Optimising Shotgun build /discussing shotgun feats

[Ploluap]

Hello everyone,

I'm currently enjoying this shotgun build on dominating : http://underrail.info.tm/build/?EQUHAwoLAwVfQQAAHgBGADEAAF9BIi1fABkANwAAJSsoMWIWwpbCsGPCh07CmN-_

I have to pick a lvl 18 feat and would like to hear your opinions on shotgun feats, or any advice in general .

It seems to me that leading shot and sixth shell are by far the best shotgun feats (especially sixth shell after the last patch), then fragmented chaos is good for 3p and 6p (but somewhat useless for 12p and 20p).

However :

- perfect scattering : if i understand it well, it works like expertise in the sense that damage per pellet is added AFTER all modifiers, which makes it overall only a bit useful with 4 shot 20p burst. However i don't use burst and against tough foes i mainly use 6p shells, and for those at best it would do 12 damage per 20 ap, which seems not worth a feat slot ;

- pellet mayhem : probably worth it overrall against swarms, but not a game changer ;

- barrel stare : can't combine with leading shot. Maybe worth it against low evasion foes though, or for a nice Taser combo (even better with opportunist in that case, might be great against really tough foes like Nagas).

- critical power : after a few tests, it seems it doesn't take into account the critical damage offered by fragmented chaos. So it's probably decent even for just the +30% crit damage with vindicator, but useless with shotguns having only 100% crit damage  (vindicator seems to be the most powerful non combat shotgun anyway, even without considering the 120% critical bonus...). Decent but not mandatory

 Basically at that point i'm wondering if it's worth it to invest more in shotgun feats for minimal damage boost, or if instead i'd be better off picking defensive feats (last stand, fast metabolism, conditionning...), utility feats (nimble, trigger happy, pack rat), or even getting aimed shot for a sniper shot here and there and ammo conservation...

Well i'm pretty sure all options are viable in the end, just wanted to hear your opinions

[Fenix]

I think Perfect Scattering adds damage BEFORE all damage multiplication by crit and such - that's the point of it.
Critical Power not using Frafmented Chaos for damage calculation sounds like a bug, and there was such bug - but it was presumably fixed.
As I remember, there was difference if you took FC before or after CP - if before, it gave more damage.
But as I said, it was presumable fixed. If you sure FC doesn't work with CP - report it.

Barrel Stare is of limited use, given that on Domination you always want to use bonus from Leading Shot, I think in case you can't maneuver and get LS bonus, also in cases yo somehow negated evasion bonus through stun, traps etc. For me it's first feat I would excludde from my shotgun build, because you know, you can take only that much feats.

[Ploluap]

Thank you, well it all depends if you're right or not !

For critical power I did only a bit of save scumming testing, and did'nt notice any increase in damage using 3p shells with a 100% crit damage bonus shotgun, while the boost should have been pretty significant (from 183% to 307% crit damage bonus with rebel shotgun for example, unless i'm wrong ?) ... I might try it more tonight.

For perfect scattering i didn't test it much so far, if it's multiplied by skill, opportunist, and crit damage yes it could good.

would be nice if anyone else can confirm ?

[Fenix]

Try it more, and if something suspicious will happen - report.

[Ploluap]

Don't know if it's a bug but i'm 99% sure that crit power does nothing for fragmented chaos, at least with 3p pellets...

And perfect scattering damage bonus is barely noticeable (well i guess it's good if you use 20p often, which makes it the opposite of fragmented chaos, like barrel stare is the opposite of leading shot).

I think i'm done with offensive feats in this build...