I’m beginning to disagree
I’ve just made this build and have tested it in SR 75 - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/qNY0zv7Z
I’m still getting used to the new piloting style for sure, so I did make some mistakes, but weapon switching as a mechanic felt quite fluid. I was still getting used to which circumstances called for melee vs ranged ‘stance’ as well. The build has a lot more damage in ranged format, and a lot more tankiness in melee format, but is 100% functional in either, and it was designed so that there’s no component buffs to deal with when swapping weapons, so as to maximise fluidity.
As you can see, there were times when fighting certain enemies was hard - I kept trying to fight Kaisan in Melee, but it was no good - I ended up standing in AOE too long. But, switching to ranged there meant I could kite and kill him eventually. Kiting Gabal’Thunn was a breeze in ranged, and fighting Alkomos in Melee was much nicer than trying to kite him. A mix of ranged and melee for Zantarin worked nicely. Ranged against trash mobs was really fun until you got surrounded, so you’d switch to melee until the field had cleared up a bit. Once the pressure was off you could switch back to ranged for damage to finish them off, or to finish off any distant lingering mobs.
I think there is STRONG POTENTIAL for interesting, fun and functional builds using weapon switch, but I think it will take a bit of creativity to get the best out of them. The main questions to ask while trying to build for weapon-switch are:
In what circumstances would I want to switch weapon? What does switching weapon allow me to do?
: Boost a skill before casting it (+100% regen to Blood of Dreeg before casting it?)
: Allow you to use a skill that requires a weapon type (Devastation? Upheaval? Shattering Smash?)
: Complete a different set bonus momentarily (in my build above, ranged stance completes Darkblaze set, melee stances gets 3pc Sentinel of the Three set, so each stance provides different set bonuses)
: Tactical advantage - Ranged for kiting? If so, is there any reason to swap out from ranged? Can we come up with a reason to need to switch to melee ever? What about switching to a different ranged weapon, maybe to boost Grenado or something?
: Stacking dot damage from multiple procs off different weapons?
How do I want the build to flow?
: Do I want to have to leave combat every time I switch weapons? I could have a disengage combat rune assigned to my pistols stance right mouse, and Blitz assigned to my melee stance right mouse button. That way as I switch, I can move in or out of combat fluidly.
: Do I want to switch weapons mid-fight without leaving it momentarily? Do I need knockdowns/stuns/freezes to help? (That said - I didn’t have any trouble switching mid fight, without leaving combat. It felt very easy to switch to melee as I got surrounded to keep fighting).
How do I minimise piano playing with weapon switch? Useing left/right mouse accordingly.
: Are some of my skills best used in one stance but not the other? Can I assign them to left/right mouse button?
: Are some skills ones which I could technically use in either stance, but are strongly favoured by one (like if you had that 2he rifle to buff Grenado)? In that case, do you only want to use a skill in one of your stances? In that case, assign that skill to left/right mouse button in that stance, so it only becomes practically available to you when it’s best to do so.
: Are there component based skills on a weapon? They are only available when you switch to that weapon, so put them on Left/Right mouse.
This is a very different way of building characters, and I think will yield very different results because of it. For those experienced builders who are looking for a challenge to try, join me in exploring this concept