100% damage per shot is EXTREMELY low, even if you do have a crazy amount of on-hit items to scale it with. Yes, the bleed changes makes this a more lucrative option on paper, but, in reality, if you're already at the point of applying a stupid amount of bleed, you probably don't need the Crowdfunder to help you with that. TAKE SOMETHING ELSE.

Number one, and most importantly, it consumes your money. I'm not gonna sit here and write a thesis on the necessity of efficiently using your money in the early game in order to get a good run, although that kinda sounds like a future video topic, don't you think? "But Mr. Streamer, getting two Brittle Crowns negates the gold cost entirely!" Ah yes, requiring multiple lunar items to make something usable in the first place; that's a totally valid argument... Imagine spending 4 lunar coins on two items that make you lose all your money on hit when you could've just picked up two different ones for the same price that more than quadruple all of your damage and give you tons of mobility...

Number two - you are not going to be hitting every shot. Have you ever tried staring at the same target for more than 5 seconds? It doesn't happen very much, does it? You'll get ganked by an Elder Lemurian, a Mushrum, a Golem, an elite Imp, a Brass Contraption, way too many things to list, while you are "tunnel-visioning". Now, factor in the fact, that if you don't toggle The Crowdfunder on and off perfectly, which, by the way is a mechanic that I've been completely ignoring for you, but it's absolutely relevant to how powerful The Crowdfunder is. If you're not perfectly toggling it on and off, you're shafting your early game even more than it already is by completely wasting money instead of at least getting 100% damage out of it. Look, this has already gone on for far too long and in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't actually matter. If you have fun with The Crowdfunder, then by all means use The Crowdfunder to your heart's content. Unfortunately, how much fun you have with something doesn't correlate to how good that something is.

The Crowdfunder shoots 15 shots per second at its maximum speed and each shot deals 100% damage. This equates to 1500% damage per second. The thing is, that's "on paper"; meaning "in a vacuum". Strap yourselves in boys, this is gonna get bumpy. As I said at the start of the video, Risk of Rain 2 is not "a vacuum". Allow me to unpack that statement here, with The Crowdfunder as my example. Do you remember that sentence from earlier that I said was gonna be relevant again? "The more impact an item has in the early game, the better it is." Yeah, that matters for equipment too. In fact, it matters more, a lot more; as in it's what you should use to base 99% of an equipment's usefulness on. Why? Because the longer your run goes, the less relevant your equipment becomes; but it's not just your equipment. The longer a run of Risk of Rain 2 goes, everything and I do literally mean everything simply becomes a catalyst for using your items. Period. If I'm in the middle of my second loop, say 45 minutes into a run, it straight up does not matter which survivor I chose to play over which equipment I'm currently using. All that matters for the success of my run are the items that I receive. Point being; the purpose of your equipment and the entire focus of your run as a whole really is on the early game. So, how does this relate to The Crowdfunder? The short answer - it's absolutely terrible early on. The long answer - it's not useless early on, but compared to what the other equipment can do, oh yeah, It's bad. Sure, it deals some nice sustained damage and can rapidly proc things, but using that and that alone to make conclusions on its general usefulness is entirely wrong; that conveniently ignores the most important aspect of the equipment - how it's actually used.
Number one, and most importantly, it consumes your money. I'm not gonna sit here and write a thesis on the necessity of efficiently using your money in the early game in order to get a good run, although that kinda sounds like a future video topic, don't you think? "But Mr. Streamer, getting two Brittle Crowns negates the gold cost entirely!" Ah yes, requiring multiple lunar items to make something usable in the first place; that's a totally valid argument... Imagine spending 4 lunar coins on two items that make you lose all your money on hit when you could've just picked up two different ones for the same price that more than quadruple all of your damage and give you tons of mobility...

The crowdfunder is absolutely the best equipment in the game no questions asked 100% real.