The Blaster Pistol is the best weapon for Gunslinger in Star Wars Zero Company because the class gets more value from making several attacks than from making one stronger shot. Onslaught increases the damage of successive primary blaster attacks during the same turn, while Keen Eye gives every ranged attack another chance to crit. The Pistol's unlimited 1 AP firing cost lets you lean into both mechanics harder than any heavier weapon.

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Best Gunslinger Weapon
Why Pistol Wins
When Rifle Is Better
Quick Draw and Onslaught
Ion Weapons

Blaster Pistol Is the Best Gunslinger Weapon

The Pistol only deals 6 base damage compared to the Blaster Rifle's 10, so it doesn't look particularly impressive if you're comparing one shot against one shot. Gunslinger is one of the classes where I think that comparison is actively misleading.

A Pistol costs 1 AP every time you fire it. The Rifle also costs 1 AP for its first attack each turn, but every additional Rifle attack costs 2 AP. Gunslinger meanwhile has Onslaught, which increases primary Blaster Damage with every successive attack during the turn.

That means the cheaper attack isn't simply letting you shoot more often. Every extra shot also pushes the next Onslaught bonus higher.

Base Weapon Comparison:
Blaster Pistol — 6 Damage, +4 Critical Damage, 11% Critical Chance, Short Range, 1 AP per shot
Blaster Rifle — 10 Damage, +6 Critical Damage, 11% Critical Chance, Medium Range, 1 AP first shot / 2 AP afterward

For most classes, I'd happily take the Rifle's extra base damage. Gunslinger is specifically built to make the Pistol's weaker individual attacks add up.

The 3 AP Breakpoint Is Why Pistol Wins

The easiest way to see the difference is to look at a normal 3 AP turn and apply Onslaught to each primary attack.

Three Pistol attacks cost all 3 AP. With 6 base damage and Onslaught adding +1, then +2, then +3 damage as the attack chain continues, those shots come out to 7 + 8 + 9 damage, or 24 total before crits and any other bonuses.

The Rifle can only make two attacks with that same 3 AP budget because the first costs 1 AP and the second costs 2. Those attacks become 11 + 12 damage after Onslaught, or 23 total.

That's only a one-damage difference on the completely unmodified weapons, but I think the important part is what happens after that baseline.

The Pistol made three attacks instead of two.

That means three chances to benefit from Gunslinger's increased Critical Chance, three opportunities to finish separate weakened targets, and three individual attacks that can potentially benefit from effects increasing ranged or per-shot damage. The more bonuses you add to each attack, the more important attack count becomes.

It also gives you much better control over overkill. If an enemy only needs a small amount of damage to die, I don't want to spend one of my heavier attacks deleting health that wasn't there. A 1 AP Pistol shot lets Gunslinger finish that target and keep the rest of the turn available for somebody else.

That's the real reason I prefer it. The Pistol doesn't just maximize theoretical damage; it makes Gunslinger's turn easier to divide.

Blaster Rifle Is Better If You Only Get One Shot

The Rifle isn't simply the worse Gunslinger weapon, though. There's a very clear situation where I'd rather have it: turns where I'm only going to make one primary attack anyway.

Your first attack with either weapon costs 1 AP. With the first Onslaught bonus included, that's 7 damage from the Pistol compared to 11 from the Rifle.

If I had to spend the other AP moving into position, using an ability, or doing anything that leaves me with only one attack, the Rifle wins that exchange easily.

Range makes this even more relevant. The Pistol is a short-range weapon, while the Rifle operates at medium range. If using the Pistol forces you to repeatedly spend AP moving closer before you can start shooting effectively, some of its theoretical AP efficiency disappears before the first shot is ever fired.

That's why my actual rule is pretty simple: use Pistol when you can reliably get multiple primary attacks into your turn. Use Rifle if your Gunslinger is frequently moving, playing further back, or only firing once before spending AP somewhere else.

I still rank Pistol first because repeated attacks are exactly what Gunslinger's kit wants, but the Rifle is a much better alternative than simply calling it the second-best weapon makes it sound.

Quick Draw Doesn't Replace Your Primary Pistol

One mechanic that can make weapon choice confusing is Quick Draw. The ability fires a sidearm Pistol regardless of what you're carrying as your primary weapon, so equipping a Blaster Rifle doesn't mean you're giving up Quick Draw.

More importantly, that sidearm is separate from the primary blaster affected by Onslaught. I wouldn't choose the Rifle because you think Quick Draw already gives you enough Pistol attacks, and I wouldn't choose the Pistol because you expect Quick Draw itself to build the primary weapon's Onslaught damage.

They're doing different jobs.

Quick Draw is excellent for picking at a weakened target, especially once you've progressed it far enough that a kill can return an Action Point. If that happens, the extra AP is particularly valuable on a Pistol build because another Action Point directly translates into another primary shot.

That's where Gunslinger can start producing some nasty turns. A weakened enemy isn't just a target to kill; it can become a way to extend the amount of AP available for the rest of the attack chain.

Pistol Also Fits Gunslinger's Crit Kit Better

Keen Eye increases Critical Chance on every ranged attack, which naturally rewards making more attacks. Both the Pistol and Rifle start with the same 11% weapon Critical Chance, so the Pistol isn't winning because its individual shots are more likely to crit. It's winning because you're rolling that chance more often.

There is an interesting exception when you're dealing with a guaranteed crit. The Rifle has +6 Critical Damage compared to the Pistol's +4, so if you know one specific attack is guaranteed to crit, the Rifle gets more value from that individual hit.

That's worth remembering with effects such as Vicious or a Scoundrel setting up a guaranteed critical. A guaranteed crit doesn't automatically mean you need to change weapons, but it does narrow the advantage of prioritizing attack volume.

Over an entire turn, though, I still prefer giving Keen Eye more chances to matter rather than concentrating everything into fewer attacks.

If you're deciding whether Gunslinger is worth building around in the first place, I rank it against every standard specialization in my Star Wars Zero Company best specializations tier list.

Per-Attack Buffs Push Pistol Further Ahead

Anything that adds damage to multiple attacks is naturally more interesting on Gunslinger because you're trying to attack as many times as possible.

Combat Stim from a Medic increases Ranged Damage, which means a Gunslinger firing repeatedly gets to apply that offensive buff across the volley rather than putting everything into one attack. The same logic applies whenever your mods or build add value to individual shots.

This is why I think looking only at weapon-sheet damage underrates the Pistol. A six-damage weapon firing three times isn't functioning like one six-damage attack. It's functioning as three separate delivery systems for the rest of your build.

That distinction also becomes more important as you improve the character. The stronger the effects surrounding each individual shot become, the less I care that the Rifle started with four more base damage.

Swap to Ion Against Droid Enemies

Against Separatist droids, use an Ion version of your preferred Blaster when you have access to one. Ion weapons are specifically intended as the anti-droid option, so enemy type can matter more than rigidly sticking to one weapon variant.

I wouldn't change the underlying Gunslinger logic, though. If the Ion Pistol still lets you maintain the repeated 1 AP attack pattern, that's the version I'd favor for a normal aggressive Gunslinger. An Ion Rifle remains the better alternative when range is forcing you into fewer attacks.

Pistol for Full Attack Turns, Rifle for One-Shot Turns

If I'm building Gunslinger around what the specialization actually does best, I'm taking the Blaster Pistol. Its 1 AP attacks let Onslaught climb faster, create more opportunities for Keen Eye to produce crits, waste less damage finishing weakened enemies, and give buffs more individual attacks to improve.

The Rifle has one major advantage that shouldn't be ignored: it front-loads more damage into the first AP you spend and gives you medium range. If your Gunslinger rarely gets to stand there and unload several shots, Rifle can genuinely be the better weapon for that playstyle.

So I wouldn't frame this as Pistol good, Rifle bad. I'd frame it around how many attacks you're actually making. Three-attack turns favor the Pistol. One-attack turns favor the Rifle. Gunslinger's kit is designed to make the first situation happen as often as possible, which is why Pistol gets my top spot.

If the specialization itself stops fitting your squad, you can swap classes rather than rebuilding the whole character from scratch; the exact steps are in my Star Wars Zero Company how to change class guide.