Pistol

[Morgoth]

Do you make enough damage when maxed out? Is it more accurate than the Assault Rifle on long range? I don't wanna get stucked with some puny toy.

[Starwars]

Assault rifles are waaaay better at long range.

 

Pistols really seem to be a stealth weapon mostly. Critical hits dish out a lot of damage but you need to be at fairly close range for the reticule to shrink (though that range grows a fair bit as you level up). Chain Shot is reaaaaally good when leveled up though. 6 Critical Hits in the head is enough to sink most opposition in the game.

 

EDIT: I'm not sure how powerful they would be if you mod the pistol to be more damage dealing rather than silent. I used it as a stealth weapon.

Edited May 29, 2010 by Starwars

[Piflik]

I was quite happy with the Pistol...especially the Critical Hit from Cover Ability is really handy...I usually take down every guard with one Critical Headshot and with that Ability I don't have any risk of being exposed...Chain Shot for Groups of enemies and Bosses (especially useful together with the Shadow Operative Ability).

 

(All on Normal Difficulty)

[Morgoth]

The silencer does substract some damage, but do you really need to use it? I mean I got the feeling that the AI is so dumb anyway that they won't hit the alarm.

[Starwars]

Yeah, I *loved* how you could critical hit people while staying in Cover. That was awesome.

[Lestrade]

The silencer does substract some damage, but do you really need to use it? I mean I got the feeling that the AI is so dumb anyway that they won't hit the alarm.

 

Not all silencers do, I found a Silencer Type 3 with no negative damage modifier.

[HoonDing]

With the bad AI, pistols are ridiculously powerful. One can own some enemies, then retreat and wait for it to recharge while enemies don't even bother attacking.

[Tigranes]

AI isn't quite so bad that you can just shoot everyone down with no fear of alarms. Pistols are very useful for stealthy characters, mainly because of how powerful chain shot is. It's not 'puny', certainly.

[HoonDing]

I don't know how I would beat some bosses without Chain Shot. Combined with Shadow Operative... it's kinda cheesy. It's also funny how Evasion will make Mike invisible if he goes around a corner and bumps into a guard, allowing him to one-hit kill the guard.

 

Anyway:

[Baeus]

That's awesome

 

Although

I wish Madison had stuck around.

 

[Shinaju]

Its seem like everyone uses pistol and rifle? No shotgun or SMG love?

[Tigranes]

I'm experimenting now and it seems fairly redundant. Assault rifles are still powerful up close, so if you have that or hand or hand, then only reason to use SMGs or shotguns is if you really like chaos, or if you somehow get swarmed by enemies all the time.

[Pop]

I had SMGs as my secondary weapon skill (behind martial arts) on my first run and they seemed fairly useless.

[Raithe]

I went through most of the game using martial arts, stealth takedowns and pistols... And then for the whole finale I kept getting stuck in situations where I had to pull out the assault rifle to deal with things... and dang it, I'd orginally been trying to tranq all those marines.. But given how hard they were trying to shoot me, blow me up, or generally give me a bad hair day I got irritated.

[dantivirus]

Shotguns were kind of useless for me. I have all the best stuff on them but they just don't seem to put out the damage other weapons do.

 

Also why no silencers for SMG and Rifles? I found that kind of odd and we can only get sniper rifles in some missions but we can't keep them.

[Raithe]

Rifles have the "subsonic rounds" which basically works as a silencer... But to keep using them you have to spend money regularly to keep your supplies topped up.. I'm guessing that was meant to balance things out against you running around "sniping" constantly without any alarms being raised..

[Metal_Guitar]

Rifles have the "subsonic rounds" which basically works as a silencer... But to keep using them you have to spend money regularly to keep your supplies topped up.. I'm guessing that was meant to balance things out against you running around "sniping" constantly without any alarms being raised..

 

Really? Thanks for that, I had no idea.

[dantivirus]

I have noticed with those rounds if a guard is close when you fire (and is not the target) there's a chance they will see you fire and go right to alert.

[Oblarg]

Pistols, while a bit underwhelming (but certainly not useless) at lower ranks, are absolutely killer once you get reasonable skill. Once you get master crit (or even expert), you'll be nailing people in the head from across the room. It's insane.

 

The curve is a bit too steep, but once you get the skill up there it's a blast. Chainshot is rigged, though - six shots is simply too many.

[Deng]

Its seem like everyone uses pistol and rifle? No shotgun or SMG love?

 

My second play through is with SMG/Shotgun.

 

It requires a different approach -- I started using the toughness tree a bit more, but it is a lot of fun.

 

The Shotgun is great for close quarters. Embassy, Hong Kong Triad, pretty much anywhere indoors. I also do a little trick where I do two hits of melee and then blast the shotgun. When it hits it's good damage

 

SMG actually does all right long distance. I can take out guys on a roof or on a water tower if I want. It's GREAT for clearing a room. If you lure guys in small rooms or corridors this thing is carnage. And it's special ability (unlimited ammo for duration) just makes it more so. You waste a lot of ammo but you have a HUGE stockpile and clip

 

The SMG and Shotgun special ammos are also awesome (continuous damage). Makes tough bosses a lot easier.

[HoonDing]

Pistols, while a bit underwhelming (but certainly not useless) at lower ranks, are absolutely killer once you get reasonable skill. Once you get master crit (or even expert), you'll be nailing people in the head from across the room. It's insane.

 

The curve is a bit too steep, but once you get the skill up there it's a blast. Chainshot is rigged, though - six shots is simply too many.

Yeah... I wouldn't be surprised to see it toned down in a future patch to be honest... I almost one-shotted Brayko with Master Chainshot.

[MazeMouse]

Yeah... I wouldn't be surprised to see it toned down in a future patch to be honest... I almost one-shotted Brayko with Master Chainshot.

Indeed, after you get the 4shot ones it's simply a matter of moving into position to put 4 headshots into your target (especially with crits) to put any boss out of his/her misery.

[piercehead]

I don't understand people saying Pistols are overpowered. They're great within their range, but an assault rifles and shotguns are ok even without points in. Rifles can headshot people pretty much outside of working AI range and shotgun knockdown is great: zoom in fully, turn corner, knockdown enemy (even at range it'll do rubbish damage but the KD still works), sprint and melee stomp.

[ProtocolX]

Heh Brayko was done almost before he got started. Was concealed with pistol when he is up on platform looking for you, couple of hidden head shot crits and he goes to snort his coke, then chainshot and fight was over.

[vault_overseer]

Chainshot = Instakill