I’ve finally got Craw down to a reasonably repeatable exercise after improvements to my gear and tactics. So now what do I do with all this loot? What’s worth picking up, especially among all the purple drops? I know the various Legendaries well enough to identify which ones are generally considered useful. (Still haven’t found a Pearl after about 20 Craw runs.) But there are so many purple drops that I have a hard time identifying which ones are of more than theoretical interest. I have a Lilith, a Roland, and a Mordecai that have finished everything, following fairly typical paths: Mercenary Lilith, Heavy Gunner Roland, and Gunslinger Mordecai. I’ve barely played Brick at all. If I want to explore a particular COM strategy, I’m more likely to restart a character and play it through all the way, so Craw-level gear is not very relevant. But if there’s some endgame-level loadout that’s especially fun to go murdering with, I’d like to keep the gear available to try it out if I find it. So I welcome any guidance for identifying rare and interesting drops I might not be aware of. Here are my thoughts so far…
SMG’s - It seems like Lilith is the only that would care about most of the SMG’s that drop. Hellfires and Anarchies are strong enough that other characters could use them too, but good ones will be good for anyone. There don’t seem to be niche SMG’s anyone other than Lilith wants.
Combat Rifles - Does anyone really use these besides Roland? Mordecai and Lilith both seem to have other weapon types that serve a similar purpose and fit their trees better. Would Brick want Explosive types? And even for Roland, elemental types don’t proc terribly well, right? I don’t really know what to look for here other than strong, fast, accurate burst-firing guns for Roland. Pounder-types don’t seem very good for anyone.
Support Machine Guns - I’ve yet to find these useful, though I can see how they’d be OK for a Roland that was built for them. Seems like Brick could make use of them too. But again, they’re not generally good elemental weapons, right? Outside of a good Draco or Ogre, is there anything to look for beyond a solid flat-damage AR type?
Repeaters - Firehawks are obviously useful for various characters. But Corrosive Repeaters seem like they’re going to be worse than a good Defiler for anyone, right? And lightning is of limited value in the game. I don’t remember using flat-damage Repeaters much with my Mordecai - would he ever want one in preference to a good Revolver?
Machine Pistols - A good Thanatos can clearly be useful as a close combat weapon for various characters. But are there worthwhile purple ones? The same elemental considerations seem to apply as with Repeaters - Firehawks and Defilers seem better in general, and lightning just isn’t useful very often.
Revolvers - Here’s where I feel like I’m missing opportunities. I like revolvers for lots of characters and they’re good elemental weapons, but I’m just not sure what to look for. Mashers are obviously interesting, but what else? I feel like 2-shot revolvers are awkward except for Roland with his mag size bonuses. So he might want AX10’s and similar, maybe including good incendiary ones. Gunslinger Mordecai will like good flat damage six-shooters with decent scopes for times he doesn’t want to break out a sniper rifle. Good six shot Defilers are universally useful. Maybe Explosive ones for Brick? Anything else?
Sniper Rifles - There are quite a few Legendaries here with specialized purposes - Orion, Penetrators, Volcanos, etc. - that many characters can use. But how to judge all the various purples? It seems like Mordecai’s and Roland’s mag size bonuses lend themselves to the models with smaller, more powerful mags while Brick and Lilith probably want larger mags at the cost of power to the extent they want a sniper rifle at all. Bolt action vs semi-auto? I feel like semi-auto with a moderate scope is more useful than bolt action at the vast majority of engagement ranges, though I can see how a powerful, accurate, high-magnification bolt action rifle could be useful in some situations for Mordecai especially and maybe a Firefly or Plaguebearer Lilith. Are Gambles good anywhere? I don’t know… I feel like I see way more sniper rifles than I know what to do with.
Shotguns - I have no idea. ZPR’s seem like the best all-around. Maybe Brick would like some crazy damage, low-accuracy type? As with combat rifles, elemental types don’t seem compelling outside of the Crux.
Rocket Launchers - I’ve never found these remotely useful on any character. But I guess Brick can use them reasonably well. Does he just want high-damage, reasonably accurate ones?
Anyway… sorry for the long post. If you’ve got any items that you passed up early on when farming and eventually regretted not picking up, please let me know.