NLB is garbage as a PVP gun (Destiny)

by Kahzgul, Sunday, February 15, 2015, 00:44 (3381 days ago) @ Xenos

So what you're saying is, that while NLB goes in the primary slot, your preference is to play with it as a secondary weapon, and to use a fusion rifle as your "primary" weapon?

Which means the weapon is garbage. I mean, you're now in a situation where you are using the exotic slot for a situational weapon rather than one you plan on using a lot.

Speaking of this issue, NLB holds a grand total of... 18 rounds? 6 in the mag and 12 in reserve? And you get 2-6 rounds from ammo pickups in PvE? So even though it goes in the primary slot, it's actually got less ammo in reserve than virtually any other sniper rifle, and you get fewer rounds for it on a per-pickup basis.

Okay, back to using it in the primary slot: You can use ANY primary in the primary slot and still favor a fusion rifle in crucible. So why would you choose NLB? If you're on a map where you know you're going to do a lot of sniping, you're going to use a real sniper rifle instead of a fusion rifle, and have a more close-quarters weapon as your primary. If you're on a map where you're going to be doing lots of close quarters combat and will use your fusion rifle most often, then you want your primary to be a backup plan - something you can draw quickly if your fusion rifle runs out of ammo, or a weapon for mid-long ranges if the situation arises. You could use MIDA, Thorn, The Last Word, SUROS... Or any number of very excellent legendaries like TDYK or Timur's Lash.

All of those weapons give the same opportunity to use a fusion rifle, without the handicap of having a terrible weapon in the primary slot. Sure, NLB has the "potential" for a one shot kill, but it also has the much more likely result of getting you killed.

In fact, the only situation I can think of where I'd choose to equip it is if I was doing so much sniping that I wanted a backup sniper rifle to my real sniper rifle, so that if I ran out of ammo on Praedith's Revenge, I could switch to NLB and keep sniping without having to go look for ammo. That's it. And you know what.... I'd still rather use MIDA in that case, or even The Stranger's Rifle.