I really feel like this has already been posted, but I cannot find it, and I used google, not the forum search bar. I am looking to diversify my arsenal, since the only gun I have is elemental, so I am going to make a blitz next. I don't know what kind of shadow gun I should make after that, and in the wake of the gunner update, I look to you, Spiral Knights forums, to tell me. What is the best shadow gun after the gunner update?
Thanks in advance for the helpful suggestions.
Thanks for the info, I'll definitely look at the Grim Repeater. What I mean by the question though, is what is the best Shadow damage type gun, out of all of them, not just the new guns, just including the new guns. Thanks.
Most of them are pretty good.
I'd say a tie between grim repeater, winter grave, umbra driver and maybe phantamos.
Grim repeater = best for single target damage
Winter grave = best for crowd control
Umbra driver = incredible ranged damage, possibly best mobile single target damage. Most well rounded to be sure.
Phantamos = possibly the best mobile single target damage without charging; I'm still looking into this.
Thanks, what about Sentenza, is it not really up there with the other four you mentioned? Also is Biohazard any good?
Let's compare Antigua-style guns to alchemer-style guns. Antiguas are easier to use and do more damage in the hands of a novice. Alchemers do more damage in the hands of an expert, offer more statuses, and have much more useful charge attacks. So I would never choose a Sentenza or Obsidian Carbine over Umbra Driver.
I'll let other people comment on the other shadow guns, either because I don't have them or I don't know them well enough.
Ok, so no Sentenza. How does the Umbra driver compare with the Winter Grave and Grim Repeater? I heard that the alchemers were nerfed by the gunner update, but is Umbra driver still better than Winter Grave and Grim Repeater? Thanks for all the info everyone.
Alchemers weren't nerfed in the gunner update. One style of switch shooting was nerfed by changes to the animation mechanics. Other styles are unaffected.
(I don't use switch shooting anyway, mostly because I'm not quick enough mashing buttons to save any time with it. I stick with shoot-pause and still seem to do ok with umbra, having fun planning ricochets in a crowd. I doubt I'd be any quicker mashing buttons with a setenza, so I wouldn't do better dps with it and would probably wear out my left-click finger trying.
I'd like to try a grim repeater, though.)
With so many choices it is hard to pick one.
Sentenza and Obsidian Carbine for those nitty gritty battles in which you want to be able to chase things down.
Grim repeater is best as an ambush weapon and as a crowd damage weapon.
Umbra is great as a sniping weapon and is good for dancing around slow enemies and planting those bouncing bullets into crowds.
Phantasmos is a good all purpose shadow gun for many situations (especially ones where you want to deal damage but can't afford to slow down), often overshadowed (Ha!) by others more specialized guns this one offers you ease of use and is a good gun in most situations.
Wintergrave is a good gun for setting up for more powerful attacks, much like the Glacius it offers safety and power. (If you want real power then get the Iron slug, the WG is better as a team support weapon)
The Permafroster is good gun for easy status spread, just never fire two bullets in the same direction so that anything you freeze won't get unfroze by your next bullet. This offers the benefits of the Winter Grave but in a more spread out style of play.
Does the Permafroster do shadow damage? I think I will probably go for the Grim Repeater if you think it's better against crowds, because crowds are harder for me to deal with normally. Grim Repeater looks a lot cooler also, but Umbra is more fun to use I've heard.
I've made a Winter Grave and Phantamos, and this is my experience with them:
•Winter Grave
Very powerful charge attack. Its like a shadow Glacius, but its a gun! Though I recommend getting the mook cluster to face you first before firing to get the most out of it. It still has that knockback issue where it is opposite to where they are facing; if they are facing west, they will fly east. So the charge attack is best used towards the front because that's where it will deal most damage. In addition, this gun made Divine Avenger obsolete in terms of practicality within Roarmulus Twins.
I run there to farm stuff. The charge attack utterly decimates them and I don't have to close in to them to actually knock them into the next threshold anymore, point-blank to 2-tiles of distance (give or take) to shoot the charged shot will be enough to knock one Roarmulus Twin into the next phase. It takes 5 charged shots from Winter Grave to actually kill the Roarmulus Twins if done correctly. (I have yet to try this on Red Roarmulus Twins)
One thing I gotta let you in on. It takes a bit of practice to switchfire ("Switch-shoot", I prefer "switchfire". One-worded terms! :v) with Callahan due to the delay, I've tried it since I have both of them. Though that's not the thing I was gonna let you in on. ;)
The thing is that there's immense burst damage in both Magnus and Tundrus. I was doing some experiments with both of them as I was running FSC, it took me a while to figure out how to do it consistently, but it seems that you deal it by loosing the charge attack AT POINT-BLANK. When you have a Trojan open for a back attack, have a Callahan charged up and shoot it up close. You'll see some overlapping "super effective" numbers as well as the "gold"!yellow hit animations that you see when the damage you deal is strong against that specific type of enemy and it works for both weapons.
•Phantamos
Blasters, to me, were mostly sidearms. Good sidearms no less. Three-shooter that lets me keep on fighting while running around to plot my next big move while keeping angry mobs from killing me, and that's what any Blaster is good for in my opinion. Especially when switchfiring. I've used it its other new siblings (I got all four; Valiance included), and I find it easy to do. It takes skill to use with other gun-types: Alchemers, Magnuses, Autoguns, etc!any two-shooter gun.
So Phantamos would be a jack-of-all-trades for shadow guns. Just like Arcana and Riftlocker are jack-of-all-trades for Elemental and Piercing guns respectively. Marvelous for switchfiring, if its one "special" thing I like about it. I use a gamepad so I got no problem with doing that wizardry. :v
Gorgofist is still the best.
Why?
It proves you fought Tortodrones and won.
"It proves you fought Tortodrones and probably used a lot of sparks." ftfy
My obvious joke is not obvious enough for Krakob
Sentenza because it's shiny and has wings.
In all seriousness, the Grim Repeater is easily the best shadow gun of the patch.