Gunner
Neurotoxin Build
The aim of this build is to apply Neurotoxin to anything that moves. Forcing the bugs to take poison damage and running away in fear from the massive autocannon aiming at them. The perk selection all around focus on increasing area damage and effective radius to further increase the Neurotoxin and Fear aspects that this build is centered around. Open fire into any horde and watch them run away and wither away to the poisonous effects. For any tougher enemies, or key targets far away, we have the revolver with Six Shooter that really increases the ammo this can has, making it more useful as a secondary weapon, and less restrictive to only large enemy targets. While Elephant Rounds did work effectively with this build, I found ammo to be an issue in higher difficulty games, so I settled on less damage and more ammo to round out the build. The Sticky grenades can also apply fear on their own, making this a great addition to our arsenal and overall effectiveness of this build.
Weapons
“Thunderhead” Heavy Autocannon
T1C – Expanded Ammo Bags (+220 Max Ammo)
T2A – Tighter Barrel Alignement (-30% Base Spread)
T3B – Loaded Rounds (+2 Area Damage)
T4B – Shrapnel Rounds (+0.6m Area of Effect Radius)
T5B – Suppressive Fire (Deal 50% Fear Factor to enemies within a 1m radius of bullet impact. Fear radius increases with Area Damage)
Neurotoxin Payload (50% chance to deal Neurotoxin damage that deals 12 poison damage per second for 10sec, +0.6 AoE Radius, -2 Direct Damage, -5 Area Damage)
T2 is up to personal preference, the accuracy increase is really helpful for any long distance engagement. Increases in AoE damage and radius are the most beneficial to this build since we want to apply Neurotoxin to all enemies. T5B is required, because while the enemies are running away in fear, they are also taking Neurotoxin damage, allowing the build to deal more damage before any bugs get close enough to become a real threat. If the bugs don’t die from the Neurotoxin, they will be severely weakened and easy to deal with later.
“Bulldog” Heavy Revolver
T1B – Perfect Weight Balance (-70% Base Spread)
T2B – Floating Barrel (-80% Spread per Shot, -25% Recoil)
T3C – Hollow-Point Bullets (+35% Weakpoint Damage)
T4A – Expanded Ammo Bags (+12 Max Ammo)
T5A – Dead-Eye (50% of Damage converted to fire Damage)
Six Shooter (+2 Magazine Size, +6 Max Ammo, +2 Rate of Fire, +50% Base Spread, +0.5 Reload Speed)
Pairing with Neurotoxin, we need a reliable secondary that deals decent damage, but more importantly has a decent ammo economy. Six Shooter provides more ammo in the mag, effectively, less time reloading, and with it’s amazing accuracy, we can deal with Praetorians easily while they run away from Fear. This secondary choice is also particularly helpful dealing with Acid Spitters or any key targets that are further away.
Equipment
Shield Generator
T1B – Improved Projector (+0.5 Shield Radius)
T2B- Larger Capacitors (+1.5sec Shield Duration)
T3C – Improved Efficiency (+1.5sec Duration)
Increase the area the shield can protect and increase how long it will last. This definitely helps with getting a tight revive on a fellow dwarf, or just taking a breather as you reload your weapon in safety. When playing in a group setting, definitely take Field Medic as it pairs greatly with your shield to get revives safely and efficiently.
Zipline Launcher
T1B – Upgraded Connection Joint (+6 Angle Degree)
T2A – Reinforced Cable (+10m Range)
T3B – Increase Motor Traction (+75 Movement Speed on zipline)
Best overall Zipline for general use. Increase the angle it can be used, increase the distance that you can shoot it, and increase how fast you are while using it.
Barracuda Armor Rig
T1A – Improved Generator (-1 Second Shield Recharge Delay)
T2B – Healthy (+20 Max Health)
T3A – Reactive Armor (+50% Explosion Resistance)
T4C – Breathing Room (+3 Second Revive Invulnerability)
Armor is pretty flexible in perk choice, I enjoyed the following perk combination. It will always be more beneficial to take T2B (Healthy) for the increase in health, rather then shield, which only gives +5. Shield also regenerates, while health does not unless you gather red sugar or a re-supply pod. I also found T4C to be helpful especially on harder difficulties were you might be revived in the middle of a horde of enemies, the extra seconds in invulnerability will really help to get to a safe distance to re-group.
Sticky Grenade
One of the best and most reliable grenades. Any of the Gunner grenades are capable of being equally useful in different circumstances. My personal preference is the Sticky grenade. You can hold more of them compared to other grenades, and they deal fear status effect to enemies within the blast vicinity. It feels less restrictive to use Sticky grenades since we hold a total of 6, allowing us to throw them more freely at Praetorians or groups of grunts without worrying about wasting them.
Passive Perks
Thorns
Resupplier
Elemental Insulation
Deep Pockets
Thorns : A very reliable perk to have, depending on the build for the Gunner. It is capable of killing small enemies instantly after they hit us. It helps the overall crowd control capabilities. Definitely worth grabbing depending on the build.
Resupplier : Another great perk that I recommend across all classes. If resupplying 50% faster wasn’t good enough to have in a pinch, gaining 25% more health each time is just the cherry on top. One of the best passive perks to have in my opinion.
Elemental Insulation : An optional choice, but a relatively strong one depending on the cave biome you’re in. Take 30% less damage from all elemental sources. This includes; Fire/Frost/Electricity/Poison/Radiation/Heat and Cold.
Deep Pockets : Another optional choice for the Gunner, this is more a quality of life perk choice, it allows you to hold +15 more minerals of each type. This can be particularly helpful when gathering resources from hard to reach places, and in general limit the amount of trips needed to deposit them. This especially shines in any mission that do not have Molly.
Active Perks
Heightened Senses
Field Medic
Iron Will
Dash
Heightened Senses: Based on personal preference. If you play solo, you can rely on Bosco to help you out from being grabbed, usually by a cave leach. For group games, as a Scout who is usually ahead of the group, or in hard to reach places, it can be useful to have an emergency safety button to escape bring grabbed from something that would otherwise kill you. This perk can be skipped if you’re playing with a reliable group that can save you quickly.
Field Medic: 100% a group game perk, do not use if playing solo. This perk should definitely be equipped when playing in a group game, especially for the Scout, but definitely useful on any class. The ability to revive allies 30%, fear enemies after reviving an ally, on top of the activation option of instantly reviving an ally, this perk can save games on its own.
Iron Will : Once per mission, you can revive yourself for 12 seconds before going back down. This may not sound like a great perk at first, but it can be used to save games. While on it’s own, not very strong, you can revive allies who can then revive you in turn. Alternatively, even in a solo game, there is a way you can stay alive, effectively turning this into a permanent self revive option. If you gather health within the 12 seconds, you will stay alive. This can be from Red Sugar, Resupply pods, or other means (Vampire Passive Perk). This perk can be very strong on a Scout who can zip around to gain health, or to quickly find an ally and revive them. Recommended saving it’s use until absolutely necessary.
Dash : Gain a very short burst of speed that can be used every 25 seconds (at max rank). This burst of speed ignores any slow effects you may be suffering, which can be really helpful when stuck in goo or any other slowing effects. You can even Dash while holding heavy objects like Aquarqs. This is particularly strong on slower classes, like the Gunner, in order to keep up with the team, or to escape a tight situation quickly.