I'm doing kiting most of the time and actually I find my Super Blaster very useful. During preview I used Master Blaster and it worked good for me too.
My second weapon is Magnus that is good against wolvers - not only it deal Piercing damage but also pin them down in place so they can't dodge.
I've been playing with Alchemer a bit but I have found that Blaster/Magnus combo suits me more. Even though I'm going to upgrade my Alchemer to Hail Driver and get Antigue at some point (3 tokens so far) I suppose Valiance will find a place in my arsenal.

The blasters do normal damage, and that's their only quality. 3 shots (more on the highest level I believe), normal damage, decent power, decent range. They have nothing that sets them apart from other weapons though.

The alchemers for the most part will do something else however which makes them more useful usually. First, being elemental, they do more damage to constructs (shadowtech alchemer aside). Firo, volt, and cryotech alchemers all apply some kind of useful status effect (or, sometimes, not so useful. Oil slimes + firotech = bad) which gives them an overall useful aspect as status damage bypasses resistances (firotech alchemers do less damage to wolvers for example, but burning is burning).

Autoguns have massive damage output possible per shot, and a very strange charge attack that actually draws things in to you (making it easier to land all of those shots). Depending on the path you take, you could set several enemies on fire with one burst (pepperbox), or shoot further and faster (needle shot, seems to have "instant" travel bullets).

Haven't used the Magnus or Antigua variants, but they offer greater range and power or higher clip sizes (respectively) statistically, so they distinguish themselves from blasters as well. Blasters are "generic" basically.

I'm Commander Magnus, and these are my second favorite guns in the Citadel.

I solo and I use a blaster; switching from 2* to 3* is my next priority. I find them superior to alchemers, but I don't think they measure up as well as some other options at 4* or 5*. That's a loooong way away for me, though, and I'll likely ride the Blaster series all the way to 4*.

Don't get me wrong, I've got a Master Blaster myself, all the way up to level 10. But this is why they're "not preferred" in my opinion.

Given that at close range my 2 star autogun can closely match damage with the 4 star master blaster though, I'm probably pretty close to right if I'm wrong.

You're pretty off, Fey.

And autogun limits mobility for bursts of damage. So it's far and away from being as good as a Blaster.

And yet, if you need to kite something that's fairly fast-moving (say, a graveyard phantom ... try standing still through a full autogun barrage with THAT) down a long, narrow corridor, Feynt, you're S.O.L. with an autogun. There's just no getting around a lack of mobility in some circumstances. I'm not saying autoguns "suck." Merely saying that blasters have their place.

There is no "best" option. Only situational ones. Balance is a real concept.

But you just said you wait. Positioning and waiting are separate factors! How can it be all about positioning if you say you have to wait some, too? D:<

If you roll a decent UV on Valiance it's honestly one of the best guns in the game. I have Damage Bonus vs Construct: Very High on mine and it's easily the most used gun in my arsenal.

Also, Valiance knockback is a godsend for the space invader parts of Firestorm.

I won't say you have to be really good to use the autogun, but there's a trick to it.

This is moving after firing a single shot, and then firing a single shot again, then moving, and so on. I find that you are able to keep most of your mobility and most of your firepower if you never ever activate reload by firing two shots. Each autogun shot has as much firepower as two or more shots from guns in the same tier, with the option of going x4 if you sacrifice your mobility.

How fast can you fire again after moving? About a second. Sometimes I wonder if its any slower then firing two shots and then reloading.

In short, the trick is to manage your reloads. If you never use the second shot, you still retain a high amount of mobility.

I really came here to find out about blasters though. Based on the comments, I suppose I'll build one.

The main advantage of the blaster is that it damages everything. This is in comparison with the Antiguas and the Alchemers which are very useful against some enemies but very weak against others. The blaster also shoots 3 bullets at a time, but that doesn't mean much beyond Tier 1 because enemies start to dodge by tier 2.

Since you are a sword/gun hybrid I recommend you keep your blaster and not deal with the other weapons. There's no point in going hybrid gunner/swordsman if your ranged attack is useless in a pinch.

For pure gunners I recommend skipping the blaster and taking an antigua/alchemer or an alchemer/shadow alchemer combo. That way you do much more damage then taking a blaster.

I made an Undead:High blaster as my very first craft ever.

I never really did anything with it (because in graveyard, it only pushed my damage up by like 6-8 and didn't know that UV's passed down in upgrades).
But I run around with 3 swords most of the time, and I'm between either upgrading it to a Valiance, or making a Callahan.

What's this about Valiance and knockback? O.o