Originally Posted by
AnotherPerson
It feels like Bioblaster is the only reason why Drill and Chainsaw is not overly broken at its current potency. Bioblaster throws a wrench to being able to kill everyone from 25 feet away since it requires you to re-engage into mid-range. The design makes it fair for the melee DPS since you can basically kite them to death if it wasn't attached to the combo otherwise.
Bioblaster being a DoT AOE + heavy CC rather than just another burst DPS skill probably also affects Drill & Chainsaw's potency too since you can't stack the high burst skills together and guarantee an instant kill from the getgo as long as it's part of the combo chain. The exception would be if you use Analyzed Drill + Marksman spite, but machinists still can't just stay 900 feet away and snipe from afar since they have to expend Bioblaster if they want to continue accessing other weaponskills in the combo eventually.
Due to bioblaster, I think Machinists are intended by design to be weaving around long-range + mid-range + close range by utilizing Scattershot, Bioblaster, and Drill / Air Anchor / Chainsaw whenever it works out. The Rook autoturret also supports this theory since it flexibly can be used from afar to debuff an enemy or nearby to shield you as well.
This is one of those moments where "ranged weave tax" is actually applicable here.