Weapon - Perk interactions

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Two of the most common questions players ask is “Which weapon is better?” and “Which perks to take?”

Having a go at answering this requires (among other things) an understanding of how Weapons interact with Perks:

Focus Shots

The faster the gun, the better it racks up damage.

  • SMG: Excellent
  • Autogun: Excellent. Especially in the early part of the run where you haven’t taken piercing, and don’t have any spreading shots, chain, etc
  • Looper: Very good. Note that Piercing means it will be useful mostly for lone bosses and the last enemy in the room; sometimes also when the mobs are so sparse that the pierced shot doesn’t hit any other enemy
  • Blaster: Moderate improvement
  • Plasma: Too slow to benefit and moreover Blast damage stays constant
  • Gemini Laser: Too slow to benefit and moreover the Laser Link doesn’t count, and for both projectiles to hit and count you’d either need to be very close, or have homing
  • Nuclear Lasso, Laser and Devastator: Way too slow to benefit

Headshot

The weaker the gun, the more hits you save when it procs:

  • SMG: Excellent
  • Autogun: Excellent
  • Looper: Very good
  • Blaster: Moderate
  • Plasma: Too strong to really benefit, and any enemies hurt by blast damage become immune to headshot
  • Gemini Laser: Moderate chances (projectile/second is similar to Blaster) but any enemies hurt by the Laser link become immune to headshot
  • Nuclear Lasso, Laser and Devastator: Way too powerful to benefit, and any enemy that takes Lasso/Trail damage is immune to headshot

Berserk

Generally equal across all guns, except Plasma Blast, Gemini Laser Link, Nuclear Lasso, Devastator trail will not improve with it

Attack Perks (Big/Small Attack Up. Power Tripper, the attack part of Fast Shots/GunHeart)

As these only affect the weapon component of your damage (and not your gear damage), they are more useful for guns that benefit less from gear:

  • Devastator: Gains the most; trail damage also increases
  • Laser Rifle: Gains a lot
  • Nuclear Lasso: Gains a lot, lasso damage also increases
  • Gemini Laser: Gains a lot, not sure if Laser Link damage increases
  • Plasma Cannon: Gains a lot, but blast damage does not improve, so overall impact is moderate
  • Blaster / Looper / Autogun / SMG: Modest improvements

Note that the actual improvement also depends on the gear level you have (people typically have gear at higher rarity than their weapons) and the Gear Mastery perk. For more accurate comparison, try the Simulator

Revenge

Think of revenge as giving you 10 extra shots - that’s worth a lot with a slow, powerful gun, but not useful for a fast weak gun. Note: I haven’t tested the Nuclear’s Lasso, Devastator Trail, Plasma Blast or Gemini Laser to see if they also go 10x

Double / Triple Barrel

These reduces the weapon component of your damage by 30% and 40% respectively, which is more of a problem for the slow powerful guns. Few special cases

  • Plasma Cannon - more or less balances out because the blast damage does not reduce
  • Gemini Laser - weak perk as you don’t double the laser link

Homing

Homing is more useful for weapons with slow projectiles. It is problematic for the Gemini Laser as it can cause the laser link to reduce in size or even disappear altogether, but it also means you get both projectiles hitting

Bouncy

Few special cases:

  • Plasma Cannon: Normally the projectiles will explode when they hit the wall; with bouncy they will not and will bounce around until they hit an enemy, at which point it blasts (if it doesn’t hit, the shot will eventually expire)
  • Looper: Longer post here
  • Gemini Laser: Espeically useful for the Gemini Laser as you have the link bouncing around a lot longer as a result
  • Devastator: Less useful as the bounced shots don’t leave a trail

Piercing

Few special cases:

  • WIl knock back enemies slightly when taken as a perk (effect does not exist for Looper and Laser Rifle) [Note: This comment based from when they nerfed Piercing on guns that started with it; not sure if Piercing has this knock back effect at all anymore)
  • Slightly less useful for Plasma Cannon becuase the blast damage is on the first impact only

See also:
Hero Passive - Perk Interactions
Hero Passive - Weapon Interactions