Dual blaster mechanics

[DamienStark]

I'm curious what actual benefit/effect the Merc gets from the second blaster pistol.

 

Obviously any stat increases from the pistol and its mods are direct benefit to your Aim and Endurance, but is that all? Most of the good Merc skills don't even directly use the blasters themselves, but is that relevant? Do blaster skills like Rapid Shots, Unload, Power Shot actually double?

 

I realize having the second blaster is a straight requirement for several of those, but would a pistol with 10 damage work just as well as one with 100 damage for that purpose?

[MrPopo]

They don't double. But you do get a damage increase based on the damage of your off-hand blaster. In the ranged damage section of your character sheet you should see a secondary damage value.

[DamienStark]

In the ranged damage section of your character sheet you should see a secondary damage value.

 

Yeah, that's part of what confused me - it didn't seem to go up by as much as the damage stats of the off-hand pistol. And I guess I wasn't clear which abilities derive their damage from my "ranged" stats vs my "tech" stats.

 

I can experiment some tomorrow (after tonight's maint window), but I figured someone out there would have good explanations for this stuff already.

[Aurasira]

Pretty sure you only get like 30% or so of the effectiveness of the dmg of the secondary blaster or something like that. I thought it listed the dmg range for each blaster on the stat screen, and the offhand is substantially lower.

 

So yes, higher dmg numbers would matter if thats the case, along with the better stats on the weapon giving a considerable bonus as well.

 

Not sure if there is a skill that boosts the effectiveness, if so I'd expect it to be pretty high up in the tree.

[WonkyKong]

Unload, It shoots with both and will do more damage as a Mercenary than a Powertech.