FATPrincess - XOXO wrote:There's a thread stickied above that gives you all the weapon ranges. Laser Rifle optimal range is about 80m. So you want to always try to fire at this range for max damage. Then you have continuous fire and heat build up, something the grand majority of people don't understand.
Currently the STD laser overheats at 40/100 ammo. Laser Rifle is crap atm, that's why you don't see them. It was good in Chromosome, some even say OP. The Viziam could overheat as low as 8-12/100 ammo. This is the reason it did such ridiculous damage along with its high base damage. Yes less heat build up increases damage, that's why you see the Viziam has same base damage as the STD and ELM. Continuous fire increases damage, if you stop at 20/100 ammo you'll do more damage than stopping at 40/100. People who say laser is fine have no Idea how the thing works. CCP nerfed it a lot with no real justification. But w/e.
Obviously carrying a Viziam is way too costly and I don't think its lower heat build up is significant. So for now sticking with a STD laser should be fine. What do you want is to get the Amarr Assault suit asap. This one reduces heat build up on laser weapons, which will increase damage on the Laser Rifle. To get max efficiency you want that skill up to proto level. Huge SP sink but it's the only way to get the laser to Chromosome levels. Right now I have it at ADV suit and the basic laser overheats at 30/100 ammo. Not too bad but it's not good. With max skill lvl 5 it should bring it down to 20-25/100 ammo. Not really sure.
Managing your heat and fire by intervals is not really an option. You will be overheating a lot. Your beam will be seen across the field by snipers. They become your biggest weakness. You have to move fast between cover as well for when the laser overheat. You'll be reloading a lot. This is why I prefer shield extenders over damage mods. With the Amarr Assault you can dual tank shields/armor so snipers won't be able to one shot you if you can get a nice fit. The sidearm should be SMG for those CQC situations. I'd get a proto one.
It's sad that the laser has to depend so much on SP to be even useful. The Amarr suit should be a bonus not a requirement. I miss my shield tanked Caldari/Laser combo. So many clones died by that beam.
Source: Chromosome Laser Rifle Veteran
-XOXO