Need help understanding repeaters stuff

[Bardo]

I am a kinda casual player who comes and go, recently I came back after all the imbue stuff and began playing again with a multiclass artificer. I run a 12 art/ 6 wiz/ 2 rog build, with focus on ranged and imbue dice. I managed to pile up 28 imbue dice, 78% Doubleshot and I use for ED Shiradi/Fatesinger/Machrotechnic. No racial points, 80 for enhancements and 62 for EDs.
Recently I have been digging into mechanics I didn't know or cared before, and there are some things I need to clarify because they are quite difficult to grasp for me, so as I understand:
-Doubleshot is nerfed with repeaters to 1/3
-Many Epic strikes don't work with all the bolts (4 with Extended Clip feat), just the first one
-Shiradi seems to work best if you can pile imbue dice from 7 to 7
-I could get some nice CC from Icehorn augment, thanks to dinosaur bone crafting. Not sure if the "paralyze" effect in Shiradi tree works on each bolt.


So I have these questions:
-I have Needle as main weapon, is it better to change it for a Dinosaur bone repeating heavy xbow? I mean, Needle has a bigger crit multiplier, but not sure if "critical hits" are good on a repeater at the cost of no red/purple augments or any of the dino augments from IoD
-Is there an epic strike that works better than the Fatesinger one, for a repeating xbow?
-Should I priorize Imbue dice filigrees instead doubleshot/ranged power, like the Crackshot negotiator set? Is doubleshot a thing I should not priorize due to the 1/3 nerf?
-Would Icehorn freeze effect work better on a repeater than on a normal weapon?
-Is my build wrecked due to recent U62 nerf to imbue builds? Should I change those Wizard levels for Ranger/Dark Hunter?

 

[Hobgoblin]

i would

needle is so nice. yet is outclassed at cap by deno weapons

 

[BiggerTrolls]

I have no solid answers for you! Great post. I hope to see all these questions answered.

When I run repeaters I fit 6 ranger in for sniper shot. Sniper shot improves each bolt. Is that also true for fatesinger strikes?
The imbue spell power nerf is pretty big, I expect to be very disappointed then next time a build an EK.

 

[FVSHasBeenEvenMoreGutted]

use dino bone at cap
fatesinger is my favorite repeater strike
get your imbue dice to a multiple of 7 for the shiradi mantle buff, then rest in RP/DS
icehorn is amazing on repeaters for trash, useless vs bosses so will need a swap
u62 just lowered the damage, it will still be fine, just not as good

 

[Contessor]

The new repeater from fire over morgrave is pretty nice as well. But Dino weapons being customizable still have a leg up. Like FVS mentioned, if you have the runes/mats/blanks, make 2 for swapping.

I switched to vecna stuff for gear and rune arm, but still use dino repeater because the crafting bonuses.

 

[I dont Like gimps]

Defo swap to a dinobone as u said u run an imbue dice based build hence 1. crit doesnt matter as much 2. solely The base dmg of the dino weapon crushes the crit mult of needle AND very important dinobone allows for ash --->Moar imbue dmg
(the thing about doubleshot is u actually scale harder in a sense since u use 133% of your DS (4 shots with 33%) but the caveat that stuff like Hunts end is terrible on repeater (partially for that reason)
btw Rubbins has a fully laid out 12/6/2 split u can find on ddovault with gear filigrees and ED choice

 

[igotamike]

Hey Bardo,

I'll try answer some of these and give you a bit of input.

-I have Needle as main weapon, is it better to change it for a Dinosaur bone repeating heavy xbow? I mean, Needle has a bigger crit multiplier, but not sure if "critical hits" are good on a repeater at the cost of no red/purple augments or any of the dino augments from IoD At cap needle is junk
-Is there an epic strike that works better than the Fatesinger one, for a repeating xbow? You will be in shiradi so probably use hunts end, though it isnt the best with repeater. I also use shadow strike out of Shadow dancer to apply debuff, then switch to hunts end. I don't go into fatesinger but I might actually give this a try just to see. I usually chose LD as my 3rd ed for the 3 extra Fusilades
-Should I priorize Imbue dice filigrees instead doubleshot/ranged power, like the Crackshot negotiator set? Is doubleshot a thing I should not priorize due to the 1/3 nerf? Doubleshot is always good. Doubleshot improves your imbues. I would find a balance between SA dice though and Imbue dice. On my guy i run 24 SA dice and 21 Imbue dice.
-Would Icehorn freeze effect work better on a repeater than on a normal weapon? Not sure. Typically Icehorn freeze is rarely used as debuffs are better for increased damage. I think the use would be very limited (soloing) but I think i'm going to test it.
-Is my build wrecked due to recent U62 nerf to imbue builds? Should I change those Wizard levels for Ranger/Dark Hunter? I run a 12Arti, 4dh 4rogue. Gnome. Use gnome for the increased crit range with light repeaters, 4 rogue for weapon swap with uncanny dodge for 50range power.

Here are a couple things for you to consider - Note that I only play end game and cant provide you with much input to leveling.

Rate of fire Normal Fusillade
Light Repeater 29s 104Bolts
Gxbow 80s 60 Bolts
Double Xbows 60bolts

The normal rate of fire is how long it takes to fire 100 bolts. Under fusillade is how many bolts you get out in the 18s it's up. Given this Double xbows seem to be a bit of a trap to me. On my character every time I fusillade I switch to great xbow, and when I'm just clearing trash / out of fusillade I use a light repeater. Assuming all things are equal and you have 100 doubleshot than gxbow would be doing 60x2 = 120, while Repeater would be 104 x 1.33 = 138. So by that light repeaters are better, but gxbow has a way higher base damage and also has a better crit range on 15-20 vs light repeater at 16-20. Gxbow absolutely thumps under fusilade. Would highly recommend swapping.


I also currently run w/ 41pts in horizon walker (I also swap to a long bow, fire off all my multi shots then fusillade typically). This effectively allows for 80 extra ranged power or something like that. I personally think t5 BE blows, though it is hard to get the crit range without it. I'd be more inclined to do a 5 rogue split and run in t5 Mechanic - You get a ton of extra damage out of the mechanic line with xbows.

Anyway thats my input. Hopefully I answered most of your questions.

 

[Livmo]

Just some xbow thoughs. These are old screenies from before the last balance pass.

The Silver Slinger is great for Epic Reincarnating. I use this one in the screenie until I can equip Thunderforgered at level 26. Later I on I have several repeaters I like to use at cap. I have them on hot bar for fast swapping among xbow setups/rune arms at cap.

Please note the banes don't stack. I only added the ruby to hit incorparal. I change the augments around as needed.

 

[Livmo]

The Needle I have set up as my neg. leveler on the hot bar for fast swapping.

 

[Bardo]

Hey Bardo,

I'll try answer some of these and give you a bit of input.



Here are a couple things for you to consider - Note that I only play end game and cant provide you with much input to leveling.

Rate of fire Normal Fusillade
Light Repeater 29s 104Bolts
Gxbow 80s 60 Bolts
Double Xbows 60bolts

The normal rate of fire is how long it takes to fire 100 bolts. Under fusillade is how many bolts you get out in the 18s it's up. Given this Double xbows seem to be a bit of a trap to me. On my character every time I fusillade I switch to great xbow, and when I'm just clearing trash / out of fusillade I use a light repeater. Assuming all things are equal and you have 100 doubleshot than gxbow would be doing 60x2 = 120, while Repeater would be 104 x 1.33 = 138. So by that light repeaters are better, but gxbow has a way higher base damage and also has a better crit range on 15-20 vs light repeater at 16-20. Gxbow absolutely thumps under fusilade. Would highly recommend swapping.


I also currently run w/ 41pts in horizon walker (I also swap to a long bow, fire off all my multi shots then fusillade typically). This effectively allows for 80 extra ranged power or something like that. I personally think t5 BE blows, though it is hard to get the crit range without it. I'd be more inclined to do a 5 rogue split and run in t5 Mechanic - You get a ton of extra damage out of the mechanic line with xbows.

Anyway thats my input. Hopefully I answered most of your questions.

Question: what exactly is the difference between light repeater and heavy repeater? is light repeater faster or something like that?

 

[Contessor]

Question: what exactly is the difference between light repeater and heavy repeater? is light repeater faster or something like that?

If you are Gnome/Deep Gnome, you want light repeaters for the cheap and easy racial crit threat range. Other races, heavy repeater overall pulls ahead due to higher base dmg (1d8 vs 1d10). Other than that not much difference. Depends on what you have I suppose. If had a dino light repeater with +4 mythic light repeater vs a non-mythic dino heavy repeater, i would use the light even on a non-gnome build.