Tao is the newest hero added to Gunfire Reborn with the summer 2021 update. She's notable for a number of reasons: she's the game's first female hero, as well as being a bit of a surprise if you thought there weren't going to be any more heroes added now that all the characters from the initial promo art were spoken for.
But the important thing is that Tao is here, she's an adorable bunny, and we're already enjoying her company immensely. If you're looking for tips on how to maximise your build for Tao, read on below:
Gunfire Reborn Tao: Blade Rain build
This build, suggested by Reddit user u/UGotFrohned, focuses on Tao's primary skill: Swords Out.
Swords Out is an extremely powerful skill that allows Tao to send a barrage of flying swords to hone in on her enemies.
This build is heavily focused around Tao's Blade Rain Ascension tree: there's really no bad perks on this tree for this build, and it's recommended that you increase any of them whenever possible. However, since this is a great offensive build, you can probably go easier on Sword Defense in favour of the other five Ascensions in this tree, all of which serve to beef up your sword attack.
You also want to put a lot into the Mainstay Weapon Ascension tree, with Empathy with Sword and Warlike Blade being the primary perks, respectively allowing you to summon additional swords and increase rate-of-fire. Swordsman and Sword Enthusiast are secondary choices, both offering boosts to your weapon and skill damage.
Raging Bloom is going to be your least-used Ascension tree here, but there's no need to neglect it entirely. Any perk that increases skill damage in particular is worth picking up given the chance, with Blade of Bloom making for a particularly strong combination of both skills.
Submachine Guns, Injectors, and other weapons with exceptional rates-of-fire are the recommended categories for this build.
Gunfire Reborn Tao: Petal Bloom build
We're once again indebted to Reddit user u/UGotFrohned for sharing their alternate Tao build. This one is built around her secondary skill, Fatal Bloom.
While Fatal Bloom isn't as powerful as Swords Out, since the petals' explosive range is fairly short. However, hit enemies are marked, allowing you to stack damage against them if Tao hits them multiple times in quick succession.
The two main Ascensions for this build are Glowing Bloom (to increase the skill's base damage) and Mark Chaser (which increases damage dealt whenever a new enemy is marked), both from the Raging Bloom skill tree.
Even when focusing a build around Fatal Bloom, it's best not to neglect Tao's sword proficiency as a skill. Build on the Swordsman and Warlike Blade Ascensions from the Mainstay Weapon tree so that Tao can fall back on high damage and rate-of-fire when she does utilise this skill.
However, don't spend too much time working through the Blade Rain Ascension tree if you plan to focus your build around Fatal Bloom.
Shotguns are the recommended weapon category for this build, since they seem to have a good chance to trigger Tao's explosive blooms in just one or two shots.
Gunfire Reborn Tao: Full Swords Out build
This build, designed by YouTuber Hibernape, is — as the name suggests — very focussed on Tao's primary skill.
This one makes an absolute priority of every Blade Rain Ascension except for Sword Defense, and supports that with a secondary selection made up of the four offensive, damage increasing Ascensions under Mainstay Weapon.
Finally, add in Blade of Bloom from the Raging Bloom skill tree, along with a couple of enemy marking Ascensions — No Escape and (optionally) Cursed Mark — to slow down Tao's enemies while increasing the damage they take at the same time.
Defense, ammo gathering, and the core Fatal Bloom skills aren't priority here, but can be picked up for a boost if you get the opportunity.
You can check out Hibernape's video for a full half-hour of gameplay using this build, or follow the link to their very useful tier list of Tao's best Ascensions.
For more on Gunfire Reborn and its latest update, check out our guide to unlocking Reincarnation Mode.
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