Apparently Armor Piercing Rounds is the go-to? I thought it was the snipe cdr talent, but I was wrong. I’ve been picking snipe cdr, and it’s been super fun and effective (sometimes), and I’ve always been curious about trying APR but haven’t branched out for it yet. Anyone more knowledgable care to fill me in on some of the conditions for picking either one? I’m pretty confused about their purposes in comparison with each other
APR can come in handy if your team has heavy auto-attack damage since the armor shred applies to all of your allies damage, as well as your own. It also is helpful if you are looking to provide the most burst in the smallest damage window.
The snipe talent provides more sustained damage, which is helpful when you can stick around a bit to deal your damage. It also synergizes well with other snipe talents later on, which can provide added benefits like AoE damage, and further increase your sustained damage pressure.
5 Likes
Thanks for the clear answer.
apr + snipe is the highest immediate burst nova gets, so she can just shoot and bail while oitc and snipe demand nova linger longer Similarly, the -armor does benefit allies (and decoys) so it has better anti-hero utility if other heroes are around to do some damage as well.
auto-attacks are specific to the intended target while snipes can be blocked by other heroes in the way, so having more upfront damage helps with steady poke or finishing shots.
Snipes cdr is only particular to hitting heroes so any non-hero target pretty much nullifies the talent (since damage remains the same) so the utility aspect of snipe might not kick in till 16 where aoe allows nova to be more liberal on what she’s hitting.
oitc has a similar advantage being an aa mod (so specific target hit) but the progression talents (13 and 16 for more pinning shot) have been nerfed, so apr has the most benefits frontloaded by 7 in being ‘safe’, direct, team-boosting in effect and less demanding on mana.
Currently her Snipe talent is the only one viable. Commiting into APS increases your poke potential, but reduces your kill potential, as your attacks will often be “in cooldown” when the enemy is lingering at 1 HP. While OitC provides better damage than APS, over a bit longer period of time.
In terms of actual damage boost (Not moving sustain into burst mind you, which is what the talent does), it’s inferior to the other 2 options unless your collective team can dish out ~550 AA dps at lvl 1. So basically only if you have 2 heavy AA hitters.
1 Like
Which is why I said it “can come in handy if your team has heavy auto-attack damage” 
Perhaps you wanted me to put more emphasis on the word heavy?
1 Like