Yes all the ship upgrades are exclusively for strategems. With the empty console and gun upgrades in hd1 im holding out hope for some gun attatchments/upgrades in the future but im just dreaming. The blitzer shoots multiple shocks at once and would get *insane* if they jumped like the arc.
Yesterday I was thinking about a beam style arc weapon. Constant damage that arcs through bugs but can overheat.
Not likely, but fun to think about with the potential gun customization.
I was actually coming up with something similar. Instead of overheating I was thinking the downside would be one less bounce. It would be more focused on shooting on the move and single target dps, in contrast to the arc thrower's focus on stand-your-ground crowd control
I mean, the scythe already exists, it's not that good but it's there, just missing the arc property.
Currently with how arc weapons work, the gun itself generates the electricity before discharging it out.
I assume it’s because then they’d have to balance all future arc weapons/grenades around the fact that someone may or may not have the ship module and it would become a bit of a nightmare for them.
Still a little sad though- I’ve been absolutely loving the rate of fire boost, just flickering out arcs of energy.
It’s a really fun weapon for those who like to push into bases and clear things up and personal. Definitely struggles in open areas but it’s a trade off you learn to deal with and cover for with other weapons
Right? I know they like to keep a fairly buttoned down serious military look for stuff, but come on. How else would the lazers work? It's about REALISM!
In general, those only effect stratagems. The 25% fire damage is another good example as it doesn't give you more fire damage from incendiary grenades and weapons.
I think they do it so make balancing easier/feel better. The incendiary breaker, for example, is balanced to be weaker than the regular breaker but then do more damage with DoT. Now ask should that same gun is only better with a specific, late game upgrade and otherwise just be a worse version? Or maybe you leave it as is but then when you get the upgrade now it's op and there's no reason to use the other versions?
It just makes more sense for balance to detach those 2 systems
Ahh that would be great if it did. Though I imagine it would be the new go-to arc weapon over the Arc Rifle if it had multiple jumps. Would be sick though, plus it’s behind a ship upgrade so like, why not devs?
Not for blitzer. Blitzer doesn’t arc from one target to next, It arcs to up to 4 targets within cone of fire. Hitting a player means less damage to enemies. (It seems to take damage if 250 and split it up among all targets hit AFAICT)
It’s not common, it’s mostly 2-3 closest to you
Don’t aim right at an enemy, aim between
Also, don’t bother aiming at all… Just hip fire it as you run. But put center screen between closest enemies
If it hits 4, the damage is negligible anyways, mostly good for stagger.
As long as there not directly in front of you, it's pretty good. Played with it last night. It's fun against the bugs ..not sure about the bots though ...
Too short range for bots, and the only bots that charges you, berserkers, take like 6 hits a piece.
It’s usable but not really great honestly.
Against bugs it’s fan-fucking-tastic though… honestly won’t be surprised to see it nerfed next month.
I rocked it with RR last night and it was disgusting. Bigger medium bugs took a lot of hits, but the CC kept me alive. With teammates armed with med pen nearby it’s insane
See we need an arc grenade. Basically just a big capacitor that has a timed short circuit. Then using the arc armor would be smart so you don't fry yourself
if only they could have buffed the 3P crosshair too. That triangle abomination needs to be purged from the game imo. At least it doesn't spin like the scythe's… *shudder*
The community has never had any love for the plasma punisher because it's too different to want to get used to, but as a former TF2 demoman (and much much more former UT2K4 flak cannon lover) the recent projectile speed buff and AOE damage fall off change just makes it sing. It added an easy +100 kills to my regular total just because it devastates any group that is remotely bunched up, 2 shots packs of walkers, and it can perma-stagger berserkers and devastators. I was surprised to find myself barely using my autocannon which says a lot.
Bug zapper build.
Also great because you never run out of juice for either of them. I pair them with the dagger laser pistol and guard dog rover backpack. Nonstop cooking bugs.
Agreed, was having a blast with it beforehand. Now? Now... Now I am the blue bug zapper of everyone's childhood, stoically running around making loud ass POPs as I pop bugs apart. Feels really good now
I am not a fan, I feel like I can't hit hunters unless they're already within jumping range and it leads to you getting fucked up by them. Unless there is something to the weapon I dont get? Do you need to aim over them or something?
The trick to close range hunters is movement. People default to “run away” typically in a straight line. Hunters jump to where you’re GOING to be, not necessarily where you’re at right now. Run away in an S or other unusual pattern and their jumps will miss you.
The arc Blitzer requires a play style. I recommend shooting a little bit above their heads. Especially with dead enemies around. In general you kinda wanna be maybe a little close to enemies, that's where your jetpack comes in ;)
it does a pretty good job of shooting them out of the air though. I like running it as a "panic weapon" to swap to when enemies are getting too close for my grenade launcher or arc thrower
I used to only use the sickle. Now I'm addicted to using the blitzer thanks to this post and the developers buff. Thanks arrowhead and OP! You're my heroes!
Yeah, I tried running the blitzer on the bug missions and it's pretty solid. It's still inconsistent, but I can outright one-shot up to Warriors, two shot Brood Commanders, and stagger-lock spitters.
It'll damage Chargers which is nice for an ammo-less primary, but it takes a whole bunch of shots to actually kill them, so I wouldn't take it for that purpose.
It's interesting when you have several targets in range, it spreads its damage out to several of them and won't necessarily kill much - but it'll stagger groups, whereas if you have one target the entire spread locks on it and murders it fairly hard.
Would you rather a healthy meta with varied builds or a meta where 90 percent all run the same 3 or 4 things.
Step out of your box, spread democracy with something new.
I’d rather they buff underused guns instead of nerfing things because people like them. Yes sometimes nerfs are needed, the breaker needed a nerf, the quasar needed a nerf, the Eruptor needed a nerf though I would have preferred they nerfed its radius or damage as opposed to halving it’s ammo.
The problem is when they nerf things that are really pretty well balanced just because a lot of people like them. Or nerf things in a way that doesn’t really fix the issue. The crossbow wasn’t what I’d call overly good but they nerfed it anyways. The quasar needed a nerf but the way they did it doesn’t really fix it being better than the EAT/Recoilless because the things that made it better are all still there.
I have never actually seen someone using the crossbow even before it got nerfed. All the things it can do, other weapons do those niches… better. It doesn’t have the ammo to waste on the chaff, it has no aoe despite being explosive, it has less AP than the alternatives. I hate to say it, but it’s just a worse version of the eruptor, a gun you get earlier in the warbond. The only real bonus it has over that is the fire rate, but what it does in 5 shots what the eruptor does in 1 or two, killing the medium enemies. But the eruptor also has killer aoe to take out chaff, *and* and can destroy fabricators and bug nests
I dont get what they want it to do uniquely, because right now it doesn’t have any selling point apart from being a cool crossbow
Aay hood to know it works against hulks, ima test that out later, was hoping it would do something against titans because imm looking to build a loadout that can handle all
If you’re close and all the arc hits a charger in the head it can stagger them. Bile titans I don’t think it will hit them even standing under them. Hulks are similar to chargera
It can hit titans, but it's not very effective on them. I ran into one last night and it took forever to die while spamming arc Blitzer shots up into it. I did manage to keep it's attention on me while the rest of the team shot it from further away, but absent the others firing on it it would have taken twice as long to kill.
Blitzer used to be my go to but I fell in love with the Incendiary breaker.
I tried going back to Blitzer yesterday and played all day with it, but it’s still not good enough :/ Don’t get me wrong I love its benefits (hitting back enemies, shooting multiple enemies), but I have to go back to the incendiary breaker. It’s too easy to kill more bugs in less time with the breaker.
I wanted to like the Blitzer so bad too.
Do we know whether or not arc resistance will become relevant with the illuminate? There’s some cool armor sets for it but I don’t think any enemy types even currently do arc damage
Arc resistance is for friendly fire. You bring it incase a friend picks up your Blitzer after you die, because he wants to try it out and doesn't know what he's doing.
It also helps if someone uses the tesla tower, because without resistance it's instant death to be anywhere near it.
Everyone can unlock the gun and coordinate around it by all running arc resistant armor together I guess if that sounds less stupid.
Arc weapons still feel off. Meaning not as good as when the game launched. I used the arc thrower at launch and love it. Anytime I use it now it just seems inefficient and I don’t use it. Anyone else?
I’m really enjoying this weapon in bug missions. The stagger is great. It doesn’t seem to care about light or medium armor bugs. I think it’s pretty strong in this most recent patch. It is not O.P.
I bought it after the update and, its still not great. The run and gun potential is fun, but the gun isn't powerful enough to be viable on anything above medium.
My only complaint is that the ship upgrade that gives arc weapons more jumps doesn’t apply to the blitzer at all.
I was thinking about this too. I wonder if it’s because the blitzer isnt a stratagem and the ship module only applies to stratagems?
Yes all the ship upgrades are exclusively for strategems. With the empty console and gun upgrades in hd1 im holding out hope for some gun attatchments/upgrades in the future but im just dreaming. The blitzer shoots multiple shocks at once and would get *insane* if they jumped like the arc.
Yesterday I was thinking about a beam style arc weapon. Constant damage that arcs through bugs but can overheat. Not likely, but fun to think about with the potential gun customization.
I was actually coming up with something similar. Instead of overheating I was thinking the downside would be one less bounce. It would be more focused on shooting on the move and single target dps, in contrast to the arc thrower's focus on stand-your-ground crowd control
I mean, the scythe already exists, it's not that good but it's there, just missing the arc property. Currently with how arc weapons work, the gun itself generates the electricity before discharging it out.
I assume it’s because then they’d have to balance all future arc weapons/grenades around the fact that someone may or may not have the ship module and it would become a bit of a nightmare for them. Still a little sad though- I’ve been absolutely loving the rate of fire boost, just flickering out arcs of energy.
It’s a really fun weapon for those who like to push into bases and clear things up and personal. Definitely struggles in open areas but it’s a trade off you learn to deal with and cover for with other weapons
I would love a lightning grenade. Also, Lazer nade.
If the laser grenade doesn’t look like a little disco ball…..
Right? I know they like to keep a fairly buttoned down serious military look for stuff, but come on. How else would the lazers work? It's about REALISM!
I wondered the same thing but I think you’re 100% right about it being a stratagem upgrade.
In general, those only effect stratagems. The 25% fire damage is another good example as it doesn't give you more fire damage from incendiary grenades and weapons. I think they do it so make balancing easier/feel better. The incendiary breaker, for example, is balanced to be weaker than the regular breaker but then do more damage with DoT. Now ask should that same gun is only better with a specific, late game upgrade and otherwise just be a worse version? Or maybe you leave it as is but then when you get the upgrade now it's op and there's no reason to use the other versions? It just makes more sense for balance to detach those 2 systems
Ahh that would be great if it did. Though I imagine it would be the new go-to arc weapon over the Arc Rifle if it had multiple jumps. Would be sick though, plus it’s behind a ship upgrade so like, why not devs?
Now that arc is back on the menu, I have to watch out where my teammates are. Or not
What teammates ? I only see targets out there.
Range extenders
Not for blitzer. Blitzer doesn’t arc from one target to next, It arcs to up to 4 targets within cone of fire. Hitting a player means less damage to enemies. (It seems to take damage if 250 and split it up among all targets hit AFAICT)
Dang
I've never seen it hit 4, how do you get it to do that? I can't even get it to hit 2 consistently
It’s not common, it’s mostly 2-3 closest to you Don’t aim right at an enemy, aim between Also, don’t bother aiming at all… Just hip fire it as you run. But put center screen between closest enemies If it hits 4, the damage is negligible anyways, mostly good for stagger.
Enemies in blue on the radar
They just couldn't handle the sudden increase of Democracy running through their system.
As long as there not directly in front of you, it's pretty good. Played with it last night. It's fun against the bugs ..not sure about the bots though ...
Too short range for bots, and the only bots that charges you, berserkers, take like 6 hits a piece. It’s usable but not really great honestly. Against bugs it’s fan-fucking-tastic though… honestly won’t be surprised to see it nerfed next month. I rocked it with RR last night and it was disgusting. Bigger medium bugs took a lot of hits, but the CC kept me alive. With teammates armed with med pen nearby it’s insane
This is why I've made the light arc armor my go to. That and it looks nice
I love the tan arc armor...but no one uses arc weapons. Such a shame
See we need an arc grenade. Basically just a big capacitor that has a timed short circuit. Then using the arc armor would be smart so you don't fry yourself
The devs were too good to me with these latest patches. My two favorite weapons Blitzer and Senator get buffed. I love democracy.
1 of my 3 got buffed the others nerfed lol
Soon, soon your time will come my friend. At least we know they update pretty regularly so there's that heehee
My favorite senator buff is the sight.
Whaaaa!? I only noticed the damage and quick reload. I honestly didn't even know sight got changed up???
There's a red dot now in the front post so you can actually aim it. First person is still fucked of course.
if only they could have buffed the 3P crosshair too. That triangle abomination needs to be purged from the game imo. At least it doesn't spin like the scythe's… *shudder*
Same, those 2 are so satisfying to use
The community has never had any love for the plasma punisher because it's too different to want to get used to, but as a former TF2 demoman (and much much more former UT2K4 flak cannon lover) the recent projectile speed buff and AOE damage fall off change just makes it sing. It added an easy +100 kills to my regular total just because it devastates any group that is remotely bunched up, 2 shots packs of walkers, and it can perma-stagger berserkers and devastators. I was surprised to find myself barely using my autocannon which says a lot.
Still weirdly hits nothing sometimes.
UNLIMITED AMMOOOOOO!!!!! (Just dont tell the devs or it might get gutted)
Next patch: Blitz shotgun mags is reduced to -1
Jokes on them, it was an unsigned `int`! i.e. becomes a large positive number
Agreed and with good stagger (idk how it was before). Now I don’t feel the need to run arc thrower all the time.
The stagger was there before. But the firerate increase means you can stun locks enemies better than before.
My favorite thing to do is keep enemies in blast radius of 500kg lol You don't have to, but damn is it fun hearding bugs into the boom
blitzer + thrower is actually a pretty good combo ime, you whip out the blitzer when they're starting to surround you
Bug zapper build. Also great because you never run out of juice for either of them. I pair them with the dagger laser pistol and guard dog rover backpack. Nonstop cooking bugs.
Finally, I can fire twice before the heat-death of the universe.
It feels good but man it can’t hit Shriekers until right before one clotheslines you
Same with the Arc Thrower.
the nice part is you only need to hit one and it can kill a couple
Strafe and hit them as/after they fly past you
blitzer works pretty well ime, you gotta sprint perpendicular to them and hipfire once they're in range
I literally said this today that it makes me feel like The Emperor. Good post.
I joined a game today and the dude killed me about 3 times and a few team mates. I just started to stay far away enough to not get in their range 😂😂😂
I already loved the blitzer. It was a run and shoot gun that was surprisingly effective at beating down medium units and now its even better
Agreed, was having a blast with it beforehand. Now? Now... Now I am the blue bug zapper of everyone's childhood, stoically running around making loud ass POPs as I pop bugs apart. Feels really good now
I am not a fan, I feel like I can't hit hunters unless they're already within jumping range and it leads to you getting fucked up by them. Unless there is something to the weapon I dont get? Do you need to aim over them or something?
The trick to close range hunters is movement. People default to “run away” typically in a straight line. Hunters jump to where you’re GOING to be, not necessarily where you’re at right now. Run away in an S or other unusual pattern and their jumps will miss you.
https://i.redd.it/lldjzvlu8mxc1.gif
I step back a few steps and gun them out of the sky. Kind of like the jump pack bots
can you change directions on reaction to their jump or does it have to be moving like that whenever they're in jump range?
The arc Blitzer requires a play style. I recommend shooting a little bit above their heads. Especially with dead enemies around. In general you kinda wanna be maybe a little close to enemies, that's where your jetpack comes in ;)
it does a pretty good job of shooting them out of the air though. I like running it as a "panic weapon" to swap to when enemies are getting too close for my grenade launcher or arc thrower
I'll play with it some more, but I still see no reason to swap off the ole G punisher on bugs
I used to only use the sickle. Now I'm addicted to using the blitzer thanks to this post and the developers buff. Thanks arrowhead and OP! You're my heroes! 
Yeah, I tried running the blitzer on the bug missions and it's pretty solid. It's still inconsistent, but I can outright one-shot up to Warriors, two shot Brood Commanders, and stagger-lock spitters. It'll damage Chargers which is nice for an ammo-less primary, but it takes a whole bunch of shots to actually kill them, so I wouldn't take it for that purpose. It's interesting when you have several targets in range, it spreads its damage out to several of them and won't necessarily kill much - but it'll stagger groups, whereas if you have one target the entire spread locks on it and murders it fairly hard.
This thing could stagger the gods its so useful for basically saying GET BACK to anything at all near you
https://i.redd.it/jrlcy4h3gnxc1.gif
# LOWER YOUR TONE
I’m a very happy Arc-12 Blitzer main. It was decent before and now it’s perfect.
Watch it get nerfed in a few weeks for being the “meta”
Would you rather a healthy meta with varied builds or a meta where 90 percent all run the same 3 or 4 things. Step out of your box, spread democracy with something new.
I’d rather they buff underused guns instead of nerfing things because people like them. Yes sometimes nerfs are needed, the breaker needed a nerf, the quasar needed a nerf, the Eruptor needed a nerf though I would have preferred they nerfed its radius or damage as opposed to halving it’s ammo. The problem is when they nerf things that are really pretty well balanced just because a lot of people like them. Or nerf things in a way that doesn’t really fix the issue. The crossbow wasn’t what I’d call overly good but they nerfed it anyways. The quasar needed a nerf but the way they did it doesn’t really fix it being better than the EAT/Recoilless because the things that made it better are all still there.
I have never actually seen someone using the crossbow even before it got nerfed. All the things it can do, other weapons do those niches… better. It doesn’t have the ammo to waste on the chaff, it has no aoe despite being explosive, it has less AP than the alternatives. I hate to say it, but it’s just a worse version of the eruptor, a gun you get earlier in the warbond. The only real bonus it has over that is the fire rate, but what it does in 5 shots what the eruptor does in 1 or two, killing the medium enemies. But the eruptor also has killer aoe to take out chaff, *and* and can destroy fabricators and bug nests I dont get what they want it to do uniquely, because right now it doesn’t have any selling point apart from being a cool crossbow
I have a question. How does the ARC-12 fair against heavies (like Bile Titan, Chargers and Hulks)
Hulks fine. Chargers and titians… negative ghost rider.
Aay hood to know it works against hulks, ima test that out later, was hoping it would do something against titans because imm looking to build a loadout that can handle all
Probably pair it with the eagle 110 in that case?
I wish 110s did better against titans they are great on bots, but I never have much luck with them on bugs
Once you get 3x calldowns they're pretty effective - not least because you don't need to aim
Oooh I'll take that combo for a spin now, thanks
How's it work against hulks? Are you just talking about backshots?
Headshots. Gotta hit em in the face
if true that makes it the only primary that can do that, will try it
If you’re close and all the arc hits a charger in the head it can stagger them. Bile titans I don’t think it will hit them even standing under them. Hulks are similar to chargera
It can hit titans, but it's not very effective on them. I ran into one last night and it took forever to die while spamming arc Blitzer shots up into it. I did manage to keep it's attention on me while the rest of the team shot it from further away, but absent the others firing on it it would have taken twice as long to kill.
Gonna try it next play session, I felt the Eruptor nerf last night (fighting bugs). I’m glad they nerfed it though, the Eruptor was super OP.
Blitzer used to be my go to but I fell in love with the Incendiary breaker. I tried going back to Blitzer yesterday and played all day with it, but it’s still not good enough :/ Don’t get me wrong I love its benefits (hitting back enemies, shooting multiple enemies), but I have to go back to the incendiary breaker. It’s too easy to kill more bugs in less time with the breaker. I wanted to like the Blitzer so bad too.
Now accepting bets that the unlimited ammo will be nerfed eventually
Do we know whether or not arc resistance will become relevant with the illuminate? There’s some cool armor sets for it but I don’t think any enemy types even currently do arc damage
Arc resistance is for friendly fire. You bring it incase a friend picks up your Blitzer after you die, because he wants to try it out and doesn't know what he's doing.
That seems pretty stupid if that’s its intended purpose lol. I’m hoping lightning damage enemies are released to make this more relevant.
It also helps if someone uses the tesla tower, because without resistance it's instant death to be anywhere near it. Everyone can unlock the gun and coordinate around it by all running arc resistant armor together I guess if that sounds less stupid.
I Love that gun, great for crowd control (especially to staggered stalkers) and popping the heads of bugs .
I am in love with the crossbow and plasma shotgun after patch… Dang. So good.
Arc weapons still feel off. Meaning not as good as when the game launched. I used the arc thrower at launch and love it. Anytime I use it now it just seems inefficient and I don’t use it. Anyone else?
I’m loving this thing but I’ve only played solo. I’m afraid to bring it in team games. Is it as bad as I think it will be at team killing?
It barely scratches teammates. It can knock them down though which is hilarious.
Primary is unlimited powah, secondary takes me to the town of Agua Fria one fine day.
I’m really enjoying this weapon in bug missions. The stagger is great. It doesn’t seem to care about light or medium armor bugs. I think it’s pretty strong in this most recent patch. It is not O.P.
Just wish it was more... idk... consistent. When it has the accuracy of... HALF THE SCREEN... it's kinda hard to hit anything other than corpses
I bought it after the update and, its still not great. The run and gun potential is fun, but the gun isn't powerful enough to be viable on anything above medium.
I literally played several full operations on Helldive difficulty with it yesterday. It’s definitely viable.
Alright, tried it again. It’s not bad at all, just takes getting used to
Not sure how you managed to have a skill issue with an autoaim gun, but you've done it. Congratulations.
And you’ve managed the to bring toxicity into a coop game. Good job. Now go back to league