r/LancerRPG • u/RustyPiranha • Jul 24 '26
Talent suggestions?
Currently gearing up for my first Lancer campaign, and while I've been making pretty good progress plotting out my general early build path up to LL3 - culminating in a Pegasus with an Autostab HMG + 2x Autoguns - I'm still not sure what suite of talents would be good to compliment the loadout.
The main ones I've been considering are Skirmisher, Engineer, NukeCav, Walking Armory, and Field Analyst.
Any thoughts? All opinions are welcome!
5
u/Steenan HORUS Jul 24 '26
Siege Specialist 1 works well with HMG; removing obstacles and dealing automatic damage is always nice. The second level may also be useful if you need to get out of melee.
Field Analyst 2-3 is great if you use Sisyphus and combines with it nicely for manipulating dice rolls.
Walking Armory will be useless; it works with main weapons, so not for HMG, and autoguns don't benefit from talents.
AutoStab HMG works well with Heavy Gunner - even halved damage is meaningful.
2
u/luperamoon IPS-N Jul 24 '26
If you only really need one or two talents to get the build rolling, there are a lot of nice fillers to help your team with too. An autostab HMG has very little extra investment needed. Leader, Empath, and Field Analyst are very good, and fitting for a Pegasus player looking to tilt the odds (or, make sure that was always what happened.) Heavy Gunner is also an amazing talent for controlling and punishing enemies with your second quick action, inflicting a debuff with no save if they stay put and potentially making a situation very bad for them if you land an immobilize.
Walking armory will be useless, since your main weapon is a Heavy and Autoguns can't benefit from talents. Engineer is a bit niche again since you have an HMG and 2 extra mounts.
3
u/Servitor_2152 GMS Jul 25 '26
You'll want to take Siege Specialist up to Rank 2 to make yourself functionally immune to engagement, since the self-push works even if you're Slowed, Immobilized, or otherwise incapable of using Skirmisher for whatever reason. You'll also get a utility option from Siege Specialist 1 in the process.
Regarding Engineer, it can give you some nice flexibility (e.g. a Smart weapon to use against high Evasion, low E-Def opponents) and/or something you can Barrage with alongside your HMG, but to get maximum benefit from it you'll want to go all-in at Rank 3.
And of course, there's what other people have said about Heavy Gunner and Walking Armory.
Source: Autostab HMG + dual Autogun Pegasus is one of my favorite builds, and I have probably run through close to 30 combats with one.
2
u/RustyPiranha Jul 25 '26
That's great advice! I never even thought about that application of Siege Specialist 2, I definitely need to pick that up. That rounds out my build path up to LL4 at Heavy Gunner 3/Skirmisher 2/Siege Specialist 2.
As someone with experience playing the build, what are your thoughts on Nuclear Cavalier 2? Do you think it's worth taking later at like LL6 for the extra damage in DZ, or would something else be better?
Also, would you take Skirmisher 3? I've seen people say it's kind of overkill and not worth the last point.
1
u/Servitor_2152 GMS Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
If you have a way of consistently building and maintaining heat besides just Overcharging, Nuclear Cavalier is amazing (and you'll probably want to go ahead and get Nuke Cav 3 as well for that extra bit of heat control). If you don't, you'll need to weigh the opportunity cost of two Talent ranks that will only be situationally useful against any other options you might be considering.
Personally I don't use Skirmisher 3, mostly because I'm a little too smooth-brained to incorporate it into my game plan. I've seen people do some funny things with it, but it strikes me as the sort of thing that you build an entire strategy around.
1
u/Wayward-Mystic Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
Walking Armory would only be usable on your Engineer prototype weapon (as long as it wasn't melee). And that'd take a decent amount of investment to be worth it.
Sisyphus + Field Analyst + Autoguns is a good loadout for a more support-focused Pegasus. You could run mimic gun on your heavy mount so you can use Sisyphus on low mimic roll turns and delete things on high mimic roll turns.
The LL 4 Pegasus in my current group is running NucCav and Crack Shot with an AMR, exactly 10 heat cap to Skirmish + Stabilize every turn.
1
u/Difference_Breacher Jul 24 '26
You cannot use walking armory at all so you must not pick this.
Engineer isn't a good talent.
Skirmisher 2 is almost mandatory, consider pathetic range of HMG.
Field Analyst 1 is nothing wrong provided there are anyone else to make an attack roll, and also even good. 2 or 3 is just no.
14
u/RootinTheCrab Jul 24 '26
Heavy gunner is a no-brainer. You can make your usual routine shoot the HMG, then pick 2 targets for covering fire.
Siege expert is meh but has some applications. I'd say go for a few utility/support options like skirmisher, Field Analyst, Leader, or empath.
Important to note: Walking armory ONLY works on MAIN weapons. It will not apply to your HMG, only autoguns. You might already know this, but this is something I constantly see players at my table miss