Yes, it takes 3 to 5 casts at point blank range (at L57 effective skill, to kill a top tier monster), but when using an SSDC party, that means you can potentially drop one of those monsters in just one round of combat.
In terms of pure DPS it may not be the best solution, but pure DPS is hard to land against anything that's actually moving and worse yet, fighting back.Realistically (with some practice) I find that Shrapmetal just kills larger monster quicker than anything else.
Plus, it's Physical damage, to which Gold Dragons are NOT immune.
