IMPORTANT NOTICE: This guide is not being frequently updated, since I have not been keeping up with SK updates as of several months ago. As such, some of the information contained wherein may be out of date and no longer accurate.

So you want to be a gunner.
(If not, then please stop reading this guide, because you’re probably in the wrong place and not going to learn all that much from this. Really.)
Being a gunner is sort of like an art form. A skilled gunner is a great addition to many parties, being able to take out pesky turrets with a single charge shot, drawing away enemy attention, cutting down enemies from a distance with minimal or no damage, interrupting monsters’ attacks and generally being really badass medics.
Now that we’ve got through all the romantic waffle, let’s get to the important stuff, shall we?

'The best defense is a good offense. So's the best offense.'

As a gunner, you should primarily be learning not to rely too much on defense. The best way of protecting yourself is to a) pay attention and b) get your enemy killed before he can do anything. Regrettably, unlike with sword-users, damage bonuses are rather more uncommon for guns, and none of the precursors to the 5* offensive gunning-specific equips have status resistances, but there are still some great choices available.

0*: Cyclops Cap (Gun Damage Bonus: Med)
Normal defence, no status resist
Exactly one-third of the Hero Mode set (Cyclops Cap/Fencing Jacket/Swiftstrike Buckler), this helmet is, ironically enough, on par bonus-wise with the 5* equipment bonus of the Shadowsun pieces. Its defence is pitiful, of course, but then it is a 0* helmet, and it only costs 150 crowns, which is pretty good value for money. Makes not infrequent appearances in t1 and t2 LD games, as well as in the loadouts of masochists or people who are so pro they can afford to make movies of doing stuff like UFSC in what is effectively tissue paper. Offence-boosting tissue paper. Still reasonably worthwhile using in t2 for its damage bonus if you’re on a budget, although you might not wish to do this at first.

3* – 4*: Gunslinger – Sunset set (per piece – Gun ASI: Low)
Normal/piercing defence, no status resist
I put these under the same description because, other than the changes you’d expect from a 3* to 4* upgrade (boost in health and damage protection), they are pretty much the same. Most readily available 5* gunner gear for F2Pers comes from this starting point, a mildly irritating point since they can’t just be crafted from a mist tank in the way that the other specialised lines (Wolver and Spiral Demo) can. Neither Gunslinger nor Sunset gets status resistance, which is also a mildly irritating point since the sword-user’s equivalent, Wolver, gets freeze resistance from the start, but we can live with that. Each piece should be about 15k crowns or thereabouts at time of posting, although you may be able to get one for somewhat cheaper. Both pieces have normal and piercing defense, which is okay. You want mobility, and mobility occasionally means walking around on spikes. ASI is also okay, since it will let you bring your gun up and down for faster firing purposes.

5*: Justifier set (per piece – Gun ASI: Med)
Normal/piercing defence, Max! Stun resist
This is the ‘obvious’ upgrade of the Gunslinger line. It keeps the normal and piercing defense and gains Max! Stun resist per piece, which also makes sense because mobility. It’s not exceptionally useful as a resistance in PvE, but that’s okay because this is an offense-orientated armour. Each piece gets the Gun ASI bonus increased to Med, pretty much as you’d expect.

5*: Nameless set (per piece – Gun ASI: Med)
Normal/elemental defence, Max! Freeze resist
The normal and elemental defense upgrade of the Gunslinger line. Pretty much the same as the Justifier, except piercing defense exchanged for elemental and Max! Freeze resist instead of Stun. Arguably, this could be said to be more useful, and is pretty reasonable since it goes with the same ‘mobility for gunners’ theme again.

5*: Shadowsun set (per piece – Gun Damage: Med)
Normal/shadow defence, Max! Poison resist
This one gets normal and shadow defense and Max! Poison resist per piece, as well as a nice damage bonus. It used to be a rather poorer version of its brothers (originally it got Gun Damage: Low per piece with Max! Poison and Curse weakness), but this has since been changed and it enjoys quite a bit of use in the Clockworks. Generally gun damage is considered to be more useful than ASI, since not all guns benefit equally from the latter bonus (in particular, Autogun lines).

5*: Deadshot set (per piece – Damage vs. Undead: Med, Gun ASI: Low)
Normal/shadow defence, Max! Curse resist
A bit of an oddball set, Deadshot has normal and shadow defense and an undead damage bonus for all weapons, not just guns, as well as a Gun ASI Low and Max! Curse resist. This makes it better against undead, particularly if you’re fighting as a hybrid, but curse resistance is of limited use, and you generally want a damage bonus to all monsters rather than just a single family. Useful in (U)FSC, Black Kat hunts and Graveyards, but not so much in general play, I wouldn’t recommend it as the first set for a pure gunslinger.

1*/3*/5*: Mask of Seerus (Gun CTR: Med, Gun ASI: Low)
Normal/elemental defence, Max! Shock/Fire resist, Med Poison/Freeze weakness
This is a P2P helmet, available through the Operation: Crimson Hammer expansion. It requires you to complete the mission 3 times in order to get three Seerus Mask Fragments to craft a mask, but is well worth the effort – the masks have normal and elemental defense, as well as Max! Fire and Shock resistance in exchange for Med Freeze and Poison weakness. It also happens to be the only gunner-focused equipment to get a CTR Med, which is useful if you like using Drivers, Autoguns or Catalysers.

5*: Chaos Cowl/Cloak (per piece - Universal CTR: Med, Universal Damage Bonus: Med)
(Lower) Normal/elemental defence, Med Shock/Fire/Freeze/Poison/Curse weakness
'What?' I hear you say. 'CTR: Med and Damage: Med per piece? You're kidding, right?' Nope; this set has been restored to its former glory, giving two excellent offensive buffs for every single weapon type. It's like Mad Bomber, with fairly low normal and elemental defense, but with curse weakness that nobody cares about and a universal weapon bonus that everybody does. Suddenly, maxing out all your stats just got a lot easier, at the cost of Med weakness to Shock, Poison, Fire, Freeze and Curse. Excellent glass cannon set for hybrids if you're good enough at dodging to be able to avoid everything that might inflict status on you, but not advisable for a beginning gunner.

3* - 5*: Kat Eye Hood - Mask - Cowl (Gun ASI: Low, (5* only, Gun Damage Bonus: Low))
Normal/shadow defence, Max! Freeze resist, Med Shock weakness, Low Curse weakness
A neat-looking hood with normal and shadow defence, although its bonuses are awkward. Nobody wants odd bonuses, we only like multiples of 2, especially where damage bonuses are concerned, because anything above +6 (Maximum!) is wasted. Swiftstrike we can deal with because it's awesome. Max! Freeze resistance is good, but then it gets Med Shock weakness as well as a Low Curse weakness that nobody actually cares about... and it's awkward to get, given you'll need 200 tokens in total.

5*: Black Kat Cowl (MSI: Low, Universal Damage Bonus: High)
(Lower) Normal/shadow defence, Max! Freeze resist, Max! Curse weakness, Med Shock/Poison/Fire weakness
If you have this, you are either rich or one lucky sonuva- ahem. Normal and shadow defence, MSI Low which is somewhat debatable in usefulness, but then it gets an universal damage bonus High. Max! Freeze resist in exchange for Max! Curse weakness and Med Poison, Fire and Shock weakness makes this something of a glass cannon helmet, but less so than Chaos, and with a speed bonus to boot. Certainly worthwhile considering for a hybrid - if you can get it.

5*: Fallen set (per piece - Universal ASI: Low, Fiend Damage Penalty: Med)
(Lower) Normal/shadow defence, Max! Fire/Poison resist, Max! Curse weakness
Fallen's resistances make it a rather better option than the rest of the Angelic line, with Poison and Fire resistance and a Curse weakness. The ASI is good, but then the Fiend damage penalty can be crippling. It's a shadow-defence armour that nerfs your damage against one of two enemies it protects against. Not the best choice, but not terrible.

The best offensive bonus shield for gunners (and only offensive bonus shield, in fact) is the 3* Swiftstrike Buckler (normal, no status resist). Despite its description, it gives its ASI High to all weapons, including bombs, although the effect is negligible for those weapons unless you like pretending to juggle. Unfortunately, it's also a t2 shield with no specialised defence or status resistances, which means that if it gets hit directly in t3 it is liable to crumple like tissue paper. You are a gunslinger, not a tank. You are not meant to take trojan hits to the face.
This can partly be countered by making good use of the invincibility frames triggered once you take damage on your shield, by allowing your shield to be pinged by a hit, and then releasing it and backing out of the way. The ASI bonus is extremely useful for gunners, and helps considerably in maxing out your ASI for guns. (It’s also another third of the Hero Mode set.)

However, whilst getting the Swiftstrike is a good offensive option, you will inevitably want another shield, even if it's for no further purpose than to gain t3 clearance.

If you don’t feel secure enough in your dodging ability to be using the Swiftstrike, then any appropriate defensive shield will do. Strictly speaking they aren't shields designed for gunners specifically, but nevertheless, Grey Owlite (elemental/normal with shock/fire resist), Ironmight Plate Shield (lots of normal/pierce with stun resist), Dread Skelly Shield (shadow/normal and freeze/poison resist) and Crest of Almire (normal/shadow and shock/fire resist) are all good options for anybody wanting specialised damage defence.

Aegis (normal/piercing, no status) and Heater Shield (normal/elemental, freeze resist) are vaguely worth considering because they are cheap; the recipes are all provided in the missions, other than the one for the 5* Heater Shield, and you're given the 2* shield Defender as a mission reward as well. In defensive respects, though, they are subpar; Aegis gets no status resistance, and Heater only has Freeze in comparison to Owlite's more useful Shock and Fire. There's also Royal Jelly (piercing/normal, stun/sleep resist), which is essentially a weaker version of Ironmight with a status resistance that no monsters can currently inflict; however, you can buy the 3* Brute Jelly Shield using boss tokens from Brinks.

There’s also Ancient Plate (very high normal, stun resist), Volcanic Plate (high normal, stun/fire resist) and Omega Shell (normal, no status resist, high health), all of which are pure normal defence, but of those three the second is generally considered to be most useful for its status resistances (stun and fire). They make decent choices as all-round shields - whilst not optimal, they'll perform reasonably well in most situations, and can take some fairly heavy punishment.

Barbarous Thorn Shield (normal/piercing, Sword Damage Bonus: Med) is only of use if you happen to pack a sword as a side weapon, since it otherwise acts like a (marginally) weaker and much more expensive version of Aegis. As for Dragon Scale (piercing/elemental, fire/poison resist), it’s a specialist scenario shield for the Compound 42 danger mission, and isn’t really a great first choice.

I am going to skip all the 0* and 1* guns because they don’t go anywhere with their upgrades and don’t have any particular value to them. They are all much the same for t1 PvP purposes, except for statuses, and also why are you even playing t1 PvP right now.

In general, you're going to want at least one gun of each specialised damage type, in order to be able to maximise your damage easily. This way, even with just two weapon slots, you can swap out as the situation requires and still be sure of getting effective damage against four out of six enemy types, and neutral against the last two.

Please note that if something says 'boss reward', this means that a) the base item is not craftable and b) the recipes are only available from Basil, as opposed to through HoH. This will make them more expensive to obtain, unless you are fortunate or patient enough to spend some time recipe hunting in the Clockworks.

BLASTER - SUPER BLASTER - MASTER BLASTER - VALIANCE

• Normal damage
  
• Clip of 3
  
• Fast bullets
  
• Instant firing
  
• Moderate knockback on bullets
  
• Charge slightly larger, more powerful version of standard shots

This is the cheapest gun to get. You get the recipes free as mission rewards, and the 2* comes as a mission reward as well. It is pretty much exactly the same in function as the t1 guns, except about 20% cooler. The 5* looks as if you can stab people with it, but unfortunately not. You may rest assured with the fact that it will never do ineffective damage. Not the best for damaging purposes, but decent, able to hit Devilites without excessive difficulty, and good at nudging enemies around – say, into the area covered by your friend’s Graviton Vortex or Voltaic Tempest, or out of the way of someone’s face. It also fires almost instantly, as opposed to some other guns which have a slight delay in their firing. Makes an excellent and deadly weapon in the hands of Recons deathmarking, and often favoured by Strikers in interrupting people's attacks.

???TECH ALCHEMER - ???TECH MK II ALCHEMER - ??? DRIVER - ??? DRIVER

• Elemental or shadow damage (elemental for Nova and status Driver lines, shadow for Umbra line)
  
• Clip of 2
  
• Moderately fast bullets
  
• Ricochets starting from 3* and above
  
• Good chance of Moderate status on Magma, Storm and Hail (Fire, Shock and Freeze respectively) in exchange for pure damage
  
• Charge larger bullet with knockback, splitting into smaller bullets (2 for 2*-4*, 4 for 5*)

There are 5 different types of Drivers, all of which function in a fairly similar manner other than their damage and status types, all of which use the second name when they become 5*: Prisma, which becomes Nova; Shadow, which becomes Umbra; Firo, which becomes Magma; Volt, which becomes Storm, and Cryo, which becomes Hail.

One of the awesome things about Drivers isn’t immediately apparent when you initially buy its 2* version; all of the upgrades beyond that, though, possess the ability for their bullets to ricochet on impact. This means that you can damage an enemy, or several enemies, multiple times with one bullet - at 3*, the bullets will ricochet once, but when upgraded to 4*, they have a chance to ricochet twice, and at 5*, they will reliably ricochet twice. This allows you to potentially hit monsters for MASSIVE DAMAGE, since you can cause the ricochets to happen inside the enemy if you hit the right spot (slightly off-centre, to the right of where your knight is facing, but varies somewhat depending on the target). There's a little extra note on ricochets in the 'Tips' section at the end of the guide.

This ability is particularly useful against turrets, which can be OHKO’d with a single charge, or against clustered mobs, where the bullets can ricochet against the enemies easily. Unfortunately, the ricochets can equally be a hindrance; it’s possible to accidentally hit switches or explosive blocks with the shots, or accidentally alert an enemy you wanted to leave for the time being. Ironclaw Munitions Factory in particular is somewhat alchemer-unfriendly for this reason.

Nova and Umbra are both pure-damage versions, and are both useful for dealing heavy damage in a brief period of time. Storm has shock status, giving it something of a crowd-control ability, since the status can interrupt attacks and hold enemies in place briefly when they spasm. Hail is more utility than damage, with its freeze ability to lock enemies in place; however, the bullet does have a chance to break the freeze before you can make use of the immobility, so you might not wish to aim for ricochets all the time. Magma exchanges flat-out damage for DPS, which is of debatable use amongst players given the strength of the fire inflicted.

All of the drivers can make terrifying weapons to come up against in LD; the status drivers have a high chance of inflicting, and it isn't possible to become immune to Moderate status through UVs. A lucky Freeze or Shock infliction from a Driver can put your enemy to a lot of trouble, and the ricochets of all Drivers make them unpredictable in their potential for high damage.

AUTOGUN - NEEDLE SHOT - STRIKE NEEDLE - BLITZ NEEDLE
AUTOGUN - TOXIC NEEDLE - BLIGHT NEEDLE - PLAGUE NEEDLE
AUTOGUN - PEPPERBOX - FIERY PEPPERBOX - VOLCANIC PEPPERBOX

• Piercing or Normal damage (Piercing for Blitz and Plague Needle lines, Normal for Volcanic Pepperbox line and Autogun)
  
• Clip of Lots (6 on standard attack, 15 on charge)
  
• Fast bullets
  
• Fast firing rate
  
• Locked in place whilst firing
  
• Entire clip must be unloaded at once
  
• Charge more powerful version of standard shots (knockback on Volcanic Pepperbox's charge)
  
• Slight chance of status on Plague and Pepperbox lines (Moderate turning to Strong Poison at 5* on Plague, Moderate Fire on Pepperbox) in exchange for pure damage
  
• Plague line recipes are untradeable Coliseum rewards

Ever wanted to drown something in bullets? Really want stuff to die? Have a reckless lack of concern for your own health? Want one of the most overpowered weapons in the entire game? These are the guns you're looking for.

Blitz Needle has the most stupidly high damage output of any weapon, despite the fact that its damage values look lower than the Valiance; its charge can rack up 2.5k damage in Stratum 6 on piercing-neutral enemies if every single bullet hits, and up to 4k on piercing-weak enemies.
However, like all other Autoguns, it comes with two severe drawbacks; a) you must unload an entire clip at once (6 bullets for the standard attack, or 15 for the charge) and b) you’re stuck in place whilst unloading and reloading. This latter in particular can cause issues if you happen to get stunned whilst you're firing, leaving you temporarily immobilised.

Blitz is great at OHKOing Trojans before they can even move, and its damage output makes it excellent for killing Vanaduke quickly; Plague isn’t quite so good at OHKOing Trojans in large parties, due to its reduced damage in exchange for status, but still kills them quickly, and works reasonably well for poisoning Vanaduke and enemies in Arenas where there are healers around. Volcanic is sometimes used for killing piercing-resistant bosses such as the Royal Jellies and Roarmulus Twins, and is a reasonably decent all-rounder, although it gets less love than the Blitz due to its lack of specialised damage.

Regrettably, these weapons are pretty terrible in LD thanks to invincibility frames - which is probably just as well, otherwise they'd be the only weapon that people would ever use.

CATALYZER - INDUSTRIAL CATALYZER - VOLATILE CATALYZER - NEUTRALIZER
CATALYZER - TOXIC CATALYZER - VIRULENT CATALYZER - BIOHAZARD

• Normal or Shadow damage (Normal on Neutralizer line and Catalyzer, Shadow on Biohazard line)
  
• Clip of 3
  
• Slow bullets
  
• Charge is single nondamaging shot that 'tags' enemies when it hits
  
• Charges can be detonated with normal shots
  
• Good chance of Moderate Poison on Biohazard line
  
• Boss reward weapons

These are guns that think they are bombs. American bombs. With zees where their esses should be.

Their bullets are all slow enough for most monsters to potentially be able to outrun them, but that’s not the fun part. The fun part is that the charge attack is not directly damaging, instead tagging the enemy with a little orbiting charge. You can tack on as many as you like, although they expire in 90 seconds of being placed, so don't take too long about it. After you’ve set up as many charge shots as you like, however, you can then blow them all up with a normal shot for MASSIVE DAMAGE and lag.

Neutralizer gets Normal damage, which is good for setting up groups of slow-moving jellies or constructs or zombies to become your walking bombs. Bombies - wait, we already have those, never mind. Biohazard deals Shadow damage with Poison status, which makes it awesome against jellies and particularly the Royal Jellies, since the slime bosses heal readily.

Both work best in parties where multiple people are cooperating and can be devastating if everyone's using a Catalyzer of some variety. Entertaining guns to use and good if used as a team, but regrettably if you’re running with these in PUGs, expect to get your kills stolen with some frequency.

The slower bullets of the weapons can be used to psych out enemies in LD and cause them to move more predictably. Biohazard makes a better choice than Neutralizer in LD, mainly due to its shadow damage and poison status. However, I wouldn't bother trying to charge, since invincibility frames generally play hub with the damage from explosions.

PULSAR - HEAVY PULSAR - RADIANT PULSAR - SUPERNOVA
PULSAR - KILOWATT PULSAR - GIGAWATT PULSAR - POLARIS

• Normal or Elemental damage (Normal for Supernova line and Pulsar, Elemental for Polaris line)
  
• Clip of 3
  
• Slow bullets
  
• Bullets expand midway, exploding at end of range
  
• Heavy knockback on expanded bullets
  
• Charge more damaging version of expanded bullet, half range of standard attack
  
• Good chance of Moderate Shock on Polaris line
  
• Boss reward weapons

These are guns that also think they are bombs.

Like Catalysers, their clip of 3 bullets are of comparably slow speed; unlike Catalysers, though, they shoot little projectiles that expand halfway into big projectiles before exploding, or hitting something and then exploding.

This explosion has splash damage over a large area, a reedonkulous amount of knockback to it, and a lot of flash, both of which can be extremely obnoxious traits in parties and especially to people attempting to melee enemies or place bombs. As a result, they are often used as troll weapons. Nothing offends quite like a Lumber slam to the face, after all.

At heart, though, they are utility weapons more than anything else; those expanded bullets have no difficulty in herding monsters, and are easily capable of stopping a turret from firing completely. Both are often used as sidearms by bombers and swordsmen, favoured for killing turrets and annoying the hell out of people in Lockdown games.

In PvP, the expanded bullets can cover a large area, despite their slow speed, and can prove very effective at defending a point and deterring players from approaching. Please note that doing so is frowned upon and will earn you certain uncomplimentary titles when playing.

We politely request that you don’t spam these guns in PvE.

MAGNUS - MEGA MAGNUS - CALLAHAN
MAGNUS - MEGA MAGNUS - IRON SLUG

• Normal or Piercing damage (Normal for Iron Slug, Piercing for Magnus through to Callahan)
  
• Clip of 2
  
• Fast bullets
  
• Slow firing rate
  
• Knockdown ability on bullets
  
• User is immobile whilst firing
  
• Charge slightly larger, more powerful version of standard shots, knocks user prone
  
• Good chance of Moderate Stun on Callahan line

These are heavy guns with big, fast bullets, which have splash damage over a small area where it hits. One would imagine that the line of thought was something like ‘make a weapon that makes sure your enemy thinks twice about hitting you, maybe not even once’.

The concept is a little like that of a sniper rifle; any soft-bodied enemies hit by one of these (Zombies, Devilites, Wolvers, Gremlins and so forth) are going to be knocked flat on their posteriors in an amusing fashion. Unfortunately, the bullets themselves don’t do enough damage for the guns to have a good damage rating, since they have a meagre two bullets per clip and are relatively slow to reload and fire. In addition, you’re stuck in place whilst firing, making you liable to be overrun if there are large numbers of enemies, although it’s not quite as bad as it is for Autoguns because you’re not forced to unload a massive clip at once. The charge is about as suicidal as that of the Autogun in most circumstances. Do you feel lucky? Punk.

Both Callahan and Iron Slug are good for hitting dodgy enemies such as Wolvers, and the Callahan has the best of it, since it has the Stun status in addition to piercing damage and a cool name. Iron Slug, regrettably, looks really cool, but doesn’t get much love due to its inability to do effective damage. It can cancel turrets with its knockdown as an utility gun, but generally the Pulsars are more favoured for this task due to their faster firing rate (if slower bullets), larger clip and greater mobility.

In PvP, the guns can be good at disrupting players with their knockdown, and Recon deathmarks can do a considerable amount for boosting their damage and turning them into sniper guns of doom.

ANTIGUA - SILVERSIX - ARGENT PEACEMAKER
ANTIGUA - BLACKHAWK - SENTENZA

• Piercing or Elemental or Shadow (Piercing on Antigua, Elemental on Argent Peacemaker line, Shadow on Sentenza line)
  
• Clip of 6
  
• Fast bullets
  
• Fast firing
  
• Low damage per bullet
  
• Damage bonus vs. Undead or Gremlins, going from Low at 4* to Medium at 5* (Undead for Argent Peacemaker line, Gremlins for Sentenza line)
  
• Charge six shots followed by larger, more powerful shot with pushback (in 5*, final shot is replaced by a bird)
  
• Immobile whilst using charge
  
• Boss reward weapons

These guns are good sidearms for bombers and sword-users, mainly due to their large clips, ease of use, fast bullets and high mobility. The normal shots don't do anything particularly fancy other than plain damage. Regrettably, the usefulness of the charge is fairly limited, since most enemies are not going to be polite enough to stay in place whilst you shoot them. In addition, if you’re running a maximum gun damage bonus, then the family bonuses will be redundant, and the damage per shot is fairly low, meaning you’ll need to keep up a steady rate of fire in order to compete with the Drivers.

Easy to use, and good for those who don’t want to dedicate trinket or equipment slots to gun damage bonuses, but not quite so much for pure gunslingers. I would personally find the Sentenza to be of somewhat more use than its cousin, though, since Gremlins are more dodgy than Undead in general, and the faster bullets might be preferable over the Umbra Driver for that reason. You might also want a faster and more mobile gun to complement a slower and heavier-damaging gun.

The guns can perform reasonably well in PvP, since their bullets travel quickly enough to cut through Pulsar spam, and many players wear piercing defence over shadow or elemental. Its large clip means that you can also use it to herd players in a certain direction with a spray of bullets covering an area.

So you've decided you like guns. Now you want to make the most out of their abilities; what offensive bonuses are you going to go for?

ASI
Contrary to what you might possibly think, ASI doesn't speed up the bullets you fire; instead, it speeds up the rate at which you fire by speeding up the attack animation. This basically means your weapon will go back into its default position faster, allowing you to shoot with a shorter pause between bullets, and also reload faster. Most guns will benefit reasonably well from ASI, from Callahan to Polaris, with the exception of the Autogun line which fires all its bullets at once rather than one at a time.

Handgun Damage
If you're planning on doing solo runs as a gunner, you are going to want handgun damage bonuses. Actually, you're almost certainly going to want handgun damage bonuses even if you're in parties, because most people will, regrettably, not be all that keen on pure support players. Any gun will benefit from a damage bonus, although some rather more than others *cough*Blitz*cough* due to the fact that the bonus works as a percentage.

CTR
It does exactly what it says on the tin; reduces charge time. This is of variable use depending on what gun you're using. Most people with Autoguns use the charge exclusively, and Drivers and Catalysers can deal a lot of damage with their charges. On the other hand, the Valiance charge doesn't have a great deal to recommend it over the standard bullets, Pulsar charges have less range and Magnus charges are liable to get you killed.

In general, the first offensive stat to max out should be the damage one if you can, which can be done with a full set of Shadowsun and a trinket. This is mainly because family damage UVs are fairly limited in their usefulness, particularly in PvP games where knights don't belong to any particular family, or against Vanaduke... or Wisps, or Shankles, if for some reason you ever decide you want to kill all the things.

Unfortunately, you're unlikely to be able to max out every single stat on your weapons, for the simple reason that doing so would be extremely expensive. Even with Perfect Mask of Seerus (CTR Med, ASI Low), Shadowsun Slicker (Damage Med) and Swiftstrike Buckler (ASI High) with two 5* damage trinkets, that's still not going to maximise every single offensive bonus you've got unless you're willing to fork out a considerable amount for UVs on your guns.

So which is it to be after that? ASI or CTR?

• The status drivers are generally considered to benefit more from ASI than CTR; the point of the status is to get them inflicting that status as much as possible, so the increased damage from the charge isn't as vital.
  
• The pure-damage drivers do well from CTR since it allows them to charge up quicker, although there are those who say that the ASI is more important since it allows you to fire any shots faster. Personally, I'd say that it depends on how you're using your driver - if you find yourself charging frequently, CTR is the obvious first choice, whereas if you like the normal shots, go after ASI.
  
• The Magnus lines aren't even a question. ASI all the way.
  
• Ditto for Valiance. ASI
  
• Autoguns are all CTR, since the standard attack is just a less efficient version of the charge, and you won't be raising and lowering your gun quite as much as with other weapons.
  
• Catalysers are slightly debatable; some people go with CTR for the obvious reasons, but the charge time of the Catalyser is already reasonably fast, and having an ASI bonus will also help pulling off charges more quickly.
  
• Pulsars are, again, ASI favouring.
  
• Antiguas are also ASI favouring, although there are some people who enjoy a little extra CTR bonus for use in tandem with a Vortex bomb. However, the ASI is generally more useful.

In Spiral Knights, you may or may not have noticed that there is something called ‘Auto-Aim’, or just ‘AA’. It’s the little orbiting crosshairs that crop up when you point towards an enemy. Basically, this means that the game will automatically adjust your aim towards whatever is currently selected as the target. It is also used as an insult or accusation in LD games by people who take that sort of thing far too Seerusly, but we won’t go into that here.

AA is generally a Good Thing if you’re having latency issues or are starting out in the game, since it helps you hit stuff. It is also a Good Thing if you happen to be a sword-user who is having difficulty hitting a stationary or lightweight enemy with all the swings of a medium-weight sword with a small hitbox, such as a Combuster or Dread Venom Stiker’s standard attack, because it automatically aims for the centre of a target.

(Bombers, of course, do not care about AA. Bomb make thing go boom. Big boom. All things go boom, no need point and click. Bomber laugh at puny AA.)

However, AA is a Bad Thing if you’re a gunner.

Gunners often have to aim in advance, since some enemies like to move around lots, especially Kats. Therefore, AA is highly annoying when you’re aiming 2 feet ahead, only to have your bullet shoot at where that dang thing was a second ago. It’s also irritating if you’re trying to aim at a smaller enemy behind a larger target, such as a Silkwing behind a Lumber. With AA, you’re likely to have trouble selecting the Silkwing as a target, and any Callahan shots are liable to go into the Lumber instead. You won’t even get any splash damage from the shot, since the bullet will hit the Lumber head-on, causing it to soak up all the damage.

In addition, it’s also impossible to get internal ricochets with Drivers, since that technique requires you to aim slightly off-centre of the target. Or hit the back of something that’s shielding with a Driver charge shot.

I strongly recommend you switch off Auto-Aim by default in your options. Whilst it is useful in certain situations, as a gunner, it’s generally more of a hindrance, and if you need it for a brief moment it is a simple matter to briefly hold down the shift key to switch it on, take your shot, and then let go of the shift key to turn it off again.

Certain enemies in the Clockworks have bullet reactions. This means that when you try to shoot them, they do stuff. Generally bullet reactions only come into play at t2 and t3, and most of them have cooldowns of some kind (although Gremlins and Devilites in particular are infamous for spamming the ability repeatedly).

• Gremlins flinch backwards
  
• Devilites strafe from side to side
  
• Wolvers dodge, and in t3 also burrow
  
• Mecha Knights shield their front

It’s interesting to note that of all of these, only the Mecha Knight’s shield can be considered a true bullet reaction; Devilites will strafe even when not threatened, in preparation for taking a shot at you. Gremlins will flinch if you approach them as well, whilst Wolvers will also dodge and burrow at the slightest provocation. (It’s also interesting to note that Brandish-line charges also trigger off bullet reactions in Mecha Knights, despite the fact they’re more explosions than actual bullets.)

The first three bullet reactions can, in the main, be dealt with by having a reasonably fast gun. A Callahan will be able to knock down Devilites, non-Alphas, and Gremlins with reliability. With Mecha Knights, though, you’re going to have to either wait for them to unshield and hit them whilst the ability is still cooling down, or hit them from behind (directly, or through a Driver’s or Pulsar’s ability).

Okay, maybe you're thinking 'all of that looks a little too much for me, I'm not sure I want all of this stuff, and I quite like that Flourish I was playing with earlier'. No problem; hybridisation isn't especially difficult, and, in fact, it can be quite useful for a gunner to keep a couple of alternative weapons on hand as well, to deal with assorted enemies.

As we've previously mentioned, Chaos and Black Kat Cowl are both really excellent choices for a hybrid player, since they give universal bonuses; however, it's equally possible to go for a somewhat more defensive option and take one piece of gunslinger armour mixed with another piece of sword-user or bomber armour instead. This will give less offensive bonuses, but won't have the status weaknesses associated with Chaos and Black Kat.

If you're using swords, then Barbarous Thorn Shield becomes worth a mention, with its Sword Damage: Med, although you may still want to stick to Swiftstrike with its universal ASI bonus instead, or a different shield for more defensive purposes.

Bombs
I am going to assume your primary source of damage is guns, since this is a gunslinger's thread.

The Vortex bombs in particular make nice partners for a whole number of guns (as well as sword and bombs). The Electron is considered to be slightly better, since it has a shock status that stops enemies from being flung around so much when the bomb expires. However, it takes Krogmo Coins to purchase, which people may or may not wish to bother with. The Graviton's recipes may be slightly troublesome to obtain, since they are unavailable through the HoH. Both bombs are still well worth the effort, though.

The assorted hazes will also do a decent job in helping you out; Stagger Storm impairs movement to a degree; Shivermist prevents it completely with the drawback of locking enemies in place and breaking on hits; Voltaic Tempest also impairs movement to a degree and can do heavy elemental damage on clustered mobs; Venom Veiler weakens defence and offense; Ash of Agni is straight-out DoT. Stagger Storm is another Krogmo recipe, and Voltaic is a boss weapon upgrade.

The other bombs, whilst cool and froody to work with, are not especially relevant since they are mainly damage-focused bombs - although Dark Briar Barrage can knock down soft-bodied enemies over a wide range, and the Blast Bomb lines have a good deal of knockback to them. You might also find it fun to play around with damage bombs and support guns, but I'll leave you to experiment and a bomber-focused thread will probably serve you slightly better.

Swords
Unlike most sword-users, you're probably not going to be all that concerned about damage output, so normal swords are worth considering here.

The Flourish and Snarble Barb lines are a reasonable choice, since they are great at dealing with Greavers, which often have an unfortunate tendency to rush you before you charge that Needle, not to mention they frequently come in large numbers. Pure piercing, fast sword, three strokes, wide swings, decent amount of knockback; the only difference between Flourish lines and Snarble Barb is the charge (higher-damage standard attacks versus area-wide attack) and the fact that one is a boss reward weapon. I would further add that at time of writing, the Fire-status Flamberge is not really worth getting unless you're a pyromaniac or want to do pure-piercing RJP runs.

The Troika lines are also worth a thought, since their heavy knockback can be useful for giving a gunslinger some breathing room. Although they're not highly thought of with their lower damage output, they are nevertheless reasonable options, especially if you don't want to have multiple different swords in your inventory for the same task. Charging has a movement penalty. The charge essentially slams the sword into the ground in front of you for heavy damage and knockback. Whether or not you want Freeze or Stun, or want to go to the effort of picking up Krogmos; it's entirely your decision.

Sealed Swords are also heavy swords with a good deal of knockback, but unlike the Troikas have split specialised damage and projectile-producing charges. Gran Faust is split shadow, and its charge should really be avoided, given its extreme slowness and propensity to curse you at awkward times. Divine Avenger is the elemental version, which produces a spread of three projectiles rather than just one. Both charges will readily fling Mecha Knights halfway across the room. Like all heavy swords, charging has a movement penalty.

Caliburs are medium-weight swords with normal damage and less knockback on the standard attack, but a spin charge that can hit multiple times on stationary targets. Leviathan has higher base damage, Cold Iron Vanquisher has a bonus versus undead and less knockback on the charge. And also chains, which are apparently highly attractive for some reason. The damaging area of each stroke is fairly small for these.

Brandishes are also medium-weight swords with split normal-specialised damage. The standard attack is much like that of Calibur, but the charge is a long-range series of explosions with a great deal of knockback; the elemental versions also have a chance to inflict a status. Great for getting stuff away from you in a hurry.
(Cautery Sword does not exist and we do not talk about it. What Cautery Sword?)

The Spur is a normal-damage sword trying to be a gun. It stops at 4*, Winmillion, and doesn't do a great job of either function. Fairly fast swings that fire bullets, charge fires bullets. In theory it sounds cool, and it looks cool in action, up until you get to t3 and start triggering burrowing Wolvers, shielding Mechas and dodging Gremlins all the time. Its redeeming feature is that it also looks cool in action, but I would really avoid this unless you want to be a hipster.

Hammers are slow pure-elemental... melee weapons... that launch you halfway across the room on their lunging second swing. The charge is pretty pants (bash ground, launch self foward, bash ground again), but the standard attack can hit several times on the lunge, making it a reasonably fast way to kill turrets, cornered enemies or immobilised stuff. Has a decent amount of knockback to its swings.

Cutters are fast normal-damage swords with long combos. They aren't really all that wonderful damage-wise, although they are quite fun; the damaging area is fairly small, and they both have poor interrupting power on the normal attacks (the interruption comes on the fifth stroke). They get a second 'ghost' swing, which makes it good for destroying stone blocks, minerals and those pesky bushes. The charge of Dread Venom Striker is ridiculously long and has minimal interrupting power, leaving you liable to look very silly; Wild Hunting Blade has rather more interrupting power on its charge. DVS gets poison, WHB gets a damage bonus versus beasts and has ghost wolvers which are apparently highly attractive. Both will do considerably better with a load of ASI slapped on top; hopefully if you're using these you're also using a Swiftstrike Buckler. I would not recommend completing a full combo on most enemies.

Fang of Vog is a slightly odd version of the Combuster. Its damaging area is also small, it's split normal-elemental, and it has three swings, but each swing is slower, can inflict Fire, and the charge is pretty much identical to that of a Calibur (except for the ability to self-inflict Fire on the charge). Generally used just for the charge, which takes a good deal of fire resistance and can obliterate Slag Guards, turrets and Deadnaughts without excessive difficulty. Not the best of swords for a gunner to use, though.

• Drivers, Autoguns, Antigua charges and Catalyzer charges all work well on closely-clustered enemies. As a result, they make great partners with the Vortex bombs, which both group enemies together.
  
• It's possible to tag two enemies with the same Catalyzer shot by aiming carefully, if they're right next to each other.
  
• Antigua bullets can pass through narrow gaps that many other bullets cannot. As a result, they can be used to hit past shielded wheels in FSC, amongst other places.
  
• Expanded Pulsar bullets can be used to suppress turret fire. By keeping up a steady stream of bullets and not using up an entire clip at once, it is possible to prevent them from firing completely.
  
• The explosions of Pulsar bullets can be used to knock back things that wouldn't normally move, such as shielded Trojans and Grimalkins.
  
• Driver charges, Blaster charges and Iron Slug can all be used to cancel out turret attacks as well, although it's a little more tricky with regards to timing. Your bullet should hit just as the green 'firing' indicator shows up in front of the turret.
  
• Magnus bullets deal splash damage over a small area when they hit. It's possible to hit the edge of a monster and also hit another monster behind it, with the right aim.
  
• The 5* Driver charges can be used to fire around corners. For some reason, enemies don’t always react when this happens, so you can use this to your advantage to kill them from a distance.
  
• Drivers can also be used to devastating effect by use of internal ricochets. In order to increase the odds of an internal ricochet, it is best to aim slightly off-centre of your target; the bullets ricochet to the left of your knight, so you should aim slightly to the right-hand-side of your knight's current orientation if you're using normal shots.
  
• Cleverpun has a whole guide focused on Driver use here, with some extremely helpful tips.http://psteamcommunity.yuanyoumao.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=121403410