Avowed brings back a joke pistol from Pillars of Eternity that literally tells you not to use it, but you can immediately upgrade it into a killer hand cannon

“This is a terrible weapon that disappoints anyone who uses it,” reads the description of the Disappointer, a unique pistol in Avowed. “Those who aren’t fooled by its appearance still occasionally attempt to use it just to see if maybe the whole thing was made to look this way as an elaborate ruse, hoping that it is an artifact of extreme power, crafted by a master who desired to conceal its remarkable nature. It wasn’t, and it isn’t.”

Only, while that description may be apt for the Disappointer’s original appearance back in 2015’s Pillars of Eternity, where it was pretty much just well-hidden vendor trash, the Disappointer in Avowed slaps, can be had early and easily, and could conceivably see a pistoleer through most of the game. Don’t make my mistake and let that item description put you off, only to come back for it hours later out of curiosity.

The Disappointer location

You’ll have to progress Avowed’s main quest to the point where Paradis opens up, but after that, you can just buy the gun from merchant Kerdhed “Cutty” Colen in the northwest corner of the Northern Paradis zone. That’s really all there is to it.

How to upgrade the Disappointer

The Disappointer starts with the enchantment “Terrible” which reduces its damage by 10%. Thankfully, the pistol also does a bonus 10% bleed damage, negating the penalty and bringing it to a net neutral when compared to a standard pistol. All the same, you’ll want to unlock one of its upgraded enchantments as quickly as possible, even more so than with most unique weapons in the game.

Every weapon in Avowed has two options to upgrade its enchantment. One of the Disappointer’s upgrades makes it so that the gun inflicts an AOE 10% damage penalty to all enemies in a radius of where you shoot. That’s pretty neat, but I much prefer the other, more boring upgrade option for The Disappointer.

“Tender Love and Care” flips the Disappointer’s 10% damage penalty to a 10% damage bonus. Coupled with the bleed damage it already had, this leaves the Disappointer dealing 20% more damage than a normal pistol. It’s not the most exciting effect in the game, but it turns the Disappointer into a solid option, at a minimum superior to a regular pistol. I’ve been dual wielding the Disappointer with lightning pistol Caeroc’s Pride (also found in Dawnshore through Tempestuous Luandi’s bounty) on the Path of the Damned difficulty, and these two guns have been doing me yeoman service.