Which is better??? To go with shadowsun for an increased amount of damage for handguns or something else for an increased speed? Or mix the armor and helm pieces for a medium boost to both?
Gun Speed or Damge??
This question is asked often, including in a very recent thread that I can't find right now. Little-Juances hinted at the key information: When you get a damage bonus from a UV, it applies to just one monster family (and never Vanaduke or PvP). When you get a blanket damage bonus from armor (such as Shadowsun), it applies to all six monster families, and Vanaduke, and PvP. Indeed, the proliferation of these blanket damage bonuses has made damage UVs largely obsolete. As a rule of thumb, here is how you optimize a loadout:
* Use armor, shield, and trinkets to get damage bonus+6 (or close to it) on your weapons. If there is any extra "capacity", use it to get ASI or CTR, depending on which weapons you're using.
* Use weapon UVs to get ASI and CTR. Hopefully, in combination with the excess capacity from your armor, shield, and trinkets, you can get these close to +6 as well.
This is why gunners favor Shadowsun (and now Chaos).
Damage since it's harder to get. You can get speed thru other means like UVs or swifstrike (but it's still not vital for regular clockworking)