Zaeed's Legacy (AKA How to Make the Talon Amazing)(Build)

INTRO

So, people have been having some trouble with the Talon. He's gimmicky, he's horrible, he can't build strong without building squishy, etc. Well, you're all wrong. He's amazing, you just haven't been doing it right. Alright, you got the "Cain Mines are awesome" bit down, but you're missing a big piece. That's what I'm here for. The secret to this build is the wonkiness of his Omni-Bow combined with the awesomeness of the Kishock Harpoon Gun. I'm still not good at Cain Mine use, so I can't give you pro tips on that, but otherwise, the Talon Merc deserves, nay, demands your respect, and a second look. Here we go.

POWERS

• Cain Mine: Awesome, awesome power. Does insane damage and really lets you lock down and neutralize spawn points. One thing I've learned to do is make two sort of face each other so that they'll both be tripped at the same time, which can take out damn near anything. Spec full Damage and Armor Damage, because fuck subtlety.

• Concussive Arrows: Gives him great CC ability, and lets him debuff foes-- all around, a great ability. Spec Capacity/Chill/Capacity. This will stagger anything if you hit it with a charged Omni-Bow, with a total force of 2600N, and open it up with a 15% damage taken increase and 30% slow for 8 seconds, which is almost like a mini-Tac Scan. Use this on bosses, or use a spread shot to stagger a bunch of mooks at the same time. Awesome power, and it increases your Grenade Capacity-- well worth the point investment.

• AP Arrows: We're not using the Omni-Bow for damage, so don't take this.

• Elite Merc: If we're going to pay our respects to Zaeed, then we'll want Weapon Damage, which is what this build is focused around. 5 can go either way-- I take Power damage because I usually just go for bodyshots with the Kishock and it boosts Cain Mines, but if you feel like scoping in, more power to you.

• Omni-Bow: Despite how much we're going to be using the Omni-Bow here, just go full defense-- again, we're not using it for damage. Rather, we use the Omni Bow for utility-- see the Strategy section.

WEAPONS

Kishock all the way. Not even a choice on this one-- this build is built around using this bad boy for all it's worth. The synergy between this gun and this class is so insane that if it wasn't for the complete lack of anything like this build, I'd swear it's on purpose. Run damage and either scope, ammo capacity, or ULM-- your choice. Thank you to u/yumpsuit for reminding me that Explosive ammo is also fantastic on the Kishock, so if you've got shit tons of it in reserve, this is a great opportunity to use it.

A few good things to know about the weirdness awesomeness that is the Kishock (if I get any of this wrong, please correct me in the comments). It suffers no hipfire penalty, dealing full damage even when not zoomed in, unlike any other sniper rifle in the game, and has a uniquely low-magnification scope. This makes the best close-range sniper in the game. It can be charged to deal 1.75x its base damage, although because of the long charge time, when facing a large threat, it's more damaging to fire off shot after uncharged shot than to charge it up again for each shot. It is a projectile weapon, meaning that it has a travel time to hit its target but also suffers from no armor DR and is excellent at applying ammo effects, if you care about that. It also has a bleed effect, doing 60% of its damage upfront and the other 40% over the next 5 seconds. However, headshots, mods and consumable boosts only boost the upfront 60%. To offset this, it also has a Headshot modifier of 3x rather than 2.5x. Taking into account the bleed, it does 2.4x of its stated damage upfront on a headshot, and 2.6x after 5 seconds. It also ignores shield gates, meaning that it can easily one shot shielded health enemies without Phasic ammo. It's got a remarkably fast reload speed for a single-shot weapon, almost negating the need for reload cancelling. Lastly, it cannot pierce cover, but naturally pierces armor like that of Brutes, or Guardian shields. All of these things combine to make it one of the best guns in the game in my opinion-- a fully charged headshot is comparable to the Javelin in terms of damage, and ignores shield gate! It's crippled only by being very lag dependent, and this build can fix that. Read on for how.

GEAR

Operative Package will boost both Cain Mines and the Kishock, so I usually go with that. Consumables, do whatever you want. Power damage or Cycs are good choices.

STRATEGY

Now for the fun part. People always gripe about the Omni-Bow's terrible damage, and I'm not going to argue with them-- it's horrendously useless as a damage outputting tool. However, what they almost never talk about is its force component. On Gold, Vanilla-Bow can stagger Captain-level enemies, which means pretty much anything with Health that's not a Phantom, and with Concussive Arrows it can stagger anything-- Atlases, Banshees, it doesn't give a guddamn. This opens him up for great synergy with headshot builds, as it's literally a free, zero-CD stagger. So, take the Supressor or Black Widow if you want, but if you want to be amazing, take the Kishock. Here's why.

Another feature of the Omni-Bow is that when you hold it charged on an enemy, the reticule will track their movement until a second or two after you fire. The Kishock is a chargeable weapon. When you combine these two facts, you get something amazing. As long as you're not too far away and not on horrific lag, you can charge up the Kishock, lock onto an enemy with your Omni-Bow, and either fire the Omni-Bow, stagger them, and then let go of the Kishock for a double whammy, OR, even better, just let go of the trigger on the Kishock while still locked on for an almost guaranteed bodyshot on an enemy. The Kishock suffers no hipfire penalty either, meaning you don't even have to zoom in!

In summation, you can use the Omni-Bow and Kishock in one of two ways. You can use them like a Batarian Soldier, with a scattershotted Omni-Bow acting as a CD-free PsuedoBallistic Blades, staggering enemies and then mowing them down with one of the most powerful guns in the game. This is a good bet if you're on high lag, since staggering enemies will compensate for the travel time of the Kishock projectile. The other way to play is by using the tracking of the Omni-Bow to snipe on easy mode, focusing on one enemy, staggering, and then instantly letting a Kishock bolt fly while letting the game track for you. It's difficult to describe, but if you try it, you'll get what I'm trying to say.

Lastly, just note that this build is helped immensely by hosting. It's not critical, it just expands your effective range a bit. If you can't don't worry, you'll just need to play a bit closer to the action.

CONCLUSION

The Juggernaut is not my style, and the Warlord isn't either-- I like mobility too much. EDIbot is good, but I also feel kind of dirty playing her. The other two I haven't unlocked yet, but I really want to. So, of the classes of Reckoning I've unlocked so far, the Talon is probably my favorite, and I hope this build makes you appreciate him the way I do. Don't forget to lay down Cain Mines, and just lock and shoot. Simple, but incredibly effective.