Cannon vs Gun

[Taikan]

I've been thinking which is better/more useful, so i decided to get your help to try to figure this out :D

Cannon has -spread dmg -more hp than gun -debuff from primary skill
cons: -cant hit air (not a defining factor in pvp, only witch flies)

now i dont rly know how much is the difference in dmg and AP gain; i believe guns do more damage and have better AP (that way it would balance things, i think), but i need some1 to confirm it :S

plz add anything you can think to the list, and if you can expand it to cannoneer, inventor jani etc.

[Ferishi]

Inventor can summon a cannon and shoot afterwards while the cannon also shoots, but his damage is pretty cruddy when he does that because he lacks bullets. He has good defense and magic defense for a ranged char, tho. And you don't get much more stun power than a guy who's a cannon AND a gunner at the same time. O_o Theretically he could rack up a combo count on 7 out of 9 of your enemy's formation in one round!

Janissary has SLIGHTLY more attack than Gunner but loses Wild Shot and Deadly Shot for the rather useless Shooting Stance.

Cannonneer has Smoke Bomb, which is nice. And better stats than Artilleryman.

Artilleryman has pretty horrid stats, including the important AP regen. And terrible defense. You're better off getting a Cannon main, who doesn't suffer these issues as much (sorta like how an Axe main doesn't suffer the issues a viking has with stats. There's a reason why cannon mains are one of the two best mains).

Gunner has better AP regen but only hits a line. The whole point of these guys is to stun in the first place, isn't it? So you probably want a cannoneer instead of a gunner.

Overall: If you're going with a bomb heavy stun formation, you might as well go all the way. Inventor, Canoneer, and Cannon-Main should do the trick. Many of the top Korean teams had that, I think.

[Balathorn]

I wouldn't call shooting stance useless mainly because afaik it's a flat buff, and that means it is more useful the more attacks you make (a.k.a. seth him and you're golden)

[Ferishi]

Yea, that's one (perhaps the only) use for it. To use it right before a Seth will. Even then, though, it only lasts one round from what I hear. Again, it makes the Janissary better in a formation that's using Seth's Will. But we already knew that a Janissary was better than a gunner for that. ...er, well, I forgot to state that in my post in this thread (but I've mentioned it in other threads)

[Kode]

Jannisarry's buff lasts four rounds.

[Ferishi]

Wow, really? Guess that person who told me one round was wrong as heck :O 4 rounds sounds pretty nasty, especially when combined with Seth's Will. Almost enough to make me wonder why everyone in Korea used an Inventor instead of a Janissary (I guess it's because the stun spread and scroll cancel is more important than sheer damage in a PvP fight, maybe)

[Falcomist]

I believe having a cannoneer in the later lvls is useful with a cannon main. The smoke bomb can help prevent ur front to die fast and u can keep bombarding away with ur cannons. Chaos wind, BT summon, Witch summon, Two Cannon people to keep the pressure, and Chaos Wind. Real good aoe build right there.

I would rather get a inventor cause u can just summon those catapults and still shoot. 2 for 1 deal?

Take Michael Angelo advice ^^. :inv:

[synd]

you would also need to consider the time/cost for the said mercs.

Inventors,cannoneers and janissaries all require dragon crystals / jewels as upgrades. As these are the most expensive crystals in every server, it would take you quite a while to obtain them. Not to mention you only get these top grade mercs at high levels (84, 87, and 97 respectively)

[methane]

I tink cannons well for one thing. Does shit dmg.... But well if u're using them for stunning thats a diff thing. However they may be own if pvping against multi monk build. Their awaken will jst clear away the combos and it also affect targets in a row. And plus if you gonna to go for 3 cannons might as well go for 3 gunners. Gunners have the damage and wildshot and also can stun.

[Woltar]

I've been thinking which is better/more useful, so i decided to get your help to try to figure this out :D

Cannon has -spread dmg -more hp than gun -debuff from primary skill
cons: -cant hit air (not a defining factor in pvp, only witch flies)

now i dont rly know how much is the difference in dmg and AP gain; i believe guns do more damage and have better AP (that way it would balance things, i think), but i need some1 to confirm it :S

plz add anything you can think to the list, and if you can expand it to cannoneer, inventor jani etc.
From what ive seen, cannons are better than guns. Ive noticed slightly higher damage from a canon than a gun. Plus you get 1 extra combo count from a 4th/5th character/mob with a canon compared to the 3 from the gun.

[Marisa the Rainmaker]

From what ive seen, cannons are better than guns. Ive noticed slightly higher damage from a canon than a gun. Plus you get 1 extra combo count from a 4th/5th character/mob with a canon compared to the 3 from the gun.

That only applies if you're running a non-stun oriented build though. 3 Cannoneers and 3 gunners will end up with roughly the same combo count (not counting misses on second row), and gun users are a bit more reliable if you're going to use Seth's will. Wild Shot is also nice at lower levels for anti-front line, while Deep Insight can't stack and does little damage.

Besides, witch in the center ruins Cannon's 4-5 stun pretty much instantly =x.

[LtKillroy]

I like cannons more, they are tougher and hit more. But then, I like the AoE stun builds a lot, and cannons are the staple for those. All in all, they are pretty balanced IMO.

[Macko]

Yep, lucky in AO we dont have overpowered chars(maybe a bit), so we cant just say merc number 1 is best anc can own every1 else...

[zerokio]

i've been debating between cannoner and jannisary

both have cons and pros and hard to decide...

with cannoner, i can start a smoke bomb > then seth will him to regain ap
with jannisary, i can shooting stance > seth will prob have 300 ap next turn.

between the horrific damage of cross shape or column killer, i wonder which would be more beneficial.

also as mentioned earlier, cannoner is land based while with jannisary, i can have at least 1 more merc that can hit my enemy's witch.

also to note, should i change my spearman for either of this ranged mercs? spear do still do a great deal of damage, but i just can't seem to damage my enemy's back row so i was wondering on a ranged character.

[Wraythe]

i can just see that jani hitting 3x times in 1 round and oh my god if she ever combo'd an gave like 2 doubles that would just hurt.