Pistol/Melee weapon

[Bamsmacked88]

Can someone explain to me exactly how this works?

 

After you shoot a round, you don't reload again and you only use your single handed weapon.. Are you still considered as dual wielding or single wielding at this point?

 

 

Does the weapon reload itself if you switch to another weapon set and then switch back?

[Billiam]

You are considered dual-wielding and so get a speed bonus to recovery/reload. You can only attack with one weapon from ranged, but this is actually just as fast as dual wielding pistols as they need to be reloaded - you will only lose the burst damage at the start of combat from having two pre-loaded pistols (so one extra free shot) and you get the benefit of not having to switch weapon sets if you enter melee.

If you are in melee range you will not reload the pistol, but at a distance it will be like you are single-wielding, only faster, so there is no point to swapping weapon sets as this will always be slower than a reload (unless you are a black  jacket).

 

Pistol/melee goes well with a monk build for a couple of reasons:

 

If you initiate combat from stealth by firing your pistol, then use swift strikes when the game autopauses, you get a free shot without reloading. It'll probably get removed later, but it works right now.

Monks often use the primary weapon for several abilities rather than full attack, so you lose nothing by having a pistol in your off-hand except the accuracy bonus. Monks benefit from speed boosts more than accuracy because they interrupt, so it's better to have the dual-wield speed buff. If you dual wield melee on a monk, you're gaining extra auto-attack DPS, but not extra damage on  your activated abilities (ignoring any unarmed benefits).

NB - using pistol/melee requires a lot of micro-managing as it's a but buggy and you sometimes have to retarget enemies for auto-attack. Be prepared to babysit your character a lot.

Edited May 26, 2018 by Billiam