap out Holographic Decoy for a Healing debuff if I need one. Distract and Neural Neutralizer are shielding powers. I'll pick which one to use based on the situation. Defib is the group power dump. Battle Drone is a group shield and power heal.

That is a very "traditional" group Controller loadout that prioritizes group power healing, debuffing, and survivability.

It is possible to play the Gadgets Controller role differently. You can be a very effective tank with the proper build and loadout. You can also go for more a damage-oriented build where group power healing is more of a secondary priority. It just depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

I'll comment on your Damage role loadout in another post.

Suggestion
If you haven't already, make sure you have at least two armories per character. You get one for free when you setup your base. Having two armories allows you to switch between roles/builds very easily.

I suggest picking up a second armory because of your Stat Point allocation. In Damage role, the Critical Power innates provide no benefit and the Stat Points are better allocated to other stats/powers.


Damage Role Notes
I'm going into this with the assumption that you want to maintain a Batman-themed build and your general playstyle will be Martial Arts Hybrid.

When using Martial Arts, you want to use Spinning Punch or Smoke Bomb for group damage. For single-target fights (think bosses), use Uppercut Mastery. For Spinning Punch and Smoke Bomb, you will want to "clip" your attacks with a power. That means you will activate a power just as you start doing the final attack animation.

In terms of your loadout, Batarang Multi-Shot works as an opening move on NPC mob groups before starting your MA combo. It sets up the Dazed power interaction and provides a brief stun. Its damage potential is rather average though and the range is limited.

You might want to consider replacing Vortex Cannon with EMP Pulse. EMP Pulse and Vortex Cannon have the same base power cost. However, EMP Pulse does more damage and it can leverage the Dazed power interaction too.

Perfect Poise is a great self-shielding supercharge, but I probably wouldn't use it. It competes with any supercharges you might have placed on your Stealth loadout. In its place, I would probably use Holographic Decoy. If you want some additional self-shielding, try using the Personal Dampening Field consumable. It generally provides decent damage absorption and can clip other powers. Distract would also be a good replacement for Perfect Poise. Distract provides a self-shield, detaunt, frees you from crowd control, and can be used more often than Perfect Poise.

I'm not sure Gauss Grenade provides much benefit on a Martial Arts build that emphasizes Dazed. Since it takes a non-trivial amount of time to do a Spinning Punch/Smoke Bomb combo, you will want to clip those with a hard-hitting attack like EMP Pulse or Paralyzing Dart. Gauss Grenade is pretty good for setting up the Electrify power interaction on a group, but has low base damage.

Paralyzing Dart is Gadgets best ranged attack. However, you'll generally be doing melee damage with Martial Arts combos. It can be worth swapping in depending on the situation, but you may want to try using another power in this spot by default.

For your Stealth loadout, I'd suggest putting Surprise Attack on there. It is Gadgets hardest-hitting single-target attack. Battle Drone isn't too useful in Damage Role.

Other Suggestions:

• Taser Pull - Low cost single-target attack that does good damage and uses the Dazed power interaction. Works very well when used to clip Uppercut Mastery, but the timing can be a bit tricky. You can't clip Weapon Mastery attacks as aggressively as you can Spinning Punch/Smoke Bomb. If you want a combo that hits hard, try Uppercut Mastery clipped with Taser Pull clipped with Stealth->Surprise Attack.
• Battle Display - Weapon Buff. Makes your Martial Arts combos hit harder. It is up to you on whether you think this works with a Batman-themed character.
• Throwing Knives - Does good damage for a medium-cost power. Works well in a ranged situation.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Pen. How would you say this ranged AoE loadout would serve as a multi-purpose loadout?

Here's the thing, I don't really wanna have any more than 1 troll & 2 dps armories because, admin.

The melee AoE loadout is the bread & butter for dailies & most normal raids, so ideally the other armory would be able to do decent damage in something like TTBe, but also say in an alert boss like Dr Fate or Ultra Humanite in AoJ. I still find the whole taser pull, stealth, surprise attack (as said before, can't bring myself to use heat vision) very unengaging. I even tried throwing PD in there but that didn't really seem to work.

The outcome is I usually end up sticking to the melee dps armory for most things which obviously isn't ideal.

I only use the Ranged AoE loadout in a few specific places where you have to stay at max distance and you're expecting to primarily do group damage. Even then, it is just a minor swap of my usual melee loadout. Swap Dart for EMP and Downdraft for Implosion Mine.

I run three DPS armories: Ranged AoE, Melee AoE, and Single-Target. Melee AoE is the armory setup I use the most followed by Single-Target.

Unfortunately, Gadgets doesn't have many options for Single-Target DPS. Cuff'Em, Surprise Attack, Taser Pull, Photon Blast, Stealth, and Heat Vision is about it. Appropriate usage of Taser Pull, Stealth, and Fear Gas offers a significant DPS advantage in single-target situations compared to a standard Gadgets melee AoE PftT loadout. I know it isn't very exciting to play that combination. It is too bad that Cuff'em spam is so lackluster.

You were asking about a multi-purpose loadout. What are you currently running for your melee loadout? You can put together a multi-purpose loadout if you go with 6 offensive-oriented powers. I don't like doing that in Elite though. I find having a couple of utility powers enhances my survivability.

Hey Pen, ty.

Melee I'm cryo-field, imine, gauss & emp (along wit turret & SC). I'm acro so it would be throwing knives for imine & pd for emp...if I could get fear gas in there in place of cryo-field I would probably enjoy the rotation. I just want it to be viable.

I haven't run elite at level since AF3 except for a couple of League runs of PanoE...but my muntions alt pugged TTBe a couple of nights ago & really quite enjoyed it so...

What I liked about the rotation you mentioned was that it was somewhat reminiscent of how I ran Oan SM '16, so if I could find something similar which was decent (doesn't need to be op) ranged both on single target & multi that would be great. If I could jump cancel fear gas into pd all the better.

When you are doing multi-purpose, you'll need to decide between melee and ranged.

For a multi-purpose ranged loadout, you could try:
Gauss Grenade, Fear Gas, Paralyzing Dart, Throwing Knives, Taser Pull, Stealth

On your Stealth Loadout, put:
Surprise Attack, Cryo-Foam, Hard Light Shield, and whatever you feel like filling it out with

For Group:
Gauss Grenade->Fear Gas->Dart->Throwing Knives

For Single:
3x Taser Pull -> Fear Gas

Clip one of the Taser Pulls with Stealth whenever if it off cooldown. On Stealth, use Surprise Attack if you are in range. Use Cryo-Foam if you are farther away. The last time I tested Hard Light Shield, you could cast it from Shield from Stealth without breaking Stealth.

Throw in a pet trinket or the Boo-tility belt if you have one.

That will give you a nice steady group burn while allowing you to switch to single-target burst when necessary. There are some trade-offs on lack of survivability powers though.

How does that sound?

Penryn,

Thank you very much for all your guidance. I do have a couple questions.

What do you mean by using Uppercut Mastery?

I adjusted my loadouts and see if this is better or what I need to adjust:

Load out Control (from left to right)Gauss Grenade, Stick Bomb, Defibrillator, Stasis Field, Holo Decoy, Battle Drone - I left Gauss in due reduction on target defenses but welcome your comment

Load out – Damage (from left to right)
Taser, EMP, Paralyzing Dart, Batarang Multishot, Stealth, Perfect Poise


Loadout – Stealth (from left to right)
Cuff’em, Thermite Mine, Implosion Mine, Battle Display, Return to Normal, Perfect Poise

I didn't know where you wanted Battle Display so I put on Stealth.

Like I said, I welcome your feedback and input.

Uppercut Mastery in the Martial Arts tree:


You need enough Stat Points to spec into Handblasters and then you can spec into Uppercut Mastery for Martial Arts.

Controller Role Notes:
Both Stasis Field and Gauss Grenade will lower the target's Defense stat.

For each controller powerset, there will be two powers that can trigger a specific debuff. For Gadgets, Gauss Grenade and Stasis Field trigger the Defense debuff. The difference between the two is Gauss Grenade can be cast at a faster rate while Stasis Field is your Supercharge Generator.

Damage Role Notes:
I see you decided to keep Perfect Poise. I would swap it out with something I could use more often. That's just personal preference though.

Have you tried using your updated Damage loadout yet? If so, what do you think of it?

Don't be afraid to experiment with other loadouts and see what works for you.

This sounds better than you know Pen.

Thematically it works because my main wears the exo shirt (best style in game imo) & platinum back from Oan SM (with BvS Batman chest), so the hard light shield is not a deal breaker like heat vision. He's a bit of a mish mash of Batman, GL & Amazons (?).

My alts are far more restricted stylistically.

Anyways, on point, I never used stealth pre revamp cos it was pretty unforgiving if you a, f'd up or b, had to pick up, but I'm far more open to it now given you're not rendered useless.

I will start off with this exact loadout, see how it goes & make tweaks from there if necesaary.

Having a ranged gadgets multi purpose loadout has me far more inclined to venture into content which doesn't suit me melee rotation.

Big thanks.

I'm wondering what's best for gadget, might or preci? I just switch to gadget and I'm looking for a loadout... for what I heard/read I think preci is better, but not sure about the loadout, I dont wanna fail/get kicked for lousy dps in the meanwhile so i'd rather ask here ... so please help!

Penryn,

Thanks again.

I adjusted again based on your feedback.

Load out Control
Gauss Grenade, Stick Bomb, Defibrillator, Neural Neut, Holo Decoy, Battle Drone

Load out – Damage
Taser, EMP, Paralyzing Dart, Batarang Multishot, Battle display, Stealth - going to try battle display out


Loadout – Stealth
Cuff’em, Thermite Mine, Implosion Mine, Battle Display, Return to Normal, Perfect Poise - Should I leave Perfect Poise or change it for something else?

Say do you also help with a Green Lantern load out or Flash?

Let me know how it turns out for you and if you make any adjustments. I'd be interested in hearing your feedback on that loadout.

Pick Precision if you want to go with a Weapons-focused approach. Pick Might if you want to Play From the Tray. Both work equally well for Gadgets.

Which playstyle do you prefer?