Question about Second Intention

Hy guys,

Second Intention Rank 1 states:
Reload Speed: 3%
Critical Kill Reload Speed: 6%

What is my reload speed increase if I kill with a critical hit?
6% or 9%?

I have not tested it, but I assumed that it was +6% for crit kills. Even if it was +9%, which I don’t think it is, it is still kind of bunk for a conditional skill.

Regardless of what it is, I think this is a waste of skill points. Leave No Trace and IPS, both in the same tier, are way better skills. I have never specced it. I am guessing I am not in the minority here.

Would be interested to know if other Fl4kers think this is a complete waste of skill points like I do.

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I’ve really only found it useful when a build is based around Jakobs or Hyperion.

Leave No Trace is great for multi-pellet weapons. But it won’t save Single-pellet weapons from having to reload, so having a faster reload speed is really good since it decreases down times. Second Intention with Big Game gives a noticable boost to reload speed even on not a critical kill.

In the end, if someone would like to use it or not is a personal preference. Ofcourse, one needs to actualy try to use it to know is they like it.

I’d argue that even for single-pellet weapons, Leave No Trace (essentially a mag size bonus) is much, much more valuable than a reload speed bonus.

Reload speed bonuses are nice, but DPS is boosted more overall by continuing to shoot, rather than by reloading faster. Also, if you are using Jakobs, with Megavore you can get more crits on the Jakobs ricochets too, which also can add a pellet back to the mag.

I mean, yes, obviously this is personal preference. But I don’t even really think it’s a debate as to which is objectively a more efficient use of skill points.

I like Second Intention a lot, because even with LNT/Megavore synergy it’s not like you can completely avoid reloading. RN I have 3 points in it b/c I don’t like dealing with the Head Count bug on Rakks.

I’d probably max it out if/when we get a level cap.

To make an objective conclusion you have to test both skill on equal grounds in multiple different combat situation. Without testing, both mine and yours opinions are just assumptions with some bias cos I never tried using Leave No Trace, and you never tried using Second Intention.

But yea, I personaly just like reloading fast and it’s the only Reload speed skill Fl4k has. even if it’s less DPS than Leave no Trace, it’s enough DPS to get by on Mayhem 4 so I’m fine with it.

I never used to spec into Second Intention, and was grateful for that because we do not have a lot of skill points anyway.
However, once the inclusion of M4 and the Takedown, I realized my only vulnerability with Fl4k was while I was reloading. When shooting and firing my action skill, I’m killing things and healing/regaining shield, stunning or knocking enemies down and proccing Fl4ks hunter and kill skills. But, when I’m caught reloading, in M4 at the SS or the Takedown, I normally get very close to going into FFYL or I do go into FFYL.
Then I realized that throughout all of Fl4ks skill trees, he only has one reload speed buff and that is second intention. So I experimented. I specced fully into Second Intention, 5/5, but no Big Game and no using Bounty Hunter or Cosmic Stalker. The results were underwhelming and barely noticeable. Next, I specced fully into Second Intention, 5/5, and then 3/3 into Big Game but no Bounty Hunter or Cosmic Stalker. The results were noticeably different, very quick and fluid reload speed, especially on things like Crossroads, Brainstormers and Lyudas. Then I went all out, 5/5 in Second Intention, 3/3 in Big Game and put on Bounty Hunter, with +1 to Big Game. The results were outstanding, I would go so far as to say game changing. I’ve been on the hunt for a +2 or +3 Bounty Hunter ever since, with the same or better passives then what I have now.
Of course this is predicated on Kill Skills, or proccing Bounty Hunters special ability but with Fl4k, killing things is not an issue and even without a Bounty Hunter or Cosmic Stalker, the vanilla bonus Big Game provides to Second Intention made it well worth the investment IMO.
Now, all my Fl4k builds use Second Intention instead of Two F4ng or Hunter Eye.

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Not true that I never used it. I used to spec it in all my builds. The problem with it is that unless you get a crit kill, the bonus is just not that great (13%). True, it is 23% if you get a crit kill, which Fl4k does often (and is incentivized to do) because of his skills (Megavore, LNT, Head Count, etc.).

My problem is that these numbers are too low. Unless you get a crit kill, you are not getting that bigger bonus, and 13% simply is not enough to justify the use of 5 skill points in a tree that has many, many better DPS skills. I feel like that is objectively the case, but again, obviously you disagree so maybe it is not objective and I should not have used that word. But I still believe that the conclusion is or should be clear.

I believe you are better off, from a DPS perspective, maxing out your mag size using LNT and/or passive mag size boosts on your COM and/or artifact, as opposed to spending 5 points to get a “meh” reload speed bonus.

You said you “Never specced it” and I assumed you never tried it, I shouldn’t have assumed, sorry.

I’m playing with Second Intention and Big Game together and the reload speed boost is noticeable for me, and that’s without boosting Big Game with Cosmic Stalker. Critical kills are not that hard to do and with Bounty Hunter and Megavore you seem to be able to proc Critical Kill bonus off of Bosses. On it’s own this skill doesn’t give much of a bonus, I agree.

On the other note, this thread wasn’t made for comparing Second Intention and Leave no Trace, so we really shouldn’t discuss it in here.

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You are correct, I did misspeak in my original post. I shouldn’t have written it that way. I really should have said, “I never spec it.” Still, I appreciate the debate and really don’t think it is at all off-topic for the thread. The OP was asking how SI worked, so I feel like talking about whether SI is worth it is very much in line with that question.

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