The gunner wanderer

[freddfranca]

I am playing with a wanderer, but I want to focus in using firearms.

I choose Helwalker/Stalker, since guns and blunderbusses doesn’t have so much range and I can stay near my pet.

Is it worth to use one handed pistols? I saw an old post about the faster reload speed with one handed,  does this still work?

[Boeroer]

The only guns that don't have much range are blunderbusses.

One handed pistol still works well. With One-Handed Style and the active modal you'll get -50% reload time, -3 ACC and +15% crit conversion. Scordeo's Trophy has an enchantment that can be used to speed your reloading up even further (it stacks without limit). With high INT, Driving Flight and Gunner as well as Swift Flurry you can stack quite some instances and shoot really fast. There is some hard cap on reloading speed though: at some point you won't be reloading any faster (I guess due to the animation not being able to play any faster) - so no need to focus/maximize that effect. It's good nonetheless. Another nice pistol is Eccea's Arcane Blaster which is kind of mandatory if you want to hurt pierce resistant/immune foes with a pistol. It does raw damage and has some neat enchantments (including a secondary modal that amps up the dmg with elemental effects quite a bit).  

[Haplok]

Pistols can be nice, but don't ignore blunderbusses either! Particularly the two aoe mortar blunderbusses from Serafen (that target Reflex instead of Deflection and are dual-type damage!)

Kitchen Stove is very noteworthy as well.

[freddfranca]

I won’t ignore it, my plan is try to mix them both. Maybe start with the blunderbuss and finish with the pistols.

[freddfranca]

Is it better to go with a no subclass ranger, so I can take more advantage of the Marksman passive (+5 ACC) when using pistols, or keep Stalker for the bonus armor?

[Boeroer]

You can use Marksman with a Stalker as well. Marksman gives you an accuracy bonus against enemies that are further away than 4 meters (from you). It doesn't matter whether you are a Stalker or some other Ranger.

If you want to mix pistols with blunderbusses I would fire some rounds with Scordeo's Trophy first in ortder to stack some reload bonuses and then switch to blunderbusses. The reload bonus is timed and will not go away when you switch weapons iirc. 

One handed pistol is very good if you want an auto-attacker. Such a character can run on AI very effectively with minimal setup.
If you want to use a lot of abilities, especially Full Attacks and extra-especially Stunning Surge then two blunderbusses (and mortars) are better. Just because the multiple hit rolls make a refund much more likely than a single pistol shot (even with Driving Flight). 

[freddfranca]

5 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

You can use Marksman with a Stalker as well. Marksman gives you an accuracy bonus against enemies that are further away than 4 meters (from you). It doesn't matter whether you are a Stalker or some other Ranger.
 

 Yes, but the Stalker Armor bonus is 4 meters from the pet, so will be hard to find the exactly point.

But now that you mentioned, I will keep the Stalker and focus on blunderbuss. I think a Monk with a wolf anda shotgun is cool enough

[Boeroer]

You simply move with the Animal Companion. If you don't zip around that's no problem. But even if you tend to use Evansive Roll a lot (and thus get separated from the Animal Companion) then Master's Call/Furious Call is actually a great ability to have. You zip somewhere and attack an enemy and at the same time call your AC to your side who will attack all enemies in line and knock them prone - for only 1 Bond. I like it - but it comes a bit late-ish. 

[Griffonheart]

Sorry to interrupt: Does two-weapon talent stack with one-handed weapon talent? If you duo-wield pistols, doesn't it technically satisfy both conditions?

[freddfranca]

13 minutes ago, Griffonheart said:

Sorry to interrupt: Does two-weapon talent stack with one-handed weapon talent? If you duo-wield pistols, doesn't it technically satisfy both conditions?

I guess not, the tooltip is pretty clear: when using a single one handed weapon

[Boeroer]

3 hours ago, Griffonheart said:

Sorry to interrupt: Does two-weapon talent stack with one-handed weapon talent? If you duo-wield pistols, doesn't it technically satisfy both conditions?

Nope.

The only two styles that can stack ares Weapon & Shield Style + Two Weapon Style - when you are using a bashing shield.

[freddfranca]

@BoeroerI saw in another topic you talking about Arcane Archer with blunderbuss. I never used an Arcane before, and I am curious about.

I will try an Arcane/Helwalker, looks a good combination 

This is the atributes with background 

Wood Elf

15/8/16/16/15/8

 

Edited May 25, 2021 by freddfranca

[Boeroer]

Arcane Archer with Fire in the Hole + Hand Mortar (Serafen's blunderbusses) specifically. 

Arcane Archer's Imbue shots trigger their effects per projectile jump (or bounce). Fire in the Hole has a build-in bounce called Chain Shot which stacks with Driving Flights. So you'll get three instances of the imbued spell. For example 3 fireballs from one shot of Imbue:Fireball instead of just one. 

Normal blunderbusses are bad with an Arcane Archer's Imbue shots because the first projectile will trigger the effect (e.g. Fireball) but then the rest of the projectiles will get canceled.

Also mortars are great in combo with Helwalker because the +10 INT from Duality of Mortal Presence will increase the AoE of the mortars a lot. That will lead to more hit rolls on enemies. And that will lead to an easy time collecting crits for Stunning Surge. 

Best approach imo is to fire an Imbue:web from stealth, followed by an immediate Imbue:eora and then shower the clump of enemies with Stunning Surge until dead. It's the absolute CC zone of death. 

I would max INT on such a dude. But 15 is also ok. 

[Griffonheart]

5 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Best approach imo is to fire an Imbue:web from stealth, followed by an immediate Imbue:eora and then shower the clump of enemies with Stunning Surge until dead. It's the absolute CC zone of death. 

About that... you warned me the combo gets bored quickly due to how easily it could achieve perma-stun. I didn't believe you until I tried. ^_^

[freddfranca]

4 minutes ago, Griffonheart said:

About that... you warned me the combo gets bored quickly due to how easily it could achieve perma-stun. I didn't believe you until I tried. ^_^

So do you mean this is boring? Perhaps I will be better with the stalker then...

[Boeroer]

It's very effective against numerous "normal" enemies. To some players it might be boring if something works so well in a lot of cases.
Against resistant foes (resistant to DEX and/or MIG afflictions) and/or ones with high defenses it's less impressive. But as an Arcane Archer/Helwalker you can always switch to another single target weapon once you meet such foes and still be very effective.  

[Griffonheart]

16 hours ago, freddfranca said:

So do you mean this is boring? Perhaps I will be better with the stalker then...

I can only speak for myself. I enjoy playing a versatile (RP) party where everyone has at least two roles, which means my party tends to be less efficient on the killing side of things. The AA/Helwalker combo provides near endless crowd control that I can run any group composition against most mobs without issue. It was thrilling to commit to full RP, but the combo also took away some of the challenge I was hoping to test my party with.

 

But, as Boeroer said, it's less effective against boss or spread out mobs like in the Oracle encounter.

[freddfranca]

And about a critical pistol build? Ranger monk still good or another class would bê better?

[Boeroer]

Since pistol is best used with One Handed Style and thus Full Attacks would be a waste I would focus more on auto-attacks. A pistol build with auto-attacks will do good conistent dps but not great spike damage. Thus it's great to have some other tools in the belt - like spells for example. Being able to combine the good (but not jawdropping) consistent dmg output with some otehr versatile useful stuff is key imo.

So I would go for Sharpshooter/Troubadour (great speed, very versatile) or some Ranger/Cipher combo (tons of ACC and also versatile): no need no mircomanage auto-attacks. All the micro can go into using your spells in a clever way.  

[freddfranca]

34 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Since pistol is best used with One Handed Style and thus Full Attacks would be a waste I would focus more on auto-attacks. A pistol build with auto-attacks will do good conistent dps but not great spike damage. Thus it's great to have some other tools in the belt - like spells for example. Being able to combine the good (but not jawdropping) consistent dmg output with some otehr versatile useful stuff is key imo.

So I would go for Sharpshooter/Troubadour (great speed, very versatile) or some Ranger/Cipher combo (tons of ACC and also versatile): no need no mircomanage auto-attacks. All the micro can go into using your spells in a clever way.  

I always forget about the chanter class, for me he is just a support and I dont care much about It. I will take a look

[Boeroer]

A Troubadour with Sure Handed Ila + Mith Fyr adds quite some dps. But not only to himself but the whole party. Also for a crit build crit conversion is great. And Killers Froze Stiff paralyzes enemies. Attack rolls against paralyzed enemies have an additional 25% hit-to-crit conversion (often forgotten). One Handed Style: 20%, Sharpshooter: 15%, Paralyzed: 25%. And that's not all conversions you can get of course. 

Overall crit conversion just from those three: 49% of hits get converted to crits. That's not bad at all. 

[Exanos]

2 hours ago, Boeroer said:

A Troubadour with Sure Handed Ila + Mith Fyr adds quite some dps. But not only to himself but the whole party. Also for a crit build crit conversion is great. And Killers Froze Stiff paralyzes enemies. Attack rolls against paralyzed enemies have an additional 25% hit-to-crit conversion (often forgotten). One Handed Style: 20%, Sharpshooter: 15%, Paralyzed: 25%. And that's not all conversions you can get of course. 

Overall crit conversion just from those three: 49% of hits get converted to crits. That's not bad at all. 

If you play with a team, you can let the  "Sure Handed Ila + Mith Fyr+killer froze" part to another chanter, cause it benefit the whole team (as long as in range). In this case Sharpshooter/berseker will bring more punch  for thoses sweet crit.

[freddfranca]

My proposal is to use a ranger, but I saw this build in the builds list and found interesting.
 

 

I just dont know if would works good with pistol.

 

My other option would be a pistol ascendant, and try the chanter with a melee later 

[Boeroer]

1 hour ago, Exanos said:

If you play with a team, you can let the  "Sure Handed Ila + Mith Fyr+killer froze" part to another chanter, cause it benefit the whole team (as long as in range). In this case Sharpshooter/berseker will bring more punch  for thoses sweet crit.

Sure, that will also work. I combined Ranger with Troubadour because it does good autoattack dps with a single pistol and is very versatile. If there's already Sure Handed Ila + Mith Fyr on the field then that's even better of course. 

Berserker's crit conversion when frenzied doesn't work with ranged weapons. So you might as well take another Barbarian subclass (e.g. Furyshaper). PEN issues won't matter much as soon as you get Eccea's Arcane Blaster - and as non-Berserker you don't need to manage the self damage (although it can be useful to trigger Blooded - but still a pain in the butt imo).
Barbaric Smash's and Bloody Slaughter's crit conversion will work though.
I personally don't like to use single handed pistol with Barbaric Smash though because often you either lack a tiny bit of dmg to kill the enemy (not getting the refund which is annoying af) or you wait too long and then do a massive overkill with Barbaric Smash (which is also annoying). Imo a dual weapon setup is much better here because a kill with a decent reamining amount of health is a lot more likely with a Full Attack. Or at least an attack with more overall damage output than a single pistol shot.
Also I don't like to not be able to utilize Blood Thirst - reloading weapons don't work with it. So if I decide to run a ranged Barb I usually pick a weapon with recovery - for example Watershaper's Focus, Essence Interrupter or St. Omaku's Mercy or something like that. My favorite with a Barb is Watershaper's Focus. The abysmal recovery penalty of Blast doesn't matter that much if manage to land the killing blows with up to three Blasts + Ondra's Wrath. I even sometimes use it on an SC Barb whom I want to build towards Driving Roar.

If there's already a chanter in the party then my pistol guy would be a Ranger/Cipher I think. Ranger/Rogue would be too one-dimensional for my taste. 

Edited May 27, 2021 by Boeroer

[Exanos]

45 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Sure, that will also work. I combined Ranger with Troubadour because it does good autoattack dps with a single pistol and is very versatile. If there's already Sure Handed Ila + Mith Fyr on the field then that's even better of course. 

Berserker's crit conversion when frenzied doesn't work with ranged weapons. So you might as well take another Barbarian subclass (e.g. Furyshaper). PEN issues won't matter much as soon as you get Eccea's Arcane Blaster - and as non-Berserker you don't need to manage the self damage (although it can be useful to trigger Blooded - but still a pain in the butt imo).
Barbaric Smash's and Bloody Slaughter's crit conversion will work though.
I personally don't like to use single handed pistol with Barbaric Smash though because often you either lack a tiny bit of dmg to kill the enemy (not getting the refund which is annoying af) or you wait too long and then do a massive overkill with Barbaric Smash (which is also annoying). Imo a dual weapon setup is much better here because a kill with a decent reamining amount of health is a lot more likely with a Full Attack. Or at least an attack with more overall damage output than a single pistol shot.
Also I don't like to not be able to utilize Blood Thirst - reloading weapons don't work with it. So if I decide to run a ranged Barb I usually pick a weapon with recovery - for example Watershaper's Focus, Essence Interrupter or St. Omaku's Mercy or something like that. My favorite with a Barb is Watershaper's Focus. The abysmal recovery penalty of Blast doesn't matter that much if manage to land the killing blows with up to three Blasts + Ondra's Wrath. I even sometimes use it on an SC Barb whom I want to build towards Driving Roar.

If there's already a chanter in the party then my pistol guy would be a Ranger/Cipher I think. Ranger/Rogue would be too one-dimensional for my taste. 

Furyshaper is indeed nice for a ranged barb (not only, but it's easier to keep totem out of melee range then). The bullet time enchant on eccea blaster give 10% chance to skip reload for a short time, never tried it but i guess it persist for more than one reload (confirmation needed), if it work like that bloodthirst+bullet time = john wick. 

With watershaper focus, i guess arcane archer/barbarian get the most of it (imbue pull of eora -> imbue fireball -> barbaric smash when they get low.) Dunno if frostseeker with the crit conversion from barbaric smash > watershaper multi bounce+ondra wrath.