The Main Strengths of Gunslingers in PF2e?

[dysike]

I've been looking over different character options for a PF2e game I'll be taking part in, and since we're running an Adventure Path where Gunslingers and Inventors will be options I wanted to have a look at the Gunslinger class. But so far I'm not too clear on what I want to be focusing on when building one. My first assumption was damage output, but with the reload requirement, Shooting and Reloading seems like worse damage than just shooting twice as an archery fighter, so is their damage better than I'm assuming or are there other advantages to the Gunslinger class I should be leaning into?

[stack]

Legendary proficiency means you get more crits, guns like crits.

Various action economy boosters mean you can do other things while reloading, making it the best class to handle reload weapons.

[NightbringerGGZ]

I've been looking over different character options for a PF2e game I'll be taking part in, and since we're running an Adventure Path where Gunslingers and Inventors will be options I wanted to have a look at the Gunslinger class. But so far I'm not too clear on what I want to be focusing on when building one. My first assumption was damage output, but with the reload requirement, Shooting and Reloading seems like worse damage than just shooting twice as an archery fighter, so is their damage better than I'm assuming or are there other advantages to the Gunslinger class I should be leaning into?

Gunslingers have higher than average proficiency bonuses w/ firearms and crossbows, hitting legendary at level 13. This makes them a crit-fishing build. You will NOT out damage a specialized bow-user in most scenarios as your reload mechanic will limit the amount of attacks you're able to launch but you will be dealing very large critical hits with decent frequency and will be able to hit targets at a higher level than yourself more often than your allies. If you need to pump out two attacks in a round you can do so via risky reload at the cost of misfiring on a failed attack.

The Gunslinger feats only have a few utility-focused options, such as Warning Shot or Cover Fire. There's relatively few feats that any particular Gunslinger build actually requires, so you're pretty free to build one how you like. If you aren't using Free Archetype rules then picking an archetype you like is pretty good option.

[AsuraKyoko]

If you take the Sniper way, it really lends itself to crit fishing. Combine it with Investigator Dedication to get the ability to spend an action to pre-roll an attack roll, you can get crits very, very reliably, especially if you specialize in stealth and gain access to Ghost Shot. Investigator Dedication is legitimately incredible with Gunslinger, since you often have an action to spare.