Learn2Play - Key binds, Attack BOffs and auto-targeting exposed enemies

[KickKat]

Add this to your primary fire button key bind:

PetCommands_SetAllToOwnerAttackTarget $$ +TrayExecByTrayWithBackup 0 1 0 0 $$ Target_Enemy_Next_Exposed

(This may look out of order, but since rapid activation of power tray abilities makes the key bind start to run in reverse order, this is actually correct for my key bind. You might need to reverse the order if you don't have any tray power activation accompanying whatever key bind you attach this to. The goal is to accomplish Target exposed enemy if any --> fire exploit/secondary mode of weapon if able --> BOffs attack while your attack is charging/activating)

This handy little key bind snippet contains three commands that do three very useful things. It goes above and beyond that by providing additional benefits when all three commands are chained together in rapid succession.

The pets command instructs your BOffs to fire at the same thing you are instead of doing their own thing. In the voth battlezone, they are easily distracted by "harmless" things such as swarmers. This keeps them focused on the more dangerous enemies as decided by you. This is just like pressing the "Based off your current target" button above the BOff UI, except this actually works and you don't have to remember to do it for each new target.

The TrayExec with Backup command is a really nifty one I just learned. It will try to activate the first tray location you give it. If it can activate it, it does so and skips the second one completely. If it can't activate the first one, it activates the second one instead. In this case, I have it try the secondary fire of my weapons first, followed by the normal attack. This makes sure my secondary attack get preferential treatment. The Dyson Experimental Proton Rifle makes excellent use of this, as does any weapon that has an exploit/debuff attack as its secondary, or has a powerful secondary attack in general. This command seems to also allow cycling through the progression faster than trying to activate both tray slots individually.

The Target Exposed command switches your target to the nearest enemy that is currently vulnerable to an exploit attack. Sure, you can do this with the G key, but if you immediately follow this with the "Tray Exec Backup" command (and I mean almost instantly while in shooter mode), your character will automatically use the exploit attack on any weapon they currently have equipped, whether it is the currently active one or not. (Note: The problem with shooter mode is if you move your target reticle over a different enemy or another one steps in your line of fire, it will become your new selected target. This will affect the behavior of your pets effectively using their exploit attacks, which I mention below. Weapons that have longer exploit attack firing times, such as the Dyson rifle, Counter-Command rifle, or the TR-116 are convenient because they force you to remain locked on your target until the firing cycle completes. This gives your BOffs time to use their own exploits, if they are going to.)

I use the entire combo thusly:

I start off with a grenade, usually plasma. It's a lower damaging grenade, but it sets the enemies on fire. This distracts them and they usually run around for a few seconds instead of instantly attacking you. I also have the Situational Awareness personal ground trait slotted, so the grenade also exposes all of the now on fire enemies. As soon as I let loose the grenade and while it is in transit, I start trying to fire at them. It doesn't matter if they are in range or not yet. I have several powers attached to my firing cycle and when I start to try to attack, they start activating. When starting a cold attack (one where I haven't been in combat for long enough that most/all of my powers are inactive), it takes about two seconds before I can actually fire a shot. Activating the powers while waiting for the grenade to go off is important for a couple of reasons. First, the baddies start getting hit with debuffs before the grenade pops them and if you have your BOffs set to attack your target, they will sprint ahead of you and begin their own attack even if you aren't in range. You want as many buffs/debuffs applied as possible before they get there. If you time it right, the BOffs will be shooting at the bad guys around the same time the grenade hits.

Another thing about the BOffs ... *sigh* BOffs ... They have a bad habit of using their weapon's secondary attack within the first few shots. Normally, if that attack is an exploit attack, it will be wasted. But! Grenade! Exposed Enemies! By the time your BOFFs get there, your character should have already automatically changed targets to the nearest exposed enemy. Since the BOffs attack what you attack now, they will use their exploit attack on an actual exposed enemy instead of wasting it. What you end up with is an enemy getting hit by a grenade, being debuffed as much as is possible and then getting hit with sometimes two, maybe even three or more exploit attacks all within a few seconds. My merry band of three hit a Voth Medic with a combined damage total of 3,200+ a while ago. That's a bit on the high range of damage, but it demonstrates the potential.

One last bonus! PCs get ALL the agro. If your character is the first one that attacks your foes, you will be the first to get their attention. If your BOffs attack first, the baddie will usually focus on them first for a little while. This gives you time to do whatever nifty things you want to do, like move into a flanking position to really make use of that exploit shot, or run up and lay down mines at their feet. Whatever. Eventually, they will turn their attention to you and this is where having your BOffs always set to attack your target comes in handy again.

Before, becoming the focus of an enemy meant you and it fighting it out one on one. Sure you can probably beat them, but how much damage do you take? If you repeatedly engage by yourself, the constant healing will deplete your resources quickly until you have nothing left to keep you alive. If you and your BOffs focus fire, the enemy that is engaging you will go down a lot faster and have a lot less time to damage you or land that annoying lucky crit. If it's an enemy that likes to move into melee range (I am looking at you, Voth Spec Ops dude), you can put them between yourself and your BOffs, meaning your BOffs are now applying flanking damage. If your BOffs have disabling abilities (Weapons Malfunction is an awesome one), you can often get through that "one on one" fight without taking much damage at all. Even if you do take damage, your BOffs won't be, for the most part, so they are more likely to have available and use any healing abilities they have on you instead of on each other and themselves. Also, BOff AI gives healing priority to focused friendlies, or targets of focused enemies, which now will almost always mean you.

Spamming the Attack My Target command at your BOffs can be used as a solution to another problem. Sometimes, for whatever reason, my BOffs decide to live a little and take off after some enemy I don't want them attacking (A pack of those Voth "raptors"? A room full of Borg, perhaps?). They end up agroing all sorts of things and usually get themselves killed. You can stop this behavior by setting them all to passive mode, meaning they won't attack enemies, even if they are attacked. The good news is, they won't agro anything. The bad news is they won't help you in a fight by default. The better good news is that the attack my target command overrides their passive behavior for that single target. Once that target is down, they go back to being passive. This also stops them from immediately firing on baddies I have lobbed a grenade at, drawing them out of position from where the grenade is to land. A word of warning though, once you tell them to attack a target, they will chase it all over the map until someone ends up dead, which could be you if they run off, leaving you high and dry. Setting the target to yourself and issuing the attack target command again will fix this.

These commands by themselves are nothing new. Two of them are available and preset in the key binds window under the game options. Chaining them together like I have and incorporating them into my default attack sequence is what makes them shine and has increased my ground combat effectiveness by a good 30%. It also allows me to make better use of my BOffs, who, up until recently have been mostly ignored.

[Husker]

Awesome Kick, i can see this being useful for some people. Not for me though, i prefer total control over my abilities and boffs on the ground.

I usually send my boffs to attack other targets in the BZ while i deal with the immediate targets. Obviously you'll need some good, well kitted boffs but it is faster. 2 photonic MACO's with Dyson gear and shotguns is good enough to take down almost anything in the BZ