Shadow Blaster

• 

  In EBF3 and EBF4

• 

  In EBF5, with matching revolver

The Shadow Blaster is a gun available for Lance in Epic Battle Fantasy 3, 4 and 5. Its element varies between games, although it is usually Dark-based.

Description

The Shadow Blaster is a mostly rectangular, futuristic-looking gun with a black exterior and angular red line details. It has a pair of cylindrical power cells located at the top, and a single black wire connecting the middle of the gun with what appears to be the gun's exhaust vents. The Shadow Blaster lacks a barrel, instead having only two short "lips" at the gun's muzzle.

In EBF5, the gun gained a round red gem on the top center, a second wire on its side, and more noticeable red lines. It also comes with a black revolver with red accents and a small blade below the barrel.

The Shadow Blaster has a strong claim to being Lance's "signature weapon", being available as soon as he joins the party in both EBF4 and 5. In all of its appearances, it gives Dark resistance and a great Magic Attack boost, along with a mediocre Attack boost. It typically unleashes a magical Dark skill with weapon-elemental skills, allowing Lance to make better use of its stats.

Epic Battle Fantasy 3

The Shadow Blaster is a non-elemental gun with great Magic Attack and a hefty increase in MP, but below-average Attack and a minor Evade penalty. It casts Darkblast with some weapon-elemental attacks, and its Unleash allows it to lower the target's Magic Defence; despite its description, it doesn't boost the power of Dark skills.

The Shadow Blaster is a viable weapon for the endgame, competing with the Steel Shark, Thunder Core and Red Vulcan. While its damage output can't quite match the Steel Shark's Air Strike, the Thunder Core's Plasmacross, or the Red Vulcan's Bullet Hell, its resistances are useful against the most powerful foes found in Volcano Peak and The Rift.

The Shadow Blaster provides resistances to Dark and Death; neither becomes an immunity at Level 5.

Epic Battle Fantasy 4

The Shadow Blaster offers excellent Magic Attack, but poor Attack. It gives some of Lance's attacks a partial Dark element and boosts his existing Dark skills while casting two of its own; Dark Shot as a counter and Dark Flare as a potential unleash from weapon-elemental skills.

Despite Dark Flare providing utility through its decent chance to Dispel the entire enemy wave while debuffing their Magic Attack, the Shadow Blaster should be mainly used as a potent booster for Lance's magical offense, particularly Antimatter. It's arguably even more effective than the Vortex Cannon for the later areas of the Temple of Godcat, where Wind-resistant and Dark-weak foes are especially common.

The Shadow Blaster resists Dark, Doom, and Instant Death, becoming immune to the latter two at Level 5.

Epic Battle Fantasy 5

Normal

The Shadow Blaster has superb Magic Attack and less-than-noteworthy Attack, a boost to Dark skills, a Dark Shot counter attack, and a chance to unleash Gravity Surge with weapon-elemental skills. Both of its bonus skills benefit from the gun's elemental boost and can debuff the Magic Defence of their targets; while the debuff isn't very strong and the unleash has a low chance of activating, it is still a capable offensive gun for Lance's magically-focused needs. Its bonus skills also have a slight niche by allowing him to maintain a Dark spell assault even with his cooldown problems while simultaneously having a chance to make his other spells hit harder by debuffing the enemies' Magic Defence; this gives it great synergy with the Coat of Teeth, which boosts Dark attacks and debuffing skills.

The Shadow Blaster resists Dark, Thunder​​​​​, Doom, and Instant Death, becoming immune to the latter two at Level 5.

Equip Remix

The Alt Shadow Blaster grants solid Magic Attack and decent Magic Defence, along with boosts to Dark and Fire skills - barring foe resistances, this allows Lance to alternate between Antimatter Flux and Bullet Hell to maintain the offensive. It can unleash Space Distortion with weapon-elemental skills, which benefits from the gun's Dark boost while potentially applying Invisible and a Magic Defence debuff to further amplify future magic assaults. Magic-resistant foes aren't safe, either; the Alt Shadow Blaster can rarely summon Prototype 9X to bombard the entire enemy wave with serious physical Dark damage that's all but guaranteed to score a critical hit. 

While Space Distortion's Invisible application can negate the damage of Prototype 9X, they'll rarely interfere with each other and the risk can be averted entirely by simply not using weapon-elemental skills or having Lance's teammates use up Invisible stacks with their own attacks (although relying on Prototype 9X itself is highly questionable, given its poor activation chance). In general, the Alt Shadow Blaster's main niche is to be a reliable offensive gun that emphasizes Lance's natural skills while lacking the penalties (but also the power) of guns like the Alt Flame Titan or the Alt Heartstopper. Adding certain status-changing Flairs can give it similar utility to the normal version of the Obsidian Staff, allowing Lance to apply Invisible, Magic Defence debuffs, and a conductive status effect in a single Normal Attack to set up a devastating magical follow-up.

The Alt Shadow Blaster resists Dark, Thunder​​​​​, and Fire. None of these become an immunity at Level 5.

Epic Battle Fantasy 3

The Shadow Blaster is found in the Kitten Kingdom Ruins, inside a chest at the end of a chasm accessed from the south. It is non-elemental and - contrary to the description - does not boost the power of Dark skills.

	Shadow Blaster
	Boosts the power of dark skills. Level 5: May cast darkblast with certain skills. Unleash: Magic which lowers target's magic defence.

Statistics
Stat Bonus												Resistance
	LV1	LV2	LV3	LV4	LV5		LV1	LV2	LV3	LV4	LV5		LV1	LV2	LV3	LV4	LV5
	-	-	-	-	-		-	5%	10%	15%	20%		10%	20%	30%	40%	50%
	5%	10%	20%	30%	40%		-	-	-	-	-		10%	20%	30%	40%	50%
	15%	25%	40%	50%	60%		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-		-5%	-5%	-5%	-5%	-5%	Element		----
Spells & Statuses
			Power					Chance Modifier				Attack Status
Auto Skill			--					--				-	-	-	-	-	-
Bonus Skill			--					--					-	-	-	-	-

Forging Information
Lvl	Requirements			Lvl	Requirements
2	x 2	--	--	3	x 3	--	--
4	x 15	x 1	--	5	x 4	x 2	x 2

Epic Battle Fantasy 4

The Shadow Blaster is Lance's starting weapon, unlocked when he rejoins the party.

	Shadow Blaster
	Boosts the power of Dark skills. May cast Dark Flare with certain skills. Counter-attacks with Dark Shot.

Statistics
Stat Bonus												Resistance
	LV1	LV2	LV3	LV4	LV5		LV1	LV2	LV3	LV4	LV5		LV1	LV2	LV3	LV4	LV5
	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	-		10%	20%	30%	40%	50%
	-	5%	10%	15%	20%		-	-	-	-	-		20%	40%	60%	80%	100%
	15%	30%	45%	60%	80%		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	-	Element		50%
Spells & Statuses
			Power					Chance Modifier				Attack Status
Auto Skill			--					--				-	-	-	-	-	-
Bonus Skill			(50%)					--					-	-	-	-	-
Auto Status			--					--				-	-	-	-	-	-
--													-	-	-	-	-

Forging Information
Lvl	Requirements			Lvl	Requirements
2	x 2	--	--	3	x 2	x 3	--
4	x 3	x 1	x 1	5	x 1	--	--

Epic Battle Fantasy 5

The Shadow Blaster is Lance's starting weapon. It will already be at Level 3 when Lance joins the party at the end of the Iron Fortress.

	Shadow Blaster
	A gun made from mysterious alien technology. Boosts the damage of dark skills. Level 3: Counter-attacks with Dark Shot. Level 5: May unleash Gravity Surge while attacking.

Statistics
Stat Bonus												Resistance
	LV1	LV2	LV3	LV4	LV5		LV1	LV2	LV3	LV4	LV5		LV1	LV2	LV3	LV4	LV5
	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		10%	20%	30%	40%	50%
	-	5%	10%	15%	20%		-	-	-	-	-		10%	20%	30%	40%	50%
	15%	30%	45%	60%	80%		-	-	-	-	-		20%	40%	60%	80%	100%
	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	-	Element		50%
Spells & Statuses
			Power					Chance Modifier				Attack Status
Auto Skill			--					--				-	-	-	-	-	-
Bonus Skill			55/3					(20%)					-	-	-	-	-
Auto Status			--					--				-	-	-	-	-	-
Defend Status			--					--					-	-	-	-	-

Forging Information
Lvl	Requirements			Lvl	Requirements
2	x 2	--	--	3	x 1	--	--
4	x 1	x 2	--	5	x 1	x 1	--

Statistics with Equip Remix enabled.

	Shadow Blaster
	A gun made from mysterious alien technology. Boosts the damage of dark skills. Level 3: Boosts the damage of fire skills. Level 4: Randomly casts Prototype 9X between turns. Level 5: May unleash Space Distortion while attacking.

Statistics
Stat Bonus												Resistance
	LV1	LV2	LV3	LV4	LV5		LV1	LV2	LV3	LV4	LV5		LV1	LV2	LV3	LV4	LV5
	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		10%	20%	30%	40%	50%
	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	-		10%	20%	30%	40%	50%
	15%	30%	40%	55%	70%		-	5%	10%	15%	20%		10%	20%	30%	40%	50%
	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	-	Element		50%
Spells & Statuses
			Power					Chance Modifier				Attack Status
Auto Skill			--					(17%)				-	-	-	-	-	-
Bonus Skill			180					(22%)					-	-	-	-	-
Auto Status			--					--				-	-	-	-	-	-
Defend Status			--					--					-	-	-	-	-

Forging Information
Lvl	Requirements			Lvl	Requirements
2	x 2	--	--	3	x 1	--	--
4	x 1	x 2	--	5	x 1	x 1	--

Trivia

• Based on Lance's comments in EBF5, as well as its aesthetic and elemental similarities with the Cosmic Monolith, it seems that the Shadow Blaster may have been created using technology derived from the Cosmic Monoliths (presumably the one being researched in the Iron Fortress).
  • The same may hold true for EBF5's Neon Valkyrie, as well as several other machines.