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Gunner
Can equip: Gun, Clothing
Wielding their neutral special, the first new class of the game starts off with a, heh, BANG. If you ever wanted to use Survivalist or Alchemist but didn't fancy the heavy investment for them, then this is the class for you, since it's better than both of them combined. Gunners dish out a lot of physical damage, as well as STR-based elemental damage, can support with binds and Medishot, and have some other utility in regular attacks. Being one of the new classes, they get some favouritism and they're definitely worth using, because while they're pretty damn squishy, especially with the Riskshot skills, they can hang in the back and fire all day long. It helps that most of their skills are easy to invest in and a fair few can just be ignored.
Hey, now we get to the new folks. Welcome to the series, ya'll! If you had woes about Survivalists being unusable or Alchemists just being plain clunky to use, then Gunner is the backliner of choice! Great physical damage, decent coverage, and decent support. It's basically the jack-of-all trades role the Survivalist could fill in the first game. Seriously it's like, why is Survivalist in the game when this class exists? Alchemists have other redeeming aspects but Survivalists pale in comparison to Gunners so much it's not even funny. At any rate Gunners are a very solid unit to put into a party. They may not be overly busted like Ronin, Dark Hunter, or Hexer, but they're a pretty strong class all the same.
At least we don't have to compare these stats to last game, they're brand new! Gunners have a weird stat variation, having the best LUC in the game, something that'll be important later, while having the worst AGI, and terrible HP and VIT. Their TEC is higher than their STR for some reason, since their elemental attacks are all STR based, and their higher than average TP helps with their somewhat cheaper skills, especially compared to the Alchemist's elementals.
Do note that their horrific AGI means that Gunners have a bit of an accuracy problem, though their high LUC stat at least mitigates a bunch of that. The effects aren't too great, though the Gunner typically has a lot of spare SP, so it might be worth investing in them later on top help with their accuracy woes just a little bit at the very least. It's probably the biggest weakness of a Gunner, and probably the closest thing holding them back from uh, being slightly more good.
Because they're a damage dealing class, they really want as much STR as possible. Their TEC is already pretty high so there's no need to invest in it, especially since it's basically a defensive stat. There are misconceptions about whether some of the Gunner's skills use TEC or not, but they don't, so don't worry about pumping that up. LUC's also not super relevant for them, so that's not really a stat that needs to be invested in either. Take HP, TP, or VIT how you see fit, though the first two have larger priority I would say.
Common Passive Unlocks
TEC Up: Lv1: Medishot
AGI Up: Lv1: Legshot, Armshot, Headshot
Nice and simple, and for some good skills. While you can go all out attacking, the Gunner has the means to support pretty well, you can definitely spend 2SP getting these skills available, the Gunner has plenty to spare.
Guns
Unlocks: Lv1: Fireshot, Iceshot, Voltshot; Lv2: Legshot; Lv3: Armshot; Lv4: Headshot; Lv5: Riskshot, Stunshot, Snipe, Riskfire, Riskice, Riskvolt; Lv7: Wildshot; Lv10: 2-Hit, Ricochet
Passive.
Ah the standard point sink that you need to max to get all those sweet skills. Gunners start off really well with 3 elemental skills right off the bat, gives them great early game variety, and then they get stupid squishy and stupid strong with the Risk skills. If you wanted to stop there, I guess you could, but Ricochet is like Multihit on steroids, so definitely worth picking up. Pretty much everything the Gunner uses stems from this so you'd best get maxing it as soon as possible, their low level skills will be carried by their relatively high STR for the time being.
Hey, yet another mastery skill. Not much really to say here other than it's a rather minimal damage boost, but unlike the other classes, you'll want to max this out fast, as their best skill is locked behind level 10. Won't do much for your Gunner but you don't really have a choice in the matter if you really want them to get going.
2-Hit
Prerequisites: Guns Lv10
Normal attacks have a chance of hitting twice. Passive.
So good(?) they handed it out twice. The Gunner can make more use out of regular attack boosts, but they also do incredible damage with their skills, so it's hard to recommend these strats outside of saving TP. Not many of the Gunner's skills actually require 10SP, so they have the points to spare, and this can be something to sink into lategame. But it's only half of the equation.
A lot of what I said about the Landsknecht's version applies here as well. You're spending 10 SP to increase your regular attack damage to an average of 135% damage. That's a really terrible tradeoff, and I'd only recommend investing points in this if you really have absolutely nothing else you want.
Weakshot
Increases critical hit chance of regular attacks. Added onto user's crit rate. Passive.
This can be useful if you hit twice and crit on both of them, but again it only really works out if you're saving TP and get some luck, not that it really takes much to proc both skills. Gunner's have pretty good crit chances due to their high LUC and while a +30 boost is nice, the total chance is capped at 50%, so the enemy needs to have a good amount of LUC so you're not wasting points. This will happen most of the time, so it's not too bad, but this isn't something you can use much when you're newly exploring, this is just a nice thing to do when you're going back to previous floors.
Critical hits only deal 25% more damage in this game, so this functionally works out to a 7.5% damage boost at max level. Which requires 10 SP to reach. Which is less than max level Guns, a damage boost that affects everything, not just regular attacks. Not what I would call a great deal. And if you decided to invest in both 2-Hit and Weakshot, congratulations. You spent 20 SP to increase that average of 135% damage to 145.125% damage. 20 SP that could have gone elsewhere. Granted the attacks cost 0 TP and the Gunner will have a lot of SP to spare, but really now. If you absolutely insist on taking both of these skills, take 2-Hit first. It'll do more for your Gunner.
Legshot/Armshot/Headshot
Prerequisites: Guns Lv2/3/4, AGI Up Lv1
A single target Gun attack that attempts to inflict Leg/Arm/Head bind. Gun skill with Stab damage, uses the Arms.
Cheap and dirty binds at the start of battle. Now these are kinda pathetic when compared to the Hexer's version, since these are level 5 skills that are scaled like they're level 10, but the higher LUC helps mitigate that. Uh, well not really, but it's not as bad as it could've been. If you're desperate for binds then these skills are good enough, but you're better off using other classes. It's some interesting utility and can work out fine, but you should you only really invest in Headshot and Armshot, like always.
If you want your Gunner to edge more into the support role, these could be possible pickups. But their damage is rather piddly and this is a game where offense and just outright killing the enemy is heavily favored over faffing about. What really sets these skills back are the rather mediocre infliction rates. Don't be fooled by the Gunner's high LUC stat, it doesn't increase infliction rates that much and the small boost will get utterly tanked against FOEs and bosses. The base infliction rates are what has the most effect in the infliction math, and as you can see... they're not great. Whip Dark Hunters and Hexers are far better binders, so if you already have either of them in your party or even both, these skills are very safe skips and your Gunner's better off focusing on damage since the lockdown part is already pretty much handled.
Against bosses these skills have 11% to 13% infliction rates at best. Which is an average of 8 to 9 turns of attempts for a successful inflction. And in a well crafted party, chances are the fight has ended long before then. Otherwise if you lack binds or just have a party that's really slow to finish fights, you could take them if you are desperate for binds, though they aren't super necessary to beat the game. Like always, you can ignore Legshot since leg binds aren't too great in this game.
Riskshot
Prerequisites: Guns Lv5
A single target Gun attack that increases damage taken from all attacks until executed. Gun skill with Stab damage, uses the Arms.
Feeling lucky, punk? The Risk skills do really nice damage, but also come with a huge cost. The Gunner has difficulty surviving hits at the best of times, but adding a ridiculous damage modifier on yourself makes these a little hard to recommend. It's not worth using these skills until they're maxed out, but even at 256%, you'll probably still be turned into a red mist if a butterfly so much blinks at you. The elemental Risk skills have utility in doing big damage on weaknesses, so this skill is only really useful if the enemy doesn't have a weakness. You can circumvent this with 1st Turn or 1 Guard/Provoke, but that means you have a Survivalist and a Gunner on the same team, weird, or your Protector is solely there to stop your Gunner from eating dirt five times a battle. If you think you can get away with it, these skills are great, but they're also... risky.
Riskshot is a skill I would say is absolutely not worth taking at all. The elemental Riskshots deal more damage, and actually cover an aspect a Gunner can't otherwise cover while Riskshot is severely outshined by Ricochet. The only saving graces of this skill are that it's one of the most accurate skills they have, so it's unlikely to miss, and that it costs less SP than the elemental riskshots. Which honestly doesn't make up for the fact that until this skill activates, a hedgehog glancing the Gunner's way will instantly blow them up, and that you are forced to use a Survivalist or some other means to reliably use this skill. All of those are bad enough, but skill is just so hard outclassed, that I really do not recommend picking it up.
Stunshot
Prerequisites: Guns Lv5
A single target Gun attack that attempts to inflict Stun. Gun skill with Stab damage, uses the Arms.
Hmm, okay, this could work due to its higher infliction rate but of course the main issue is Gunners are slow as shit. You can combine this with 1st Turn and with the higher LUC of this class, could pretty dependably stun the enemy, depending on resistance. It's a bit wonky, but it's basically a free Force skill. Otherwise this skill isn't that useful, since Riot Gun is a guaranteed stun no matter what, so instead of 1st Turn... use an Axcela.
Stunshot is basically "what if Riot Gun was completely nonfunctional?" This skill is absolutely worthless unless you're using one with a Survivalist, as Stuns only work if the inflictor acts before the enemy. And the Gunner is slow as shit, and this skill's low speed modifier isn't enough to deal with that issue. It's easier to stun big enemies in this game compared to EO1, as the Stun multipliers are considerably higher, but the low speed is what kills this skill. Chances are you can save that SP for something else unless you deal with that issue somehow.
Snipe
Prerequisites: Guns Lv5
A single target Gun attack that can never miss, even if user is Blind or Head Bound. Gun skill with Stab damage, uses the Arms.
...uh, okay? While a fast, guaranteed hit is nice in theory, it doesn't do much damage, so I don't feel the need for this. Sure, it could help on enemies with high evasion, but Ricochet will likely land at least one hit in that instance, so this skill is kinda whatever. Nice idea, needs some power to actually work.
Snipe isn't a great skill, but it can fill some niches. It's cheap, so it doesn't stress the Gunner's rather tiny TP pool too much. It has a really high speed modifier, so it can bypass the low speed issue, which can be a nice way to bypass that annoyance for a Gunner if you really need to, and being guaranteed damage doesn't hurt either. That being said you're more likely to use this for the speed than for the guaranteed accuracy, as there aren't too many situations where you'd be tagged by blind and absolutely need to get a hit in. This skill is a possible skip but investing in this can cover some niche situations that would really annoy your Gunner.
Fireshot/Iceshot/Voltshot
Prerequisites: Guns Lv1
Unlocks: Lv5: Riskfire/Riskice/Riskvolt
A single target Gun attack. Gun skill with STR-based Fire/Ice/Volt damage, uses the Arms.
Ah here's the skills that make the Gunner pretty unique. You can grab two of these before even entering the labyrinth and really gives some early game variety. It's like the Alchemist's spells, but cheaper and much easier to slot into a party. Since you're mostly going to be using them on weaknesses, even at Lv1 they deal a nice amount of damage, so there's not much reason to upgrade them unless you want to be... risky. Still, you can pour some points into these, you have the freedom to, and they're way safer than the Risk versions, obviously, but just think about the DAMAGE you'd do. Well, up to you, but these skills are definitely great, and cheap, compared to other elemental options.
And say hello to one of the biggest reasons why Alchemists are a contested class. A Gunner can provide the elemental coverage you need if you truly need it, without having to develop an Amrita addiction. There's not a whole lot of big enemies that resist Stab, but there's enough that picking these up are worthwhile to give them some coverage. Generally there are two ways you can level up these skills. For one, these skills can be considered one point wonders due to rather terrible scaling. You are spending 9 more SP on top of your initial 1 point investment to not even double their damage at the price of more than doubling their TP cost. Not a good deal. The other option is to level them up to 5 to get access to more risky but more effective elemental nuking options. Whichever option you go with is up to you but investing at least 1 point in all of these can be considered a pro move.
Riskfire/Riskice/Riskvolt
Prerequisites: Guns Lv5, Fireshot/Iceshot/Voltshot Lv5
A single target Gun attack that increases damage taken from all attacks until executed. Gun skill with STR-based Fire/Ice/Volt damage, uses the Arms.
Prepare to die. The Risk elementals can do some spicy numbers but of course you need to actually live to pull it off. It offers a barely better protection than the 5 level Riskshot, so it doesn't really matter which one you choose. There are other classes, mainly the Ronin, that deals big elemental hits without the drawback, so there's honestly not much point, but what if you weren't a coward...? It's definitely better sticking to the 1st stage of elementals, it's the main draw for the Gunner because of how easy they are to use, and these either require a lot of setup, or a lot of luck. Since you have a lot of spare SP, you're free to experiment, but just know what you're getting into. You'd have to be crazy to pick up one of these skills, haha, unless...
If the previous elemental skills weren't enough for you and you want to nuke enemies harder with elemental damage, these skills are for you! ...If you're willing to deal with the penalties. They could potentially hit the enemy for a huge amount of damage. Or your Gunner gets smacked and whoops, they're dead! This also feels rather excessive when other classes have elemental damage that doesn't put them at massive risk. The risk of losing the Gunner's turn on top of having to spend an action reviving them can be a huge loss of momentum for your party.
I'm not a fan of these skills. The other elemental shots cover the factor of elemental damage without letting you gamble. And there are too many caveats if you want to use these skills reliably. You'd either need a Survivalist's 1st Turn, protection from a Protector, or making sure the enemy is completely incapacitated or something to ensure your Gunner can use these safely. They're too unreliable to use seriously.
Wildshot
Prerequisites: Guns Lv7
A multi target Gun attack. Gun skill with Stab damage, uses the Arms.
Let's step down to a much less riskier skill, Wildshot is fine if you want some spread damage on a lot of enemies, but it's also kinda pathetic. Ricochet isn't as dependable but will likely do more to help you, but hey if you're facing 5 enemies and want to finish them off after your party softened them up, it's perfectly okay at that.
Wildshot is the Gunner's only AOE attack, and one of the few physical AOEs in the entire game. If your party is lacking in the crowd control department, this skill could be worth picking up for reliable AOE damage. But if you already have other sources of reliable AOE damage such as the Ronin's Kienzan or the Hexer's Poison, you can most likely skip this skill, as it is really slow and the damage isn't super great to make up for that.
Ricochet
Prerequisites: Guns Lv10
A multi target Gun attack to 3-5 enemies, does not redirect if original target dies. Gun attack with Stab damage, uses the Arms.
Oh hey remember Multihit? That was nerfed into oblivion to 2-Bolt? Well it's actually still here, but better and on a better class, because fuck Survivalists, apparently. You even do 3 hits like Multihit could, but also have a smaller chance of doing even more damage! It's kinda dumb how much better this is than Multihit, and especially EO2's version. But that's what the Gunner is, Survivalist 2. Sure it'll suck if 4 hits just disappear into the ether, but with larger enemy groups this time, you're gonna get a lot of mileage from this great skill. If you don't care about elemental damage, you could just stick to this for the entire game and not even notice much.
So let me get this straight. You took Multihit, gutted it into uselessness, and gave the unnerfed version to another class, and buffed it in the process!? Goddamn, I get that Survivalists were broken in EO1, but EO2, did you really have to shit that hard on them!? Anyways, most of the Gunner's skillset isn't really too great. But this skill makes up for their rather lackluster skillset tenfold! This is easily the Gunner's best damage skill in their toolkit, and one of the first things to gun for if possible. The only real downside is that it's fairly inaccurate, as the accuracy modifier on this skill is smaller than the modifiers on most of their other skills. Despite that drawback this skill is absolutely worth taking, but expect to see some misses every now and then.
As for how much damage this skill will actually do due to EO2's weighted hit system, allow me to illustrate that out for you. Ricochet dishes out an average of 1.6/2.6/2.6/2.6/3.4 hits which equals 120%/208%/234%/273%/425% average damage. You gain +120%/+88%/+26%/+39%/+152% damage per level. Yeah the scaling is really wonky as levels 3 and 4 don't do much, but there's a huge jump at level 5. 425% damage is higher than Mideraba's damage modifier, and there's a 20% chance to deal 475% damage, or a 10% chance to deal 625% damage! Worst case scenario, you only deal 375% damage, which is more than most other damage skills in the game! Of course due to Katanas having higher ATK and Ronin having higher STR, Midareba still outdamages this skill most of the time, but this one skill truly carries the Gunner class into greatness.
This skill was also why I said Riskshot was not worth taking, as even if it rolls for the minimum amount of hits, it still deals more damage, and doesn't blow up the Gunner in the process. And is also faster to boot.
Medishot
Prerequisites: TEC Up Lv1
Dispels certain ailments from the entire party, depending on the level. Cannot dispel Petrify. Heal skill, uses the Head.
If you didn't fancy the bind aspect of Gunner support, then this is a skill you definitely want to get. Party wide ailment healing is rare outside of Purify and Theriaca BX, so having a really easy version to use is another great point in this class's favour. Sure you could be shooting stuff, but what if you shot your party instead? Going to max isn't really worth it due to speed modifiers being a suggestion for this class, but you've seen all the worthwhile skills, it's up to you how much you wanna go.
Somebody please explain to me why shooting your party members is better than a Medic treating them? No seriously, take a look at Purify in the Medic's skillset and come back here. Yeah, Medishot is half as cheap as Purify. Though don't be fooled by Medishot's speed modifier, Purify is actually faster by virtue of the Medic having a much higher AGI stat. At any rate, AOE ailment dispels are really valuable to have, so this skill is definitely a good pickup. Especially if you choose to have War Magus as your healer of choice over the Medic, as the War Magus cannot dispel ailments with their skills. So the Gunner pairs up with them really nicely, and fills up that hole. Even if you are using a Medic this skill is still worth picking up, though lower priority as multiple sources of ailment dispels can really help if one of your dispellers gets incapacitated. And ailments on the entire party are a fast track to a game over!
Haltshot
Stuns non-red FOEs in a certain radius for a set duration. Field skill.
Oh hey it's Slumber. Sure you can put a point into this, avoiding pointless FOE fights is half the game! But also item, you've heard this spiel before.
Unlike with the Troubadour where they had the choice of taking Luring, Gunners are stuck with stunning them. Though there is an item that can replicate this skill, though said item is a bit weaker. Otherwise like I said before, take it or leave it.
Riot Gun
A single target Gun attack that inflicts guaranteed Stun. Gun skill with Stab damage, uses the Arms.
To top off this great class, it's one of the best Force skills! So long as your Gunner has a little bit of AGI, as a treat, they can outspeed and land a Stun on A N Y enemy in the game. Like with binds, no monster is immune to Stun, so combine with Dominate and Painless and suddenly you can see how you're able to burst through whatever enemy you fancy. It's kinda crazy how much disparity these Force skills have. Like with most of them, this isn't something you should pull out against regular enemies, so get ready to Axcela for that boss!
One of the best Force skills in the game as it fills multiple roles at once, and what truly hurtles the Gunner into a very strong class. It's a good damage nuke and one of the Gunner's best reliable damage options, so there's little reason not to use this when it's up. It's also a fantastic support skill due to the guaranteed Stun buying you a free turn, and the severe speed boost making Gunner almost guaratneed to act first. However there are some tradeoffs compared to the Protector's Painless. Sure it deals damage in the process, but Riot Gun can only lock down one enemy at a time, making it not a great panic button in randoms or battles where there are more than 1 FOE. (You're probably better off trying to run in that case. Unless you got cornered in which case, good luck!) Painless also has priority, but Riot Gun does not, so it is possible for the Gunner to get outsped before they can use this.
However I'm only acknowledging that as a possibility. In most cases this skill will move first, so that's not something to worry about too much. If you are worried, just get some AGI increasing equipment and slap it on the Gunner to solve that issue. On the other hand, Painless cannot protect against debuffs and dispels, but Riot Gun can because it denies the action entirely instead of shielding your team. Not to mention that this skill deals a ton of damage to your target, which speeds up fights. In big fights you can stagger this with Painless to get 2 guaranteed free turns! And if you have Dominate on top of that, 3 turns! It's truly absurd how strong this skill is, and you can spam Axcelas once you get access to them in the late-game to make them spam it every turn if you so choose. There's also one more aspect that makes this skill even stronger, but I'll talk about that in the main LP when the time comes.
First new class is off to a great stat, since it's just a better Survivalist, Alchemist, hell let's toss Landy in there too, it needs some more kicking. Despite having a lot of naff skills, some super suicidal ones, and a very wonky stat spread, they have just enough positives to keep them on the better side of the class disparity.
Gunners are a pretty strong class, though a lot of their strength comes from a few skills that are incredibly strong at the roles they cover. A bunch of their skillset is really terrible and not worth taking, kind of making the overall class design not too great. Despite their issues, they're a great candidate for a backliner. Or some may argue they're the only candidate for an offensive backliner. Still, this class makes a good first impresssion, and has a strong showing in this game. And will still have a strong showing as the series goes on.