Strategy:Pistol

{infostrat switch} The pistol is your starting weapon and, thus, will often be discarded for something more superior. On the other hand, the Son of a Gun trait is specifically applied to pistols, increasing their attack potential both in firing speed and projectile damage. It is because of this that pistols are not only feasible as a weapon, but quite capable of being used as the ONLY weapon during a game.

Pistols are required in the Marksman badge series, which only allows you to use pistol-type weapons (though it includes assembled and special variants) and fists.

At first the weapon may not seem like much: 2d4 damage, only six shots in a clip. However, the raw damage-per-second (DPS) drastically increases as you add points into pistol-based traits. Consider the following:

• No traits: 5DPS
• SoG(x1): 7.5DPS
• SoG(x2): 11.67DPS
• SoG(x2)+DG: 19.44DPS
• SoG(x3): 20DPS
• SoG(x3)+DG: 33.33DPS

Over the course of just four levels (achieveable just after Hell's Arena on Ultra-violence) the damage output has increased over six-fold. If we compare to a chaingun with SoBx2 and Finx2 (similar trait boosts) the DPS is only 31.43DPS; while the plasma rifle is obviously superior at 51.43DPS, it also requires nearly twice as much ammo for an ammo type much harder to carry (and often rarer to boot). As a starter weapon, the pistol is certainly a powerful choice.

Pistols are also fairly unique as being a single-target, non-explosive weapon that has a high potential for knockback. Combined with very fast firing speed, it is possible to keep an enemy out of your field of vision by knocking them back every time they come into it. In order to build toward pistols that reliably knockback, consider investing in Son of a Bitch and adding power mods to your pistols. Although (knockbacking is frequently done with shotgun-type weapons, it also requires you to be closer and so the possibility of knocking them out of vision on each hit is significantly lower than with the pistol.)