This build may be outdated
This build was created in a previous patch and may not perform similarly in the current patch.
by Antisyzygy on 25/01/2022

"Stubby" Voltaic SMG
Breach Cutter
Loadout Guide
This is a standard Electric Stubby Engineer build. It's great for beginners should they have the electric Stubby and Breach OCs.
There's nothing creative about this build, it's been used for a long time. It just works for most Hazard levels.
Use the Stubby to fire 4-5 round bursts at enemies. You have a high chance to apply electric DOT, and also a chance for that electric DOT to chain-lightning between nearby enemies. You want to use your bullets to apply electric effects as much as possible, but you want to rely on the electric damage to kill enemies. Don't waste ammo finishing off grunts/slashers/etc. unless it's absolutely necessary--let the electricity do the work.
The Stubby uses the EM Refire Booster OC and Conductive Rounds so that you do extra damage to electrified enemies. However, it increases fire-rate and thus increases recoil over time that causes the gun to become more inaccurate, so we take the recoil reduction in tier 2. This helps you land more shots overall.
The breach cutter has been set up so that you can apply electrify to any enemies caught in the triple-split-lined plasma cables. It's best used versus praetorians, shellbacks, or mactera. Oppressors are immune to electric damage but it's still worth using your breach cutter versus these enemies.
The breach cutter is set up to shred armor so follow-up shots with your Stubby are more effective, particularly versus praetorians, guards or mactera brundles.
This is where the synergy between the EM Refire Stubby and the Electric Breach Cutter comes into play. Since you do extra damage with your Stubby to electrocuted enemies, you can completely annihilate praetorians, brundles, guards, etc. that have been hit with a breach round. Their armor is gone, they're being electrocuted, and you do bonus damage at a faster-than-normal fire rate with the Stubby.
Generally the **breach cutter** will kill most things in a swarm of grunts, so it's **not so useful for applying electric effects** to them. Your **Stubby** is a better grunt swarm-clear weapon. However, sometimes it's worth using the **breach cutter** to **thin out a grunt swarm** so you can **engage the armored guards** with your **Stubby**. Of course it's also worth using if you get overwhelmed.