Alright, the one thing that has always bugged me is the inability of dealing with gremlins as a pure gunner. Currently, I use the Callahan to take on those bastards, because it's the only thing I've found that does the job remotely acceptable. I bought and tried a Shadow alchemer, sadly I wasn't impressed with it's performance.
So, I'm asking you guys for an answer, how do you deal with Gremlins efficiently as a gunner? Is the Biohazard the less obvious answer for this?
Cornering is pretty simple, but also situational. One of the things I was looking for was a way to deal with menders in a group (for example Arenas with Retrodes and Gremlin menders) efficiently. I have the feeling that if im kiting a mob, perhaps the biohazard would prompt them to dodge once and then run straight into the shots? Would that be correct?
I've seen someone completely unload on a group of Gremlins in a Deconstruction Zone with the Virulent Catalyzer. The problem that always lies in Arenas is that they like to hang out in the middle while the rest of the mob runs around. Worse off they can heal themselves so it only makes things more diffucult. The explosion from the Catalyzer could probably help in a few ways.
First off it has a chance of Poison which would make the Gremlins inefficient against whatever you're shooting at. Secondly the explosion will hit multiple enemies making it harder for the Gremlins to heal everyone. Finally with that explosion you may just hit the Gremlins themselves. Its always possible to take down the large amounts of Mecha Knights with those 2 Gremlins but being able to effectively damage more than one enemy makes things easier. I figure being able to poison those enemies only makes things easier.
Alright, would it be fair to say that Catalyzer is a better weapon overall than Callahan to deal with gremlins? (And if not, which would you say is)
catalyzer all the way I'm a pure gunslinger too and If you know what you are doing the Biohazard will do the job for you.
I'm okay with Biohazard vs gremlins, but before that, I used Needle Shot/Callahan. While Callahan can work okay with 1-2 gremlins reliably to knock them down/stun them, I found Needle Shot to be fairly fun:
vs 1 gremlin, a close or point-blank charge attack will usually kill a gremlin (at least solo-2 people)
vs about 3 gremlins, charge attack's spread can deal decent damage to them while knocking them down.
vs more gremlins, you can use needle shot's range and the shoot-shield (or delay) - shoot... tactic to force the dodge reflex and push them back. Reloading only allows them to gain ground on you.
I find the Blackhawk to be the best weapon to deal with gremlins. It does bonus damage to them (not as much as a catalyzer or alchemer, but better than callahan) and the way it fires is perfect for gremlins. I found with an alchemer, the 2 shot clip ruins it, since they dodge the first bullet, you hit with the second and then repeat, while with a catalyzer the slow bullets can be a real pain. It's ok for dealing with gremlins, but its almost impossible to hit a particular one out of a crowd, and when they run away they can actually outrun your bullets... With a Blackhawk, the small fast bullets allow you to easily pick the mender out of the crowd, the large clip size allows you to fire one bullet, (which hits because its so fast) and then unload the next 5 on where they dodged to. Also, when fighting large groups, the minimal reload downtime allows for almost continuous suppressive fire, essentially giving it huge knockback, never giving the gremlins a chance to stop dodging and approach you.
OH! Also, the blackhawk has incredible range, which is always handy, especially when sniping menders.
I've been fairly successful with my Umbra Driver on t3 gremlins. When soloing, a charged shot can generally 1-shot a mender (or a charge shot + 1 extra shot) and it knocks them down. Even with my semi-poor aim I'm still successful in arenas thanks to the bullet ricochets. Really, any of the shadow guns will work just fine for them. Just pick the gun style you enjoy the most.
I recently had to resort to a strike needle against gremlins and found it was reasonable at doing damage while forcing them to dodge back. It doesn't let you kill off healers quickly though.
Because gremlins only dodge in one direction, keep making them dodge til they can't go any further.
The slow shots from a pulsar or catalyzer line gun are perfect for the job, because they stay in the gremlin's space long enough for their invincibility frame to end. Once they're in a corner, they just keep dodging... and getting hit. Plus because the shots move so slow, the other gremlins around you may just keep dodging while the bullet's airborne too.