Instead of getting the Blitz Needle and being stuck with a weapon that doesn't work in either of the Tier 2 bosses, you could get a weapon that plays exactly the same, but is better suited for early levels and general play, rather than specialized for only killing Trojans and Vanaduke until you master it. Using the Pepperbox against Royal Jelly first would allow noobs to comfortably practice using an Autogun on a boss, which experienced players won't always have the patience to teach them when they reach Vanaduke, or bring a Shivermist Buster to cheese him. And while they would sacrifice some DPS in the actual Vanaduke fight, it would be better to have a party member with a nerfed Normal damage Blitz Needle than someone who doesn't bring an Autogun at all because it's too specialized to bring to most of the missions they play.

As it stands, this isn't an option for the mind-boggling reason that the Pepperbox has a knockback effect that none of the other Autoguns do, so it lacks the utility as well as the damage of a Blitz Needle. Changing that seems to be a no-brainer.