The Go Go Gadget Guide to Everything Gadgets

That's what I think as well considering how much damage EMP/PDart will register percentage wise. I didn't want to discourage gadget users playing around with weapon combos.

I know it's a probable lost cause, but I'm trying to find engaging loadouts/rotations for all powers. The last update made this goal more possible with Gadgets. unfortunately, EMP/PDart hitting as hard as they do and the relative uniform damage of the PI applicators negates those changes.

Send a PM to Crimson Mayhem. I think he mentioned something about Discharge or something from Handblasters.

Rifle grenade used to be a good phantom triangle weapon to clip in between powers, even before the update. Not sure if it has had any changes since then, haven't used it for a while.
The rifles lunge sucks though for positioning clipping purposes.

I was able to add 2 videos like a week ago using the EMP III rotation which includes Stealth and using Battle Display from within it . Luckily, these were runs where our league was not pursuing feats.

The rotation for each is standard. You go into Stealth. Activate Battle Display. Using either Bunker Buster or CryoFoam to bring you out of Stealth. Then either Distract EMP or 3PI into EMP. My 3PI's are Gauss, Fear Gas and CryoFoam. Repeat 3PI's until Distract or Stealth are off cool down. Allow for EMP after Distract or 3PI's to bring you out of Stealth for a completely boosted EMP. As I mentioned before, using EMP or PDart from within Stealth does not grant you a damage modifier. Being in Stealth debuffs you.






For this video you cannot hear the call outs, in combat organizing and group run improvising I do which causes me to focus more on the group than my own rotation towards the middle of the video. A majority of both runs have me execute the rotations in perfect order. You'll get the idea of it just playback and watch. In the video above, I initially try to avoid corruption, which is what you want to do, but half way in I get it due to Sinestro's control effect on an add. That's why you see my toon jump often. It is to take advantage of the limited mobility. You can also see that if you're stunned, you have time to breakout and continue with Battle Display up if you are quick to react to breakouts. It's obviously a different story if it's the other breakout attack.


The video below has me show a loadout meant for focus firing with single target. in a group of adds. It's the same loadout as above except I use Stasis Field instead of Fear Gas due to Stasis Field dealing more damage on a single target. The overall group damage loss is minimal since I'm still using Gauss, Foam and EMP. EMP is where 80% of your damage comes from. I use Stasis to focus fire the Corruptor and Black Hand.

Both runs show 1 tank. I listed more detail in the descriptions for the videos on youtube. I also like this video because it shows you what to do when your Battle Display wears off. What you do is... obviously continue the rotation and use soders, supply drops or take advantage of the Controller supercharge. Ultimately is does depend on how much time you have left on your cool down. If you don't want to get knocked out of Stealth right away from a DoT or control effect, which prevents you from activating Battle Display, you obviously need to use a shield like Personal Dampening Field, or even Distract.

Around 2:27 is when I lose Battle Display. Being that you don't need Battle Display to deal AM damage, I continue the rotation.


I've also dropped my supply drop in the past and asked the controller if they're willing to help me delay staying out of power as I lose BD. Most comply. It's an aggressive route to maintain Battle Display but it's far from difficult. I recommend EMP III on boss fights. All the bosses in Brightest Day and Demon's Plan are battles where you can use EMP III. You'll need luck on the second boss in Brightest Day in that you hope to not get stunned by a turret. But that's about it.

So...our GREAT dps, depends(a liitle) for having great(at least good) troll around?
And as i noticed, u tryed to stay away as far as EMP lets u..no chance to come closer? (Yeah, i k that this is a bit ricky but Gadgets power needs for player knows everything about movement and being mobile while combat. Its just a question tbh, cuz i saw crazy dps like atomic who did pure close melee\mid range dps in BDE.)

These are just 2 recorded runs I have. I have leaguemates who have posted videos of their tanking and it shows me much closer. I've done multiple runs were I was within 7 meters and You don't have to be up in the bosses face. You just need to be within that mark and my distance varied throughout the fights. Big AM damage is not dependent on your locked onto target.

DPSing does not just require you to spam a rotation. It requires you to know boss fight mechanics otherwise a dead or constantly stunned DPS is doing no DPS. There is an attack in that fight where if you breakout, or immunity is granted, during a stun effect you damage teammates nearby. That was taken into consideration in that run. There's also an initial hit dealt by the dead lanterns that does not include the non stacking fatal corruption tick.

Using EMP III does not strictly require you have a good or great controller around. It requires more on your part in timing your soders, supply drops and communicating with the troll or other players with supply drops if you consistently fail to lose battle awareness. At which point I recommend the player doesn't use it at all since they aren't capable. The only time you lose battle display is if you mess up, have to block for too long, or if you stop to pick someone up. I mentioned all the time, there are specific scenerios of where to use EMP III. Paying attention to one's stealth cool down is another lesson.

I'm still working around my schedule but I am gonna start playing again. I'm currently cr 132??? I think?

On another note, with the information Penryn has been giving me on the side, I've actually been playing a good mixture of Gadgets AM and heavy on pistol combos.

I haven't had the chance to compare it with anyone since everyone is at the highest cr. I haven't actually mess with the logs either.

Was wondering...is there any chance to spec into hybrid troll/dps and be pretty good at it? I mean using emp and still give power to group? But, as i think, this imposible due to 3 powers needs to be tapped before emp...

Its not impossible at all. I played around with that very thing and found a fairly effective loadout. Its not as great as a full blown troll but its something. Stay dps stance and use emp, defib, battle display, and 3 pi (preferably ones that can be clipped with defib). I ran my rotation as normal and clipped every other power throw with defib. The only hinderance is vit. I havent tested far enough to see what the magic vit number is to maintain the loadout. Im thinking vit might mods on everything might do the trick. If not youd have to go full vit.

Just a suggestion

You mean being in controller stance but dealing higher damage or being in damage stance while giving power? There was a thread about Hybrid's but it referred to being in Damage stance will power healing. I tried it when power restore was active but not when the power regen changes occur.

Since CR determines how much damage you do to NPCs ( a 1 CR difference can mean anywhere from 60% to 10% damage difference depending on the NPCs. Source: Shiny Mackerel) and how much damage you can take, I always prioritized having the high CR gear. But I didn't pursue the elite gear unless it just happened to drop. I didn't like any of the affinities for type C or D for Damage role.

I ended up buying the Controller ones for C and D a while back. But it wasn't until today that I actually played around with one of them and realized what it does. To those who don't know, Type D power strategist is interesting. It does dumb down blue bar healing in terms of knowing when to cast PoT for the Double Tick and in terms of not needing to time your PoT powers correctly to prevent delays. However, it's neat because with this affinity, which you need all 8 pieces for it to work, you don't need Sticky Bomb or Taser Pull. I uploaded a video below.

So now that I've started to read the forums properly I started looking for this one guide that I used back in 2011 or 2012 when I started my Gadgets Controller back on EUPC. Lo and behold, it's still here. And a lot bigger.

This time round it's helping me figure out my DPS side. (That part is going slowly though.)

So thank you, Deadpool5241, ShadyMilkman and now you, Darkman. This guide has been very, very helpful.

Yea, i mean about givin power while being in DPS stance. So, Gadgets can give power back WHEN Am is active, and cant when its not? But that means, that vit must be around 5k or so..

Wow, thats awesome...to bad i dont have all elite gear...well..i had it, was around 123 lvl and some 130...but not the highest. So, now i know what affiniti i need to buy when i ll get all elite gear. Again, awesome research, Dark. GJ
And maybe having THIS affinity let us to become battle troller..

Yeah, same thinking, U can play around with 3pi and EMP while doing defib, but tbh r vit must be around 5k to give good amount of power.

I have a video a page or 2 behind with damage loadouts if you're looking for something right away. The EMP II rotation is easier to handle over EMP III which requires Stealth. If you haven't checked it out yet, page 2 has a Q&A on the Damage side and how the AM works.

Before power regen went live, you were able to give power back as long as you had a certain amount of Vit, battle display was up, and when you clipped with defib. Now with power regen, the amount of power you restore to yourself depends on a percentage of your power bar. So speccing or modding into vit won't increase your power return. Just keep battle display active and you can keep power coming to yourself at the least.

Instant power refunds were ideal for hybrids because they restored bursts of power back at a rapid rate. I haven't used a hybrid build since the changes. So you'd have to play around with how much power you restore to yourself as well as the rate it restores your power. If restores too slow, which I think it regens power over 7 ticks, then it might not work. Perhaps speccing and modding gear with dual mods with power would work but that would come at the costs of reductions in pure might modding.

Yea. I'm surprised I didn't find anything on the forums about it before. It was probably mentioned but I mostly read patch notes only if they contain info on Gadgets or a new raid. I definitely recommend players who struggle with Double Ticking to get this affinity at the very least. I'm very good at Double Ticking and I'm not in favor of dumbing down the blue bar healing mechanics but even I have to admit this is convenient.

I like because if you want to have more than 1 debuff you can put it in while also equipping the Decoy if a group solo tanks. So healing, damage, and defense debuffs can be up. A Controller can also run a shield build with Neural Neutralizer, Stealth with the Home Turf mod for an indestructible shield, and Distract. For damage, it can center around pets like Battle Drone or Robot Sidekick. With the AM damage in Controller role it would depend. Battle Display would be needed with PDart or EMP and Intimidation for DoT. Distract as well for AM burst hit. As for 3PI into EMP or PDart, it wouldn't be able to be spammed consistently, but every now and then during a battle you should be able to use it. It depends how much power is regenerated through normal controller hit combo regen, PoT, soders and the replenishing adapter weapon mod.


There's definitely alot to play around with but what I'm curious about is if these affinities will change with the next elite gear? I'm not sure if it's something where as long as that affinity mod is in the generator, it doesn't matter where and when the next elite piece comes from. Just as long as the requirement of 8 pieces is met with the affinity loaded.

Thank you! I understand the AM, I suspect it's just the timing of things. And how much I prefer to troll.

Right now I use Gauss->Fear Gas->Cryo-foam for the 3 PI:s. But I'm willing to switch, of course. Would you say that Vortex still nets more damage in a raid when you use the Stealth version? And what about Napalm?

If you can spec into Vortex or Napalm while still getting the damage crit innates from the Iconics tree then yes it will net more damage over using Fear Gas. (Just adding Fear Gas registers its damage over the course of 4 seconds where Vortex can net more over 1 second due to being burst. It's also multi target like Fear Gas.)

You can definitely attain it with an EMP II rotation. You'd probably have to give up a Bunker Buster power point to get Vortex in an EMP III rotation. You can forgo BB since it doesn't deal EMP type of damage.

I've been using DW ever since WM came out but recently I went back to using rifle. I noticed something missing that I used to like back then. A few gadget powers used to animate with the rifle for example

quite an old video btw

Gauss Grenade and Cryo-Foam


Whatever happened to this? Was the change mentioned in a previous update? Well, anyway I was just wondering because that was kind of cool in my opinion.

Weapon specific power animations got removed in or around the time of GU36. It wasn't a ninja update either, it was official. Too bad though