Out of curiosity, would you change your load out based on who you are grouping with? Or is your gun setup pretty universal?

As a tri-sword user I'm curious if that would alter a pure gun users load out at all if I ended up grouping with them.

I'll have to admit you must run with some pretty scrub people if you can't take down Vanaduke though ;) Sounds like you need a reliable Tri-sword user along with you to carry you through.

Would it be a good option to exchange the nameless hat for the grey feather cowl to have extra status resists if you find yourself set on fire too often? Is the elemental defense on the cowl better than that on the hat?

Or is the attack speed increase important enough to go for the nameless anyway?
I did think about the divine veil, too.. might'nt it be nice to have extra shadow defense?

I just don't know how important the extra attack speed is, if it is a must_have for someone going for pure guns. Can someone help me there?

I'm almost certain the real reason you want to use the Storm Driver is because you want me to die horribly to the Quicksilvers. I'm on to you.

In all seriousness though, now that I have the Grand Flourish the runs are MUCH easier to do. Being able to take out the wolvers and fiends easily is a godsend. With that sword the Hail driver would be less of an issue because the interrupt/knock back is on the third swing and the sword in general is quite speedy.

But yeah for big two handers that rely on the knockback to keep them safe, the Haildriver can be a bit rough. Usually it just means I need to ignore those mobs and honestly it's just a minor annoyance.

i took your advice about nameless armor.
now i'm running nameless, owlite, umbra, hail, callahan and volcanic pepperbox (lol, cutting grass sucks)
my stuff is almost maxed out, so in trying to think of stuff to do, i decided to start farming uv's.
are uv's any good at all?
what are the actual, hard benefits of having something like high damage vs. slimes on my umbra?

I am going to post in this thread, and get some advice from a gunslinger.

Currently, I've got Full Vog, and Full Sunset gear. My current weapons are Combuster, Rock Salt Bomb, and Iron Slug. I plan to get an Ionized Salt Bomb before the end of the week. That will cover shock, and also do some Piercing damage (which makes up for the lack of Piercing that my Iron Slug does).

My eventual goal for setup is this:
Nameless Hat (Medium ASI Guns)
Vog Cub Coat (Medium ASI Swords)
Swiftstrike Buckler (High ASI Guns AND Swords)
Combuster
Iron Slug
Ionized Salt Bomb

I have some questions though.

1. Would a Callahan be better? As I am using only ONE gun, I figured I'd go with Iron Slug for the all-around damage. But every once in a while, I miss the occasional Stun. Still, the decreased damage vs. Constructs is something I'm not willing to settle for in what is to be my only ranged weapon, which is how I'll deal with a lot of Gun Puppies.

2. How does the Shadowsun gear work? It's only a low damage bonus per piece of equipment, which I hear is pretty garbage. I know attack speed is typically better than increased damage, but I notice that with the Iron Slug at least, the speed benefit is barely enough to actually help me out, even at Ultra. Would damage be better for the Iron Slug?

3. Looking at my loadout, are there any suggestions you can give me? What weapon to switch out with what, and why?

Note: I rarely party alone. Most of the people in my guild already have Freeze bombs, and a few have a Glacius. The way Freeze functions, there's really no benefit for all 4 people in the party to have Freeze bombs or weapons. Also, I'm not a fan of Alchemers.

I'm not particularly attached to the Combuster, but it would be a shame to shelve a 5-star weapon I JUST got. Not to mention I strongly believe that a Sword of some kind should be on-hand at all times, if for nothing more than to cut up Grass so I can get my 1 crown. It's the Spiral Knights equivalent of beach combing, but it gets money and takes a very small effort.

I switched it out. I dropped the Ion bomb for the Volt Driver. Looking to upgrade it to Storm when I get the energy.

I like Shock weapons, however the only dungeons I'm interested in doing right now have Shock stratums. That makes it very hard to get to Vanaduke.

I currently have the same setup as meowreka in terms of the Armor and Helm. Not going for anything else with the weapons she listed.

Really though, I want to ask. Nameless Hat vs Deadshot Chapeau.

I hate Zombies with a passion and I'm eventually planning to be able to gun them down. While the Medium Attack Speed with the Nameless Hat is alright, it's barely noticeable IMO. The Deadshot Chapeau has a damage bonus vs Undead (The wiki doesn't state whether with guns or not) which appeals to me. The shadow damage defense and curse resist also appeal to me since I want to be able to SURVIVE in those graveyard levels.
Which, do you guys think, is better to have?

I could also care less about the Alchemers because they never really appealed to me in the first place. Unless convinced otherwise, I see no reason to get one.

My current goals are these:
Deadshot Chapeau (Unless convinced otherwise)
Nameless Hat (Costume)
Vog Cub Coat
Grey Owlite Shield/Swiftstrike Buckler/Omega Shell
Royal Jelly Band (Trinket)
Dual Heart Pendant (+3 Health Trinket)
Leviathan Blade/Divine Avenger/Gran Faust
Valiance
Argent Peacemaker/Sentenza
Plague Essence (Bomb)

Do different guns/gun lines have different maximum ranges? I haven't seen this covered to date in this thread, and I ask this based on a couple observations and a small amount of testing...to wit, I took a Blaster and a Cryotech Alchemizer to the lobby and did some test firings because it felt to me that the Cryotech had a shorter range when running through the dungeons.

Observation #1--range is not consistent from (uncharged) shot to shot with the same weapon--overall, I saw about 1/2 a square difference in the distance traveled by a blaster's individual shot in 2 seperate series consisting of at least 20 shots each. The range variability for the Cryotech was even more pronounced, based partially on the fragmentation effect, but was between 1/2 and 1 square variability between individual shots with 2 seperate series.

Observation #2--The scatter from the shots was more pronounced with the Cryotech--while the absolute range (distance traveled by a fragment in any one of the test shots) from the Cryotech seemed to be slightly greater, on most shots the blaster seemed to consistently go further by 1/4 to 1/2 a square, and so I would consider that to have the longer maximum range in the conventional sense.

Caveat--I know there is some difference in effective ranges of weapons (pepperbox comes to mind), though the only guns I've personally fired are the 2 above and the Proto Gun.

Request--for further testing by individuals with a wider range of weapons, and/or a report of findings from said testing to characterize differences in maximum range and absolute range, as defined above, also commenting on variability of the weapon--i.e., if a magnus-line weapon occasionally goes 1 square further than a blaster-line weapon but most shots are the same range as a blaster, that would be characterized as increased absolute range but identical maximum range. Additional comments on effective range (i.e. range at which a single shot reliably hits the intended target) are welcome.

If you will only be using the Nameless hat and you will have Maximum! speeds for both guns what do you recommend for a bottom set?

I read like 30 posts here; only thing that remained in my head: "callahan good"
which is good to know~ (I wonder.. did cobby know this? pretty sure made a callahan)

id just drop the shadowtech for now since jelly are easy enough to kill, and gremlin can dodge so youd rather shoot em with magnus.

if you can manage to not get hit a swift strike buckler would be good to give you ultra attackspeed with the gunslinger set.

@bdull:
According to my ingame obsorvations range goes: Blaster = Antigua > Alchemer = Magnus. I'm probably wrong though as I haven't been doing any real experiments on that.

@Coldcrime:
Blaster is a good choice for a start. It's good starting out handgun - just like Calibur is a good starting out sword. Wielding a Blaster you shouldn't have problems with constructs, slimes or zombies. Then I'd advice Magnus as a second weapon - for its usefullness against beasts, gremlins and fiends. With Blaster and Magnus you will be able to take down most of the mobs (of course we're talking about early and mid-game here). Alchemer was a third gun I've bought - yes it does more damage to constructs and undead, and is great against crowds (graveyards), and status inflicting is a plus, but ricochets may be troublesome as they destroy stone blocks you're hiding behind, open gates you'd rather keep closed and shatter "ice" blocks sections you wouldn't like to be destroyed just yet. Of course it's not an issue when playing with party because party members are more devastating then any ricochets ;-)

I've been playing with two weapon slots for a while and Blaster/Magnus combo worked well. I've changed it to Voltech Alchemer/Magnus combo later on, but even then I've swapped to Blaster/Magnus on occasions.

I have no expirience with Shadowtech Alchemer - my Vile Striker (UV: damade bonus vs slimes - medium) works fine in Royal Jelly Throne Room.

@Gnosys:
Note that Magnus is a good weapon against wolvers/gremlins/fiends not only for its fast bullets/hight damage but mainly for its ability to knock enemy down on almost every hit. Knocked down wolvers cannot dodge and teleport. Knocked down gremlins cannot cast spells or use health capsules. Knocked out devilities cannot throw stuff at you.

@Zoa

Yes the same across the line. See Fossa's lineup for suggested guns, they're pretty spot on, granted I personally switched out the Hail Driver for a Storm.

I wasn't even aware you could play on browser.

First off, I hope your still answering questions.

I want to become a gunslinger in the future I was thinking of having Hail Driver, Callahan and Sentenza as my three guns which cover all the weakness's of the monsters. I was wondering, if I would be better off getting a sword for my 4th weapon, or getting a Magma Driver which deals Elemantal directly, so I wouldnt have to wait/risk losing the effect of the hail driver.

Thank you.

See if I can help you out, Chimpduck.

Well, Hail Driver deals Elemental Damage, so a Magma Driver isn't something you'd need in that regard. If you're considering picking up a second Alchemer gun, look for the Umbra Driver. It'll cut through groups of Gremlins faster than the Sentenza will, and it's also great against groups of Jellies. However, keeping an Antigua line gun will do you a lot of favors, since its high attack speed will keep you sane for cutting down boxes and crystals. If you plan on fighting Vanaduke much in the future, you'll want a Silversix or Peacemaker, so keep that in mind as well. I'd recommend the Peacemaker over the Sentenza, but Sentenza was basically king in PvP during the preview from what I've heard, so Sentenzas may become more popular again down the road.

Picking a 4th weapon is tricky. Here's what I tend to run with: Cryo Driver, Fiery Pepperbox, Shadow Driver, and Strike Needle. I have each damage type covered (Elemental, Normal, Shadow, and Piercing) and the reason I chose not to go with a Sword for my last weapon is because I use a Swiftstrike Buckler, even in T3. I don't want to get into melee, and with Nameless gear every gun I use is IAS Maximum. So I don't waste that bonus.

But if you're equipping different gear, it's really hard to argue with carrying a sword. In that regard, you just need to cover whatever weakness you may have. If your guns are two shots and reload, pick a faster sword. A Shadow line Brandish might be a good compliment to your current picks, gives you a good attack against Jellies, and Gremlins, if you feel overwhelmed. Or for a more all around sword, Leviathan Blades deal Normal type damage so you can use it against anything. Bombs tend to be a good compliment to guns, as well. Poison bombs slow healing but more importantly reduce resists, so you can deal a little more damage. Freeze bombs stop things from chasing you, so you can shoot them safely, but the Hail Driver does that for you already. Really, there are just a lot of options, and you kinda need to play around and see what works best for you. Cheesy answer, I know. But no less true.

If you're open to using Swords, I'd suggest dropping the Magnus (pure piercing) and the Fireburst Brandish (burn damage) to pick up the Flamberge (Evolves from the Flourish). You can do both jobs with the same weapon, and save one more weapon slot for something else. Plus they say the Royal Jelly is only -very slightly- resistant to Piercing, so you can still deal half-decent damage on it with this weapon. (Just not, y'know, regular Jellies.)

@ Gigafreak

I still suck at using swords, I see the Gunslinger as a medic type guy - you do damage, but your capable of getting in to revive a fallen team mate due to you often avoiding takeing hits yourself.

The Flamberge could be taken on JK runs as it allows room for my vile striker, but if I went to tier 3, I think that having the 3 guns doing the damage will help me personally alot more. Its what I am better at.

Thanks for your opinions, there are obvioulsy mainy routes I could take on the weapon front, more than I first realised.

** As for people breaking the ice your Hail Driver makes? Don't even worry about it. You're better off continuing to shoot and break the ice yourself because you'll do damage faster that way. **

I thought the elemental damage only took place when the ice broke naturally?

Callahan - Hail Driver - Umbra Driver - I think are the best choice for the guns based on this discusion.

Would the Divine Avenger be better than the Levianthan Blade for a gunslinger? The charged attack seems to be more in line with what a gunslinger would be looking for, and it deals Elemental (on top of normal) which means it would work well with the Hail driver on all monsters weak to that. It also has knock back for when you get up close, allow you to knock back the monsters take a few steps back your self allowing you to draw your gun put a few shots into them and get back safe.

I have question mr. gunslinger sir! Will three rings ever fix the updates?

It's a joke, about the poor updates everyones complaining about.

Argent Peacemaker or Sentenza for pieceing damage? I dont like that I cant move with the Callahan.

@Chimpduck: The damage of the Antigua line is split between two damage types, exchanging power for speed and mobility. Split damage weapons make a compromise between versatility and specialization. A side effect of this is an unusual combination of monster types that the Antigua line is good and bad against. For example, the Argent Peacemaker is good against fiends and undead but bad against gremlins and slimes. This can cause some redundancies in monster type coverage with other weapons.

Overall, the Antigua line isn't really recommend for anyone who intend to only use guns. The increased attack speed from the Gunslinger set doesn't make a significant difference because the bullets can already be fired in rapid succession. For a gunslinger, a status effect is more important than a flashy charge attack. The Antigua line is better suited to being a backup weapon sword users.

It takes some practice to effectively use the Magnus line but it is worth it in the end. A single bullet from will knock down most wolvers, making it easy for you to continue the attack or retreat. On Tier 1, you can knock down gremlins with one bullet. On Tier 2, you can knock down gremlins if you fire 2 bullets in quick succesion. This does leave you vulnerable but it is very useful to interrupt gremlin that heal or drop land mines. There is also a small burst when a bullet hits a monster so you can hit more than one monster at a time if they are close together.