Archguns desperately need a Catch-Up Update

[OmegaOsprey09]

I will start this by saying that they explicitly need a catch-up, not a rework. As of right now, they work something like "Five minute wait time to summon a not-so-super-weapon," and I don’t think that five minute wait needs to be removed, I think the Archgun itself needs something to feel WORTH that five minute wait. The overguard on summon and addition of Primed Dual Rounds were a step in the right direction, but not a big enough step. So I’d like to list what I, and from what I’ve seen many others, think Archguns are in desperate need of to at least equal what any other weapon could be, in order of the effect they would have.

 

1.Galvanized Archgun Mods

Probably the biggest shortfall of Archguns, although surprisingly few people actually talk about this one. Galvanized mods currently are the most important source of power for quite a few builds, to the extent that many weapons would be significantly worse without them. Because Archguns are without them, they are significantly worse. Now I will say that SINCE we have Primed Dual Rounds now, it would be somewhat pointless to add a galvanized multishot mod for Archguns. I also won’t preach balance to a professional game development team, and changes may be made as needed. With that out of the way, here are my ideas for galvanized mods, in order of importance/realisticness:

• Galvanized Munitions (from Modified Munitions): +80% Status Chance; On Kill: +40% Damage per Status Type, stacks 2x

Pretty standard mod for adding GunCO to Archguns. I will say that nerfing the damage per status could be reasonable, but not by much, something like 80% per status to 60% per status total. I only say this because I objectively look at weapons like Larkspur with 50% BASE status chance, and admit that that is a very big number.

• Galvanized Focus (from Critical Focus): +50% Critical Chance/Damage while Aiming; On Kill OR Headshot Kill, +30% Critical Chance/Damage OR +50% Critical Chance, stacks 5x

Meant to parallel Scope/Crosshairs as a crit buff for Archguns. I THINK that the two options are about equal, and about balanced. (I will say I prefer the Crit Chance focused one though.)

• Galvanized Chain (from Ammo Chain): +100% Ammo Maximum; On Kill: +30% Ammo Efficiency, stacks 2x

Probably a more unique idea, and admittedly one that takes away from the whole “limited-use superweapon” feel Archguns should have, but there aren’t many mods to pick from. I think 60% efficiency is reasonable, especially seeing how quickly some weapons can burn their reserves, but it could be more or less.

 

2. New Mods in general

Overused point, everyone talks about it, but that's because its true. Looking at the wiki, there are a grand total of 31 Archgun mods, 29 if you count out primed variants. Longer list with shorter entries, most of these are pretty simple requests.

• Mod for blast radius (maybe called Danger Zone).

• Mod for projectile speed, kind of surprised this doesn't exist already. Please Galvanize this if you add it too.

• Some kind of Chance to Explode mod. Maybe just for fun, maybe to make some nefarious Imperator builds, who knows.

• Faction mods, another one I'm surprised doesn’t already exist.

 

3.Corrupted mods

This category exists almost exclusively because there’s no -Fire Rate, +Crit Chance mod for Archguns. Looking at the list, there are actually quite a few that could work for Archguns. In order by importance/realisticness, as usual:

• +Crit Chance, -Fire Rate. Self-explanatory.

• -Recoil, -Fire Rate. These guns are heavy, and could seriously use a little less recoil.

• +Reload Speed, -Magazine Capacity. Reload speed should mean both refill time and refill delay in true space, same as usual atmospheric though.

• +Damage, -Accuracy. Could be dangerous with how inaccurate some already are, but would be a fun addition either way.

 

4. Nightmare Mode mods

Mostly here to complement the Corrupted mods being here. All of the Nightmare Mode mods are good, and Archguns could use some of that. They're pretty unique combos though, so I’ll leave ideas to DE.

 

5. Arcanes

This is usually at the top of people’s list, but I’m trying to make this list realistic, and there’s no good way to add archgun arcanes without adding a new way to get them, like with melee arcanes. However, if they were to add arcanes, these would be my suggestions:

• Some parallel to Deadhead and Merciless. Dexterity wouldn’t work.

• Maybe some overguard related arcane? Something similar to Secondary Fortifier, where the weapon gives you overguard.

• Some bonus on status or something similar, like Secondary Shiver or Primary Frostbite.

• Plated Rounds could be fun, although it would probably have the same issues as on primaries.

• Some more unique arcanes, these can get very wacky.

 

6. Exilus Mods

Another one a lot of people talk about, but the point of exilus mods is that they’re utility, and they should stay that way. This is more QoL than making Archguns good, but they would still be appreciated.

• Less Recoil, although on archguns this warrants being a normal mod.

• Maybe make Ammo Chain an exilus? Same point as above though.

• Something to remove the aim glide debuff for having the archgun out.

• No self-imposed knockdown, although the overguard does the same thing.

• Silencing effect, more of a meme than a real mod though.

 

Yall feel free to give me your suggestions. I’m no game dev, all I know is that Archguns are falling behind and could use a boost.

 

TL;DR: Archguns need help, and bad.

[MaxTunnerX]

I think all guns should get the same variety of mods, so why not.

[Fred_Avant_2019]

Honestly, yes. I would also add that there should be significant mod system additions/revisions to the archwings and archmelees as well. Maybe even Necramechs.

If you look at archguns they basically all have very interesting stats, but the mods are all unusable hot garbage, for the most part.

[Venus-Venera]

archgun content is completely outdated. but that also includes railjack and necramech

[Liberator_Numen]

1 hour ago, Venus-Venera said:

archgun content is completely outdated. but that also includes railjack and necramech

Bingo, it isn't just a singular matter, multiple pieces of content aren't receiving the attention they rightfully deserve. Archgun aren't even capable of outpacing the best primaries in the game, which is somewhat counterintuitive considering their size & specialization. Archmelee weapons never received a Gravimag conversion, which means these oversized weapons are just collecting dust, it also doesn't help that melee tracking has been busted for a long while. We only have a whopping total of two Necramechs, and not every map in the game is suited for them. Railjack's last update brought Corpus content, but it also shifted half of the mission flow towards ground combat, which we have more than enough of. Grineer missions haven't been changed, the Infestation has absolutely no presence, and the Sentients only get a special node in the Veil Proxima. And can I please get some faction skins for Railjacks & Necramechs? The cosmetic variety is astoundingly absent.

[OmegaOsprey09]

4 hours ago, Liberator_Numen said:

Bingo, it isn't just a singular matter, multiple pieces of content aren't receiving the attention they rightfully deserve. Archgun aren't even capable of outpacing the best primaries in the game, which is somewhat counterintuitive considering their size & specialization. Archmelee weapons never received a Gravimag conversion, which means these oversized weapons are just collecting dust, it also doesn't help that melee tracking has been busted for a long while. We only have a whopping total of two Necramechs, and not every map in the game is suited for them. Railjack's last update brought Corpus content, but it also shifted half of the mission flow towards ground combat, which we have more than enough of. Grineer missions haven't been changed, the Infestation has absolutely no presence, and the Sentients only get a special node in the Veil Proxima. And can I please get some faction skins for Railjacks & Necramechs? The cosmetic variety is astoundingly absent.

Definitely agree on all your points. I don't have much hope for Railjack though, its much more fundamentally broken than Archguns or Necramechs, and would need a pretty massive rework. Too much work for the small portion of the community who still cares. On necramechs though, there could not be a better reason to revisit necramechs than the whispers in the walls update, some kind of 3rd necramech designated for the spoiler area would be sick