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Buffalo Bill any good?

AuthorMessage
Ensign
Oct 26, 2013
6
Hey guys, I've recently started to play on my swashbuckler again and I got him up to level 59 just beginningAquila. I know Buffalo Bill gets a promotion at level 60 so should I use him in battle? My current team is Sarah Steele, El Toro, and Fan Flanders. (I'll also use Subodai every once in a while)
So should I promote him and potentially use him in battle?

Pirate Overlord
Mar 16, 2012
10631
HuskyPatrickGaff on Apr 7, 2020 wrote:
Hey guys, I've recently started to play on my swashbuckler again and I got him up to level 59 just beginningAquila. I know Buffalo Bill gets a promotion at level 60 so should I use him in battle? My current team is Sarah Steele, El Toro, and Fan Flanders. (I'll also use Subodai every once in a while)
So should I promote him and potentially use him in battle?
Yes, Buffalo Bill is worth promoting and using. I never use an "In Order" team, I use "First Mate" and I love when Bill shows up!

Pirate Overlord
Mar 16, 2012
10631
Petty Officer
Mar 03, 2020
66
he's kinda irrelevant for a swash

rarely used him at all, but that's also because he's a defensive musketeer and defense companions are rarely needed in this game

Petty Officer
Jan 26, 2019
58
HuskyPatrickGaff on Apr 7, 2020 wrote:
Hey guys, I've recently started to play on my swashbuckler again and I got him up to level 59 just beginningAquila. I know Buffalo Bill gets a promotion at level 60 so should I use him in battle? My current team is Sarah Steele, El Toro, and Fan Flanders. (I'll also use Subodai every once in a while)
So should I promote him and potentially use him in battle?
I love my Buffalo Bill! He's a decent companion, but I would use Bonnie Anne over him. Otherwise, he's pretty great!

Pirate Overlord
Mar 16, 2012
10631
Considering that we swashbucklers don't have many musket recruits, ( just Bonnie Anne, Tricky Vinnie [ he's pretty good, too ] Bill and Zeena ) then leveling and promoting any musket will help you.

Pirate Overlord
Mar 16, 2012
10631
Well, I forgot Rooster Cogburn, but everyone gets him; and he's not as good as Bill!

Bosun
Aug 10, 2011
304
HuskyPatrickGaff on Apr 7, 2020 wrote:
Hey guys, I've recently started to play on my swashbuckler again and I got him up to level 59 just beginningAquila. I know Buffalo Bill gets a promotion at level 60 so should I use him in battle? My current team is Sarah Steele, El Toro, and Fan Flanders. (I'll also use Subodai every once in a while)
So should I promote him and potentially use him in battle?
Personally I recommend Billy The Kid, for a few reasons.

1. He does gunspinning and gun tricks in his attacks, who couldn't want that? (I know that Rooster Cogburn's idle animation really shows off his gunspinning, and I think I might make a video and post it here to show me reenacting his gun tricks!)

2. If you combine Quick Draw + Burst Fire + Double Tap, you can deal some serious damage.

3. Again, this is just a me thing, but the fact he has a "gunslinger" look to him, so to speak, is enough for me to use him.

Pirate Overlord
Mar 16, 2012
10631
chiliman05 on Apr 13, 2020 wrote:
Personally I recommend Billy The Kid, for a few reasons.

1. He does gunspinning and gun tricks in his attacks, who couldn't want that? (I know that Rooster Cogburn's idle animation really shows off his gunspinning, and I think I might make a video and post it here to show me reenacting his gun tricks!)

2. If you combine Quick Draw + Burst Fire + Double Tap, you can deal some serious damage.

3. Again, this is just a me thing, but the fact he has a "gunslinger" look to him, so to speak, is enough for me to use him.
Buffalo Bill has his own "trick shot" animations
Same with all muskets, those talents of Quick Draw, Burst Fire & Double Tap ( as well as Overwatch ) will deal damage
Because Buffalo Bill uses a rifle, he has the better range than Billy.
Indeed it just comes down to preference, but Husky Patrick Gaff just wanted to know if he was worth promoting, he didn't ask which was better.

Petty Officer
Mar 03, 2020
66
if you're gonna buy a musket comp then duck (holliday) or billy the kid is probably your best bet, both of those comps excel in pve (not so much pvp) with a combination of burst 3 and tap 2 with getting a basic guaranteed crit (the will debuff is situational when privy and witch enemies are rare in this game)

Petty Officer
Nov 23, 2019
92
anecorbie on Apr 12, 2020 wrote:
Well, I forgot Rooster Cogburn, but everyone gets him; and he's not as good as Bill!
Well, that hurts. Rooster was my favorite companion. He's my first mate. Rooster's quite good in his own way.

Bosun
Aug 10, 2011
304
anecorbie on Apr 14, 2020 wrote:
Buffalo Bill has his own "trick shot" animations
Same with all muskets, those talents of Quick Draw, Burst Fire & Double Tap ( as well as Overwatch ) will deal damage
Because Buffalo Bill uses a rifle, he has the better range than Billy.
Indeed it just comes down to preference, but Husky Patrick Gaff just wanted to know if he was worth promoting, he didn't ask which was better.
While Buffalo Bill does have his own trick shot animations, gunspinning is pretty much the classic trick of the Wild West. It's difficult to find a Western movie that doesn't have it to some degree. Even modern movies that aren't westerns often incorporate this Western legend. A bit of a fun fact, Star Lord from the Guardians of the Galaxy is seen doing gunspins in Endgame.

While indeed all of those do damage, a notorious combo for musketeers when possible is Burst fire 3, and Double tap 3. And if possible using a move to increase critical chance for that musketeer. If it works, the result is a single musketeer gets to shoot an inhuman amount of times in one round, severely wounding several people and possibly taking down someone. It becomes even more powerful if you have several musketeers do this.

In my opinion, Buffalo Bill isn't worth promoting. He's a very situational musketeer. While people like Billy the Kid and Duck Holliday are applicable to many situations. My point is, if you want to use him, the only problem is you have to structure your entire team around him to get the best out of him. Calamity Jane Canary is in the same boat as him.

Bosun
Aug 10, 2011
304
anecorbie on Apr 12, 2020 wrote:
Well, I forgot Rooster Cogburn, but everyone gets him; and he's not as good as Bill!
How can you not appreciate all of the gunspins he does? How I ask you?

Bosun
Aug 10, 2011
304
Amazingshot123 on Apr 15, 2020 wrote:
Well, that hurts. Rooster was my favorite companion. He's my first mate. Rooster's quite good in his own way.
He's probably my favorite of the Cool Ranch companions. Because for Cool Ranch musketeers I judge off of two things

50% gun tricks
50% actually a good companion

He excels in both.

Petty Officer
Mar 03, 2020
66
Amazingshot123 on Apr 15, 2020 wrote:
Well, that hurts. Rooster was my favorite companion. He's my first mate. Rooster's quite good in his own way.
ehhh i'd argue cogburn is better than a lot of musket comps, he's like duck/billy/bill but with one less epic and no guaranteed crit that all the 7 get (which honestly cogburn should get, would probably get one if he had a promo) because he can chain on enemies a lot easier than the non burst comps do.

Pirate Overlord
Mar 16, 2012
10631
chiliman05 on Apr 15, 2020 wrote:
While Buffalo Bill does have his own trick shot animations, gunspinning is pretty much the classic trick of the Wild West. It's difficult to find a Western movie that doesn't have it to some degree. Even modern movies that aren't westerns often incorporate this Western legend. A bit of a fun fact, Star Lord from the Guardians of the Galaxy is seen doing gunspins in Endgame.

While indeed all of those do damage, a notorious combo for musketeers when possible is Burst fire 3, and Double tap 3. And if possible using a move to increase critical chance for that musketeer. If it works, the result is a single musketeer gets to shoot an inhuman amount of times in one round, severely wounding several people and possibly taking down someone. It becomes even more powerful if you have several musketeers do this.

In my opinion, Buffalo Bill isn't worth promoting. He's a very situational musketeer. While people like Billy the Kid and Duck Holliday are applicable to many situations. My point is, if you want to use him, the only problem is you have to structure your entire team around him to get the best out of him. Calamity Jane Canary is in the same boat as him.
I seem to recall a 1950s TV western called The Rifleman, and I believe that Lucas McCane ( the character ) did indeed use a one handed spin of his rifle.
But this is just to show you could spin a rifle.

I use Buffalo Bill, and I don't need to "structure" a team around him. My opinion is the exact opposite of yours ( all opinions being valid ) I'd advise the opening poster to promote Bill ( can't hurt. )

Petty Officer
Mar 03, 2020
66
caleb10104 on Apr 15, 2020 wrote:
ehhh i'd argue cogburn is better than a lot of musket comps, he's like duck/billy/bill but with one less epic and no guaranteed crit that all the 7 get (which honestly cogburn should get, would probably get one if he had a promo) because he can chain on enemies a lot easier than the non burst comps do.
forgot to otherwise mention but the chicken ranger muskets get from that one side where you initially fight santa rana is basically rooster cogburn with a crit

Petty Officer
Nov 23, 2019
92
anecorbie on Apr 16, 2020 wrote:
I seem to recall a 1950s TV western called The Rifleman, and I believe that Lucas McCane ( the character ) did indeed use a one handed spin of his rifle.
But this is just to show you could spin a rifle.

I use Buffalo Bill, and I don't need to "structure" a team around him. My opinion is the exact opposite of yours ( all opinions being valid ) I'd advise the opening poster to promote Bill ( can't hurt. )
Buffalo Bill seems to be tough on his own, allowing him for long and hard shots. Just gotta watch accuracy.

Bosun
Aug 10, 2011
304
anecorbie on Apr 16, 2020 wrote:
I seem to recall a 1950s TV western called The Rifleman, and I believe that Lucas McCane ( the character ) did indeed use a one handed spin of his rifle.
But this is just to show you could spin a rifle.

I use Buffalo Bill, and I don't need to "structure" a team around him. My opinion is the exact opposite of yours ( all opinions being valid ) I'd advise the opening poster to promote Bill ( can't hurt. )
I know what you are talking about for the rifle spin. Again, that's gunspinning. And buffalo bill physically can't do gun tricks. Only lever action rifles, like the one Jane Canary has, can do gunspins. In the rifleman, Lucas uses a lever-action rifle. Buffalo Bill (from what I can tell) seems to use a breech-loader rifle. I never disputed that certain rifles can't do gunspinning. What I did say is that gunspinning is the classic trick of the Wild West.

Also, I'm saying that a structured team gets the best value out of Buffalo Bill. Whereas people like Billy the Kid can hold their own in more or less every situation. They can basically be an anti musketeer, so to speak. Or just do a burst fire/ double tap combo on enemies to deal significant damage.

Buffalo Bill is a stay back musketeer. You'll use overwatch and hope they get a double tap, or structure him to be fired at several times, so as to get return fires and double taps in. But in both of those scenarios, you would benefit form ateam structured for that playstyle. For example, the overwatch one is best supported by the rest of the team being melee. The return fire one is structured around him being the main target of the musketeers, so your team has to be out of the way of those musketeers for him to work best.

Again, Buffalo Bill is good, but in my opinion not worth the promotion. I rarely see him used, but of the magnificent sevens, I more commonly see people with Billy the Kid, and Duck Holliday. Those two arguably have the most use of the Magnificent Seven.

Pirate Overlord
Mar 16, 2012
10631
Any companion, whether good or not ( opinion ) ought to be promoted; you can always refuse to use them, if you don't like them.