Veteran
12-24% Rending on Enemy Weak Spot Hit for 3.5s. Stacks 5 times.
45-60% Finesse Damage for 2s on successful Dodge.
14-20% Strength on Salvo's First shot.
Immune to Ranged Attacks for 0.6-1.2s on Weak Spot Hit.
You shoot the head, they drop dead. Simple as.This build is the product of my stubbornness sticking to the OG Lasgun-Executioners Stance "Guardsman LARP" archetype. Not taking Voice of Command and insisting on taking the humble Lasgun obviously has drawbacks in the current meta, but this build retains the spirit of the Veteran Sharpshooter playstyle I've loved since launch.*Basically fire and forget when clearing house with executioners stance because headshots drops the traitors first time every time**, no wasting time trying to land follow up shots on some staggered guy with a fraction of health left and no fishing for crits hoping for the emperors blessing.Besides the one-shot headshot ability the build has reasonable horde clear with its wide sweeping heavy attacks and supply of grenades, its also pretty durable thanks to its robust toughness regeneration in both ranged and melee combat, and has good evasion and mobility to avoid taking hits in the first place, get actions done quickly and to never be too far to maintain cohesion with the rest of the team as needed.* This build is good up to Auric Maelstrom Difficulty - Yet to test Havoc**Excluding: Dreg Rager (1-2 head/2-3 body) Scab Rager (2 head) Mutant (3-5 shots) Reaper (3-5 head) Scab Mauler Crusher Bulwark (use melee)
Trading the IX for other variants will make it easier to handle but will fail to achieve the breakpoints necessary to one-shot as advertised at higher difficulties The humble flashlight. This whole build is built around making sure this thing rewards your aim by hitting breakpoints as reliably as possible on weak-spot hits, helped by Precision Strikes. In case you didn't know, the Infantry Lasguns actual damage scales with range instead of dropping off (85% @ 0-7m | 100% @ 12.5m | 106% @ 15m+), combined with Longshot this allows you to hit the one-shot headshot breakpoints on targets past certain distances without needing Executioner's Stance active (e.g. Scab Gunner @ 14m+) or at the very least for more difficult to hit targets means you can drop them with less body shots.
Having good aim is one thing, but space will be a luxury at higher difficulties so to use this effectively you need to get familiar with lining up shots while dodging while still aiming down sights. Dodging by itself is something you will get familiar with for melee anyway so its really just about aiming on the move to ignore the horde, keeping Kill Zone and Catch a Breath active while you filter out the real threats. Besides just dodging in time to the incoming melee attack audio cue its also a useful skill for evading incoming fire while shooting back. So long as your shooting clean Exhilarating Takedown will ensure you recover toughness from any attacks that do reach you until you're ready to transition back into the melee.
Free to replace with a weapon of your choiceUsed to be the MkIII, but nerfs to its crowd control made it struggle with horde clearing. The MkVI is all about horde clearing! Spam heavy swings while weaving in regular dodges back and forth around the edge of the horde, aiming just above their heads, and watch your wide swings kill multiple in each swipe, quickly building stacks for Weapons Specialist and recovering any lost toughness with 10% per kill thanks to Out for Blood. You'll spam better thanks to Trench Fighter Drill and crit better with Desperado and Reciprocity thanks to all that dodging, which also keeps Precognition active!The main concern with taking the VI over the III was the risk of loosing the means to effectively harm carapace enemies but in my testing the number of hits needed was generally the same, still spamming heavy hits and taking full advantage of Precision Strikes and Uncanny Strike, with the wide swings allowing you to do extra damage on the side to other enemies that might be bunched around your target.
Speed. Grabbing objectives? Rescuing allies? Grabbing supplies? The sooner you get there the sooner it gets done!
The knife has great utility and will help get you into position to start lining up targets ahead of the team, then when the team has moved on it will make sure you don't fall too far behind. It can also dodge for days, get good enough and you can learn to weave through hordes like a fish through water by strafing sideways - it gives you a degree of survivability when things get tight and provides a quick means to disengage from a group to take a moment to do some shooting or just to close cohesion with the team.
Technically the build allows you to have free choice of whatever grenade you wantShredder Frag Grenade is recommended for its ability to make space in and soften up hordes, as well as its ability to stagger more dangerous threats to make opportunities to rescue or counter attack. Grenade regen is handled by Demolition Stockpile so whatever grenade you choose feel free to use them liberally.
A key piece to shaping and supporting your playstyleBy itself Weapons Specialist is just a simple enabler, it doesn't need to be constantly active - when swapping to melee it gives you a 5 second boost to control the situation before settling into your melee routine, and when swapping to ranged it gives you 5 seconds of improved damage and typically guaranteed crits to pop heads like you just popped Executioner's Stance without actually blowing your load - great for charging it up if its on cooldown with Tactical Awareness.Agile Engagement doubles down on this burst opportunity by giving you an extra 25% damage for 5s after a kill when swapping from one to the other - One Motion's +25% swap speed ensures you waste as little time as possible swapping back and forth. Alternatively you could take Serrated Blade if you'd prefer more damage over time in your melee combat. Either way you'll pass through a +10% melee damage node that's a welcome boost by itself.
2x Toughness* Curios + 1x Stamina Curio
*Toughness recommended due to focus on toughness management (multiplies with the +40 toughness from tax nodes (read Toughness Management section) - can be replaced with health if preferred
This build invests a lot into toughness management. You're built to dodge which means most of the time you just want your toughness fully charged to eat the occasional accident. Iron Will will give you a decent cushion to correct the situation before anything starts tanking, as such health should be considered your reserve that should only really be tanking in emergencies. There are two emergency scenarios to look out for:
Finally, try to keep track of your team and don't stray too far or too long - You play best as a skirmisher with your teammates, helping maintain you're shared space by helping in melee so you have room to disengage to prioritise dismantling elite/special blobs as they come before they can snowball. The usual toughness regen from cohesion and overlapping auras can make all the difference while Born Leader will help pay back to the team by letting them regen some of the toughness you do - and whether by shooting or slashing, Exhilarating Takedown and Out for Blood ensure that you are a machine that turns heretics into toughness.
