I love the crossbow. One thing I like to do with it is use tri-fork volley paired with the electric special bolts. Then take the magnetic shafts upgrade for even more damage while making sure I can't miss with the volley. It's very fun to bring on Elimination missions, as the electric bolts can slow the dreadnoughts down and let you really chunk their health. It gets pretty insane if you also have a way to freeze them while they're vulnerable to taking damage.
@@patrickgardner2204 Boomstick is definitely fun and amazing as well, its honestly a very close choice when it comes to a favorite Scout secondary. AI Stability + Double Barrel is my favorite combo loadout for Scout
So, the 3 bolt overcharge is actually better for fighting big enemies. Like dreadnoughts. Shove your crossbow into their rear, and pull the trigger. It eats CHUNKS out of them.
It's what I used it for, with Deepcore on shocking reload to do most of my crowd damage for practically no ammo. I posted my whole build around it on here somewhere.
But that's what the Overtuned particle accelerator on the Plasma carbine is for! Run AP rounds, extra fire rate at 50% heat, speed up on overheat, and that's the basics. You have the literal run and gun weapon now. The bolt shark is for ranged encounters, or clustering enemies.
i’m surprised you didn’t mention the combo of tri-fork and magnetic shafts, where the magnet can make them all hit the same enemy and do massive damage
Another very good combo that I adore is Pheromone and Fire Bolts, which can take out most of ambushes alone, just tag a Pretorian, Guard, or even Slasher and toss a few Fire bolts into the crowd and everything but the toughest enemies turn to ash, soooo satisfying. And altho it is a bit nicher situation, if you're in an intense situation where you have some allies downed, you can toss a firebolt on them and ignite the bugs around them, either leaving them open for revival or attracting another group of bugs so you can rinse and repeat, or just leave a trail of bolts as you kite a big group
I can’t not watch this and mention how incredible trifork volley is for single target damage. Especially against dreadnoughts if you pair the crossbow with electrical bolts, IFG grenades or the Stun Sweeper grenade because you can use an upgrade tier on the crossbow to do increased damage to electrified targets and hit INCREDIBLY hard in a pinch.
4:25 it should be noted that shooting 2 bolts at the ground will ignite multiple bugs very quickly, making the damage mod and battle frenzy nearly useless. the same applies to the cryo bolts, but it's not as usefull with it since its better used to freeze big bugs, many of which need just 3 bolts at most to freeze them, making you basically have 2 grenades 6:25 pheromones aren't that usefull with bodkin points since it targets bugs in a pretty good distance. Also I think its the worst oc for the bolt shark but I usually run haz 5 and the swarms there are just massive and just killing 3 of them with one bolt has very little effect, but on lower difficulties maybe its a little more usefull or i'm just biased towards fire bolts edit 7:06 - 50% less damage per bolt, dude neither can read or even see the oc's actual purpose, lol, trifork for aoe, that's something new
@@LASAGNA_LARRY and thats not couting the times when he says stuff thats completly wrong, like in the flamethrower video on the section about stickie fuel and in this video about trifork
This is exactly the video I've needed. I haven't really connected with the Boltshark as quickly as the others, but I've been wanting to dig into it more.
I decided to do all the weapon maintenance stuff. So for that I made 3 builds of each class. Obviously mobility Scout had sniper and shotgun. My old old survival Scout had zhukovs and plasma rifle for maximum ammo. So that left deepcore and crossbow. I made it work well enough. Did post how I built around it on here somewhere.
One of my favorite uses for Cryo Bolts I've found is to pair it with the Stun Mod in Tier 5 on the M1000 to neutralize Menaces before they can even get a shot off. Basically, you Focus Shot a Menace to stun it (if the Menace has already started burrowing when the shot goes off, the stun won't work FYI) then IMMEDIATELY swap to your Crossbow and launch a Cryo Bolt at it. When the stun wears off, the Menace will respond by trying to burrow. However, if you were fast enough, it will freeze before it can get away leaving it open being finished off easily without needing to worry about hitting its weak points which can be hard since they're usually quite far away. You can even shift your focus to other enemies after hitting it with the bolt and return to it after it's finished freezing. Using Electrocuting Focus Shots (the best overall Overclock for the M1000, in my opinion, since it allows you to comfortably take extra ammo and blowthrough while still being able to hit all of its key breakpoints unlike the other OCs) and Magnetic Shafts makes hitting the Menace with the bolt basically guaranteed, even if you're a bad shot. It can also hit Breeders from great distances to freeze and kill them in 3 bolts if you have trouble compensating for the bolt drop off.
I use the freeze bolt overclock quite a lot, it allows me to run boomerang and Bullets Of Mercy very effectively due to the glyphids being completely frozen in 1 hit
My favorite thing to do with fire bolts is to pair it with pheromone bolts. You shoot a Praetorian with pheromone bolt and then shoot it with 2 fire bolts. Other bugs come up, get lit on fire, damage the praetorian, and if the praetorian dies fast enough, the fire bolt will ignite the gas and damage nearby bugs more. Absolutely fantastic. One thing I will say about fire bolts is I thought they would work better against patrol bots, because of how they explode when they overheat. Unfortunately, fire bolts are pretty useless against patrol bots
trifork volley has a specific synergy with magnetic shafts that makes it WAY more effective. taking taser bolts, IFGs, and overcharged PCF on the drak makes it very easy to proc magnetic shafts and completely murder HVTs with trifork volley
fire/ice bolts +pheromones works really well when you can group up the bugs and set them all ablaze/free|. trifork + electric bolts + magnetic shafts gives scout some good long range single target damage
I have to sing the prasises of bodkin bolts vs mactera plague, very fun and strong. Easy way to take out a big horde of trijaws, especially after stunning them with the boomerang
well thats a bit of a trech, he recommended the damage mod for fire bolts, said that trifork is good for aoe and even didnt even read its stats correctly, he said that each bolt has its damage reduced by 50%. Also thats not the first time he gets things wrong, like recommending damage increasing mods for RJ250 in the pgl video, while the heat mod completely negates the damage penalty, and that same mod also reduces the self damage
Praets may be resistant to piercing but this thing is my favorite Praet killer. A pheromone bolt to their face and you don’t need to pay attention until the swarm is already loosened up or its armor is whittled away by its own kind. It’s like having an extra grenade slot that just… pauses a fight for a few seconds. Honestly I almost always run Phero on this thing, though I do enjoy the area control the electric ones give me. Those mixed with the specialist overclock can just cover a whole cave
fire bolts 32111 with either m1000 with basically any oc except the unstables, of which i use hipster, or gk2 with ai stability. I do haz 5 solo missions with it and I never had to run any other build except for eliminations, of which I like to use trifork, or industrial sabotage, of which I just like to do it with another class, but this build can work for any mission but for some missions there are better options
My general purpose build uses the Boltshark with Cryo Bolts. The mods depend on a few things but, generally, I'll take Chemical Explosive Bolts in Tier 1 to give the Scout a little bit of wave clear. Typically, a Scout should focus on High Value Targets like Acid Spitters and such and leave wave clear to his teammates but things don't always go according to plan so it's nice to able to take out a swarm of grunts if you need to. Pheromone bolts can be nice too since you can use them to group up enemies so they all get frozen by a single Cryo Bolt (more on that later) but I usually take Pheromone Grenades (which can distract an entire cave's worth of enemies if well-placed) and I don't usually like to double up on that effect, personally. Tier 2 I take Increased Quiver Capacity (more normal bolts) since Cryo Bolts don't care about direct damage and since the Scout really shouldn't be worrying about wave clear that often, having extra Chemical Explosive Bolts is unnecessary; 9 should be plenty. Having more Cryo Bolts can allow you to use them more comfortably on big stuff like Praetorians or even Oppressors (2 and 3 bolts for a freeze respectively assuming no one is using heat on them) while still having enough for Menaces, Spitballers and Breeders. Tier 3 I go with Reload Speed (more on why later). Tier 4 doesn't matter TOO much but I usually take Radio Transmitter Module even though it only works on your special bolts. The reason is because you will RARELY kill an enemy with direct damage with Cryo Bolts so Battle Frenzy doesn't give much value, at least for me personally. Take whichever you like, though. Tier 5 I go with Magnetic Shafts. This is another reason I don't like taking Pheromone Bolts in Tier 1 because it makes Potent Special Bolts too good to pass up. Chemical Explosive Bolts don't care about that extra duration since you will usually use them by hitting a grunt in the front of the pack then immediately switching to your primary to finish it off. By the time the explosion goes off, the bugs behind it will have surrounded it and the explosion will be in the center of all of them. Even if you don't shoot the poisoned grunt, the base duration is enough to kill it without the duration bonus anyway. I like Magnetic Shafts because it pairs very well with... M1000 with Electrocuting Focus Shots is my choice of Primary. You can take it with 13111 to have a good ammo pool (Tier 1) and Blowthrough (Tier 4) which can help save a ton of ammo by allowing you to shoot through several frozen enemies. As mentioned earlier, Pheromone Bolts can help group them up to freeze them for Blowthrough to shine but, with practice, you can also freeze swarms by shooting the bolts into the ground/walls with good placement. This overclock is also the reason I don't worry about projectile speed in Tier 3 for the Boltshark. If there's an enemy that's far away and you want the extra speed to make the drop off easier to accommodate, you can just tag them with a Focus Shot first and use Magnetic Shafts and guarantee the bolt will hit (unless you shoot a wall or something lol). Tier 2 Armor Breaking. All day, every day. Tier 3 you can take either. If you take Extra Mag size, your sustained DPS against bigger targets will be better since you don't have to reload as often but you usually won't be able to kill Septic Spreaders in one Focus Shot to the Weakpoint unless you take one of the other damage mods which I don't like doing for this OC. Although, SOMETIMES you CAN kill Spreaders in one shot. Most of the time they have literally 1 HP after the Electrocution DoT wears off but once in a while it'll kill them even without any other source of damage. It's inconsistent at best. I think you also miss the 1 shot breakpoint for Grunt Guards with Mag Size but, again, killing grunts isn't really your job. I usually take Mag Size but Focus Damage might be better. Take whichever you prefer. Tier 4, again, I like Blowthrough with Cryo Bolts. Tier 5 The Stun is pretty much mandatory for Electrocuting Focus Shots to give the DoT time to finish off enemies before they can attack again (Note: Septic Spreaders will be able to attack after the stun wears off even with Focus Damage in Tier 3). Even without any of the damage mods, you can Focus Shot a Tri-Jaw on Hazard 5 in the Weakpoint to stun it and, as soon as the stun wears off, it won't try to attack until it does it's little dodge move at least once first. It might start charging it's attack after THAT but, even if it does, it will die to the DoT before it can get the shot off effectively killing it in one hit. Grenades: A single, well-placed Pheromone Grenade can save an entire mission that's going South. Other grenades have their place (IFGs for Dreadnoughts, Cryo for Mactera Plgaue etc.) but I almost always take Pheromone in general.
Pheromone bolts are my favorite since it makes higher hazards way easier especially with modifiers like swarmageddon or explorer infestation that add a ton of enemies. Adding in the pheromone canister grenade it makes crowd control really easy (especially for when you need bugs in or not in a certain area (setting up pipes, defending dotty or the uplink module, etc)
My question opening this video was when better to use normal bolts. Trifork volley deals great damage, but normal bolts don't seem to. Taking out individual gliphyds seems like a waste, and there's not enough damage for high value targets either. Any advice?
from my experience (mainly haz 4) I find bodkin point arrows are fine as is because the damage can almost kill a grunt while taking a good chunk out of guards and slashers but like he said I don’t recommend using it on a pretorian unless you are guaranteed a critical. Its a great PDW that pairs well with scouts first primary although I would argue that the volatile compound bolts are lack luster compared to the potential with pheromone and electric bolts.
Did you take the damage upgrade? Haven't played in a bit but I remember Bodkin point with the damage increase in tier 2 should always kill base grunts with one bolt on any hazard.
I've always been back and forth on whether I like the crossbow or not. I do like it for the fact that special bolts when used right can be a game changer. However I don't like it because the boomstick speaks volumes to me personally. Special powder being what it is, as well as being an avid DOOM fan makes it the better choice for my loadouts. Good guide tho, really eye opening.
Same. I ignored it for a long time due to that. However, compensated with Deepcore on electrifying reload. That thing can kill bugs with just a tap and a reload, so. Almost endless ammo while the boltshark is used for burst in big targets or in a pinch.
I really hate the crossbow it feels bad. I wish it was just a sniper rifle. Though im general, i dislike the Scout overall. I have Plat 3 promotions on all the classes except scout, which is just bronze 3 promotion, lol.
I haven't watched, but I've used the boltshark it's easily the worst weapon in the game. It has the same damage as the wave cooker without hits scan and with less ammo. Pheromone bolts are fine but only affect one bug unlike Pheromones grenades which effect many bugs. The only other one worth mention is cryo bolts. They work but cryo cannon driller is better. Cryo bolts is only worth while on dreadnoughts which even then you're better off running a damaged secondary like the Holy zukkovs. Also Daily warthog hate (2nd worst weapon let's hop pump action improves that) Just finished watching and my stance is unchanged.
I dont use the cryo bols much but it can be usefull if you want to have a source of cryo without using cryo nades, you still can freeze multiple bugs by just shooting 2 bolts at the ground and can freeze big bugs with just 2 or 3 bolts like the breeder and you can still use any other grenade. i've used trifork in for some elimition missions and its really solid in my option, not only are can you combo them with the taser bolts if you use the magnetic shafts mod (which you should if you are running this oc) it can output some really good damage, and since you are using taser bolts, bullets of mercy on the gk2 can be a good choice for the primary slot since i usually run fire bolts because i tende to run a lot of solo missions I might be wrong also, I heavelly disagree with the boltshark beeing the worst weapon in the game, it has the best crowd clearing overclock for scout, that being the fire bolts, by just shoot 2 bolts at the ground you can ignite so many bugs, and with the taser bolts, by just shooting 2 of them a pretorian you can just ignore them for a bit while you focus on the objetive and when you are done, they are at half of their health. i've used the boltshark for many solo missions on haz 5 and, for me at least, its safe to say its the best option in the secondary slot for any misson that isnt escort or salvage
My man, have you tried using Tri-fork volley against dreadnaughts? Have you tried using Bodkin Points against mactera? Please use the weapon with all it's overclocks before deciding it's bad. I'll list some good ways to use it for people who are interested: 1. Try out Cryo Bolts on mactera swarm with Cryo Grenades, pair with Bullets of Mercy or Plasma Carbine with Thermal Exhaust Feedback set to maximum ROF, bolts freeze mactera and anything big, plasma gives big guys thermal shock. Spam with glee. 2. Use Tri-fork Volley with magnetic shafts, pick any weapon mod that gives an electric status effect, preferably limited to one enemy, let's say, a dreadnaught. Hit the dreadnaught with the electric status effect, fire in any direction, they will home in on the weakpoint of the electrocuted target and deal insane damage. Build bolts for damage, not ammo. 3. Bodkin Points for literally any mission type, build for damage to one-shot grunts, add Pheromone Bolts, and if you're feeling cheeky you can slap on the magnetic shafts too with an electric option from another weapon. Hit big target with Pheromone bolts, let grunts attack it, hit grunts from behind with bolts, they rip through 3 grunts and nail the big guy if you use magnetic shafts, they still nail 2 grunts and the big target if not. 4. Fire Bolts and Bullets of Mercy. Basically become Gunner with his Volatile Bullets-maxed Bulldog build. Now, I'll admit this, the Boltshark is very difficult to have fun with without overclocks. I did not use it until I had most of the overclocks backing up my Forge and decided to forge them all at once and try them out, I was a hater too. Trust me, if you give these builds a try, you can't go wrong, and you may fun with them at least. If not, that's cool. Since I'm in a good mood, and since you've shared a strong opinion, I'll do the same. The Zhukov-17's are obviously the worst, in my opinion. Please comment good builds below if they exist.
@@skepticalcentral8795 in my opinion the zhukovs are the worst scout's weapon in the secondary slot, but not by a lot, it can be used for really solid single target damage, of which i think the embedded detonators are the best with 13232 (conductive bullets don't boost the explosion damage)
Loved working on this weapon.
Whats your favorite overclock for the boltshark
I love the crossbow. One thing I like to do with it is use tri-fork volley paired with the electric special bolts. Then take the magnetic shafts upgrade for even more damage while making sure I can't miss with the volley.
It's very fun to bring on Elimination missions, as the electric bolts can slow the dreadnoughts down and let you really chunk their health. It gets pretty insane if you also have a way to freeze them while they're vulnerable to taking damage.
Probably my favorite secondary for Scout, the way the flames spread in a crowd of bugs with Fire Bolts is always extremely satisfying to watch lol
its my least favorite...
It's definitely one of my favorites, however, double barrel with special powder will always be #1 to me
@@patrickgardner2204 Boomstick is definitely fun and amazing as well, its honestly a very close choice when it comes to a favorite Scout secondary. AI Stability + Double Barrel is my favorite combo loadout for Scout
Fire bolt would be my go to except it does absolutely nothing to bots :(
Lol?
So, the 3 bolt overcharge is actually better for fighting big enemies. Like dreadnoughts. Shove your crossbow into their rear, and pull the trigger. It eats CHUNKS out of them.
but then boomstick w/o an oc is right there
It's what I used it for, with Deepcore on shocking reload to do most of my crowd damage for practically no ammo. I posted my whole build around it on here somewhere.
@@chasab3721 Not the same weapon still, boltshark has utility and more cnstant firing, while boomstick is *the* burst
But that's what the Overtuned particle accelerator on the Plasma carbine is for! Run AP rounds, extra fire rate at 50% heat, speed up on overheat, and that's the basics. You have the literal run and gun weapon now. The bolt shark is for ranged encounters, or clustering enemies.
What if you stack this with mark for death, magnet shafts, and a blister? 😈
i’m surprised you didn’t mention the combo of tri-fork and magnetic shafts, where the magnet can make them all hit the same enemy and do massive damage
It’s because he’s an average DRG content creator at best. He doesn’t go into stats/builds nearly as much as other creators. Good editing though.
Another very good combo that I adore is Pheromone and Fire Bolts, which can take out most of ambushes alone, just tag a Pretorian, Guard, or even Slasher and toss a few Fire bolts into the crowd and everything but the toughest enemies turn to ash, soooo satisfying. And altho it is a bit nicher situation, if you're in an intense situation where you have some allies downed, you can toss a firebolt on them and ignite the bugs around them, either leaving them open for revival or attracting another group of bugs so you can rinse and repeat, or just leave a trail of bolts as you kite a big group
I can’t not watch this and mention how incredible trifork volley is for single target damage. Especially against dreadnoughts if you pair the crossbow with electrical bolts, IFG grenades or the Stun Sweeper grenade because you can use an upgrade tier on the crossbow to do increased damage to electrified targets and hit INCREDIBLY hard in a pinch.
When I first used the crossbow, I hated it
but now that I've used it more, it quickly became one of my favorite weapons.
I use triple bows, I find them surprisingly effective against Dreadnoughts (on medium difficulty at least)
same
4:25 it should be noted that shooting 2 bolts at the ground will ignite multiple bugs very quickly, making the damage mod and battle frenzy nearly useless. the same applies to the cryo bolts, but it's not as usefull with it since its better used to freeze big bugs, many of which need just 3 bolts at most to freeze them, making you basically have 2 grenades
6:25 pheromones aren't that usefull with bodkin points since it targets bugs in a pretty good distance. Also I think its the worst oc for the bolt shark but I usually run haz 5 and the swarms there are just massive and just killing 3 of them with one bolt has very little effect, but on lower difficulties maybe its a little more usefull or i'm just biased towards fire bolts
edit 7:06 - 50% less damage per bolt, dude neither can read or even see the oc's actual purpose, lol, trifork for aoe, that's something new
Agreed with cryo/fire bolts, take more bolts
Yeah, this dude is an average DRG content creator at best. He doesn’t go into stats/builds nearly as much as other creators. Good editing, that’s it.
@@LASAGNA_LARRY and thats not couting the times when he says stuff thats completly wrong, like in the flamethrower video on the section about stickie fuel and in this video about trifork
This is exactly the video I've needed. I haven't really connected with the Boltshark as quickly as the others, but I've been wanting to dig into it more.
Same
I decided to do all the weapon maintenance stuff. So for that I made 3 builds of each class.
Obviously mobility Scout had sniper and shotgun. My old old survival Scout had zhukovs and plasma rifle for maximum ammo. So that left deepcore and crossbow. I made it work well enough. Did post how I built around it on here somewhere.
One of my favorite uses for Cryo Bolts I've found is to pair it with the Stun Mod in Tier 5 on the M1000 to neutralize Menaces before they can even get a shot off. Basically, you Focus Shot a Menace to stun it (if the Menace has already started burrowing when the shot goes off, the stun won't work FYI) then IMMEDIATELY swap to your Crossbow and launch a Cryo Bolt at it. When the stun wears off, the Menace will respond by trying to burrow. However, if you were fast enough, it will freeze before it can get away leaving it open being finished off easily without needing to worry about hitting its weak points which can be hard since they're usually quite far away. You can even shift your focus to other enemies after hitting it with the bolt and return to it after it's finished freezing.
Using Electrocuting Focus Shots (the best overall Overclock for the M1000, in my opinion, since it allows you to comfortably take extra ammo and blowthrough while still being able to hit all of its key breakpoints unlike the other OCs) and Magnetic Shafts makes hitting the Menace with the bolt basically guaranteed, even if you're a bad shot. It can also hit Breeders from great distances to freeze and kill them in 3 bolts if you have trouble compensating for the bolt drop off.
I use the freeze bolt overclock quite a lot, it allows me to run boomerang and Bullets Of Mercy very effectively due to the glyphids being completely frozen in 1 hit
My favorite thing to do with fire bolts is to pair it with pheromone bolts. You shoot a Praetorian with pheromone bolt and then shoot it with 2 fire bolts. Other bugs come up, get lit on fire, damage the praetorian, and if the praetorian dies fast enough, the fire bolt will ignite the gas and damage nearby bugs more. Absolutely fantastic. One thing I will say about fire bolts is I thought they would work better against patrol bots, because of how they explode when they overheat. Unfortunately, fire bolts are pretty useless against patrol bots
trifork volley has a specific synergy with magnetic shafts that makes it WAY more effective. taking taser bolts, IFGs, and overcharged PCF on the drak makes it very easy to proc magnetic shafts and completely murder HVTs with trifork volley
Super helpful, I’m gonna take a look at my Crossbow and rework it
Sadly no matter how good the guide it cannot fix the worst weapon
fire/ice bolts +pheromones works really well when you can group up the bugs and set them all ablaze/free|.
trifork + electric bolts + magnetic shafts gives scout some good long range single target damage
Broad-kin bolts? Dude is adding letters and not realizing it.
Fire and cryo bolts pair well with pheromone grenades and GK2's Bullets of Mercy overclock.
I have to sing the prasises of bodkin bolts vs mactera plague, very fun and strong. Easy way to take out a big horde of trijaws, especially after stunning them with the boomerang
Useful and detailed infos as always, you always hit the spot J ! Could you do the driller’s plasma charger next ?
well thats a bit of a trech, he recommended the damage mod for fire bolts, said that trifork is good for aoe and even didnt even read its stats correctly, he said that each bolt has its damage reduced by 50%. Also thats not the first time he gets things wrong, like recommending damage increasing mods for RJ250 in the pgl video, while the heat mod completely negates the damage penalty, and that same mod also reduces the self damage
THe cryo bolt is amazing especially when paired with the pheromone bolts
Trifork was made for massive single target damage, not horde control, if you haven't already tried building it for that I recommend that you do.
Praets may be resistant to piercing but this thing is my favorite Praet killer. A pheromone bolt to their face and you don’t need to pay attention until the swarm is already loosened up or its armor is whittled away by its own kind. It’s like having an extra grenade slot that just… pauses a fight for a few seconds.
Honestly I almost always run Phero on this thing, though I do enjoy the area control the electric ones give me. Those mixed with the specialist overclock can just cover a whole cave
I ran Phero on it too, as well as Phero grenades (since 3 bolt reminded me of Minecraft, so figured monster in-fighting would work.)
I really like this weapon, could someone under this post comment a good build you use with the Boltshark?
I use Cryo Bolts (pheromone specials) with Hipster on the Classic. It's really good on Elimination missions.
fire bolts 32111 with either m1000 with basically any oc except the unstables, of which i use hipster, or gk2 with ai stability. I do haz 5 solo missions with it and I never had to run any other build except for eliminations, of which I like to use trifork, or industrial sabotage, of which I just like to do it with another class, but this build can work for any mission but for some missions there are better options
My general purpose build uses the Boltshark with Cryo Bolts. The mods depend on a few things but, generally, I'll take Chemical Explosive Bolts in Tier 1 to give the Scout a little bit of wave clear. Typically, a Scout should focus on High Value Targets like Acid Spitters and such and leave wave clear to his teammates but things don't always go according to plan so it's nice to able to take out a swarm of grunts if you need to. Pheromone bolts can be nice too since you can use them to group up enemies so they all get frozen by a single Cryo Bolt (more on that later) but I usually take Pheromone Grenades (which can distract an entire cave's worth of enemies if well-placed) and I don't usually like to double up on that effect, personally.
Tier 2 I take Increased Quiver Capacity (more normal bolts) since Cryo Bolts don't care about direct damage and since the Scout really shouldn't be worrying about wave clear that often, having extra Chemical Explosive Bolts is unnecessary; 9 should be plenty. Having more Cryo Bolts can allow you to use them more comfortably on big stuff like Praetorians or even Oppressors (2 and 3 bolts for a freeze respectively assuming no one is using heat on them) while still having enough for Menaces, Spitballers and Breeders.
Tier 3 I go with Reload Speed (more on why later).
Tier 4 doesn't matter TOO much but I usually take Radio Transmitter Module even though it only works on your special bolts. The reason is because you will RARELY kill an enemy with direct damage with Cryo Bolts so Battle Frenzy doesn't give much value, at least for me personally. Take whichever you like, though.
Tier 5 I go with Magnetic Shafts. This is another reason I don't like taking Pheromone Bolts in Tier 1 because it makes Potent Special Bolts too good to pass up. Chemical Explosive Bolts don't care about that extra duration since you will usually use them by hitting a grunt in the front of the pack then immediately switching to your primary to finish it off. By the time the explosion goes off, the bugs behind it will have surrounded it and the explosion will be in the center of all of them. Even if you don't shoot the poisoned grunt, the base duration is enough to kill it without the duration bonus anyway. I like Magnetic Shafts because it pairs very well with...
M1000 with Electrocuting Focus Shots is my choice of Primary. You can take it with 13111 to have a good ammo pool (Tier 1) and Blowthrough (Tier 4) which can help save a ton of ammo by allowing you to shoot through several frozen enemies. As mentioned earlier, Pheromone Bolts can help group them up to freeze them for Blowthrough to shine but, with practice, you can also freeze swarms by shooting the bolts into the ground/walls with good placement. This overclock is also the reason I don't worry about projectile speed in Tier 3 for the Boltshark. If there's an enemy that's far away and you want the extra speed to make the drop off easier to accommodate, you can just tag them with a Focus Shot first and use Magnetic Shafts and guarantee the bolt will hit (unless you shoot a wall or something lol).
Tier 2 Armor Breaking. All day, every day.
Tier 3 you can take either. If you take Extra Mag size, your sustained DPS against bigger targets will be better since you don't have to reload as often but you usually won't be able to kill Septic Spreaders in one Focus Shot to the Weakpoint unless you take one of the other damage mods which I don't like doing for this OC. Although, SOMETIMES you CAN kill Spreaders in one shot. Most of the time they have literally 1 HP after the Electrocution DoT wears off but once in a while it'll kill them even without any other source of damage. It's inconsistent at best. I think you also miss the 1 shot breakpoint for Grunt Guards with Mag Size but, again, killing grunts isn't really your job. I usually take Mag Size but Focus Damage might be better. Take whichever you prefer.
Tier 4, again, I like Blowthrough with Cryo Bolts.
Tier 5 The Stun is pretty much mandatory for Electrocuting Focus Shots to give the DoT time to finish off enemies before they can attack again (Note: Septic Spreaders will be able to attack after the stun wears off even with Focus Damage in Tier 3). Even without any of the damage mods, you can Focus Shot a Tri-Jaw on Hazard 5 in the Weakpoint to stun it and, as soon as the stun wears off, it won't try to attack until it does it's little dodge move at least once first. It might start charging it's attack after THAT but, even if it does, it will die to the DoT before it can get the shot off effectively killing it in one hit.
Grenades: A single, well-placed Pheromone Grenade can save an entire mission that's going South. Other grenades have their place (IFGs for Dreadnoughts, Cryo for Mactera Plgaue etc.) but I almost always take Pheromone in general.
Pheromone bolts are my favorite since it makes higher hazards way easier especially with modifiers like swarmageddon or explorer infestation that add a ton of enemies. Adding in the pheromone canister grenade it makes crowd control really easy (especially for when you need bugs in or not in a certain area (setting up pipes, defending dotty or the uplink module, etc)
The Tri-blot oc are amazing for shatter Dhreadnough especially if ya Freeze them
I think the problem with Tri-fork volley is you're kinda better off using it like a wannabe boomstick. for an unstable.
Basically how I use it. Kill high priority target. But it also has special bolts on the side.
My question opening this video was when better to use normal bolts. Trifork volley deals great damage, but normal bolts don't seem to. Taking out individual gliphyds seems like a waste, and there's not enough damage for high value targets either. Any advice?
from my experience (mainly haz 4) I find bodkin point arrows are fine as is because the damage can almost kill a grunt while taking a good chunk out of guards and slashers but like he said I don’t recommend using it on a pretorian unless you are guaranteed a critical.
Its a great PDW that pairs well with scouts first primary although I would argue that the volatile compound bolts are lack luster compared to the potential with pheromone and electric bolts.
Did you take the damage upgrade? Haven't played in a bit but I remember Bodkin point with the damage increase in tier 2 should always kill base grunts with one bolt on any hazard.
nothing cross-bow related but what is that armour called for scout at 0:55 the cosmetic I mean; cuz it looks awesome
I'd love to hear your ideas about the Zhukov too.
I've always been back and forth on whether I like the crossbow or not. I do like it for the fact that special bolts when used right can be a game changer. However I don't like it because the boomstick speaks volumes to me personally. Special powder being what it is, as well as being an avid DOOM fan makes it the better choice for my loadouts. Good guide tho, really eye opening.
BODKIN bolts. BODkin. I almost let it go but then realized the video chapter was even labeled brodkin 🧐
can you do a video on the NUK17 please I wanna see If I should unlock It
I’m pretty sure bodkin with broadhead still oneshot grunts, making a makeshift AOE weapon.
Cool vid btw
“Bullets are overrated”
2 seconds in and my fragile American ego is already screaming in 2nd amendment
Crossbow is very good my biggest complaint is the lack of ammo that has.
Same. I ignored it for a long time due to that. However, compensated with Deepcore on electrifying reload. That thing can kill bugs with just a tap and a reload, so. Almost endless ammo while the boltshark is used for burst in big targets or in a pinch.
Pkease let Driller's Subata be next, I know it isn't the most popular but I still love it and would like some guidance.
hell yeah
I really hate the crossbow it feels bad. I wish it was just a sniper rifle. Though im general, i dislike the Scout overall. I have Plat 3 promotions on all the classes except scout, which is just bronze 3 promotion, lol.
"broadkin bolts"
*shudder*
I haven't watched, but I've used the boltshark it's easily the worst weapon in the game. It has the same damage as the wave cooker without hits scan and with less ammo. Pheromone bolts are fine but only affect one bug unlike Pheromones grenades which effect many bugs. The only other one worth mention is cryo bolts. They work but cryo cannon driller is better. Cryo bolts is only worth while on dreadnoughts which even then you're better off running a damaged secondary like the Holy zukkovs.
Also Daily warthog hate (2nd worst weapon let's hop pump action improves that)
Just finished watching and my stance is unchanged.
This is the worst comment of all time
I dont use the cryo bols much but it can be usefull if you want to have a source of cryo without using cryo nades, you still can freeze multiple bugs by just shooting 2 bolts at the ground and can freeze big bugs with just 2 or 3 bolts like the breeder and you can still use any other grenade.
i've used trifork in for some elimition missions and its really solid in my option, not only are can you combo them with the taser bolts if you use the magnetic shafts mod (which you should if you are running this oc) it can output some really good damage, and since you are using taser bolts, bullets of mercy on the gk2 can be a good choice for the primary slot
since i usually run fire bolts because i tende to run a lot of solo missions I might be wrong
also, I heavelly disagree with the boltshark beeing the worst weapon in the game, it has the best crowd clearing overclock for scout, that being the fire bolts, by just shoot 2 bolts at the ground you can ignite so many bugs, and with the taser bolts, by just shooting 2 of them a pretorian you can just ignore them for a bit while you focus on the objetive and when you are done, they are at half of their health. i've used the boltshark for many solo missions on haz 5 and, for me at least, its safe to say its the best option in the secondary slot for any misson that isnt escort or salvage
My man, have you tried using Tri-fork volley against dreadnaughts? Have you tried using Bodkin Points against mactera? Please use the weapon with all it's overclocks before deciding it's bad.
I'll list some good ways to use it for people who are interested:
1. Try out Cryo Bolts on mactera swarm with Cryo Grenades, pair with Bullets of Mercy or Plasma Carbine with Thermal Exhaust Feedback set to maximum ROF, bolts freeze mactera and anything big, plasma gives big guys thermal shock. Spam with glee.
2. Use Tri-fork Volley with magnetic shafts, pick any weapon mod that gives an electric status effect, preferably limited to one enemy, let's say, a dreadnaught. Hit the dreadnaught with the electric status effect, fire in any direction, they will home in on the weakpoint of the electrocuted target and deal insane damage. Build bolts for damage, not ammo.
3. Bodkin Points for literally any mission type, build for damage to one-shot grunts, add Pheromone Bolts, and if you're feeling cheeky you can slap on the magnetic shafts too with an electric option from another weapon. Hit big target with Pheromone bolts, let grunts attack it, hit grunts from behind with bolts, they rip through 3 grunts and nail the big guy if you use magnetic shafts, they still nail 2 grunts and the big target if not.
4. Fire Bolts and Bullets of Mercy. Basically become Gunner with his Volatile Bullets-maxed Bulldog build.
Now, I'll admit this, the Boltshark is very difficult to have fun with without overclocks. I did not use it until I had most of the overclocks backing up my Forge and decided to forge them all at once and try them out, I was a hater too. Trust me, if you give these builds a try, you can't go wrong, and you may fun with them at least. If not, that's cool.
Since I'm in a good mood, and since you've shared a strong opinion, I'll do the same.
The Zhukov-17's are obviously the worst, in my opinion. Please comment good builds below if they exist.
@@skepticalcentral8795 in my opinion the zhukovs are the worst scout's weapon in the secondary slot, but not by a lot, it can be used for really solid single target damage, of which i think the embedded detonators are the best with 13232 (conductive bullets don't boost the explosion damage)
bait used to be believable