we don't need fifteen different blast bombs either, We need to streamline the bob-oms to make sure they have a clear identity for them... Blast, Shards, Mist, Vortex... and DR... because that's the odd cousin...

Callahan is excellent against fiends if you stick to the normal attack as they cannot dodge it in time and it consistently flinches them, which is what I originally used it for on release myself. The charge attack is too unwieldy to land against devilites, but it works wonders against Gorgos when you can bait them near walls to limit their RNG swaying or Greavers when they're about to dash at you. Likewise, beasts cannot dodge the charge if you hit them while they're winding up an attack, and the small extra damage it does over Iron Slug lets its normals flinch wolvers more consistently, though it hasn't mattered ever since their tracking was gutted.

The real problem with Callahan is that Iron Slug already does so much damage and can be used indiscriminately, so it's rarely necessary to bring Callahan for pierce-weak enemies when they die in the same number of charge shots (one or two) or are already flinching on each normal shot, and the benefits are muted as a result. I still like to bring it to Heart of Ice where there are no enemies that resist Piercing, excluding the occasional Rock Jelly butting in.

I agree that the Gunner Update was poorly conceived. It would've made sense to see only one variation of Pathfinder/Sentinel/Shade with status resistances suiting the existing content they defensively matched instead of having four status variations and three damage variations (where I've not once ever seen anyone field anything but the general damage versions). What could've been three armors exploded into 36. Could've been something like Pathfinder with Poison/Freeze, Sentinel with Shock/Stun, and Shade with Fire/Freeze, but here we are.

It's not always about the raw DPS, but how the damage - and flinch - is being applied. I essentially use Magnus normals like ranged combo finishers. Two swings of Hammer, swap to Slug/Callahan for one shot, swap back... Shutting up an Overtimer after you bait out a melee swing so you can keep pummeling them with your sword of choice is huge for momentum, especially when fighting multiple at once where safe uncontested openings are tough to come by without kiting them with long-range weapons or bombs.

I sincerely find Overtimers easier to control than standard Devilites with a Magnus or certain other weapons like Rocket Hammer or Turbillion, since while they boast higher damage and are far more aggressive, they have more exploitable patterns and tend to spread out less than their fearfully diving counterparts.

And by You I mean Bopp, Bopp is clearly right about Poor design, Blast Should be Normal, we have Spine that is Piercing, Dark Retribution that is Shadow, Shards Should be revisited, remove the Knockback from the Outer ring shards and that would give us a decent elemental bomb...

Turning a Deconstructor elemental o making Big angry Bomb Shadow, wont help, If You want Blast get used to Normal, want shadow? use Dark Retribution, want Piercing? Use Dark Briar Barrage, each one have an Identity, can You respect that? Identity? it is Important... thats about it, is not hard to understand.