I've been watching 4v4/5v5 arena matches and it seems the main weapon of choices are Handblasters, Martial Arts and Shield. I'm assuming this is due to those weapons having bursty single target combos. However, Dual Pistols, Bow and Rifle all have mainly single target combos. So theoretically, these weapons would also be viable as well right?
Dual Pistols and Bow are trash for 4s. Rifle, MA, Handblasters, One Handed (Maybe), and Shield will give you better mileage. All weapon have single target combos.
What about for support roles? Some matches I see the healer or the troll using the Brawling/Martial Arts weapon mastery. To my understanding the gameplan of 4v4 is to focus all of your damage on one player at a time to get a kill. Surely using Bow or Dual Pistols should be a better alternative than using the Brawling weapon mastery seeing as that weapon mastery hits multiple enemies rather than focusing it all on one player right?
Brawling-> WM for super charge generation works but handblasters usually do the trick. I wouldn't rely on WM for arenas since the WM bonuses aren't active inside of arena and they are highly punishable.
Lithiumz explained it well but to be just a bit more thorough and because I'm killing some time : MA has a busted lunge (has been for over a year now) so even a support role utilizing MA can cause an increase in spike damage when a player is countered by lunging them. Shield is utilized because of it's above average lunge speed. If a player is getting focused hard they can lunge out of damage at a high rate of speed dodging a lot of damage. Not to mention the high tap hold combos hit for a good chunk if you pull them off. Handblasters is utilized because of the AoE interrupt, Power Discharge BB, and Uppercut, while no where near as strong as it use to be, is still good single target damage. Dual Pistols and Bow however are absolute garbage in a 4v4 situation. They just simply can't produce enough weapon damage to make a impact but Bow does have a nice BB. That much I will give Bow.
Ah I see. Thank you for clearing that up. Although I am a bit disappointed as those are two of my favorite weapons. Will this meta ever change or is it set in stone? I was looking forward to trying 4v4 PvP.
Not until the revamp. Currently pvp has been in a hold status for almost 3 years now. The only change was removing one shots. They just made healers stronger, or seem stronger because of the damage reduction. I haven't used bow or pistols in years, but I think they are manly good for 1v1, 2v2, or dueling. Really a maybe, lol. The weapons listed above are the norm for pvp. The only people I see using the brawl/ma WM are off roles. While you don't get the bonus damage, off roles do get the power reductions. Do so with caution though. Those ninja stars really show and it's easy to see where people need to lunge. If you do use a WM for the power reduction. Try one that doesn't give off as many visuals. This way you don't have a big LUNGE AT ME sign on your head.
It mainly depends on how good you are at countering your opponents with the weapon you are using, it's harder to spot players in 4v4 cause most seem to block right in the middle of the action so you fall down trying to do combos yet if you're too far away ranging them you will also be seen and lunged giving that person a damage immunity for a few seconds. The weapons you listed such as MA are most used because in intense 4v4 fights players can get off smokebomb easier which is Martial Arts hardest hitting combo and deals quite a bit of damage, it is also very quick at block breaking and one of the easiest weapons to clip with. An example is Tap Hold square which is a stun for Martial Arts, doing that combo and clipping into a power will deal more damage to that person rather than the combo alone. Players choose weapons like MA, 1 Handed and Handblasters cause of the quick hard hitting combos they have which are good for clipping.
