Hey TM here. I’ve been through a couple builds regarding Musket prior and a finalized one through the recent changes. The finalized changes utilized the fact that Grooving Muzzle and Running Shot go hand in hand.
At the current moment I have scout instead of Archer 2. It’s purely PvP utility so I’m lacking a free 100 crit rate from the attribute with Archer 2. With that said my stats are scattered as well with an investment into CON. However I’d be investing mostly into Dexterity as it’s a build focusing on crit and attack speed to continuously highlight Grooving Muzzle. A large portion of strength is provided by the 77 on the Musket, 30 from the Pasiutes set and 114 from the top and bottom with Fietas (currently my top and boots are providing 68 strength along with the bottom’s 57.) I understand that these are late game items at the current moment but thankfully to HG and Sissels it’s not too far out to replicate.
Right now I am using level 7 Red Gems to take advantage of Sniper’s Serenity. I’m short 2 atm so add another +620 to max patk. Although greens are highly attractive as this is a build that revolves around crit. A part of me is tempted to go that a route to see Grooving Muzzled procs more often.
But a full build would be:
Archer 2 > Quarrel Shooter 3 > Appraiser > Musketeer 3.
Swift Step, Running Shot, Muzzled Shot, Devaluation, Blindside and Snipers Serenity. Kneeling Shot is a lil’ sprinkle.
Swift Step, Kneeling Shot and Oblique Shot are the only things I’ve invested into when going Archer with Musket. Going Archer 2 is for the crit rate it provides.
Running Shot is pretty much the highlight of why this works. Weapon swaps with a Didel Grand Cross and Running Shot gem beefs it up quite a bit as well.
Appraiser is a “Goddess” send, my original Musketeer utilized Rogue 2 and it was extremely underwhelming alongside with the Werewolf cards. So I wouldn’t recommend it. When blindside’s debuff is applied I see crits 2 to 3 times more often. Devaluation helps for CM immensely. It is an extremely strong utility tool for all content.
I have invested 15 into Grooving Muzzle, the up-time is amazing. It’s the duo success to the intended Quarrel Shooter synergy and it’s been amazing for farming and shredding bosses in Sniper’s Serenity. Seeing 4 crits of the same number is amazing. With in Snipers up I’m seeing 30-50k quite often.
My sniper’s serenity is at 5 but the utility of it is the same at every level what’s effected is the cast time. It provides a 50% Critical Damage increase along with setting your minimum attack to the maximum. And it is the reason why I’m damage capping with Snipe quite often. For PvE you can get away with 1-3, usually setting it up before a CM boss. However I like being able to use it during mobbing. Another note: you can swap to your crossbow and shield to remove it.
Other notable skills:
Prime and Load, just needs one point and helps with your rotational burst between down times of Grooving Muzzle. During the downtime my rotation generally fixates on using Covering Fire > Penetration Shot > Snipe > Covering Fire > Prime and Load repeat. Rarely am I using Volley Fire unless clearing mobs, but they’re both all notable skills. Usually Grooving is back up due to the animations of those skills because the window is only 11 seconds.
Covering Fire and Volley Fire both assist with the lack luster AoE. I invested my remaining points into Covering Fire as it is my most frequent skill utilized after snipe. In no way this means it’s the most optimal DPS, but for my current build most other skills are purely utility. Volley Fire is an valid debate compared Covering Fire has gotten the job done more often.
Headshot is only 1 point. it sounds blasphemous I know but Covering Fire to me is better clean up as well as a provisional to help with the lack of AoE while I use this character for PvE mobbing. Now conceptional Headshot Bursts would most likely be extremely stronger for single target damage rotations. Until I can maximize or invest heavier amounts of attributes into my skills I won’t be swapping the points from Covering Fire into Headshot just yet.
Birdfall is just 1 as a PvP utility. Nothing much else to highlight out of it.
Penetration Shot is surprisingly amazing. If I could max it I would because the damage at one is extremely along with its attributes. Rapid Fire and Wild Shot are great. It’s another assistance to the lack luster AoE.
Then you have Snipe. 5k multiplier. 10 points. I am unaware if AoE ratio affects the Ricochet attribute but this skill is our Dragon Fall. It’s safe to say to max this in almost every Musketeer build. Maybe at some point you can get away with lvl 7 or lower depending if you’re still hitting the damage cap, but this is minor skepticism as I am not min/maxed yet or trying to find the most optimal way to distribute points for PvE.
I hope I didn’t go too overboard with explanations. I used Cafrisun all the way up to 350, and having a +11 masi versus a +315 blue was a huge jump in damage. With no trans most content was extremely doable however the huge jump was able to trans 5 and +15. I saw damage cap with snipe at trans 3. But investment is needed for any class, all I can say that my experience doing so was extremely worth it.
If you have any questions feel free to DM me! o/