End-Game Trader weapons

[Nullspaceoddity]

For a primarily PVE trader, is Greed of the Xan the best you can get?

Has anyone tested it VS SSSS and the Grand Wyrm? I imagine it outdamages them, but does it do it by a wide margin or are the older weapons still "ok"?


PDKP are sweet, but I dont raid nearly enough. And the IP for MR would mean cutting back on tradeskills.

[Vinkera]

A few traders in my org use dual PDKP's in crit setup, and seem to adore them for PVM.

[Nullspaceoddity]

Yeah, they look very nice on paper. I just loath the idea of competing with people in APF raids for the upgrade part. Since it's also used for Haldruf's belt, there is always multiple people fighting for one. And you need two of them! Double the zerg bot points, double the pain :P

[Louderer789]

I changed my tradeskill Trader over to PDKPs and have no regrets about doing so. There are several reasons that make it a lot better than Greed of the Xan.

1. Dual wielding provides 40 normal hits per minute compared to 30. More times to hit, more times to crit, more times to proc (more procs also improves your survival).
2. Even though both guns have fling shot, chances are you don't have it at capped refresh on Greed of Xan (requires 1700 fling shot skill). PDKP only needs 1220 fling shot skill for capped refresh.
3. Additional special (burst) and capped cycle. Nuff said.
4. More and faster specials are pretty great on a profession that casts as many combat nanos as trader.
5. You can fire 1/1 at full defense (1170 Ranged init. requirement instead of 1650).

The APF belt item is not that expensive on the bots, and you can raid outside them...it's annoying to have to compete for it, but worth it. It's the best weapon they've given traders...well, probably ever.

As for the multirange I don't think it's really that bad. MR is now in all 3 alpha control symbs (eye/wrists). I have it maxed and can swap the PDKPs on with just 3 items using no perks or AI armor (QL300 MTI M Bipower - 401, Armplates of Elimination, QL200 BBQ Shoulder Pillow) which I need to do because I also have a CL setup. But if you are willing to borrow a set of supple and use perks to get them on, you can get away with a hell of a lot less MR...maybe 1/2 to 2/3 IPed or so. I have Shotgun/Burst/Fling/Multi/Range init as well as all tradeskills maxed on my trader...granted he has no body dev. or evades, but if you are playing yours like an actual character then you should for sure have a set of scouts and tradeskills all trimmed to minimum except maybe NP, and you can also skimp a bit on MR/burst/fling as well. I could trim ~200 fling shot and ~150 burst from maxed and still be able to cap cycles/self equip the guns. The burst is quite difficult though if you don't have Xan Right Arm Symbiant, Artillery Unit Alpha in though, which was quite a pain on a neut nanomage without burden or Lya pads etc let me tell you. But Xan alpha arm is the only one with B&E, so it was worth it in other ways as well.


As for "the best PVE"...PDKPS are pretty closely tied with some MA traders I have seen. I'm also convinced that piercing would be quite nice on trader, though I haven't seen any and I'm not willing to do it on mine. However melee has it's own disadvantages, and won't work well with any kind of multipurpose trader. And your special skills will always be quite low - whereas control symbs basically have full support for burst/fling/MR now. I'd also be curious to see how a trader does with PDKP + BigBurger, but again I haven't seen such a beast and am not willing

At a fast paced raid like APF, the enjoyment and damage factor of PDKP vs. Greed is night and day.

[baduizm]

It seems like Grand Wyrm must be at least close to Greed, if not better (assuming you're using both at 1/1). Higher crits but lower MBS and no fling, and I guess critting is about the only thing you're going to be doing. Definitely a good choice for tradeskillers or maybe certain encounters like Mercs where your lower AR for specials might come into play (but not sure if they also have high crit decrease).

[PigBrother]

I will test those weapons (except diamondine ones) and post the results later

[Shareida]

It seems like Grand Wyrm must be at least close to Greed, if not better (assuming you're using both at 1/1). Higher crits but lower MBS and no fling, and I guess critting is about the only thing you're going to be doing. Definitely a good choice for tradeskillers or maybe certain encounters like Mercs where your lower AR for specials might come into play (but not sure if they also have high crit decrease).

The Grand Wyrm is indeed a tad better on RK due to higher crits. That being said, the Krutt is just as good and not as boring. (you have to push the "fling shot" button once in a while)

[Cratertina]

Pdkp are light years better. Even singlewield pdkp is better than Xan.

All I have to say at this point... And you can get them on and still have 1.5M ip for tradeskills

Really superb weapons.

[J0intznjam]

Working on a MA trader atm - critgasm. The only downside is the rather low AR and very few damage perks. But it's fun and looks badass as Trox

Have to confess though a id love to play a good geared dual pdkp trader for once to compare both.

Is there anyone with an endgame geared MA trader, who can tell about performance in SL, AI and RK?

[Valour]

Why has nobody mentioned the scoped salabim shotgun supremo, +400 dmg proc bumps the damage quite a bit 😋

[Rockdizzle]

Uses a VLRD so its already more expensive than buying lootrights for a Greed+WU, its DPM without the proc is over 50% less than Greed and still loses even with the 4sec +600 Proj dmg proc.
Shattersmith + offhand with Burst/Fling beats greed so you can look at that option I guess.

Scoped Salabim Shotgun was prolly still good pre-Xan but now its a relic.

[J0intznjam]

Uses a VLRD so its already more expensive than buying lootrights for a Greed+WU, its DPM without the proc is over 50% less than Greed and still loses even with the 4sec +600 Proj dmg proc.
Shattersmith + offhand with Burst/Fling beats greed so you can look at that option I guess.

Scoped Salabim Shotgun was prolly still good pre-Xan but now its a relic.

What's a VLRD? And does shatter plus specials offhand beat dual PDKP?

[Rockdizzle]

"Visible Light Remodulation Device" used for Poly pillows and no PDKPx2 beats Shattersmith+offhand easily.

[Shareida]

Why has nobody mentioned the scoped salabim shotgun supremo, +400 dmg proc bumps the damage quite a bit ��

It does, but even with proc up, and chaincrits it's bad.