Intro
The more I use the Commissioner, the more I think it’s damn overpowered. Amazing hip fire accuracy and alpha damage. Headshots aren’t absolutely necessary, but really open the true potential of the weapon.
0.35 second TTK against shielded Heavy Assaults of any kind is nothing to scoff at for a mere secondary. Or even “zero” TTK on a headshot + quick melee versus non-HA targets.
Not even mentioning the headshot OHK on most infiltrators.
It’s gotten to the point where I equip the Commissioner in every CQC situation where I expect an enemy to be within 10m, almost regardless of what my primary weapon and class is.
So I’ve been pondering at the viability of the Gunslinger Loadout.
Gunslinger Loadout
Core of the loadout is NS-44 Commissioner + Nanoweave + Assimilate + Vampire. Heavy Assaults should also throw in Adrenaline Shield.
Normally, you would be benefiting from either Assimilate (headshot kills) OR Vampire (wielded melee kills), but using a sidearm allows you to benefit from both implants.
Technically, any sidearm can work, but Commissioner is obviously the best for this task.
So with each kill you get +325 health, and also +200 shields with each headshot kill. +200 energy for Adrenaline Shield, if you use that.
So we get up to +725 effective HP per kill.
Now imagine all of that being amplified by 25% by Nanowave (20% damage reduction translates into 25% increase in effective HP).
725 * 1.25 = ~906
Of course, that’s the best case scenario, but I’ll be damned if that isn’t impressive.
Alternative Loadout
An alternative version would be Carapace + Vampire. You’d be restoring less HP overall, but you are much more likely to fully benefit from the Vampire.
Since Carapace works with healing so well, you could potentially amplify it even more with Restoration Kits, Healing Grenades and Medic’s Nano-Regen Device.
The playstyle
Commissioner can potentially kill 3 enemies per reload, assuming you don’t use a knife, being nearly reborn with every kill.
Upon running out of ammo, you can always switch to a power knife. I haven’t tested this, but I suspect headshot kills with a wielded knife will also benefit from Assimilate.
Due to limited amount of ammo, you’d always want to make plays around cover, so you can catch a break to reload or switch weapons, which normally takes ~0.8 – 1.0 seconds, more for HA.
The point of the build is to be able to go on short sprees of 2-3 kills in close quarters. Especially great against a trickle of advancing enemies.
Classes
The best synergy is with Stalker Infiltrators and Adrenaline Heavy Assaults, though other infiltrators can take advantage of this build as well.
Testimonies
When I earned my President, I did it as a Carapace Medic with Vampire, and went pistol primary a lot of the time. Carapace and all its associated synergies make you tanky enough to kill most players without too much trouble, and it always leaves the option of pulling a power knife out in the event that you find a crowd to go to town on.
There were even moments when I felt it was the right call to have my pistol out, rather than my primary. The Comissioner is functionally a primary weapon in CQC anyway, and the heal on kill allowed me to get away with shit I never would have otherwise.
Statistically, I managed around a 3KD with pistol primary, compared to 3.5 – 4.0 with a primary. So all things considered it wasn’t so bad, and it would actually be a lot better if you can do it with two separate Commissioners (referring to Primary Secondary ASP perk).
The heal provided by Vampire is a very good advantage. You can hold a corridor as long as the magazine last, by peaking out of cover and firing at enemies. The heal you get from Adrenaline Shield / Vampire and Assimilate (on a headshot) will neglect the received damage.
The limited magazine of 6 rounds is a problem, but the fact that quick knife attacks counts toward Vampire (because holding a sidearm) can help.
All in all, this loadout is still situational: sometimes an LMG will do the job better, but being a gunslinger is extremely fun.
One of my more memorable experience with this loadout:
I equipped the gunslinger loadout with a Lasher as primary in a biolab. Enemies were pushed to the landing pad, we were inside. I was using the Lasher to supress them. I was behind a plant to the side. At a certain moment, I went like “fuck this” and rushed outside, Commie equipped. I managed to sneak out on the side, behind the launching pad. A bunch of enemies were camping there. I opened fire, quick knifing enemies, shooting the Commie. My health was going up and down like hell. I managed to clean that side and retreat behind cover on the outside edge of the biolab.
Closing
The Gunslinger build is cool and unorthodox. Unfortunately, it requires ~7k ISO-4 and an undefined amount of certs to fully flesh out.
To someone who has upgraded both implants to the max, and is good with headshots, I’d love to hear you try and use it.
I would honestly very much enjoy recording some amazing footage with this build, and making a montage, but I’d rather save my ISO-4 for something more useful for me, like Catlike, Sensor Shield or Nightmare.