Mega gaming portal gPotato has recently brought another massive PvP
game to our shores. Aika
Online
features 1000 vs. 100 battles, 100's of
quests and 6 unique classes. Ten Ton Hammer sat down with Christina
Kelly, Community Manager from Gala-Net, Inc., to discuss those classes
in a six part interview series.
After a bit of an extended break, we resume this series
with a look at the third class, the Dual Gunner. This is the final
"female only" class in our series and like her predecessors, she is no
powderpuff.





Ten Ton Hammer: Can you give us a
general run down of the Dual Gunner class?
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The Dual Gunner is a mid- to close-range combat class whose main
strengths include speed and firepower.  She wields two
enchanted pistols which unleash round after deadly round to efficiently
eliminate enemies.  Several of her attacks also slow, poison,
and/or stun her targets, making them easy prey for further
assault.  On the other side of the coin, the Dual Gunner can
lean a few different skills which increase her dodge rate and
resistance to debuffs.   She can also use the Stealth
ability to cloak herself when fighting monsters or other players, which
makes her an excellent ambush class along with the Rifleman. 
The Dual Gunner strikes fast and hard, all while wearing great leather
suits for armor and maintaining an elegant air.


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alt="Aika Dual Gunner"
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style="font-style: italic;"> style="font-style: italic;">While she may seem cute and
demure, the  Dual Gunner packs a mean punch.
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Ten Ton Hammer: This
makes the third "female only" class in the game that we have looked at,
we may have a soft spot for girls here at Ten Ton Hammer,  but
this one is a bit more aggressive than the Cleric that we spotlighted
last week. Was it important to spread out the roles that could be
filled in terms of gender?




I have indeed noticed Ten Ton Hammer’s interest in our female
classes.  Well, your observation is correct—the Dual Gunner is
a more aggressive class than the Cleric, since the former focuses on
fast, heavy damage-dealing and the latter focuses on healing
magic.  Add in the Paladin’s defensive stamina and melee
attacks, and the end result is that there’s a lot of variety for people
looking to play a female class without being pigeonholed into one
role.   Gala-Net didn’t develop the game, so my
comments aren’t to be taken as gospel, but I’d say that’s the reason
the gender distribution in Aika
is the way it is.  Players
shouldn’t feel as though one gender has less of a range of roles in the
class system than the other, and
Aika
addresses this concern admirably.



Ten Ton Hammer: What
separates the Dual Gunner from the other DPS classes?



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alt="Aika Dual Gunner"
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style="font-style: italic;"> style="font-style: italic;">While not a crowd control class
per se, the Dual Gunner can disable enemies at higher
levels. 
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Generally speaking, the Dual Gunner’s speed, evasiveness, and tendency
towards sustained damage to one target set her apart from the other
ranged DPS classes.  Her attacks are very fast, and she has
other skills which increase her speed and dodge rate or prevent her
from taking speed and dodge debuffs.  The Dual Gunner is
difficult to hit in general, and even more difficult to hit first
unless you catch her off guard.  She deals a considerable
amount of damage but isn’t a “one-hit wonder” like the Rifleman, so her
stun and poison attacks are useful for slowing or weakening enemies
while she prepares the final blow.  From a different
perspective, the Dual Gunner doesn’t have as many AoE attacks as the
Warlock, so she tends to focus on taking down one large enemy instead
of many small ones.



Ten Ton Hammer: Does the
Dual Gunner possess any crowd control or other forms of utility?




The Dual Gunner isn’t a crowd control class to start out with, but at
higher levels she can learn or upgrade attacks which disable enemies
for a significant period of time.  Along the same lines, she’s
not really a utility class, either—her buffs are self-aimed, and while
her debuff attacks can make it easier for other classes to step in
under the cover of heavy gunfire, they don’t generally contribute as
effectively to the workings of a whole party as, say, the Warlock’s
offensive spells.  It’s possible to create a Dual Gunner build
with a crowd control focus because of the versatility of the skill
customization system—players just need to spend their skill points
carefully.



Ten Ton Hammer: Is the
Dual Gunner equally comfortable in group and solo play?




The Dual Gunner is fine for solo play, since she can certainly deal
enough damage on her own, and she can run in quickly before monsters
have a chance to react.   However, since she can’t
heal herself and using her fast skills can be MP-intensive, she
definitely benefits from grouping with others who can buff her or let
her hang back a little before jumping in with another deadly volley.



Ten Ton Hammer: What sort
of player will enjoy being a Dual Gunner?




Players who love landing that first big hit on a boss monster or an
unwary enemy Warrior and taking risks in battle will gravitate towards
the Dual Gunner.  She lives life on the edge and tries to get
in as much firepower in as little time as possible, which means short
casting and cooldown times.  The Dual Gunner relies on agility
rather than physical defense to last, so any player who wants to
succeed with this class has to have a cool head and sharp
reflexes.  Finally, and this is true for all classes in style="font-style: italic;">Aika,
Dual Gunner players shouldn’t be afraid to specialize in certain
skills.  Having a limited but powerful skill set that makes
sense is much more effective than diluting your skill points across
many weaker attacks.  Given the speed that’s involved with
playing the Dual Gunner, the ability to hit powerfully once or twice is
very significant, making it important to have a focused build.



Ten Ton Hammer: This
seems like a fairly capable PvP class, will opponents run screaming or
is there a weakness to this pistol packing powerhouse?



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alt="Aika Dual Gunner"
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style="font-style: italic;"> style="font-style: italic;">Defying gravity is another Dual
Gunner specialty, this class does it with flair. 
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The Dual Gunner is a great PvP class, particularly in 1v1
combat.  She benefits greatly from surprise attack situations
where an enemy doesn’t realize what’s going on until after she’s
already cut his HP bar in half.  Since her strength lies in
her mobility, she’s particularly vulnerable to dodge/speed debuffs as
well as stuns.  The Dual Gunner’s low physical defense rating
means that she falls easily if she’s the focus of an attack and it
lands successfully.   Players who PvP with Dual
Gunners have to be aware of their surroundings to avoid being ambushed
by a Rifleman or disabled by a Warlock.









Ten Ton Hammer: Any other
thoughts you would like to share about the Dual Gunner?




The Dual Gunner is my favorite class, not least because some tenacity
and patience are required to develop her strengths.  It takes
practice to learn how to play the Dual Gunner most effectively, but it
certainly pays off—she leaves her foes wondering which pistol the last
bullet came from as they respawn.




Once again we would like to thank Christina for shedding light on the
varied and interesting classes of Aika. Stay tuned next week as we
explore the Rifleman class.

To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Aika Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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