Raw Data Hero Spotlight: Bishop, the Gun Cleric

Hello, and welcome to the first Raw Data hero spotlight! In this series, we’ll give you insight into how SyndiK8’s top operatives utilize nanotechnology to gain enhanced abilities, both through their weapons and with their minds.

Raw Data’s Early Access build comes with two SyndiK8 heroes: Bishop and Saija. Today, we’re going over the loadout for Bishop, the Gun Cleric.

Bishop is one of two starting heroes you can choose from (more heroes to come), and he’s a lot more than a basic run-and-gun guy–he’s a master practitioner of Gun Fu who channels energy through his akimbo pistols, turning any shootout into a ballet of bullets at superhuman speeds.

(Pistol) Whip It

Bishop’s starting loadout includes his pistol of choice: the powerful Crusader 10mm. It fires as fast as you can pull the trigger, and its slugs pack a serious punch. You’ll always find the Crusader on your dominant hip, with a 15-bullet magazine on the other at the ready for rapid reloads.

As the game progresses, you’ll have the option to unlock Dual Pistols, and why wouldn’t you? A true Gun Fu master always goes akimbo.

Another ability Bishop gains in the game is the Proximity Reload ability, which skips the whole “insert the clip” step and just automatically reloads the pistol when you touch it to your hip or lower back. Precious seconds saved to get you back in the fray!

Yes, you can pistol-whip enemies with it, or throw the gun at them. The gun excels in close and medium range combat, so go ahead and let those Eden Corp synthetics get nice and close…

Well, maybe not that close. So: load, aim, shoot–that’s it, right? Not so fast.

Charrrrggggeeee!

One of Bishop’s weapon-based abilities is Charged Shot, which fires a powerful slug that penetrates nearly any surface and deals deadly piercing damage to multiple assailants. This is the most efficient, effective way to quickly blow a hole in something you don’t want coming too close.

A well-aimed Charged Shot can one-shot Hornet Drones and, with careful aim, take out most basic synthetic models. Just hold the Trigger down for a brief period to fully charge your gun before shooting. And, as you can see, a double Charged Shot with dual pistols is super effective.

Most of Raw Data’s abilities have unlockable upgrades, and Charged Shot is no exception. Although not available in the initial Early Access release build, soon Bishop will be able to unleash a Fusion Charged Shot that utilizes dual Charged Shots to release an unblockable, unstoppable blast of energy.

One with the Gun

However, Bishop wouldn’t be an elite SyndiK8 operative if all he did was just pepper-spray enemies with bullets. That’s where the nano-enhanced special abilities come into play. These punchy powers can turn the tide in a fight, so keep an eye on their cooldowns on your in-game forearm display; you’ll want them ready should you get overwhelmed.

First of these is another sci-fi classic: let’s do the Timewarp again! Our take on bullettime slows down time for a few crucial seconds, so you can use the rare gift of more time to do all sorts of actions: set up a Charged Shot, build an extra turret, or–if the situation is truly dire–GTFO via Teleport (available for all heroes).

Eden Corp doesn’t believe in subtlety, so they prefer to send out their droves of synthetics in sizable hordes. While strength in numbers is usually effective, it meets its downfall when Bishop activates Bulletstorm.

An automatic fiery barrage of self-replicating nano rounds, Bulletstorm not only delivers a massive amount of damage to anything unfortunate enough to be in its way, but it does so without depleting your ammo. So once the insanity’s over, you can continue to put bullets in whatever’s still left standing. How’s that for efficiency?

Mix & Match

Bishop is not just a great starter character for someone new to Raw Data (or new to VR gaming in general), but a solid choice in any SyndiK8 team. It never hurts to have some firepower, and when Bishop pairs up his abilities, the results–heaps of scrap where synthetics once stood–speak for themselves.

When you’ve gotten the hang of Bishop’s abilities, try these combos for deadly results:

• Timewarp + Teleport: get into the perfect position to line up that fatal headshot
• Timewarp + Bulletstorm: slow down time and mow down enemies like they’re standing still
• Timewarp + Charged Shot: excellent for one-shotting crawlers or exploders
• Charged Shot + Teleport: charge up your shot, then teleport to an enemy to unleash it at close range (and damage any enemies behind it)

Have fun with your first takes on Gun Fu, and stay tuned for our next spotlight on Saija, the Cyber Ninja who favors an in-your-face attack strategy.

P.S. And of course you can do gun tricks. Consider this our unofficial challenge to see what you can come up with!