Retooling my gun mage

jaazaniah1

The new costume pieces (and a free retcon) have encouraged me to look at my original gun mage. This is the WIP. He's only using pistols, so no grenade for armor piercing . I'm thinking that I can pop Dark Transfusion and then after a bit pop Imbue to get the benefit of the DT damage boost plus the boost in effect from Imbue when lower on hit points. Hopefully Life Essence will help survival on that. I take Targeting Computer so often that I would be interested in hearing if there is a good case for opting for Composure.

Captain Arcane - Freeform (Any / Multiple)
v3.41:33

Super Stats
Level 6: Ego (Primary)
Level 10: Dexterity (Secondary)
Level 15: Recovery (Secondary)

Talents
Level 1: The Gunslinger (Dex: 10, Con: 10, Ego: 8, Rec: 10)
Level 6: Worldly (Ego: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 9: Shooter (Dex: 5, Ego: 5)
Level 12: Impresario (Dex: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 15: Ascetic (Con: 5, Ego: 5)
Level 18: Quick Recovery (Con: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 21: Acrobat (Dex: 5, Con: 5)

Powers
Level 1: Gunslinger
Level 1: Killer Instinct
Level 6: Concentration
Level 8: Bullet Hail (Rank 2, Assault, Boogeyman)
Level 11: Eldritch Shield (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Will-o'-the-Wisp (Ghost Fire)
Level 17: Life Essence (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 20: Masterful Dodge (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 23: Targeting Computer (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 26: Two-Gun Mojo (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 29: Burst Shot
Level 32: Hex of Suffering (Rune of Dismay)
Level 35: Imbue
Level 38: Dark Transfusion (Rank 2, Blood Sacrifice)
Adv. Points: 36/36

Travel Powers
Level 6: Magic Carpet (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Blazing Speed (Rank 2)

Specializations
Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
Ego: Insight (3/3)
Ego: Follow Through (3/3)
Ego: Exploit Opening (2/2)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
Guardian: Find the Mark (3/3)
Guardian: The Best Defense (2/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (2/3)
Mastery: Ego Mastery (1/1)

Devices

flowcyto

Composure offers more passive defensive bonuses than TC overall, though ofc that's not usually the priority for a dps unit vs. doing more dps overall. Composure can also boost Tech melee powers (unlike TC), though there aren't that many of them (and ofc, other dps passives can work for those as well). Anyways, I wouldn't necc change much w/ the powers in that build overall (perhaps swap MD for Resurgence, since the latter is still a %health-based heal, but ranked MD is still fine for a mitigation cd), assuming you're keeping some of them for the theme.

jaazaniah1

Thanks as always Flow. I am finding that MD tends to be more useful in end game than Resurgence, especially at dino, where baby's breath can cut through even a r3 block. That MD is pure gold in the situation where the baby tank doesn't quite catch it immediately. OTOH, I might drop Hex and pick up either ice grenades or poison shuriken for when I need the occasional stun and then maybe pick up Resurgence instead.

Dark Transfusion is mainly there because I don't have it on any other builds and I want to see if I can make some decent use of it. After 55 lvl 40s the trick is not repeating what I've already done before!

flowcyto

Sure, that all sounds understandable, but yea it may still be worthwhile to get Resurgence since it can heal through DT's self dmg w/o having to stop/slow down your dps w/ LE for a period. Ofc, in some content you will have committed healers anyways, but it's something to consider.