Pistol is the worst weapon in the game?

[Dralor.3701]

Apologies if this has been brought up elsewhere but it seems like I never see pistols being used.

I guess we might see it on a core engi or thief now and then but it seems super under represented.

Are there any plans to update this (and other) older weapon(s)?

[blambidy.3216]

Don’t think your using them right then.... I use staff and then p/p with thief in fractals for when I have to heal and I’m not getting heals from anyone. Use the healing signet and your ok.

I also use it in coasting around for farming. Only time I do not use them is within raids. That’s about it.

As far as condi engi. Keep them and engi might get a condi in next patch. However to coast with condi engi is still fun and reliable. It’s just people throw in meta and people follow them like cake and ice cream. Do what you want. If your good at it, keep it.

[Imperadordf.2687]

You forgot Rifle.

[Sarge shot Grif.6450]

Currently doing P/P deadeye with S/P as well, it's working unbelievably well. That being said there REALLY needs to be more classes with a mainhand pistol option.

[AliamRationem.5172]

@Sarge shot Grif.6450 said:Currently doing P/P deadeye with S/P as well, it's working unbelievably well. That being said there REALLY needs to be more classes with a mainhand pistol option.

I wouldn't mind seeing mainhand pistol added to mesmer and some improvements to offhand pistol.

[Obtena.7952]

Really? I think you aren't using them correctly if that's the case.

[Dralor.3701]

@Imperadordf.2687 said:You forgot Rifle.

I see a lot of holo, deadeye and the occasional rifle zerker still.

[Randulf.7614]

Pistol on thieves is something I see pretty much wherever I go

[Dralor.3701]

I don’t see many in pvp/WvW, guess it’s mostly just pve?

[Randulf.7614]

@Dralor.3701 said:I don’t see many in pvp/WvW, guess it’s mostly just pve?

Pve is def common. I thought thief pistol was meant to be pretty popular in pvp, but i could be mistaken there.

[Dralor.3701]

It was, but it looks like the popularity has gone down since 5/8.

[Imperadordf.2687]

@Dralor.3701 said:

@Imperadordf.2687 said:You forgot Rifle.

I see a lot of holo, deadeye and the occasional rifle zerker still.

You see Rifle on Engineers because they have 3 weapons. Only Rifle is power focused.

Deadeye is still one of the least played specs.

I've never seen a Rifle Warrior since the Mesmer Phantasm rework.

[Ayakaru.6583]

Its still pretty strong in the hands of the thief, or the engi, a bit meh in the mesmer’s hands.Inarguibly the Foci are the most useless weapons in the game

[Dralor.3701]

Guardian focus?

Otherwise I can see that, focus is pretty bad too.

[Dawdler.8521]

@Ayakaru.6583 said:Its still pretty strong in the hands of the thief, or the engi, a bit meh in the mesmer’s hands.

While its still ok for power specced thief, it was strong in the hands of an engie during vanilla and HoT days. Unfortunetly with PoF, all condi specs died except for the extreme meta. PoF killed the p/p engie because it cant compete with other condis and it cant compete with itself on power (the nerfs didnt help either, because purity of purpose).

[Holykitten.3064]

Pistol thief is still pretty good, but it’s never been the same since Ricochet was removed. #bringbackricochet

[Khisanth.2948]

@Imperadordf.2687 said:You forgot Rifle.

Yeah. Rifle pretty much has a deathgrip on that title.

@Dralor.3701 said:Guardian focus?

Otherwise I can see that, focus is pretty bad too.

beats using a shield if you want to block stuff ...

[Karras.2945]

@Dralor.3701 said:Apologies if this has been brought up elsewhere but it seems like I never see pistols being used.

I guess we might see it on a core engi or thief now and then but it seems super under represented.

Are there any plans to update this (and other) older weapon(s)?

Pistol on thief is not under represented because d/p daredevil exists. Now if we're talking about the engineers' pistol, then yes, it's really bad. I don't think I've ever seen any engineer use this weapon. Its' damage is lackluster and the only way to make it effective is to play with full condition gear.

The engineers' pistol definitely needs a buff. Not necessarily the off-hand pistol, but the main-hand one. The condition damage the off-hand pistol gives is fine, but the main hand one is very mediocre.

[starlinvf.1358]

If we wanna talk more game-wide, its largely because Pistols and Rifles lack real distinction from each other in concept, and doesn't have the "DeusEx Magica" catch all that Wands/Scepters/Staves have in fantasy settings. In fact, both directly compete with Long/Short Bow, but Bows have more thematic flexibility to work with. All 4 of these weapons are under-represented across all classes due to this functional interchangeability... and thats not even going into how much this game favors melee combat.

As for Engineers specifically.... their narrow weapon choices are the reason. Pistol is a distinctly condi weapon for engineers.... so unless their condition builds are strong, you won't see them run it. But Rifle on the other hand is a power weapon, and Engineer power builds are currently their overall strongest in both reliability and sustained damage output. Prior to HoT, Engineer condi used to be Top Tier.... but Condi itself was incredibly rare, as it underperformed against power in 90% of situations. As of current, Pistol skills were stripped of its strongest features, and the Explosive kits (the other major condi sources on Engie) only perform well against static targets, but offer no inherent crowd control to address moving ones.

Then theres the classes themselves..... Magic classes tend to favor magic themed devices as their ranged weapons, while melee weapons can be either magic or physical with little logic behind it. Only 3 classes use pistols across all specs, but kid of surprisingly, the more commonly seen rifle is also only seen on 3 classes (that includes deadeye). Long bow 3 Classes, Short bow 3 classes. Staff 7 classes (5 ranged, 2 melee). Scepter 4 classes, all magic themed. When you start getting into Melee made ranged (like Mes GS), the numbers become less directly significant, but no less confusing.

I would argue that making a Melee weapon into a ranged weapon is more conceptually interesting, but you can't really turn bows and rifles into Melee weapons without a lot more suspension of disbelief. Magic doesn't really cover this, since firearms/projectile launchers don't make sense with a reversed purpose. All you can do is make their use more unconventional, so magic can gloss over the details easier.

For example..... Giving Pistols to Elementalists, and having them use Caster Shells as a mechanic. Ammunition made of highly condensed energy, manufactured by their attunements through a more active mechanic, and fired for high impact skills. Would it be a functionally optimal mechanic? Probably not. Is interesting and/or unconventional? Definitely.

[InvaGir.9158]

Pistol is great on Thief and Mesmer but not on Engineer.Anet should really fix it for us engi lovers..

[Belorn.2659]

For raiding there is a use for all weapons in the game, through some are more common than others.Pistol is used by mirage.Rifle is used by holosmith.focus and shield is used by chrono.

Hammer is the least used weapon. The only current build that has it is the hand kiting rev build, which is an occasional one-off for one boss. Hammer are use for pvp and wvw so from a larger perspective its not an uncommon weapon, but it all depend on context.

[Liewec.2896]

right now in pvp people are QQing about p/p thief and the ultra high burst that they get from pressing 1 button ;)

mesmer is "meh" ok-ish, the phantasm deals pretty good damage, and range too so it won't get cleaved down.

i do agree that engi pistol is fairly trashy though,

[Steve The Cynic.3217]

My Daredevil uses staff for melee and p/p for ranged, partly because I suck a bit and can't really "get" thief shortbow, and partly because with the right combination of traits you can get epic chained damage from skill 3 (Unload). I think my record is more than 20 Unloads in a row without a pause.

[Rauderi.8706]

Pistol is hardly used by the professions at all. Thief, Engi, offhand Mesmer. And even then, none of them are all that good.

[Ziooo.8932]

Pistol is underrepresented because only 3 classes can use them, mesmer being offhand only. Its dps with thief isnt great for PvE and engies are often seen wearing kits. I wish we had more classes that could use them tho...