Was considering investing into the Max, so I was just wondering of peoples opinions. With a brief view of the forums I can see a lot of talk about the Hacksaw, but I don't really like how quickly it depletes its magazine, leaving you very vulnerable with reloading. I've tried all of them on a trial basis and found the normal Scatter or Grinder to be the most versatile.
I went for the Scattercannon, for a couple of reasons: - you only need to buy one to have a full set - stat-wise it's the middle ground - doesn't excel at anything particular, but has no obvious downsides (besides obviously being a shotgun, but that goes for all NC AI guns) either - tradition
If you're serious about putting certs into the MAX, each weapon offers something, but you'd want Grinder for reload problems, and their especially good with extended mags. TBH though, your main problem is probably learning how to only fire one gun at once. MAX has super powerful shotguns, so you only need 2-3 shells to kill most things. Its a problem to fire so few on the hacksaw, but on something like a Grinder or Scatter with extended Mags, you never are actually vulnerable by only firing one gun at once.
Thanks for the feedback, still swaying towards Scatter or Grinder. Mattocks have got a cool name yes and is my favourite gun in Mass Effect 2. As for the sales, I know one will appear as soon as I invest. >.>
Thats how I feel about the mutilators. lol. But I would go with the grind if you dont like how you lose ammo so quickly.
Hacksaw + scatter with slugs. Gives you some ability to deal with enemies too far away for shotgun. Just don't think of it as some kind of sniper rifle though. It's mid range nothing more. For long range you use dual falcons. Hard to hit but 1 hit from both cannons will kill.
Scattercannon - you've already got one so it's the cheap option. You'll need 1000 certs to spec it up and 300 from memory if you want slugs (which I think is a must - but that's purely personal preference). For me, the Scattercannon has three major pluses over the Hacksaw. It has a tighter pellet spread so more pellets will hit at longer (short) ranges, aiming is easier with a single fire shotgun rather than a high fire rate auto shotty and you won't burn through your limited ammo pool as fast. There's probably a decent chance that at least the Hacksaw is going to receive some sort of 'balance' due soon. VR might be in the next patch, probably worth waiting and make a decision based on your feel for the weapons and not ours.
Scattercannons have the tightest spread, along with the Mattock, and the mattock does much lower max damage so it's not nearly as good to use in MAX vs. MAX.
I've given this advice several times - Best all round - Scattercannon. you only need to buy one, it's reasonably accurate at 10m. Has failures in no areas. Actually has the same CoF and spread as the Mattock. Best CQC - Hacksaw. It's also the only automatic gun, which may matter in panic situations when you just jam your fingers on the triggers and hold. Absolutely dominates at 5m, competitive through RoF at 10m, crap shoot beyond that. Slugs slow down fire considerably, and the spread is such that they're not terribly accurate, but they at least let you compete beyond 10m. Reload time is AWFUL, and you will be seeing it alot because the autofire blows through your mags VERY quickly, and you'll likely waste shots on enemies that are already dead. You will need extended mags. Best range - Mattock - BUT only if you buy slugs. Mattock has reduced damage per pellet, so each shot, despite having a tighter spread and higher velocity, has a maximum damage potential of about 672 or so compared to 858 for the other guns. However, slugs are all universally 500 damage each, so the Mattock gives up little in equipping slugs, and the greater projectile velocity carries over to the slugs letting you hit at farther ranges than your typical NC MAX. Grinder is garbage. It's got the same damage and refire rate as the Scattercannon, with poorer CoF and pellet spread. It gives you extra shots and then makes you NEED them to kill stuff. I was often running with dual Hacksaws, but I've been finding them extremely lacking outside of their narrow CQC engagement range, so I've been trying out Hacksaw/SlugScattercannon and Hacksaw/SlugHacksaw so I can hit beyond 10m. The Scat/Hacky is nice for being able to keep fire up while the Hacksaw reloads.
I dont know much about the other shotguns, but as a Max player that primarily made a meager living running around with Dual falcons, I bought the second scattercannon a couple of days ago and Good God my life has forever changed! Never had anyone actually RUN from me before LOL.
The smart ones learn to run. Not that it always helps. If you aim carefully and fire in controlled bursts, a slugged Hacksaw arm is surprisingly accurate up to 25 meters. With a little luck, up to 30 meters. Past that, you're asking for more luck than is reasonable to expect. But yes, with a slugged arm, you can more than double your effective threat range. I dueled a VS heavy today at about 20 meters with a pellet/slug Hacksaw mix, using burst fire I killed him in about 3 volleys before he had taken off 4-5 bars of health.
Slugs are extremely unreliable at any range, and the hacksaw has the same problem that auto-shotguns have, hilariously bad pellet spread. If you just want something that is reliable, plain scattercannons are it. Not anything else.
Agreed. I choose the unreliable option and it's exactly that, unreliable. There are times it feels like I can't miss what I shoot at and they actually go where I aim them but most of the time the projectiles end up cockeyed and go everywhere but where you're aiming them. I do enjoy the much farther range though which is the only reason to persevere with slugs. If SOE ever make the mistake of going common pool with MAX weapons, I'll have Dual Mercy equivalents on my MAX so fast you'll feel the breeze rushing through all three continents.
I grabbed each extra arm for the scatter, burster, and falcon. Makes me extremely versitile to counter any threat. Just have to be closer to the sundy or spawn room. A couple of seconds to change load out..rockin and rollin! I'd say my favorite loadout would be the dual scatter, haven't tried the other AP weapons, but holy hell you can clear a room, and way fun to watch those purple and red homos **** all over themselves! Falcons...feast or famine. Hard to aim correctly. Really nice to have when a tank blows by you. Especially a Magrider. Can usually put 5 shots into the back of one before he can turn around. Bursters...I like to hang back and protect the Platoon sundy with them. Extremely effective in driving ESF's away that expect to rocket pod your sundy/spawn point. Invest in Nanite repair...its your best friend!
