Pepperbox is one of my first favorite weapons in the game. It's not a popular weapon even from the early years of SK and it almost lost it's remaining advantages and uses after Grim repeater was added. The only time the pepperbox shines than grim and blitz is when you're dealing with a tortodrone). It's not underpowered, it's actually decent but underrated for some reasons but this is one of the few weapons that are considered inferior to another 5* weapon upgraded from the 2* weapon.
(Ex. Amputator, Plague Needle (Maybe), Sentenza (There's carbine), Deconstructor bomb, Staggerstorm (Maybe), Hail/Magma Driver (Maybe on PVE)
When compared to Grim and Blitz:
- Normal dmg type (neutral, easily replaced by blitz and grim)
- Inferior base dmg (fire status is rng and not a reliable dmg source... except if you're dealing with Ice Cubes, but there's grim repeater that would kill them faster )
- Charge attack's knockback is somehow useful for defense but it's knockback is a (-) for party runs, it also reduces overall dmg.
- Bullet travel speed is slower (I'm not sure)
Set of options for pepperbox buff: (I'm not asking for a damage increase and non-neutral dmg type)
1.) Increase it's attackspeed (faster recovery, Like ASI Max Blitz = ASI H Pepperbox)
2.) Slightly decrease it's charge time
3.) Fire Status (Buff the chance to "Moderate")
I also have a personal suggestion that would make pepperbox unique: (A hybrid magnus/autogun)
- All bullets would spawn at the same time for basic and charge attack, this would make the pepperbox work like a shotgun.
(But to balance the charge attack, it would spawn only 10 shots instead of 15 and it's maximum range is lower than autogun's)
- Recoil would push the user back
- Firing sound would be the same as magnus'
I like the idea of shotguns, we should have some in this game, and the autoguns in general should act like shotguns IMO, currently they do but they could still get some of the changes you suggested to feel more shotgun-ny. I don't think pepperbox is that bad though, sure if you compare it to blitz it'll always lose, even grim repeater loses to blitz, however, that doesn't mean that its damage is at all bad, it still has its uses like slimes when paired with other monsters like in arenas, it's also a great torto killer and good for vana as well if you like to deal with turrets and slimes too not just trojans and vana if like you do with blitz, it also does more damage to the mask which is more annoying than the other phases of the bossfight so it can be a good substitute to blitz.
What you typed here should be how all autoguns behave IMO. On a side note, I think that the regular shots on magnuses should have increased maximum range so they can act more like snipers which seem like their intended purpose as far as I see.