Weapon and augmentation discussion?

moofy, I've found this guy's videos to be pretty accurate. I've yet to do a true "Soldier-style" playthrough, so I've been researching weapons and modifications as preparation. It sounds like you might be early in your first PT. Be aware that the augmentations have plenty of hidden, or unlisted, effects; and most of them are bad. Always save before crafting, so that you can back out and avoid wasting your research points.

Also, in regard to Infusion Mods, you'll eventually have the chance to halve the attached penalties via a Cryo Pod "Merchant" perk.

Agreed on the Hornet being a great weapon. I think it's the best Assault Rifle in the game, despite being an SMG. Playing on PS4, I land headshots with this thing more times than not. It's true accuracy must be much higher than listed, as even a quick trial will show.

I usually prefer ARs, but they're all underwhelming. The Valkyrie has two-round burst, a strange muzzle-climb issue, and a relatively low clip-size. These issues can be addressed, but why? Just use the Sweeper, instead. It fires more steady three-round bursts, and has a better "clip-size". Having used all three weapons extensively on Insanity, I prefer the Hornet over both ARs. It does their job better.

As mentioned in the OP, the Piranha is a beastly weapon. I refuse to use BioConverter, and have yet to construct a Plasma-Seeking version. Still, even stock, it's a good weapon. Putting seeking plasma on it will make it godly. I presently use a stock Piranha as my armor-buster, in tandem with a Hornet for general combat. I look forward to getting this Ryder advanced enough to make crafting worthwhile. (I generally don't craft until Level-50. Research Points are too precious in an initial PT!)

Once you research level 5, the advanced versions open up, meaning from level 6 to 10.

What mods for armor? I guess tech damage ones for an Engineer? Or combo damage? there is tech recharge speed also.

That piranha is awesome. 1st PT as FRyder engineer used it from a distance with plasma seek and bio-wtf was it called?

Now playing MRyder biotic and will likely use it stock for when I play vanguard style.

I used an Equalizer with the sticky grenade mod named Anders. Decent at killing Nullifiers/mini bosses quickly. PAW Assault Rifle with the electricity augment named Morrigan. I used Morrigan for a good portion of the game it's basically a Reegar with x2 the range (before the PAW I had a Hurricane modded/named the same but the PAW was much better overall).

My second character used two Sidewinders with the auto aim plasma named (Xayah and Rakan). It looked cool as hell dashing and dodging while gunslinging with curved bullets, plus the holstered Pistol 2 slot looks cool resting on the armor I think. I doubt it would do well on Insanity at all I played on Normal my 2nd playthrough because after my first I had the Insanity achievement already and honestly Insanity is a chore/grind to play. Normal was way more fun because I could play for flavor/style over effectiveness. Also, the Bio-Converter mod is broken on the Dhan/Snipers/Ushior with the tech skill life support.

For casters, I suggest augmenting %combo damage since it scales with levels and using detonations. %power damage is pretty bad since most skills have very low base damage. The adrenaline mod is really good there is one you will find later that is very similar but better for boss fights for casters (and honestly it is probably better overall once you get enough recharge speed). Your melee weapon's augments are always present too, so slap x5 kinetic coil or %combo damage on it depending your style/build.

The Talon is pretty good too it is probably my favorite 'shotgun' in the game. Aim at the neck/collarbone and it seems like all the pellets will hit the head for a weak point hit.

Yes! I have a weapon called Blasto's Blaster! I also have a pure soldier Ryder with a krogan's personality who named her shotgun, "FUCKFACE" (because she'll fuck her enemies in the face with it).