red9 vs sg09R vs bt vs punisher

[rawther]

which one of these would you pick to maxout fast and why

[Terepin]

I am using Sentinel Nine and I am satisfied with it.

[Faded]

Sentinel nine is best. Has 5x crit hit like the base gun, but better overall

[rawther]

yeah but that one is a dlc gun I'm asking about the og handguns

[PeripheralVisionary]

Re9 or Punisher. I just completed the main campaign on hardcore with the starting handgun because I really like its exclusive upgrade in the original.

While Ganados aren't particularly tanky in this game, especially if you utilize melee prompts, it appears that the critical headshot exclusive upgrade for the starting handgun was nerfed to the ground.

Punisher is really handy against shield Ganados, and enemy Ganados aren't particularly tanky enough for handgun ammo to be that much of a concern. This is especially true if you like to try having enemies funnel into a narrow passage for some sections. I am not familiar with Blacktail.

[Asryia]

Punisher i use almost for more than half the game as it can hit 5 at once.

[MagicHp]

Punisher if you like hitting multiple targets in a single shot.
Red9 is you want to kill a target in a single shot (more or less, I didn't try it much yet)

I personnally used the Punisher, piercing is pretty useful during the whole game.

[Dollmaker]

Punisher is good for dealing with multiple enemies and more importantly enemies with shields, but it lacks in dmg.

SG is just normal but the exclusive upgrade allows for more critical headshots, which can save you tons of ammo by instantly killing enemies.

Red9 does the most dmg i believe, but it has a lot or recoil, taking longer to line up a shot, and it takes the most space, specially with the stock.

BT is just good all around, but it doesnt have any special traits, its just a basic well rounded gun.

[Xengre]

Sentinel 9, or if you don't have it Handgun (almost identical to Sentinel 9 in practice, only slightly worse).

They both give the 5x crit bonus with the exclusive ticket, especially if you rush the exclusive earlier if you aren't saving it for a Magnum.

They both can use laser pointers so you don't have the delay or movement penalties for aiming like Red 9 and others (Punisher can use laser too iirc). Factor in the recoil and slow fire rate issue of the Red 9 and harder difficulties become problematic and this is likely one of the big difficulty sources many are having in hardcore as so many people drift towards the Red 9 when its not only bad but was nerfed compared to even the original game (all versions, esp the popular 6.7 dmg original versions).

You start with them and while upgrades is capped to lv 3 they don't perform much worse than the Red 9 (and with exclusive its significantly better than Red 9) in terms of dmg.

It takes up little space and doesn't need any stocks. Great clip capacity, especially on the Sentinel 9.

Most enemies are the types that are very vulnerable to the critical instant kill. Technically, its not an instant kill but massive dmg multiplier on crits (hence looks like an instant kill) so this actually can allow it when paired with its fire rate and accuracy to out DPS the Red 9 and Blacktail as well, if your aim is good. However, in truth you should be using shotgun/sniper/SMG on bosses and special enemies when possible and having such an efficient pistol crit helps save ammo and let you preserve the good ammo for harder encounters.

Punisher is an interesting but different playstyle. However, imo, the Shotgun, proxi mine, and especially Sniper (lined up headshots 1 round go OP) can handle groups well enough I feel the Punisher is overlapping their role inefficiently if you utilize the other weapons efficiently while not contributing to a proper true solution of handling your typical minor enemy, aka by far the most common enemy types in the game.