Hey Guardians!

I’ve been a long-time lurker on here, but I’ve been having so much fun with this build I created that I just couldn’t help but share it. This build uses one of my favorite exotics, Tommy’s Matchbook. I fell in love with this gun the moment it came out and have used it enough for my warlock to be considered a masochist. But as much as I love Tommy even, I must admit the gun has some serious flaws. The most obvious of these being self-damage (duh), and an abysmal reload speed. So, my goal was to solve these flaws while also creating a synergistic build of my favorite class (warlock) that could take on high level content. This is the result.

Ok so what will you be able to accomplish with this build?
· You and your allies will be able to have a consistent character speed boost
· You and allies will have a 100 reload and boosted handling consistently
· You will have a consistent 50% damage reduction
· You will be able to heal yourself in large chunks on demand
· You will have boosted grenade damage and cooldown
· Your allies will receive boosted grenade cooldowns
· You will be able to stun overload champs
· Break barrier champs’ shields
· You will have a 30% modifier boost to your super damage (in our case chaos reach)
· And you will have the option to add and additional 25% damage modifier added to all your ability damage to frozen or slowed targets (pretty sure this includes your super haven’t tested yet)

I know that seems like a lot but if you stick with me, I promise to break this build up into small bites to make this as simple and painless as possible. Still here? Dope let’s get started.

Subclass:

Starting things off with our subclass we are going middle tree Stormcaller. Most warlocks go the bottom tree void walker route and for good reason. Devour synergizes incredibly well with Tommy as it solves the self-damage problem pretty well. But we won’t be going this for a few reasons A. we have other more effective tools to solve the self-damage problem, B. it doesn’t address Tommy’s reload, and C. bungie unfortunately hates Nova Bomb and it simply can’t hang with some of the other super options warlocks have at their disposal with some of these new seasonal mods and exotic support we got. These and the reasons below are why we are going middle tree Stormcaller.

Pulsewave:

This is the big one. In bungie terms Pulsewave does this “being critically wounded triggers an energy wave that boosts yours and allies’ speed”. What that actually means is you and your allies get a plus 100 to your weapons reload stat, a pretty generous boost to weapon handling, and a speed boost that is comparable to killing wind, oh and all of these boosts last ten seconds. All for the low low price of being critically wounded (shields depleted) which we were going to do anyway thanks to Tommy.

Chaos Reach:

While Tommy is an add clearing machine it’s not great at burning through bosses or generating quick bursts of damage. Luckily, we have this monster of a super. One of the best damaging supers we Warlocks have at our disposable, the Kamehameha absolutely shreds bosses and majors. Plus, we got a few fun new tools to make it even better, more on that in the mods section.

Ionic Trace:

This is just gravy at this point. Ability regen on kills, easy, straightforward, always helpful. Not much more to say here, it’s great.

Grenade and Rift:

My recommendation here is the pulse nade, the consistent ticks of damage means overloads stay stunned for longer. However, if you want to just drop a ton of damage storm is also great (just be careful not to kill yourself with them). As for rift you gotta go healing. We take lots of damage with this build so it’s never a bad thing to have another source of healing on demand.
Now that we know what abilities we are working with let’s talk exotics and other weapons.

Tommy’s Matchbook:

This is the center piece, a beautiful 720 that when you hold down the trigger for 20 rounds ramps up to 99% more damage, you filthy animal! While ignition trigger is doing its thing, we take burn damage which we can reduce by hip firing. Thanks to the catalyst while we are being burned our health recovers much faster too. Something that Bungie doesn’t tell you is this thing’s in air and hipfire accuracy is nutty, but that’s old news for most of you.

Verity’s Brow:

While we are burning through targets with Tommy we are also charging up this exotic. The exotic perk death throws goes up every time you get an energy weapon kill and stacks up to five times speeding up the recharge rate of your grenade and boosting its damage. This plus ionic trace should keep your grenade topped off very often. Plus, every time you throw a grenade you also get to boost your fireteam members grenade recharge. For those of you keeping score, that’s a max reload buff, grenade recharge rate, and speed boost your giving your teammates. Who says warlocks can only play support with middle tree dawn?

Geomags (Alternative Option):

I feel like I’d have to turn in my warlock card if I didn’t mention this as an alternative to Verity’s. This thing is nutty and with the mods we are going to use to boost chaos reach later on it only gets more powerful. Wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to go this route but I personal prefer the team aspect and utility of Verity’s.

Kinetic and Heavy weapons:

For your Kinetic slot you should be using a sniper, any sniper works but if you want my personal favorite for this build, I would use a Succession with recombination and reconstruction. This acts as a baby Izzy and is great for quickly swapping to and deleting majors and barrier champs. If you aren’t lucky enough to have one of those don’t worry any other kinetic sniper with perks focusing on single shot damage and auto reloading (pulse monitor is really good with this build too) will do just fine. As for your heavy slot this is really a personal preference thing. LMGs synergize with sustained charge, but swords and rockets are also super solid. I am mainly using my heavy as another way to take down big non boss targets, so I personally use my old Falling Guillotine (yes, I know this isn’t season of the arrivals. No, I don’t care).

Mods:

OK this is where things start to get a little complicated, so for simplicity sake I will be doing the mod break down armor piece by armor piece showing affinities and energy consumption and then writing a description for the mods used. This is the point where all the parts really start to come together and turn it from a concept to a full-fledged build. I’m going to go into this assuming you have at least some general knowledge about the charged with light system but if not do yourself a favor and find a guide on the basics. My personal recommendations are Fallout Plays’ and Ehroar’s guides, which you can find on their respective YouTube channels. With that disclaimer out of the way let’s dive in.

Helmet:

Affinity Solar
Ashes to Assets 3 cost (2x)
“Gain bonus super energy on grenade kills”
As we are a grenade-based build having a stack of A2A is super helpful for regening our super.
Taking charge 3 cost
“Become charged with light by picking up orbs of power”
Since Tommy can generate orbs of power off of multi Kills this is one of two ways we will get charged with light.
Minor Discipline 1 cost
Not necessary but a small boost to discipline can only help.

Arms:

Affinity Solar
Anti-Barrier sniper 6 cost
“Sniper rifles you are wielding fire shield-piercing rounds and stun barrier champions. Sniper rifles deal bonus damage against barrier champions”
Pretty straight forward. A tool to eliminate barrier champs (or that one phalanx that really deserved to get its head taken off)
Sustained Charge 4 cost
“Become charged with light by rapidly defeating combatants with auto rifles, trace rifles, or machine guns. Additional copies of this mod increase the time allowed between combatants that are defeated.”
Multikills, in this case three kills in rapid succession within roughly three seconds of each other, charge us with light. Since we are burning through adds with Tommy this is a reliable way to get charge with light from range. If you aren’t in a position to run in and grab an orb this will allow you to still charge up. You may wonder why run both sustained charge and taking charge? For me it’s more of a consistency thing. With this build you need to be charged with light pretty much the whole time and sustained charge provides a way for you to do that at range whereas taking charge allows you to leave orbs to pick up in a pinch when you can’t get kills or to guarantee that you end every fight charged with light and ready for the next engagement.

Chest:

Affinity Void
Stacks on Stacks 4 cost
“gain an extra stack of charged with light for every stack you gain. –10 recovery”
This is another ease of use and consistency thing, with this you have some room for error with how you go about your engagements and if you play it right you will always be able to use both Heal thyself and protective light which we will talk about soon.
Sniper Reserves 3 cost (x2)
Don’t think I need to explain why this is helpful. We use a sniper, so we want more ammo. You could also use this for your heavy weapon of choice, it’s up to you.

Legs:

Affinity Solar
Recuperation 1 cost (x2)
“replenishes health each time you pick up an orb of power”
This perk is hella underrated this doesn’t trigger regen which is great because Tommy would stop that almost immediately with its burn. Instead, this provides quick huge burst to your health (don’t have the exact numbers but trust me it substantial) further solidifying the playstyle of leaving orbs around as little healing and charge with light checkpoints.
Heal Thyself 4 cost
“while you are charged with light, grenade final blows heal you and consume one stack of charged with light”
Think of this as you oh shit button. Instant healing for when that orb is too far away, or a rift will take just too long to activate. This can be a crazy helpful tool for staying alive and while it isn’t the main star of the build its great for survivability and synergizes well with what we are trying to do. Note, your oh shit button does deal damage to you and can kill you if it hits you before it kills an enemy. Just to be safe make sure your targets are aren’t all up in your grill when you throw.
Recovery 4 cost
Needs no explanation, if recovery isn’t your jam pick a different stat, I just like it when all the numbers fit perfectly.

Class:

Affinity Void
Volatile Conduction 6 cost
“Grants bonus arc damage if cast while critically wounded. Lasts until the end of the super activation”
When bungie made this mod they were like Chaos reach is good, but it can be better. 30% better to be exact. While these are normally a pain in the ass to activate and often feel super clunky forcing you to let yourself get hit before activating your super, we have no such limitations as we are in an abusive relationship with our primary. This is some big boy damage especially when stacked with debuffs, geo mags, and Focusing Lens which I will mention at the end.
Surge Detonators 2 cost
“arc grenades disrupt combatants, stunning them, delaying ability regeneration and lowering combatant damage output”
Your oh shit button doesn’t only save your ass but stuns champs for long durations thanks to the continuous ticks of the pulse nade. Better yet this will be damage boosted too. Thanks to death throws often all it takes is one nade to just straight up kill a champ. Excellent utility for any content with the annoying teleporty boys.
Protective Light 2 cost
"While charged with light, you gain significant damage resistance against combatants when your shields are destroyed. This effect consumes all stacks of charged with light. The more stacks consumed, the longer the damage resistance lasts."
If Tommy is the star of this build than protective light is the glue that holds it all together. You gain a 50% damage reduction when in the red which allows us to just chill at low health no problem and gives us the time, we need to activate healing abilities. This last for 5 seconds on one charge and 10 with two but this will almost always be using two charges. This mod does so much for us, it lets us safely maximize the damage of Tommy, consistently apply pulse wave, and lets us be crazy tanky after we heal. You may think protective light clashes with heal thyself but since it can’t consume charges while the perk is up, we will still be able to utilize the nade healing as well as still having a backup five seconds after the fact if we take too long to get charged with light back.
Alternatively, you can swap Heal Thyself with sustained charge on your legs and replace sustained charge and your helmets solar affinity for protective light and a void affinity. This leaves room for Focusing Lens on your class item allowing you to sacrifice the ability to stun overloads and heal yourself on grenade kills with a 25% modifier buff to all your abilities on targets effected by stasis freeze or slow. This decision all comes down to team composition and activity. That being said you haven’t lived until you and your homie running stasis absolutely nuke a boss with the most powerful chaos reach super known to man.

Playstyle:

So, what does this build look like in action? Let me paint a picture for you. We lay into some ads with Tommy and get charged with light times two from a multikill, ignition trigger tics us down to the red and we get ten seconds of 50% damage reduction, a speed boost, and max reload. You use your newfound speed and damage reduction to run in and pick up the orb Tommy dropped from that same multikill and get sent back to like 80% health with 5 seconds left on your pulse wave and protective light timers and a fresh stack of charged with light x2 you burn through more adds with the rest of Tommy’s ammo and reload it in like a second. Repeat until you find the boss and nuke him with a chaos reach that is 30% more powerful. This damage increase is a modifier which means it can still stack with other modifiers, one buff, and a debuff for some absolutely crazy numbers.

TLDR:

Put these mods on your armor and use these weapons for a highly synergistic build that focuses on survivability with Tommy’s matchbook and middle tree Stormcaller.

Helmet:
Affinity Solar
Ashes to Assets 3 cost (2x)
Taking charge 3 cost
charged with light.
Minor Discipline 1 cost

Arms:
Affinity Solar
Anti-Barrier sniper 6 cost
Sustained Charge 4 cost

Chest:
Affinity Void
Stacks on Stacks 4 cost
Sniper Reserves 3 cost (x2)

Legs:
Affinity Solar
Recuperation 1 cost (x2)
Heal Thyself 4 cost
Recovery 4 cost

Class:
Affinity Void
Volatile Conduction 6 cost
Surge Detonators 2 cost
Protective Light 2 cost

Exotics:
Tommy’s Matchbook
Verity’s Brow or Geomag

Conclusion:

And there you have it. This was definitely longer than I was expecting but hopefully not too hard to get through. If you made it to the end thanks for bearing with me and hopefully you have fun trying out this build or some variation of it in game. This is my first time ever posting something like this so if you have any suggestions or feedback please feel free to share. Likewise, if you have any other cool synergies and want to talk build crafting hit me up, the charged with light system is one of my favorite additions to this game and I am always trying to brainstorm my next build.
Edited to fix information regarding chaos reach dps and fixing my inability to spell.

Bungie, the only sword that needed nerfing was Lament. The "other options" (Rockets, Linear Fusions, and MGs) need stronger buffs to justify their use in the heavy slot.

A Bow Guide - For all Levels

Here are some tips for those of you who are starting out with bows, or maybe wanting to learn more about them, from someone who has over 31,000 crucible final blows with them over the course of the 2 or so years that they've been in the game.If there's something I've missed, I'd like to know in the comments so that I can add it to the post, or at the least to my own knowledge.
In general, there are standard rolls that are perfect for lightweight and precision frame bows.
Lightweights have a few more options for you, and it depends on how you are using them.
The only thing that persists across all of the bows is that you're aiming for Fiberglass Arrowshaft as your second column perk - this is because of the effect to the accuracy stat.

Accuracy and Stability

Accuracy is to increase the length of the aim assist cone, and be able to hit shots easier at a distance, and the stability stat is to keep the cone from expanding as much in the air, and to help you deal with close quarters, mid range, hip fire and fast firing engagements.
The recoil direction actually depicts which side your bow is likely to land after firing a shot, so counterbalance mods may have a small effect here

Lightweights

The String and Masterwork

The string and masterwork are very much tied together on these frames, and it depends on what you're going for.
There's a draw time cap of 540 on lightweight frames (even the perk archers tempo only reduces this to around 536) - If you have Elastic String, I would recommend an Accuracy Masterwork, however, you can get away with a Reload Masterwork if you have Moving Target, or another accuracy increasing perk available. For the strings with a higher draw time, you'll want a draw time masterwork almost every time. If you're wanting handling, go with Flexible String - It's an absolutely solid choice on the Arsenic Bite, but if you want to increase your accuracy, Polymer String is the play.

Precision Frames

The String and Masterwork

You're always going to want Elastic String on these frames. Choose between a Draw Time or a Reload Masterwork.
I personally prefer the Draw Time of 576, over the reload bonus, which can be catered to with mods and exotics

Legendary Damage Numbers and Perks

Draw Type	Precision	Lightweight
No Draw Body	↓ 61	↑ 71
Quarter Draw Body	↓ 67	↑ 76
Half Draw Body	↑ 91	↓ 81
Full Draw Body	↑ 101	↓ 86
Over Draw Body	↑ 95	↓ 84
No Draw Precision	↓ 91	↑ 113
Quarter Draw Precision	↓ 100	↑ 121
Half Draw Precision	↓ 109	↑ 129
Full Draw Precision	↑ 152	↓ 138
Over Draw Precision	↑ 143	↓ 134

Explosive Heads will take half of the damage from the original arrow and put it into a blast radius, instead of being a flat damage number - this means that the more you draw back, the more your explosion will do. This can range from 31-51 (precision frames) and 35-43 (lightweights).Note: Explosive Heads themselves are unaffected by Rampage, Swashbuckler and other damage related perks.
Rampage on precision frames will 1 tap at 3x, or at 1x with most other damage buffs. On lightweights it's used to up the weapon consistency. 2 bodyshots with 1x rampage will kill 4th tier resil and less, and 2x will double body any guardian.
Dragonfly will do around 49-56 damage while I was testing, and when you add dragonfly spec, it increases to 95.
Swashbuckler is quite possibly the most broken damage perk on bows. Pair with a damage buffing melee (or any other damage buff) on lightweights to one shot kill (before the buff it will do 183 to the head at x5). Precision Frames will deal 202 on a perfect draw at x5, killing every guardian.
Rapid Hit is pretty much a dead perk if you have bow reloader, as it will go up to around x3 before it stops having an effect. If you have anything else that enhances reload speed (ophidian aspects come to mind as a great one) then it really becomes useless.
Archers Tempo is a risky perk to have. You'll want it on a bow with a draw time that is greater than its archetypes minimum to get any noticeable effect out of it, but if you feel like you need more accuracy and prefer a longer draw because of that, then this will be the perk for you. I’ll be trying to get some more numbers for this over the next week or so.
Moving Target and Surplus are two neutral perks that are fantastic. If you use your abilities often, I'd go with moving target, but a heart of inmost light titan or someone more conservative with their abilities may prefer surplus.
Snapshot Sights is a great perk on bows, and will give you a good transition point if you're used to Le Mon's ADS speed.
Opening Shot is a fantastic perk if you're having issues with the accuracy (perhaps you don't have Fiberglass in the second column) - and even if you do, this will make your shots crisp as all hell at a distance.
Killing Wind is absolutely a fantastic perk to go for, and going for Natural Fletching instead of Fiberglass can be recommended in this case, as the stability + the extra weapon aim assist range will doubly effect the accuracy cone
Sympathetic Arsenal is the archers auto loading holster, meaning you can use your killing capacity to reload that machine gun in PvE, or the quickdraw fusion in your back pocket in PvP. Don’t sleep on the pairing with fighting lion either, double dipping for consistency on the thin the herd playstyle, always having your heavy loaded
Firmly Planted is an interesting one, as it will increase accuracy, stability and aim down sights speed while crouched - this also procs on slides - and drawing back your arrow at the start of a slide will mean it’s drawn by the time you’ve finished, the whole time, your arrows will be more sticky

Lightweight Frames

A no draw headshot and no draw body shot will kill at 2nd tier resil, but a quarter draw is needed above that for 1 of the arrows - preferably the head to cover most resilience tiers, but a body should cover 6th tier and less.

Precision Frames

You're gonna need to flick shot the head twice at a quarter draw or more, or fully draw and hit the head before you can flickshot an arrow into someones body. Note: A guardian at max resilience will survive the double quarter draw flick approach
You can also body shot and melee with this build with no buffs in a perfect draw (max resil) or an overdraw (6th tier or lower)

Exotic Damage Numbers

Draw Type	Le Monarque	Trinity Ghoul	Wishender	Leviathans Breath
No Draw Body	61	21x3	61+30	51
Quarter Draw Body	67	23x3	65+30	100
Half Draw Body	91	25x3	68+30	143
Full Draw Body	101+24	35x3	72+30	343
Over Draw Body	95	33x3	71+30	300
No Draw Precision	91	31x3	109+30	91
Quarter Draw Precision	100	34x3	116+30	159
Half Draw Precision	109	37x3	122+31	228
Full Draw Precision	152+24	52x3	129+30	548
Over Draw Precision	143	49x3	126+30	479

Vorpal Weapon (Precision Frame) Damage Numbers

Super	Head	Body
Goldie	181	121
Chaos Reach	145	97
Blade Barrage	124	83
Well of Radiance	121	81
Daybreak	119	79
Hammers	119	79
Nova Warp	119	79
Shadebinder	119	79
Spectral Blades	117	78
Sentinel	114	76
Striker	114	76
Arc Staff	114	76
Burning Maul	114	76
Thundercrash	114	76
Tether (while tethering)	114	76
Revenant	114	76
Spectral Blades (Invis)	111	74
Behemoth	97	65

The Reticle and Draw Length

⊙ | | | - This is what the reticle looks like when you aren't drawn back (well, this is sideways, but you get the idea) - when you draw back your arrow, the bottom lines will be accurate for a quarter draw and the lines will get closer together past the half draw mark to keep accurately representing the flight distance - ⊙||| - before disappearing entirely when you're fully drawn back and you no longer have to lead your target - ⊙
If you're sprinting towards a target, tap/pull back in the opposite direction to be able to get that reticle back (same as every weapon in destiny) so you can judge the distance to draw time and actually start drawing back your bow without having a small delay or whiff entirely because of it cancelling your sprint instead of drawing
When you're aimed down sights, there is a line at the bottom of the reticle, that will be accurate up to around 15 and 20 meters before you have to judge additional falloff height (precision and lightweight no-draw ranges respectively) this distance will increase the longer that you draw.

Draw Type	Precision	Lightweight	Line
No Draw	↓ 12m	↑ 18m	Bottom
Quarter Draw	↑ 24m	↓ 20m	Middle
Half Draw	↑ 31m	↓ 25m	Top

Full draws and near perfect draws will tend towards being on target to the center of the reticle - and it's just about practice (note, when I'm using quarters and halves, it's more about where the string is drawn back visually, rather than how long you've been drawing back, as that depends on what string you have).
The lower draws can be effective, but they do require learning of how your draw time effects the flight path and where you have to release your shot to get the best accuracy - if you want to rely more on flick shots and getting your accuracy down, you could go for a higher draw time lightweight frame to train with before increasing the draw time when you’re able to judge your shots better.
A perfect draw isn't when the bow starts glowing, there's about an 8 frame window just before where the arrow will release silently and do full damage. That's the perfect draw.

Builds

Get Down Mr President

Biting Winds with Swashbuckler
Insurmountable Skull Fort on Top Tree Striker

Simply shoulder charge your way to 1 tap headshots

But I am the shotgun...

One Two Punch shotgun in your kinetic slot
Liars Handshakes
Top Tree Arc Strider
Trinity Ghoul

Shoot with the shotgun, 1 down, punch the next, 2 down, dodge and switch to Trinity Ghoul, punch again, 3 down, shoot the floor with trinity and carry on punching... FANTASTIC WORK You now have all of the combination blow, so just trinity the floor and punch away

Thomas the Siege Engine

Khepri's Horn
Deafening Whisper
Whispering Slab with Swashbuckler
Sunspot Titan with Thermite Grenades

I'm not sure if this one even needs explaining - but when you make a sunspot, stand in it and have swashbuckler, you'll one tap

Wrath of Cupid

Top Tree Dawn
Karnstein Armlets
Biting Winds with Swash

Like with the first build, except you can deliver the punch down the hallway heal from it, pop heat rises for perfect in air accuracy and kills to get your melee back to start the entire process again

Corrosive Sting

Le Monarque
Khepri's Sting
Middle Tree Night Stalker

Invis when you're crouching and get that precision final blow, poison clouds everywhere and the ability to melee yourself out of most situations, this will be the build for you if you like watching your opponents suffer in their final moments. Also, note, if you hit someones face with your smoke from a distance and they stay in the cloud, they're probably going to die from that alone

A Hunger For Wishes

Blink Devour Warlock
Autoloading Holster Demolitionist Truth Teller
Wishender
Felwinters Helm

You can see through walls, you can bounce grenades off of walls, you can no draw bodyshot guardians and clean them up with a melee to heal and you can debuff the surrounding enemies with a fully charged melee. I don’t even know what the damage numbers are on regular guardians on a full draw, it doesn’t display, it just deletes and you heal. Run alongside your favourite behemoth buddy for their tectonic harvest for the best results
Edit
I’m going to start working on a PvE post like this, as there will be a lot more damage numbers - I hope that you don’t mind waiting until next season for it though

Slay the Spire and its "family"

https://steam.cryotank.net/wp-content/gallery/slaythespire/Slay-the-Spire-01-HD.png
Slay the Spire (StS) has finally arrived to Android! For two years many of us dreamed for this legendary game to be accessible on their mobile devices, and finally the day has come. No need to talk about how awesome this game is, how it basically started a new genre of card-based dungeon crawlers (UPD: or roguelike deck-builders, if you prefer the term), and even about how well or poor it works on Android hardware in its current state (there will be lots of these posts during the days to come). What I wanted to talk about is the impact this game had on (specifically) mobile industry and how other developers were able to utilize this innovative formula in their own products.
Personally, I am somewhat glad that StS release was delayed that much. This allowed a lot of "clones" to be spawned, many of which I enjoyed playing. Some of them appear to be straight rip-offs, but others introduced many fresh ideas of their own, some even surpassing the predecessor's greatness. What the heck am I talking about and how is this even possible will be revealed to you, should you decide to stay on a bit and read through the article below.

General info

First and foremost, let's clarify the important thing: card based dungeon crawlers are not Collectible Card Games (CCGs). Even though they share the same ideas, and some of them (StS included) even have a feature to permanently improve starting cards, or a mode to play with pre-constructed decks, this is not the case for the genre in general. There is no place for multiplayer and PvP battles here: a turn-down for the most, but an undeniable advantage for the rest - only though-out puzzle-like single-player experience which we can pause at any moment and continue when the time is appropriate. Thus, there will never be troubles with downtime, matchmaking, ratings, overpowered builds and other PvP stuff, as there will never be a satisfaction of crushing your opponents with the power of your mighty intellect... The fun of discovering interesting synergies between various card combinations is still present, though.
With this being said, let's quickly look through the core features of the genre, which will be relevant for almost every game we review below: - we must explore a dungeon, which (usually, but not necessarily) consists of three floors with increasing difficulty; - we have limited control over the order in which to face the challenges; - there is a powerful boss in the end of each floor; - we battle using deck of cards, usually drawing new cards from deck to hand each turn; - there is a limitation on how many cards we can play during our turn; - we start with a weak basic deck, but get new cards as rewards for fighting enemies; - there is a possibility to permanently remove (weak) cards from the deck; - successful gameplay strategies revolve around utilizing the synergies between different cards; - there are several character classes, each with their own cards and tactics; - there are often additional items to acquire in the dungeon, providing bonuses and emphasizing specific types of play;
Before Slay the Spire (StS) came out, there was another card-based dungeon crawler called Dream Quest (DQ), which considered by many to be the first game of the genre (at least the first one to make a significant impact). Not sure if the former drew inspiration from the latter, but certain parallels can easily be drawn: in fact, all of the features mentioned in the list above are valid for DQ the same way as it is for StS. The rich plethora of card based dungeon crawlers (both PC/Console and mobile) originated from some combination of the two.
StS, however, can not be considered a clone of DQ, as it introduced a lot of original ideas and spawned its own line of descendants. It is always interesting to analyze each new title to see which of two games was the biggest inspiration, and to group them accordingly. For me the main criteria lies in the core difference in battle system: - in StS, enemies (usually multiple) show their intentions at the beginning of each turn, so we know what to expect and what to play against; - in DQ, the enemy (usually single) draws and plays cards the same way as we do, often using the same abilities and synergies we ourselves can use.
Introductions aside, let's finally get to the interesting part - the games! (Note: Games are listed in alphabetical order to not give any privileges to one over another. For my personal preferences see the comment section).

Dream Quest clones

Call of Lophis takes us on a grim journey through infested lands full of deadly monsters, dangerous traps, and one of the most ridiculous card art I have ever seen. It's surprising to see how dark fantasy elements combine with the humor and gags this game presents. From the gameplay point of view, there is enough card variety and interesting synergies, but it will take a long time to reach the interesting parts. Really: this game just does not know when to end, forcing new and new dungeon locations onto us with basically the same monsters and same approaches to dealing with them over and over. Its the boss battles which crank the difficulty up to over 9000, and if we don't have the right deck by the time we reach them, there is nothing we can do to pull it off. Plus there is some shady business going on with monetization schemes, where even paid version of the game makes us spend money to unlock additional classes and grind a lot to buy permanent improvements. Only truly dedicated players will be interested in dealing with all this nonsense. [...] UPD: Haven't checked on it for a long time - maybe the situation improved somehow.
Crimson Deep is still in early alpha and was not updated for a long time. But the development hasn't stopped, and there is a new major release approaching in the nearest future. It makes no sense to talk about the game till then: the version in the store is too raw to provide any significant gameplay experience, but it would be interesting to see where it goes in the end.
Dimension of Dream is probably the only game that has the same grid-based dungeon layout as DQ itself. This time with full 3D and a possibility to fight only limited set of enemies before facing the final boss (which allows to moderate difficulty as we go, either defeating tougher enemies with better rewards, or to save HP and fight only the easy ones). This game has one of the most interesting battle systems and 6 truly unique classes with deep complex strategies unlike anything we have ever seen (not only the cards themselves, but the order in which we play them greatly affects the outcome). Unfortunately, the English version was pulled from Google Play, leaving only Chinese version for Asian people to enjoy. UPD: Apparently, the game was re-released under different publisher with the title Dreaming Dimension, so there you have it. [...]
Meteorfall: Journeys offers the streamlined approach to dungeon crawling, where all our decisions boil down to Reigns-like "swipe left / swipe right" operation: picking the path, encounter resolutions, and even battles are simplified to utilize this binary choice mechanic. But don't worry: these specifics do not affect the gameplay, still providing enough strategic depth to appeal even to hardcore players. Add here a neat visual style, lots of character classes and their variations, cool card combos, and you get a true masterpiece, which is Meteorfall. [...]
Night of the Full Moon offers a fresh take on a fairy tale of Red Riding Hood, but adding darker elements to it (including werewolves, zombies, mad scientists and cursed cultists). It demonstrates an amazing production quality with top-tier art, beautiful audio support, and intriguing storytelling. Gameplay wise, we have the closest thing to DQ, safe for the grid-based dungeon maps, which were changed to just picking the encounter out of available three. Some people may argue that the game does not offer enough strategic variety, only suggesting a single best build for each class, but you will still get different runs due to the randomness of card and power-up drops. Another argument of it being too easy is completely nullified on higher difficulty levels. Wish the story would develop in a different direction, though. [...]
Spellsword Cards: Origins provides the gameplay similar to the Night of the Full moon, but focuses more on role-playing character development part. Aside from choosing a class, we also get to pick race with unique traits, and a school of magic, greatly affecting which cards will be available to us during the run. The problem here, though, is that monster encounters do not demonstrate a lot of variety, forcing us to fight the same enemies over and over, and the difficulty is rather high, with starting cards doing almost nothing and enemies quickly run out of hand with their devastating attacks, whereas good cards are hard to come by, and even then you will still be devastated on later stages. [...] UPD: Or maybe I am just bad at this game (welcome to comment section for valid strategy suggestions).

Slay the Spire clones

Blood Card offers a unique possibility to construct the dungeon ourselves, providing a pool of encounters of different types: regular monsters, elite monsters, events and shops. We pick a desired encounter from the pool, deal with it and then move on to the next one. Another interesting feature is that our health is defined by the number of cards in draw pile, which limits our tactical possibilities, but is compensated by the fact that we get multiple copies of cards as rewards for fighting enemies. There are a lot of interesting mechanics related to moving cards between various piles, as well as other neat features (like: the Death inevitably arrives in three turns and starts whacking everyone on the field with increasing persistence), but I'll leave them for you to discover on your own.
Card Crusade seemed like a cool idea of mixing classic "roguelike" dungeon crawling with its "deck-based" counterpart, where we explore the dungeon the same way as we do it in Hack, Angband, Pixel Dungeon and other similar games, but use cards to fight actual enemies. In reality though, this implementation just adds a useless abstraction, as the adventuring does not provide any tactical benefits and is only there to inter-connect battle sequences (heck, even breaking pots and chests does not give us any coin, of which developers themselves warn us at the very beginning!). The cards are not very interesting, with next to none cool synergies, and new classes (which should be unlocked by performing specific actions on previous runs) do not provide any major difference. [...]
Card Quest takes us on an epic journey through fantasy lands, where we will perform great deeds as one of the classic RPG hero classes (fighter, wizard, rogue, ranger), each with their own equipment and fighting disciplines. The interesting part is that the cards we use during runs are defined by said equipment, and if we find some new pieces during our adventure, we get to keep them for further runs. Also worth noting that defense cards are played not during our turn, but during enemy turn, which requires us to plan ahead a bit. This being said, the game is extremely hard - it will take a lot of unsuccessful tries to finally reach the end. But the variety of dungeons and possible builds will keep us occupied for long.
Dungeon Tales for a long time was the closest, yet simplified copy of StS mechanics (up to similar cards and gaming strategies), but without certain elaborate features, like upgrading cards or using potions. The basics are left intact though: we still build our deck along the way and face the powerful boss in the end. There are only two characters available yet, but each has a couple of viable builds, so it can keep us invested for quite some time. [...]
Endless Abyss is a close StS clone with very similar character classes (only two so far) and a lot of cards with exactly the same effects. Graphically the game looks very good, but angry monetization, lots of grinding, and forced ads make it almost impossible to fully enjoy. [...]
Heroes of Abyss is a predecessor to Endless Abyss with basically the same core gameplay, but very simplified dungeon crawling part. There is no floor map with choosing our path, nor there are elaborate adventure events: just a series of battles with the boss in the end. The spoils we get after each battle go into improving our starting deck and unlocking new difficulty modes with higher rewards. What makes the game unusual, is that we chose the preferred build right from the beginning with appropriate set of starting cards, without the need to rely on the randomness of card drops. It may be interesting to unlock and compare all the 6 available builds, but once the task is done, there is almost no reason to play the game further.
Heroes Journey provides a different setting for a change: this time we will play as space explorers, who crash landed on an alien planet. Thus, instead of familiar swords and bows, we will be wielding blasters and energy shields: the rest remains the same, up to the majority of cards straight up copied from StS. Unfortunately, this innovative idea was completely ruined by repetitive grinding and angry monetization, forcing player to make dozens of identical runs with the same small card pool, until something adequate is unlocked. Oh, and the game is long abandoned by the developers.
Pirates Outlaws is an amazing rework of original StS ideas in a pirate setting with some changes to gameplay mechanics, such as introducing persistent charges needed to play certain cards, and different buff/debuff statuses that replace each other. There are also some questionable features, such as ship stamina that deteriorates over the course of the journey and leads to game over if not repaired in time, or a quest system, where quests can not be completed in parallel, but instead picking the new quest resets your progress in the current one. Some may also argue that new classes take long to grind for, or expensive to pay for, but with permanent booster pack this should not be a problem. Anyway, the game is highly recommended for any StS fan. [...]
Rogue Adventure offers a twist to usual mechanic: our hand is limited by 4 cards, but each time we use one of them, a new card is immediately drawn to its place, thus we never run out of cards to play. Non-starting cards are common for all classes, but are grouped by type (or race), giving huge synergies depending on how many similar cards we have. Aside from this, the game offers diverse gameplay by providing a lot of different classes, each with its own unique strategies and dynamics, and some interesting items to work around. The developers constantly provide updates with bug fixes and new content, but be warned that new mechanics may break what you are already accustomed for.
Royal Booty Quest started as a straight rip-off from StS with the same classes and abilities, and even cards having the same names. And absolutely atrocious pixelated visuals, which were not possible to look at without eyes bleeding out. Over time, though, it developed its own unique mechanics and interesting card combinations, but the art style did not get any better. However, if this is not a problem, the game is enjoyable to an extent, but since it was not updated for a long time, I doubt it will keeps anyone's interest for long. [...]
Tavern Rumble adds an unusual strategic element - a 3x3 grid, on each units and enemies are placed. The core gameplay remains the same (we still see what opponents are planning to do each turn and adjust our own strategy accordingly), but the addition of the grid introduces another tactical layer: not only we should maximize the damage output, but also plan the layout for our troops to provide the effective delivery of said output, while at the same time establish enough defense to minimize the damage to ourselves. There are a lot of cards and classes to play around, different play modes and a lot of features that are still being constantly added to the game. Some may argue about simplistic pixel graphics or long repetitive grinding, but it is easy to unlock everything within reasonable amount of time, even without paying. [...]

Other Games

Of course, my criteria does not work 100% of the time, as some games are way too different from anything else to confidently enroll them into one of the categories. They either demonstrate traits of both, or implement entirely unique mechanics of their own (which I like the most), while still maintaining the basic dungeon crawling ideas (so a lot of the games you might think of will not end up in the list). What I have in mind is the following:
Dungeon Reels removes the cards from card-based dungeon crawler - why bother, right? Instead, it provides some kind of a slot machine, where each turn three rows spin independently to pick available actions based on what slots we have in our reel. Winning battles awards us with new, better slots to add, each with their own specifics and synergies. Enemies also randomize their moves with slots of their own, but the most satisfying mechanic is the possibility to spin a jackpot with three identical slots for some powerful effect. It is interesting to see this concept developed further, but the game has not been updated for a long time.
Iris and the Giant takes us on journey through imaginary world, inspired by Ancient Greek mythology. Each battle takes place on a grid, where various enemies advance in huge numbers. We play a card from our hand, usually dealing damage to nearest enemy, and then everyone who is still standing and can reach us deals damage in return. There are cards that target multiple enemies at once, as well as ways to play more than one card during our turn, so most of the time we will be deciding which card to play at which moment. The deck has limited size, and if it becomes empty we lose, so new cards should be constantly acquired. There are a lot of interesting mechanics to discover, but the game is very hard and luck based, requiring a lot of trial-and-error to finally reach the end. [...]
Phantom Rose Scarlet has the same basic core, but with completely innovative battle system, not seen in any other game. On each turn there are four positions for cards to be played in strict order, where two of them are randomly filled with opponent's cards, and the remaining two are left for us to fill. Instead of drawing the hand, we have our entire deck available right away, but playing cards puts them on a cooldown, which does not reset between battles, so we constantly face the strategic choice of playing our best cards right away or keep them for later. The game is in active development, providing new mechanics and further developing the story, which is quite captivating here. [...]
Void Tyrant is a bit of a stretch, but still a "card based dungeon crawler", in which we basically play BlackJack against our enemies by dealing card with numbers from 1 to 6 one-by-one from our deck until we stand or bust. Whoever has the highest value wins and deals damage to the loser. There are various supporting cards on top of this mechanic, allowing us to either jinx the outcome in our favor, or to perform various other metagame manipulations. The only downside of the game is the lack of content, as it quickly runs out of interesting things, and since it was not updated for a long time, it is unlikely that anything new will be added in the future. [...]

Conclusion

As you see, there is a lot to play besides StS, so even if you are not hyped by its long-awaited Android release, but appreciate a good intellectual dungeon crawler, you will find something to suit your needs. I hope, even with StS release, new games of the genre will continue appearing on mobile phones, and I will gladly review them and add to the list. If you know any hidden gems (or even trash) that was not highlighted in this article, please share the names and/or links in the comments. I am also open to any discussions on the topic, as I am obviously able to talk a lot about my favorite genre.
Good luck to everyone in all your endeavors.
P.S. I am well aware of games like Dungeon Cards, Card Adventure, Dungeon Faster, Meteorfall: Krumitz Tale, Card Thief, Maze Machina, Cube Card, Card Hog, Fisherman, Relics of the Fallen and other "grid-based puzzles", but do not consider them to be a part of the "family".

The Great Single Class Thief Compendium: how to be a non-Fighter fighting Thief, why Alchemy is underrated, a list of items to abuse with UAI, and a (complete?) list of Time Trap/Stop and backstab immune enemies. Among other shennanigans!

EDIT: Since I already wrote about it in the comments, I added a section about thieving skills point distribution.
EDIT2: added some more thoughts about how much more damage we can do with a Time Trap vs a Spike Trap due to how probability works with the Spike Trap's 20d6 vs our maxed damage strategy for benefitting from Time Trap.
First things first, this is the Enhanced Edition. It's what most people are playing and for good reason, so feel free to stop reading if that bothers you.
Second, aside from convenience stuff (like tweaks anthology's bottomless bag of holding mod), the only mod I use is SCS with pretty much everything maxed except without the "Tactical Challenges" (cause I just find them tactics-narrowing and, consequently, boring. I like the original SCS philosophy which is to just enhance the game's AI with few actual statistical/ability changes). If you like that option, ok, good for you. I did a few playthroughs with them back in the day, but didn't care for it too much.
Third, I just finished a playthrough of Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal (didn't feel like playing BG1/SoD this time around) with a Half-Orc Assassin, so that's what I'm gonna be focusing on, especially cause most people's complaints of single class thieves pertain to Throne of Bhaal.
With that said, let's get to it (feel free to skip certain sections, of course, it's a huge post):
THIEVING SKILLS POINT DISTRIBUTION (just copy and pasted it from my comment below, I didn't talk about it before cause it's too basic, but maybe some newbies might be reading this)
-There are several potions/equipment that increase your thieving skills, so you don't need to max out pickpocket, open locks or find traps. Plus, every point in dexterity increases every thieving skill except detect illusions by 5 points and you can increase dex permanently (eg tome) and temporarily (eg draw upon holy might).
-95 is enough to open every lock and find every trap in the trilogy. But if you can reach 25 str temporarily that gets you the equivalent of 85 open lock through bashing.
-You don't need much pickpocket unless you wanna steal from shops often, cause otherwise you can just buff it temporarily whenever you need it.
-Hide and move silently max out at 200 each, but 100 on one of them is reasonable enough to just hide outside of combat (remember you can use quick load to speed up your hide attempts outside of combat). 100 in both is enough to max out in dark areas (lighter areas and being outside during the day give you penalties). If you wanna run+hide constantly put more into it earlier. Or, if you're playing a shadowdancer you need as much of this as possible right away.
-Detect illusions can't be buffed so get it to 100, but you don't need it too much in bg1 cause there aren't many invisible/hidden enemies.
-Set traps should be at 100 for convenience, but you can live with a lower number if you only trap outside of combat and don't mind reloading. It's absolutely essential to max out if you wanna trap during combat (by running away first ofc otherwise you can't use it).
All in all, I just get some good hide/set traps/detect illusion early in soa and then start to minmax. Bg1 is really kit/strategy dependent but I ignore open lock/find traps for most of it (unlocking/disabling doesn't even get you much xp in bg1, why bother? Just take traps and bash locks unless doing no reload).
KITS
-Assassin: fantastic kit. Poison is a great buff (especially vs spellcasters, but not just that) with decent duration (5 rounds) that you can reapply a ton of times. That +1 to hit comes in super handy for thieves (who get worse thac0 progression than a cleric) and the +1 to damage actually makes a substantial difference when you consider it factors into backstabs. Every +1 damage (that factors into the backstab formula, so no Strength bonuses) means 7 extra damage on a single backstab or 63 extra damage in a single round of Assassination with 9 Attacks per Round (APR). And, of course, we get that sweet sweet x7 backstab, meaning Assassination can do MONSTROUS damage (easily over ~1000+ in a single round with 9APR).
-Bounty Hunter: also great, though it's been a while since I've played a solo one to judge it properly. Being able to throw the special traps and have them explode in a fireball-sized area is great and the Maze traps are underrated (they ignore magic resistance and there's no save!), cause anything with under 18 Intelligence (most enemies, pretty much) and not immune to maze (again, the vast majority of enemies, even dragons/demons are vulnerable) gets caught up for at least 2d4 (probably more) leaving you with a great opportunity to place traps for when they come back. Plus, the smarter folks come back sooner, meaning spellcasters will probably be left alone and take the brunt of the traps (whose damage can pretty much only be stopped by the exact physical/elemental-damage resistance).
-Swashbuckler: unnecessarily fighter-like IMO. As we'll see later, thieves can be quite the fighters if geared properly and it's rare that they're lacking either thac0 or AC. But since Swashbucklers get ridiculous amounts of thac0/AC by the end of the game it means you can get a little bit more creative with your gearing and access to Whirlwind is nice, I suppose. Not getting backstabs/access to Assassination is a huge bummer though.
Shadowdancer: super fun kit, but they miss out on some of the best parts of thieves: high level abilities (HLAs). Shadow Form (essentially a stronger, but short-lasting Hardiness+Improved Invisibility) is great, Shadow Twin is simply unnecessary (it's a Simulacrum, cool, but there are already two other sources of Simulacrum...) and their Shadow Maze is crappy compared to the Bounty Hunter's maze trap cause it doesn't ignore magic resistance, there's a save (at -4, admittedly) AND it only affects a single opponent, not an area. But the worst part is that they don't get the amazing thief traps and their Assassination is super nerfed with that x4 multiplier. So why are they still good? Because they still get Use Any Item (UAI), shadowstep lets you dispel illusions comfortably in the chaos of battle and give you time for your hide cooldown to reset, but, most importantly, hide-in-plain-sight allows for a cheeky combo:
Invisibility (not hiding) -> Backstab -> Insta-cast ability (eg use a wand if you're a single class SD or use a 0 casting time spell if you're a dual SD/Mage or Cleric) -> Hide (that's not on cooldown cause we weren't hidden to begin with, we were invisible before).
That means you can constantly do a backstab + use a wand or cast a spell (or a triggesequencer!) and hide before the enemy can do anything. So the more sources of invisibility you have, the more you can do in combat without ever being engaged! If the enemy doesn't just straight up ignore invisibility you can pretty much play without armor if you want (if your hide/move silently are good, ofc).
RACES
Human: good for dualing, of course. Swashbucklers and Shadowdancers are the best duals IMO, unless you're willing to dual crazy late for the x7 Assassin backstab (you can do it if you're playing solo, but I wouldn't recommend it in a full party with six-way shared XP).
Elf: -1 con makes no difference, but the +1 to dex is nice, cause we can easily get to 21 DEX (with 2 out of the 3 sources of +1 dex: BG1 Tome, the Machine of Lum and the Deck of Many Things) for that extra -1 AC and each point in dex gives us +5 to thieving skills (except Detect Illusions), but none of that is necessary cause we can still reach 21 DEX starting with 18 DEX and by the end of the game we'll have all the skills pretty much maxed out anyway. 90% charm immunity is nice though, I guess.
Half-Orc: my preferred choice. Why? Thieves need more thac0, especially against late-late game bosses that are immune to Time Traps/Time Stop (meaning we can't just auto-hit them) and having more thac0 when you're a class with poor thac0 progression is always nice. Plus, you get more damage. In BG1 alone it's a huge difference cause jumping from 18 to 19 STR means -2 bonus to thac0 and +7 to damage. By the end of the game we can have natural 23 Strength, which is more than any girdle can give us.
Other races: shorties are cool for saving throws, but thieves already get enough with all the saving throw-enhancing gear that UAI lets them use and with Greater Evasion that lowers them by a further 3 points. And we miss out on, again, what we need the most: thac0! The difference between maxing out at 22 and 23 is another extra point!
GEAR
Use Any Item is one of the main strengths of thieves, so, yes, talking about items is also talking about thieves. You can't ignore this.
-Weapons: "easy, you're an assassin, just get the Celestial Fury or the Staff of the Ram for great backstab damage!" Sure, if all you want to do a single powerful backstab to one-shot a single powerful enemy that's fine, go for those. But after getting HLAs what you want is Assassination potential and those weapons, surprisingly, aren't the best for that. Plus, you probably want a thief that can actually fight well in battles even after backstabbing and without needing to go away to hide again or whatever (though that's an option, of course).
So what's the big bad weapon combo? How do we turn out non-Fighter Thief into a fighting Thief? We need more APR. Belm+Kundane then? That'll get 1 base attack, 1 offhand attack, plus 2 main hand attacks. Double that if you're Improved Hasted, so 8 APR. Cool, but we can do a lot better than that.
Both Belm and Kundane are +2 weapons, meaning a bunch of powerful enemies will be immune to them. +3 is the real deal (only Demiliches, the Lesser Demon Lord from the eggs main quest, the Ravager, the Fallen Solar at the final battle and Watcher's Keep's Aurumach Rilmani are immune to +3 weapons). Besides, Kundane only has 1d6 base damage, meaning it weakens our Assassination potential.
The answer? Throwing daggers, motherf****! That's right! Throwing daggers ain't just for throwing!! Both the Boomerang Dagger +2 (which you can easily pickpocket right at the start of SoA) and the Firetooth +3 (available in Ust Nasha) give you an extra attack! It's just that you can't use them in the offhand, but that doesn't matter cause they're both great! Both do a respectable 2d4 damage (better than a long sword's 1d8!) and the Firetooh is a +3, plus it does 1d2 extra fire damage for some convenient troll killing and stoneskin harassing! So you use either of those in the main hand and Belm in the offhand, but if the enemy is immune to backstabs or immune to +2 weapons you switch Belm out to the Scarlet Ninja-to +3 (available in Joluv's shop at the Copper Coronet and useable by thieves with UAI!). Dope! 8 APR with a great +3 main hand weapon! As for the 9 APR... Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization, which you can use after getting UAI. That's an extra 1/2 APR normally, but a full 1 extra APR with Improved Haste.
Other great weapons you should keep in mind are the usual (Mace of Disruption/Daystar against undead, that one staff that instakills golems you get in Ust Nasha... But there's more that people don't often talk about, like:
-The Blackmist Halberd you get from giving the eggs to the Lesser Demon Lord in Ust Nasha, which is great in a secondary weapon slot cause it lets us cast area blindness (blindness is one of the best spells in the game) once per day.
-The Sling of Arvoreen that stuns in an area for 3 rounds (auto-hits for our 9APR thief!).
-The Darkfire Bow available in ToB for its long-lasting (23 rounds) improved haste cast.
-The Answerer in ToB if you really want to worse the enemy's AC (I didn't need to resort to it once in my playthrough, but you can use it if you want).
EDIT: as mentioned by semiticgod, "The Staff of the Magi can royally screw with Sendai in ToB. Unlike some other ToB enemies, the drow cannot see through invisibility, though SCS Sendai and company will use divination spells (the Cloak of Non Detection can preserve the staff's invisibility despite those spells)". I totally forgot to fight the Twisted Rune before going to ToB, so I screwed myself there.
-+4 weapons for the few +3 immune enemies (which I only used to finish off the Aurumach Rilmani in Watcher's Keep and kill Demiliches, I'll talk about how to handle the Ravager later).
ArmoAccessories:
-Wands, you know them, you love them, you can backstab (or just attack) and then immediately cast them. I barely used them in my playthrough, but they're excellent, of course, especially the wands of paralyzation and spell striking.
-Invisibility stuff. Obvious use.
-Like I said before, Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization (SoA) to get to 9APR.
-Headband of the Devout (ToB): blesses you (-1 thac0 and +1 backstab-effective damage!) and lets you cast Righteous Magic (+3 Strength and MAXED OUT DAMAGE) once per day lasting 1 turn aka 10 rounds!!! GET THIS!! Normally only monks can use it and it's available in Rasaad's quest, along with two other nice items (a cloak that gets you -2 stackable AC and Protection from Magical Energy and Boots with 3x/day Shadow Door).
-Improved Haste (IH) gear:
a) (SoA) Early on you can use the Ring of Gaxx to get 1 round of undispellable (hardly necessary, but I just thought I'd let people know about this if they didn't) IH 3x/day, it technically amounts to 5 rounds, not 3, cause each of the 3 casts lasts for 10 secs (a round is 6 secs), so you might end up doing more than 1 round's worth of attacks (it's hard to tell).
b) (SoA) Bracers of Blinding Strike in the Underdark for 20 secs (a little over 3 rounds) of IH. You can equip it, cast it and equip something else.
c) (SoA) Scrolls of Improved Haste, if you really want to have a longer lasting IH in SoA. There are quite a few and you won't need them in ToB, so use them freely. If you want, you can even waste a scroll of wish for it...
d) (modded SoA or ToB) If you're using the mod (was it Tweaks Anthology?) that lets Cromwell forge the ToB recipes that you can already get in SoA then you can get the Improved Cloak of Protection +2 for those sweet 23 rounds of IH.
e) (ToB) Amulet of Cheetah Speed, also 23 rounds of IH.
-Cloak of Unerring Strikes (SoA) and later Montolio's Cloak (ToB) for extra offhand thac0 and, in Montolio's case also -1 save and AC bonus.
-White Dragon Scale (SoA): best base AC out of any armor in game, available early in SoA, doesn't interfere with thieving skills, lets you cast Cone of Cold, protects from Cold (great for Melissan battle along with the Boots of the North)... The only problem is that it won't let you use the Improved Cloak of Protection +2, so when you get it switch to the Robe of the Apprenti (AC3) until you get another source of long-lasting IH. Or switch it out to cast IH with the cloak before battle and then put it back on.
-Thieves' Hood (SoA): you're a thief, backstabs can hurt a lot in ToB, this makes you immune. Poison immunity is great too, but you got the Ring of Gaxx (which I'll cover with other regen gear) for that.
-Paws of the Cheetah (SoA): along with (improved) haste this lets you run and hide or, better yet, run and place a Time Trap or Spike Trap! Essential!!
-Helm of Balduran: we need that thac0 early on, boys and girls. Some HP and AC is nice too.
-The Visage (SoA, from Dorn's quest): -1 bonus to saves and thac0, protects against crits (I just noticed this lol), can dominate once and has an acid breath attack and a big ol' list of immunities (fear, charm, feeblemind, confusion). What's not to love? It just takes a while to get cause you gotta finish Dorn's quest. It's dope, but after your saves get really low (naturally protecting you against those status as well) you get better stuff.
-Book of Infinite Spells (SoA): Spell Turning! Underrated item and spell. You don't get a lot of spell protections as a non-spellcaster, especially the rechargeable kind, so this is one of the best.
-Vhailor's Helm: more traps! More Assassinations! I actually forgot about using this until the literal final battle lol, but it's great.
-Heart of the Mountain (SoA): available in Spellhold and normally only useable by Shamans, this gets you -2 AC and stacks with enchanted armorings! Excellent before ToB.
-Amulet of the Master Harper (ToB): -3 bonus to AC, even better! Silence immunity and thieving skill bonuses aren't bad either.
-Blessed Bracers (modded SoA Cromwell or ToB): resurrection heals you completely (at least until 2.6 comes! Though the text says it fully heals, so maybe it'll still after 2.6?) and there's some Cure Wounds too if you want. You're better off using a Rod of Resurrection cause it casts faster, but sometimes you just don't feel like using non-rechargeable item charges. Put it on, use it and switch out.
-Nymph Cloak: cheesyyyyy, so cheeeeesy, but it's the kind of cheese I love. I tried not using it too much though, I just used it against a few Rakshasa early on and against Aesgareth's party.
-Regen gear (I'll explain why this is great for thieves next): Ring of Regeneration, Ring of Gaxx (-2 AC and poison/disease immunity is great too ofc), Wong Fei's Ioun Stone (which also nets you some HP and -1 AC).
REGENERATION
"What? Why are you talking about regeneration? What does that have to do with thieves?"
Alchemy = unlimited Potions of Regeneration that stack with all of the regen geaspells (all sources of regen stack INCLUDING DRINKING MULTIPLE POTIONS OF REGENERATION and I just discovered this last part after finishing the game). And Potions of Regeneration heal 2HP/round and last for 3 turns aka 30 rounds!
Although Potions of Regen aren't super rare, they're also not available in ample supply, especially if you don't know where to find them all to begin with. But high level thieves can spam them freely cause they can always get more with Alchemy.
So, if you're not a believe in regeneration like I am, let's explain how good it can be (this is the calculation without abusing potion of regen stacking, so only using one):
-Ring of Regen 1HP/round (aka 1HP/6 seconds)
-Ring of Gaxx 2/round
-Wong Fei's Ioun Stone 1HP/Round
-Potion of Regeneration 2HP/round
=
6HP/round (aka 1HP/sec)
x2 (cause Haste doubles it)
12HP/round (aka 2HP/sec)
That's already pretty damn nice and it "reduces damage" a lot better than AC in ToB where some enemies still tear through -20 AC (plus, you can easily get to the AC cap and still wear all of those items and you've still got a cloak slot to spare and it doesn't force you into using regen weapons)
But if you want some more quick regen as you run around you can use the Cloak of the Sewers' troll form to get you an extra 1HP/sec or 2 with haste, netting you 4HP/sec or 24HP/round which is almost a free Potion of Extra Healing (heals 27HP) every round.
Hexxat makes this even better cause she's got "natural" (it's actually from her amulet) 1HP/round regen.
And, of course, that's all without abusing the Potion of Regeneration stacking that can up as much as you can (though, again, you don't need it and I didn't use it cause I only discovered it now, after finishing the game), as long as you can be bothered to produce a ton of potions with Alchemy and resting (though they're temporary, so as you're drinking more you're wasting the duration of the previous ones, but it CAN get pretty ridiculous quickly and, hey, mages get crazy 8HP/sec WITHOUT HASTE regen from Shapechange -> Greater Wolfwere, so it's fair!).
TRAPS
Regular Traps: they eventually do 3d8+5 missile damage and 20 Poison damage with no save, Slays target if a Save vs. Death with a +4 bonus is failed. Pretty neat, especially if you stack a bunch, but not world-shattering.
Spike Traps: everybody knows how good Spike Traps are, so I won't waste much time on them. They do 20d6 magic damage, so 20-120 (average 70). Magic damage is rarely (and I mean rarely) resisted, which makes them top tier and they can crush even Demogorgon and the final boss easily. I generally get 7 of them so I have the max stackable (was this a thing in vanilla or is this limit SCS-only? I don't remember) whenever I want without simulacrums etc..
Time Traps: bonkers. Amazing. Insanely underrated. Let's do some ToB-stage calculations (this is just the damage I was doing at some point in ToB with IH+Righteous Magic, it's not 100% minmax'd):
Righteous Magic (max damage and 25 STR)+Improved Haste (9APR)+Time Trap (auto-hit) without backstabs/Assassination:
Firetooth +3 -> 29 * 7 attacks (main hand) = 203 damage
Belm +2 -> 28 * 2 attacks (offhand) = 56 damage
=
1 trap spent, 1 round = 259 non-variable (without taking into account potential resistances to pierce/slash) damage. Plus, this is damage you can divide among multiple enemies.
Same thing, but with Assassination:
Firetooth +3 -> 147 * 7 attacks (main hand) = 1029 damage
Belm +2 -> 112 * 2 attacks (offhand) = 224 damage
=
1 trap spent, 1 round = 1253 non-variable (without taking into account potential resistances to pierce/slash) damage. Plus, this is damage you can divide among multiple enemies (eg backstabs for everyone aaaaand fall) and you can still do a lot of damage without Time Traps, it's just that auto-hit is great to make sure every attack hits.
All in all, Time Traps often (not always, ofc) provide more value per use than Spike Traps, especially cause you can divide the damage among several enemies. With a properly geared Assassin, in most fights even without Righteous Magic IH+Assasination+Time Trap = 9 dead enemies in 1 round, so you can start doing this in SoA easily. EDIT: also, when you think about probabilities, even though Spike Trap does 20d6 and technically that's 20-120 damage, in reality there's a ~83% chance to roll in the 60-80 range or ~53% to roll in the 65-75 range, so their damage is largely inferior to what it may seem at first, meanwhile, out Time Trap strategy rolls max damage always due to Righteous Magic!
And, supposedly, another trap exists... Hmmm... Don't bother, folks.
OTHER HIGH-LEVEL ABILITIES
Greater Evasion: dope! -6 bonus to AC, -3 bonus to saving throws, movement rate +2 and immunity to normal missiles. Lasts 5 rounds. I get 2 just in case, but it's rarely needed tbh. You got access to a lot of AC reducing gear with a thief (this is without Greater Evasion or any buffs and I could still get -2 if I used the Ring of Earth Control and the Cloak of the Dark Moon, but I'd rather keep my regen and thac0 stuff).
Scribe Scrolls: unfortunately pointless. The only half-decent spells you can easily get from other items (wands, White Dragon Scale etc.). Do not invest!
Avoid Death: -5 bonus to Save vs. Death, immunity to instant death effects, and +20 Hit Points. Lasts 5 rounds. It's aight. I get 2 later in the game just in case, but I rarely use it (good against Planetars so you don't get vorpal'd, would be good against Balors' vorpal effect too, but you can just Assassinate them).
THE GREAT LIST OF BACKSTAB-IMMUNE ENEMIES! OH, THE DESPAIR!
"Thieves are useless, there are too many backstab immune enemies!". Is that really the case? I mean, I know it's subjective (what you think are "too many", I mean), but too me the list is pretty short. The only thing that bothers me is ToB bosses being immune to it, but you can still handily deal with them as I'll show later. I think people think a lot of enemies are immune to backstab just cause they see past invisibility (like Demons do), but Assassination still works on them. So... Here's the list:
SoA/ToB backstab-immune enemies:
General enemy types:
-Barbarians (fun fact: there are almost no Barbarians in SoA/ToB and the majority of them are specific measly Orcs/Orogs/Minotaurs)
-Beholders (all types) <- Trap, even regular traps do it most of the time.
-Demiliches (NOT Liches in general) <- Use Spell Immunity from a scroll or Protection from Undead if you're low level.
-Devas/Planetars <-You should kill mage/clerics before they can summon them, but if you can't just Time Trap or Spike Trap.
-Dragons <- Time Trap handles them easily or just use a scroll of disintegration.
-Golems
-Slimes/Oozes
-A lot of mists/wraiths (I can't tell whether it's all of them or not, so I listed them below)
Specific enemies:
-3 out of the 6 enemies in the Heart Key fight in Watcher's Keep Final Seal level (The Huntress, the Hive Mother and Ameralis are immune, so Nalmissra, Xei Win Toh and even Y'Tossi are vulnerable)
-Aesgareth and his party
-Bone fiends (Bone Golem-looking demons)
-Specific demons in fight 2-5 of the Black Pits II (for some reason... Even the Lesser Demon Lord in the Underdark is vulnerable, so why make these ones invulnerable?)
-Garock/Rock (the two minotaurs at the Machine of Lum level of Watcher's Keep)
-Guardian spirit (don't even remember who this is)
-Kiser (dude causing some mischief in Saradush)
-Liches, only two of them (Azamantes, the Spike Trap-able, along with his flaming skulls and Vongoethe in Amkethran)
-Mists/Wraiths: Mist/Swamp/Wandering Horrors, Vampiric Wraiths/Mists, Spellhaunts, Slave Wraiths and Demon Wraith (Watcher's Keep maze level)
-Velithuu (the ice salamander-looking demons in the Watcher's Keep Maze level)
Bosses (ie enemies you have to fight finish the game, plus Demogorgon cause he's the "boss" of Watcher's Keep):
-The Bhaalspawns (Balthazar, Gromnir, Illasera, Sendai, Yaga-Shura and his Lieutenants)
-Demogorgon
-Melissan
-Nyalee (technically a boss lol)
-Ravager and its Bone Blades
Everything else can be backstabbed! Including:
-Bodhi
-Irenicus
-The Slayer
-Pretty much every Demon (even the Lesser Demon Lord in the Underdark)
-Almost every Lich (even Kangaxx and Shangalar)
-Greater Werewolves/Wolfweres
-Mind Flayers (even their Master Brain)
-The Watcher's Keep statues
-Rakshasa
-Fire Giants
-Drow and so on (what else worries people?)
If they see past invisibility, just pop that assassination, brother!
And for those that can't be backstabbed we always have Time Traps! 9APR of auto-hit max damage is no joke. And takes us to...
ENEMIES IMMUNE TO TIME TRAP/STOP
They are just a few:
-Demogorgon
-Melissan
-Ravager
-Abazigal
-Aurumach/Ferrumach Rilmani
-Balthazar (only while in Lunar Stance)
-Guardian Spirit (who???)
Not that many and, really, the only ones who are a big deal in the non-tactical challenge SCS Insane game are Melissan and Ravager (which I'll cover later). Aurumach is also immune to +3 weapons and under, but he's too squishy to be a bother and can partially be hurt by normal traps (he's immune to magical damage, so Spike Traps don't work and the poison part of normal traps also doesn't work).
ENEMIES THAT REQUIRE +4 WEAPONS
Also not too many:
Ravager
Aurumach Rilmani <- mentioned it before, too squishy to be a bother.
Fallen Solar (NOT Fallen Planetar, it's the one from the Melissan battle) <- lure and 2-3 spike traps handles it
Demiliches <- usual cheese
Lesser Demon Lord <- vulnerable to Time Trap and backstabs
SO HOW DO WE DEAL WITH THEM TOB BOSSES?
Demogorgon: Spike Traps. Bye.
Yaga-Shura: Time Trap, hit him. Then deal with Lieutenants until you find him and then Time Trap him again.
Sendai: actually one of the most annoying fights in the game for single class solo thieves, because there are sooooo many enemies to handle it's a big bother. The important part is to Spike Trap her clones that cast magic before they spawn and to put a Time Trap at the left of the arena before killing that last clone (who's pretty weak, thankfully, so you can take your time to set things up), that way the reinforcements will trigger the Time Trap along with the real Sendai spawning and you can just hit her until she dies and she can't do anything. Remember that you have a million different sources of Improved Haste at this point, so you can re-buff. EDIT: Read about the Staff of the Magi on the weapons section. I fucked up and didn't have it cause I forgot to get it before moving on to ToB.
Abazigal: pre-fight 1 Time Trap to kill his human form in 1 round, 6 Spike Traps somewhere else -> Dragon (Time Trap immune), get him to trigger the 6 Spike Traps, then run and Spike Trap one or two times more. Dead. In vanilla it would be way easier cause dragons don't get the x3 SCS buff to HP.
Balthazar: one Time Trap. Done. Yeaaaah, he's too easy for pretty much every party, I should re-install the improved version of his fight at least.
Ravager: Time Trap AND backstab immunity! What a meanie! Besides the usual buffs (improved haste+righteous magic) and prioritizing thac0 boosting equipment, I used Black Blade of Disaster + 3 scrolls of Protection from Magical Weapons + 1 of Absolute Immunity. Harder to think of what to do than to actually do it. You gotta get a little lucky so that PfMW doesn't run out as he hits you and does the stun (sleep?) stuff on you or that you don't get dispelled too soon. Not too bad once you know what to do.
Melissan: again Time Trap and backstab immunity. The first phase is the whole fight, pretty much. Usual buffs (improved haste+righteous magic) + BBD + Spell Immunity: Abjuration (to prevent dispel) can end it fast before it gets outta control. After that it's just a matter of abusing Spike Trap (4 traps for each phase) by using Simulacrums (scrolls or Vhailor's), Project Images and/or Rest Wishes (stop hoarding scrolls, it's the final fight!).
RANDOM STATS
Total scrolls I used in the whole playthrough:
-3 Disintegrations for dragons (Firkraag/Thaxll'ssillyia/Saladrex). I coulda Time Trapped and hit them for a few times but this is easier.
-2 Black Blades of Disaster (Ravager + Melissan's first phase).
-2 Simulacrums (Melissan trap shennanigans).
-3 Protection from Magical Weapons (Ravager).
-1 Absolute Immunity, which coulda been another PfMW (Ravager).
-1 Protection from Undead (to kill Kangaxx's Demilich form early on).
Basically, feel free to use more scrolls than I did, cause you rarely need them.
Wands I used:
-1 charge of a wand of spellstriking to Breach Melissan at the start of her first phase.
-3 charges of a wand of cloudkill on random enemies after getting UAI, then I forgot about it.
Coulda used a lot more wands (especially spellstriking, but with regen and stuff I just waited til PfMWs ran out on some mages and so on), but I was too busy having fun with Time Trap Assassinations trying to kill as many enemies before they fell to the ground.
How many times I used the super cheesy Nymph Cloak that I love but avoided using to focus on thief-related strats:
-A few times against Rakshasa very early in the game (Watcher's Keep rakshasa can destroy a good deal of the second level on its own).
-Once to charm the mage in the Aesgareth fight very early in the game to rush the +1 STR (Machine of Lum) and +2 DEX (Lum + Deck of Many Things).
FINAL VERDICT
Tons of fun. It's actually been a while since I last bothered to really finish Throne of Bhaal all the way through, but I was having so much fun with my Assassin that I did it. And it's boooooooooooooooooooooooooooonkers to think that some people think they're underpowered. Bonkers! They're almost fightemage/thieves on their own. And even if you don't like positioning for backstabs... You barely need it. I pretty much only did that before I got Assassination (and even then I didn't need to rely on it too much cause I already had 8APR and so on), afterwards it's Assassination-a-palooza. Too bad you only get 1 so you have to rest a bunch though, but you can still do plenty of damage with just Time Traps if you don't wanna abuse resting.

2021 Mock Draft V6 - Deshaun Watson trade edition

1 - Jacksonville Jaguars - Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson - At this point, the only way Lawrence wont go first is if the Jags somehow write the wrong name on the card.
2 - New York Jets - Justin Fields, QB, OSU - Zach Wilson vs Justin Field has become a hotter debate in recent times, with mocks seems to split 50/50 on which of the 2 will go before the other. This one will likely end up coming down to preference, but personally I prefer Field’s upside and athleticism. Still, it’ll probably end up being a close call overall.
3 - Carolina Panthers (via MIA via HOU - sends 1.08, 3.73, 2022 CAR 1st, 2022 CAR 2nd, for 1.03) - Zach Wilson, QB, BYU - This seems like a lot at first glance, but I’d bet on the Panthers being much improved next year with the return of a healthy McCaffery and Joe Brady/Matt Rhule having another year to establish their system. What that means is that if the Panthers can improve at QB, they could be a legitimate playoff contender. Teddy Bridgewater is not the answer, and IMO when you have someone as good as CMC, you need to give him a good QB. The Panthers don't want to end up like the Vikings, sticking a bunch of mediocre at best QBs next to their stud RB.
4 - Atlanta Falcons - Trey Lance, QB, NDSU - I know there’s a large portion of Falcons fans who really want to go anywhere but QB here, but how much longer can Matt Ryan play at a high level? With the 2022 QB class still full of question marks, grabbing your guy of the future right now would be a prudent move. Its instant gratification vs long term strategy. And with the success of raw QBs at the next level under proper development, Trey Lance looks like a solid bet. He’s got a great arm, and plays smart enough to only have a single interception in his college career. There’s a serious ceiling here, and he could absolutely benefit from learning from Matt Ryan for a year. Arthur Smith completely revitalized Tannehill as well, so maybe he could turn Lance into a stud.
5 - Cincinnati Bengals - Penei Sewell, OT, Oregon - Seems like it ends up working out for the Bengals, who really need to protect Joe Burrow. There’s been whispers that teams have Rashawn Slater over Sewell currently, but I partially chalk that up to prospect fatigue. IMO Sewell’s the best OT in the class, and although he’s got areas he can improve, his body of work is utterly dominant currently. If he can polish up his technique and stay healthy, he’ll be a godsend to the Bengals OL.
6 - Eagles - Ja’Marr Chase, WR, LSU - DeVonta Smith has been crazy this year, but it seems like people have forgotten Ja’Marr Chase was just as dominant last year too. Honestly, the Eagles really can't go wrong here with either WR, but IMO Chase is more of a sure thing to be dominant in the NFL, as minute of a difference as that is.
7 - Detroit Lions - DeVonta Smith, WR, Alabama - After that insane performance against Ohio State, I don't think the Lions can pass up on Smith here, even as bad as their defense is. With their entire WR corps being possible FAs, they need to find replacements ASAP, especially if they cannot find a way to agree to a deal with Kenny Golladay. As for Smith well, he’s a beast. Plain and simple. Y’all saw what he did to Ohio State in just one half.
8 - Houston Texans (Via MIA via DET - Sends Deshaun Watson, 2022 HOU 3rd for 1.08, 2.50, 2022 MIA first, 2023 MIA first, Tua Tagovailoa, salary fillers) - Kwity Paye, EDGE, Michigan - The Dolphins send away Tua + a ton of picks for a shiny new franchise QB, and the Texans begin their rebuild. First up is addressing the defensive line. JJ Watt is very likely gone, Whitney Mercilus is done, and Jonathan Greenard has disappointed. They need someone who can make a serious impact, now. Kwity Paye has been one of the most dominant players in college football, with an insane pressure rate, and is a supposed athletic freak who runs a sub 6.8 3 cone at 6’4’’, 272, with some claiming it being as low as 6.37. No matter what the time ends up being, it's utterly insane for someone of his size, and he could likely play the same role that Watt does for the Texans.
9 - Denver Broncos - Micah Parsons, LB, Penn State - The Broncos do really need CB, but there’s a pretty big hole in the middle of the defense next to Alexander Johnson. Josey Jewell isnt a 3 down LB, and it's really hard to pass up on Parsons here, an elite LB who can be the tonesetter of the Broncos defense from day one. Pairing up Parsons and Johnson should give Denver two monsters in the middle of the defense.
10 - Dallas Cowboys - Caleb Farley, CB, Virginia Tech - Now that Dan Quinn’s the new DC, meaning that they’ll be running a ton of Cover 3. And with how much Quinn loves his physical/athletic CBs who can play both man and zone, Caleb Farley is the natural pick here IMO. He’s sticky as glue, with fluid hips and a size profile that NFL teams dream of, perfect for pattern-match that should be used a lot in Dallas next season. His zone coverage does need a little work, but the Cowboys will likely be doing mostly spot-drop zone, which is pretty simple to pick up, and outside of injury concerns, Farley should be a huge help for the Dallas defense.
11 - New York Giants - Jaycee Horn, CB, South Carolina - The Giants love their press man coverage, but were forced to run zone a lot last year due to how bad their cornerbacks were outside of James Bradberry. Jaycee Horn fits their preferred scheme, and also shores up that huge hole at CB2 that they have. No CB in the class is as good as disrupting WRs at the LOS as Horn is, and he’ll be a great addition to what was a surprisingly good defense last year.
12 - San Francisco 49ers - Patrick Surtain, CB, Alabama - The 49ers have 0 CBs under contract next year. They need building blocks now, especially with Robert Saleh now gone. Patrick Surtain fits into their zone heavy system perfectly. He’s got elite ball skills, is consistently disruptive, and can stick to WRs like glue. He’d be the perfect guy to replace Richard Sherman if the 49ers cant bring him back, and should be able to slot in at CB1 or CB2 immediately.
13 - LA Chargers - Rashawn Slater, OL, Northwestern - Slater’s a guy who's been getting a ton of hype in recent times, with some even putting him above Sewell. How much of that is real and how much of it is smoke? Hard to say at this point, but I do know that he’ll be an upgrade no matter where he slots in for the Chargers. Protecting Herbert should be there #1 priority right now, especially for the terrible LA OL. Slater should be a fantastic player for the Chargers from day 1.
14 - Miami Dolphins (Via Minnesota Vikings - sends 1.18, 3.82 for 1.14) - Jaylen Waddle, WR, Alabama - Miami goes ALL in here. With Watson now on the roster, their window is now, and they treat it with urgency, giving up some more draft capital to grab the last of the 3 main stud WRs in the class. Jaylen Waddle fits what Miami needs right now, a speed demon joystick who would be what Will Fuller was for Watson in Houston, a connection that was lethal even with Fuller being injured constantly. Watson to Waddle should be one of the deadliest partnerships in the league, turning the Miami offense into a high powered scoring machine.
15 - New England Patriots - Mac Jones, QB, Alabama - Mac Jones is a guy who’s worked his way from fringe QB prospect all the way up to R1 guy. I'm not sure if the NFL likes him as much as most people in the draft community do, but he’s a smart QB who was instrumental in leading the Crimson Tide to a National Championship. I’d say he grades out pretty well at all the important areas of being a QB, like his arm, going through progressions, that kind of thing. This only big flaw IMO is his ability to extend plays, but the Patriots have the OL to shore up that weakness. The main question here is how will Mac Jones play without any solid WRs? The Patriots receiving corps is barren, so that will be something that must be addressed soon.
16 - Arizona Cardinals - Wyatt Davis, OG, Ohio State - The Cardinals offensive line seems to consistently lose at the LOS, something that was a huge part in them not making the playoffs. With that in mind and all of the top 3 CBs long gone, they grab the mauling OG out of Ohio State, an absolute mauler who can hit hard to create space in the run game. He’s a great fit for the Cardinals run game, and should give them some of the nasty they’ve been lacking.
17 - Las Vegas Raiders - Jeremiah Owusu-Koromoah, LB, Notre Dame - It's hard to say what the Raiders will go with, as Mayock has not been on the job that long, but this is a pick that I agree with Daniel Jeremiah on. The Raiders lack that dynamic linebacker who can move around and cover everything, and JOK should be able to line up all over. He’s perfect for an NFL that seems to value positionless players more, and especially for a Raiders defense that’s going to be stuck against Travis Kelce for the near future.
18 - Minnesota Vikings - Gregory Rousseau, DE/DT, Miami - When your sack leader is a guy you traded away half way through the season, there's a problem. That Vikings defense was inexcusably bad this year, even with the loss of Danielle Hunter, and basically cost their offense a shot at the playoffs. They need to add some juice to the pass rush ASAP. Gregory Rousseau would be perfect, a raw and crazy athletic player who can line up all over the defensive line to wreak havoc. Considering Minnesota turned one athletic freak into a stud, they should have confidence that they can make Rousseau great too, and he’d be a wonderful addition, especially considering the fact that the Vikings have moved around their edge rushers to exploit mismatches, most notably against the Saints.
19 - Washington Football Team - Christian Darrisaw, OT, Virginia Tech - There doesn't seem to be a solid answer at QB available here for Washington, so they look to bolster up their trenches in order to replace the departed Trent Williams. Darrisaw has the size and length to be a fantastic NFL tackle, along with an extremely strong anchor and some great agility for his size. His technique needs to be cleaned up a little, but he could easily lock down the LT spot for Washington in the future.
20 - Chicago Bears - Rashod Bateman, WR, Minnesota - Allen Robinson is gone, leaving a huge hole at WR1 for Chicago. Seeing as there’s not really a great way to fix Chicago’s QB situation, they instead look to try and make the most of their closing window. Rashod Bateman should come in and be the WR1 for Chicago, a great route runner with sure hands who can snag a ball and some more yards after the catch. Hopefully Trubisky builds a much better connection with him than he did with Arob.
21 - Detroit Lions (Via IND - sends Matthew Stafford for 1.22, salary filler) - Zaven Collins, LB, Tulsa - The Lions defense really needs help at LB. Jarrad Davis is probably starting again, but Tavai really shouldnt be. Zaven Collins can step in and be the best LB in the Lions from day 1, an absolute freak athlete who can cover, can stop the run, and even has a pass rushing upside. He’s the perfect chess piece for the new Lions defense to build around, and should be an immediate impact player from day 1.
22 - Tennessee Titans - Daviyon Nixon, DT, Iowa - The Titans need pass rush in every capacity, and that includes from the defensive line. Jeffery Simmons is a monster, but he doesn't get much help. He’d pair up great with Daviyon Nixon, a freak athlete out of the B1G who excels most when he gets to pin his ears back and just attack the QB. His ability to cause issues down the middle should help alleviate the Titans pass rush issues somewhat.
23 - New York Jets (Via SEA) - Kyle Pitts, TE/WR, Florida - The Jets just need to add weapons to their team at this point. Their WR corps has little promise outside of maybe Mims, and their TE corps is equally barren. Pitts addresses both of those issues at once. Able to play all over the lineup, Pitts can work as both a huge WR and a TE, able to consistently beat coverages and get catches against defenses. He’ll be a great weapon for Fields to utilize, a truly dynamic threat who could be one of the best receivers on the Jets from day 1.
24 - Pittsburgh Steelers - Liam Eichenburg, OT, Notre Dame - A lot of the Steeler’s tackle depth, most notably starting LT Alejandro Villenueva, will be lost to FA, and Pittsburgh needs to address that ASAP. Liam Eichenburg isnt the most athletic OT with a crazy high ceiling, but he’s a solid technician who should be able to start from day 1, perfect for a contending team like the steelers.
25 - Jacksonville Jaguars (via LAR) - Samuel Cosmi, OT, Texas - The Jaguars need to protect their investment, especially with Cam Robinson a question mark to be back due to his poor play. Protecting a young QB should be the #1 priority after landing one, and Cosmi is a tantalizing prospect to add. He’s got plenty of athleticism and a frame that’s waiting to be filled out, a solid pass blocker who can deal with speed rushers really well. He’s a high ceiling prospect who could become a great LT and lock down Tlaw’s blind side for the future.
26 - Cleveland Browns - Jaelen Phillips, EDGE, Miami - Sometimes it just feels like the Browns defensive line is just Myles Garrett. That can't stand. The Browns need to give Garrett some help in the pass rush, and that's why they pick Jaelen Phillips. There’s a lot of injury concerns here, but if Phillips can stay healthy, he’s an absolute MONSTER in the pass rush, having notched 8 sacks in just 5 games this year. If he can stay on the field, he and Garrett should give opposing offensive lines some serious headaches.
27 - Baltimore Ravens - Alijah Vera-Tucker, iOL, USC - The Ravens need to bolster their offensive line more. After the loss of Marshall Yanda, the Ravens offensive line has taken a notable step back, and Ronnie Stanley’s injury certainly didn't help there. AVT’s easily BPA at this point, an interior beast who is a stone wall with excellent hand usage. He should be able to make the Ravens offensive line even better, and boost their already lethal run game to higher levels.
28 - New Orleans Saints - Kyle Trask, QB, Florida - Im sorry, I don't think Taysom Hill is an NFL level QB. Especially not for a title contender. Drew Brees is retired, and I doubt Winston will be back. That means QB is the most glaring hole in NO. Kyle Trask might never be Patrick Mahomes, but he’s a good solid player who can make accurate passes, adjusts to pressure well, and is willing to extend plays. With the Saints filled with weapons and talent, Trask should be a good enough game manager to help the Saints be contenders for the rest of their window.
29 - Green Bay Packers - Levi Onwuzurike, DT, Washington - Kenny Clark and Keke Kingsley are building blocks along the defensive line, but the Packers could afford to add some depth. Onwuzurike has been mocked in the first by DJ, and he tends to have his ear to most NFL team’s pulse. Onwuzuriki’s calling card is his length and athleticism, which combined with his explosiveness and motor results in him just running over people at times. He does need to improve his power and add more consistently, but the addition of Onwuzurike could make the Packers defensive line a force as good as the Steelers DL.
30 - Buffalo Bills - Travis Etienne, RB, Clemson - The Bills just need playmakers especially in the run game, and Etienne is one of the best pure playmakers in the class. He’s an explosive threat who must be addressed at all times, or else he could break free and gash the defensive for serious yardage. His acceleration and contact balance make him a problem to tackle, and with supposed 4.3 speed, defenders won't be able to catch him once he gets into open space. He’s no slouch in the pass game either, putting up solid production at Clemson and flashing the ability to run a few option routes. The Bills already have their Jim Kelly and Andre Reed in Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs. Time to add the Thurman Thomas of the trio, and turn Buffalo into an offense that can toe to toe with the Chiefs.
31 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Jalen Mayfield, OT, Michigan - Donovan Smith is very likely gone this year, meaning that Tampa would have a hole at one of the tackle spots opposite of Wirfs. No matter if they move Wirfs to LT or keep him at RT, Mayfield would be a great get opposite of him. Mayfield’s a dependable run blocker who has good feet, and although he's not finished just yet, if Tampa can utilize his athletic gifts to the fullest, he’d be a great compliment to their current franchise OT.
32 - Kansas City Chiefs - Joe Tryon, EDGE, Washington - Joe Tryon’s another player who is apparently well regarded according to DJ. He’s shown flashes of being a great pass rusher, but he’s really still a WIP in most areas, especially as a run defender. However, he does fit the mold of what the Chiefs want in their pass rushers, standing at 6’5 262. Kansas City does need the help on the EDGE, and they can afford to take a gamble here, considering the Mahomes led offense should be able to easily cover up any defensive deficiencies for the next few years.

The Basic Weapons for Success: PvP

Hello all!
It's no secret that Destiny 2 has objectively never been more accessible to the average user, what with the game going Free to Play on all platforms and with crossplay coming later this year, it's safe to say we're more inundated with new guardians than ever. While the PvE scene is filled with helpful guides as always on what general guns are good to watch out for, what activities to grind in order to obtain your basic work horse weapons, the average kinderguardian will be walking into the Crucible playlist right now and have little to no clue what to utilise in order to keep up with today's weapon meta. To counteract this issue, this is a guide that will consist of how to obtain relevant guns for PvP success split up into 3 segments!

The 3 sections of this guide will consist of:

Tier 1: World/Playlist Drop Weapons
These are weapons that can drop through Strikes, Crucible or Gambit, and are available to all players regardless of whether they are solo or in a clan! If you aren't sure what you're looking for having just started out or if you've always written off PvP and just now want to get into it due to that slick looking Trials armor, this section will set you up with simple to obtain weapons that will treat you well.

Tier 2: Targeted Sources (Mid-Game)
These weapons' sources will come from specific matchmade activities (Altars of Sorrow, Iron Banner, etc.) While you will not run into these naturally and will have to go out of your way to do these activities, the weapons that drop from them will reward your investment. While these activities will be easier with a group, they still have solo paths to farming weapons.

Tier 3: Targeted Sources (End-Game)
In this tier, the weapons will either come from end-game PvE activities (Secret Missions, Raids) or end-game PvP activites (Trials of Osiris). Up until this section no weapons have required DLCs, however Tier 3 will assume you have access to all 3 DLCs and the ability to LFG for a group. If you are not used to end-game activities wherein you are forced to go out of your way to find a fireteam, being a solo player or new to the game, there are various ways to do so. Destiny 2 on PC has various LFG Discords and, though I am not an Xbox player myself, I've been told there is an in-game LFG system for those platforms.

A final note before we begin the guide: regardless of perk pools and stats, weapons are very personal! If you find a gun you feel works for you & you can slay out crucible matches with it then use it, regardless of whether it's the crustiest blue hand cannon you've ever seen. In addition, these tiers do not denote a gun's worth or effectiveness, only the ease through which you may obtain it: some Tier 1 guns may feel "better" than Tier 3 guns, it's all up to you.

Tier 1

Bottom Dollar: Void Hand Cannon, 120 RPM (Source: Gambit match completions)
Bottom Dollar is a potential drop from every Gambit match completion, win or loss. Its perk pool is gargantuan, with 12 potential perks in each main perk slot, however this works in the guns favour in that it has many potential usable rolls. Feeding Frenzy + Rampage, Quickdraw + Opening Shot, Rangefinder + Opening Shot, Outlaw + Multikill Clip or any combination of all these perks will provide you with a slow but reliable PvP Hand Cannon attainable relatively simply. Simply, however, does not mean easily, as the drop rate from the end-of-playlist-activity weapons is rather low & diluted with other world drop weapons at the moment.

Frozen Orbit: Void Sniper, 72 RPM (Source: Crucible match completions)
Frozen Orbit drops in the same way as Bottom Dollar, however instead may drop from any Crucible match completion. 72 RPM snipers usually have low handling, and so either Quickdraw or Snapshot Sights is considered essential by the majority of the community. If you land a Frozen Orbit with either of these perks it will do well as a high power-cap reliable PvP sniper, though as you will see, Aggressive Frame snipers can feel sluggish and heavy in comparison to some of the other snipers on this list.

Retrofuturist: Void Shotgun, 80 RPM (Source: World drops/Gunsmith Engrams)
Retrofuturist has the potential to drop through any legendary engram, and though it may appear bland, do not overlook this as a strong & reliable gateway into shotgunning. As a lightweight frame its handling is intrinsically higher, however Quickdraw is still an S-tier perk on any Retrofuturist. For your second perk column you can pair anything with Quickdraw, however for PvP either Snapshot Sights or Swashbuckler will most likely provide you with the best neutral-game benefits. For your barrel & magazine options, either Rifled Barrel or Full Choke are your best options for any shotgun, & Accurized Rounds for your magazine perk, though magazines do not massively affect shotgun consistency in PvP.

True Prophecy: Kinetic Hand Cannon, 120 RPM (Source: World drops/Gunsmith Engrams)
True Prophecy sports an impressive perk pool full of desirable traits, however is marred by its power cap. The gun sunsets at the end of this season, a phrase that will crop up multiple times, and means that its power will be capped at a certain amount for the rest of Destiny 2 unless it is reissued in a different form. While this does not affect regular playlist activities, anything power enabled will chew through sunset weapons, & it is heavily advised not to use them in any competitive scenario. If you do manage to land a True Prophecy you will be looking for any roll with Opening Shot or Rangefinder to pair with Rampage, Explsoive rounds or Timed Payload. Any roll will perform well, however these will provide the most consistent success.

Stars in Shadow: Solar Pulse Rifle, 340 RPM (Source: Crucible match completions)
Though it may not look like much, Stars in Shadow will eat alive anyone who underestimates it, and has carried me to the Lighthouse with its strengths. Another weapon with a deep perk pool Stars in Shadow has the potential for some incredible consistency, such as Firmly Planted + Headseeker, Killing Wind + Moving Target, Surplus + Demolitionist, and the incredible Outlaw + Kill Clip. If you see a Stars in Shadow drop, do not overlook it, as the time-to-kill of High-Impact Pulse Rifles is not at all to be overlooked, and Stars in Shadow will likely be the easiest attainable one for the foreseeable future.

Xenoclast IV: Arc Shotgun, 80 RPM (Source: Strike completions)
Xenoclast is an oddity in that despite it not rolling with Quickdraw it still presents a strong option in its diverse perk pool and Lightweight Frame for any aspiring shotgunners. Interesting perks include Slideshot/Slideways + Killing Wind, Surplus + Demolitionist or any Auto-Loading Holster roll. While Xenoclast will not stretch to the lengths that other PvP shotguns will, nor will it provide the best results, it is a solid Lightweight Frame shotgun that will get the job done while you search for something better.

Honorary Mention: Felwinter's Lie: Solar Shotgun, 55 RPM (Source: Monument to Lost Lights Exotic Archive)
No list of PvP weapons would be complete without mentioning Felwinter's Lie, however it may not hold its oppressive dominance over competitive Crucible for long enough to be considered an option worth recommending for numerous reasons. First of all, the shotgun sunsets at the end of the current season, and so you will get at most 3 more months of mileage out of it in Trials of Osiris & Iron Banner before the gun becomes unworthy of your energy slot. Second, its source of the Exotic Archive makes it a guaranteed drop, however for the hefty price of an Ascendant Shard it may not be the most accessible for a player first starting out. Its rolls of Quickdraw + Opening Shot cannot be beat, and the Shot Package perk providing it with a fixed spread mean that it is among the most consistent shotguns in the history of Destiny 2, but as far as competitive options go you would be better off not getting used to having this for too long.

Tier 2

The Palindrome: Void Hand Cannon, 140 RPM (Source, Nightfall: The Ordeal Completions *May require DLC depending on the week)
The Palindrome is a returning classic from Destiny 1, and while it may no longer be present in the Kinetic slot, it still packs some killer perk options. Outlaw + Rampage, Killing Wind + Rangefinder, Quickdraw + Rangefinder, even Overflow + Rampage if you want to get especially frisky. Its drop source is its biggest obstacle, in that it will only drop when it is the rotated weapon in Nightfall: The Ordeal, and depending on the week it may be a strike that requires DLC to own. If you own everything however, Palindrome will be a consistent and powerful option, its Adept version even moreso if you eventually brave a Grandmaster Ordeal.

Blasphemer: Kinetic Slug Shotgun, 65 RPM (Source: Altars of Sorrow Moon Event/Pit of Heresy Dungeon)
While there are technically two versions of the Blasphemer, one with exclusive perks dropping only from the Shadowkeep Dungeon and one with general perks, for the purposes of PvP you need only worry about one roll: Quickdraw + Opening Shot. This roll can be acquired through completion of the Altars of Sorrow public event in Sorrow's Harbour on the Moon when the boss that day is dropping the shotgun, or at any point if you find a group for the Dungeon, but either will award you with your new Slug Shotgun. While these are not as easy to utilise as pellet shotguns, their ranges can stretch farther and being in the Kinetic slot, there are many weapons you can pair with Blasphemer. As a bonus, as far as I am aware, Altars of Sorrow and their associated weapon drops are free to all players, and so even without access to Pit of Heresy you can still obtain this weapon regardless.

Bite of the Fox: Kinetic Sniper Rifle, 72 RPM (Source: Iron Banner match completions/Token turn-ins)
Bite of the Fox is the first Iron Banner weapon on the list and it presents a unique opportunity in a Kinetic PvP sniper. Snapshot + Opening Shot will be a roll to prioritise, however the gun's ability to roll Snapshot + Moving Target may appeal to the more mobile Sniper Rifle players. The only other current Kinetic Aggressive Frame Sniper is locked behind Beyond Light's Deep Stone Crypt raid, and while it certainly does make for a good PvP Sniper, Bite of the Fox is far more attainable for the average player.

Adored: Arc Sniper Rifle, 90 RPM (Source: Forging Your Own Path quest)
Adored, while not the most unique of options, may be the only sniper some players use until it is sunset. Not only is it based on the fan favourite Sniper Rifle Beloved, it plays like it; with Snapshot Sights and Killing Wind Adored is a consistent, if potentially grind-gated option. Though the quest isn't necessarily complicated, if you choose the Crucible path to gaining Adored you will want some sniping expertise beforehand, however your efforts will be rewarded with the perfect pairing to any kinetic weapon for those longer ranges.

The Steady Hand: Kinetic Hand Cannon, 120 RPM (Source: Iron Banner match completions/Token turn-ins)
The Steady Hand provides a reliable, if slightly less powerful alternative to True Prophecy upon its eventual sunset at the end of this season. While Steady Hand's perk selection is lacking in comparison to its competition, an Outlaw + Swashbuckler roll presents some brutality, or my personal pocket pick; Quickdraw + Wellspring. There are merits to Quickdraw + Snapshot Sights too, however Steady Hand's main niche is simply being a reliable 120 RPM Kinetic Hand Cannon. It has a niche, and it fulfills it to great effect.

Extraordinary Rendition: Kinetic Submachine Gun, 750 RPM (Source: Battlegrounds Playlist/Chosen-Focused Umbral Engrams *Requires Season Ownership)
Extraordinary Rendition appears as the first PvP-oriented Submachine Gun on the list, and for good reason. Until recently, console/controller viability for Submachine Guns was next to none due to barely controllable recoil, however with recent changes the archetype is usable for short-mid range gunfights for a powerful pocket tool. Extraordinary Rendition lives up to its name with some extraordinary rolls, such as Zen Moment + Tap the Trigger, Overflow + Multikill Clip/Rampage, and a strong newcomer perk, Frenzy. Though definitely not viable on every map, SMGs are not to be overlooked, and Extraordinary Rendition makes a strong case for itself.

The Guiding Sight: Kinetic Scout Rifle, 150 RPM (Source: Iron Banner match completions/Token turn-ins)
The Guiding Sight presents a unique opportunity for a relatively easily obtainable yet incredibly deadly Scout Rifle option, with the right roll. Due to sitting just outside of the meta for many years, a good portion of the playerbase has written off Scout Rifles completely, however due to way in which The Guiding Sight interacts with the perk Iron Gaze, its stickiness will not let you down. For clarification, Iron Gaze is a perk which massively increases weapon target acquisition (which translates to aim assist in non-Bungie lingo) for the cost of range, however due to its intrinsic extreme range as a Scout Rifle, Guiding Sight reaps all the benefits with barely any of the drawbacks, as Bungie have removed all of the extreme range maps which would have utilised the lost range. If in your grind for Iron Banner weapons a Guiding Sight drops into your lap, give it a try, as it may surprise you.

Waking Vigil: Arc Hand Cannon, 140 RPM (Source: Dreaming City Activities/Shattered Throne Dungeon)
A tried and true yet incredibly deadly option, Waking Vigil has returned in updated power cap form to us this season, and it remains a high-tier Hand Cannon option for those so inclined. While the perk pool separation from Dungeon to other activities is not entirely clear, the rolls you will be chasing will be any combination of Outlaw/Rapid Hit + Opening Shot/Kill Clip depending on your playstyle. Rapid Hit + Opening Shot will present far more consistency, where as Outlaw + Kill Clip will provide lethality. As one of the only Hand Cannons left with Outlaw + Kill Clip, Waking Vigil presents a strong argument for why to go after it, plus both this and the next weapon should both be available to all players due to being drops from the Dreaming City!

Retold Tale: Void Shotgun, 65 RPM (Source: Dreaming City Activities/Shattered Throne Dungeon)
Returning along with Waking Vigil, Retold Tale's drop sources and perks are similar in both their effectiveness and lethality. Even in its updated form, the Shotgun can roll with Full Choke/Rifled Barrel, Accurized Rounds, Quickdraw and any number of perks in the in the second column, however a good combo to watch for is Quickdraw + Killing Wind for the extra bump to range. As far as energy Shotgun options go, Retold Tale will most likely be the go-to option for any serious shotgunners in end-game PvP.

Honorary Mention: Sturm: Kinetic Hand Cannon, 120 RPM (Source: Monument to Lost Lights Exotic Archive)
Sturm goes under honorary mentions due to requiring the grinding for an Exotic Cipher in order to be purchased from the Exotic Kiosk, however the grind is well worth it (plus it's available to all players!) While Sturm is an exotic it earns its place in the arsenal of any aspiring guardian with its monster set of stats, which are improved even further by its exotic catalyst. It may not be as flashy as Ace of Spades or Thorn, however neither of those can reach past 40 metres in the ways that Sturm can. For a non-sunset 120 RPM Hand Cannon option, look no further.

Tier 3

Hawkmoon: Kinetic Hand Cannon, 140 RPM (Source: Let Loose Thy Talons quest/Harbinger Mission *Season of the Hunt Content - Requires Beyond Light: Deluxe Edition)
Hawkmoon shares its strengths in much the same places Sturm does, with a couple of extra bonuses. First, the base stats of the gun itself are incredibly high and make for a consistent option to pair with almost anything. These can be improved even further by grinding for randomly rolled Hawkmoons in the Harbinger mission, though this is best attempted with a group of 3 people. Second, the Paracausal Shot perk both forces its user to pace their shots in order to make the most of it, effectively creating the perfect training tool for headshots. A well-rolled Hawkmoon will never sunset, and that immediately puts it at the top of many peoples' lists, meaning if you own the requisite DLCs to do the mission or you bought last season and never made the most of it, go grab yourself a Hawkmoon.

The Supremacy: Kinetic Sniper Rifle, 140 RPM (Source: Last Wish Raid *Requires Destiny 2: Forsaken)
Supremacy is a tried-and-true sniper rifle choice for many people. Having been in the game for many years and receiving continually increased power caps all the way to 1410, combined with an incredibly small perk pool, it is likely for a Supremacy to be both a reliable & effective choice for the Kinetic slot. Snapshot is a given, and most second column perks will be good, though some interesting things can be done with Kill Clip or Rampage.

Premonition: Void Pulse Rifle, 340 RPM (Source: Pit of Heresy Dungeon *Requires Destiny 2: Shadowkeep)
Premonition, having recently returned to us with an updated power cap, presents a far-reaching High-Impact Pulse Rifle option with solid rolls. Feeding Frenzy + HeadseekeRampage, Moving Target + Headseeker, Zen Moment + Headseeker are all solid options, and being in the energy slot means the Kinetic slot is freed up for a special weapon or Exotic. An all-around consistent choice for a primary weapon, Premonition remains one of my personal favourites.

Heritage: Kinetic Slug Shotgun, 65 RPM (Source: Deep Stone Crypt Raid *Requires Destiny 2: Beyond Light)
On top of looking absolutely stunning, Heritage's consistency and feel make up for its somewhat difficult acquisition path. Though it cannot roll with Quickdraw, a Snapshot Sights/Reconstruction roll will ensure that in much the same situations you would be whipping out that Felwinter's, a Heritage will do so before the enemy even gets within spitting distance, and it will keep them that way due to the extra range Slug Shotguns provide.

Succession: Kinetic Sniper Rifle, 72 RPM (Source: Deep Stone Crypt Raid *Requires Destiny 2: Beyond Light)
Sluggish but powerful, Succession manages to both look good and offer a Kinetic 72 RPM Sniper option with unique perks. Snapshot Sights in the second column means that the first column has room for perks like Moving Target and Slideways, or even Killing Wind for the increase in target acquisition. Though it may be unwieldy, Succession will put down anyone you throw it at with ease, provided you hit your shots.

Trustee: Solar Scout Rifle, 260 RPM (Source: Deep Stone Crypt Raid *Requires Destiny 2: Beyond Light)
A surprisingly powerful option, Trustee makes up for a slower time-to-kiil by being both incredibly forgiving and consistent. Perk combinations are limitless, with Surplus + Wellspring, Reconstruction + Redirection, Reconstruction + Opening Shot, Zen Moment + Opening Shot, or even Zen Moment + High-Impact Reserves. As a faster firing Scout Rifle it has intrinsic Full Auto, letting you lay down on the trigger for as long as you want. Any time a bounty calls on Scout Rifle Kills in PvP, expect to see quite a few of these.

Sacred Provenance: Kinetic Pulse Rifle, 450 RPM (Source, Garden of Salvation Raid *Requires Destiny 2: Shadowkeep)
Aggressive Frame Pulse Rifles are notorious for hitting like a truck, and Sacred Provenance is no different. With a small perk pool and deadly perks combined with a great gunfeel, the only reason the gun isn't a no-brainer for Pulse Rifle users is its drop source. The greatest perk combination to look out for would be Rapid Hit + Kill Clip, though any combination would serve just fine when the time-to-kill is so relaxed. If you have one, make use of its extended range and give it a whirl!

Omniscient Eye: Solar Sniper Rifle, 140 RPM (Source, Garden of Salvation Raid *Requires Destiny 2: Shadowkeep)
Though nothing special, Omniscient Eye deserves a mention for its small perk pool & equally good feel. While energy 140 RPM snipers litter drop sources, Omniscient Eye brings a unique shooting experience different to most Veist Sniper Rifles that populate the 140 RPM archetype, and with snapshot it is impossible to go wrong. Where sniping is mainly based on feel for many people, Omniscient Eye may turn out to be your new slaying machine.

Igneous Hammer: Solar Hand Cannon, 120 RPM (Source: Trials of Osiris)
The first of two Trials of Osiris weapons on the list, Igneous Hammer represents the end-goal for many PvP players. A 120 RPM Hand Cannon with good range, a larger magazine and a superbly small perk pool populated by reliable combinations that complement the archetype means that Igneous Hammer is the obvious choice for a 120. Such combinations include Rapid Hit + Rampage, Outlaw + Rampage, Rapid Hit + One for All, or even Killing Wind + Moving Target. If you somehow manage to land yourself an Adept version enjoy the extra stats that come with masterworking, as this will be your first choice for an Aggressive Frame Hand Cannon for the next year to come in PvP.

The Messenger: Kinetic Pulse Rifle, 340 RPM (Source: Trials of Osiris)
A High-Impact Pulse Rifle in the Kinetic slot immediately put Messenger at the top of many aspiring eyes' lists, however the reasons for its desirability only increase when wandering to perks. While the second column contains various good options such as Kill Clip and Headseeker, the premiere perk is Desperado; a perk that increases rate of fire after reloading post-precision kill. While I could describe the perk myself, it's better to let this clip describe it to you. (Credit to TattooedFox) Outlaw + Desperado or Rapid Hit + Desperado is absolutely the way to go with Messenger, and if you decide to try your hand at Trials this weekend, you'll be delighted to find out that Saint-14's bounty is currently offering the Messenger as its reward, so go get one while you can!

Footnote: Where are all the heavy weapons?
Answer: Simple! Pick up whatever Machine Gun, Grenade Launcher or Rocket Launcher works for you and use it! Some people prefer specific heavies, such as The Wardcliff Coil or The Colony, however I find that the best heavy is absolutely the one that works best for you. Trying to force yourself to use something just because someone has said it's good would go against the whole point of this guide, and it's best for you to find one that gets you kills.

Closing Notes

Well, that was a lot of information! Feeling overwhelmed? Don't worry, the guide was designed with taking the tiers system into mind: once you feel you've got a handle of Tier 1's weapons, you can move up to attaining Tier 2's weapons, etc.
Though this was moreso designed with newer players in mind, this can apply to anyone, and even better if you get some use out of it. If the reception is positive I may design one for PvE, but for now enjoy reading!

Detailed guide for 3F & 9F priority list - dated Feb 2021

Thoughts/review on Cyberpunk 2077 after 400 hours gameplay.

Firstly, just wanted to say that the 400 hours is me restarting the game...four times over? I've also not been following this game, I knew it was coming out but I put at the back of my mind, never gave into the hype and only bought the game when a guy from work was talking about it.
Gameplay TL;DR:
Game is broken. By level 50, enemies either did 1 damage or buffed me to do more damage. Some of the guns are insanely fun but break the game. It's fun, but if you want a challenging experience wait till some good addons come out.
Story TL;DR
Main story is quite short, it's not effected by any side quests you just get different endings that you can choose, one ending feels more finalised but open to a sequel/DLC the others either just end (which is intented) or just end on a "To be continued."
Romance quests are very good but the romance is just do quest, sleep with them, end of romance, apart from one character.
Some of the side quests are VERY VERY good however and the overall theme of Cyberpunk is in my opinion, excellent, it's just let down by the main plot.
Bugs/Glitches TL;DR:
No crash to desktop, main problems were only for those strange people like myself who play non lethal but some of the endings are bugged, one of the end cut-scenes is bugged.
Overall TL;DR:
I think if you really really want to play this game, play it. I had a lot of fun and got my moneys worth, though I would be lying if I didn't say that I'm not dissapointed with the end product. If you're on the fence and you're reading this to see if it's worth £40-50 then I would say don't get the game, wait till next year when the modding scene has expanded more and all the DLC has come out, get it on a sale.
When the ending cutscene is bugged and after what...3-4 patches and the lead dev has said how proud he is of the PC version, I would say that it's best to hold off.

Gameplay:
I played purely on Very Hard and tried a no kill playthrough which...I couldn't do all the way due to certain sections of the game but for majority of the game I didn't kill anyone. What I liked about the game is that it didn't say "Oh well, you best get used to the taser weapon or the stun gun, because that's all you get!" like so many other FPS RPGs that offer that, I was using shotguns, sniperrifles, assault rifles, SMGs...anything, really. That's good!
My build:
https://nukesdragons.com/cyberpunk-2077/character?v=1&a=if4ig&s=iiifff44iigg&p=h42h83hd1hg2hh1u11u41ua3uh1b13b32b42b72b83b93bc1bd2be2bf2a01a41a62a81a91ab3ah1ai2aj1ak1al2w01w11w31w63w72wa3wb2wc2n01n21n43n73n82na1nc2nf1nh2s51sc1sk1c01c11c42c61c72c82c93ca2cb1cc1cf2r32e62eb2eh2ei1 If/When I replay, it will either be:
https://nukesdragons.com/cyberpunk-2077/character?v=1&a=a9kck&s=111999kkcckk&p=p02p11p21p32p42p51p61p72p81p91pj1pa1pb1pc2pd2pe2pf2pg2ph1pi1q01q12q23q41q51q63q71q81q93qa3qb3qd2qe1qf3qi1aa1ab3af3s31sa1sb1se2sf1si2sj1c01c11c32c51c61c82c93cb1cc1cf2cg2ch1ci1eh2
I did make my gear and I put all epic armour increasing mods into the slots, then with my weapons all epic crit chance or if they had 100% crit by default, Crit damage. I used Qiant Sandevistan which would slow down time and lowered the CD on it so I could use it every 19 seconds.
To put this into perspective of how this was at level 50, the most damage done to me was the end boss and it was about...20-30 damage, other than that, everything was 1 damage. With Katana and Cold Blood I had about 14-15k armour, with just the Katana it was about 6k and with any other gun it was 5k armour. I got this by upgrading everything to as far as the game would allow which when you hit 50 is just one extra upgrade. My health thanks to the consumable perk and health perk was about 850 to 1k with all consumables. My Cyberware made me immune to bleeding, my perk made me immune to poision, if I took shock damage my armour would increase by 10% and I would take no damage and fire would increase my damage by 10%.
So...I took 1 damage with a 800+ health pool, I could kill everything very easily dealing about 24k damage on some enemies and I could slow down time and kill everything before they could even react. This is on VERY HARD.
"Why complain about it being broken if you broke it?"
Because I was told that the secret ending was very difficult and I was also told, by the game, that in very hard, you have to use EVERYTHING to survive. The problem is the game devs...for some reason...lets you out level all the mobs in the game, at level 50 the only "yellow" enemies were two mechs on the secret ending and the end boss, all of which died super quick anyway because the damage is broken.
The other problems I had and the other reason I hit 50 was I was told "Do the sidequests, they effect the ending." and with the Cyberpsycho being all about keeping them alive, I thought "There's gotta be a moment where she comes in and helps me or someone out." But...nope, you don't get anything other than money. Nothing happened when I did all the police side quests, nothing happened when I did all the races, the only quests that did matter were two side quest chains, Panam and Johnny...maybe the boxing ones.
"But you get tons of cash!"
If you go down the hacker route, it's kinda pointless because you get all your hacks via crafting or random drops from terminals.
"Ah! But you went guns blazing, all guns, must've cost a ton to get all your armour up, weapons and ammo!"
Afraid not. Once you get the epic grenade blueprints you can make your set for a lot of your upgrades, you just buy cans of soda from vending machines and take them apart which doesn't cost that much anyway. The legendaries are a bit difficult, granted and that's why I said the boxing quest chain is actually very useful if you want to play a non hacker route.
Outside of upgrades once you get any weapon mod and the perk that grants a 20% chance to get an extra item when you make gear, you're set as they all use the materials you get from soda cans or random junk items.
General view
I suppose when it's all said and done, I can't say I didn't enjoy the gameplay. I played 400 hours of it. It is to easy and if I wanted to do a "All guns blazing" build again, maybe just stick to epic gear. If we get a new game plus or some difficulty mods that would be perfect, something like enemies using tech weapons more to shoot through walls, more smart weapons hitting you behind cover, more netrunners hacking you all the time and having them stun/blind you or something, just anything other than setting you on fire...a cyberware mod makes them buff you for crying out loud.
One of the main reasons I went the gunner route was because I saw so many great guns I thought, at the time, I couldn't use so...I will say that with my build, all the guns I had, it was a lot of fun, I really really enjoyed it...it's just far far to easy, I wanted something to say "Ok, you think you got this, let's put it to the test!"
Story:
I didn't really know all that much about Cyberpunk coming in, I love Bladerunner and Ghost in the shell, distopian stories where it has a message and hopefully a nice ending.
Cyberpunks story was good, there are some side quests that I will remember, I won't say which ones but I will say that if you like story, it's good to pick them up. There aren't that many of them, a lot of side quest will be just "Kill the dude. Steal the thing. Hack the thing." with a text being sent to you on why you should care, most of the time I didn't really care all that much but those that did offer something a bit more, did make me pause and think about it, even think about them as I walked away from the game on what was the "best" option.
The romances are...ok. There is certainly more effort in Panam than the others, who, do have their own quest lines and they're the best quest lines in the game but Panam, as a romance story line does seem more fleshed out. The others are sadly very much a "Do my quests, then do me, ok see you at the end of the game!" Panam fights alongside you, you both go on a big character journey together and the fact she joins you in one of the best endings says a lot. A bit dissapointing for me, as I liked Judy and one of her endings was very nice but when I saw what Panam got...argh, was frustrating.
The main plot itself is unfinished. If you can be bothered (like I was) do all the side quests, everything, then do the main plot. Not only will you find that during your time the main plot is very short only about...10-15 quests? Of which none of the side quests you can do effect them, at all, no dialogue options that I could see, none of them alter the story a bit...nothing. The endings aren't effected by sidequests either, you get extra endings, two if you do two side quests but that's it.
I won't spoil what the endings contain, but I will say, for the sake of saving your time if you're reading this before doing them, that the secret ending is pointless and lazy. It's basically one of the endings but they removed the NPC's from the ending and just spawn some mechs, then after that you get the same boss fight you would get regardless of the ending and then you get a rehashed ending of another ending and an epilogue from another ending. Basically they just took apart the endings and stuck them together to get the "Secret" ending, you get about...a few bits of dialogue from a character but...it's not that great honestly.
The biggest problem is this is a "The ending will be in the DLC!" kinda game, where, even the main character points out how pointless the whole thing was. I HATE these kind of endings, the only saving grace is that...I HOPE, this is going to be in the free DLC they're doing this year.
Glitches and Bugs:
At this point in time, I came across TONS of bugs. Nothing that crashed me to desktop par once (which is a deal breaker for me if it happens to many times) the only issue I did come across was playing non lethal, where, if you grab a enemy and drop them during stealth...for some reason, they are more prone to glitching and exploding in a bloody mess. If you stand and drop them, make sure the ground is as flat as it can be, you might, MIGHT be ok. The other thing to do is enemies would show the death animation (no breathing) BUT if you pick them up, drop them, turn around, sometimes the animation will change to show they're still alive. If you hit them whilst they're on the ground, even if it's a stungrenade touching them, yes, touching, not exploding, you throw a grenade at them and it bounces off of them, they die.
Cars would smash into concrete, textures would take ages to load, sound would be to loud from time to time, some dialogue had the tech distorted effect some didn't, Tech guns randomly not charging up to shoot...all of which I could ignore as they either didn't effect me to much, I could fix by saving the game and reloading or were just funny.
When the endings are bugged, that to me is very different and that's what made me go from "This is one of the best games I've played!" to "They just stop caring."
So during the "Bad" ending, dialogue wouldn't play I just saw text, I had to reload a save to make it work. On the "Good" ending, during a quest I was told to drive a vehicle and then park it in a tent, the only problem is I couldn't do it because an invisible wall was blocking it and I would just flip over, I couldn't get out to continue the quest or fail it, but luckily you can skip it. Then on the "Good" ending, on the very last cutscene I drove into the sunset...literally into the sunset as the Vehicle was driving on the skybox.
When you haven't even tested the ending, worse, you say "We're proud of our PC version!" it's such a slap in the face, yes, I'm sure these will be fixed...I hope, but I don't want games in the future to be like this, I want a finished game, certainly if you're asking £40 for it. The free DLC better be something decent and not "Paint your car!" but either way, the damage has been done and it's a real real shame. This game deserved to be polished, it has so much potential and there's so much to like here it's just sad to see it be this...messy and uncared for.
Overall:
400 hours of gameplay, do I regret it? ...No? I mean, I've come away disappointed because of how bad some of the flaws are, more so with the lead dev saying how proud he is of the PC version but...I would be lying if I didn't say that if they brought out new game plus, there was some mods that made the game a lot harder...I wouldn't go back.
I will play Male V romancing Panam as I have a very strong feeling that's the "intended" storyline and though my choices won't matter in the end, there would be some things I would do differently. I did enjoy my playthrough, I like Judy as a character I just wished I could do more, like...something as simple as hang out on her couch and watch TV with her would've been fine, doesn't have to be grand and epic, just simple character interactions...which you get through quests with Panam.
Could I recommend this game to others though? Not really...If the glitches and bugs was just the odd here and there, ok, fine, it's an open world game with amazing graphics, sure, you will get some problems..but when your endings are bugged? Nah, it's not acceptable.
Maybe some people can look past it, I would like to but I just feel...like a chump. Here's hoping it gets better, they did say they were working on it more and didn't find it acceptable but...not sure if that's just console, we'll see.

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My Warlock is in an abusive relationship with Tommy's Matchbook and yours can be too! With the following build we explore the wonders of new seasonal mods, the charged with light system, self-damage synergy, and masochism.

Hey Guardians!

Subclass:

Pulsewave:

Chaos Reach:

Ionic Trace:

Grenade and Rift:

Tommy’s Matchbook:

Verity’s Brow:

Geomags (Alternative Option):

Kinetic and Heavy weapons:

Mods:

Helmet:

Arms:

Chest:

Legs:

Class:

Playstyle:

TLDR:

Conclusion:

Bungie, the only sword that needed nerfing was Lament. The "other options" (Rockets, Linear Fusions, and MGs) need stronger buffs to justify their use in the heavy slot.

A Bow Guide - For all Levels

Accuracy and Stability

Lightweights

The String and Masterwork

Precision Frames

The String and Masterwork

Legendary Damage Numbers and Perks

Lightweight Frames

Precision Frames

Exotic Damage Numbers

Vorpal Weapon (Precision Frame) Damage Numbers

The Reticle and Draw Length

Builds

Get Down Mr President

But I am the shotgun...

Thomas the Siege Engine

Wrath of Cupid

Corrosive Sting

A Hunger For Wishes

Slay the Spire and its "family"

General info

Dream Quest clones

Slay the Spire clones

Other Games

Conclusion

The Great Single Class Thief Compendium: how to be a non-Fighter fighting Thief, why Alchemy is underrated, a list of items to abuse with UAI, and a (complete?) list of Time Trap/Stop and backstab immune enemies. Among other shennanigans!

2021 Mock Draft V6 - Deshaun Watson trade edition

The Basic Weapons for Success: PvP

Tier 1

Tier 2

Tier 3

Closing Notes

Detailed guide for 3F & 9F priority list - dated Feb 2021

Thoughts/review on Cyberpunk 2077 after 400 hours gameplay.

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