So far my biggest disappointment with Grim Dawn is the seeming lack of pistols in the game. You get a level 30 pistol and then go to about level 50 before anything better drops maybe crate needs to look at the drop rate I don’t know, I know RNG plays a part, but still the lack of pistol upgrades is a little bit frustrating, you don’t seem to progress with them you almost become stagnant. Other than that brilliant game, and some of the mods are pretty good as well.
As someone who has primarily played shooty builds I find that the damage is more reliant on how you do your devotions more than anything. It also depends on what kind of build you are running as to what pistol options might be available. If you aren’t using green pistols then I can understand why you see it that way. There are places to get really good green pistols but dependent on build and level and such.
Decided to try a DW Pistol Purifier so far it a blast (usually play melee classes)but am having trouble finding good pistols, is there any specific places where pistols are more likely drop or is much of a muchness where you go.
Why wasted your time farming low level items for upgrade? Just buy them from vendors. Easy and reliable way to upgrade while leveling.
Yeah, Zars is right. A decent faction weapon from level 35 usually takes me up to 50 and a bit beyond pretty well.
Last character I played, I used a Devil’s Musket through the rest of Normal and all of Elite, eventhough I could have stopped and tried to farm a better weapon, I didn’t bother as i’de replace it eventually anyway 
You could also try your hand at crafting random or green pistols.
I don’t mind crafting, but they generally end up worse that what you’re already using by heaps. Most of the vendor ones show anywhere as much as -100 to -300 damage difference, RNG just kills crafting and most vendor items.
What build are you playing? Are you using components? Are you taking into account the difference between a weapon with a component and a weapon without? The DPS is not the only thing you need to take into account. You might get a weapon showing a drop in DPS but when you equip it it boosts your main attack skill unless you are just using the default weapon attack.
Woofknight, trying a DW Purifier with Firestrike as main attack. This is the first time I’ve tried a ranged character (usually melee) so am totally unfamiliar with the class, so really need all the help I can get, it just seems to me that not many pistols drop in-game and RNG is too unpredictable for crafting. Now I’m assuming I need to keep the A/S of the pistols as high as I can get them.
I find the two most important parts of shooty builds is OA and attack speed. Criting is super important as many procs happen from critical attacks. Though attack speed comes from devotions often. Not sure what level you are or what damage type/s you are focusing on but the components are important. The other option is to go with a caster type build using greater fireblast until you get some guns that work for you. I mean you are right to a degree, the really good pistols don’t start dropping til 50+ but that is true of any items really except for two handed rifles because you get some amazing ones early on.
http://http://www.grimtools.com/calc/O2Gl6rXV
This is what I’ve got so far, seems to be doing ok, just needs to get better.
I can upload my character into Grimtools well enough, but how do you go about saving it so that the link to it can be added to a post so that you can see it?.
Put your character into grimtools the usual way and then the button under the file download “link to this build” and it will give you a link that you can share.
http://www.grimtools.com/calc/4NOQjXPV
This is a link to what I have so far, seems to do ok, don’t know how it will fare later on in game though.
That Oathbreaker definitely looks pretty solid for your build. Not particularly surprised you haven’t found a replacement for it.
I don’t think the Chilled pistol at this stage isn’'t bad either, you don’t have sizable % bonuses to Fire to the point that weapons centred on it are ahead of everything else and it has attack speed.
Best tip I can give though is when comparing weapons is to hold CTRL while hovering over a weapon to compare both without component/augment boosts and to be careful with these sorts of comparisons. Use them as a rough guide or estimate as they don’t take things like + skills, procs (or I think % casting speed for casting abilities?) into consideration.
Ok, I thought that when you compared the weapons everything was included in the comparison good to know for future reference. Thanks to all for their comments, it’s most appreciated.
I’m not sure why you have the vicious spikes on your gun and I’d probably pull the points out of bursting rounds and pump them into explosive strike for guaranteed AoE effect every shot. I’d much rather guaranteed aoe every shot than a random chance at a slightly larger AoE. I find there are two essential pieces of kit for shooty builds at your level and they drop for me rather frequently. Hopefully the gunslinger’s jacket and the quickdraw gloves will drop for you sometime soon. You are five levels off of getting into the really good pistols but again the RNG can be frustrating. I’d suggest trying to get the prerequisites to take the hydra constellation and the hawk as you progress. By the end of veteran act 4 you should have 28 shrines unlocked.
I put vicious spikes there for the penetration seeing as pistols have penetration, other than that not sure what else to put in there. Devotions I’m looking at, at the moment are Tortoise, Raven, Quill, Hawk and Ulzuin’s Torch, hadn’t thought about Hydra but will have a look.
I would suggest farming the blood grove and village of darkvale and the darkvale castle/gate. Farm the bloodsworn as they drop some pretty great green pistols and you should be up to there by your level. I’d suggest taking jackal for that overall speed bonus. I’d also suggest some more points into vindictive flame, explosive strike and static strike. I’d probably have stopped the mastery bar at blast shield because even though brimstone is really good AoE you aren’t really supporting the chaos damage or focusing on it and there are other great options for AoE. I’m not the greatest player or build maker so take what I say with a grain of salt but these are my observations.
When i was lvling my purifier i just put 1 point in the inquisitor mastery bar and 1 in ranged expertise (just for the dual wield). Then max out fire strike, vindictive flame and flame touched. this gives a massive amount of fire damage and makes the entire game up to ultimate a breeze.
Right now all you points are in the mastery bar and therefor your skills dont put out enough damage.
Now to save starting another thread because the question sort of applies to pistols, how many points if any do you guys recommend, I thought about 20 points into cunning gives enough cunning along with the masteries to wield most if not all pistols, or do you recommend just going pure Physique and look for gear that has cunning.