Re: Best ranged weapon?
It depends on your style of play and skill.
As stated by KaveX, the Red Dragon (clockwork) pistol; the Perforator (turret) rifle; the Rammer (heavy) crossbow; and the Enforcer (blunderbuss) shotgun are the only legendary ranged weapons available in the game alone (see Championship Pistol/Knothole below).
If you like getting close-ups of your enemies, then the shotguns are awesome for luring them in and blasting all their heads off with one shot. If you like sniping, then the longer range weapons like the crossbows and rifles will do nicely. Pistols are in the middle for range and can sometimes be used as either close-up or sniping, depending on the locality. If a particular weapon feels ‘right’ when you use it, then use it.
“What are you talking about!!??” you ask? Okay, I’ll drop the philosophical crap:
The augments in the weapons and my evaluations are as follows:
Red Dragon (41 damage, devastation, lucky charm, 0.65 reload, 35 range, 6 ammo capacity) Reloading is listed as 0.65 because clockwork reloading time is for all 6 slots, and therefore, the ‘Dragon is epic-fast. ‘Devastation’ augment adds additional damage. ‘Lucky charm’ augment adds damage as well as taking less damage. It is still the least damage that legendary has to offer, but its epic-fast reload is what makes it a great weapon at any range and for any enemy. Available when you beat the Westcliff shooting range with 175 or more points when finally get to Westcliff.
Perforator (81 damage, fear itself (vanity*), discipline, barkskin, 0.75 reload, 60 range, 6 ammo capacity) All turret weapons require an individual reload for each bullet, and therefore, the Perforator is really slow on that. ‘Fear itself’ explained below. The ‘discipline’ augment sucks because experience is no object with the experience glitches.
It is a true sniping gun that will leave your enemies clueless as to where you are. For a sniping weapon, the ‘barkskin’ augment is horrible since it lowers the damage you take, and as a sniper, most enemies won’t hit you (it also doubles your scars when you get knocked out, kinda vanity*-ish). Trolls know where you are anyway when they throw rocks at you. Available at the Wraithmarsh Demon Door when you bring 10 or more people following you to it.
Rammer (119 damage, ghoul, flame, bewitching (vanity*), 0.75 reload, 45 range, 1 ammo capacity) The damage is great but the reload time combined with the lonely 1 arrow capacity makes this weapon a pure sniper with 15 less range than the Perforator. The ‘ghoul’ augment is the one of the redeeming factors of this weapon, as well as the ‘flame’ augment. Stealing life with the ‘ghoul’ will never make you want for any more potions, maybe. “Bewitching’ explained below. Available after all Gargoyles have been destroyed, and only after the main storyline has been beaten on your character.
Enforcer (177 damage, barkskin, lucky charm, 1 reload, 20 range, 1 ammo capacity) The 177 damage as well as the ability to hit multiple enemies because it is a shotgun is nothing to scoff at. ‘Barkskin’ is better for the Enforcer than the Perforator because you will get close to your enemies so they might hurt you. ‘Lucky charm’ is a great added augment to this gun, but only in damage and the added ‘less damage’ effect. Low capacity, range, and reload time severely cripple the best shotgun in the game, but shotguns are short-ranged, one-shot, slow guns anyway, what else were you expecting?
*My friend’s phrase: ‘Vanity augments’ are augments that are there for show. In other words, they don’t help you during combat. Fear Itself makes citizens run away (Whoopee!). Bewitching makes you more attractive (Hooray!).
The difference between clockwork and turret ('Dragon and Perforator) is that clockworks have less damage for a faster reload and shorter range and it is tough to tell which is “better”.
Now I would like to talk about non-legendary ranged weapons.
“WHAT? Non-Legendary Weapons, what about them? How could they be any good?”
Well, it depends on the augments,
The ‘ghoul’ and ‘lucky charm’ combination is one of the most powerful in the game, especially in fast clockwork pistols because ‘lucky charm’ is “You dish out more damage, and take less yourself.” The ‘ghoul’ is “Each weapon hit drains health from your opponent and transfers it to you.” Each of them doesn’t have any 'scarring' or 'less something' drawbacks, unlike most other augments. They both work in tandem to provide more damage and more health. ‘Ghoul’ drains health while ‘lucky charm’ dishes out more damage. ‘Ghoul’ transfers that drained health to you while ‘lucky charm’ prevents some damage done to you.
Because I don’t have Fable 2 Pub Games, I can’t get the Championship Pistol which has a Discipline (sucks) and an empty slot (ghoul maybe?). Stats are: damage=65; Ammo capacity=9; reload=0.5; range=60. Ammo capacity is crazy awesome as well as the reload, but I still don’t know what kind of pistol it is.
I think that all ranged have “normal” speed so no comparison can be made except for reload and capacity as reviewed above. (Maybe it’s because they’re all as fast as a speeding bullet? Anyone? No? I’ll go cry myself to sleep at my jokes now.)
Also, I have been trying to find a Master Clockwork Pistol (MCP) with two empty slots to compare it to all of the legendary ranged weapons that I have, as I have tried all other two-socket weapons already. I will post more information on that later as the Knothole Island is coming out and if I get the MCP. I use the Red Dragon, for now, and I highly recommend it to any ranged character.