I don't know what the steam forums are on but the Lok-1 is super strong. Overclocks make it even more ridiculous. I would even argue the the lower amo balances the weapon cause of how efficient it can be.

I don't understand the hate. The engineer's secondaries provide amazing wave clear. It's almost overkill to have a wave clear primary as well.

That’s the value the Lok-1 brings to the Engi’s kit: threat management. Engi’s kit is otherwise pretty strong at wave clear (which is kind of the opposite side of the coin to threat management), but suffers when it comes to threats, especially at range. Lok-1 gives Engi an option to round it out

10 months later and the Lok1 in 21111 with the Explosive chemical round OC and the Shard diffractor with high-intensity heating and hydrogen rupturing is now not only meta an the best allrounder combo for the engi but arguably the best and most effective combo in the game. Shreds hordes and single targets like nothing else at all distances

Kicking people for running Smart Rilfe is so neck beard sweaty. The people who do that think that Haz 5 is the hardest the game could every possibly be.

Remember guys that total ammo pool of both weapons is different. Better take in % of how much ammo been used.

The LOK-1 gets a lot of it's oomph from overclocks in comparison to the other two guns. This is potentially why so many people hate it. They get a bad first impression when they first unlock the gun and have no overclocks for it, and decide then and there that it is bad. I had a similar issue myself with the stubby, where I decided it was bad when I first unlocked it, and it took me a looong time to come around to liking it.

After using the lok-1 I personally think the only problem is ammo capacity

I think Turret Arc & Turret EM Discharge are where the stubby shines. If you plan well w / Repellant Additive & LURE's, you can become very ammo efficient w / the Stubby, but those build are for players who think ahead (as are most Engi builds). Immobilzing Dreadnaughts w / those builds combined w / Spinning Death Breach Cutter's is definitely something worth exploring for you, especially if you get burnt out on the LOK-1 after another million or so promotions (worth noting that Turret EM Discharge might be possible to replicate with Turret Whip Warthog builds w / out sacrificing an OC).

"Stubby is so bad" *EM Discharge enters the chat* (even after the turret nerf EMD is still busted and does stubby justice)

Alright, I think you've sold me on the LOK now after reading your guide on steam and now watching your videos on it. I had dabbled with it and didn't mind it but I was still primarily a Stubby user for haz 5 and edds, but your recommendation of executioner really changes this gun into the beast it is. That lock on time and crazy damage really elevate it. And now you have serious range and can eliminate threats long before you could dream with the stubby. But it did require me to change my breach build to yours as it was my wave clear but also anti-armor and air. Appreciate the concise info and the backing of numbers to prove your theory, it really cemented it for me to try it for myself and alter other parts of my builds. After so many hours you can fall into a habit and disregard other builds, and I was falling into that. I'm still regularly top damage/kills so I know it's an effective build. I think some people on the forums probably haven't tried this build and just gave into the their preconceived prejudice. Thanks!

Just unlocked this gun and excited to give it a proper shot, these videos are helpful.

I've been leaning on stubby for too damn long. I have to admit, I didn't like the Lok-1 when it first dropped, but it's growing on me. What Stubby excels at is giving you a sense of improved safety from the swarm. In those close range engagements, it enables a lazy variant of kiting strategy to work out. Stubby slows with electric, and the electricity can jump from one bug to its neighbors. This lets you just kite even fairly large groups of grunt scale baddies by just running backwards and shooting them. This makes you feel safer. However, let us never forget that as nice as shock, or on fire, or even frozen can be, the most effective status ailment you can apply to any of the denizens of Hoxxes-IV is dead. With the same sort of run and gun kiting play that is just good habits for the other classes, we don't need to rely on that false sense of safety provided by stubby, and in many situations, killing high priority threats faster really can keep us safer in the long run. Rock and stone miners.

My friends and I downloaded this game maybe two or three days ago and all promoted our respective characters in that time. And even before the overclocks I loved this weapon through a lot of different engagements. Can’t wait to do some dives and edd’s and get this build going.

I liked the video purely for that slick-ass drive-by webber shot clip at the end.

Great video, the stubby is still my old reliable. its gotten me through EDD and plenty of Haz5 matches. The smart rifle is still great at what its design for though.

Personally I think that no gun or even build in drg is necessarily better, you just need to know how to use them properly. GSG did a really great job there.

great break down.

great job, thx !

not even a minute into the video and im like, do people actually hate it that much ?, yesterday i did a group edd, managed to get around 650 kills with lok1 without ocs and i still had lesser ammo problems than other classes who didnt even manage to get close to that kill count, people were dry while i still had half of my ammo capacity. i mean sometimes with the shotgun you use insane amount of ammo just for one medium range bug, while with lok1 it doesnt even have to use a third of a mag for the same purpose...

You've made a great video here about the two weapons and have really highlighted some great strengths about the Lok. I am in the camp that feels that the stubby is the superior weapon but I will say that you have made very compelling points and have done and excellent job highlighting the discrepancies through video. I will say that range is a hard stat to attribute a value to, especially when trying to persuade some of the people you mentioned are dismissive in online forums. nonetheless, it is a very valuable option for a weapon to have and you showed exactly why with threat management. It is apparent to me that I have had the wrong approach with the Lok, this video has helped me see the correct way to approach fights with the gun. Really excited to see what else you got for us.

Engineer is my main and my usual build is the lok-1 with ECR OC and breach cutter with the extra ammo OC and I never have any real problems

nice vid,

Solid vid

Yeah, I have no idea what the Steam forums are thinking. I don't know what the general consensus is between the two, but my personal experience tells me that the only selling points of the Stubby are the electricity build and its large ammo reserves. I've found the Stubby's damage to be lacking without the electricity, even if I go full damage build (with Slim Rounds).

It's kind of weird that you keep making videos about this gun without ever showcasing the absolute best build: ECR overclock with 21111. Shooting exclusively in 3-lock bursts, you get a free 50 damage area explosion (which causes fear) and a free 36 electric damage over time debuff (which causes slow). This can be done at insane range, in the dark, around corners and ledges. This build transforms the Lok-1 into one of the most efficient and effective guns in the entire game, and it runs circles around the shotty and the stubby.

I’m amazed you are coming back and giving hearts to comments, I started in 2023 and have found the Engineer is my favorite dwarf, I found myself watching this video wondering why you’d be comparing these two weapons at range but remembered this video seems to be put out before the Shard Defractor was added allowing for a Stubby to be your pure wave clear weapon while having the Shard Defractor for range and large targets. I found the Lok1 to be underwhelming but since I really like the Shard Defractor that is probably why, they are overlapping and I lack the crowd control of Electric Stubby, anyways this is an awesome video sir.

My only complaint is always just that the smart rifle burns through its limited ammo too fast otherwise i love it

I didn't even know folks had shade to throw on the lok25(except for the ammo); but regardless your point was made at it's superiority hands down =] ftw

The two Stubby builds have overclocks ....does the show Smart Rifle Build have an overclock too ? Mine feels a lot slower with its targeting system . I think cause i have no Executioner Overclock on it.

did you make like a bet with someone that you could put that image at the end of the video for ten straight seconds and no one would notice

this video irks me. yeah the stubby is gonna take longer to kill a menace at range when your gun as a insane damage overclock and having the stubby using a electric loadout. or a loadout not spec's properly for damage. and then goes on to say it take 24 seconds to kill a praetorian whilst the stubby is under horrible conditions and then compares it to the loki under PERFECT CONDITIONS.

Whats that weapon skin you use btw (the one with the light bars) its looks really cool!

I could never understand the people complaining that the LOK-1 is bad at close range. Maybe I'm weird for doing this, but since I already have such good single-target damage with an Executioner build, I just run the PGL with max ammo and incendiary compound as my secondary. That thing just *erases* trash mobs and barely deals any self-damage, so if I'm surrounded by bugs I can just slam them in the face with a grenade, catch a breather and let the weak ones burn during the fear proc, then use the smartgun to shred through what's left in one or two shots each. Or just let the sentries cut them down. I know some people *worship* the Breach Cutter, but the PGL synergizes so well with the LOK it's just silly to ignore it. Also, Executioner just *humiliates* OMEN Tower events. Put a platform above the slicer terminal so you can hack it from safety and you just trivialize the damn thing. It's amazing.

kinda makes me think the shotty and the SMG need a buff/redesign. when i started playing engi i hated the shotgun since you can't even kill a grunt with one shot without aiming at the head at stupidly close range, not to mention spitters on the roof. stubby was a god send in comparison. haven't unlocked the lok-1 as i was busy and just happy with the stubby.

I'm actually surprised that people still can't stand weapons having different functions. They simply need something to be "BeTtEr". I hate people who just goes for min maxing gameplay, so boring. Play what you like and be happy

Lok1 is Awesome period🤘

Good gun

You are a genius. Very Well done on defending the weapon

Yeah... Smart rifle can function as a long range weapon. Stubby is better for up close crowds because of it's electric slow. It's great at slowing things down enough for your turrets and robot grenades to work down the crowd. I haven't played much Neuro lasso though so I'd be curious how that fares against the stubby

This is kinda like apples and oranges the stubby and the lok1 I targeted at 2 different types of use cases the stubby excels at dealing with crowds at semi close range mean while the lok1 most is great at dispatching individual targets in seconds obviously ocs can change this but at the end of the day it just depends on what you are going for

still waiting for the ammo buff :(

I was looking for Stubby build ideas to get me back into using it and your vid appeared in the search results, but your vid is basically 30 minutes of why the Stubby sucks and shouldn't be bothered with and I gotta say that's really demotivating.

Make a timestamps. That will be very convenient!

Amazing video, well done. Have you by any chance compared the performance of the LOK-1with Executioner vs ECR? Would be nice to check it.

Empty magazine is not an opinion.

Stubby is bad at long range and single target dps. Then why not pair it with shard diffractor or hyper propellant PGL?

That LOK needs a CAR to go with it /s

I've only just started playing Engineer and I'm not really liking his weapons at all at the moment. I haven't unlocked the Lok-1 or Breach Cutter yet, though. Not keen on the stubby or shotgun at all. I think I might have spoilt myself by playing Driller first. He has way too much agency and I like all his weapons. I'm struggling to play other classes now lol.

why not light-weight rounds on stubby?

GeorgeNotFound is that you??? /s Edit: also, the stubby and warthog don't come anywhere close to the damage which the LOK-1 dishes out.

The funny thing is, id argue the stubby is rather underpowered; its ammo ineffeicent, its dps is the weakest of the three and its crowd control is less impressive Warthog is the best ammo effiency, has better dps at close range and turret whip gives way better crowd control thats much easy to position than turret emp (and doesnt sacrifice the oc to do it). Even at mid to long, MPA is better for sniping weak points. Smart rifle obviously has way better dps, ECR is better for crowds. Hell even fucking seeker rounds is a much better build for just general use compared to to stubby; straight up in most of the tests, using seeker gets better results than stubby, and its often considered the most underpowered oc, try it with inferno on breach cutter. It aint the best but ive had way more fun and consistent results than anything ive tried with stubby. Stubbys single target builds are slower, work only at close range and cost too much ammo, and eletrical build for crowds doesnt really kill the crowds because the actual damage to the electricty is pretty poor, not even killing grunts that are at half hp. Besides, all of engies secondaries are better suited for cc than his primaries. I think stubby suffers both from poor base stats and really weak OCs, with half of them having the same effect as the others (why did GSG make both the unstables have basically the same effect. One is always going to be weaker) Esepcailly post EMP discharge nerf its hella clunky to use. I dont knwo what id change with stubby but its due a buff for sure

This seems like a 30 min video just to say "Stubby is ammo efficiency against basic enemys at short range, while Lok-1 is high damage against important enemies at long range."

Tbh I have the polar opposite opinion. How do people unironically use the stubby? It doesn't do anything well except shocking targets, and it doesn't even have a monopoly on that anymore ever since LOK-1 was introduced. I'd genuinely rather snipe distant targets with the warthog than the stubby. And I'm talking base warthog with choke. Magnetic pellet alignment hog vs stubby at range makes stubby look like a bad joke, and given that the warthog is literally a shotgun, it's got stubby beat close range too.

Me like small gun

Do people actually hate the LOK-1? I’ve been using it since I’ve unlocked with zero overclocks and am running through haz 4s no problem, absolutely love the gun!

Anti crowd stubby+ hyper propelant. And also quite ignorant to compare two with only loadout that you personally enjoy

oh i get it, the loki is actually better than stubby, so i should be kicking the engis that run that weapon instead

I don't mean this in a negative way it's more humor but I feel like this whole video is just copium. I mean yes you have a slight advantage in something no one is concerned with at the cost of not doing the thing everyone wants as well as literally any other loadout lol. I feel like this video is a guy walking into a car lot to buy a Honda and you try to sell him a dragster by getting him to forget he cares about gas mileage and impressing him with a 9 second quarter mile lol and he's super excited until he goes to get groceries and runs out of gas before he gets home with them lol.

Wanna compare a shotgun with lok-1? Oooooo they so identical

still waiting for the ammo buff :(