Original Post — Direct link

The tier is now only active when the weapon is drawn. Was this a "Fix?" I Thought the point of the extra tier meant more build diversity.

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over 3 years ago - /u/UbiFate - Direct link

Originally posted by Pry-Minster

Like u/r3fresh69 said, that's always been the case. It'd be absolute best-in-slot for 90% of builds if it was passive like Technician spec.

As a side note, if you need to holster the pistol to ready a skill, like an aimed Chem Launcher for example, since it isn't in your hand the game doesn't count the added Skill Tier in that case either.
The chem you fire would be Tier 5 if you were banking on the pistol to reach Tier 6.

This is correct. The pistol will need to be in hand to benefit from the +1 skill tier, so skills such as the launcher that require pulling out something will not benefit.