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Personally I prefer ranged weapons over melee. Because each new ranged weapon you get will be totally different (range/accuracy/reload time/rate of fire/...) while melee weapons pretty much stay the same besides different looks and more damage...
Plus guns are a lot more versatile which increases the fun factor.

When I first asked whether guns were any good in the game a lot of people said they were crappy or just too weak (against non-humans). After playing with both melee and ranged I have to disagree with guns being underpowered.

The thing is that not every race is as good with ranged weapons as others, while melee works well on pretty much every character.

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If you wanna create the best ranged character pick:

- Toreador -
Reason? Simple, they got the best Clan Disciplines for a ranged char.

Auspex >
Besides it being a very useful discipline for everyone because you see where your enemies are, even through walls, it’s extra good for ranged chars because a level 5 Auspex adds 3 points to perception. This increases your gun stats.

Celerity >
Best discipline ever! (Read as the “Comic Book Guy” from the Simpsons.)
It’s like the bullet-time from max payne. Without it the game would probably suck.

Once again, it’s a great feat overall because it’s versatile and can be used with any way of playing. But it’s especially awesome for ranged because you can:
a) dodge all bullets. (already easily possible at level 3 Celerity)
b) Your rate of fire is increased insanely, as well as your reload time.
c) You hit more because you enemies don’t move as fast or you can aim better.

All of these advantages aren’t really the case with melee... (Mines the rate of fire/attack of course)

Presence >
Not important.
Although very good at max level I wouldn’t recommend putting points in it.

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So where to spend your points?

First level up Firearms and Perception as soon as possible.
Both increase damage and your aim. At low levels guns are quite useless.

Perception is a bit more expensive but it also levels up investigation. Not important but useful/handy nonetheless.

The first discipline you will level up is Celerity of course.
But don’t upgrade it until you have like 3 or 4 points in Firearms and Perception. Spend your XP nowhere else before that.

After that you should upgrade Celerity to 3. Then you can upgrade Firearms/perception to 4/4 or 5/4.

From now on you don’t really have to worry about baddies anymore. You can backwards outrun your enemies while shooting at them with Celerity active and your damage output is massive too.
You can choose to max Celerity and the last point in Perception (which is quite expensive) or level up Auspex first to level 4 or 5. (level 3 won’t give you an extra Perception point compared with level 2)

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Guns, guns and bullets.

The only downside to a ranged character are the money costs.
You will need to buy new bullets which drain your wallet all the time but it’s not a big problem or something (What else would you need the money for anyway).
When you start a new game, spend your first “knowledges” skills in Finance. This will automaticly decrease all costs.

Anyway, you can find the guns listed here:

http://www.gamebanshee.com/vampirebloodlines/equipment/rangedweapons.php

The beginning can be a bit hard with just a crappy Thirtyeight. But in the downtown area you will get the Brokk 17c, even though the description on that site says it’s not that good, try that thing with Celerity on and some decent Firearms/Perception skills. It’s a very reliable gun with a good magazine (18) and firerate.
Same with the Braddock 9mm. It *totally* sucks without Celerity because you can’t aim at all. But with Celerity active it’s suddenly a very good close range weapon.

Anywho, give it a try, I’m sure you’ll like it.
Hf.

Later on, get the McLusky instead of Brokk(I bought mine from Fat Larry)

It does much more dmg, just as fast firerate and better aim.

Nice thorough guide btw

Does the Firethrower count as ranged weapon?
It doesn't have any stat info, if i recall correctly.
No requirement, no lethality, no damage info.
I'd like to try it on my second play-through,after reading how lethal it is.
(Finished the first with "boring" close combat weapons )
So maybe you firearm experts can tell me if it is a melee weapon or
a ranged one. Would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: This is a great guide! Should be included in the FAQ, if there ever is going to be one for this forum.

I see your point!! That said I must admit that I prefer melee action.. Its just so tasty watching a vampire beat a foe into the dust with a baseball bat (or severed hand - what’s ever feels right in the moment) Right now I play as a melee heavy malkavian but when that’s all said and done I count of trying on a Gangrel vamp with nasty brawling stills and claws.. GRRRRR!!

Besides as my characters couldn’t hit anything even if his life depended ion it (which it sometimes does) i prefer to use a discipline like vision of death - with that little sweetheart even I can't miss!!

Dunno what lethality it has etc.. but it does require ammo (fuel)
and u'll notice that the fuel will be used up quite quickly so u should save the flamer for harder enemies(like bosses mentioned above) and use other guns on weaker foes.

Does the combat feat Ranged help improving the Flamer dmg etc?
I know it isnt dependant on melee, thats one thing for sure.

Thanks guys.

I’m not saying melee is totally boring or something.
But you have to admit it’s kinda standard and repeating after a while. I mean, if you see an enemy; with melee it doesn’t really matter where you stand and you go directly at him like a savage beast. While when you’re ranged you try to keep a distance, find a good shooting spot, have to aim manually (hard to miss with melee) and such... all in all it’s a bit more tactical. But hey, whatever floats your boat.
A shotgun is kinda like melee by the way.

Well, what drove me away from firearms was the tutorial.
You were supposed to shoot some bottles.
I aimed at those bottles, shot, missed. What gives? I exspect a gun to
shoot where i aim After that i was done with firearms.
Besides that, i enjoy melee in this game, even though it is pretty basic.
Hardly any point in trying to parry, since you heal fast anyway.
And there aren't many weapons to chose from, unfortunately.
But the sight of my char making nasty cuts with the knife made well up for those
drawbacks

But as you said, to each his own.

[QUOTE=Intergalactic]
I aimed at those bottles, shot, missed. What gives? [/QUOTE]

Haha so true, I also re(quick-)loaded 2 times because they kept missing even though I was standing right in front of them.
Worst gun and no skills = bad combination. Later on you can perfectly hit targets far away though.

Oh by the way:

Crouch when you shoot. This makes you a smaller target (vs bullets) and lets you move without screwing up your aim like running would.

plyd with Brujah, so i used to vary between melee and ranged so it was very much fun and with Celerity it just ownz

There are alot of books and event early on that can upgrade firearms as well which makes ranged weapons a nice secondary or primary wpn choice.

Another small tip:


When you create your character, don't put any point into firearms, you can buy two firearms manuals from Trip at the pawnshop.

[QUOTE=Ar.Pi]plyd with Brujah, so i used to vary between melee and ranged so it was very much fun and with Celerity it just ownz [/QUOTE]

True, because Brujah also has Celerity it's possible to combine melee and ranged. But unfortunately not all races can do that, which is probably why a lot of people think guns suck.
Specialization always owns 'jack of all trades'.