What's bad about it is that the blasters (as well as other guns) do more damage per bullet (and DPS in general). But lets say you're hiding behind a rock and have to jump out to shoot- would you rather have to jump out and shoot several bullets, or only a few? The same holds true for any situations that requires you to be shooting.

Damage numbers (max damage, T2 training hall):
Riftlocker vs beasts: 104
Gilded Griffin vs beasts: 63

Riftlocker (2 hits snuck in): 208
Gilded Griffin (3 hits snuck in):189

So in order for you to make griffin worthwhile under these circumstances, you have to get in 1.66 shots for every 1 hit you'd have to get in with riftlocker, which is problematic when it comes to the main event of sneaking damage in.

What's good about it is that shooting a ton of shots can let you break a lot of blocks and hit a lot of switches quickly. This makes it the ideal weapon for levels like Ironclaw Munitions factory and arenas with lots of respawning explosive blocks, but blasters aren't much worse at hitting switches and will serve you better overall. The fiend/gremlin/undead buffs are all very nice and can be quite useful, but leave the weapon feeling awfully circumstantial in many situations. Really, these guns are for knights that already have a ton of gear and want to optimize. Maybe your loadout for gremlins needs sentenza in particular for whatever reason- that's up to you to decide.

We've been through all of this already, haven't we? You ask about antiguas vs. blasters, as if those are the only kinds of guns. There are many other kinds. Which one you prefer depends somewhat on your play style, your offensive bonuses, etc.

For example, you can talk about using a Sentenza or Obsidian Carbine to interrupt a gremlin mender until it dies. But I just kill it instantly with an Umbra Driver shot.

You can talk about suppressing a gun puppy with Polaris until it dies. But I just kill it instantly with a Nova Driver shot.

I'm mainly a sworder (when I'm not a bomber), and I've never bought the argument that there are "gunner guns" and "sworder sidearm guns". Sworders should just be using the best guns, regardless of their learning curves. None of the weapons in this game take more than an hour to learn anyway.

I'm not sure that I recognize the distinction between "sworder who uses a sidearm gun" and "hybrid sworder-gunner". If you're not using your gun much, then don't carry it. If you are using the gun much, then you're hybrid.

That said, a distinction could be drawn between damage-oriented guns (e.g. Nova) and support-oriented guns (e.g. Polaris). And you could say that a "sworder with sidearm" is someone who uses swords and support guns, while a "hybrid sworder-gunner" is someone who uses swords and damage guns.

But even then Argent, Sentenza, and the blasters fall on the damage side, not the support side. And the alchemers outshine them in terms of damage. Obsidian Carbine could be regarded as support, due to the poison.

Your comments are reasonable. Certainly the claim "alchemers do high damage" depends on some assumptions about how often the ricochets land. There are a lot of details to consider.

To some extent we are talking past each other, because I am thinking of charges and you seem to be thinking of regular attacks. To me, charge attacks fill the utility role of a sworder sidearm better than regular attacks do. Suppose I need to take out a turret that I can't reach easily with my sword, because it is semi-protected by spikes or low walls. I charge my weapon, approach to within range, and kill the turret in one shot. I don't hang out in the danger zone peppering the turret with little attacks.

Your mental resources argument does not convince me. If I'm a sworder and the tactical situation lets me use my sword, then I use my sword. I use my sidearm gun only if the tactical situation prevents me from using my sword. And then I don't need mental resources for my sword; I just concentrate on my gun.

By the way, I use Nova Driver in Ghosts in the Machine. Of course my main weapon is an elemental sword. Sometimes I have replaced Nova with another sword (for kicks) or a bomb (to try other tactics).

Upside:
It has far more potential for breaking blocks than other guns.
You can also engage multiple enemies more easily.
Lack of knockback and the low flinch rate means teammates can easily predict enemy movement.

Downside:
Low damage, no knockback, and low flinch chance per bullet means that solo play is harder than when using a Blaster variant.
Excessive strain on finger muscles.
Rewards button mashing and not intuitive gameplay (alchemer charges, Pulsar herding, Catalyzer timing, etc)

Also, even though both Cyclops Cap and Shadowsun Stetson has damage bonus medium, do they increase the same amount of damage?

Yes. Medium is Medium. Also, Medium is equal to two Lows, or one half of a Very High. See the wiki page "Abilities" for more detail.

Im going for all three 4* variants of the Antigua and heat it up to 10, and using Cyclips/Shadowsun stetson and Sentinel armor to boost its damage.Is that a good idea?

It's a fine idea. You'll do an adequate amount of damage.

By the way, some people really like the antigua-style charge attack, but most of us find it nearly unusable. If you agree, then don't worry about getting CTR; focus on ASI, damage bonus, and MSI instead.

Thanks, but I've tried all of that, and doesn't it kind of bolster my argument? You're saying that you can charge safely only at certain places (maximum range). And only at certain times (right after projectiles pass you). And it goes without saying that you can't have any other monsters about to attack you. Yes, the charge can be used in ideal situations.

I suppose that really my philosophy is that sword users without any handgun ctr shouldn't be using handgun charges so often as it leaves them vulnerable while they charge. If the driver in question came with ctr: high or very high automatically, then I would probably think differently... but I don't think that investing so heavily in a handgun is what people aiming to use swords are after, at least not at first.

I do play in parties most of the time as well, so that would explain some of the differences-- being in a party makes things chaotic and guns like the blasters help to control that.

And lastly, this whole debate is probably a result of the items all being too similar. What do they do that's similar? They strafe and shoot at things and deal damage. What are the differences? Clip size, speed of shooting and damage, but not damage type. It's too close to direct competition (which leads to imbalance) for my taste.

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Obsidian crusher is a great bomb because it fulfills the roles of both venom veilor and electron vortex, although both are better at their respective jobs.