Welcome to the 3rd topic in the 'Rate and Discuss' series! The topic featured is an item that probably ranks among the most dangerous in Megaman's arsenal, the Arrow Shot!
The Arrow Shot is an item that can be made in Megaman 8, costing Megaman 5/40 of his bolts. It was well worth it, though, and really made going through stages a lot easier. When the item was equipped, Megaman's charged shot behaved a bit differently. Instead of it's normal blue color, it became a gold-ish color, with an arrow-like effect. The shot now spread out upon striking an enemy as well.
This is pretty much one of the best enhancements in the series, period. The charged shot still retains it's normal damage, but fans out in a 6-way spread, hitting anything else behind your target. Note that the scattered shots are just as powerful as the charged shot itself, so if you were to hit a larger enemy that would normally survive a regular charge shot, he would take the damage equivalent of 5 more charged shots in one strike. Yeah, no enemy is going to survive this one. Likewise, hitting a smaller enemy will most likely kill it and the extra shots will fan out and hit other enemies. It should also be noted that this does in fact help to get past things such as Guard Joe's shield, as initial shot will strike the shield, and the spread shots will strike Joe himself, killing him. The Laser Shot boasts this as well, but the Arrow shot just does it better; it even boasts the same level of effectiveness in taking down the Green Devil.
As far as bosses are concerned, the Arrow Shot doesn't really shine as much as it does normally. Thanks to the Damage Barrier, bosses will not take the extra damage like a normal enemy would. I should not that you can fire at the boxes during the penguin boss fight in Wily's first stage; the scattered shots can hit him, although this is a much more tedious way of taking it down.
Overall, this is pretty nice ability that's bordering on broken. I find it absolutely odd that so many people prefer the Laser Shot over this, as there is much less coverage in terms of range. As good as this item is, it really makes you wonder why Capcom couldn't come up with a better buster part for the Blade and Max Armors. Had the Blade Armor (or Max Armor) had something like this, I'd probably use it more often. At any rate, the Arrow Shot rates a perfect 10 from me!