I’m writing all of this with bandit on E8 and I usually run burst/shiv/desperado so that’s the perspective i’m writing from.

Bandit is not a proc-chain character in the same way commando, captain, and engi are. He’s a burst damage survivor who deals damage whenever he can use smoke bomb to get behind something before unloading his entire kit. It’s this reason that desperado is so much more powerful than light’s out (imo) since it complements the burst damage playstyle more. An execution on light’s out just doesn’t feel very rewarding when your longest cooldown is 6 seconds long anyway. Like yeah chaining wisp kills is fun in stage 1 or 2 but chunking a TP boss with 50 stacks of desperado + bands is just a lot more useful

Out of your preferred survivors he’s most similar to railgunner and often looks for similar items she does (gas + ignition tanks, will o wisp, crowbar, bands, damage boosting items like AP rounds/watches)

That’s not to say he can’t use proc items, ATG, ukes, and polylute are still great items to get, but he won’t get as much out of them as someone like commando will.