The Budget Striker

Thanks for looking at my build!

Introduction and How It Works

This build was made for a friend who was struggling with getting 6pc Striker so I created the following build to help him put out damage (incidentally also helping out the team significantly).  So, we're only running 2pc Striker (with the aid of NinjaBike) which might leave you wondering why I've called this build the Budget Striker.  Well, simple...

With the above build fully maxed; trust me when I say even when not maxed it scales downward incredibly well with a low gear score, you'll find that your pulse has a near 100% uptime and provides you a gargantuan 44% Critical Hit Chance and 53% Critical Hit Damage.  This is a tremendous damage spike that allows you to forego almost all Critical Hit Chance on gear opting for things like Skill/Haste/Skill Power and other attributes that boost your damage.  Keep in mind that everyone on your team gets this buff as well turning your 6pc Strikers into destructive juggernauts!

Trapper will provide a 28% accuracy, stability and resistance debuff to enemies in the radius, and the radius is rather large.  Trapper will put your damage at what I would consider to be around 60-65% of a 6pc Striker who is not receiving your buffs (in addition to, again, providing damage boosts and resistance reduction that your entire team can utilize).

Concept of Play

So how do we play this?  Simple!  It's important to remember that Trapper will get the 10% SP buff from Barret's and after use will not go on cooldown until it is fully expired.  This means we ALWAYS use trapper first on a group of enemies or in a likely position many enemies will be.  Pull out the showstopper and pew pew until your 30 stacks are built for your god pulse.  We then use Tactical Scanner (re: Pulse) which gives us our gigantic CHC/CHD buff & natural Pulse debuff on top of the 5% weapon damage boost from Barret's for having one skill on cooldown as previously stated trapper doesn't go on cooldown until it expires entirely.  When the mobs have been whittled down to 1-2, feel free to get aggressive and pull out the pistol for some good Coolheaded recharge on your Signature Skill.

The drawback is that we are squishy.  Very squishy.  Using trapper means we have no internal healing associated to us leaving us in need of Reclaimer support.  But what if there is no Reclaimer?  It's okay!  We swap Trapper for support station for big self heals.  And, as it should come to no surprise, the concept of play is the exact same!

Pros and Cons 

Huge group damage buffs on a near 100% uptime Pulse.   Significantly more powerful than 4pc Striker and significantly easier to build/create with a lot of flexibility. Very little stack management - performs strong from beginning to end. Nearly no issue with weapon talent selection and roll locations IRT free talents.  Virtually everything is good talent wise.

Squishy and entirely reliant on a strong support station.  You are not a sole damage build.  You are a damage support  that happens to have some strong LMB damage. Incredibly low mobility due to stability issues and being tethered to that support station.  No CC options due to being reliant on Pulse Station/Trapper to justify your slot in the group.

Courtesy of Reddit user /u/hollowpoppin (excerpted and not direct quotes): If you are not at the CHC chance (60%) when you Pulse, you can switch out some enemy armor damage attributes for critical hit chance attributes.  Critical Hit Chance on the Magazine in lieu of Critical Hit Damage/ROF is also legitimate.  Stability on the Backpack can be traded for both Skill Power & Heath if you don't feel the need for more given the LWM4's naturally manageable recoil.