Ranger: Shotguns or Crossbows?

[zSW1FT]

Well I've come to a sort of crux.

I am a fortegunner. I am unsure if I want to use shotguns or crossbows for spread SEs and damage.

If shotguns had lvl 3 SEs at 21+. They would most likely be superior, point blanking is very good dmg.

Crossbows however DO have lvl 3 SE's and apparently have quite good damage, and the option of mobility.

From exp, which is generally better to have? The mobility definately helps ...shotgun's lag and pumping animation sucks v_v;

[Akaimizu]

Tough question on a Fortegunner. You might be more resilient and safer with the idea of stopping for your shots. I'm a bit unfamiliar with high-ranked shotties to see how well they damage, in comparison.

Needless to say, I think you have a good choice here by preference. The skew of weights for and against either one shift, if you were a different class making the choice.

[AC9breaker]

I don't think you can really compare both shotgun and Crossbows since, you have another weapon equiped with crossbow. But I would suggest choose what you want. Great damage and crowd control - shotgun, or Defensive damage, and consistant staus effects. I think crossbow combo would be pretty ideal for soloing where as with Shotgun its a big more tricky to solo.

[zSW1FT]

I believe the choice will be clear when S Rank shotguns come out. I'm pretty sure with the next patch comming and the 10% increase to shotgun damage. S rank shotguns will far outdamage the A rank crossbow I would be able to use.

[zSW1FT]

You know, after thinking about it. I can just use both....
Why pick between two when you can have both? Such a weapon pimp >D

[Akaimizu]

Most likely the shotgun will do more damage, at that rank. Or I would say, it should. The Crossbow is more of the Guntecher's weapon given mobility weapons are the cat's meow to a guntecher. Forces don't like to be hit 1st...but my class and race, probably a close 2nd. One of the reasons I tend to shy away from weapons that cause me to stand in one place. I do use the Bow, of course, but only when it's safe to or in the right situations.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Akaimizu on 2007-01-23 13:52 ]</font>

[ljkkjlcm9]

A crossbow is great because it has High PP and goes in only one hand. I use it as a fighgunner, even though I can only get two shots. When it gets to level 20 bullets, at close range it's basically a single handed twin handgun equivalent.

THE JACKEL

[Hotobu]

As a fortegunner I've completely abandoned my shotgun and I'll give you a list of reasons why.

First of all shotgun ATP is incredibly weak. Shotguns only become good when you're hitting with the majority of your bullets whether it's against one enemy or multiple ones. Crossbow ATP is MUCH higher. If you're at the same 21+ level with a shotgun vs. crossbow you'll do roughly the same damage with the 3 shots to one enemy as you will with the the shotgun's 5.

Where the crossbow really shines is the rate of fire and mobility. You can shoot approximately 2 crossbow shots for every 1 with the shotgun. So in the same amount of time you're effectively doubling your damage.

On top of this you get to strafe around like it was a handgun. With the shotgun you're anchored in place for about a second so all-to-often you end up trading hits if you aren't really focusing. If you're fighting a Koltova and it's charging at you you can scamper backwards, continue to fire, and get off 2 -3 more shots than you could with a shotgun before you get hit. Furthermore because you can equip a melee weapon in your main hand you have the circular strafing ability of a blade. In other words if you're fighting that same koltova you'd have to manually reset with the shotgun reposition yourself and fire. With the crossbow you can switch to your main weapon, continue to target, circle to its backside and switch back to the bow. Then there's the obvious advantage of having a whole other weapon. One that if you so chose you can use a pop-up PA and shoot the monster when they're on the ground.

The biggest drawback to the crossbow is because it fires so fast you can burn through PP really quick. The counter argument is that you've got a high damage weapon with a fast rate of fire. Whereas the shotgun takes forever to go through a stock, this is due to its much slower rate of fire and you taking alot of hits/correctly positioning yourself.

All things considered the Crossbow is FAR superior.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Hotobu on 2007-01-23 19:42 ]</font>

[EC_Subbie]

Shotguns sacrifice mobility and distance for power and the 10% boost will further prove this. I'm already doing 1,200 per shot vs opp element, and the combat style is pretty much always point blank for maximum effectiveness. You run behind or stay to the side of a monster while shooting, it's fairly easy. SE is lv2, with a 5x chance of landing with each shot. As a fG you also have S rank access to this, which comes into play greatly later on. It's also the most PP efficient gun in the game, and fires as half the speed of a rifle. Even so..the shotty still outdamages it by a good 3-400 damage.

[THERAPIST]

I found shotties far more useful at earlier levels (sub 40-50).
Now it's all about Infection and Burn on my rifles http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

[Kelevra]

At First i thought that shotguns were horrible. I started off with a shigga wada early 20's level. It was garbage, than i heard if you grind it out you get more bullets. At 11 you get 4 shots, the shots usually about half the strength of a similar rank handgun. This means if you pointblank you will get two times the strength of the same strength handgun, essentially a rifle shot. Maybe a little more.

As you raise a bullets level a % of the damage increases also. So lets say you have it at Ice 15 30% atp boost. If you apply that to each bullet shot, you are doing 120% and 150% damage at 21. So its like your firing 5 6.5 bullets at its highest rank.

IE shotguns are the shit.

I have a phantom and phantomline and I find myself using my shotty point blank to do double its damage.

[Gen2000]

Xbow vs. proper element can do 900 (crit 1500s) at point blank with a slightly faster fire rate so the damage different isn't that huge from a Shotgun (currently) point blank.

For mob hitting I prefer Xbows because I like getting hit as less as possible while still doing good damage. For point blank or mob hitting, overall I'm preferring the Xbow. The Shotgun boost update that may change that but for right now I'm all about the Xbow even as a fG.

One of the main advantages of Shotgun over Xbow is the glitch hitting, where one bullet can hit a target twice. Vs. bosses like De Ragan with 5 Bullets and max element bullet this is absolute ownage when you account his multiple targets. This is one of the few situtations that makes me pull out a Shotgun vs. an Xbow. You can glitch hit Xbow bullets too but it seems much harder to trigger, I did it only twice so far...guess the distance to perform is stricter than Shotgun.

For SE Spread, there is no contest, Xbow are vastly superior to Shotguns. Lv.3 SEs and greater mobility? Get Dark Xbow bullet to lv.21+ and watch how quickly you can spread teh aids. Freeze Xbow bullet lv.21 is basically the new Spreed Needle rather people notice this or not. As a single fG I can lockdown rooms easily, I'm still waiting to meet other fGs with Freeze lv.21 so we can revive the old Speed Needle type rapage of mobs.

[Hotobu]

Yeah, but even against De Ragan you're still better off with a grenade launcher. You get to stay at a pretty good distance, and have a pretty good rate of fire.

I also have to ask about this whole 10% power boost excitement. IF it's a boost to the base atp of the weapons itself people are getting excited over nothing. The strongest shotgun base ATP I believe is is 108. Add 10% and you're at 119. Big fucking deal.

[Deja]

For applying SE's, crossbow is a no-brainer. After 3-4 crossbow shots, the whole room is infected/burned/frozen/shocked. I have all four of these at lvl 21, so I know. An ice crossbow against a worm is a godsend, almost to the point where it is broken. I freeze the worm almost every other shot, and he almost never gets a chance to return to the ground.

I've never tried shotties, but for point-blank firepower and damage, there is no equivalent for a fortegunner.

My advice?

Get at least Shock and Ice to lvl 21 on the crossbow (you'll be LOVED by fortefighters/fighgunners), and go for all the elements on the shotty for the maximum damage in any situation.

[Gen2000]

On 2007-01-24 15:43, Hotobu wrote:
Yeah, but even against De Ragan you're still better off with a grenade launcher. You get to stay at a pretty good distance, and have a pretty good rate of fire.


It's De Ragan, you don't need that much safe distance vs. him.

[SolomonGrundy]

Fortegunner should focus on shotguns. When S ranks are released you'll have the bullets ready to roll.
The ultimate art for the shotty is pretty nifty too. All of a sudden you are a debuffer!

crossbows are for gunteckers, we need the boost ;-p

[Destruct05]

i havent tried a crossbow yet, but it seems like it could be a good substitute for a pistol or mechgun.

as for shotguns, ive found them to be a decent last resort weapon. they have a high amount of pp that doesnt drain as quick as most guns...however they are not all that powerful unless shot from a point blank range and unless you are planning to either a.) shoot a nearby crowd of enemies or b.) charge towards an enemy kamikaze style and fire away, then stick with a steady supply of rifles, twin pistols, and a grenade lancher or two. long story short, shotguns are ok imo.