Far Far West Quad Cylinder Post-Patch Build — Why It's Better Than Shotgun Now

I never thought I'd be saying this, but I actually like the Quad Cylinder more than the Shotgun now. The shotgun kind of fell off — it got a double whammy over the past two patches. First the Overblast nerf (understandable), then an indirect nerf because enemies got buffed. Those cowboys with the hats and pistols? They do 20 damage now with fast, hard-to-dodge bullets. Shotgun users take a survivability hit, and health sustain has become way more important.

So here's my updated Quad Cylinder build — a modification of my previous Homing Burst setup, adapted for the new meta where health sustain is king and spells with longer cooldowns need Battle Mage to feel comfortable.

Why Quad Cylinder Over Shotgun Now

Before Patch	After Patch
Cowboys (Slingers) had arcing shots, easy to sidestep	Cowboys shoot straight, 20 damage, fast bullets
Shotgun could face-tank with Overblast burst	Overblast nerfed, takes more damage now
Health sustain was optional	Health sustain is mandatory
No-hit runs were theoretically possible	Near-impossible to avoid all damage now

The Quad Cylinder's fire-and-reload Homing Burst playstyle gives you ammo efficiency and lets you hang back and heal between shots. That's exactly what the current meta demands.

Character Jokers — The New Priority

Joker	Slots	Why
Extra Jump	4	Most important joker in the game — always have it
Life Pact	4 (+4 for downside mitigation)	HP on kill, but -30% max HP — need Second Wind or Joker Dealer
Joker Dealer	(mitigates Life Pact)	Safety net for the 30% HP reduction
Battle Mage	4	Required for longer-cooldown spells (Rain, Wisp)

The key trade-off: I dropped Disgrace (movement speed) to fit Battle Mage. That means no more speed on the gun, but I need Battle Mage to run Rain + Wisp comfortably.

Life Pact is realistically an 8-slot joker because of its massive downside. You almost always want Joker Dealer or Second Wind alongside it.

The Quad Cylinder Build

Core Jokers

Joker	Slots	Why
Homing Burst	—	First + last shot fires 5 homing bullets. Fire-reload = 6 bullets per shot
Destroyer	—	Constant 50% damage — since you're mostly shooting first shot and reloading
Explosive (Acid + Pyro)	2 each	5% chance per bullet × 6 bullets = ~60% chance per shot for elemental explosion

Flex Slot (2 slots remaining)

Good options:

Rampage — movement speed on kill (my pick — compensates for dropping Disgrace)
Bellshot — solid damage option
Cactus Day — explosion synergy

Two Fire Modes

Think of the Quad Cylinder as having two fire modes:

Mode	When	Playstyle
Mag dump	Close range, need burst DPS	Hold trigger, full auto
Homing burst	Need to heal, ammo efficiency, ranged picks	Fire one shot → reload → repeat

In Homing Burst mode, each shot fires 6 bullets (1 main + 5 homing), the elementals proc on all of them, Life Pact heals you from ricochet kills, and you barely spend ammo. It's the perfect "hang back and sustain" mode.

Secondary — Dual Revolvers

The Dual Revolvers do the most single-target damage of all secondaries, and life steal works better on them because it's based on damage done.

Joker	Why
Swamp Trick	Electric puddles on reload — makes Wisp do electric AoE
Ammo Supply	Almost always have this on secondary
Cactus Day	Extra explosion synergy
Ricochet	More hits = more Life Pact healing
Gold Tooth	Wandering trader income

The electric element on the revolvers is intentional — shooting the Wisp spell with electric makes it do really good AoE horde clears.

Spells — Big Cooldowns With Battle Mage

Spell	Why
Rain	Best AoE clear spell in the game — slows enemies to a crawl
Wisp	High uptime AoE damage — shoot it with electric for chain clears
Swap	Fun mobility/escape spell — fixed so snakes don't auto-grab you anymore

These are longer-cooldown spells that need Battle Mage to cycle. Without Battle Mage, Rain and Wisp feel too slow to recharge. With it, every kill shaves time off and you can keep them rotating.

Dealing With the New Enemies

The new cowboys (Slingers) with their straight-shot rework:

They lead their shots, so you can juke them by changing direction
Or dodge at the right time
But you WILL take hits — that's why Life Pact is mandatory

The new elite Prowlers with no-cooldown teleport:

"Pretty damn cheap" — very tanky, should drop a Joker for how difficult they are
Ricochets can't target snakes, annoyingly

Kamikazes are terrifying now — "the way they leap like raptors." Dwarf Joker actually helps here because you're smaller and harder to hit.

Why This Works Better Than Shotgun Right Now

The Quad Cylinder's Homing Burst gives you something the Shotgun can't: safe, ranged, ammo-efficient damage while healing. In the current meta where you can't avoid damage:

Fire one shot from safety → 5 homing bullets seek out enemies
Those kills proc Life Pact → you heal
Elemental explosions trigger on the homing bullets → extra AoE
Minimal ammo spent → gun is super ammo efficient in burst mode
When you need burst → mag dump like a normal full-auto weapon

The Shotgun forces you into close range where the new Slingers punish you. The Quad lets you play at any range.

Quick Reference

Component	Pick
Weapon	Quad Cylinder
Weapon Jokers	Homing Burst, Destroyer, Explosive Acid, Explosive Pyro, Rampage
Character	Extra Jump, Life Pact, Joker Dealer, Battle Mage
Secondary	Dual Revolvers (Swamp Trick, Ammo Supply, Ricochet, Cactus Day)
Spells	Rain, Wisp, Swap
Playstyle	Fire-reload for sustain, mag dump for burst, big spells with Battle Mage cycling

This is a modification of my previous Homing Burst build, adapted for the post-patch meta where health sustain is king. The previous version with Strikes + Geyser is still totally fine — this is just the longer-cooldown version with bigger spells. For the full nightmare solo run, check the original video.