Viable gun builds?

[pocbame]

So far I've had elemental builds and summon builds which enter godmode but I've never had any pure gunplay focused builds that get anywhere near that level. Is it just not a thing?

[HypetheKomodo]

If you rock Shotgun and focus on Projectiles, Gun Damage, Bullet Size and Piercing, you can wreak a ton of havoc over a huge area. Abby becomes a blender with her RMB and the right perks.

[Torniquet]

Idk, what's a gun build and why is it okay for Elemental Builds to use Fussilade, Assassin, Splinter/Siege/in the wind/kill clip/Stand your Ground/Mini Clip/Gun Mastery all gun upgrades and still be called an Elemental Build, but gun builds are not allowed to use even tier 1 or tier 2 elemental upgrades? It doesn't really make sense so idk what arbitrary rules we're working with to give you any builds.

[R3sistance]

Since the patch, I think Crossbow builds without elemental and summon builds might be viable, it's hard to do a pure gun build and most elemental builds rely on gun specific boosts anyways, like +projectiles, +pierce/+bounce & +rate of fire. Summon builds also do much better with high bullet damage due to knife and scythe.

I think getting a Shana triple on some gun bonus would be beneficial, more so something like reaper bullets or gun mastery.

[Gnodab]

It's not a thing with the current system because all the faceroll builds use bounce, Fusillade and Tome of Rage, all of which give heavy penalties to bullet damage and there's just no way around that.

Doesn't mean you can't make a Shotgun or Revolver build that can clear Darkness 15, it just means they won't ever compare to the "homing freeze burn explode infinite ammo" builds like Abby Batgun or Spark SMGs.

[FLOORSCRAPS]

Crossbow, Shotgun, and Grenade Launcher are all gun build viable. but Torniquet is correct. "Summon" and "Elemental" builds both pull from all three "schools" it's weird you'd limit yourself like that.

[Ashyne]

I created a Vision build that performs very well.

Firstly, you select the 2 Runes that increase Vision damage and range.

Choose Spark as character.

Fully upgrade the Vision and Magnet/Pickup skill trees, maximizing Vision range and unlock all its buffs.

Since Spark's passive causes Lightning on-hit effect, the Vision skill that causes it to replicate on-hit effects means that your Vision itself can cause Lightning strikes to enemies within its range.

Choose Shotgun, which you want to be in close range for your Vision to work effectively.

Upgrade all Projectile Quantity, Fire Rate, Ammo Refresh, Bounce, Pierce, Bullet Explosion, Lightning and Bullet Damage as much as you can.

It's a very powerful build even at Darkness 15.

[Muscarine]

Shotgun Diamond and pick everything that makes things bigger, herself included
Sac health once you get the appropriate perks
And get fan fire and mini clip
You'll be permanently flooding the screen with bullets the size of a house

That said there is absolutely no bullet build that doesn't get better by at least squeezing Cold in it

[crystalgatedh]

I've had good luck with the shotgun, the grenade launcher and the bat gun (use Abby for this). Those three can easily be very strong as pure gun builds, but not as strong as elemental builds. Also note that comparing pure gun builds against elemental builds that are anything but pure further disadvantages the gun damage focused builds. There is no reason you can't take frost mage and frostbite.

With grenade launcher, you want mini clip and fan fire. Bullet size will make the explosions bigger and bullet speed and piecing will make the bullet explode further away from you. You will soon enough get the hang of when you can and cannot make the bullet bigger without killing yourself.

The shotgun and the bat gun is mostly about getting the damage per second up as much as you can in various ways.

I've also beaten the game with the initial gun and the crossbow as pure gun builds, but they seem less powerful than the previous mentioned three (the batgun is only powerful because of Abby).