Trying to put together a new build consisting of:

• 1 x Ceska Backpack with Composure
• 1 x Groupo Chest with Braced
• 1 x Fox's Kneepads
• 3 x Strikers

Main key to this build: Merciless

As for the kneepads:

Fox's gains: Rifle Damage + DTOOC + CHC or CHD

Vs

Stikers gains: Striker's Gamble (Weapon hits amplify total weapon damage by 0.5%, stacking up to 50 times....2 stacks are lost each second.) - (Not sure if this 4th bonus is still the same)

Looking at it Fox's looks very nice compared to Strikers, i ain't at home so can't test it and i have never really delved into Strikers set.

My mind tells me Fox's, they look to juicy to miss out on.......plus i play on console so keeping them stacks may be a issue with Strikers.

Definitely the Fox's Kneepads. Especially for a rifle build they are BiS.

While Striker is rather a build for fast firing weapons. Even with using a macro on PC, getting the Striker bonus up with a Merciless does not sound like any fun. And RoF also does not sound like a very great bonus for a rifle as well. Would you really benefit from this bonus that much?

Same for 15% Weapon Handling for wearing 2pcs. Yes, Weapon Handling is good and a rifle indeed benefits from Reload Speed, Stability, and Accuracy. But with Braced you already have a lot of Weapon Handling – and for adding more Weapon Handling I'd rather suggest a second and third piece of Overlord (+20% Accuracy, +10% Weapon Handling). Those Brand Bonuses are basically equally as good as Striker's +15% Weapon Handling, but you gain two more minor attributes with Overlord.

So personally I'd rather go for Overlord instead of Striker and either add another Brand that boosts your damage (W&H) or maybe adds some defensive traits (Belstone?). Oh and did you think about Coyote's Mask?

@Noxious81 you party pooper, you ruined my thoughts of putting this together:

You could try 3 piece Overlord, 2 Petrov and Coyote. Or a Walker Harris for the extra damage. Obliterate on the chest and either Vigilance or Composure on the backpack. You get an extra 10% handling for the 2nd piece of Petrov.

Add in a little weapon handling if you want. I run it this way and its a lot of fun, plus I can run an LMG for backup and have it nice and steady.

I'm squishy though because its a full red.

I tried it with Sawyers but I move around too much for it to work for me.

And if you really want Braced then craft the named Petrov chest piece, it comes with Perfect Braced.

(...) you party pooper, you ruined my thoughts of putting this together: (...)
Does look fun though

Sorry, I didn't mean to do so ...

Well, in the video you can see that he indeed does have a bit of a use of the increased RoF thanks to Striker's Battlegear. And he combined it with the Gunner's perk, so that's indeed a fair and possibly fun idea.

Another idea I just had:
What about combining 3 x Overlord, 2 x Petrov, and Coyote's Mask. I know that's rather far away from what you started with, but here me out... For Overlord use the most obvious choice, Fox's Prayer, and use a backpack with a talent of your liking plus a holster. For Petrov use both named items, the Contractor's Gloves for DtA as well as the named vest "Vestmyflytophulitala" (or something quite similar) with Perfect Braced!

This would grant you 20% Accuracy and 10% Weapon Handling from the Overlord Brand bonuses, plus 10% Weapon Handling for wearing 2pcs Petrov, plus 50% Weapon Handling thanks to the perfect version of Braced. Now feel free to add as much Weapon Handling with minor attributes as desired and maybe use the Black Friday as your secondary weapon... and you'll have a pretty stable LMG and a Merciless that'd be at least somewhere close to what you saw in the video.

Edit:
Whoops, I shouldn't have stopped reading the thread right after your video – I basically totally agree to what ko102crew has already written!

A fun build I use with an LMG, and a Mantis:

3 x Strikers
Memento Back pack
Contractors Gloves
Petrov Chest with Headhunter

Faster rate of fire with laser like aim with extra weapon handling, you can really hone in on head shots with the LMG and other weapons doing major damage. Even tried my Nemesis and playing on PS4 it's steady as a rock when aiming, I can take out a bunch of Elites at long range with head shots.

@Noxious81 tried the overlord/petrov setup and felt that i was doing better with Strikers, maybe it's due to the increased RoF....i dunno just felt better.

1hr later got bored and went back to my typical M1A rifle build

(...) tried the overlord/petrov setup and felt that i was doing better with Strikers, maybe it's due to the increased RoF....i dunno just felt better.

1hr later got bored and went back to my typical M1A rifle build

But at least you tried! Well, and that's what testing builds is also about – finding out that it sucks or that it's not as fun as expected. I sometimes already dumped build ideas after having tested them against the free-roaming boss in front of the White House. If a build doesn't feel good for me here, I don't even give them an hour of playtime

@noxious81 But at least you tried! Well, and that's what testing builds is also about – finding out that it sucks or that it's not as fun as expected. I sometimes already dumped build ideas after having tested them against the free-roaming boss in front of the White House. If a build doesn't feel good for me here, I don't even give them an hour of playtime

I do very similar, I'll try doing a Heroic mission that I know well, by the first few stages I can tell if a build is going to work or not, so many of those "magical" builds you see on Youtube don't work nearly as well as they show. I have a few builds I always seem to go back to.