What’s your favorite shotgun?

[frieza]

I’ve really started diving into the ranger class a bit more and I am specifically eye-balling the shotgun weapon class that they use. I’ve seen so many rangers use a large variety of different shotguns so I wanted to know what your “go-to shotgun” is? Especially in terms of just pure DPS.

The Branz launcher shotgun packs quite a punch and has the charge special which makes it rather strong. I’ve been using this shotgun on my Ramarl, but I can’t help but think there is a better option. Branz launcher hits high numbers but it only hits four targets and due to its slower missile speed, I will often times miss my target(s). Is there a better option? Or should I sphere this Branz launcher someday? I am wondering what you guys like to use? Maybe just for fun (not the best in slot) or something that just clears a room cause it’s so strong. What’s your go to DPS shotgun weapon for your ranger?

Side note: I’d love to hear about S-Rank needles too.

 

[Spuz]

- I wouldn't say there is a ''better'' option than Baranz launcher; there is no equivalent for 4 target damage in shotgun form. Similar is the plain Sacrificial Arms but one does not replace the other (Arms are for unfrozen enemies at 5+ enemies while Baranz is generally for 4 enemies or less frozen).

- Other than that Shot wise the only ''good'' ones are ES weapons and there you can have a lot of fun; Demons & Hell specifically. While a lot of people often go for needles I personally prefer my shots for these; because the range of a shot is so much more superior to the speed of a needle as you learn spawns alongside priming S3 for spawns. Arrest is another option which can be nice as both Needle/Shot; here I tend to carry needle more because I am usually with parties that group dorphons or spawns and the speed of needle is thus preferred; but there are some spawns which Shot can take advantage of with its range. Shot can also make use of Zalure if you are low level/lack damage, since it doesn't have any issues with accuracy (the zal special just requires the bullet to land) you can simply just S a spawn as they spawn; the range of a Shot because of this is much more preferred than a needle.

- Other than the mentioned specials above Needle can also benefit from Berserk/Spirit as there is no common equivalent; very fun and decent damage if you want to save some meseta/don't need Baranz for every spawn.

- Dark Meteor also has uses as a shot weapon but most of its good uses are overpowered by Cannon Rouge (such as all the bosses). It can be fun though to use its special in certain situations.

- Power Maser is a fun Shot-type weapon a lot of RA's like to use; it's a gizonde box opener basically.

- A TypeSH/Shot has more ATP after sphereing than a Normal Charge Arms because of how sphereing works, but still, less ATA and I wouldn't recommend doing this really; just a nice note.

- The only other good shots are Lk&38 which is mostly for HUcast though a HUmar/RAcast probably has enough ATP to do something with it somewhere (I never looked it up), and Rambling May which is mostly used by FOmarl (but usable on all females; just you have better options like HS on female RA).

My Favourite shotgun is actually a rifle Yasminkov 7000 (The actual shotgun skin), a badass-looking weapon.

 

[The Josh]

I love the Baranz Launcher.
Simply because of it's aesthetic.

 

[frieza]

That was actually incredibly helpful thank you! It’s nice to have other opinions on this sort of thing. I never thought to focus my branz on more frozen targets and a shot for larger/more mobile group of enemies. It makes sense! I need to try and find an awesome charge shotgun now! lol

Dark meteor would be a lot of fun to play around with for sure but you are definitely correct. I never really see anyone playing around with it and prob for a good reason. That’s a tricky weapon to balance I feel like. If you make it combo, it will be a bit op in my mind but who knows. Best to just leave it how it is. It certainly looks fun tho!

Yea I also heard about the TypeSH/shotgun being good after you sphere it but I’ll definitely trust your judgement on that one. Only capping at 40 hit can be tricky. I think I’d rather just invest in a high hit charge shotgun someday for my larger groups.

I’m glad you said that you use S rank shots for the large majority of your play throughs. I was kind of thinking the same thing! The needles are fast but I feel like the shotgun range on hell and demons would be very nice!

I appreciate your answer thank you! That was very helpful and fun to read.

 

[Microwave]

Sonic team really dropped the ball on making shots for anything after v2. It's like they kept the animation but then decided to not make actual shots. It would have been helpful to see something like a chaos shot that actually hits 5 targets for non-cast rangers to help with crowd control on lesser enemies.

Anyways I prefer TypeSH/Shot myself but sometimes you can't deny baranz launcher's damage in certain situations.

 

[frieza]

TypeSH/shot seems nice for the higher ata rangers! The range and faster bullet speed of a shotgun would be very nice compared to the baranz launcher.

 

[SirLagsAlot]

A sphered Type SH/Shot hits more than a sphered ranz launcher overall if it’s hitting 5 targets. Ranz launcher still takes the cake for 4 targets though at the cost of literal meseta and missing more on unfrozen enemies as previously stated (personally I always prefer zerk/spirit over charge, when Hardcore was a thing I’d recommend spirit more for that for the safety of having HP but now that dying has no real repercussions I’d say zerk is much better and saves a few frames over “reloading” TP, I always felt like spamming ranz was a waste because of the time that is wasted to farm the meseta/PDs that are wasted to buy it, (you can easily use a stack of meseta like every other game if you spam ranz enough). A zerk one is used in alot of solo RAmar RTA runs I’ve seen so it has some speedrun uses as well.

Something to note with shots… they are the best weapon to use with the sweetheart frame as well. With a female RA it works great if you link up with a male who is also spamming shots.

S rank wise demons/hell shots are straight up broken. With the new anguish nerf as well it makes traps shittier and more finite which can push a party to use snow queen more but don’t discount the potential uses for a blizzard shot/needle fired by a cast with 502, particularly useful against robot enemies you cannot arrest in Anguish difficulties.