I just cannot decide, please help.

[Chronix]

Hello,

 

Im coming to the point where I'm about to buy badges and get my soul to awakened.

Problem is I just cannot decide which Gunner to play, Flame or Shadow.

 

I like both of the playstyles ALOT. I'm a Pve player.

 

Flame pros: Insane burst for dungeon bosses with low health and for general questing and Mushin Tower. Extreemly fun to play.

Shadow pros: Great sustain for those newer bosses if your group is sorta undergeared. Still pretty decent burst for Mushin Tower aswell. And probably better for raids aswell (when I find a guild). Extreemly fun to play.

 

Flame cons: I hate Tombstone Move 1, I can't count how many times I wasn't able to use all 5 Bullet Storms because I had to move, got interrupted or just lag spiked. The fact it locks you in place makes it feel so unrewarding, because Im like please don't jump on me please don't knock me down. I most of the time take Move 2 for solo content like Mushin Tower so I can actually move around, gimping myself pretty hard.

Shadow cons: I don't like the whole keep a debuff up with 3, but fine, this is a small con. What Im annoyed with is that when bosses suddenly move or jump around I tend to miss skill 4 and sometimes pushing me into Bullet Storm that way, which suck so bad if you don't have Tombstone or C available. Simply put the way I dislike Tombstone for Flame, I dislike 4 for Shadow :D.

 

I tend to lean more towards Flame, but I have a feeling I'm gonna annoy myself to hell with Tombstone and harder bosses, same could be said with Shadow 4 and harder bosses I guess. With harder I mean like the boss moving around alot so I can't use Tombstone or Shadow 4 fully without wasting/missing alot if it.

 

I know this is a strange question but please if someone in anyway could make my decision easier that would help alot.

 

Thanks for your time.

[Displeased]

Do what I did and let BT rng decide for you (I got double shadow accessories on my first run). In all seriousness though, this decision completely boils down to whether you prefer burst or sustain damage; play style factors in to a lesser degree, but then again you already admitted that you like both play styles. If you're unable to decide which kind of damage build you prefer, then I suggest you hold off on upgrading your soul any further and try out end game content a while longer. 

 

As you pointed out, both styles have their annoyances (even though I personally don't find much issue with missing Undertaker), but both can be readily alleviated with practice and, of course, better gear. 

 

I offer the following tips, that you may or may not already be aware of by now, to help remedy your pet peeves with each element:

 

Flame: Always use Lockdown before Tombstone, unless you're absolutely positive that you're in no danger of getting cc'd. This may seem wasteful, but at higher levels of gameplay your gear will quickly refresh your Lockdown anyway. Not to mention any iframes you get during this moment will give you +100 AP towards your bullet storms. 

 

Shadow: I'm going to do you a solid and tell you a secret: Unload and Undertaker should only be used for utility, not damage! Therefore, you shouldn't be having "spillover" issues since you shouldn't even be using Unload until your TAB/C are nearly off their cooldowns. To see why, take a look at the following screen shots (note that for each trial I always had Dark Mark, Tiger bracelet, and Cosmic soul buffs applied as often as possible):

 

http://prntscr.com/gpwzbj (Holding RMB only; very easy and laid back).

http://prntscr.com/gpx0co (RMB with Unload and Undertaker used as often as possible; somewhat tedious).

http://prntscr.com/gpx154 (RMB with Undertaker used as often as possible while ignoring Unload; easy too).

 

Now, without getting caught up in any specifics, the point here is that all three "rotations" do extremely similar damage (with differences of only a mere 2-4 seconds). Clearly, the majority of your shadow damage, while not using TAB/C-backed Lightspeed, comes from Darkshot. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT use Unload until you are around 9-12 seconds away from the next Tombstone or Moonshine. With that in mind, you shouldn't be overly relying on Undertaker as much as it sounds like you are. 

 

TL;DR: Decide if you like burst or sustain damage better. If you're unable to decide, then play end game content a bit longer or let raid RNG decide for you.

[Displeased]

One more thing: Go fire for sure if you feel you may be interested in 6v6 and/or ToI climbing later on. 

[Chronix]

Thanks alot for your answer, a quick question if I may?

 

Do you always do Tab and C with 3 (hold on to 3 if you see Tab or C is about to come off cooldown?) so you get the increased damage from the mark and no need for reloading or do you just use Tab, C on cooldown and 3 aswell whenever it is up?

[Displeased]

It depends on how lazy/try-hard I'm feeling. If I'm trying hard for some reason, then I do time my Triple Shot/Dark Mark shortly before I use Lightspeed (I'll also try to time my soul and my bracelet effect along with it). Otherwise I just use my 3 whenever it's up. 

[htdexhdfg]

Just stick to 1 element for a week without using the other. 
If you desperately wanted to switch many times it means the other element is for you.
Not that hard.