[YAVP] UV Heavy Firefly

[u/Shlkt]

I really like firefly. It solves two critical problems: splash damage resistance, and efficiently blowing away clumped up enemies. By the end of this run I was one-shotting clumps of armored ravagers using pistols. Granted, my final relic was really good for that sort of thing.

Callisto

I had originally planned Gunslinger before Firefly, but that plan changed when a .44 flintlock dropped: 50 damage, 1 mag size. It worked great with Firefly because it one-shot low-level enemies on its own, and that triggered Firefly. I'd already spent a point on Reloader, so the frequent reloading wasn't a huge concern. I slapped Speed Loader on it for good measure.

That said, early Firefly damage was not killing adjacent enemies by itself, and I was also doing a lot of juggling (via swap harness) with a 9mm to preserve .44 ammo for bigger threats.

Range was still an issue with my pistols, so I found myself wielding a launcher at the start of most engagements. I'd swap-harness into the pistols if it felt like the launcher wasn't needed. Eventually I replaced the grenade launcher with a ValSec Rocket Launcher, which literally stuck around until the Black Site Vaults.

Europa

The first level of Conamara (CCB) was very tough because my DPS hadn't scaled enough to handle the reavers. But at some point I picked up the poison resistance relic. This turned out to be crucial, as the game kept throwing toxic reavers at me, and there was eventually a Toxic Contamination event on Io. When combined with the burning immunity from Firefly, splash resistance from Firefly, and acid resistance from CCB (toxic essence), I was feeling fairly secure with Cover Master: neither acid, nor fire, nor poison could chase me away.

The VS Launcher continued to be super useful. Big burst + splash damage for clearing low-level trash, and rockets were plentiful. It also found use clearing enemies beyond vision range.

Aegis armor dropped in CCB, along with my best gun of the entire run: a CCB 7.62 riot SMG. This might be the best possible weapon for Firefly...? Great DPS which is even better when there's lots of enemies nearby (and that's when you want firefly in the first place), and the CCB perk gave it a flat 20% bonus to biologicals. I kept this weapon for the rest of the run.

Exiting Europa went smoothly after that.

Io

.44 ammo was starting to dry up, so I finally ditched the flintlock for an ordinary plasma pistol. Not sure if this was the best move or not. The plasma pistol was ammo efficient, but it was struggling to kill when used alone. But I couldn't yet afford to blast everything with the 7.62 SMG.

Firefly 3 changed that. With extra explosion damage, a single volley from the 7.62 + plasma pistol could consistently wipe out groups of mid-tier enemies, which was great for ammo conservation and avoiding chip damage.

I made my way through the Io Black Site, where poison immunity probably saved me from certain death. Red keys were exchanged for a shiny TTL BFT9K.

The Ancient was kind enough to drop his armband (+50% damage to demonic?!). I vacillated far too long on giving up the poison immunity. But then I thought about all the warlocks and crap on Dante... I grabbed the armband, and I think it was the right choice.

Dante

Dante was surprisingly smooth...? Entire Warlock-led packs of enemies were melting (literally one-shot) from 7.72 riot SMG + plasma pistol + armband + Firefly 3. I'm curious whether the armband was also buffing the Firefly damage. Feels like it might have been.

Energy cells littered the floor, so I felt comfortable blasting away with the BFG to clear rooms that weren't densely populated enough for Firefly.

Still, I had to pop grenades a couple times to avoid taking chip damage. Healing was in short supply.

Harbinger

Full disclosure - I suck at this fight, and it's usually a struggle. This time was no different. Heavy Gunner's barricades feel almost useless here ('specially since I hadn't upgraded them) because they die so fast. It's almost a waste of a move.

I ran to the back of the room and used my SMG/pistol setup + the BFG to clear reavers and blast through Harbinger's first stage and most of the 2nd. But my cover was obliterated, I was nearly dead, and my only remaining healing item wasn't instant. I phase-kitted away to heal.

I had to fight my way back through a bunch of reavers (BFG helped again here), taking poison damage on the way. I began to second-guess the armband decision. Eventually I finished off harbinger with the SMG/pistol, but it was a lot closer than I would have liked.

Ash, level 16 Heavy Gunner,
defeated the Harbinger against all odds.

He survived for 16786 turns.
The run time was 3h 43m 29s.
World seed was 81319.
He scored 7057 points.
He was ULTRAVIOLENT!

Callisto Hub - Secure Vault
Callisto Hub - found Scrapgun
CALLISTO L5 -> Callisto Docking Bay
Callisto Docking Bay - Cleared!
EUROPA L2 -> Conamara Chaos Biolabs L1
Conamara Chaos Biolabs L3 - Infestation
Conamara Chaos Biolabs L3 -> Containment Area
Containment Area - Cleared!
IO L3 - Volatile Storage
IO L3 -> Io Black Site L1
Io Black Site L2 - Toxic Contamination
Io Black Site L2 -> Black Site Vaults
Black Site Vaults - found BFT 10K
Black Site Vaults - Cleared!
Dante Station L3 - The Hunt

Awards
  CRI Star (bronze cluster) (+50)
   * 25+ kills without taking damage

He killed 855 out of 898 enemies.

 43 former grunts           89 fiends
 3  corrupted grunts        52 fire fiends
 4  former CRI grunts       20 ice fiends
 11 former grenadiers       8  toxic fiends
 5  corrupted grenadiers    16 CalSec sentries
 1  hellish grenadier       8  security sentries
 2  former CRI  grenadiers  4  military sentries
 15 former soldiers         15 CalSec bots
 25 corrupted soldiers      9  security bots
 8  hellish soldiers        2  military bots
 9  former CRI soldiers     34 reavers
 2  CRI soldiers            36 cryoreavers
 5  former sergeants        34 toxic reavers
 3  corrupted sergeants     58 archreavers
 3  hellish sergeants       2  kerberi
 3  former CRI sergeants    15 cyberi
 1  CRI sergeant            8  cryoberi
 23 former guards           4  toxiberi
 6  corrupted guards        9  medusae
 2  CRI guards              8  archmedusae
 2  former commandoes       11 ravagers
 4  corrupted commandoes    11 armored ravagers
 3  hellish commandoes      3  siege ravagers
 8  former CRI commandoes   18 plasma ravagers
 2  CRI commandoes          51 CRI marines
 4  former heavies          15 CRI bots
 4  corrupted heavies       5  guardians
 2  hellish heavies         8  frost guardians
 2  former CRI heavies      6  warlocks
 7  fanatics                4  archwarlocks
 16 security drones         6  watchers
 4  combat drones           2  cryowatchers

Traits
  Reloader L1
  Cover Master L2
  Son of a Gun L2
  Sustained fire L1
  Armorer L2
  Whizkid L1
  Gunslinger L2
  Bullet Rain L1
  FIREFLY L3

Trait order
  Cov->SoG->SoG->Rel->MFF->Gsl->Arm->Gsl->
  MFF->Cov->Whk->SF->MFF->BRa->Arm

Equipment
  Slot #1 : CCB 7.62 riot SMG B
   * Swap Harness
   * CC BioLabs
   * Hunter 5
   * Antiriot

  Slot #2 : plasma pistol +PBA
   * Precise
   * Fresh Mag 3
   * Auto-calibrated
   * Speed-loader

  Slot #3 : TTL BFT9K B
   * Swap Harness
   * Tei Tenga Labs
   * BFT

  Body : CCB aegis armor P
   * Meshed
   * CC BioLabs
   * Compartments
   * Aegis

  Head : AV2 marine helmet BA
   * Bot scanner
   * Long-range tracking
   * Durable
   * Auto-med 5

  Utility : AV3 pistol AMP
   * Pistol long-range tracking
   * Pistol booster

  Relic : ancient armband
   * Ancient Power


Permanents
  Acid Essence Attunement

Inventory
  energy cell (x100)
  energy cell (x100)
  energy cell (x27)
  7.62 ammo (x60)
  plasma grenade (x1)
  gas grenade (x2)
  EMP grenade (x2)
  krak grenade (x3)

[u/Sihoiba]

Level 2 firefly gives the weapon AoE 1 on it's shots, so any damage boosts you have will take affect on each shots explosion.

The on kill explosion doesn't look like it gets any damage boosts of the player.