Never as strong as a sword, or as flashy as magic, guns find themselves in an interesting place where they’re all still useful – but mostly in ways different than just straight damage output. There’s not too many in the game, if that gives you an idea on how niche the weapon category is. But let’s take a minute to look at a few of the real stand-out firearms in the game, and what makes them truly shine – even among the slew of swords, shields, and spears that tend to typically overshadow them.
5. Enforcer
One of the best features of firearms in Final Fantasy XV is that you can stay at a very safe distance and still get damage done. That damage may not be as great as you’d want it to be, though. And that’s just a trade-off that most of the time you’d have to make. Most of the time. When it comes to the Enforcer, you’re going to be better off. The Enforcer has a solid attack power and even some extra spirit, but the biggest selling point is that it also has an additional 10% critical hit rate boost. Ten percent by itself may not sound like much. But think about how many shots you fire in a battle. It’s actually a very noticeable difference, and you’ll just love how often you see those orange numbers. How to Obtain: Win from the Totomostro monster minigame in Altissia.
4. Quicksilver
A feature not too often discussed in Final Fantasy XV is that you can break monster’s parts off of them. Wings, horns, or even tails can be viciously attacked and claimed for your own purposes. This can be tricky to do though – and more often than not you’ll have to rely on Noctis’ warp strike and some luck. Enter the Quicksilver. This baby has provided a staggeringly high 80% increase to the chance of breaking an enemy’s part. When you combine this with Prompto’s Trigger Happy ability, you suddenly have an almost 100% chance to collect that monster part you need. So head forth and shoot the wings off of birds & the horns from Spiracorns, as the world is yours to dismantle! How to Obtain: Can be purchased from shops in Chapter 14 and onward.
3. Lion Heart
A gun with a familiar name, the Lion Heart joins the party with a decent attack power and boost to strength and spirit. Its real star design feature is its unique ability to make the wielder stronger as their hit points plummet. It’s a real risk/reward weapon, with a very strong emphasis on reward. The damage boost starts when the user of the gun drops below 30% HP. If you’re a real madman using things like Prompto’s Piercer or Trigger Happy with Break Damage Limit with him in critical health, well that can result in tens of thousands of HP damage done. Certainly a great way to clear riffraff, or to just decimate a single-target boss. How to Obtain: Clear Episode Prompto.
2. Executioner
While a lot of the fights in the game are against multiple foes, a lot of the major encounters pit you one-on-one against a specific, usually very strong, enemy. At times like these, the party can go full-force and use whatever they need to be able to get the job done. The Executioner is the gun version of this idea. When you’re facing a single enemy, the firearm does 50% more damage. This makes it ideal to go completely berserk with abilities like Piercer and Recoil, to put the big bad guy down as fast as possible. The Executioner has a cool name and great bonus damage to single-target foes. How to Obtain: Find in the Greyshire Glacial Grotto.
1. Abandon of the Vortex
Sometimes a weapon comes along that’s so good, you wonder if its inclusion in the game a little bit is maybe broken. This idea can be applied to most of the Vortex weapons – but much more to the Abandon of the Vortex: a firearm that surpasses all others and makes fighting from a distance just as good as being up close. Not only does the Abandon have the highest attack power of any gun, but it considerably boosts every stat, easily breaks the parts off of enemies, deals almost twice as much damage to vulnerable foes, and to cap it all off… it always deals critical hits. You drooling yet? Getting the Abandon and firing off a Trigger Happy with Prompto is enough to end just about any non-boss encounter. How to Obtain: Trade in 99 Tomestones at Y’jhimei’s trading post.
