Questions on The Dynabuff Hammer

[SakuraTenshi]

So, I'm usually engineer, and I am hardly the best, but one tool that appeals to me in theory is the Dynabuff hammer.

Makes engines faster, guns more powerful, adds extra protection to the hull armor, decent and drop speeds of the balloon, and cures baldness and cancer.

But in practice, it doesn't seem to do much. The guns don't seem to have that much of damage output increase, the engine thing is a downright detriment if you're buffing the turning engines, and in general the buffs it applies do not feel noticeable.

So I kind of want to know a few things:

1. Is the Dynabuff hammer ever really worth it when you could have a more niche yet stronger repair tool?

2. What's the numbers breakdown on the buffs it gives to each ship component?

3. Am I misunderstanding it's functions? I mean I know it can't do actual repairs but I wonder if I misread what kind of buffs its supposed to instill?

[Dutch Vanya]

1. Yes, i think it is worth it if you have enough repair power too. 2. I don't know numbers. 3. You are right about what these buffs do.

In my opinion buffing guns is worth it, you get a good damage increase that's easy to keep up on a gun when needed. Buffed balloon and engines are fantastic for any pilot that actually maneuvers in a clever way. However i personally do not think hull buffs are worth the time it takes, if the armor does go down it is gone, and i just don't think that little bit extra really helps. I'd rather have the maneuverability and firepower rather than a tiny bit of survivability that takes a long time to apply.

[Crafeksterty]

1. VERY worth it.

-Weapons that are buffed get 20% more damage. This negates or buff ammo type that have nerfed damage or buffed damage. Charged rounds do up to 50% more damage per shot. Greased rounds go from -20% to default damage. This is a very good difference.

-Hull buffs increase it by 30% ?.  For ships like the junker, or galleon. A bit for the pyra and mobula this is immense. Repairing while on fire pretty much is extra armor. Buffed armor is the Extra extra armor.

-Engines and baloon can be felt by the pilot. A buffed baloon or buffed side engines are noticable. Maybe not for the engineer but for the pilot it makes his day easier.
Try hydro with the mobula. Then try hydro with the mobula while it is buffed.


2. It is dependant on each ship or gun/ammo etc

-Some things are more worth to buff than others. That is the depth the buff hammer gives on individual ships.
On the goldfish, you will want the side engines and main gun buffed to make the main gun stronger + side engines for giving the main gun arc.
On a Spire you want baloon and side engines buffed for the sake of getting the guns on arc, and the baloon buffed for defencive purposes.
On a galleon a hull and engines make the ship much more effective.
Etc etc. It goes on and on.

3. Read the description?

The thing about choosing the buff hamer is to give a conflict of choice to sacrifice.
This gives a depth between players on who has what. So the other engineer may take a normal engineer kit
While you take buff set. The buff engineer is as good in repairing as a Gunner, but atleast the buff engineer has a tool to take away fires aaand make some components more effective.





The real question is. How well does the ship use the buff?
Wheenever i play engineer with buff, i buff whatever will naturaly make the ship better at.
So on a pyramideon, i tend to give the baloon and hull an important buff. So it can be tanky and easy to go up and down with.
On a mobula, the baloon is super. But usualy the weapon im using is the important buff.

Stuff that the normal player dont make too much use but still makes a difference than not buffing.
On a higher level of play, people use the effect of the buffs.
No srsly, try hydroing with a buffed baloon on a mobula.

[SakuraTenshi]

Thank you, I see this is simply a matter of a difference in experience, and like all things with this game, coordination between teammates becomes important. (So while a buff engineer might be good, it's also good to have a more standard geared engineer on hand in such cases)

[pandatopia]

Thank you, I see this is simply a matter of a difference in experience, and like all things with this game, coordination between teammates becomes important. (So while a buff engineer might be good, it's also good to have a more standard geared engineer on hand in such cases)

The buff tool is actually one of the driving forces behind the "gunners are really not very good except for select guns and only because you need to  change the range of engagement" arguments.

Basically an engie with a buff hammer is more effective, at BOTH repairing AND shooting, than a gunner, in a wide variety of situations.

It is very good.

Also to give you a breakdown and some tips on the buffkit:

1. Guns only buff for a short duration - 20 seconds. You'll want to prebuff them (buff until last tick) and only complete the buff when you're about to shoot.

2. Turning engines (main engine if you want too) are generally what captains will want buffed. Buffing turning engines is amazing - basically makes you have permanent phoenix claw. Also engines only take 4 hits to buff, making it extremely quick and effective. NOTE: If you buff one turning engine, make sure you buff the other! Just like having lopsided damaged engines, if only one is buffed it makes the ship veer off and very difficult to steer.

3. Balloon buff is also extremely important, and it gives your captain much better vertical mobility. Seeing a pattern here? Mobility is key to high level engagements - everything you can do to help your captain get your guns into arc and stay in arc is critical.

4. All "hull components" aka everything except guns, buff for a long duration, like 2 minutes I think. You'll want to both buff, AND prebuff engines and balloon. This way, during combat, if you see them about to fall off, just hit them once more to carry you through the battle. During downtime your job is to rebuff/prebuff everything once more.

5. Counterintuitively, hull buff is the least important. It generally will not make enough of a difference when you're being focused, and the hull buff takes an extremely high number of hits (like 15 or something).

[Ultimate Pheer]

Some would argue, in fact, that the Buff Hammer might be TOO good.

But that's a discussion for another time.

Buff hammer doesn't do much for you if you don't keep stuff buffed. You'll want to finish buffing things just as an engagement starts, ideally.

[HamsterIV]

The Buff kit can be very powerful in the right situation. However taking it detracts from being able to put out fires or keep components active. Being a buff engineer is like being a gunner, you make the ship more powerful in the areas that the standard engineers can't contribute to. However without the standard engineers keeping the ship alive it doesn't matter how powerful you make it.

As a rule of thumb join a new crew as a standard engineer and check with the captain if they need a specialist like a gunner or buff engineer. Don't be the guy that has to respond to "why is the balloon still on fire?" or "why isn't the hull armor back yet?" with "I brought a buffkit."

[obliviondoll]

the engine thing is a downright detriment if you're buffing the turning engines

Not sure how you came to this conclusion.

If you're only buffing one then running off, yeah. But that's called trolling. Buff both, one right after the other, keep them buffed and it's AMAZING.