So with the recent patches, and me being out of the loop on some levels, I wanted to try and get a reasonable handle on how weapon balances are working right now.

Auto rifles seem a little lackluster in the latest build. I'll still kill things with them, of course, but the time it takes to kill and the effective ranges and so on are just behind enough what they were to make a difference. Probably would focus on using shotguns or fusion rifles at this range, and have a longer range primary.

Handcannons are trying to be boxed into a medium-close range role. I'm not sure how well that fits, given the importance of every single shot, rate of fire and reload speed. Still the highest single shot damage thus far for a primary weapon.

Scout rifles are probably the most reliable all around option. They hit for roughly half a HC's shot, but they can fire faster, and at longer ranges. Kinda disappointed in some of the supposedly better models sometimes. In a heroic mission, either Vision of Confluence or Fang of Ir Yut failed to one-shot acolytes. Figure thats a bare minimum for any weapon type except the bullet spammers.

Havent given Pulse Rifles enough of a go to be sold one way or the other.

IMO, they're even more reliable than Scout Rifles right now (there was a recent ~10% buff to overall PR damage, around the time shotguns got their 100% buff for PvE).

I am slightly biased by Full Auto, though, since my two most used primaries are Bad Juju and Oversoul Edict.

Hm. My Warlock has Messenger, and I can nab the Allfate from the vanguard. Looked reliable.

Thinking I'll keep my hunter kitted for hand cannons. The stability/reload works too well with the weapon type. Pulse and scouts seem to only get so much faster, so theirs a little less return on investment. Dont kick like HCs can, either.

Titan will probably be moving away from autos, though, either way. Got a nice collection of scouts, pulse less so. Full auto package for the archetype just doesnt seem to handle very well, my experience.

Any idea if the rumors of a future HC nerf are legit or not? Because I'm not sure the archetype can take it and still remain competitive. Dialing back the range even further, or bringing the stopping power down a notch would be... saddening.

Any idea if the rumors of a future HC nerf are legit or not? Because I'm not sure the archetype can take it and still remain competitive. Dialing back the range even further, or bringing the stopping power down a notch would be... saddening.

Uh, as far as I'm aware there are no rumors of an all-encompassing hand cannon nerf.

As you've apparently been out of the loop, I'm going to take a guess that the rumor you actually heard was the one about a possible nerf to some specific exotic hand cannons. At present, Thorn and The Last Word tend to dominate in the crucible, and it's likely they'll be targeted individually. Bungie's dropped some hints in recent interviews that they're aware of these particular outliers, thought they haven't officially confirmed a targeted nerf yet (I think).

Fatebringer is the best all around gun right now. Shoots fast enough, good mag, hits hard, explodes, arc, fine range... if you have Fatebringer you will be fine in all of the PvE content.

If you can get a VoC and a Word of Crota to cover the other two elements, then you are all set.

Got a solar Dregs Promise. Havent really had a chance to go around with it, but the stats aren't bad for a PoE primary. Its main drawbacks is its just not Fatebringer.

Isn't Dreg's Promise the Exotic Sidearm? I thought that only came in Arc.

He probably meant the Six Dreg Pride, PoE hand cannon.

Hand-Loaded/Extended Mag and Army of One. On a Hand Cannon. Sounds interesting.

Void or Arc, no, I think WoC and Fatebringer (obv) beat it. However, a solar handcannon is damn good. I use my solar Jewel of Osirises not infrequently during the campaign mode, and they're not as good as Six Dreg Pride for that stuff. Sureshot IS, Army of One, and Extended Mag bring it to first class level, where I think all the other primaries are second class tier at best, and aegis is one of the worst guns I've ever used. Wolfslayer's Claw has promise, and if there were an auto rifle buff I think it would be one of the best guns in the game.

Of course, the best primary is whatever element you need in that moment (particularly for the burns), and even a gun I think isn't all that good, like Abyss Defiant, becomes a monster for those burns.

I've got a Solar version of the PoE scout rifle... It's good, but an Arc version would be incredible against the Fallen. It has the perk that stud fallen captains (they go blind like they just got hit by a Titan's flashbang). That plus arc damage would make it a beast during Fallen battles.