Gunner Build Notes

I'm in the Garden and finishing up my first playthrough at around 40 hours. In early Emerald Stair I switched to a dual pistol/arquebus build, and spent a lot of time feeling out which talents really contribute and which do not. This is not any groundbreaking news but I thought i'd share.

MUST HAVE - level these as soon as they are available

* Charge (2) or Tanglefoot - your choice
* Steady Aim (3)
* Marksmanship (3)
* Quick Switch (2)
* Staggering Shot (3)

NICE TO HAVE - level these when you cant level the above

* Constant Recovery (3)
* Toughness (3)
* Bear Ally (2)
* Inspiring Triumph (1)
* Scavenger (1)

AVOID - stay away

* Critical Strike
* Sniper

The big thing I wanted to point out for people who haven't tried a gun build yet is that critical strike chance is useless - avoid gear and talents that provide it. You're going to be critting every shot anyway due to time-slowing, even if you have 0% crit chance on your character sheet. That said, +crit DAMAGE is amazing. Again, your'e going to be 100% critting, so +damage on those leads to bananas times.

Regarding guns, I am finishing the game as dual arquebus lol. It's just too powerful. If you want to try this, or just want a good single arquebus, the two options you want to look at are:

- One Last Trick. Reward at the end of the Ranger line in Emerald Stair, so you can get this pretty dang early. Do so. It's solid as hell right up to the end.

- Heavenstrike. You can get this for zero effort as soon as you zone into Galwain's Tusks. Just be sure and collect two pieces of star metal from the previous zones - there is one piece per zone. Hand the smithy in Solace Keep one piece, get Moonstrike. Hand in the second piece and upgrade it to Heavenstrike.

With the Quick Switch talent, you basically do two shots of One Last Trick and one shot of Heavenstrike in a rotation. OLT has +20% reload, so it really pops off, especially when paired with then +15% reload gloves. Both guns have AE damage. Heavenstrike pairs really well with frost grenades.

Have fun out there people.