Gunslinger guide for Embers of Rage

[bpat]

Here's a quick guide to Gunslinger. It does lots of damage but doesn't have much defense. I find it to be the most fun of the ranged physical classes but it is very linear so it is not for everyone.

Races
Pick whatever because none really have any synergy with this. I went with Orc because I hadn't won with Orc before and it worked out alright.

Stats
Dex > Cun > Con/Str > Str/Con, unless using PES in which case Str > Dex > Cun > Con (after getting enough stats for talent unlocks), and unless using Arcane Might in which case Dex > Cun > Mag > Str/Cun

Category points
Inscription slot -> Automation -> Inscription slot. Automation is only good for Net Projector and Sawfield so taking it at level 10 is a waste.

Inscriptions
You don't need a second Steam Generator since you only have one useful sustain. Movement and Heroism Infusions are good choices for your fourth and fifth slots, and Regeneration is good too.

Prodigies
Good prodigies are Pain Enhancement System, Arcane Might, Vital Shot, Spine of the World. Cauterize is decent as well if you can get it. Be careful of oneshotting yourself with Vital Shot, consider autocasting Heroism to stop this. Arcane Might is better than you'd think because you don't have an important third stat, it's like a weaker PES with better uptime.

Class categories

Gunner Training: 5/0/0/0 early, 5/1/1/4 core, Double Shots luxury

Steamgun Mastery needs no explanation.

Double Shots is pretty bad for damage and the stun is low, but it can stun multiple targets. I didn't use this much.

Uncanny Reload doesn't help much when you have Movement Infusions and other ways to increase movement/reload speed.

Static Shot is good for the AoE and it can destroy shields and such which is nice.

Gunslinging: 3/0/0/0 early, 5/1/1/5 core, Startling Shot luxury

Strafe is great, it lets you kite melee enemies and dodge projectiles. Reloading is nice too.

Startling Shot is alright against melee enemies for the knockback. Also good for prepping your big hits (Vital Shot and Saw Shell).

Evasive Shots would be nice if Gunslinger had a reliable way to dodge, but it doesn't.

Trick Shot is great at clearing rooms and for getting enemies outside LoS by using walls.

Bullet's Mastery: 1/3/0/0 early, 1/4/0/0 core, Percussive Bullets and Combustive Bullets luxury

Overheat Bullets does lots of damage but it's slow. Very strong early but falls off.

Supercharge Bullets lets you hit multiple enemies and increases armor penetration. This is your best bullet enhancement.

Percussive Bullets is unreliable but stunning is good so take it if you want.

Combustive Bullets does okay damage but who cares when your regular shoot talent does thousands of damage late game?

Avoidance: 5/0/0/0 core, 5/4/3-5/1-5 luxury

Automated Cloak Tessellation is great because the flat damage reduction applies after damage resistances.

Cloak Gesture is good if used with Arcane Eye or similar. Even without vision you can use it for defense against ranged targets at 4/5.

Embedded Restoration Systems is alright if using Cloak Gesture, but it may cost too much steam for too little benefit. You can hide behind corners to trigger this but I really don't think it's worth the steam.

I never tried Cloaking Device but has crazy high stealth power so it looks alright since it has the potential to save you when you're trying to kite a dangerous foe. Could be nice if you're pinned or something but usually I'd rather use the turn moving than using this.

Elusiveness: 1/1/3/1 early and core, everything luxury

Slip Away is similar to Vault, gets you out of corners and hallways nicely.

Agile Gunner is alright but I don't think it's worth the steam until you get a very good Steam Generator, since you only have one. If you find yourself having a lot of excess steam then it should be a decent choice. I would not take more than 2/5 in this talent

Awesome Toss gives you breathing room to reload or run. Its damage is great and it lets you spend the turns you would have spent shooting on other stuff.

Dazzling Jump is like Disengage + Heave + a slow. It's great for escaping from melee foes, usually it will give you enough space for Awesome Toss to defeat your foe.

Automation (locked): 1/1/5/5 early, 1/1/5/5 core, nothing luxury

Pulse Detonator is slow and doesn't do much even if it hits. Waste of a turn.

Flying Grapple just does low damage and pulls. Waste of a turn.

Net Projector owns, it increases your damage by like 70% or more. Open with it in every fight you won't win in under two turns.

Sawfield is your best non-shoot damage talent. Its description is misleading, it actually does the damage it says it bleeds for as flat damage each turn, then does a smaller bleed as well. Great at getting enemies around corners and dealing with groups.

Generic categories

Physics: 2/2/1/0 for Fatal Attractor, more for Steam Powered Armour

Chemistry: 5/1/1/5 for Unstoppable Force Salve and Explosive Shell, more for Life Support Suit

Take 4/5 Theraputics instead if you get Brass Goggles, or 3/5 if you don’t get Unstoppable Force Salve recipe.

Steam Power is good, most notably boosts Automated Cloak Tessellation

Engineering: 0/0/0/0 core, Last Engineer Standing luxury

Emergency Steam Purge owns early but scales poorly. Make sure you can refund fully if you use it early.

Innovation sucks.

Supercharge Tinkers is worse than Steam Power, and what’s even going to crit? With only one Steam Generator you cannot afford this talent.

Last Engineer Standing prevents you from oneshotting yourself (actually Vital Shot might still oneshot yourself even with this) and also makes you get critically hit less often. Obviously this is very good but you have to waste three points to take it and you usually have better places to spend generics. If you're a Yeti you can probably afford this because it requires less investment in its racial category than Orc and Whitehoof.

Combat Training: 5/1/0/0/0 core, more in Armour Training and Combat Accuracy as needed

Armour Training is good but don't bother getting it past 1/5 if you want to use the Life Support Suit.

Combat Accuracy is nice early but you shouldn't need it late so be sure you can refund. Also the Headlamp tinker gives a bunch of accuracy making this less important. I didn't need it late even on Insane.

Blacksmith (locked): never unlock, Craftsman’s Eye would be luxury if it wasn’t locked.

Survival (locked): never unlock unless you really know what you’re doing, Charm Mastery would be core for experienced players if it wasn’t locked.

Charm Mastery is good, the rest of this category is a waste of points. You want five Inscriptions though and you already are somewhat tight on generics.

Yeti Tissue rewards
1) Conditioning, go 1/5/0/0 immediately
2) Chant of Fortitude
3) Dream Walk
4) Charm Mastery or Premonition

You can replace Premonition with Track or Arcane Eye, which are great for scouting and may help when using Cloak Gesture. Also the order isn't very important but I highly recommend getting Conditioning as soon as possible since you have no good way to deal with stun, confuse, etc.

Tinkers

Steamguns: Explosive Coating early, Acid Groove, Viral Injector, Crystal Edge, or Winterchill Edge later. Silver Filigree and Razor Edge don't work on ranged weapons.

Ammo: Explosive Shell early, Saw Shell later for big damage. Most shells are pretty good so go ahead and experiment with this slot.

Armor: Ablative Armor, and if you don't find its schematic, Spike Attachment.

Hands: Fatal Attactor, if you don't find its schematic then Toxic Gas Canister or Voltaic Sentry are decent replacements.

Head: Focus Lens to boost sight range or Headlamp boosts accuracy. Nothing here is very good so it doesn't matter much.

Belt: Fungal Web or Thunder Grenade.

Feet: Rocket Boots for quick reloading and as a weaker second Movement Infusion. Moss Tread is good too but I don't think it's needed thanks to Strafe.

Artifacts: I heard Payload got buffed so maybe it's good now, but when I used it it was garbage. Steam Powered Armour and Life Support Suit are both excellent and you should pick your favorite of the two. Hands of Creation is pretty bad compared to Steam Powered Gauntlets and I haven't tested Rogue Gallery.

For some reason steamgun drops seem worse than sling drops on average so don't hesitate to craft a good sling into a steamgun if you find one. The only artifact steamguns I'd consider using late game are Murderfang's Surekill and Glacia.

Strategy

Gunslinger is pretty straightforward. Just use Net Projector on your unfortunate victims then blow them up with Saw Shell or just regular shots. Trick Shot, Static Shot, and Sawfield are good against groups and at hitting enemies around corners. Use Rocket Boots or Movement Infusions to reload very quickly, and carry an extra pouch in inventory for a full "reload" that only takes a turn. Strafe away from melee foes so you don't die, and also use it to dodge projectiles. I don't really have a lot to say about strategy because Gunslinger is a very linear class, but I can answer any questions you have.

[kallman89]

rly nice guide, big thanks

[windslayer]

I might be missing something but why would vital shot kill yourself?

[bpat]

You use Vital Shot, enemy uses a pull like Bone Grab, your Vital Shot crits you for several times your max life.

[Atomikkrab]

You use Vital Shot, enemy uses a pull like Bone Grab, your Vital Shot crits you for several times your max life.

Maintaining awareness of enemy powers fixes this issue.

[GlassGo]

You use Vital Shot, enemy uses a pull like Bone Grab, your Vital Shot crits you for several times your max life.

Maintaining awareness of enemy powers fixes this issue.

Yeah, I suggested in chat, that dangerous skills should be marked somehow (highlighted somehow) without inspecting creature every time, but folk said it good idea for addon, not for base game.
I was lazy to post it immediately and remember this only now.

[Micbran]

I believe Zizzo was working on something like that, GlassGo. Don't know how much he's gotten done, though.

[GlassGo]

Yeah, maybe with that help Archers finally conquer Insane.

[Moroteuthis]

Embedded Restoration Systems is alright if using Cloak Gesture, but it may cost too much steam for too little benefit. You can hide behind corners to trigger this but I really don't think it's worth the steam.

I have to disagree on this. It looks fairly crappy on paper, but it can- and does- crit, and if you're stacking heal mod, it's a pretty significant free heal as soon as you're out of line-of-sight. By level 30, it can reliably heal for around 700 hp; by level 40, 1000. Also a bit of a life-saver if you're blinded, as it'll trigger immediately. Also synergizes well with movement infusion + Awesome Toss. And it only costs two steam. IMO, it's worth bringing online around level 20 or so with a three point investment; your injectors probably still suck at that point anyhow, so even the base heal is still useful. Unfortunately, it doesn't trigger Fungal Web, but that's really the only downside. Late game, it's a substantial heal that doesn't put your injectors on cooldown.

[St_ranger_er]

Is awesome toss + movement infusion considered as a bug or legit mechanic? I have done a couple runs (which was ended miserably around lvl 20-30), before found ot about that combo. Also, if you craft a gun from sling with extra shoot range, that extra range does'n counted on that gun. Thus, I'm a bit hesitating about playing gunslinger for now.

[GlassGo]

Today I learned, that Awesome Toss can kill you... it wasn't obvious for me before, now it is.

I think every guide should warn about that thing.

[CrazyJ]

Personally I think having all four sustains is worth the cost of an extra infusion or rune, even if you can win without it. Plus most of your special attacks are pretty steam intensive as well.

In either case, newer updates I think have given gunslinger more options. I have found the Ethereal Form pretty good, especially when it gives both damage mitigation and much needed damage penetration. I haven't tried adept yet, but I strongly suspect that this prodigy would also work pretty well with a gunslinger.

[Snarvid]

I would be curious once Annihilator shakes off its bugs to see what niches the Gunslinger/Annihilator divide straddles. Annihilator seems like it's going to have a much broader base of options at a variety of ranges, strong defense from shield, summons (which, even if you don't like them, still corner-snipe and LOS-block for you), the whole Heavy Weapon mechanic (variety=spice of life), etc. Gunslinger seems more built around having a powerful default Shoot and exploiting Awesome Toss.

[Tepa]

Good guide, im just wondering the potential on double shots. You said it's low damage, but if it works as i think it does it is 77% times four at max rank (as you shoot with both guns so times 4) and that would make it 308% damage, that doesnt sound bad to me. Also stun for 3 turns per shot would be 12 rounds of stun at max rank. Not to mention it would proc possible on hit effects 4 times and with crit chance would make it so at least some of the hits would crit. Am i completely wrong or missing something? Like armor effects on every four hits etc. or is it not 4 shots?

Also to mention its a good guide and if u came here for that better just listen to it and not me rambling im just a noob asking stupid questions.