Overview
Reyna is the Team Mom of the Rogues, which makes her awesome, at least in my mind. She’s defined as a “Rescuer” and “Shielder”, which is so much less than what she’s actually capable of.
First off, those two descriptors ignore her remarkable damage capability: her basic and alt-fire attacks are both capable of good damage and are extremely accurate (her basic attack benefits from a bit of recoil reduction to maintain the incredible accuracy at long ranges since, if you chain fire, it can go to crap pretty quickly otherwise). It also completely ignores her Priority Target skill, which is designed to single out a specific target for your group to kill, which doesn’t fit in with either of her descriptors.
As to her actual support functionality, Shield Booster is capable of providing so much more than shields and, with the right helices, is more about maintaining a constant effect than simply rescuing people. When you’re playing Reyna, don’t wait until someone needs help to provide them with an overshield: keep it up on someone at all times (especially since, with all damage, hp not lost in the first place is better than hp recovered).
Of course, the problem with Reyna is that she’s only really capable of providing defensive support to a single ally at a time. Even with her ult, it’s small enough that you’re not liable to see your entire team crowd inside. Because of this, I actually recommend picking a single player and shadowing them for as much time as possible (much like when playing a healer Miko), continually shielding them and providing supportive fire from behind, rather than keeping your shield in reserve and trying to only give it to someone that needs it right at that moment.
Another interesting thing to note is that, because Reyna’s non-overshield mechanisms are optional (e.g. you get them through helices), Reyna works extremely well as a second support on a team because she can choose helices to prevent overlapping functionality with another support character.
If you *are* playing Reyna as the only support on a large team, you’re going to need to master target swapping between your allies because that’s the only way you’re going to manage it.
Abilities
Laser Pistol:
Reyna’s basic attack.
Extremely accurate with some pretty gnarly recoil, good but not amazing damage, and a mid-size (12 round) clip with good rate of fire, Reyna’s laser pistol isn’t bad but it also isn’t absolutely amazing. If you really want to deal a lot of damage with Reyna, you need to be aiming for crits, since it’s a small, extremely fast projectile that is also extremely accurate: unload a full clip in a target’s crit spot and that target will either already be dead or else well on their way.
Interesting lore note, as soon as you play Reyna, you’ll note that she shoots her laser pistol “gangsta-style” (i.e. sideways, which anyone with any kinds of firearms expertise will tell you is the *wrong* way). While I don’t doubt that this was an aesthetic choice by the developers, they at least provide a lore driven explanation for why Reyna does this: her “The Best Defense” lore explains that her weapon has been heavily modded with redundant internal mechanisms removed, increasing rate of fire but making reloads problematic if not fired on its side (Reyna doesn’t manage to “greatly reduce accuracy” when she fires like this because she’s awesome). I mention this only because I really appreciate a good lampshade hanging.
Plasma Pulse:
Reyna’s alt-fire.
It’s lower DPS than Laser Pistol (it deals 25% higher damage per shot but it can fire 7 shots in the time it takes for Laser Pistol to fire 12 and reload; since you can fire the Laser Pistol while Plasma Pulse dissipates heat, the “reload” time of Plasma Pulse doesn’t hurt your DPS; this gives Plasma Pulse an effective DPS of 73% when you’re firing it) though it gains a 50% bonus damage v. shields, which gives it slighty better DPS against shields (9.375% better). It has fewer “shots” per reload, but, because it uses a heat mechanism like Montana, simply not using the alt-fire for a second or two (even if you fire the Laser Pistol) will recharge it fully. It doesn’t have recoil, unlike the Laser Pistol, but has a much slower projectile. Rather than attempting to supplant or provide an alternate tactic to her basic attack, Reyna’s Plasma Pulse and Laser Pistol are intended to be used in sync: alternate between using them (e.g. fire a full spread of Plasma Pulse then Laser Pistol when your Plasma Pulse overheats then swap back and do a full spread of Plasma Pulse before you need to both reloading your Laser Pistol; reload the Laser Pistol and repeat from the beginning especially if you need a long period of sustained fire to take targets out) or, at the very least, use your Plasma Pulse to eliminate a target’s shields and then follow up with Laser Pistol, trying to get crits (Plasma Pulse can crit, but the projectile is big and slow so it won’t crit nearly as often), to finish them off.
Shield Booster:
Skill 1.
Reyna shoots an ally and provides them with an overshield that scales with her level. While they’ve got this overshield, Reyna can shoot them with her Plasma Pulse in order to recharge their normal shield (there is a slight animation delay as Reyna charges up her command gauntlet, but it was sped up in the Winter Update so it’s not as noticeable). I tend to avoid doing this, mainly because character shields will recharge on their own, but also because it doesn’t provide that much additional shield per shot fired (and shields are pretty limited anyways) and I would rather kill whoever is trying to kill my ally (since a dead enemy can’t attack your ally any more) rather than trying to refill my ally’s shield while someone is trying to kill them.
In addition, Reyna gets a copy of this shield whenever she gives it to an ally. Because of this, you *always* want to have at least 1 character near you because, even if *they* don’t need the overshield, you could very well need/want/use it.
If you are running a solo game, this skill automatically provides Reyna with the overshield when used. If you are running with other players, the skill is only placed on CD when it hits an ally. Of course, if you’re trying to give yourself the shield, this can be exasperating if you’ve got friends running and jumping around, being hard to hit when you’re trying to stay alive with a quick self-shield.
Priority Target:
Skill 2.
This is basically a special Plasma Pulse attack (similar damage as Plasma Pulse and has the bonus damage against shields, though it can’t crit) that applies a debuff to a target hit that increases their damage taken for a few seconds. It’s great against bosses and, if you have a party that can actually coordinate in PvP, it’s a great way to set up a kill (especially if an ally gets the target with a stun or bind at the same time or soon after). Since it reveals, it is the bane of all of the stealth characters, since you can deny them a safe escape very easily. The damage on this is low, but it doesn’t really need to be high because it increases their damage taken.
Photonic Ward:
Ultimate.
An extremely fun and powerful skill that provides cover where you need it. It blocks enemy projectiles but does nothing to encroaching melee combatants, who will pass through with no problem so, if there are melee enemies nearby, try to catch them with the bubble when you create it so that you can send them flying away. The bubble doesn’t affect friendly projectiles at all but prevents passage of enemy projectiles both from inside and from outside. Because of this, if an enemy gets inside the bubble (or is forced inside, such as would happen if you place the bubble on top of them with no where to be knocked back into), they won’t be able to fire outside of it until they move outside of it. The bubble isn’t big so it won’t really prevent much enemy fire, unless they’re heavily slowed.
Helices
Level 1: Electrostatic Induction v. Waste Reduction
Recommendation: Any
As I see it, neither of these is particularly powerful or useful and the choice between them really comes down to personal playstyle. EI gives your Shield Booster some additional combat/emergency functionality (if a target isn’t in a fight, their shield should be fully charged, assuming they have one) though, if you’re using your Plasma Pulse to charge their shield or if they don’t have a shield in the first place (none of the Eldrid, except for Kelvin, do; even Kelvin is a special case, though, because of how he treats shield) this is largely wasted. By that same token, if you’re not privy to missing with Priority Target, Waste Reduction won’t do you much good, although an increase to speed and range can still be quite the boon. EI is more defensive while WR is more offensive; that’s what it comes down to.
Level 2: Priority Plasma v. Lockdown
In PvE, slows aren’t particularly useful since NPCs don’t really move fast or erratically enough to really require it. Since Lockdown requires you follow up on Priority Target with other attacks, there’s less value than in most slows because you’re even more likely to kill a target than normal in the process of slowing them down (and you don’t need to slow down a dead target). In PvP, on the other hand, if you can follow up Priority Target with your own attacks, you can keep a target slowed for an extended period of time, making it even easier for you and your allies to kill your selected target.
Of course, Lockdown is only useful if you’re able to actually follow up on the initial Priority Target with other attacks; Priority Plasma makes it virtually impossible for Reyna to miss with Plasma Pulse as long as she’s firing in anything resembling the general direction of the target. It also allows Reyna to do some pretty interesting trick shots around corners or other obstacles, like carried shields: if you aim above a Brute, Boldur, or other shield carrying target, Priority Plasma will bend the shot down and attack them from above and, if properly executed, around their shield entirely.
In PvE, the choice is obvious; in PvP, it’s nuanced and is based upon how good you are with following up on Priority Target with other attacks as well as how important your own damage is compared to making it easier for your allies to get the kill.
Level 3: Plasma Burst v. Slazer Thermokinetics v. Optical Amplifier
This is a very weird level. Plasma Burst, on the surface, seems like it is a powerful AoE tool, but the explosion is extremely small, such that it will only really hit multiple targets if they’re already touching. Since it turns Plasma Pulse into an explosive attack, it also removes Plasma Pulse’s ability to crit (though it also allows you to deal damage through a target’s shield). It’s doubtful that you’ll see a lot of AoE damage with it, but it allows you to use Plasma Pulse in a very different and sometimes useful way.
Slazer Thermokinetics seems like it would provide a significant boost to Laser Pistol, though it suffers mainly because it requires active and continual use of the lower DPS Plasma Pulse.
At default attack speed, Reyna can get off 4 shots with Laser Pistol before the heat starts dissipating and will finish off the rest of her clip just as the rest of the heat dissipates. Since the damage is proportionate to the amount of heat you’ve got, you get 4 shots at +50% and 8 shots at an average of +25%. You then spend a single clip’s time building heat back up with Plasma Pulse (at 75% standard DPS), before repeating it all over again, so your average damage is merely ~4.2% better than pre-helix choice (.75 DPS * 7/7 time + 1.5 DPS * 4/12 time + 1.25 DPS * 8/12 time = 2.083 damage / (7/7 + 12/12) time = 1.042 damage per time).
You can maintain the max bonus on each Laser Pistol shot by firing a pair of Plasma Pulses after the 4 rounds (7 PP + 4 LP + 2 PP + 4 LP + 2 PP + 4 LP + reload; 11 PPs and 12 LPs; since PP shots are worth 12/7ths of the time as LP shots, it ends up taking the equivalent of ~31 LP shots, reload evenly spread across), but you’re increasing the amount of time you’ll spend throwing out Plasma Pulses which keeps your DPS at a paltry ~4.2% improvement over pre-helix (.75 DPS * 11/7 time + 1.5 DPS * 12/12 time = 2.678 damage / (11/7 + 12/12) time = 1.042 damager per time).
Optical Amplifier with Laser Pistol spam is a flat 18%, so it wins out over both, but only if you restrict yourself to Laser Pistol exclusively for damage purposes (which is still technically better DPS).
The math gets tweaked by a helix option at level 7 that allows you to increase the damage of Plasma Pulse by 18%, which tweaks the math in favor of Slazer Thermokinetics slightly. If you take the 18% buff to Plasma Pulse, it tweaks the “max heat” strat to a 12.4% increase in total DPS and the “full unload” strat to a ~10.9% increase in total DPS.
There are other variables that can tweak the math even more, but, because Plasma Pulse deals so much less damage than Laser Pistol, it’s extremely difficulty to have it overcome a static improvement to Laser Pistol.
Level 4: Vital Protocol v. The Best Defense v. Vengeance Protocol
This is very important and valuable level, and the choice of best is primarily contingent upon the rest of your group. If there isn’t a healer in the group, Vital Protocol is your best bet because heals are just that useful. If there is another healer around, it comes down to playstyle: TBD is better if you and your ally (since this also benefits Reyna) can deal at least 1250 damage (200 / .16) to each important target before both of your shields fade. If not, Vengeance Protocol is better. Shield Booster lasts 8 seconds, so, at a minimum, it means that the combined DPS of Reyna and her target needs to exceed 156.25 against a single target (which is pretty easy). It’s more likely that the overshield will be broken by enemies before it runs out, but there are too many variables involved to use that for a reliable prediction (and increased duration that you can get later tweaks it even more, if you can already get the overshield to survive).
Level 5: Improvised Tactics v. Thermal Equilibrium
Failsafe refers to the overshield Reyna provides herself when she uses Shield Booster on an ally (or herself, if you’re doing a solo run). The superiority of IT over TE is primarily due to Plasma Pulse being so bad on the DPS front compared to Laser Pistol, especailly since you already ignore how Plasma Pulse can overload by firing Laser Pistol while the heat dissipates. The reasons I can see for taking TE is if you are especially reliant upon it, such as if you are trying for the Plasma Pulse lore or to continuously fire homing projectiles at targets hit by your Priority Target.
IT is extremely useful since it speeds up reapplication/use of Shield Booster, in addition to your other skills, and 15% reduction in CD incredibly good (more than you’ll get out of gear).
Level 6: Vigilance v. Therapeutic Booster v. First Strike
First Strike is basically worthless because the initial impact damage of Priority Target is already extremely low. A 15% increase to what amounts to a single shot of Plasma Pulse that doesn’t benefit from any attack damage gear that you might happen to have. Reyna isn’t a skill damage character so I see it as basically worthless.
In PvE, TB isn’t useful because debuffs and the like are simply not common enough to justify sacrificing an increase to the overshield (it’s a 50% increase, btw; it scales with level as well). In PvP, however, depending upon who you’re fighting, the ability to get rid of wounding, slows, stuns, damage amplification, and the like can be a godsend, especially when combined with a timely overshield (and potentially a heal as well).
Level 7: Shield Sapper v. Pulse Pounder
Shield Sapper just isn’t worth it. The shield steal is minute and the value of it is contingent upon Reyna’s shield being damaged but not gone. If you stack a lot of shield, this can be useful, but outside of a specialized build like that, I wouldn’t bother with it. Pulse Pounder, on the other hand, reduces the gap between Plasma Pulse and Laser Pistol that was created at level 3.
Level 8: Most Wanted v. Calling the Shots v. Dogpiler
Dogpiler doubles the damage amplification of Priority Target, while Most Wanted increases the duration by 66%, and Calling the Shots is only useful if the target dies within 6 seconds. About the only time that Calling the Shots is useful is if you keep hitting weak targets, since the continual need to fire Priority Target again reduces its value.
Unless you prefer to use Priority Target for functions other than augmenting damage for yourself and your party, such as for slowing targets with Lockdown or guaranteeing hits with Priority Plasma, Dogpiler is going to add more damage than Most Wanted.
Level 9: Long Watch v. Kinetic Deflection
KD only deflects 15% of damage absorbed by your overshields, which, even when optimized for max value (you can get just shy of 600 overshield), is going to be less than 100 damage reflected. In PvE, that’s just not enough to bother with, especially when you can stay at range and benefit from the tangential benefits of your overshield without worry about it breaking; with LW, you’ll be able to have and provide an overshield at all times (with Improvised Tactics, you’ll even have a bit of overlap). In PvP, if you regularly shield targets under threat of death as you are like to, LW will be basically worthless and the otherwise marginal additional damage dealt by KD will be more useful.
Level 10: Blunderdome v. Huddle Up v. Mobility Module
Blunderdome is only useful in PvP because not enough NPCs have shields to justify it. Of course, even in PvP, disabling the shields of nearby enemies when you create a shield isn’t going to do a lot, but it’s the most aggressive of your options.
Huddle Up is amazing because it turns Photonic Ward into an AoE Shield Booster that also provides cover. All of the awesome tangential benefits that your Shield Booster provides (both to yourself and others) are triggered by this, which, if you build to augment your Shield Booster, can turn the tables extremely effectively.
Mobility Module is useful for pushing since it allows you to move Reyna’s bubble of protection where it’s needed and extends the duration.
Gear Stats
Most of Reyna’s support abilities either don’t need or don’t care about certain stats. Depending upon your chosen helices and preference for Laser Pistol or Plasma Pulse, useful stats will vary. I’ll go over all of those stats here, based on how I personally categorize them, and provide a priority list for each category.
Offensive
(Attack Damage>Critical Damage>Recoil>Attack Speed>Reload>Cooldown>Skill Damage>Shield Pen):
A vast majority of Reyna’s damage is going to come from her basic attack and the best way to beef that up is attack damage: it’s best to make shots stronger rather than to throw out more of them when you’ve got to reload (or stop attacking) after a certain number of shots (even if you’ve got a fast reload speed).
Critical Damage is awesome because Reyna’s Laser Pistol is *incredibly* accurate. You can easily unload an entire clip in a target’s crit spot when you know where to fire. If you use Plasma Pulse heavily and elect to take Plasma Burst at level 3, Critical Damage is going to be next to useless since that helix prevents Plasma Pulse from scoring crits.
Reyna may have awesome accuracy but her high attack speed means that she will quickly lose that so valuable accuracy if you don’t take some recoil. If you use Plasma Pulse heavily (or opt into Slazer Thermodynamics and rapid alternation between Plasma Pulse and Laser Pistol), recoil suddenly becomes largely worthless since Plasma Pulse doesn’t suffer from recoil and you’re not liable to attack enough times in a row with Laser Pistol to lose enough accuracy to need it.
Attack Speed is of middling import because Reyna already has good attack speed but still has to reload, though it’s strengthened somewhat by Reyna’s fast reload speed (and Plasma Pulse’s wait time).
Which brings me to reload, and the lower value it has. Reyna reloads quickly already, so there’s not much need to reduce it hugely. Reyna spends more than 5 times as much time unloading her pistol as she does reloading it (though not by much). If you use Plasma Pulse heavily, you care even less about reload because you’ll be reloading less and it has no impact upon Plasma Pulse’s reload.
Cooldown is bad but still manages to trump Skill Damage by virtue of Priority Target doing little damage on its own but providing a signficant quantity via damage amplification. Skill Damage just doesn’t pull its own weight since it only augments a tiny portion of what Reyna does.
Shield pen is utterly rubbish. 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).
Defensive
(Max Health<Max Shield<Damage Reduction<Health Regen<Healing Received=Shield Regen=Shield Recharge<CC duration):
Max health is Reyna’s best survivability stat: even with Shield Boosters, she doesn’t have enough hp + shield to push into the realm where Damage Reduction is best. Max shield is less important as well, especially if you take Electrostatic Induction at level 1, since she can heal her own shields when using Shield Booster.
Damage reduction is still, however, more valuable than any of the other healing or recovery stats because it makes Shield Booster more potent.
If you don’t take Vital Protocol, Health Regen is extremely useful since Reyna is extremely good with shield and overshield.
Healing Received is of low priority because it only affects Reyna’s shielding if she’s got Vital Protocol (and only to her). The shield support stats aren’t that useful because Reyna can handle her shields well on her own.
CC duration is functionally worthless. CCs don’t last that long so the minute values of CC duration on gear basically mean nothing.
Support
(Cooldown>Heal Power):
Cooldown is best because it allows you to use all 3 of your very powerful and very useful skills more often. Heal Power is only useful if you take Vital Protocol since it only affects the heal which is, at best, half of Shield Booster’s usefulness and, at worst, less than a third. Cooldown isn’t going to do much because of the low values, but it will do more than Heal Power.
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 Reyna.
Gloves (attack damage):
Pacifier (algorithm), Symbiotic Gauntlet (sentinel), Lorrian Godhand (rogue)
Attack damage beefs up both Laser Pistol and Plasma Pulse in the most effective way possible, which is good. Both of them also contribute to your survivability with her best defensive stats. SG is better offensively since Reyna can provide a powerful buffer with Shield Booster and, with Vital Protocol, keep herself topped off, too; Pacifier gives a nice little attack damage debuff whenever she damages an enemy. Lorrian Godhand brings a pretty laughable secondary stat, but the sprint speed, which is improved if there aren’t many enemies nearby, will allow you to cross maps much more effectively. It’s definitely not awesome for survivability, damage, or support, but it’s an excellent choice for mobility.
Vow of Vengeance should probably be mentioned because it’s one of the most popular legendaries out there. Do not use it on Reyna. The stacks only apply with her quick melee and the stacks fall off very quickly (a matter of seconds). VoV is for melee, which Reyna is not.
Swords (attack speed):
Stolen Edge of Arcvynorr (sentinel), Orbital Tracking Spike (llc)
SEoA is the gold standard of attack speed legendaries: the stacks are permanent and relatively easy to acquire, and it provides an good stat in addition to the attack speed. It’s also dropped from the Sentinel mission, which has 4 of the best legendaries in the game in its loot table.
Orbital Tracking Spike is only mentioned because it’s got useful stats (attack speed and shield) though the additional attack speed is conditional upon moving as little as possible… which can easily get you killed and you’re not liable to do often. This is more of a sniper legendary though I can see some people liking it (or using it until they get SEoA).
Vow of Zealous Fury used to be absolutely amazing but it was gutted in the Winter Update. Don’t use it.
Watches (cooldown):
Captain’s Snazzy Timepiece (lore), Borrowed Timer (upr), Firmware Update (algorithm), 5-Ringer Discount (rogue)
Captain’s Snazzy Timepiece gives you excellent support stats and, most important, gives Reyna access to healing (and lot of it) outside of Vital Protocol, if you want it. Borrowed Timer is primarily useful because (1) Reyna likes recoil reduction and (2) the legendary effect will allow Reyna is able to throw up a Photonic Ward followed quickly by a Shield Booster after being reduced to near death. The internal CD was increased to 60 seconds with the Winter Update, so it’s much worse than it used to be. Firmware Update was hugely buffed in the Winter Update with a massive increase to the proc chance and effect, making it an extremely good option for Reyna. The secondary stat is basically worthless, but the legendary effect more than makes up for it. 5-Ringer is conditionally better than Firmware Update, but only if you’re next to a Rogue ally using their skills a lot. Reyna does like being near her allies so, if you take this, make sure an ally picks a Rogue and then stick by them to reap the benefits (it’s absolutely disgusting how fast your CDs will come back if you’ve got Orendi next to you since she spams her skills so much).
I caution against the other legendary cooldown items. Chrono Key has good primary and secondary stats (greater than CST, in fact because CST has lore legendary stats) but I would never recommend it because the legendary effect requires an obscene amount of damage dealt to see any returns. Even if you’re chewing through enemies, you’re not going to see enough to really make it worthwhile. Aria’s Encore is primarily concerned with Skill Damage, which is terrible for Reyna. Time Killer has a decent secondary stat and, while you should be using Shield Booster and Priority Target, Photonic Ward is best kept in reserve so you’re not liable to benefit from the legendary effect as much as you might think (Shield Recharge is also not a huge priority).
Crit Damage (goggles):
Vigilant Power Scouter (sentinel), Poor “M-Pulse” Controller (algorithm)
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 any kill you make into explosions. It’s amusing but not that effective since the explosion is pretty mediocre, though it does make her a bit more AoE viable.
Longarm Scope-Goat might seem like an interesting option, but the WU added a whopping 60 sec internal cooldown to it and it still requires both a critical hit and the enemy to be a Rogue as well. A worthless secondary stat combined with a conditional effect that is so ludicrously conditional and on such a long timer makes it useless.
Pauldrons (damage reduction):
“Alamo-7” Armor (algorithm), Peril-Sensitive Pauldrons (rogue)
Alamo-7 Armor provides 2 nice stats and, although the cooldown time on the legendary effect is extremely long, it is *extremely* powerful (2 seconds of total immunity) especially when combined with the Borrowed Timer. PSP gives you a boatload of stats, none of which are top tier and one of which is basically useless (thankfully, it’s the secondary stat). If you’ve got someone else on your team with a Demon Bear item, this can be worth it (if only because it will improve their Demon Bear item), but I wouldn’t recommend it otherwise since the stats just aren’t that great for Reyna.
Med Kits (heal power):
Solar Sustainer (jennerit), Dr. Fist’s Medic Bag (upr)
Keep in mind, these are only useful if and after you take Vital Protocol (or Reyna’s lore leg) since she has no heals otherwise. Solar Sustainer will provide both Reyna and the target with an attack damage buff; the buff only lasts 5 seconds, so you can’t keep it up permanently, but it’s valuable. You should regularly reapply Shield Booster even to targets at max hp, so Dr. Fist’s will provide copious amounts of additional hp, not to mention that it will continually apply the same boost to Reyna (the max hp buff only lasts 10 seconds and you need to reapply within 10 seconds to stack up, which is pretty difficult but it *is* possible).
Void Resonator is a bit of a trap because Reyna already heals herself with Vital Protocol and 7% self healing pales in comparison to what she already brings to herself. Also, shield recharge doesn’t really do much.
Armor (max hp):
Vigilance Link (sentinel), Vampiric Vestment (jennerit), Pain-2-Gain Re-Knitter (upr), 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 vestment will give you hp, more hp when you kill things, and more attack damage so that it’s easier to kill things. However, because you lose them when you die, I wouldn’t recommend VV for PvP since dying is relatively common. P2G is powerful for self-survival but is contingent upon taking health damage, which is not really Reyna’s forte, since she provides copious overshield and can recharge shield effectively (though her ability to heal herself after level 4 does make this feasible and effective). If you’re running ops, SG BDU is better because it provides more hp more easily than P2G with the exact same DR contributions: if you’ve got at least 56 ops points, SG BDU is outright better than P2G can possibly be.
Batteries (max shield):
One-4-All Shield Array (experiment), Modernista (saboteur), 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. This will make Electrostatic Induction viable even for Eldrid allies. While DR isn’t a particularly impressive stat for Reyna, 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 TTK, which means that it’ll provide more survivability than anything except for a double stat max hp item (and dramatically increase the amount of damage that an overshield can endure).
Boots (move speed):
RDC Ground Pounders (upr)
The only boots I would recommend for Reyna, not because she likes movement speed a lot but because of the other 2 effects: recoil is awesome for Reyna’s continued accuracy and there’s a nice bit of conditional DR if she takes damage from the side or rear.
Stocks (recoil):
Mini-Singularity Launcher (saboteur), Stable Executioner (renegade), Starkweather’s Oscillator (llc)
MSL reduces your accuracy loss, gives you regen, and one target every 10 seconds hit by your attacks will be slowed for 3 seconds. It’s a useful bit of additional control if you want to go for that. SE is a nice bit of additional damage because, on top of a pair of useful stats, a 20% chance to get 50% additional damage on hits or crits can provide a nice little bonus over the long term. It’s a 10% increase in damage from your basic attacks, so it’s the best damage you’ll be able to get outside of a double attack damage item.
Magazines (reload):
Hidden Charger (llc), Vyn’s Quiver (sentinel)
Reload is valuable and, considering how often and quickly Reyna reload, Hidden Charger can help out your Shield Recharge. I wouldn’t bother if you’re going to take Electrostatic Induction (since that’ll charge your shield on its own), but if you’re not, this can see some use. Similarly, Vyn’s Quiver is good if you’re not taking Vital Protocol for much the same reason.
Pins (skill damage):
Bola’s Target Finder (experiment), Shield Web Interdictor (algorithm)
These choices are less about pins themselves being useful because skill damage is of little worth to Reyna. Bola’s makes Priority Target even better at taking out its chosen target and Shield Web Interdictor will deny an opponent a recharged shield.
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 rare and uncommon versions are extremely easy to activate. Reyna has 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.
Swords (attack speed):
The exact same stuff here as with the gloves, with a different primary stat. Same rules apply, though these are worse because Reyna gets more out of attack damage more than attack speed.
Wrenches (buildable cost):
Excellent for PvP building loadouts, Reyna is somewhat problematic because she actually uses all of the stats that the wrenches penalize, preventing her from using one that doesn’t penalize her whatsoever. The UPR common wrench (-skill damage) penalizes her the *least*, but it’s still pretty nasty (since it will reduce her healing too) so you may want to consider just using one of the non-penalized common wrenches (they’re all identical) and spending the 420 shards before building anything. You might be tempted to use the Jennerit free wrench since Reyna does reload pretty quickly normally, but I wouldn’t recommend it personally because it’s slowing down something she does often.
Goggles (crit damage):
The exact same stuff here as with the gloves, with a different primary stat. Same rules apply, though these are worse because crit contributions are just bad in general (you need an absurdly high ~60% crit rate, including attacks against shields, for these to be better than a glove).
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 Rogue battery allows you to trade off 14% healing received for 140 max shield. 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 Rogue 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. The Jennerit free battery is also somewhat tempting but, because Reyna will spend a lot of time reloading in combat, I wouldn’t recommend it personally.
Magazines (reload speed):
If you’re trying to deal damage with KU, one of these is virtually a necessity. It takes ~1.5 secs to unload 3 alt-fire volleys so you can maintain the full 30.8% reload speed improvement with the UPR rate trivially as long as you keep firing. The Eldrid variant is also pretty good, since Shield Booster hits Reyna as well as her target every time (just make sure to take Vital Protocol for the healing, if you use this).
Shard Gen (free shards):
Virtually required for most PvP loadouts, free shard gens are absolutely amazing, but they require the character to not find that stat remotely useful. Sadly, Reyna finds all 4 of the stats that free shard gens penalize useful to some degree: she uses her skills extremely often so CD reduction isn’t viable, she reloads *a lot* so reload speed isn’t viable either, she provides healing so both skill damage (which affects her healing as well as PT’s admittedly laughable damage) and heal power are out. 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. Your best bet is figuring out which one hurts your playstyle the least.
Loadouts
General PvE:
Vigilant Power Scouter, Symbiotic Gauntlet, Firmware Update
The secondary stats on all 3 of these serve to make you harder to kill, the first two legs give you excellent damage, and the final one gives you excellent support (more Shield Booster as well as more Priority Target).
Pure Damage PvE:
Vigilant Power Scouter, Symbiotic Gauntlet, Stable Executioner
While you’ll still have good survivability due to the significant amount of additional max hp but replacing FU with SE helps out with accuracy due to recoil redux and additional damage due to the legendary effect.
Pure Support PvE:
Dr Fist’s Medic Bag, One-4-All Shield Array, Captain’s Snazzy Timepiece
Dr. Fist’s + CST gives you the ability to give a lot of hp to your allies and One-4-All provides them with shields to be charged up by Electrostatic Induction. Dr. Fist’s could be replaced by Solar Sustainer for a more aggressive loadout while One-4-All can be replaced by Vigilance Link if you so choose. The point is to ensure that your allies are extremely unlikely to die.
Pure Damage Legendary PvP:
Sketchy “Easy Money” (-heal power), Symbiotic Gauntlet, Vigilant Power Scouter
The free shard gen is there to allow you to afford the other 2 legendaries, which are the best sources of improved damage (and additional hp, which will make you hard to kill). The -heal power penalty is take because it has the least effect, since it only injures you if you take Vital Protocol (and only by a bit).
Pure Support Legendary PvP:
Erratic Shard Generator (-reload), Dr. Fist’s Medic Bag, Captain’s Snazzy Timepiece
The free shard gen is there to allow you to afford the other 2 legendaries, which give you access to healing and buffs to that selfsame healing. The -reload is the least bad of the possible penalties for this playstyle.
Fast Leveling PvP:
Sketchy “Easy Money” (-heal power), Crude Handyman Multi-Tool (-skill damage), any 1 legendary
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. If you want to build around healing, either through Vital Protocol or Captain’s Snazzy Timepiece, go for the -reload shard generator. The legendary is there for when you hit level 10 and no longer need to spend shards on build xp. I don’t mention any specific legendaries because there are a *crapton* that can fit in depending upon what you want and how you want to do it.
Cheap and Functional PvP:
3 of (Stout Ekkuni Wristguard, Sportsman’s Haute-Couture Kevlar, Rifleman’s Hailfire Mags, Survivor’s Remedy Box, Stout Aelfrin Warblade)
Since there aren’t any legendary items, you don’t really need a free shard gen (though you could replace either the glove or the pin if you really wanted). The Eldrid uncommon glove and/or sword can be replaced by the epic version if you’re worried about dying, but it will increase the price a fair deal (2 rares and 1 uncommon costs ~2562; going from uncommon to epic would cost an additional 336 each). The glove, sword, and chest improve your survivability, the glove, sword, and magazine improve your damage, and the med kit improves your healing, so you need to pick the one aspect that you feel most comfortable not improving (in general, the med kit or the magazine/sword is probably the least noticeable, depending upon what you focus on).