I’m sure this has been discussed previously in the forums, but I’ve picked up various E-tech weapons over time and have really only ever used them when I’m in between suitable purples/uniques/legendaries. So my question is, for those who love their E-tech: what exactly are they good for? I’ve read plasma casters can be great for Sirens who have invested into particular skill trees but I have never really been impressed when I’ve used them (I’ve mostly played as Axton, btw). Are there particular weapons that are worth trying out more extensively? No dissertations required; just wanted to hear a general reaction from folks who want to share. Thanks!
I like Plasma Casters.
But avoid Spikers and Dart. You shoot, go to have a coffe, to the bathroom, travel to China and the bullet just exploded.
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Most e-tech shotguns are OK, but the Swordsplosion and the Slow Hand are rather awesome.
E-tech snipers have less crit than regular snipers, so regular snipers are considered better.
E-tech rocket launchers are quite powerful, so if you find one you should give it a try (except bandit e-tech launchers).
E-tech blasters (combat rifle) are fun, but I prefer Torgue.
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Plasma Casters are really good, especially with Axton buffs to grenades damage, because they have 50% damage added as splash damage. If I remember correctly they are only bested by the Sandhawk and the Bitch sometimes - I still prefer Hyperion Plasma Casters with Axton over the Bitch because of his skills interaction with splash damage.
About all other E-tech, I find all of them meh. I have used Vladof AR and Snipers with Gaige because of the ricochet effect and Anarchy. Dahlminator or others Darts are OK with her too until you reach the end game because of the homing effect. If you use Anarchy from the start, of course.
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Yeah, I totally forgot about the Rocket Launchers. PBFG and Topneea are awesome.
Outside of regular E-tech, Swordsplosion and Slow Hand are really amazing. Swordsplosion is in every top gear if I remember correctly but I only use the Slow Hand with Maya to be honest.
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Completely forgot Swordsplosion was E-tech - thanks for the reminder!
Wonder why there isn’t a E-tech shield…
There is also only one e-tech grenade: Breath of Terramorphous. It’s basically a fire Vladof grenade with an additional effect of fire geysers.
Yep - got my first and only (thus far) drop of this a few weeks ago. Still never gotten a Hide or any of the character heads but have lucked out with the Teeth and Breath.
It’s best to try out each plasma caster and blaster to get a feel for how they actually work for yourself. Some of them are highly effective (I have both a fire and slag plasma caster on my Sal right now, and they’re pretty much guaranteed second-wind weapons). The big things for me are the fire rate and spread on the split projectiles.
Splatguns are fun at low level, but a major liability at higher levels for a number of reasons. They’re really good for annoying your team-mates, though! As mentioned above, the sniper ricochet effect can be good on certain characters, but the damage inflicted on the initial target is often under-whelming compared to a similar purple elemental Vladof or Maliwan. I like the slag ones mainly, and I’ll hold on to them if I don’t have anything better. The Darts can be ok, but I don’t like the Spikers at all. (Wish they were more like their Halo counter-parts!)
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I’ve used the blasters on Krieg and liked them but the only E-tech weapon I’ve ever really used was the Dahlminator, and that was with Gaige- cleared Hyperion Slaughter Dome with it and her on TVHM w/o dying- the only character I have that can make that claim… 
Maliwan and Tediore plasma casters. Maliwan for additional splash damage other than stated on the card. Tediore for damage when reloaded/thrown depending on what’s left in the clip.
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Thanks for sharing your perspectives everyone! I’m planning to try out a few of your recommendations when I’m next on.
Any Plasma Caster aside from Bandit, any RL, and Vladof Blaster ARs are the only E-tech worth using.
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I loved electric splatguns against stalkers up to UVHM. Same for dart pistols against surveyors.
Plasma casters do good damage, simple as that, and yeah, you can never go wrong with an E-tech launcher.
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Plasma casters - few people do not like these weapons (Hyperion, Dahl, Maliwan, and even Tediore are all quite good). People do not seem to like Bandit though, but people also generally lean towards only using the best weaponry the game has to offer, so I get it. Bandit plasma casters, while definitely weaker then their brethren, do fit the Bandit mantra of ‘spray ammo downwind and they’ll die’, and I definitely enjoy using them in this capacity. Despite what much of the literature says, they do have splash damage, but the splash procs randomly (sometimes multiple times down the flight path of any given round), and not on impact unless by coincidence, so hitting a target with splash damage from this weapon is random: not for everyone, but I love 'em.
Darts - I use these in a couple of situations. With Gaige and a ton of Anarchy, their auto-aim feature will still point them at the target, so you don’t ‘waste’ ammo with the ricochet chance of Close Enough. With Zer0, if I’m sniping old-school, darts can slag enemies without them spotting you. Fire a slag dart or two at the enemy, immediately go into Decepti0n and switch to your sniper rifle. The darts won’t alert the target until they pop, by which time you should be zoomed in on them and invisible (so they won’t bat an eye when the darts pop), and blam! If the shot is a kill, none of the other enemies will go aggro.
Spikers - I use these only in two situations. First, my Tediore build for tossing, just because they tend to have a bigger mag size. Second, for shooting oncoming PWR and BUL loaders (my Vladof-only assassin has a corrosive one). I did have to give this weapon a full five-level OP buff to make it viable at OP3. I am also trying to perfect the technique of stealth slags and spiker kills, but you have to be really fast (I’ve only done it a few times successfully, and am still practicing the technique). Creep up on a loader, unload your spiker into its back, toss Decepti0n (where it won’t be able to see it when the darts detonate), toss a slag Transfusion grenade, and toss Kunai. The tricky part is finding lone loaders so the child grenades don’t alarm other nearby loaders. EXP and HOT loaders are easy, regular (GUN, BUL, PWR) are harder, and I haven’t been able to pull it off with a Super Badass or higher without them seeing me. For my Vladof-only assassin, it’s as close as I get to a shotgun.
Railguns - I give these a full 5-level OP buff, because I think that for the cost of two rounds, they should be at least as lethal if not more than their peers, and this fits the bill. Other than this, they’re just cooler looking and sounding sniper rifles for me.
Splatguns - I love these, but some of them need a big OP buff. My favorite is the Hyperion type, because if you aim low to the ground like you were trying to bowl, the orb will splash whenever it hits the ground, and a big surge of elemental splash will roll towards your enemies if you aim it just right. I’m also a fan of Physx, and this really churns out the blobs (plus the Slow Hand’s straight shot is awesome). The Retcher is an example of one that needs a full buff to be a killer in the OP levels.
Assault rifles - These vary for me. I’m not a fan of the Dahl variety, but Bandit and Vladof I like for the insane fire rates (and they look great). Vladof ones don’t need as much of a buff to be viable in the OP levels (and frankly I’m just using a slag one), but the Bandit ones need a full 5-level OP buff to get there for me. I just love the way they look and sound when they fire.
Rocket launchers - I don’t think people have much of an issue with these. Bandit ones are fun, but I find them situational, particularly medium range, ground-based targets. Their gimmick is the falling orbs that spawn from the main orb’s flight path. It’s cute for carpet bombing areas, but not always reliable. Too short a distance, and not enough orbs spawn. Too far, and it gets difficult to get enough of them on target. At medium range (and this took some practice for me), you should be able to get anywhere from two to like five orbs to land basically right on the target. A corrosive one is my favorite for dropping PWR or BUL loaders with their reflectors up.
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Axton with a corrosive Hyperion Plasma Caster will melt Loaders with just a few shots, including ultimate badasses (any manufacturer will do, really… Hyperion ones just have better accuracy). They’re really, really good. I always had one equipped before I started getting legendaries. I’m not a fan of any of the other e-techs, though. Topneaas are very good for the reduced ammo consumption, but I don’t like the other e-tech rocket launchers at all. Some of the shotguns are good against certain enemies, but they’re too situational for my taste. There are better options out there. E-tech sniper rifles are kinda powerful but they run out of ammo really fast. The pistols suck. Never tried any of the assault rifles. It seems to me that even though they’re powerful, all of them (except for the Plasma Casters, of course) have some sort of downside that really bugs me.
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The Breath of Terra is a great way to farm tokens in Pete’s bar. Just stand in the door and spam them. Watch the little red dots appear and dissapear from the minimap. Probably not quite as quick as the Norfleet method, but still very fast (~50 secs per run).
Plasma casters are awesome on any character, in any element. One of my favourite weapons in the game. Does the Florentine count as E-Tech? It’s a Seraph that behaves like the best Plasma Caster ever, in any case.
Topneaas are one of the best rocket launcers, too.
The ARs in slag or electric do a nice job of debuffing/shield-depleting respectively, but an equivalent Plasa Caster is usually better.
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@hidoggie: My thoughts/uses for E-tech:
[1] ASSAULT RIFLE: http://i.imgur.com/ut9rrKd.jpg
- Dahl Blaster (sight= Torgue/Vladof) – Gaige/Salvador; works extremely well with Gaige’s “Close Enough” when zoomed.
- Vladof Blaster (sight= Bandit/Dahl/Jakobs) – all characters; quite useful for long-range attack (solo/CO) or marking targets (co-op).
[2] PISTOL: http://i.imgur.com/fqaGtpI.jpg
- Dart (sight= Hyperion/Tediore/Vladof sight) – all except Gaige
- Spiker (sight= Dahl/Jakobs/Maliwan) – all except Gaige
[preferred prefix] (insert double-mod prefix
[preferred manufacturer] TedioreConsidering my dislike of the quirks inherent to the E-tech pistols, the best one IMO is a Tediore Two-for-One Dart/Spiker tossed with as full a mag as possible; however, using it this way is less-than-optimal for an Gaige. There’s also another technical explanation that will take a bit to piece together…
[3] ROCKET LAUNCHER: http://i.imgur.com/XkUbjqC.jpg
- Maliwan PBFG – Axton/Gaige/Krieg/Maya
- Tediore Launcher – all characters, but especially Gaige/Krieg/Salvador; used to best effect when making a tailgun retreat as the enemy chasing you will get a faceful of rocket.
- Vladof Topneaa – Salvador
[all manufacturers] Preferred with a Bandit/Maliwan/Tediore/Vladof sight.
[4] SHOTGUN: http://i.imgur.com/cX0ybHH.jpg
- Bandit Splasher Blashter (sight= none) – Krieg/Salvador
- Hyperion Splatgun (sight= none) – any
- Tediore Splatgun (sight= none) – Gaige/Kireg/Salvador
To get a better idea of how the following function, exit the Crimson Raider HQ and stand by that cardboard box; look at the flag on the wall directly across from you, track straight up the wall to the rooftop, and fire:
- Bandit Splasher Blashter fires three ‘paint bombs’ that gradually spread out with distance.
- Tediore Splatgun is similar to a grenade launcher firing water balloons.
[5] SUBMACHINE GUN (SMG): http://i.imgur.com/WmKVd0i.jpg
- Bandit – Gaige (“Anarchy”+“The Better Half”)
- Dahl – Gaige/Zero
- Hyperion – Axton/Salvador
- Maliwan – Axton/Gaige/Krieg/Maya
- Tediore – all characters, but especially Axton/Krieg/Salvador
[all manufacturers] Preferred with a Dahl/Hyperion/Maliwan sight.
[6] SNIPER RIFLE: http://i.imgur.com/UseCh1S.jpgTBH, tho, the only ones I’ve used on a semi-regular basis are the ARs, RLs, and PCs. The pistols take forever with travel time or detonation, the shotguns are a little unsafe for my playstyle, and I prefer the Vladof Blaster over the SRs for several reasons:
- Dahl Railer – Gaige/Salvador/Zero
- Hyperion Hybridification – Zero
- Maliwan Railer – Axton/Gaige/Krieg/Maya
- Vladof Moloko (ROF= lowest-possible) – Gaige/Salvador; for the obvious reasons, although I’m rethinking the Moloko on a recoil-specced Axton.
- a deeper ammo pool
- a larger magazine
- faster reloads
- damage-for-volume tradeoff
- “the best defense is a good offense”; barring the Vladof Droog/Moloko, snipers function very badly in close-range combat.
@Master_Beef: Florentine is definitely a Plasma Caster.
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