Walter Loadout Survey

[Radicaljoe]

I wanted to see what the average kit of a Walter would be.

I put all the effect ammunitions at the bottom because I figured everyone would use them alongside their main ammunition.

[gaymime]

;3; i havent been playing the beta branch so i just have the default slingshot + gold rounds(for the first time in years i dont have more gold than i could reasonably imagine ever needing)

[flamboyant wolf]

This is a royal jelly grip erasure.

[Radicaljoe]

7 minutes ago, flamboyant wolf said:

This is a royal jelly grip erasure.

oh weird? I put it on the poll. must have accidently deleted it. I know I put it there because I put BQ jelly grip because I forgot the real name.

I suppose I'll accept glom goop answers as the Royal jelly grip because I messed up.

[Chewabacca]

Honestly, the basic bone frame is fine, the only thing that I really want out of the frame upgrade is an increase in the amount of ammo I can store in the slingshot. I haven't unlocked any of the rifts yet so I'm chilling with the royal jelly grip, which is fast enough that it makes me think the void wrap must be like a machine gun.

Also, I do use dreadstone rounds when fighting Klaus because I'm worried about the AOE chance from gunpowder hurting his deer, but apart from that they stay buried.

[gaymime]

8 hours ago, Radicaljoe said:

oh weird? I put it on the poll. must have accidently deleted it. I know I put it there because I put BQ jelly grip because I forgot the real name.

I suppose I'll accept glom goop answers as the Royal jelly grip because I messed up.

can you add no grip so i can vote?

[Radicaljoe]

I did not expect gunpowder to be so low, or stinger rounds to be so high.

[kroban]

3 hours ago, Radicaljoe said:

I did not expect gunpowder to be so low, or stinger rounds to be so high.

Those gunpowder rounds are underrated as hell, mostly due to tryhards that play solo and rush the entire ruins + rifts on early, they think that everyone just gets 1000 cursed rounds at day 10 so "gunpowder trash". For a more chill playstyle the gunpowder rounds are pretty good for bossfights.

The damage is solid (in fact I would say it outdps dreadstone rounds which are significantly harder to get on early), it procs quite a lot, and the craft itself isn't hard to get. Walter can stack rotten eggs pretty easily by shooting birds/bunnies and turning morsels to eggs, the minerals from mining a meteorite biome, and coal from burning a forest OR if you are farming Krampus you get some from them.

Also I dont understand why gold rounds are so low, its literally one of the cheapest ammos on the first days and why Walter is memed as the "gold farmer", it makes it so you can farm critters for easy food + gold from pk, and also farming Krampus in early.

[Chewabacca]

1 hour ago, kroban said:

Also I dont understand why gold rounds are so low, its literally one of the cheapest ammos on the first days and why Walter is memed as the "gold farmer", it makes it so you can farm critters for easy food + gold from pk, and also farming Krampus in early.

Speaking for myself: it mainly comes down to how cheap ammo in general has become and how many types of ammo there now are. I want to keep my inventory reasonably clear and marble is an all-around upgrade from gold, so I just use marble as a replacement.

[Mysterious box]

1 hour ago, kroban said:

They are underrated as hell, mostly due to tryhards that play solo and rush the entire ruins + rifts on early, they think that everyone just gets 1000 cursed rounds at day 10 so "gunpowder trash". For a more chill playstyle the gunpowder rounds are pretty good for bossfights.

The damage is solid (in fact I would say it outdps dreadstone rounds which are significantly harder to get on early), it procs quite a lot, and the craft itself isn't hard to get. Walter can stack rotten eggs pretty easily by shooting birds/bunnies and feeding morsel to a bird jail, the minerals from just mining a meteorite biome, and coal out of just burning a forest OR if you are farming Krampus you get some from them.

Also I dont understand why gold rounds are so low, its literally one of the cheapest ammos on the first days and why Walter is memed as the "gold farmer", it makes it so you can farm critters for easy food + gold from pk, and also farming Krampus in early.

I'd say it has more to do with this Stinger rounds are far faster to amass than gold rounds so most Walter's tend to use it as a primary ammo over gold until they can get something better at this point and the aoe really helps with killing weaker hordes like spiders it also one shots everything gold rounds can.

As for dreadstone early game it's absolutely impossible to obtain early game without fighting the werepig which at that point you've cleared the ruins meaning you already have access to cursed rounds. On top of that cursed rounds don't require a completed station to craft and once prototyped you can just get a massive amount of fragments from the archives if your worried about dealing with the ruins. You can also safely kill the stations guards with long ranged shots. Gunpowder works but is only ever really a consideration if you don't plan to engage with the ruins but Walter is heavily incentivized to do so even pre rift as you need to go there to learn the thulcite frame, cursed rounds, get additional gems for magic, and to get the scrappy frame if the surface doesn't produce any wires.

[OMEGASCRUFF]

I'm doing 2x Thulecite Frames, one with Void Grip with Cursed and Pure Horror Rounds, and the other with Jelly Grip with Slowdown and Icker. I use Dreadstone Rounds on mutated bosses exclusively, and Glass Rounds when farming groups of mobs. I like having both Jelly and Void Grip as options, with Void carrying my DPS round and whatever status I need to reapply frequently, and Jelly carrying exclusively status rounds. I try to swap my primary ammo slot manually rather than using alt fire, since it keeps the Void hitstreak going. The main reason I prefer Thulecite is because it makes this ammo swapping task easier and can't be done while utilizing the infinite storage of Scrappier frames anyways. The AoE option is handy sometimes, but pretty niche.

Might change to Lunar affinity eventually, which means I'd change to Pure Brilliance over Pure Horror and Brightshade Husk over the Dreadstone swap, perhaps even Cursed Rounds themselves sometimes. I just wish Pure Brilliance Rounds didn't require planar damage to do something...

All of my ammos are stored in Woby using Scrappier Frames with Jelly Grips, so I can pull them out and just use them in a pinch (or for niche use cases like Freeze Rounds), but mostly use them to withdraw the ammo I need for whatever I'm about to fight, in advance. I carry Cursed, Pure Horror, Icker, Dreadstone, Glass, Slowdown, and Freeze Rounds usually, though I have a spare slingshot at base for Honey Rounds if I want them. I'd bring it on full-time and drop Dreadstone entirely with Lunar affinity.

Gunpowder is... Eh. I don't know, it just does less damage than Cursed Rounds, so I'm not sure why I'd bother with them other than cheaper ammo costs when using the Scrappy Frame's alt fire, and I'm not cheesing any bosses currently so I care more about my DPS. It's not that expensive to make, but anything that costs Nitre makes me a little hesitant. I have access to Cursed Rounds immediately upon finding the Ruins, which is within the first 10 days of a world, but I have to wait for eggs to rot for Gunpowder Rounds, so they're always coming later. I made 3 stacks of Gunpowder then never even used them on ammo. I just don't see the point in them. (Hmm, but if they had a little planar damage and could trigger Pure Brilliance Rounds, maybe I'd reconsider. Wait, let me cook...)

I don't really see the point of Stinger Rounds. I'm always rushing the ruins ASAP where AoE isn't useful, and then go straight to Lunar Island after, where I can pick up tons of Moon Glass. If I wanted AoE earlier, I can just run to the Lunar Grotto, which is really helpful to know the location of to begin with. Shockscrap Rounds are embarrassingly bad, and inconvenient to farm. The Scarecrow is super annoying to get when you typically skip farming most of the time. If they were significantly better, I might consider them, but I'm not sure it matters when I'd have to go out of my way for Saffron Feathers. With a Wickerbottom, though, they'd be fine with more damage, but I'm not with one that often.

I think I hate Dreadstone Rounds, and they're a big reason why I want to swap to Lunar alignment ASAP, but I'm waiting for the next update to see what changes first. Cleaning up is not fun, and they're only worth using on planar mobs to begin with, on top of forcing me to use the Void Cowl instead of the Enlightened Crown. They just suck to use, really. They feel like a burden.

[Chewabacca]

Dumb question but how does the poll calculate percentages for the most used ammo section? With all the others it's (number of people who chose that option)/(total number of voters), but the math doesn't work out for that with that section.

Also, interesting to see that gold has been pretty universally replaced as the cheap low-damage (but not as pathetic as pebbles) ammo type. I'm curious: are people using moonglass where they would usually use gold (meaning, including outside of situations where you want AOE), or are multiple ammos combining to make gold obsolete? I can't imagine gold round usage was that low before the beta.

Edit: never mind, figured it out ((number of responses for the option)/(total number of responses), the most-used ammo section just has a different denomination because it's multichoice).

[Debruh]

16 minutes ago, Chewabacca said:

Dumb question but how does the poll calculate percentages for the most used ammo section? With all the others it's (number of people who chose that option)/(total number of voters), but the math doesn't work out for that with that section.

Judging by another poll (since I haven't voted in this one and can't see results.) Seems to be the exact same.

[_mylilsunshine_]

Play-tested Walter, killed all bosses, and I didn't vote because the poll seemed-- thoughtless to me. Here's my loadout progression.

Spawning in, I immediately rushed for Tentacle Spot and Cat Tail to craft the Cat Slingband, there is no need to craft the Pig Slingband, ever. I also got a Silky Grip on the way. I also crafted the Bone Frame for fun but it turned out to be just a hassle and didn't serve me much. I went into the Scrapyard to fish for the material to craft the Srappy Frame, this is what I will use to rush the ruins and snipe the Bishops. Also got some Marbles too.

1st loadout: Cat Slingband + Silky Grip + Scrappy Frame + Marble rounds

After finishing the ruins, I crafted the Thulecite Frame, a looooot of Cursed rounds, and brought back the material for Slowdown rounds. I also murked Glommer for the Sticky Grip (sorry friend). This is what I will use to kill Queen Bee (day 21).

2nd loadout: Cat Slingband + Sticky Grip + Thulecite Frame + charged Slowdown rounds + Cursed rounds

After getting the Jelly Grip, I worked toward killing Nightmare Werepig. I didn't have a need for any craft so I crafted the Shadowcraft Plinth and crafted 01 stack of Horror round. This is what I used to kill the Ancient Fuelweaver, I cheesed him with stone pillars btw, no shame at all.

3rd loadout: Cat Slingband + Jelly Grip + Scrappy Frame (to snipe Bishops on the way to the Atrium) + Horror rounds (shooting 3 shots then switch) + Cursed rounds

After activating the Rift, I waited and got the material for my endgame loadout.

4th loadout: Mimic Band + Void Grip & Void Cowl + Thulecite Frame + charged Slowdown rounds + Cursed rounds. This is for fast-moving bosses.

5th loadout: Mimic Band + Void Grip & Void Cowl + Scrappy Frame + Horror rounds + Dreadstone rounds (now that I know Dreadstone is kinda doodoo compared to Cursed, I won't be using it without further buffs).

6th loadout: Mimic Band + Jelly Grip + Thulecite Frame (to hold one more stack of ammo) + Marble rounds. This is for general use.

I didn't bother crafting a second Sling, I just swapped with the Kit according to my needs. If I don't have the time to build up the firing rate because of small damage windows (constantly kiting back), like with Bearger or DFly, I would use the Jelly Grip. Antlion or 3rd phase Celestial Champ is a Void Grip & Cowl situation. Fast-moving targets can be made slow with the Slowdown rounds, making them vulnerable to Cursed rounds (GOAT ammo). I supplemented my damage with incremental shots of Horror rounds. Dreadstone was a scam. Lunar ammo is a scam. I didn't bother with Icky round but you can substitute Slowdown with it.

And yeah I sniped Crab King with the Scrappy Frame and Exploding Ammo. Hate that deadbeat.

 

[Bluepugjr]

2 hours ago, _mylilsunshine_ said:

Dreadstone was a scam. Lunar ammo is a scam. I didn't bother with Icky round

Dang, maybe I’m being dramatic but Walter’s skill tree seems kinda bad when over half of it is entirely optional/obsolete on arrival :/

really hoping they take the time to rebalance his ammo at some point

[Crimson Hollow]

I usually carry two slingshots, one with thulecite and another one with scrappy. Depends on the circumstances. 

And ammos are also selected accordingly, e.g. gunpowder for scrappy and cursed/horror for thulecite. 

As for the grips, silk -> void for scrappy and glommer -> royal jelly for thulecite.