Destiny Gunslinger Tips and Tricks

Destiny Gunslinger Tips and Tricks by Raging_Hemorrhoid

NOTE: This guide is SUBJECTIVE. This is my Experience form playing as a Gunslinger since Beta, and playing the class extensively.

All Advice is simply this. ADVICE. My playstyle may not be for you. But this is how I think that the Gunslinger should be played.

This Guide will cover the following:

• What stats should you aim for
• What gear you should strive for
• Strategies for PvP
• In-depth explanation of the Tools of the Trade (Grenades and Abilities)

Without further ado…

THE ABILITIES:

Golden Gun: Golden Gun is the Super for the Gunslinger. You press the Super Buttons, and after a stylistic jump and gun flourish, you wield a Gun that shoots 3 shots of sunfire, and will OHK any target you meet in PvP. In PvE, this ability is generally a OHK against mobs, with Elites and Bosses being notable exceptions. Good for greatly weakening a group of tough targets, or outright killing a strong one.

• Note that this ability has a very generous hitbox. Missing is difficult, but still possible in PvP. Just keep your wits about you and a finger on the trigger. As the game says, “This is the moment you live for”. Nothing is as exhilarating as whipping out Golden Gun and wasting the first three people who make the mistake of being in your view.

Your Grendade: These are actually VERY important to a good Gunslinger. They come in three flavors; Seared, Swarmed, and Exploded.

The Incendiary Grenade is a great “All Around” grenade. It deals fire damage to targets in a set radius and even burns them for extra damage afterwards. Fairly simple and straightforward in use.

• Pro-Tip: Use the grenade to not only flush people out of cover, but to track them as they escape. Just watch the damage numbers as it deals burn damage. Even if they run away, you can track them around corners via the numbers.

The Swarm Grenade is a grenade designed for area denial, and killing wounded targets. When thrown, it breaks into a swarm of orbs that will hover in the area with a loud and audible whir. If anyone tries to run through it (or get too close), the orbs will seek onto and explode on target. It’s not too terribly damaging, but it’s not something that you would want to run through. If you know that someone is trying to, or wanting to go through a doorway, throw a Swarm. It’s a great way to tell them “NO ENTRY”.

The Tripmine Grenade is a odd grenade, that rewards a skilled hand. It is a grenade that explodes in a cone, and only explodes when someone walks in front of said cone (which is illuminated at times via a light pulse. A bit of a warning, per se.). It also ruin that persons day if they walk through it (Or horribly wound them. Damn Titans.) It can also be stuck to people, for hilarious effect.

• Extra Tip: These things are as versatile as your imagination. I’ve killed players by baiting them into the mine, and even stuck them onto pikes trying to harass me. Be accurate and imaginative, and this is by far the BEST grenade in your arsenal.

Your Knife: You have a melee attack that is just as versatile and wily as you are. With a flick of your wrist, you can send a knife flying at your target. This knife is nowhere near as strong as the Storm Fist or Energy Drain, but it has far more range than the others, and also has a very useful ability. That ability is Knife Juggler. If you get a precision kill, your melee will INSTANTLY reset. I will go into detail as to why this is fantastic later.

Knives are great. With a bit of practice, they become a long range melee that is effective because of the surprise factor. You can jump around cover and toss a knife as you go, leading to odd maneuvers that are hard to anticipate (Such as sliding early and throwing a knife well out of melee or shotgun range. Most don’t expect you to drop low that early, and it can award you a quick and surprising kill if you get a headshot, or if you quickly follow up with Hand Cannon.

Your Jump: Damn son, when did you get those mad hops? Gunslingers get double jump to start, and can adjust it to have more control, height, or to get more unpredictability with a triple jump.

Personally, I love triple jump. I like being able to surprise people with a second jump, and I think it helps when trying to cross horizontal distances, due to the longer air time.

THE “PERKS”

As you level up, you get access to “Perks” which can alter the above abilites, or even affect your base stats (Toughness, Recovery, and Agility).

These “Perks” are how you customize the class. They are the basis for builds, and knowing how each one affects your character is pivotal to understanding the Gunslinger.

Grenades and Jumps have already been covered, so we will focus on the other abilities.

Golden Gun has three perks to it; Deadeye, Combustion, and Gunfighter. Deadeye makes you more accurate with Golden Gun by reducing sway (I THINK). Combustion makes targets go BOOM after they die, and is fantastic for PvE as it allows you to have AoE capabilities. Gunfighter reduces cooldown by 30s, allowing you to use your super more often.

Throwing Knife has three perks to it; Circle of Life, Incendiary Blade, and Knife Juggler. Circle of Life lets you keep golden gun out longer if you get a throwing knife kill, as well as giving a bonus to Toughness (HINT HINT this perk is trash). Incendiary Blade lights targets on fire after you hit them with throwing knife. Knife Juggler gives you the knife back if you score a headshot kill with your throwing knife.

You have “Path” and “Way” Perks, and these change your base attributes. There are six of them. The Path bonuses give you small boosts to two of the three base stats. The Way bonuses give large bonuses to either Toughness or Recovery, or Small bonuses to all (With slightly more to Agility).

Now you have the two “Flavor” Trees. These groups have bonuses that change how the class acts, and only one can be picked from each group.

The first group contains Scavenger, Keyhole, and Gunslingers Trance. Scavenger reduces your Melee and Grenade cooldown EVERY time you pick up ammo. Keyhole allows Golden Gun to over penetrate, and hurt multiple targets (Does not penetrate Ward of Dawn). Gunslingers Trance provides a boost to Stability with each precision kill, up to three times. The buff lasts for 15 seconds.

• Gunslingers Trance is VERY noticable after a 3x Stack. At this point, recoil is minimal, and the sights “reset” very fast. It’s excellent for quickly and accurately putting round downrange. Fantastic in PvE.

The Second group contains Chain of Woe, Over the Horizon, and Gamblers Dagger. Chain of Woe reduces reload time with each precision kill (up to 3x Stack). Over the Horizon removes fall-off damage from the Golden Gun, meaning it can basically snipe people if you go the aim for it (It also gives a slight boost to recovery). Gamblers Dagger gives you TWO throwing Knives.

• Gamblers Dagger is odd. It gives you two knives, but it also mucks up your recharge times. After you have wasted both throws, the game doesn’t let you regen the first knife according to your Discipline stat. Useful, but use with caution.

THE STATS:

Okay, so now you know about the perks of Gunslinger. But what now?

Well now it’s time to start talking about BUILDS.

Base Stats are purely playstyle related. A fast shooter would probably prefer an emphasis on Agility and Recovery, and those who like to be up front and in the action would prefer emphasis on Toughness and Agility. Mix these and find a build you like.

Now: As for the Non-Base Stats. These are your Intelligence, Discipline, and Strength.

I’m lazy, so here’s beer_baron ‘s post about the how these stats affect your Melee, Super, and Grenade.

I was curious about the bonus effects of intellect, discipline and strength, so I busted out the stopwatch and pixel measuring tape to figure out how beneficial having a 100% bonus actually is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3C3AftnGWE

►ZERO Bonus

Intellect (Super): 5:30
Discipline (Grenade): 1:00
Strength (Melee): 1:09

►100% Bonus

Intellect (Super): 3:55
Twice as much Super Meter earned from kills
Discipline (Grenade): 0:27
Strength (Melee): 0:31

Okay you back from reading that? Sweet. Onto…

THE BUILD

Okay, now we are going to focus on the first build for Gunslinger. This is my personal build, and it one I am currently building towards.

First things to decide when making a build: Start with what you like. I like my grenades and Super. Throwing knives are great, but I find that I use my grenades and super far more often. Knives are use to supplement my playstyle, they aren’t the core.

So, I know that I want Discipline and Intelligence. That screams “Future War Cult”, so I built up reputation with them for their gear.

Now, what Exotics and perks would benefit my playstyle? I know I want a badass Hand Cannon, so there goes my weapon slot. I enjoy versatility and range, so I go with Hawkmoon.

Hawkmoon has a large clip and decent RoF. It’s ability further increase range and accuracy, with ballistics increasing impact. The kicker for this is the fact that it gets 3 bullets in the clip that deal CONSIDERABLE bonus damage. Perfect for killing at range, especially if you can rock the headshots.

Armor slot gets taken by the Achlyophage Symbiote

This helmet is perfect for this build, and is even the corner stone I would say. It increases grenade throw distance, and gives out extra super energy for grenade kills. The kicker is that it gives you 4 shots in Golden Gun.

So, with these two ready to go, we max out the rest of our build with Astrolord Armor from FWC. This gives us lots of Intelligence and Discipline to work with.

Now, we work from left to right with the Perks.

Tripimine grenade for zoning and versatility. Triple Jump for versatility. Gunfighter to keep that Golden Gun flying. Knife Juggler is set so that you don’t have to worry about cooldown (So long as you get the headshot). Path Forbidden for Regen and Agility. Gunslingers Trance is used because cooldowns are already very short. Way of the Drifter for some extra armor, without sacrificing Agility. Finally, Chain of Woe for Reload speed.

So here is our Gunslinger in a nutshell: He is a ranged fighter who excels at quickly eliminating targets with a Hand Cannon. Headshot kills are what he lives for, and each one he scores makes him more and more accurate in combat. He quickly recharges grenades (Every 27 seconds), and lays down constant Supers roughly every two minutes (Base is 5:30. Gunfighter reduces to 5:00, Max Intelligence brings this down to ~3:35, with double meter per kill, not including grenades).

He is quick, agile, wily, and ready to ruin your day.

As you play with the class more, you will develop your own builds and strategies. I have a friend that loves throwing knives, so he runs a dual incendiary knife hunter with high strength and Scavenger. He is throwing knives all day long. Experiment, and you’ll find a build you enjoy. This guide is simply trying to show you how the abilities and perks work, and to offer a build to show you how to create synergistic builds.

For the lazy:

TL;DR

Super gives you three insta-kills per use if you can aim

Three grenades that light people on fire or blow them up.

COD Knives

Intelligence is OP When maxed

Holy shit this guy almost typed a novel

Exotic helm that gives you another Insta-kill per super

OP’s personal build for Gunslinger as reference.