Handgonnes: Do you guys like them?

[Meeky]

I just got one and tried one today, and I have to say that it's a blast to use. (Literally!) I took one into the Holy War crisis and as the noble houses' armies lined up in front of the ruined castle I just blammed them to Heck and back.

I feel like there's a lot of potential for using handgonnes on hybrid bros (bros with both high melee and high ranged skill). Such bros could blast the bad guys in the face, then swap to a polearm for melee if necessary. Heck, if you just want one shot each, Quick Hands + two-hander of your choice + handgonne = great initial burst for nobles, orcs, and goblins, I imagine. I imagine it works well on serpents, webnechts, and nachrezers, too.

The Ancient Dead move in formation, so I imagine handgonnes would help with initially shredding their armor, but ranged weapons in general aren't super effective against their actual HP.

What are your thoughts on the guns? And...

Are there unique / rare guns? Because I sure as heck want one!

[blackhand_lost]

I think they're cool but a bit clunky to use. Better in defensive formation, but I tend to advance forward, so it's tricky to not hit your own guys.
Mass overwhelm and mass poisoning are nice though.Not that I managed to poison more than 2 enemies yet lol

[♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥]

I think they fill a niche role themselves but my thoughts exactly like you're saying blast them with the gun and quick hands to another weapon for some serious potential burst dps.

I have found 2 unique handgonnes one with a 5% to hit chance modifier and a 10%.

While the character who im currently testing this build with is kind of lackluster in his MA and RA stats I think I just prefer the tried and true longbowmen for when I need to snipe high priority targets although I think its a cool addition to the game.

Edit: Also im fairly certain you cannot have loaded guns in your bags otherwise you could have a bags and belts loaded with 4 guns but I believe I noticed when I didnt preset my gun back from my bag into my hands for another battle I had to load it kind of understandable choice by the devs I suppose.

[Meeky]

Yeah, the two main benefits I see to the handgonnes are:
- initial bursts before a fight (then swapping to a melee weapon)
- Overwhelm + Fearsome + Poison procs via AoE might actually work okay, especially if we can find unique handgonnes that ignore more armor

Honestly, the other really good thing is they can be swapped out for Crossbows safely because they use the same perk. Meaning you can handgonnes for fights vs. large or lightly armored groups, or bring crossbows to snipe key targets. Crossbow mastery is super flexible now.

[PK_Thunder]

I give one to my dedicated throwers and it works quite well. Huge utility.

[♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥]

Originally posted by Meeky:

Yeah, the two main benefits I see to the handgonnes are:
- initial bursts before a fight (then swapping to a melee weapon)
- Overwhelm + Fearsome + Poison procs via AoE might actually work okay, especially if we can find unique handgonnes that ignore more armor

Honestly, the other really good thing is they can be swapped out for Crossbows safely because they use the same perk. Meaning you can handgonnes for fights vs. large or lightly armored groups, or bring crossbows to snipe key targets. Crossbow mastery is super flexible now.

Nice! Yeah, I'm glad the Handgonne was consolidated with Crossbows for Mastery choice.

[Whatever100500]

Originally posted by ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥:

Nice! Yeah, I'm glad the Handgonne was consolidated with Crossbows for Mastery choice.

It really doesn't help much. Crossbows and Handgonnes have different optimal perks and you can't efficiently QH between them due to different ammo in ammo slot.

[madracc00n]

It is very good if u build hybrid or let this bro sit out some fights.

[Meeky]

Originally posted by Whatever100500:

Originally posted by ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥:

Nice! Yeah, I'm glad the Handgonne was consolidated with Crossbows for Mastery choice.

It really doesn't help much. Crossbows and Handgonnes have different optimal perks and you can't efficiently QH between them due to different ammo in ammo slot.

It's not about quickhanding, IMO. It's about being able to bring different weapons to different engagements.

That is: if you have a reasonably good crossbow user or handgonne user, they can use the other weapon just fine in a pinch. It's a nice little touch.

And you can absolutely build a character that is both good with a handgonne and good with a crossbow, perk-wise.

[Shogun]

Too weak in my opinion, even with over 100+ Range, I find them missing consistently (it's odd but ever since this DLC, I think how the RNG works has been messed with in some way). They're good if you have 2 handgonners, and can encircle people in a decent fashion to stack overwhelm. Otherwise leave them for low armor enemies (goblins get wrecked by this, but goblins aren't brainless undead to just get stacked up like that).

I have a legenday handgonne, and I just don't get when this thing is supposed to be doing serious damage tbh.

[lubed_assassin]

Originally posted by ＮｏＢｒａｉｎ Ｅｄ:

Too weak in my opinion, even with over 100+ Range, I find them missing consistently (it's odd but ever since this DLC, I think how the RNG works has been messed with in some way). They're good if you have 2 handgonners, and can encircle people in a decent fashion to stack overwhelm. Otherwise leave them for low armor enemies (goblins get wrecked by this, but goblins aren't brainless undead to just get stacked up like that).

I have a legenday handgonne, and I just don't get when this thing is supposed to be doing serious damage tbh.

they are clunky, its like it randomly assigns an amount of damage to each square and some squares are misses? the damage is ridiculous if you use them in mass with each other, especailly against tight shield wall formations, firing 3 or 4 shots in one group wrecks stuff.

[Cat®]

They're very useful against monster hordes, and wiedergangers of all types. They're also highly effective against goblins which I love. But other than that they are so clunky and so prone to friendly-firing that I'd rather take anything else. But that just means you can have one dedicated gunner if you want it, and if not just equip your crossbow guys with gonnes when you want to take on hordes. No spares necessary, as you might want with archers. The perk that makes a gunner good, however, kinda double up with nothing. But they can be used as a generic backliner, thrower, or utility character if the gonne is not paying dividend.

EDIT: Went for a little afternoon BB, and was set up against 24 nachzehrers. I routed all of them in 2 rounds thanks to the gunner. I want to emphasise that beast hordes fall like paper to a gunner, and especially if you can get a named gonne.

[Meeky]

Just finished the Holy War crisis. They're... very effective against human opponents. Fearsome + overwhelm + handgonnes = a bad hit might not do much, but will still apply overwhelm, while a good shot can kill 1-3 guys and shatter a formation's morale.

Haven't used it against orcs yet, but I imagine it's a great way to scatter Orc Young and Berserkers.

I will agree that they're a bit clunky, but I'm having fun using them so far. I've got 2 in the company, looking to add a third one soon. They definitely clean house fast.

Using them en masse definitely seems like the right idea.

[gazomierz]

I haven't used them much myself. But I've been on the recieving end plenty.

Even in hands of AI southern gunners they're painful. Despite them not focusing targets, and mostly not applying massed overwhelm.

But in those cases they did it's a real pain. I prioritize gunners above all else against southerners. Unless they have silly number of troops. Then, more often than not, gunners are liability to their own armies. Number of conscripts I saw end with shrapnel to the back of their heads is somewhat astonishing.

Do you guys have similar observations? As I feel gunners AI should get some more love to better prioritize targets. And weighting hitting full cone of their own man just to get a chance at one or two of my guys as not desirable action.

[Meeky]

I do think their target priority may need slight updating. I was actually on the receiving end of ALLIED gunners more often than I'd like to admit. I started avoiding conflicts where I was working alongside southerners.

[Whatever100500]

Originally posted by gazomierz:

Unless they have silly number of troops. Then, more often than not, gunners are liability to their own armies. Number of conscripts I saw end with shrapnel to the back of their heads is somewhat astonishing.

It's not just gunners. AI seems to consider some friendly acceptable for AoE attacks in general.