Current Ground Meta?

cerealplayer

Hi all. I recently came back to the game from a semi-long hiatus (since before DR). I was able to quickly catch up on the current space meta (nukara 2pc, critdx3 + pen antiproton, and dope dope dope), thanks to the abundance of info on these forums, reddit, and other channels. But, non-surprisingly, it's been a lot harder to find out what all the rave is lately for ground combat. This wouldn't be so problematic in the old days, because changing gear used to be trivial. Nowadays, I have to be really careful about what I choose to upgrade to MK XIV gold, because that $*@# ain't cheap bro.

So. I ask you oh wise forum goers: what gear is the absolute must-have, and must-upgrade for ground for tac captain, who eventually wants to go into elite queues? Many thanks!

peterconnorfirst

True fortunately on ground there are less possible combinations and far less gear pieces to upgrade.

As far as the main items are concerned I’d defiantly consider a TR-116B sniper rifle from crafting system. I use it on all toons I have in combination with the Zefram shotgun (pulswave) from last mirror event for a good distance/close range mix. Both guns have the benefit that they bypass shields and make remod against Borg unnecessary. There are probably a 100 situations where a 100 other weppons do better but with these 2 you have some good all-rounder working for you and don’t need to carry a whole weapons locker with you.

As far as Shield and Armor are concerned some DPS oriented players use the Undine Reput armor and a Nukara shield to max out the physical damage the shotgun deals.

I for one have no problem catching the NPCs aggro even without it and tend to go with the classic M.A.C.O. 2 piece there. The shield recharger saved me from biting the dust the past 3 years countless times especially as a Tac.

Ground Kit modules cant be upgraded yet and are not that expensive on exchange. Same counts for traits. I think more info about which class you like to play and which kind of PvE (or even PvP) you are up to would be needed for further advice.

jerichoredoran

The counter command armor is definately a look. It has great all round resists, adds special toxic resist (close to essential for Bug Hunt queue) and that 30% physical boost. Add a second piece of the set for 5% crit chance.

The dyson gun (and i think the delta too, maybe others as well) switches its secondary fire to an exploit attack if used agains exposed targets for a nasty hit.

The TR-116 was already named, although it seems to perform quite weak in many players hands. (havent tryed it yet, I think they fail to use expose/exploit and primary fire a sniper typical not too strong...)

Have a good look on kit modules, there are many new ones, some of them really strong depending on your build. Same for traits and doffs. Sadly the real interesting ones come mostly out of lockboxes.
Kit modules mostly perform around rarity and less about mark level. Some mk vii purple are stronger than xiii blues.
Kit wise, look for the counter command, delta kits and undine kits.

Ps Dont upgrade every sh** to gold its often not worth it

rodentmaster

There are a lot more kit options and universal kit modules than before. You can really pick and choose what you like nowadays. In terms of the ground combat, it's still quite do-able. For a month, auto rifles were wonderfully buffed into usefulness, but that has been fixed. They are back to normal now.

Overall it's going to depend on your class, but despite better synergies at work, better choices in terms of armor/sets, the fundamental basics didn't undergo as much of an impact as space combat.

cerealplayer

Thank you so far everyone. Unfortunately, I wasn't playing during the last crystaline event, so the shotgun is out for me. I'll look into the other recomendations.

Any kit modules in particular I should be looking at if I haven't played in a few months? I just picked up the tac orbital strike one (loleng) from the exchange.

mcduffie369

Check out my youtube channel for ground tips.

szerontzur

Grab the Dyson ground set - the shields regen in combat, armor has a direction resistance barrier when crouching.

As for Weapon:
Dyson Rifle - Good damage(few things can resist proton damage), has both AoE and Sniper firing modes, and synergy with the above set.

Counter-Command Rifle - is able to apply both expose and exploit with primary and secondary fire.

TR-116B(Crafted) - straight Kinetic damage that bypasses shields and has few resistances.



As for kits:
Science - Electro Gravity Field + Exo/Endothermic Induction Field.
Engineer - Mines and Mortars.
Tactical - Several options; Grenade Spam for knockdown/flanking damage boost, Ambush/Lunge for spike damage, Suppressing Fire(with an AoE weapon) and Grenades/Polaron Bombardment for area damage.

dpsloss88

Science is the best for ground because I prefer my enemies burn to death....