I run SMGs first times I played this game and I disliked it. It's very strong, no doubt about it. But build has couple of unfun mechanics:
- short range, need to be on the move constantly to close distance if you want to be effective
- boring mehanics. All you do is keep bursting
- reliance on Versatility. Optimal way to build it is using that feat and it means slow progression early and mid game
- massive ammo consumption. You reload all the time and keep wasting bullets, need to buy/craft more all the time, it gets old quickly
Regarding AR/TC hybrid, there is massive synergy between each other, ARs first two bursts have very low AP cost thanks to specced Commando and Rapid reloader. TC (and psi in general) has one free spellcast per fight thanks to Premeditation and TC in particular has Locus of Control feat, which you can use to either to make yourself immune to crowd control, or to cast AoE nuke that shreds trhough living targets. Also lots of cc spells and defense through mirror images.
There is ways to make SMG builds fun to use, and counter all these specifics points.
-Short range, and be on the move is not unfun by itself, it often provide good times with positioning.
-Versatility (and full dex) open a lot of other tactics to complement and SMG build, plus you need very little feats to be good with a SMG. If you add Throwing with Fatal Throw for instance, you gain a good finisher when a burst isn't needed, and a way to gain more AP for more burst.
- Also, concerning short range, throwing knives gives you range, more range than your burst, and hell accurate with that much dext.
- You can also counter difficult early game and power curve with expertise. While not being that good once you get to the end game, Expertise give you a better power curve early to mid game, when you'll need it most.
- Spec ops complement well with grenadier, and high dex complement well with three pointer so you can also go the grenade route for both crowd control and AOE damage
- If you use all these tools, grenades and knives, ammo becomes less an issue. Regarding repairs well you can go specced dissasemble if you really want to tackle the problem.
- Versatility means you will have high melee. You can also use it, with Dirty Kick and Expose weakness for instance, that offer strong CC against lots of bosses and will just make your SMG even stronger while making the build even funnier to play. also, you can get other melee stuff like evicerate (with 7.62 micro shrapnel), or cut throat (not that good, but fun to use). Or even without specialized feats, you can kill things with a knife.
So yeah, if you go full SMG, a bit
stupidly straightforward. It's boring, but if you really use versatility and your high dex, you can have fun, and you won't even burst that much.
