Roulette weapon #3: Rival 78

Hello everyone and welcome to the third post of a 6 star being stuck with the weapon chosen by the almighty color wheel. This time I will be covering the Rival 78 AKA the double barrel.

Introduction: If you have braved the bayou for any amount of meaningful time or have honed your inner Redneck. You will know that the Rival 78 has a rather odd reputation as the most consistently inconsistent pellet dispenser to ever grace the bayou (an impressive accolade I know). The Rival 78 has the potential to wipe a duo in a second if the opportunity arises, however what’s most likely going to happen is it’s going to take 2 shots to body one Hunter (and once we start dissecting the gun you will see why that’s harsh). But let’s say you are comfortable rolling the dice and willing to take whatever fate and fortune hand you )! Let’s discuss the Rival 78, its variants and the special ammo!

Let’s swap it up a bit and go guns first.

Rival 78 - 150$- 10 shells.

Sigh… this thing was definitely an experience. The Double barrel has the fastest follow up of all shotguns leading to a quick two tap at the trade off of being tied with the Terminus for having worst range of all 3 slot shotguns. It doesn’t rely on traits, costs 150$ making it budget, you can theoretically kill a duo within a second. This sounds pretty decent IN THEORY! The pellet spread on this gun is honestly astonishing, as even within 7 meters you may have to use a second shot, which isn’t a big deal as some shotguns might need a second blast. But a big problem with the Rival 78 is its Ammo. You get very little wiggle room with any of the Ammo types (except Penny shot) and it makes prolonged fights actually a problem of both ammo conversation, as well as managing your other tools/consumables. As above I put the default Ammo amount by the weapon name, and I’ll cover the amount you get with each Special shell you get when I get to them. While all this may sound bad, this gun does her transformed with a certain ammo type (Slugs, it slugs you know).

The limited Ammo and the bad pellet spread means you will run out eventually on longer games. I’ve come out of games with both Rivals out of ammo, while bringing in an Ammo box.

Rival 78 Handcannon- 125$- 8 shells

As a Two slot the Handcannon sacrifices more barrel length for a wider spread. This may sound bad but at least it can fit around another weapon with quartermaster. The spread for the Rival is inconsistent already, so making it a Handcannon isn’t even a massive downgrade. (in my opinion the Handcannon is better in actual loadouts due to quartermaster).

Rival 78 Handcannon Mace- 135$- 8 Shells.

Exact same as the standard Handcannon, except this time it has a mace on the grip turning it into a bludgeon. This gives it more mobbing utility, Melee damage and immolator utility. Straight upgrade to the Handcannon. Boasting impressive stamina with heavies only costing 10 stamina (same as Dusters). It only does 90 on a heavy but it does well enough for its purpose.

Rival 78 trauma- 160$- 10 shells

Exact same as the normal Rival 78. Repeat the Handcannon mace script here and you’ll get the same effect. Mobbing, Heavy melee can kill and it’s an Immolator annihilator. It does 216 melee damage and can do 3 Heavy swings with full stamina.

Special Ammo

Dragons breath: Costing 20$ and comes with 10 shells. This Ammo type serves me well and with the Flechette shells gives the Rival 78 some aggressive supportive utilities, able to take hunters out of the fight temporarily! Not only does it do pretty hefty burn damage with a good shot taking away around 60 HP, it can also ignite downed hunters! Forcing them to combat you in a closer range. And paired with the Rivals two tap potential, you can still kill reliably with this thing.

Flechette: Costing Costing 40$ and coming with 10 shells. Greatly tightening the spread of the Rival, these shells seek to make your Opponents bleed and keep them at bay with surprising range and precision. Doing 126 DMG it is enough to make most Hunters pull out a Vitality or a Medkit to stem the bleeding. While lacking overall utility compared to Dragons breath, it makes up for it in damage and spread. Solid Aggro support Shells.

Penny shot: Costing a mere 10$ and coming with 14 shells. While the extra ammo is nice and the damage is no joke on a decent hit. The greatly increased spread makes this thing a complete gamble. Early I mentioned that the Rival is for those who let the dice roll? Well this is going all in on a game of Poker on the first bet without looking at your cards. Ballsy and I respect it, but you can’t be mad if you lost to the first fight.

Slugs: Costing a whopping 130$ and comes with only 7 shells. Costs more and comes with less ammo? What’s the catch? Well with Slugs the Rival completely changes into a somewhat of a scary gun at even mid range. Able to headshot hunters, 1 tap to the chest at roughly 13 meters, and 2 tap to the chest up to roughly 40 meters (tough shot though being real) but you get the picture. Slugs mixed with the fast two tap make this gun a quick one-two that will leave your opponent on the ground. It’s a bit pricier sure, but honestly it was the best way to get any reliable value from this gun at 6 star.

Ratings: the typical four PVP, PVE, Utility and Budget.

PVP: 3/5. This was a rough one honestly. Buckshot is inconsistent and Penny shot is basically calling for a coin flip (pun intended). But Flechette, Dragonbreath and Especially Slugs help this gun with it’s consistency to hurt anyone who’s not blue or you. The Trauma variants also give a panic button or if you just need to rush someone.

PVE: 4/5. The melee Variants will help against any mob and deals great damage to most bosses. Just make sure to pack a Stam shot. Making it a 4/5 because the Tauma’s Stam drain is harsh and it’s only melee range.

Utility: 3/5. The melee Variants add mobbing and the Flechette and Dragonsbreath rounds add some spice that others have to deal with. Dragonsbreath also can ignite downed Hunters adding even more pressure for that will eventually pop the enemy team.

Budget: 4/5 The most expensive combo is the trauma and Slugs, totaling to a 290$ on your primary. Honestly pretty cheap depending on your loadout.

Closing Thoughts: As I used this weapon more and more I started to despise it. However upon reaching roughly the 50’s and using mostly slugs if I was going for a more lethal set up. I did eventually get a feel for the gun, however it was definitely a more subconscious improvement or perhaps I just got luckier towards the end. Being a cheap Shotgun with quick two tap potential and no trait reliance makes it a decent choice for those wishing for a more aggressive yet unpredictable choice. Dragons breath and Flechette also add some support options if you are willing to trade one shot potential for more consistent damage with nice pressure effect. This weapon was trip from being disappointed from its spread and range to somewhat coming around to it at the end. It was like looking at a madman’s journal, mostly nonsense, but if you turn off your brain and stare at it, it starts to sort of come together?… I don’t know maybe this gun drove me mad who knows?

I hope I wasn’t too harsh on this gun, maybe I was forgetting some technique that makes it one shot a Hunter at 20 meters with buckshot? Anyway after spinning the wheel of color, it has decided to grant upon to me… The Slate! It seems these take about a week to make, so check in next week to see the Slate I guess.

Did I get something wrong? Anything in particular you want see on future weapons? (More in depth variants, level progression, best use cases, loadouts pertaining to the weapons, weapon class matchups?) anyway I’m releasing this at night so I may not see comments until the morning.

“Remember to loot your food before burning. Hate to burn something useful” -Crowpuppet.