So. I'm pretty new to Spiral Knights. I joined quite a while ago, but have barely touched the game due to the fact that I find solo'ing extremely boring - In MMO's I usually play Support characters (Healer, etc.), purely because I love group play - I quit because I couldn't find anyone to play with. Anyway, I decided early on that I loved the gun-play of Spiral Knights and was going to dedicate myself into becoming a Gunner.
Well, now i'm coming back - and hopefully - will be sticking around longer. But anyway, enough with me!
My questions for you, Knights, are these;
> Do YOU want a Gunner in your group when doing missions? Would you rather have a jack-of-all-trades, or a swordsman, or something else entirely?
> Are there any depths/missions in particular that a pure Gunner will fail spectacularly at?
> Is pure Gunner even viable nowadays? I've read a lot saying it is, and a fair bit saying it isn't. I'd like to hear it straight from the horse's mouth.
Also, general Gunner tips-n-tricks thread. Thanks all :3~
Personally, I don't like bad or low-tier Gunners in my party mostly because of their lack of experience and strategy. I realize you have to start somewhere, but I'd rather not have to revive you after you decide you can just run headlong into a group of enemies and lay unto them waste. Gunners are meant to stay behind the Swordsmen and provide support, not stay on the front lines and die every five seconds.
If someone is a good or even decent Gunner, I'd be happy to have them along in my party. Gunners are great for taking out Gun Puppies from behind the shields of Swordsmen, they're useful for causing statuses from a distance (although not as reliably as Bombers), and kiting is much easier with Gunners (unless there are a bunch of Mecha Knights blocking all the attacks).
Pure Gunner is a perfectly viable option, but unless you're very good at dodging you'll want a Swordsman with you to keep the enemies away from you. If you're playing the Firestorm Citadel boss level, Gunners with either an Argent Peacemaker or a Blitz Needle (Blitz is better, but takes a lot more skill) are almost mandatory unless you have a Bomber capable of freeze-locking him with a Shivermist Buster.
All-in-all I'd say go for it if you want, but keep in mind that it'll be tougher until you reach at least 3-star equipment (that's where the Gunslinger armor set starts). Also, you may want to consider the Alchemer series of guns. Once you get them to their 3-star versions, they'll start ricocheting their shots more per star level and they can be useful for randomly causing specific statuses.