So I've certed in to explosive bolts, and I'm finding them useful on my engineer load outs. My question is though, are they more effective than a rifle against a MAX? When I see a MAX now, I'll switch to my crossbow and start shooting explosive bolts at it, but the damage they deal isn't huge, so most of the time unless it's already damaged I won't get a kill. Would I be better off just shooting the max with my carbine? Would it have a better TTK? The other use for explosive bolts is also vehicles. You are unlikely to blow one up solo, but if you shoot enough bolts at it you'll get an assist.
I think it was 8 explosive bolts to kill a max... if you think about it, even infiltrators can do it.
8 bolts is fair enough, if you ambush the MAX- The XBow is silent. It may also be a nice way to set off C4 while adding a bit of Dmg more, if there's one there. I assume it'd take more bolts to bring down a MAX with Flak. Is the AOE enough to discourage Engies from repairing?
Normal bolts do 600 normal damage. Explosive does 400 normal, 200 explosive. As I calculate it, against max that is normal 120 and explosive 80+100= 180 so you do more damage with the explosive bolts taking it from 17 hits to 12. But many MAX run with full flak armour because of c4 which would bring the explosive bolts back in line. I don't really think that these bolts have any "max killer" status. Maybe the 8 figure people have is with headshots? If you can get only headshots then I don't see why normal wouldn't be better because of flak.
This is correct, 12 shots to a stock MAX, I'm not sure where people are quoting 8 from... So essentially, if the MAX is running flak, the explosive bolts are of no benefit? Also, would I get a better TTK by shooting the MAX with my carbine instead?
If you want to use your carbine against infantry more then I don't see why you would pull out a crossbow to use on a max.
I prefer the default. Yesterday I turned a corner and hip-fire domed a MAX to death from 15m. That says it all to me. Plus, you lose even more velocity, magazine size, and ammo capacity. Not worth it.
