Spiral Knights - Callahan's performance

Callahan's performance

15 replies [Last post]

Mon, 07/16/2012 - 08:03

Thewach

When I first started this game, I looked through the wiki and a certain gun caught my attention. It was the Callahan. However, as I continued to play, I have heard many people say that the Callahan is a mediocre gun and is outperformed by many other guns. This caused me to change my mind. However, recently, the Callahan has caught my interest again and now I would like to ask your opinions on Callahan and whether getting it is worth it or not? I normally do FSC a lot and occasionally do play lockdown. Also, I would like to specifically know it's damage values in tier 3 (damage against each different types of monsters)

My other gears are as follow:

Swords:
Barbarous Thorn Blade
Divine Avenger
Warmaster Rocket Hammer

Guns:
Polaris
Biohazard
Blitz Needle(in progress)

Bombs:
Dark Retribution
Voltaic Tempest

Helmets:
Divine Veil
Perfect Mask of Seerus
Snarbolax Cap

Armors:
Skolver Coat
Radiant Silvermail
Snarbolax Coat
Mercurial Demo Suit

Shields:
Barbarous Thorn Shield
Crest of Almire(in progress)

Mon, 07/16/2012 - 09:08

Uuni

Callahan is absolute crap.

Callahan is absolute crap. Only place it can be considered to be remotely useful is trolling in LD but it's not usable there due to the broken hit detection & skolvers being pierce resistant

Mon, 07/16/2012 - 09:29

Athaza

Stun

The stun chance on Callahan makes it bad in FSC against trojans.

Mon, 07/16/2012 - 09:38

Traevelliath

Callahan isn't the best for FSC, I'll say that. However it is one of my favorite weapons. It's one of the most accurate, if not THE most accurate gun in the game. In my experience, it hits about 98% of the time.

It's damage isn't the best, which is what most people dislike about it. However, when solo, the Callahan still two-shot kills most Devilites. It knocks Wolvers and Fiends off their feet. It's debatably one of the safest weapons to deal with Greavers as long as you don't reload (and have a shield that can take a hit, unlike most Swiftstrike-wielding Gunslingers).

Mon, 07/16/2012 - 10:15

Bopp

recently another thread

There was recently another thread on this same topic, that you might want to check out:

http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/59200

Mon, 07/16/2012 - 13:17

Aureate

Processing Thoughts of You Always

Hell, I find the Callahan fun to play with. Knocking down Devilites with a faceful of lead is always amusing, although I will admit that shield cancelling a toothpick is generally more effective damage-wise. It's a little specialist, since its primary use is for beasts and small fiends (not Trojans) - you can use it well against zombies, though, and it will also shut up Howlitzers. I haven't tried its effectiveness on Gremlins, though, and Kats tend to move too fast when I try to shoot them with it. x.x

It's a pretty worthwhile gun to get, and quite fun to play with. However, in your case I'd get the Blitz and CoA first, since they will be more useful given what you already have in your loadout. Your BTB is perfectly good at dealing with fiends and beasts as it is, and you have Polaris to keep turrets out of the way.

Mon, 07/16/2012 - 18:42

Tenkii

On Callahan (And Iron Slug)

Callahan was the first gun line I took to 5* (lol, figured that as a heavy swordsman, I should pair it up with 'heavy guns' - so I made Callahan then Blitz needle, back when people thought Callahan/AP were the best Vanaduke guns. You wouldn't believe I made Blitz because it was uncommon, lol). It's fun, and if you don't think about DPS, it's not too bad.

Its DPS does really pale in comparison to everything else - each bullet of Blitz's charge does a little less than a single Callahan bullet. Maybe it means that Blitz is good (and in terms of its burst damage, it is), but because that and Plague are your only other piercing guns, Callahan simply becomes the slowest DPS of all the 5* piercing guns. Even single-weapon switch-shooting with max ASI, it just feels... slow. The splash damage is barely noticeable in comparison to Alchemer's bounces, and to Valiance, because Valiance shoots so much quicker.

But it does feel good to knock down soft-bodied beasts, devilites, and gremlins.

---------

@landing hits on kats/pvp:
A skill that a lot of gunners don't really notice that they need for SK (unless they're more seasoned lockdown players) is the need to leadshoot. You need to 'miss' ahead of where you see your target in order for things to really hit. Shoot where they're going to be, not where they are. This applies to all targets, but is especially noticeable if they're moving quickly.

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@pvp preference:
I've come a long way from being a pure heavyswordsman, and in Lockdown, I am usually a pure-gunner recon. For now, it's a rarely-played class, but my plan is to strike the shocking fear of recons into people before I go.

Of all my guns, the magnus line is my least-preferred, mainly because it stands you still while shooting. It bothers me, and I have max ASI with justifier set + recon shield. If you're recon, the whole piercing business is less of a problem, since you can (if you're clever) deathmark people so their piercing defense means nothing to you. Stun is a kinda useful thing, but Callahan's best purpose is hitting slow immobile/slow targets and sniping with its charge attack. Here are some examples of situations I've actually done:

- [common] A guardian is sitting close range with 1-2 other people. Aiming the charge attack from far off screen so it explodes will OHKO the shield.
- [rare, recon] Someone is trying to capture a point. You deathmark them, move below off-screen, and snipe with charge. ouch.

It also works as an okay-ish support gun - shooting near your teammates can give them cover fire that interrupts the opponent before they can get a slash off - but that's not really specific to the magnus line.

Speaking of magnus line, I hit my iron-slug-only record 2 nights ago:
13.5k with only iron slug. Iron slug, the normal, no-status gun.
..yeah.

Lots of deathmark, lots of recons and guardians on the other team. Slow targets are so much easier to hit ¦D

But yeah, it's 'bad' in PVP but I guess even this shows it's not completely unviable lol.

Tue, 07/17/2012 - 02:24

Thewach

I am confus

I'm still kinda confused about whether or not I should get Callahan. I see most of you guys have different opinions. Maybe I'll just think about this after I make my Blitz and CoA.

Tue, 07/17/2012 - 03:38

Aureate

Processing Thoughts of You Always

You do that.

Cally is a cool gun, but not really the highest priority item to get for a loadout. Generally the people who use it are either trying to be hipstr or are pure gunners who go in for that kind of thing. Crest is a lot more multipurpose, and Blitz does an insane amount of damage that Callahan can't compare with. Save it for later if you ever want to make a pure gunning loadout.

Tue, 07/17/2012 - 04:25

Dukeplatypus

Callahan is a fun gun, not a

Callahan is a fun gun, not a damage gun. It juggles and shuts down pretty much everything but Slimes and Constructs, but it won't do it in record time.

Tue, 07/17/2012 - 06:29

#10

Thewach

So it should be used as a

So it should be used as a "safety" gun rather than a "damage" gun?

Tue, 07/17/2012 - 06:52

#11

Aureate

Processing Thoughts of You Always

Exactly. You can use it for damage dealing too, but that isn't the primary purpose. It's the same way that Polaris is meant to be a safety gun by shutting down turrets or area denial... unfortunately, you get people spamming it on anything these days. Both of them are really utility guns at heart.

Tue, 07/17/2012 - 07:06

#12

Bopp

new data

Lancer Knightz has just posted new data on handgun charges. If their numbers are to be believed (and they're usually reliable), Callahan really slows down your movement speed while you're charging it --- much much more than a typical gun or sword. It's just one more reason why this gun could use a little strengthening.

Tue, 07/17/2012 - 18:36

#13

Tenkii

A few things

@Thewach:
It lies more in the 'safety' side of PVE than damage, yes.
Unfortunately, aside from maybe the chance of stun and the long-range charge, it doesn't have much of a special role in PVP (everything interrupts, so it has no advantage there, and it makes you stand still).

@Bopp:
Yes, Magnus line's charge makes you walk much slower than normal. It's similar to how Vortex bombs walk slower than Mist bombs.

I'm really hoping for some kind of splash, status, damage, or speed buff for Iron Slug and Callahan. I actually made the Iron Slug in anticipation for the changes - and really, all I've used it for since making it has been for showing off novelty. I tried to be cool and take Slug to FSC so I could interrupt zombies, slimes, and gunpuppies, but its low damage/DPS output loses the ability to interrupt Zombies past D25, I think? Neutralizer beats it out in terms of functionality, DPS, and fun - at least for me. So now, it doesn't even see FSC - I just take it to Lockdown when I see the other team is completely outmatched, or if I'm doing practice rounds trying to do single-gun-damage challenges.

Sun, 07/29/2012 - 18:47

#14

Blue-Flood

Back when I used 4 weapon

Back when I used 4 weapon slots, I'd use Callahan as # 4 right after Polaris. See em shocked, unload 2 quick bullets.
Now though... the only way i use a callahan effectively is when i combine it with a hail driver - or just fooling around. A full round of AP/sentenza on a shocked player does so much more then the 1-2 bullets of a callahan hit, and has a much higher chance of hitting.

I made an Iron Slug too Seiran, as soon as they said they were going to buff it... ah well. Some day!

Sun, 07/29/2012 - 19:39

#15

Velcro

I like to use it in LD to hit

I like to use it in LD to hit fleeing targets. It does the most damage on a single bullet of the faster bullets (looking at AP/Sentenza/Drivers) and the irregular hitbox makes it harder to dodge as well; you just gotta get used to the hitbox.

Perhaps I'm just crazy though, I'm a little stubborn on changing weapons.

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Callahan's performance