So I am a T2 gunslinger and since gunslingers don't do too much damage in Lockdown (I know there are exceptions like some videos posted on Youtube but I am not that good) I need some advice.
Equipment I have now:
Gunslinger set
Magnus
Shadowtech MK II
Voltech MK II
Swift Flourish
Heart Pendant x2
I am going to get Shock Pulsar soon.
Any advice on weapons and on the the two gun-effective mod classes (Recon and Striker) is appreciated.
The use of Umbra Driver (I think) in LD (used very effectively) is demonstrated here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIOqBP0VC-M
This video is why I wanna bring Shadowtech to LD to see if I can at least replicate even a tiny bit of the techniques used in the video.
+1 fradow
alchemers are actually good in LD. like every gun, just make sure you don't trigger the reload animation (fire, pause, fire, pause, fire, repeat). the umbra and nova does good damage (depends on their armour). the status alchemers have a really good chance to inflict a status on your target (better than polaris expanded shots); just watch out because some of your opponents will have status resist (like wolver resists freeze). Using the ricochet of the alchemers can be useful (hit it off a wall or a block to trigger it)
the magnus is quite unforgiving. you can be severely punished by your opponent if you screw up. but it is a great weapon for chasing down the escaping enemies (if you are using striker).
with both the alchemers and magnus, you have to aim a bit ahead of your opponent's direction of movement to compensate for lag, bullet travel time (for alchemer) and the weird hit boxes of spiral knights
Alchemers are good in T3 but not T2 since 5* bullets travel faster than 3* bullets
Personally, i use a cryo tech in LD, it works SUPER well (as long as there are no skolvers, which sadly, there usually are), since you can freeze then do massive sword damage. Umbra driver is a popular LD damage gun, so you might want to stick to that, but the other alchemers are good for assisting your team in doing additional damage or limiting opponent's movement. Thus, i suggest volt driver, since it does a little DOT, and that crucial shock moment can ensure you/ your teamates to do the finishing blow on the enemy. Also, shock is a great shield breaker against recons.
Hello, I am a LD gunslinger.
First off, if you want to be a gunner, realize that you WILL be working harder for your kills than most of your opponents (auto aim rapier/skolver is so cheap), especially with all of the heart trinkets suddenly flooding into LD. You cannot have auto aim on or you will be unable to lead your shots and hit enemies not standing still or moving in a straight line towards you.
IMO the only class gunslingers can use effectively is striker, with it you can make use of your gun's range and keep away from those nasty swords. Guardians can't really make use of gun range due to the fact they can't keep their distance. Recon isn't really good since getting found is hugely punishing to the class and you won't have the damage output to kill your enemies quickly, giving them plenty of times to search for you.
You should never, ever, ever reload, wait for your knight to put the gun back down to his side so you can fire again without reloading, learning this time is very important.
I do not recommend pure damage guns, get status guns (shock/freeze specifically) and a sword (I recommend Flourish/BTB/GF) to exploit when the enemy are under their effects.
Alchemers should be used at short to medium ranges due to their somewhat slow speed.
Hail Driver is wonderful against strikers (even Skolvers freeze a decent amount), but not very effective vs. Guardians.
Storm Driver is still pretty effective against strikers, good against guardians if you can get the effect in against them.
Neither are particularly good at revealing recons, but if you do get a hit they are both effective.
Take an antigua line (Sentenza) for harassment at longer ranges than your alchemer will likely hit, revealing recons, supporting teammates, finishing off weakened/fleeing foes, pinning shielding guardians, and constantly interrupting the charging of bombs (or any other weapon for that matter).
You can take a Polaris if you WANT, but I hate the damn thing cuz it's so cheap (I feel so dirty when I use it).
It's good for keeping guardians pinned down, attacking groups of enemies capping points, revealing recons, area denial, bomb interruption, retreating, giving Strikers some obstacles to run around before they can get to you (but be sure to change weapon when they do get close), supporting teammates fighting enemies, yes ladies and gentlemen this POS does it all!
I don't recommend Callahan, too much risk, too little reward (HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A PERSON RUN THROUGH TWO CONSECUTIVE CALLAHAN HITS WITHOUT DYING OR GETTING STUNNED AND THEN KILLING THE GUNSLINGER WITH A SINGLE AUTO AIMED SWORD COMBO JESUS CHRIST HOW HORRIFYING). Its long time between shots means that you'll have to wait a somewhat lengthy amount before you can fire again, or risk a reload (V. DANGEROUS). Also not being able to move sucks. Oh, and if you shield cancel out after you shoot, and then shoot again, you will have to reload still anyway.
I currently don't recommend the Blaster line, Autogun line, or Catalyzer line (unless you want some Polaris-light action like from time to time like me).
Strikers are the most fun to fight imo, just try to keep out of their sword range!
Guardians are always a pain to fight as their shield can tank a whole bunch of hits from your guns, but it's easy enough to stay out of their range. What I usually do against them is pepper them with a few shots, run in quickly with a swing, run back out, and hit them with my gun when they try to counterattack. Be sure to mix it up so you don't get predictable.
Recons aren't so bad unless they catch you off guard with little to no warning becon (I hate that crap). Their high health can be kind of a problem, but once revealed there's not a whole lot they can do to you so long as you stay out of their range.
And that's all I feel like typing right now, might do more later.
I generaly play with one sword for primary and one gun as a side arm/ranged suport, as oposed to gunning primary, but here is some advice anyway.
Shock is OOO's gift (or curse) to lockdown, people who are in a shock are not blocking, they are not escaping, and they are not attacking. I like using a shock gun as a hello while i am closing the distance. I also have an antiga line, I use that as a goodbye when the enemy is trying to escape, it has FAST bullets and a decent range and as such is great for picking off the last bar or two of health before the enemy gets behind their force feild and to their heart pads. Also I found this interesting, it hits like a truck if someone is under the effect of a recon mark, that suprised me.
From my small experience (I usually care the 2 first guns in LD, but as side-arms, not as a pure gunslinger) :
- Antigua line is great to interrupt charges / break recon invisibility because of its high fire rate and high bullet per clip. Don't expect to do much damage though, it's more of an utility gun
- Polaris line makes a great wall of bullet to defend a point/deny an area. It also does good damage, but the problem is its slow bullets making it easy to avoid (which is not a problem if what you want is that enemies DON'T come in a place instead of actually doing damage). The shock is a great addition
- Magnus does good damage, can't be dodged and can stun. I don't personally use it, but it seems to be a good main weapon.
- Alchemer lines : really, I don't have enough experience with that in LD to say a lot. The big problem would be the 2 bullet clip, as you are VERY vulnerable when reloading (though the same applies to Magnus)
- Catalyzer line : very slow bullet, and contrary to Pulsar it doesn't have expanded shot. There is no reason to use it in LD
- Autogun lines : don't use this in LD ever, except if you intend to troll. Only 1 bullet in each salve can actually hit a player due to game mechanism, making it terrible (low damage, high risks).
- any normal gun : don't use them, simply because almost every armor has normal defense, thus lowering a lot the damage you can do.
I think I pretty much covered everything, but I would love to hear some insight of experienced gunslingers on Magnus and Alchemers.