Guild Wars 2

My build is based around Cond Dam, Tough, Vit. I keep reading that coated bullets are a must for a P/S build, but doesn’t coated bullets only compliment a Power based build?

I have no idea why people say coated bullets are a must. Its really not that good unless you are fighting AIs

It’s really good in my opinion. Especially if you’re focused on PvE.

Against bunched up mobs, you’ll get multiple explosions hitting multiple targets for tons of AoE damage. It also maximizes the effectiveness of your Poison Dart Volley.
(Those are the only two skills to really benefit anyway)

DreamOfACure.4382:

It’s really good in my opinion. Especially if you’re focused on PvE.

Against bunched up mobs, you’ll get multiple explosions hitting multiple targets for tons of AoE damage. It also maximizes the effectiveness of your Poison Dart Volley.
(Those are the only two skills to really benefit anyway)

unless its been changed recently, you can only hit each target once UNLESS

-Target is up against a wall
-Target is a really hard to get max-range sweetspot

Even then, its just the damage. You cannot bleed twice, even if you hit them with the bullet and the explosion.

Esrever.8613:

I have no idea why people say coated bullets are a must. Its really not that good unless you are fighting AIs

Mesmer Illusions, Ranger pet, necro pet, Other Engi turrets, Guardian spirit weapons.

There are a lot of things that you have to shoot through pretty often in PVP.

Coated bullets is a must.

i thought the same way, i went from a 30 points in precision trait (with coated bullets), to 10 in power and 10 in precion with a new build im trying. noticed no change in my damage output (maybe even a bit higher with the burning on crit proc in power traitline)

the only upside to coated bullets is what ahlen said, it allows you to always hit your target no matter what is inbetween you and them.

Ahlen.7591:

Esrever.8613:

I have no idea why people say coated bullets are a must. Its really not that good unless you are fighting AIs

Mesmer Illusions, Ranger pet, necro pet, Other Engi turrets, Guardian spirit weapons.

There are a lot of things that you have to shoot through pretty often in PVP.

Coated bullets is a must.

can just take a kit.

Esrever.8613:

Ahlen.7591:

Esrever.8613:

I have no idea why people say coated bullets are a must. Its really not that good unless you are fighting AIs

Mesmer Illusions, Ranger pet, necro pet, Other Engi turrets, Guardian spirit weapons.

There are a lot of things that you have to shoot through pretty often in PVP.

Coated bullets is a must.

can just take a kit.

Good players will avoid most kits fairly easily. Grenade kit and bomb kit are super easy to see coming/dodge unless they’re touching you at the time.

Ahlen.7591:

Esrever.8613:

Ahlen.7591:

Esrever.8613:

I have no idea why people say coated bullets are a must. Its really not that good unless you are fighting AIs

Mesmer Illusions, Ranger pet, necro pet, Other Engi turrets, Guardian spirit weapons.

There are a lot of things that you have to shoot through pretty often in PVP.

Coated bullets is a must.

can just take a kit.

Good players will avoid most kits fairly easily. Grenade kit and bomb kit are super easy to see coming/dodge unless they’re touching you at the time.

all it matters is to hit the pets/illusions/turrets. You can fight the person once all those are gone. Most people won’t be able to dodge bomb kit well and if you have swiftness, grenades are not really dodgable at close range.

Do coated bullets apply the bleed to every target the touch? I know the “explosion” part of the pistol doesn’t spread bleed. But if the bullets spread bleed as they pass through targets that’s a whole different story.

KirinDave.6451:

Do coated bullets apply the bleed to every target the touch? I know the “explosion” part of the pistol doesn’t spread bleed. But if the bullets spread bleed as they pass through targets that’s a whole different story.

Every target the bullet hits directly yes.

Also the sharpshooter bleed is aoe.

Casia.4281:

KirinDave.6451:

Do coated bullets apply the bleed to every target the touch? I know the “explosion” part of the pistol doesn’t spread bleed. But if the bullets spread bleed as they pass through targets that’s a whole different story.

Every target the bullet hits directly yes.

Also the sharpshooter bleed is aoe.

What about incendary powder, do you think the ICD is per bullet, or calculated on the crit.

If you shoot one bullet and it crits 10 targets, do all 10 get the burn, or only the original target.

powder can proc on any target hit by the aoe. but still has its cooldown. so will be only 1.
10 targets, each hit 2 times? 1 burn, on 1 target.

Conversely, sharpshooter.
10 hits, each hit 2 times? some might get none, some might get 2, some might get 1. You could in theory have all 10 get 2 bleeds. of course… mathematically very unlikely. ha

The problem I’m having is part of the general confusion I guess. The description only says “pistol shots pierce”, which I understand as going through targets in a line. The pistol itself is what does the explosion and the bleed, so am I missing something that makes this better?

I don’t have the trait yet, but a normal pistol shot will hit a target and explode. The explode will damage enemies around the target. With coated bullets, the bullet will go through targets and make an explosion each time it goes through a body. So if you have two targets in a straight line, the first target gets damage from the pistol shot and the explosion from the bullet hitting the second enemy. The second target takes damage from the explosion from the first target and then the bullet hits him after as well.

ShaunZ.1098:

The problem I’m having is part of the general confusion I guess. The description only says “pistol shots pierce”, which I understand as going through targets in a line. The pistol itself is what does the explosion and the bleed, so am I missing something that makes this better?

Ok. normally. lets say there is one target. fire it.
shot hits target and explodes aoe. target got hit once directly. 1 bleed, one .35 power hit.
2 targets, shot hits first target and explodes aoe 1 bleed, and one .35 power hit. second target within 150 aoe, gets hit by th e.35 aoe hit.

Now, you have piercing shot.

1 target. same as before under normal circumstance. shot hits target, explodes aoe. 1 bleed, and one .35 power hit.
although, the shot continues past the first target, and when it reaches max range, it will explode again. if the first target is within range, it will get hit by this explosion.
total 1 bleed, two .35 power hits.

2 targets in line.
shot hits first target, aoe explodes and keeps going. applies 1 bleed, one hit, and 2nd target is hit by the aoe hit. shot continues to the second target, hits and explodes. applying 1 bleed to it, one hit, and aoe hit to the first target. shot then reaches max range and explodes. hitting first and 2nd target again.
first target took 1 bleed, three .35 power direct hits. 2nd target also took 1 bleed, and three .35 power hits.

coated bullets thus can double or triple the direct damage you deal with pistol 1.
Its effect on PDV is much less effective due to the spread. No effect on static, blowtorch or glue.

I have tried to stack at ton of targets and see what the max is. I have not been able to confirm past 3 hits to one target. Per target I mean. the pierce seems unlimited. I’ve hit 6 golems lined up I am pretty sure at least. the aoe explosion as well. 5 I think. however, 5 targets stacked up. I think each target only gets hit 3 times. not 5. Again, not confirmed.

coated bullets is good for any pistol combo, i line up the enemies in orr when doing events just so i can shoot them in a straight line

Ricky Rouse.1583:

DreamOfACure.4382:

It’s really good in my opinion. Especially if you’re focused on PvE.

Against bunched up mobs, you’ll get multiple explosions hitting multiple targets for tons of AoE damage. It also maximizes the effectiveness of your Poison Dart Volley.
(Those are the only two skills to really benefit anyway)

unless its been changed recently, you can only hit each target once UNLESS

-Target is up against a wall
-Target is a really hard to get max-range sweetspot

Even then, its just the damage. You cannot bleed twice, even if you hit them with the bullet and the explosion.

So what? Explosion damage is good damage, especially if you crit.

I never paid much attention to the finer details like stacking bleeds between overlapping AoEs. That kinda thing is hard to test.

I just know I kill a lot faster, or at least feel like I do with Coated Bullets.

That’s good enough for PvE.

Coated bullets has made a massive difference to the amount of damage I put out in PvE (I don’t do PvP so can’t comment on that), I certainly wouldn’t leave home without it these days.

Coated bullets work great in PvE and WvWvW.

In PvE they double damage output (or better) when facing multiple enemies. (When facing a large boss that spawns minions, target the minions and shoot through them to hit the boss – great for clearing out the minions while still maintaining damage output against the boss.)

In WvWvW:
1- you can keep hitting a single target even when they run back into the zerg and every enemy in front and behind them up to the range limit takes damage as well (great for dropping characters who try run for cover in/behind the crowd when their health gets low).
2- when used in choke points they work like a never-ending AoE.