Munitions Framework Guide - Champions Online (Part 2)
Ranged Attack - Two Gun Mojo (Tier 0) (4 out of 5)
If you were starting to wonder that every power would get an AVOID recommendation, worry no longer. Two Gun Mojo (TGM) is an excellent single target attack. With a 50 foot range, no cooldown, an efficient energy cost, good damage, and an enrage buff after a full maintain, this power is “full of win.” The fact that it is a tier 0 power is even better, as it means you can pick it up to start adding munitions powers even if you started elsewhere for your energy builder.
If you have a high dexterity (DEX), this power will critical hit many times during a maintain, returning quite a bit of energy from Killer Instinct.
Advantages of Note:
Crippling challenge is an expensive (3 points) but underrated advantage. It forces your foe to drop their block and keep it down for 10 seconds. This is incredibly handy in PvP. In PvE, it also provides a 10 second taunt and a 10 second -20% damage debuff on your foe.
RECOMMENDATION: Near Definite Pick Up. The only reason you should not take this is if you are definitely going to pick up Assault Rifle, and do not need Two Gun Mojo to open up access to other munitions powers. Assault Rifle is a bit better than TGM.
Ranged Attack - Holdout Pistol and Breakaway Shot (2 out of 5)
These are grouped together because they are both so-so powers with very specialized use. Holdout Pistol does good damage when used with less than 5% energy, but that is pretty rare with the munitions set.
Breakaway Shot does a backwards somersault followed by a cone AoE damage attack. It also gives you a stack of Defiant! (10% damage resistance for about 20 seconds). The animation on this power is great, and is almost reason enough to take the power. But the general utility of the power is small, and the animation is long.
RECOMMENDATION: Avoid Holdout Pistol. Take Breakaway Shot only if you want the cool animation, or have completely unused power slots and want the minor defense buff.
Ranged Attack - Gatling Gun (Tier 2) (4 out of 5)
Gatling Gun is technically a ranged attack, but it is also somewhat of an AoE attack. It has a 100 foot range, and anything between you and your target gets caught in the spray. It does excellent damage, and deals it very fast. You definitely want to have Killer Instinct if you take this power, as you will need those critical hits to fuel your energy so you can run the power longer (it is a maintained power that will keep firing as long as you hold down the button, up to about 5 seconds). You cannot move while maintaining the power, so keep that in mind.
Advantages of Note:
Listen to Reason adds a 15% chance to apply fear to mobs hit with this. That is a really cool name for an advantage, and fear is pretty handy (debuffs their damage and makes them spend some of their time cowering).
RECOMMENDATION: Good power if you line cone type AoEs. The long range is very nice. Some munitions players swear by this power as one of the best in the set.
Ranged Attack - Sniper Rifle (Tier 3) (1 out of 5)
Sniper Rifle takes a long time to activate and deals good damage after it does. Unfortunately, you can basically only use this power once per battle and it is not strong enough to kill villains and above. A power that kills one henchman before battle is not terribly useful since killing one henchman is not all that hard. This power needs a serious buff to be useful in Champions Online. It is one of the worst powers in the set. The fact that it is a Tier 3 power is a joke. This power really needs some attention. Weak high level powers tend to really disappoint people, and could cause them to [not want to play Champions Online at all](https://Read more http:).
Advantages of Note:
Tungsten Rounds lets the sniper shot hit up to 3 targets in a line. This starts to make it more useful, but your mobs won’t always line up perfectly for you. Also, since the charge up time is so long, it is likely they will have moved before you actually fire.
RECOMMENDATION: STRONG AVOID.
Ranged Attack - Assault Rifle (5 out of 5)
Assault Rifle is possibly the best power in the set. It does excellent damage, has 100 foot range, and with the right advantage can be chained over and over. You can also move while maintaining it which makes the power really nice. Damage is highest at the beginning and the end of the maintain. If you pick up the Mow ’em Down advantage, you can tap the button repeatedly to get the large burst damage at the beginning of the maintain. This uses quite a bit of energy, however. Otherwise, you want to make sure you use the full maintain as the middle ticks of damage are a bit lower than the others.
Advangates of Note:
Mow ’em Down is the advantage that lets you use this power without a cooldown. If you have Two Gun Mojo and plan to start with it for enrage, and then follow with Assault Rifle, you might instead want to just raise AR to rank 3. Otherwise, Mow ’em Down is a great advantage to take for sustained, high DPS.
RECOMMENDATION: Strong Take. The only reason to not take this is if you are low on powers and already have TGM.
Note: Shown in picture is one of the custom costume option replacements for the Assault Rifle. There are a lot of good ones which adds to the cool visual effect of this power as well.
Ranged Area Attack - Shotgun Blast (Tier 1) (3 out of 5)
This power is very popular in PvP and PvE. Shotgun blast does good cone AoE damage and has a chance for knockback. With the advantage, a charged shotgun blast always knocks back your target and will knockback all mobs it hits when you are enraged (and the easiest way to be Enraged is from a full maintain of TGM). I personally am not a big fan of cone attacks, and knockback is of situational value to me. But many people swear by this power as one of the best in the set.
Some players recommend skipping this for PvE but then respecting (retconning) into it later. This is interesting advice, but the respec / retcon system in Champions Online is still far too restrictive and expensive. If they fix the respec system this might become good advice.
Advantages of Note:
Breaching Round is the advantage that makes adds the charge option for enhanced knockback. If you take this power, you almost certainly want this advantage.
RECOMMENDATION: Take if you do not have problems with cone AoE and want some knockback.
Make Sure You Read All Three Parts of This Guide
This guide to the munitions framework is very detailed. All three parts are multiple pages. If you want to add comments, I recommend adding them to part 3 of the guide. That should keep them all in one place.
This post is part of the series: Champions Online Framework Guides
Champions Online released with 21 frameworks (with a 22nd to come in October 2009). This series of guides examines each framework, discusses the powers, and gives a general evaluation of each power’s capability.
