2 Merc build questions

[Xyphias]

First, a general question: Does the armor penetration from High Velocity Gas Cylinder apply to both ranged and tech attacks? Or only ranged? So do attacks like explosive dart (or even thermal detonator) benefit from this cylinder?

 

Second, would it be any good to use a full pyro build (with minor changes), but use High velocity gas cylinder instead? This way you would maximise your rail shot and power shot damage, and create some semi-mobile build that's a bit more bursty than when you use combustible gas cylinder.

 

So you would be throwing your detonator, firing incendiary missile and rail shot and this all while being mobile, and then firing/spamming powershot (with the extra armor penetration) and firing rail shot when cd is reset.

 

Thanks for the advice.

[bahdasz]

I'm not an expert on these yet, but as I understand it the basic design idea was this:

Combustible Gas = Pyrotech

High Vilocity = Arsenal

Combat Support = Bodyguard

 

Although you can use any of them with any spec, you benefit most from using the cylinders with the intended spec.

 

Pyrotech tree has a lot of skills that benefit from the target either being incapacitated or on fire. So using your combustible cylinder, besided increasing damage due to more procs of the fire DOT, enables the benefit of the other skills more often. I have used high velocity cylinder on my pyro a few times, when in high frustration areas, trying to up my damage for a fight against a particularly tough mob, and I have found it to actually decrease the overall damage I'm doing.

 

If you're speccing for pyrotech I'd recommend sticking with combustible gas cylinder and taking full advantage of the skills that benefit from it like Superheated Gas, Sweltering Heat, Rain of Fire, Fire Bug and Rail Shot and cause more elemental damage because the target is on fire a lot more often.