The Return of the Section 31 Heavy Rifle

warmasterxdk · September 2021

...Is something I would LOVE to see happen, either as a Lobi store item (Next to its pistol counterpart) or available from somewhere else. I know its not the best rifle in the game, but its just so fun to run with. What really sucks is I have it on my XB1 but I missed out on the PC (Which is now OVER 2 YEARS AGO).

OR

Better yet, revamp it entirely. Keep the visual design the same as well as the primary bolt fire, but instead of the sweeping beam, turn it into a Split-Beam rifle!

Or, even better! Have 2 variations basically just being reskins of the Ba'ul full auto and split beam rifles, but just have the bolts/beam be as thick as the S31 original sweep beam. I'd totally pay $$ for that.

phoenixc · September 2021

Two alt fire modes would be ok, but fixing the sweep so it can attack things above or below the narrow plane the beam travels in now would be the best.

maniac20 · September 2021

keepcalmchiveon wrote: »

would be nice to get this out there again somehow.

although, im not a fan of split beam...

the S31 Heavy was a sweeping beam not a split beam.

If it comes back it will most likely be in Mudd's with it being an old event reward.

angrytarg · September 2021

> @phoenixc#0738 said:
> Two alt fire modes would be ok, but fixing the sweep so it can attack things above or below the narrow plane the beam travels in now would be the best.

It could get a 'wide beam sweep' (like the one they show a Type-3 in DS9 is capable of) for expose damage and the concentrated one for exploit damage, with the wide-beam obviously hitting a wider area as well.

pottsey5g · September 2021

warmasterxdk#9668 wrote: »

...Is something I would LOVE to see happen, either as a Lobi store item (Next to its pistol counterpart) or available from somewhere else. I know its not the best rifle in the game, but its just so fun to run with. What really sucks is I have it on my XB1 but I missed out on the P

Mixed with the S31 drone the S31 rifle is possibly the best rifle in the game. No other rifle that I know about comes close. It doesnt need a revamp, its perfect.

kayajay · September 2021

The only thing about that weapon...you use the second firing mode and it fires high or low, but misses everyone in its sweep.

phoenixc · September 2021

kayajay wrote: »

The only thing about that weapon...you use the second firing mode and it fires high or low, but misses everyone in its sweep.

That is why I end up putting it on one of my boffs most of the time, I run a lot of First Federation offshoot captains (in fact my avatar picture on the forum here is one) and the size means that if the enemy is standing even a little higher than floor level the beam tends to go under their feet and miss because the sweep does not take the primary target's elevation into account.

The same thing can happen with a very tall character as well, where it shoots over their heads by a tiny amount and does not register a hit (not to mention if you are on uneven terrain it can miss like that with average size characters).

When you are on an absolutely flat playing field it is a great weapon though, both visually and effectiveness wise.

legendarylycan · September 2021

Too bad absolutely flat terrain doesn't come up all that often - either you're on an exterior map that's incredibly hilly and uneven, or you're on an interior map with tons of ramps...and the damn enemy groups are always either ON the ramps, at the top while you're approaching from the bottom or at the bottom when you're going down, which means having to move to their level before you can use the sweep, all while being fired on.

aesica · September 2021

warmasterxdk#9668 wrote: »

...Is something I would LOVE to see happen, either as a Lobi store item (Next to its pistol counterpart) or available from somewhere else. I know its not the best rifle in the game, but its just so fun to run with. What really sucks is I have it on my XB1 but I missed out on the PC (Which is now OVER 2 YEARS AGO).

It wouldn't surprise me if instead, they tried to put it in Mudd's market alongside that wretched crystal ground turret, or some other crappy pack like they did with the machine gun.

warmasterxdk · September 2021

The rifle is an awesome looking and sounding weapon, but the criteria that have to be met for just the secondary mode to work right is downright sad. The only time it really works is, as previously mentioned, on flat terrain. That's why it would be the perfect candidate to get a rework.

Another reason for it to get a rework is that the original could not be reengineered, which sucks.

Found a pic of it upgraded to epic.

Hell, you want to make it really simple as far as a rework goes? Just copy and paste the secondary bolt burst from the Section 31 phaser pistol to the rifle. I think a lot of people would be satisfied with that.

pottsey5g · September 2021

Those of you saying it only works on a flat surface with secondary fire mode really need to try the S31 Covert Assault Drone then use Secondary Fire on the S31 rifle its a game changer. It doesnt just hit on a flat surface, it hits everything above and below you. This combo makes it one of if not the best rifles in the game.

The rifle doesnt need a rework and all these rework ideas would make it far worse and far less unique.

seaofsorrows · September 2021

pottsey5g wrote: »

Those of you saying it only works on a flat surface with secondary fire mode really need to try the S31 Covert Assault Drone then use Secondary Fire on the S31 rifle its a game changer. It doesnt just hit on a flat surface, it hits everything above and below you. This combo makes it one of if not the best rifles in the game.

The rifle doesnt need a rework and all these rework ideas would make it far worse and far less unique.

I definitely respect your opinion, but on this we definitely disagree. The Covert Assault Drone helps the S31 Rifle, yes.. but it helps it in a way that it also helps other better weapons. That combo is good entirely because of the Drone and not at all because of the mediocre rifle. Any weapon that lets you hit multiple enemies will have this effect, use the drone with the Herald Staff and the drone procs from the chain attacks. There is nothing special about the rifle to get this effect, all the greatness in that combo comes from the drone.

I have a Section 31 themed character, he uses the Rifle for aesthetics and I use the Drone to make it work better.. it's a good combo, but if I am going to go into a harder queue, the first thing I do is swap out the mediocre rifle for either the Boolean or the Herald Staff. I love the look and aesthetic of the S31 rifle, but it seems to have a short range, average damage and a wonky at best secondary fire. It's made much better with the Covert Assault Drone, but so are many other better weapons, heck, I imagine even a standard Split Beam would be more effective using the Drone.

I definitely respect your opinion, but I cannot agree that anything makes the S31 rifle anywhere close to one of the best rifles in the game. It's a kinda fun little gimmick, but it's nothing you're ever going to use if you are looking for the most effective tool.

legendarylycan · September 2021

If you want uber-proccing drones, the secondary on the Tzenkethi cannon beats the pants off the S31 rifle, because not only can it hit things at ANY elevation (which is a requirement for the drone even functioning and not being a floating brick - hitting targets), it can be redirected to targets for the duration of its firing cycle, whereas the sweep beam, if an enemy comes in after the beam has already swept that area...well, fork you - you get NOTHING! GOOD DAY, SIR!

seaofsorrows · September 2021

legendarylycan#5411 wrote: »

If you want uber-proccing drones, the secondary on the Tzenkethi cannon beats the pants off the S31 rifle, because not only can it hit things at ANY elevation (which is a requirement for the drone even functioning and not being a floating brick - hitting targets), it can be redirected to targets for the duration of its firing cycle, whereas the sweep beam, if an enemy comes in after the beam has already swept that area...well, fork you - you get NOTHING! GOOD DAY, SIR!

The Covert Assault drone procs even when the S31 rifles secondary fire misses (which is always.) That's the one thing that makes it kind of viable, but even then, the rifle has very limited usability. Honestly, even paired with the Covert Drone, the S31 rifle is just.. well.. bad.

phoenixc · September 2021

seaofsorrows wrote: »

legendarylycan#5411 wrote: »

If you want uber-proccing drones, the secondary on the Tzenkethi cannon beats the pants off the S31 rifle, because not only can it hit things at ANY elevation (which is a requirement for the drone even functioning and not being a floating brick - hitting targets), it can be redirected to targets for the duration of its firing cycle, whereas the sweep beam, if an enemy comes in after the beam has already swept that area...well, fork you - you get NOTHING! GOOD DAY, SIR!

The Covert Assault drone procs even when the S31 rifles secondary fire misses (which is always.) That's the one thing that makes it kind of viable, but even then, the rifle has very limited usability. Honestly, even paired with the Covert Drone, the S31 rifle is just.. well.. bad.

The secondary does not always miss, it usefulness is limited to shipboard or other flat surface fights which makes it a bit of a niche weapon.

legendarylycan · September 2021

That's...not what I remember from when the drone mod first came out - I distinctly recall it only firing shots for every shot your own secondary fired that actually HIT a target; did Cryptic change it at some point or did I Mandela Effect myself and completely misremember how the thing worked?

seaofsorrows · September 2021

phoenixc#0738 wrote: »

seaofsorrows wrote: »

legendarylycan#5411 wrote: »

If you want uber-proccing drones, the secondary on the Tzenkethi cannon beats the pants off the S31 rifle, because not only can it hit things at ANY elevation (which is a requirement for the drone even functioning and not being a floating brick - hitting targets), it can be redirected to targets for the duration of its firing cycle, whereas the sweep beam, if an enemy comes in after the beam has already swept that area...well, fork you - you get NOTHING! GOOD DAY, SIR!

The Covert Assault drone procs even when the S31 rifles secondary fire misses (which is always.) That's the one thing that makes it kind of viable, but even then, the rifle has very limited usability. Honestly, even paired with the Covert Drone, the S31 rifle is just.. well.. bad.

The secondary does not always miss, it usefulness is limited to shipboard or other flat surface fights which makes it a bit of a niche weapon.

Guess I have to put the word 'sarcasm' on everything.

Of course it doesn't miss 100% of the time.

legendarylycan#5411 wrote: »

That's...not what I remember from when the drone mod first came out - I distinctly recall it only firing shots for every shot your own secondary fired that actually HIT a target; did Cryptic change it at some point or did I Mandela Effect myself and completely misremember how the thing worked?

I can only say how it works today, and today it procs on misses. To be more accurate.. you just have to hit something and the Drone will proc on all available targets.

I just used this combo today for Operation Wolf and was firing over people on the lower level and the drone hit them. You can kind of exploit this combo by just hitting anything but it's kind of tricky to pull off and rather unreliable. Now, using it with the Herald Staff.. that's a great combo.

pottsey5g · September 2021

seaofsorrows wrote: »

pottsey5g wrote: »

Those of you saying it only works on a flat surface with secondary fire mode really need to try the S31 Covert Assault Drone then use Secondary Fire on the S31 rifle its a game changer. It doesnt just hit on a flat surface, it hits everything above and below you. This combo makes it one of if not the best rifles in the game.

The rifle doesnt need a rework and all these rework ideas would make it far worse and far less unique.

I definitely respect your opinion, but on this we definitely disagree. The Covert Assault Drone helps the S31 Rifle, yes.. but it helps it in a way that it also helps other better weapons. That combo is good entirely because of the Drone and not at all because of the mediocre rifle. Any weapon that lets you hit multiple enemies will have this effect, use the drone with the Herald Staff and the drone procs from the chain attacks. There is nothing special about the rifle to get this effect, all the greatness in that combo comes from the drone.

I have a Section 31 themed character, he uses the Rifle for aesthetics and I use the Drone to make it work better.. it's a good combo, but if I am going to go into a harder queue, the first thing I do is swap out the mediocre rifle for either the Boolean or the Herald Staff. I love the look and aesthetic of the S31 rifle, but it seems to have a short range, average damage and a wonky at best secondary fire. It's made much better with the Covert Assault Drone, but so are many other better weapons, heck, I imagine even a standard Split Beam would be more effective using the Drone.

I definitely respect your opinion, but I cannot agree that anything makes the S31 rifle anywhere close to one of the best rifles in the game. It's a kinda fun little gimmick, but it's nothing you're ever going to use if you are looking for the most effective tool.

Perhaps I missed something. When I used that combo the S31 Rifle hits everything in the what is it a 180" arc? in front of me even shooting 20+ NPC's at once if there was 20 NPC's in that arc. When I use the other weapons I only hit a handful of NPC's in a narrow arc. Say I play Operation Wolf where they come out of 3 doors the S31 is killing all 3 spawn points while the other weapons are only hitting 1 spawn point.

Not only am I hitting more target but the other weapons only fire once or a handful of times. While the S31 Rifle with the drone as its a beam fires none stop a dozen times per target at every target at a very wide angle. I will do some more testing later.

EDIT: Just thought perhaps its due to my trait combo which is why I am expreince a different outcome? I have high kit damage which massively boosts this combo. Most other weapons don't interact with the drone in the same way as the S31Rifle. Even a split beam with drone is a tiny fraction of the output of the rifle + drone.

seaofsorrows · September 2021

pottsey5g wrote: »

seaofsorrows wrote: »

pottsey5g wrote: »

Those of you saying it only works on a flat surface with secondary fire mode really need to try the S31 Covert Assault Drone then use Secondary Fire on the S31 rifle its a game changer. It doesnt just hit on a flat surface, it hits everything above and below you. This combo makes it one of if not the best rifles in the game.

The rifle doesnt need a rework and all these rework ideas would make it far worse and far less unique.

I definitely respect your opinion, but on this we definitely disagree. The Covert Assault Drone helps the S31 Rifle, yes.. but it helps it in a way that it also helps other better weapons. That combo is good entirely because of the Drone and not at all because of the mediocre rifle. Any weapon that lets you hit multiple enemies will have this effect, use the drone with the Herald Staff and the drone procs from the chain attacks. There is nothing special about the rifle to get this effect, all the greatness in that combo comes from the drone.

I have a Section 31 themed character, he uses the Rifle for aesthetics and I use the Drone to make it work better.. it's a good combo, but if I am going to go into a harder queue, the first thing I do is swap out the mediocre rifle for either the Boolean or the Herald Staff. I love the look and aesthetic of the S31 rifle, but it seems to have a short range, average damage and a wonky at best secondary fire. It's made much better with the Covert Assault Drone, but so are many other better weapons, heck, I imagine even a standard Split Beam would be more effective using the Drone.

I definitely respect your opinion, but I cannot agree that anything makes the S31 rifle anywhere close to one of the best rifles in the game. It's a kinda fun little gimmick, but it's nothing you're ever going to use if you are looking for the most effective tool.

Perhaps I missed something. When I used that combo the S31 Rifle hits everything in the what is it a 180" arc? in front of me even shooting 20+ NPC's at once if there was 20 NPC's in that arc. When I use the other weapons I only hit a handful of NPC's in a narrow arc. Say I play Operation Wolf where they come out of 3 doors the S31 is killing all 3 spawn points while the other weapons are only hitting 1 spawn point.

Not only am I hitting more target but the other weapons only fire once or a handful of times. While the S31 Rifle with the drone as its a beam fires none stop a dozen times per target at every target at a very wide angle. I will do some more testing later.

EDIT: Just thought perhaps its due to my trait combo which is why I am expreince a different outcome? I have high kit damage which massively boosts this combo. Most other weapons don't interact with the drone in the same way as the S31Rifle. Even a split beam with drone is a tiny fraction of the output of the rifle + drone.

I don't think you're too far off here.. it does seem to get more enemies into the firing path of the drone, which is a good thing. It might be me, but the proc seems somewhat unreliable for me. A lot of times, I will deploy the drone, use the secondary and wipe out a large group. Then as soon as the secondary comes off cooldown, I'll fire it again, but the drone doesn't apply the effect meaning it's only really procing once every time I summon the drone. This means I have to wait for a cooldown on the drone before this combo becomes useful again. In the mean time, I am left with the extremely unremarkable primary fire.

With something like the Herald Staff, you're right it would only really function on the group I have targeted, but for some reason, the uptime seems better on the drone. It's probably because it procs on the primary fire which doesn't have a cooldown.. I can spam it over and over from target to target. I can then switch to the next group and still have the assistance of the drone for a few shots. Plus, on the down time, I still have a great primary fire which I don't get from the S31 rifle.

It's entirely possible you're just better with it then I am. I really like the S31 rifle, it's very cool looking and has a cool looking effect, but I will admit.. I struggle to find ways to make it effective.

seaofsorrows · September 2021

reyan01 wrote: »

seaofsorrows wrote: »

legendarylycan#5411 wrote: »

If you want uber-proccing drones, the secondary on the Tzenkethi cannon beats the pants off the S31 rifle, because not only can it hit things at ANY elevation (which is a requirement for the drone even functioning and not being a floating brick - hitting targets), it can be redirected to targets for the duration of its firing cycle, whereas the sweep beam, if an enemy comes in after the beam has already swept that area...well, fork you - you get NOTHING! GOOD DAY, SIR!

The Covert Assault drone procs even when the S31 rifles secondary fire misses (which is always.) That's the one thing that makes it kind of viable, but even then, the rifle has very limited usability. Honestly, even paired with the Covert Drone, the S31 rifle is just.. well.. bad.

I think I shall try it with the Shaxx' special cannon.

Let me know how you like it. I also want to say, I totally trust Pottsey and his opinion.. he's a poster I have a sincere respect for. It's possible that the issues with the S31 Rifle are my own lack of skill or using the item incorrectly. I'll keep playing with it, I actually really like the S31 rifle, it goes well with the theme of the character I use it on. I am going to keep playing with it, I don't think it's as bad as I make it sound.. I just wish it was better. If Pottsey is having success with it, then perhaps I need to try a little harder.

The Return of the Section 31 Heavy Rifle

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