DeadEye's Gunner Guide

So.. I know a lot about the Gunner. I figured rather than just telling people my build and posting in other threads, it was about time I made my own. My builds might not work for everyone, but they work for me. I'll try to be as organized as possible, without ranting or getting bored.

Apparently this is called the Flying Gunner. Sweet... i can fly.

Endorsements
Now Endorsements with the Gunner are not as tricky as other classes, the main things you should think about are Accuracy, Armor, RoF, Clip Size, and Criticals. Although I don't use a crit build, I have played against some gunners who use it well.

My primary build is Accuracy, Armor, RoF. I do this because I like to have a smaller spray radius, and I feel as if I would much rather have all my bullets hit rather than more damaging bullets that miss. It takes a little more skill because you have to have better aim, and keep the fire on them, but the bullets will go where you put them. I ran RoF silver at one point, but due to the RoF cap during high lag situations I felt as if a bronze RoF would give me what I needed without being capped out as often.

My secondary build is RoF, Armor, Clip Size. This build is primarily for games in which I need to do some bot control, or when I need turrets taken down. It makes the Gunner a much more effective lane pusher, and although I sacrifice some accuracy I am able to build juice quicker and therefore I'm able to build juice, and then slay.. rather than slay to build juice.

Weapons
The Gunner has 3 weapons. The minigun is by far his most used weapon. Very dangerous at close to mid range, and if you run Accuracy 3 it can also be used at mid to long range. Always have your minigun pre-revving if you think you're going to be in battle, and if you're surprised by a fight hit both triggers at the same time, it will increase the RoF more quickly.

Mortar is a weapon that is not utilized as much as it should be. Using RoF it's a very dangerous weapon, and although it's primarily used for bots and turrets, an accurate mortaring can be very deadly. Against players it's good when they're not paying attention(Snipers, or shooting at a teammate), or when they're trying to 3rd person or hide behind a wall. It is also a useful deterrent, put a mortar or two in a doorway and people will think twice about walking through it.

The deploy and the grapple can be utilized, but for me the slam is used far more than both of the others put together. It stops/hurts bots, knocks people of maps, flapjacks, scares people off, and is both a good offensive and defensive tool. If you see a crowd of bots, slam them, however if you think you might need the slam for a juiced support, or assassin, save the slam

Skills
The minigun is the Gunner's baby.. So upgrade Passive 3 before everything else. The double minigun does so much more damage than the single, and it might be smart for some of the newer players to kill bots and play it safe until you get your double. The slam is also important, I upgrade slam 2nd, though sometimes I upgrade slam2 then grapple2, but usually it's slam 3 before anything(other than passive)

I feel as if I've never used deploy much because I run accuracy on my main build, but I have used it a decent bit on my Mortar build when I needed more accuracy. I very rarely put it up to 3, but I have been known to upgrade it occasionally.

Slam, it's uses are varied. Best weapon the gunner has to stop bots about to hit the ball close range, great for getting assassins off of you or knocking juiced players away. Great for stopping bots so you can melee them for juice, also good to start off kill streaks by jumping in the middle of a few people, slamming, then juicing on the remains.

Grapple.. It's for kicks and giggles. It's very useful for pesky assassins who jump over slams, or juiced players, or just to golf club swing them out of the map. I use this much more than deploy, and although it will often get you killed if you try it in the wrong situation.. in the right situation it can be a life saver.

Jetpack.. although it's not a skill, the jetpack is a very important tool for the Gunner. Not only can you avoid bots, people, ejectors, etc. with the jetpack.. but it also makes you a harder target to aim. Gold speed and a jetpack lets you fly across the map, and if you are able to do it right you can get the jump on people, or put yourself in a dominant position. You are also able to climb a good amount of walls, which will put you in a dominant position. I claw though, so I am constantly on the jetpack since I'm able to continue to aim while flying.

Tactics
It really depends on what sort of Gunner you play, but for the most part the Gunner is supposed to be the slayer that keeps players spawning. He's not very effective at killing bots(RoF mortar is decent) but he can take out turrets with relative ease, while staying a safe distance away. A good Gunner should come out of the gate blazing, kill people, maintain map control, then take out turrets. If you run the accuracy build you should have no problem winning mid range fights, but remember that the gunner is an easy target, so make sure not to bite off more than you can chew.

Winning individual fights is the key to slaying. To do this effectively you need to be able to properly guess when and where you will be in a fight. Because of the minigun's alt fire warmup the gunner can be dangerous within a split second of seeing an enemy. For example if I am going to turn a corner, jump up a level, or push, I am going to have my mini revving so the second I see someone I can be firing fast already. Now remember that your minigun revving slows you down, so a good way to do this is a jetpack bunnyhop. I often move around using the jethop, revving my minigun every so often to keep myself ready.

Although I won't tell you to abuse the 3rd person glitch, I will tell you that it is a life saver in some situations. Gunner's can be as effective as a tank, sniper, or even assault, but pressing against a wall can be very helpful. This tip goes in hands with my next tip, stay near cover. An exposed gunner is almost a free kill, so be able to duck behind things and cover up that big ***.

Keep going if you already have your minigun going. One of the best ways a gunner can get kills is by rushing 3-4 people in a row. Get the jump on someone with your revved minigun, jetpack out, put your bullets on their face, move onto the next one. You can let go of the R trigger when you're in transition from person to person, but keep that L trigger down, or if you need extra speed let it cool down for a second while you're getting into position, than as soon as you're about to fire hold LT then RT.

Be on high ground. It is much easier to shoot low than it is high, or down off a ledge rather than shooting up it. In every map there are some sort of walls you can jump on, bunnyhop ontop of them then jetpack up and rain down fire. I know a lot of snipers like to hind behind the short class blockers, they can usually be shot from at least mid range if you find some elevation. Elevation also REALLY helps the mortar. A mortaring gunner on a high spot can rain down death, especially with RoF.

If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask. This is just a basic guide and I will add to it as I think of more, but if you want my opinion on something just ask.

Thank you for posting a guide, Deadeye. For all of our differences, you are by far the most memorable gunner (skill wise) I have played against.

Your mortar/bot control build is the set up I ran nearly 90% of the time when I played gunner before the dev's released information about critical shot, and the fixing of deploy 3. Now I run a mortar build until I get dual minis and then switch to crit shot/rof/accuracy working towards deploy 3 (which grants significant damage reduction making up for a lack of armor).

Gold crit/deploy is certainly not the best build, but its a ton of fun and a slightly different playstyle, and working towards my delpoy mini kills is a lot of fun.

How has the nerf to the gunner's long range damage impacted you as a player with each build?

What do you spend excess cash on besides juice? I've been using it to buy the first two levels of turrets so my supports only have to pay for and hack the last upgrade. I also am spamming bouncers on certain maps like spunky and laser razor/steel peel.

"grapple kill" for the lulz

It's funny how even a good gunner guide just looks so basic. I think we can all agree that the gunner is a lot more straight forward of a class than the others.

Might I suggest adding some 1v1 tactics? What do you do differently against the "problem" matchups for the gunner?

Also,

NEEDS MORE C OLOR. :lol:

My gunner is armor / RoF / clip size. I've found I have a difficult time playing without armor or clip size. Obviously, it's a build (now with the damage nerf) that is reliant on mortars from long range.

I can't jet pack around and aim at the same time. I can't do this with a normal controller, never will be able to, and am waiting for a controller with programmable buttons so I can add this skill to my base. The peskiest gunners are those that can fly around, aiming and reigning terror. Or is it raining in this case?

Also, I saw you posted a 95-0 game. How the F did you avoid dying?

Well that explains a lot about your accuracy. I attempted clawing back in Halo, but never found it comfortable.

You're a ridiculous gunner, but pretty much everyone I play with wants to quit out once they see you in the game/lobby.

The claw is the very clutch

Thank you.

I just recently started running that build because of the DLC's nerfing of the minigun at long range, but kept running it mostly because it's an easier build. I don't think I would have quite the ability to slay good players, but it's much easier to get juice and money this way(this was the build I used to go 94-0, but it is not very good against better players)

I noticed the difference a little, but I think because I run mostly accuracy I am still able to hit some bullets at range, which helps. It makes me thinking about using the mortar much more, and I challenge snipers less.

Slam3, Grapple3, Deploy(accidental, lulz), turrets, bouncers, and juice. I probably buy turrets more than anything, mostly because I like getting kills that I don't even shoot at, but I also buy a few juices a game. Most of the time I like to work up for juice, but if I need to turn the tide in a game and take back control I'll buy juice once or twice to allow my team to push up, and probably once or twice towards the end of games.

The Gunner is admittably an incredibly basic class, but simplicity brings it advantages and disadvantages. While it is easier to learn, I feel that the difference between a good and a bad gunner is light years away from lets say, a good and bad sniper.

Out think and out aim your opponent. The gunner has fewer weapons than every other class, so you have to be able to predict what someone is going to do before they do it. For assaults I make sure and not chase when(or where) they think I'm going to, snipers I mortar, assassins I slam, tanks I stay mid-range on(or fly above their heads), and other gunners I like to keep at range since I run accuracy and most don't. Now if I see people acting a particular way or baiting me in particular ways I will adjust my playstyle, but for the most part it is just getting the first shot, and making all my bullets count.

I've tried playing without armor completely, and unless you're playing on stacked teams or only getting shot by one person at a time, I didn't have success. Clip size is something I fell in love with on my mortar/rof/juice build, because you never have to reload when you're in battle. Great for taking on teams, not great for 1v1s.

I started clawing in around 05 I think, it took about 2 weeks until my wrist stopped hurting, but now that I can do it I would never go back. It allows me to use all my abilities(jetpack, slam, or RB) without removing my thumb. Clawing is one of the main reasons I like high accuracy, I can out strafe people while still keeping my bullets accurate.

It was 94-0 <3. I had a really good start to the game, was able to maintain control of Steel Peel's inner dome for the entire match. It was my RoF/Mortar build so I was able to take out turrets that I wanted taken out, juice pretty easily, and when I juiced I would spray down 3-4 people then escape when I was still juiced. There were a few times where I should've died, but peTuliacat saved me. At least one instance in the last 30 seconds of the game, where he grappled an assault that bought juice about 10 feet away from me and turned to kill me.

Clawing, and Accuracy 3. But yes, I agree. It has a lot to do with it. And clawing is not comfortable at all for at least a solid 2 weeks. I had to go into games by myself and practice, doing joystick twitches shooting and hitting all the buttons, just to make myself do it.

And thank you, but try and convince them not to. 94-0 games are fun, but not as fun as challenges.

Love the COLORS :lol:

So what is clawing?

try and use your index finger to jump and use your middle finger on the trigger, keeping your thumb on the right stick at all times so you can fly, aim and shoot all at the same time...hurts like hell

i've noticed that good gunners like to be up high..like when xeno played it he was always up on the high walls looking down at people making it harder for them to aim up, and you even tried it in the vid where he was against you, you were going high to get the advantage.

i've mainly played assault but i love some gunner, the sniper is my main problem, that and slow *** health regen...it takes FOREVER to start

Deadeye, you forgot a huge part of the Gunner: positioning! You should add something to the guide about always being near cover, trying to move to a place the enemy won't be able to excape you from, having an escape plan yourself, and keeping the high ground so that you can use mortars more effectively. I'd say positioning yourself as Gunner is as important as your aim.

Also, we should play a few rounds next time we're both on.

Green text on grey background = bad.

yes it is...

Clawing is a way in which you grip the controller where you use your middle finger on your right hand for the trigger, so your pointer finger can press the other buttons, and you never have to release the joystick.

I will be adding onto this more tomorrow, I just wanted to get it started tonight. Now seep time.

How come this guide doesn't say "get on kckzi's team and get carried"?

If games didn't have such poorly designed controls or consoles allowed for you to assign actions to buttons/triggers, contorting one's hand wouldn't be necessary. This is why I'm looking forward to the Onza Razer, which I have a bad feeling will never see the light of day due to the MLG banning.

Some additions to DeadEye's Guide:
DeadEye, your guide is really good. I run the same two builds for the same two readons. I also run a Crit/Armor/RoF for games when I am able to push forward fast. When I play, I generally stay toward the middle of the map. I launch Mortars to kill turrets, bots, and annoy pros. I also get to kill any assassins and assaults that come out to play.

Now for some tips.

Don't use gold ROF. Most people know this, but in case you didn't. The frame rate and lag of the game do not actually give you the benefit of using gold ROF. So when you use silver ROF, it is actually like having Gold ROF. I have done some testing on this, and it seems to hold true. I played blitz with Rof/Crit/Armor and Crit/Rof/Armor, and the second build killed black jacks 1.2 seconds faster on average. Not all that scientific, but those are the only two builds i would use, so that's all i tested.

Against Assassins. Lots of people spam Slam to kill assassins, but some of the assassins are not dumb, and see this coming. These assassins jump over the slam, and then what? When I see an assassin, I like to press deploy, and hold jump. This shoots your jetpack out and burns the assassin that is trying to gapple you. Then undeploy quickly, jump and then slam. If they beat this, you deserve to die.

I also use deploy quite alot. Alot of people think that you are supposed to find a place to deploy and stay there. Actually, when i am chasing people down, i throw down deploy, kill them and immediately undeply. YOU SHOULD NEVER BE DEPLOYED FOR MORE THAN 3-5 SECONDs.

Don't even shoot bullets at snipers unless you sneak up on them and can kill them. Your head is framed like a perfect picture for headshots, so you should just leave them alone. There will be plenty of other pros to kill.

KILL BOTS!!!! You have to. End of tip.

Jump around tanks to kill them, their jet gun kills you faster than your mini-gun.

I don't claim to be the best gunner, but lots of people have played with me, and i am usually toward the top of the game's leader board. I am 500 in kills, and climbing. add me on xbox if you want to talk about the gunner, or other classes, or to just play.

i agree, if a assassin is dumb enough to just come up and try to slash you to death while your deployed just fire the jets and they die quickly

my build is skill regen/RoF/clip. I find that the skill regen helps because then i can deploy again if I need to again really fast. I use deploy a lot because i dont actually have any accuracy. Plus if I am in a combat situation then if it is prolonged my slam or grapple is recharged soon.

I find that the build works for me, im not saying that it will work for everyone else. Thats just me

if you're not worried about mlg rules and such you can always mod your controler to have an extra a button on the bottom. it negates any need to claw. i never could claw just didn't feel right. that and i'm getting arthritis in my hands.