[Ryu-Kazuki]

Guns right now, in general are very, extremely lackluster. Their damage output for certain weapon types is pitiful and they can easily be outmatched by other ranged weapons. Especially another provided by an Arbalest.



This is my first attempt at a Magic Gunner, this is prior to her first Legend Extension, but in combat despite her versatility, her offensive capabilities are extremely poor.

Deathrose Sniper

Worth: 150
Medium Gun

Power: 17
Type: Rifle

Critical: 32%
Accuracy: 83%

Rounds: 1

Material: Rockdirt
Weight: 20

Damage Type: Pierce
Durability: 14/43


Rarity:

The Excel line of weapons were developed in Chaturanga, where the ability to be defensive while increasing offensive capabilities was highly valued. By charging up the weapon, it can explosively spend the focus energy when it strikes an enemy, greatly increasing damage. However, the engine module makes it heavier than other weapons.

Item Effects
Quality - Lightweight -2 Weight
Grants Skill: Charge Weapon
On Hit: Consumes Weapon Charges, dealing 50% more damage per Charge Level.

Customization
Barrel Slot - Sniper Barrel
Grip Slot - Custom Grip
Bullets Slot - Silver Bullets

This is the weapon she uses, which is the preferred weapon I plan on using for her. But overall, multi-shot guns provide better damage output unless I use my weapon's excel ability, which is at a cost of 3M per. (It'd be one free if I had a shock collar and conversion gloves, but I don't.)

I'm not sure how the proper SKI scaling for guns works, but I was told it's SKI/2 + WIL/4 + Power for Magic Gunners. So taking the character's stats into account...

Currently that's...

17 + (43/2 rounded down) + (17/4 rounded down) = 52. On a crit is 78. That's all without an excel charge. At 60 if I got both an extra 18 SKI and 18 WIL. ((SKI / 2 = 9) + (WIL / 4 = 4) = 13 + 52) = 65. 65 damage per shot with a sniper rifle. Which is 65 + (65*1.5) = 97 on a crit. Any other weapon can do more damage than that. This is also not guaranteed because of my growth percentages.

With an excel charge comes out to 78 + (78/2) = 117 damage. Which is free with a shock collar and conversion gloves (minus the 2 HP cost for shock collar).

If I wanted a full 150% excel charge without a shock collar and conversion gloves, that costs me a total of 1 1/2 turns with Tactician. A full 1 turn with those items. And that'd total out to... 78 + (78 * 1.5) = 195 without a crit, and with a crit would be... 195 * 1.5 = 292.5. Setting that up still costs (2 full turns) more time than CM + Non-Invoke Spell casting (which is 1 1/2 turns). Doing so makes you miss out on chances to do High Charge (which comes free if you use Spark Drive), or Overcharge (which also comes free if you use Thunder Drive, but all of that costs you 4 SP plus 2 SP for Safety in order to set that up, making you lose 6 SP just for that build).

Now, this is all considering just a sniper, which can be boosted by excel powers. Other guns don't get that kind of benefit so they can't even reach that high of damage. Even so, 52 base damage (which can get somewhat higher yes because I'm not at 60) is really pathetic, especially even for a single shot rifle.

Now you can argue that guns are already good, but let's look at the pros and cons overall before saying that.

Pros

• Guns bypass defense.
  
• Guns can get multiple hits.
  
• Guns get marksmanship bonuses.
  
• Guns do extra damage against Kaelensia & Beast Races (if you equip Silver Bullets).
  
• Snipers have good range against short movement characters.
  
• Swapping shells has no penalty.

Cons

• Guns can't be upgraded at a blacksmith.
  
• Guns can't be crafted, meaning they're stuck at one positive quality if you find them in a dungeon.
  
• Guns are a pain to find in dungeons. They also may not be the material type you wanted, nor have a positive quality. They may not even be the gun you wanted to use.
  
• Guns vary on shot quantity, and depending on the type of gun is the type of mod / skills you can use to make it better.
  
• Guns get a variety of shells, but they take up skill slots, cost a pretty SP cost for multiple shells, and not every shell works for every gun.
  
• Guns get practically no synergy from their base class.
  
• Safety is required to make Thunder Drive work (since if you fire again to make Thunder Drive activate, you need to make sure you don't burn out your charge, costing you at least 1 SP, plus the SP you spent on Spark Drive and Overcharge and their prerequisites.).
  
• Reloading makes all effects of shells not work for 4 turns (2 if you have Cooldown, which again costs 3 SP).

Either way you look at it, guns have decent arguments on both sides. But I still feel that if you need to spend so much so set something up, or even to provide good damage (especially with a gun that doesn't split the damage between shots), then you make yourself a sitting duck and an easy target to pick off.

If it is at 1/2 SKI divided between each shot, then that needs to be changed in some manner, because 25% of WIL isn't going to cut much at all in helping the damage increase. I think the 25% of WIL is fine, so it doesn't need to change, because it's not going to help other future gun classes.

Though I propose SKI scaling with guns increases to 75% of SKI / shot quantity. This way it's not entirely too high, but still provides a decent increase to the desire for guns and their combat power. Otherwise they're going to be dishing out small hits with moderate HP for a gunner, and you're not getting much DEF either, so you're all around pretty weak in combat. There's too much cost currently for so little reward.