Overview
Lore-wise, Toby is a tiny sapient penguin full of self esteem issues and rage. He’s also a genius mechanic with a penchant for high powered ordnance (a penchant that all Aviants seems to share). Gameplay-wise, Toby is a sniper that enjoys getting set up in a good spot and then blowing his enemies to pieces.
Purely from a numbers perspective, Toby seems like he’d be pretty overpowered: he’s got incredible damage, a lot of hp/shield (especially when you factor in his force field), and excellent mobility as well (he’s slow but his boosters more than make up for it). Of course, the numbers are tempered by a large model with a poorly (for him) placed crit spot and reliance upon his notoriously squishy (in PvP and multiplayer PvE) Force Field to be really effective, since he has to wait for it to recharge to place it again (which also takes time). Reliance on the Force Field also means that Toby ends up being directionally limited: you’re at a distinct disadvantage when an opponent comes from anywhere but in front of you (technically, if you move through the Force Field and turn around, you can fire behind you with problems, but that takes a lot of time and doesn’t give you a lot of opportunity to aim).
In PvE, you’ll be best served by figuring out where your enemies are going to be coming from, placing a force field in a location that will all you to fire through it to as many enemies as you can, and camping there. In this way, Toby is truly territorial: unlike Galilea and Marquis, Toby likes to set up in a specific location and continue to devastate his foes from his entrenched position until he is forced to move. His skills are mid-close range rather than long range, like his basic attack, so they’re best saved for when enemies gets close and threaten to dislodge you. Don’t be afraid to move if you’re in danger, however. Toby’s Force Field is surprisingly fragile and won’t hold up to a sustained attack for very long. Since he’s so reliant on his Force Field, if you’ll be able to replace it by the time you get to a new location (and it will actually survive in that location), book it to someplace new. When you can’t just sit in a single spot and kill stuff on a whim, Toby is much weaker, but still viable. You’ll rely a lot more on his Arc Mine and Core Discharge for damage.
In PvP, Toby plays much like he does in PvE except you can’t predict nearly as well and there aren’t nearly as many of the wide-open spaces that snipers love. You’ll have to play mid-range much more often and be a lot better at finding new sniping perches.
One of the more amusing things about playing Toby is that he has his own custom HUD that you will see in addition to the game’s normal HUD. Above the normal reticle, he has a compass; to the right is a bar that shows how charged his basic attack is; to the left is a clinometer that measure’s your pitch (e.g. the upward or downward angle that you’re facing); and, to the bottom, the number of booster charges (which allow you to increase or change your movement in mid-air) and how long until they’ll be recharged. Only the weapon charge and booster charges are really useful, but they’re all interesting inclusions that the devs adds.
The cutest thing, however, is the display that is part of Toby’s actual control panel, below the booster charge indicator. In it you will see a pixelated Toby that dances around and moves. It’s something of a health indicator since the tiny Toby’s movements and behavior will change depending upon his health. It’s basically useless since there are significantly easier and more effective ways to see the current state of your health, but it’s a really entertaining detail that the devs added.
Abilities
UPR H8-MS Custom Railgun:
Toby’s basic attack.
A charged weapon, similar to Thorn’s bow (assuming you’ve played her; there’s a lot of similarity between the two). When you click, it starts charging and, when you release it, it fires a blast. The longer you charge, the stronger the blast. You can see how much it is charged by the small bar to the left of the skill element of the normal HUD as well as by the bar to the right of his targeting reticle. Your alt-fire will zoom in.
Normally, the projectile speed is extremely slow, dramatically reducing your chance to hit targets at long range. If you fire through your Force Field, however, the projectile speed is increased *dramatically*, becoming almost instant. It’s because of the variable speed that you’re basically forced to fire through his Force Field if you want to be functional beyond mid-range.
When aiming, keep in mind that the projectile size is extremely large. While hit collision prefers to register crits rather than normal hits when a projectile hits a target in multiple locations at the same time, if it hits a non-crit location before a crit location, it will register as a normal hit. As such, if you want to score hits on enemies with parts of their model that can get in the way (like the shoulder spikes of Thrall Brutes), you’ll sometimes have to aim off target and try to clip the crit location with the side of the projectile rather than actually aiming straight for it. Also, the beam originates from Berg’s right limb rather than center; as such, if you’re doing some precision long range aiming, you’ll need to factor it in. Thankfully, when the blast is ready to fire, a red tracer line is displayed that will show the path of the blast (it shows the path of the center of the blast; the projectile is large, so it can still collide with something before it actually follows the full line).
Another interesting factor to note, attack speed increases the charge speed of Toby’s blasts. Still, like Thorn, increasing charge speed doesn’t really increase rate of fire by a significant degree and you’re better served making sure attacks land or score crits than you are by shooting a lot so attack speed isn’t really very valuable.
Boosters:
Toby’s passive.
Toby has 3 charges that he can consume by pressing the jump button while in mid-air (he can only consume 1 charge per jump). The charges take 8 seconds to recharge, but, whenever you consume a charge, any charge being recharged is consumed as well (e.g. if you have 1 charge and wait 4 seconds so that your second charge is halfway recharged, you’ll be left with 0 charges and have to wait 8 seconds before a charge recharges if you consume a charge).
Arc Mine:
Skill 1.
Toby fires the spiked ball from his left fist in a straight line (it’s immediately replaced so you can still punch things with his quick melee). When it reaches its max range or collides with someone or something, it will activate and begin pulsing. While pulsing, it can be attacked (and often will be attacked by enemies, which means that melee enemies like thrall minions and evolved will run up to it and start taking damage); if it survives for 8 seconds, it will detonate for additional damage.
Force Field:
Skill 2.
Toby places a small, slightly curved field a short distance in front of him. If your railgun blast passes through it, it will get accelerated. By default, it won’t get a damage increase, but you can get some pretty nifty improvements. The Force Field isn’t especially durable, especially at the end game (it’s a static 450 that can only be improved by a late game helix choice), so be careful when placing it. You can get some helix options to have your Force Field give you and your allies some benefits as well.
Core Discharge:
Ultimate.
Toby spends 2-3 seconds charging up (2 bars to the left and right of his normal targeting reticle appear) during which time he is incapable of attacking, sprinting, or using any skills. Once the charge is complete (when the HUD bars fill), Toby unleashes a mid-range beam (it’s shorter than you think it is; the beam cuts off abruptly) that follows Toby’s gaze and fires a pulse along the beam every quarter second that deals damage for a maximum of 6 seconds (the pulses *are* able to crit, so it can behoove you to aim for crit spots). You can press the activation button again to end it prematurely. While it’s incredibly high damage, the charge time and limited range makes it much less powerful than it might initially seem. Since it follows your sight and pulses so much, it’s effective at allowing you to finish off low health enemy players that begin running; however, because of the charge time and limited range, you need to get the drop on an enemy in a situation like this to really pull it off.
Special note concerning Toby’s Core Discharge lore, which requires you to get a double kill with Toby’s Ult. You only have to get the second kill with the ult, not both of them (also, what matters is that the ult is active when you get the second kill, not that the ult actually deals the killing blow; if your Arc Mine kills the target while you have Core Discharge going off, it’ll count). What’s more perturbing is that, if you get a Triple, Quad, or Penta Kill while the ult is active (but not the Double Kill), the lore challenge isn’t completed. As such, if you’re going for the lore challenge, activate the ult as soon as you get the first kill while a second target is nearby.
Helices
Level 1: Remote Detonation v. Me ‘n My Magnets
While RD is required for one of Toby’s lore challenges (None Shall Pass), that’s about all it’s good for: Arc Mines are more effective as a DoT patch than wasting them for a one off detonation. MnMM can and will dramatically improve your long range damage (since you should be firing through your Force Field). The only reason I could see for not taking MnMM after you get the lore challenge completed is if you’re in a match where you are incapable of finding a decent lane to fire down.
Level 2: Starting Line v. Best Offense
In PvP, the increased mobility from SL can be quite useful. In PvE, increased move speed doesn’t really do you much good. In both modes, the healing and increased attack speed can be quite the boon for any ranged character (especially for Toby, who should be behind it most of the time, benefiting from it) .
By a strange quirk of implementation, the “Health Regeneration” provided by Best Offense isn’t actually regeneration; it’s actually healing. Also, for some reason, it only provides the 14 hp/sec in PvP; it provides only ~9.5 hp/sec in PvE, for some reason.
Level 3: Targeting Overlay v. Still Alive! Sorry!
In PvE, enemies don’t have the bad manners to enter stealth so there’s no need to reveal them. Of course, if you don’t have Deande, Oscar Mike, Pendles, or Shane & Aurox on the other team, you’re not going to be seeing anyone with stealth either, so you’re better served with the higher max shield.
Level 4: Sorry I Broke Your Legs v. Arc Vortex v. Sorry I Broke Your Wrists
2 seconds of stun are incredibly valuable, even if it only applies on a direct hit with your Arc Mine. In PvP, it can serve up an opponent for an easy kill; in PvE, it helps deal with Brute shields (since they’ll drop down and be easy to crit/hit after you stun them) as well as large hard enemies like Enforcers, Bonecrushers, Disruptors, and the like. If you can’t manage to get direct hits, Sorry I Broke Your Legs is the better option since it simply requires that the target take damage from your Arc Mine. Because Arc Mine ticks so much and for so long and the slow duration is so long, you can end up keeping someone slow for a very long time.
I highly recommend against Arc Vortex. The description makes it seem like it would be good for PvP, drawing in enemies so that they’ll take damage from the mine, but it doesn’t actually work that way. In practice, the pull is extremely powerful, extremely long range, and is applied with every pulse. Since the mine doesn’t cause collision, enemies end up getting pulled through the mine, with extreme force, catapulted in the other direction completely. Rather than bringing a bunch of enemies together, Arc Vortex will scatter a few nearby enemies to the four winds.
Level 5: Boosted Boosters v. Upward Boost v. Panic Mode
This level is all about making your Boosters better. If you’re lacking vertical mobility, Upward Boost provides you with a double jump, which can get you to some useful sniping perches more easily. If you’re finding yourself lacking in mobility and often out of charges, Boosted Boosters is the way to go. Conversely, if you want some extra survivability, Panic Mode is useful: you can either constantly keep your charges expended and crank your survivability up heavily or use your charges as normal and use Panic Mode to help you survive when you’re caught without the ability to move like you want.
Of course, if you don’t use your charges often, none of these are really going to do you any good. In that case, if you’re not really someone that uses the boosters much, I recommend Upward Boost, if only because it makes the charges more versatile so that you’re more likely to use them.
Level 6: Beam Splitter v. Overcompensating v. Plasma Mine
Beam Splitter gives creates 2 additional blasts to the left and right of your primary blast that deal half damage when your beam passes through Force Field. With creative Force Field placement, you can use it to fire around corners and hit multiple enemies at once. When shooting into an area with high enemy density, Beam Splitter can help clear things out very well. Against large bodied enemies that get close to your Force Field, it can double your damage as the unfortunate enemy gets hit by both the parent blast and the child blasts. I don’t recommend Beam Splitter for PvP because enemies move too quickly to reliably hit targets with the child blasts and you don’t end up with dense enough fights to reliably hit multiple targets.
Overcompensating isn’t particularly valuable in PvE because you can general hit the target of your primary blast since NPCs don’t move a lot. In PvP, however, players move around a lot and it can help to have a large projectile in order to increase the likelihood of hitting someone.
Level 7: Riding the Rail v. Self-Destruct Sequence v. Heartpiercer
Self-Destruct Sequence is amusing but only good for the lore challenge. I would rather focus on not dying rather than taking out someone who just killed me (especially since it only hurts them if they killed me while in melee range).
Riding the Rail reduces the charge time for your blasts, but, seeing as Toby is a sniper, the primary limiter on his attack speed is the time it takes to line up shots rather than the time it takes to charge up a shot, so reduced charge time isn’t going to amount to much improvement.
Heartpiercer, on the other hand, allows you to shoot through opponents. In PvE, this means taking out multiple enemies at once, and, in PvP, it means that you can also ignore enemies that begin body blocking for their friends. Shooting through Montana to kill the Miko that’s hiding behind and healing him always warms the cockles of my heart.
Level 8: Room for Improvement v. Room for Mistakes
Room for Improvement gives your Force Field a pair of additional wings, expanding to the left and right. It ends up doubling the width of your Force Field, though the curve is more visible (and potentially more pronounced). Room for Mistakes just doubles the amount of damage that it can soak up. If you’re having problems lining up shots through your shield but it isn’t getting broken often enough to worry, RfI is the way to go. If you aren’t having any problems with Force Field or it keeps breaking, RfM is better.
Level 9: What’s Mine Is Yours v. Mines, Mines, Mines! v. Primed Catalyzers
In PvP, the primary value of the Mines is in the slow or stun you get from the helix chosen previously. The stun requires a direct hit and the radius referred to in WMIY applies to the pulse, not the direct hit, so CD is the only way to get more of the stun. Even if you’re going with the slow, enemies are going to get out of the mine’s radius quickly so it won’t do much.
In PvE, all of them are valuable and the question of “which is best” is determined by what you want to accomplish. WMIY will make it easier to hit multiple enemies and clear out dense patches of enemies; it won’t really help against hard targets or boss fights, but it will help against hordes. MMM gives you more chances to stun enemies (because Toby’s basic attack deals so much damage, the additional damage from firing it more often is a net loss for DPS), but small enemies die too quickly to bother with stunning and bosses are immune. PC makes it deal more damage, which reduces the DPS loss incurred when you fire it, such that, if you don’t need to stun more often than it already recharges, you mitigate the loss of kill speed (it also makes it better if you pre-fire the Arc Mine at a boss while the boss is immune to damage).
Level 10: Triple Charge v. Endangering Species
TC is a huge DPS loss. The *only* reason you could possibly want this is if you feel the need to fire it at long range, at which point I’m wondering why you don’t just use Toby’s basic attack since you can fire at the same speed while doing a lot more damage.
ES is only really good for making sure targets can’t escape your wrath, but the main advantage is that it doesn’t make your ult *worse* like TC does.
Gear Stats
Toby is an extremely durable sniper with a reasonable split between attack and skill damage. His close-to-mid range damage is primarily skill driven while his long range damage is entirely attack driven. He’s got good mobility and is the hardiest of the snipers in the game. I’ll go over all stats here, based on how I personally categorize them, and provide a priority list for each category.
Offensive
(Attack Damage>Critical Damage>Skill Damage>Cooldown=Attack Speed>Shield Penetration>Reload=Recoil):
A vast majority of Toby’s damage comes from his basic attack. If you want to make Toby deadlier, attack damage is your first priority.
Since he’s a highly accurate sniper and his ult can crit (and is very good at scoring crits), Critical Damage is extremely good. Just make sure you know where to aim to get those crits or else you’re wasting it.
Arc Mine deals good damage but the real money maker for Skill Damage is Core Discharge. If you stack up a lot of Skill Damage, you’re not liable to have terrific damage overall but your enemies will by lying on the floor when you use Core Discharge.
Cooldown means more Arc Mine and Core Discharge, but the values are comparatively low and it’s doubtful you’ll be using them on CD anyways (which is the only time CD improves your damage).
Attack Speed may improve Toby’s charge speed and general rate of fire, but, as I’ve said before, the primary limiter on his practical rate of fire is lining up targets. If anything, you’re not liable to see any actual improvements off of increased attack speed since you have to manually release the button to fire so you’re going to have plenteous losses to error.
Shield Pen gets the standard disclaimer: it’s only useful in PvP because most enemies in PvE don’t have shields (and no bosses have them; Rendain’s shield doesn’t care about shield pen).
Recoil is at the bottom because Toby doesn’t have recoil.
Defensive
(Max Health<Max Shield<Health Regen<Healing Received=Damage Reduction=Shield Recharge=Shield Regen<Heal Power=Cooldown<CC duration):
Max health is the best of Toby’s defensive stats because it has the most impact on his TTK. Max shield is a close second and has its advantages and disadvantages: while shield is up, you cannot be crit (though you can’t really stack enough shield to make it withstand more than a couple blows); max shield values are way lower than max health values so they don’t add to TTK as much and the fact that they regenerate is largely irrelevant if you took Best Offense like I recommend.
Even though Toby can get some healing from Best Offense, regen from gear is still useful because it’s a mere 14 hp/sec (9.5 in PvE). Gear is going to provide him with a much more tangible quantity.
Healing received is worse than true TTK improvements because it only works when he’s being healed. It affects his Best Offense healing, but, with that, you’re talking about getting only 1-2 hp/sec more. It’s basically worthless without a healer ally.
For Damage Reduction, Toby just doesn’t have the necessary hp+shield to really make it worth something. Sadly, it doesn’t affect his Force Fields, which might make it better.
Shield recharge and regen are useful to Toby mainly because he shouldn’t be staying in fights for long periods of time. He’s got his Force Field to hide behind, which will buy him at least 1-2 seconds, and cranking up his regen allows him to get back to full durability sooner.
Heal Power improves surviability by improving (ever so slightly) the healing from Best Offense. Cooldown reduces the time between Force Field placement.
CC duration is functionally worthless. CCs don’t last that long so the minute values of CC duration on gear basically mean nothing.
Mobility
(Move speed>Sprint speed>CC duration):
Move speed is useful in combat and out of combat and is increased by sprint speed. Sprint speed is only really useful outside of combat. CC duration reduces the duration of slows and stuns but is still absolutely terrible.
Economy
(Shards>Buildable):
Getting shards helps you buy gear as well as construct buildables. Buildable reduction makes them way cheaper, however. Something to consider is that I only find these stats remotely useful in PvP. PvE gives you shards like candy; unless you’ve got someone who bogarts all of the shards, every mission should provide a surplus of shards even if you have a triple legendary loadout (like I do for pretty much everyone). In PvP, however, these are absolutely amazing and can actually be the foundation of an effective strategy.
Legendaries
These are some specific legendaries to keep in mind for Toby.
Gloves (attack damage):
Pacifier (algorithm), Symbiotic Gauntlet (sentinel), Lorrian Godhand (rogue)
Attack damage is Toby’s best offensive stat. Both of these also contribute to your survivability with his best defensive stats. SG is better offensively since Toby can get some self healing from Best Offense and should be hiding behind Force Fields to protect himself anyways, but Pacifier gives a nice little attack damage debuff whenever he damages an enemy, which can be quite useful. Lorrian Godhand is an interesting option, since, as a sniper, he’s not liable to be surrounded by a bunch of enemies so the conditional effect will often be active (helping you move to a new sniper perch or gtfo when someone gets close to you).
Vow of Vengeance should probably be mentioned because it’s one of the most popular legendaries out there. Do not use it on Toby. The stacks only apply with his quick melee and the stacks fall off very quickly (a matter of seconds). VoV is for melee, which Toby is not.
Swords (attack speed):
Orbital Tracking Spike (llc)
Attack speed is kind of a junk stat *but*, if you’ve got the timing down perfectly, OTS is probably your best bet. Toby is a sniper that likes to hide behind his Force Field so you’ll be standing still a lot when making long range attacks. The additional shield is a very useful secondary stat.
Clocks (cooldown):
Double Hug (lore), 5-Ringer Discount (rogue)
Double Hug used to be absolutely amazing before Winter Update. The legendary effect was nerfed massively (75% CD redux after use instead of 100% redux) but it’s incredibly powerful for stunlocking with Arc Mine. 5-Ringer is similarly powerful if you’re cuddled up close with a bunch of other Rogues. The secondary stats on both are mediocre, but the leg effects are absolutely amazing.
Goggles (crit damage):
Vigilant Power Scouter (sentinel), Poor “M-Pulse” Controller (algorithm), Longarm Scope-Goat (rogue)
VPS gives you a lot of hp in addition to that crit damage and gives you a big bonus to your next attack’s damage when you do crit. If you chain crits, it’s a truly impressive increase to damage. PMC gives you move speed (nice but not stellar) and turns kills into explosions. It’s amusing but not as powerful as you might hope because the explosion isn’t particularly powerful, though it does apply to any kill you make. LSG provides a basically worthless secondary effect but, if you’re planning on fighting Rogues, this can be extremely valuable. Toby’s basic attack and *especially* Core Discharge are excellent for scoring crits and stuns are excellent both for interrupting *and* for guarnteeing kills against players.
Pauldrons (damage reduction):
Peril-Sensitive Pauldrons (rogue)
Neither the primary nor secondary stat is particularly good for Toby, but Toby also gets cooldown on it as well: if you’ve got other Demon Bear pieces in the party, you get 2 primary stats. While none of them are stats of primal importance for Toby, you get 2 primary and a secondary of middling usage for the price of a single slot, so it can be worth it.
Med kits (heal power):
Solar Sustainer (jennerit), Dr. Fist’s Medic Bag (upr)
I would normally discourage taking a med kit since it’s kind of a wasted slot: healing power does *something* but it does so little that it might as well not matter. *However*, both of these med kits come with very useful secondary stats and very useful legendary effects that can be easily triggered by standing behind your Force Field (which you should be doing). Since Force Field lasts until you place a new one or it’s destroyed, you can get a lot of mileage out of either of these (especially since you count as an ally if you heal yourself). Dr. Fist’s can be a nice way to cheese your way into a piece of gear with max hp and DR (of which there are only a couple; you’ll also end up giving some max hp to friends as well) and Solar Sustainer will just end up buffing you and your friends *even more* when you use Force Field.
Amulets (healing received):
Leechsteel Brooch (renegade)
If you build for skill damage (probably for PvP), Leechsteel will help a lot due to the life steal. I wouldn’t recommend it hugely, but it will definitely make a difference if you’re going for Core Discharge focus.
Injectors (health regen):
Oath of the Sustained (renegade)
OotS excellent utility legendary that also helps out your team. You get health regen, increased damage, and a portion of all damage dealt (which should be a lot) is given to your allies as life. Considering Toby’s impressive DPS, this can be quite a boon.
Armor (max hp):
Vigilance Link (sentinel), Vampiric Vestment (jennerit), Squad Goals BDU (mike ops)
Vigilance Link gives you 2 excellent survivability stats and makes your team more durable as well. Excellent for team players and more support minded people. Vampiric vestments will give you hp, more hp when you kill things, and more attack damage so that it’s easier to kill things. Normally, I wouldn’t recommend VV for PvP, but Toby is pretty durable, a damned good killer, and is designed to stay away from danger so it can be quite effective.
If you’re running ops, SG BDU is the best option for improving Toby’s TTK because it provides more hp while also providing DR as well.
Batteries (max shield):
One-4-All Shield Array (experiment), Modernista (saboteur), Voxis Core (jennerit), SKNK-WRK Decoherence Refractor (montana ops)
Modernista is a good anti-ranged shield with a decent secondary stat. A good way to discourage snipers in PvP since you can avoid the first crit and hurt them in the process. One-4-All Shield Array gives you more shield, your allies more shield, and can stack up some shield penetration if you want to push a shield pen build. If you’re going for a skill damage (Core Discharge) build, Voxis Core is amazing since it makes AoEs deal 15% more damage, in effect, and skill damage is a secondary stat. While DR isn’t a particularly impressive stat for Toby, SKNK provides the most DR possible on any single item (19.2%) if you’re running for 100 ops points, which definitely makes it a good choice if you’re looking to bolster your survivability and already have a powerful +hp item: 19.2% DR is a 23% increase in max hp, which means that it’ll provide more survivability than anything except for a double stat max item.
Stocks (recoil):
Mini-Singularity Launcher (saboteur), Stable Executioner (renegade), Starkweather’s Oscillator (llc)
Toby doesn’t suffer from recoil so the primary stat is worthless. However, the health regen on MSL is useful and being able to slow people (especially with your basic attack at long range) can ruin someone’s day (by making it easy to snipe them all over again). SE is only mentioned because of the legendary effect: the primary and secondary stats are worthless but, if you get the proc on a Force Field buffed crit shot with your basic attack, you can almost guarantee a kill. Sadly, it no longer buffs skills after the Winter Update (but it does have a much more poweful and reliable legendary effect for normal attacks). SO basically gives you 15% lifesteal for your shield. Considering Toby’s incredible damage potential, this can be extremely useful, though, because it doesn’t have particularly good stats on it, it’s not really a “must use” legendary.
Shield Generators (shield regen):
Hemsworth Sparkleshield (llc), The Long Goodbye (void’s edge)
Toby should stay well away from fights, so it’s easy to avoid taking damage and get the extra 9.1 attack damage after 10 seconds with the HS; reduced buildable cost is useful in PvP, too. While it’s not really optimal in any way, you can combine LG with Toby’s Self Destruct Sequence helix for some humorous results.
Pins (skill damage):
Shield Web Interdictor (algorithm), Lorrian Skill Spike (archive), Bola’s Target Finder (experiment)
In most cases, Bola’s Target Finder is the be-all end-all of skill damage gear. For Toby, it’s amazing but not the only thing you want to consider, especially in PvP. Bola’s gives a basically worthless secondary stat but increases damage the target takes after skill damage, which works great with Arc Mine stun and Core Discharge (which ticks like crazy rather than all at once). Shield Web Interdictor will keep Toby alive and help with shielded enemies even if he misses a few shots (he’s got terrible rate of fire, so he can’t really plink at an enemy’s shield over and over to keep it from recharging). LSS was buffed in the Winter Update (dramatically increased proc rate with slightly reduced proc value), but the multi-proc nature of his skills makes Bola’s much better.
Non-Legendary Gear
Since legendaries generally require extensive PvE to acquire (even the loot pack legendaries are easier to get via PvE due to the ease at acquiring commander packs via the ops), most PvP players won’t have ready access to many of them. Of course, because they require so many shards to activate, many PvPers don’t bother using them in the first place (they’d rather activate cheaper gear and use spare shards on buildables). It should also be mentioned than many newbies won’t have ready access to a full spread of gear either so this provides them some stuff to look out for.
Keep in mind that all of these items can be acquired from Core loot packs; each item also has a relevant faction listed; if you’re looking for a specific item, your best bet is to open faction or commander packs of that type so that the loot table is smaller.
This list will not be comprehensive. I’m only mentioning those items that I feel are most relevant/important. I’ll also be labeling them based upon faction, rarity, and if you want the version with a penalty if possible (items with penalties are cheaper to activate; in general, only use gear with a penalty that doesn’t affect your character since it’s basically a free cost reduction).
Gloves (attack damage):
First and foremost, the Eldrid gloves are all awesome because max hp is absolutely amazing and the conditional effect on the uncommon version is extremely easy to activate. Toby does have a shield so you don’t want to reduce it with the penalized versions.
The LLC epic glove is good because it provides some more shield. The other gloves aren’t worth it because of bad conditional requirements.
The Rogue rare glove is only if you are *extremely* good about getting crits with Toby. Do *not* use the penalty because the loss in TTK just isn’t worth it.
Wrenches (buildable cost):
Excellent for PvP building loadouts, this is the only free wrench that doesn’t penalize Toby at all. The higher rarity wrenches tend to not be worth it because you’re spending shards to save the same amount on later purchases.
Goggles (crit damage):
The exact same stuff here as with the gloves, with a different primary stat. Same rules apply, though these tend to be worse because, unless a majority of your attacks are crits (pretty much never happens in PvP), attack damage will provide more damage outright.
Injectors (health regen):
The only other way Toby has of recovering his hp is the pittance of healing he might get standing behind his Force Field from level 2 on (and the Force Field is notoriously squishy) so a regeneration item of some kind is virtually a necessity. The conditional on the Eldrid one is extremely easy to activate (just don’t die) and stays up for as long as you might need after it’s been activated. The LLC variant will give you regen when you’re in combat (when your shield is down), but it won’t really heal you as much outside of combat so which is better depends upon how often you figure you’ll die. The Jennerit epic version is excellent because it also provides you with a bit of attack damage (cramming in more regen is less important since Toby can get some healing via his Force Field); the uncommon version isn’t worth it because the kill proc is too unreliable imo.
Armor (max hp):
The LLC rare is one of the best max hp items in the game for PvP. As soon as your shield breaks, your max hp and current hp both increase by 210. As soon as you have a shield again, your max hp and current hp are both reduced by 210 (though no less than 1). It’s extremely good. The Eldrid variant is basically a bridge gap until you can get the LLC one.
Battery (max shield):
Excellent for cheap PvP loadouts, the common Jennerit battery is the only free battery that doesn’t penalize Toby at all. The epic battery is also good because it provides you with skill damage as well. The other batteries tend not to be worth it because of bad conditionals. The epic LLC battery might seem like a viable option, but, compared to the free Jennerit battery, you’re having to delay activation and then spend 1040 shards in order to gain 1.4 shards/sec; that’s time at the beginning without advantage and ~12 minutes after buying before you break even on the cost. The short duration of PvP matches means that you’re screwing yourself over that way.
Shard Gen (free shards):
Virtually required for most PvP loadouts, this is the only free shard gen doesn’t penalize Toby at all (the Rogue version with -heal power will affect him an extremely small amount via Best Offense, but why take “small effect” when you can have “no effect”). The higher rarity shard gens tend to not be worth it because you’re having to wait to activate it before starting to generate shards, effectively doubling the cost.
Pins (skill damage):
The exact same stuff here as with the gloves and goggles, with a different primary stat. Same rules apply.
Loadouts
General PvE:
Bola’s Target Finder, Symbiotic Gauntlet, Vigilant Power Scouter
SG and VPS give you a lot of hp and make your basic attack truly terrifying; VPS and Bola’s make Core Discharge devastating, and Bola’s will make your Arc Mine really good at prepping hard targets for death. You’ll be relying on distance, Force Field, and Best Offense to keep you topped off.
Pure Basic Attack PvE:
Oath of the Sustained, Symbiotic Gauntlet, Vigilant Power Scouter
Just like the previous loadout except you don’t really care about skill damage. OotS gives you additional attack damage and beefs up your health regen because Best Offense isn’t likely to cut it. You’ll heal your allies too, which can be pretty impressive when you’re piercing shots through numerous enemies.
Pure Skill Damage PvE:
Bola’s Target Finder, Voxis Core, Leechsteel Brooch (renegade)
Take all of the best skill damage legendaries and plop them on one character. You won’t be doing stellar with normal attacks, but Arc Mine is going to chew through mobs and Core Discharge will carve chunks out of bosses without any problem. Leechsteel will keep you topped off nicely, too. If you’re doing ops, go with Aria’s Encore instead of either Leechsteel Brooch or Voxis Core, depending upon how much you really want the lifesteal.
Mike Operations:
Erratic Shard Extractor (-reload), 2 of (Symbiotic Gauntlet, Vigilant Power Scouter, Bola’s Target Finder)
Free shard extractor allows you to afford the other 2 legendaries. While it’s generally not necessary, you could also consider SKNK or SG BDU you need more survivability, but it’s doubtful.
Legendary PvP:
Erratic Shard Extractor (-reload), 2 of (Double Hug, Symbiotic Gauntlet, Bola’s Target Finder)
Shard extractor so that you can afford the legendaries. Double Hug because double stuns are a great way to♥♥♥♥♥♥your opponents off. Symbiotic Gauntlet gives you damage as well as survivability. Bola’s is just amazingly powerful.
Basic Attack PvP:
Erratic Shard Extractor (-reload), Symbiotic Gauntlet, Vigilant Power Scouter
Normally aiming for crits isn’t wise in PvP because enemy player bounce around unreliably, but Toby has incredible range and can tag targets when they’re not expecting it. A huge amount of bonus hp keeps you durable but you’re still going to be hitting hard when you attack. The free shard extractor is there for the reason it always is: making sure you can afford the others.
Skill Attack PvP:
Erratic Shard Extractor (-reload), Bola’s Target Finder, Voxis Core
Shard extractor so that you can afford the legendaries. Bola’s and Voxis Core because they’re awesome.
Fast Leveling PvP:
Erratic Shard Extractor (-reload), Erratic Tempestian Cred-Stick (-reload), Double Hug
Build as much as possible to get easy xp and level up as quickly as possible. Make sure you stick around the fights as well so that you’re not sacrificing minion xp for build xp. Double Hug is there for when you hit level 5 (or 10, whatever your goal level is) and don’t need to build for xp any more. Symbiotic Gauntlet and Bola’s Target Finder are also excellent options if you don’t have or want to use Double Hug.
Cheap and Functional PvP:
Sportsman’s Haute-Couture Kevlar, Stout Ekkuni Wristguard, one of (Stout Golemic Sigil, Stout Glyph of Insight)
Since there aren’t any legendary items, you don’t really need a free shard gen (though you could replace either the pin/goggle option if you really wanted). If you don’t have the LLC rare armor, go with the Eldrid version; just make sure not to take the penalized version. The Eldrid uncommons can be replaced by the epic versions if you’re worried about dying, but it will increase the price a fair deal (it currently costs 2352; going from uncommon to epic would cost 336 each)
