Hound

"Guided bullets that pursue their target: Hound."

- Shiori Usami about Hound.

is a Gunner Trigger. Its properties change slightly depending on whether it is set to Detection Guidance (探知誘導) or Visual Guidance (視線誘導).

Appearance
Hound is a projectile which appears as a luminous trail once shot, and which curves to pursue the target. The size of each bullet is directly proportional to the amount of trion the user has. Gunners fire Hound bullets through different types of gun-shaped Triggers, whereas Shooters form a trion cube that can be divided in smaller regular polyhedrons, their size and shape depending on how many are created at once.

Nozomi Kako's customized version is peculiarly sphere-shaped. Instead of dividing, it spawns "bubbles" which can be split in smaller ones.

Overview
The origins of this Trigger are unknown. It was first used by Shooters only, until firearm Triggers were invented.

Abilities
Hound is slightly less powerful than Asteroid, but it has the ability to shoot bullets which automatically pursue the target. It is possible to select between a trion-seeker mode, which causes the bullets to home in on trion bodies, and a guided homing mode, which is directed by eyesight and more precise. These functions are disabled at high muzzle velocity. It is possible to lock on multiple targets at once, and, by setting it to seek out trion bodies, it can pursue opponents who are using Chameleon.

Hound is a Trigger that is especially dangerous outdoors, where walls do not limit its movements. The absence of obstacles make it possible to angle the bullets in such a way that they can hit an opponent behind a flat Shield. Shooters can also fire multiple projectiles at the same time so they all attack the target from a different direction, making it even harder to defend oneself. Hound also allows the user to exploit the presence of structures that restrict vision: they can in fact shoot over said obstacle, after which the bullet will home in on the target, catching them by surprise. Even if the opponent manages to block the projectiles, their attention will be diverted, leaving them open to follow-up attacks from other angles. Yet another possible application of Hound is the bombardment of an area through Radar, which is also a second method to counter Chameleon users.

Aside from its unique shape and division method, any additional abilities possessed by the customized Hound used by Kako are still unknown.

Combined with Meteor, Hound can create the composite bullet Salamander, which pursues the target and explodes on impact. The merging of two Hounds takes the name of Hornet. Its characteristics are still unknown.

Users
See also: Hound Users

Hound has 26 known users among official agents, which makes it the second most popular Gunner Trigger, after Asteroid. 12 of its users fire it as Shooters and 13 as Gunners, of which 9 use it in conjunction with an assault rifle and 4 with a handgun. However, this list excludes those members of branches who do not participate in rank battles. Recurring users who have yet to reach B-rank are Teruteru Kōda and Fumifumi Saotome. Chika Amatori is notable for her combination of Lead Bullet and Hound. Nozomi Kako has a customized version of this Trigger.

Trivia

 * The author stated that the two different sets of kanji used in the Trigger's name were supposed to reflect which mode is in use at the moment of firing: "誘導弾" ("guided bullet") when set Detection Guidance, "追尾弾" ("tracking bullet") when set to Visual Guidance. However, he admits to making many mistakes with the nomenclature.
 * Like many other Gunner Triggers, Hound is named after a missile: possibly the AGM-28 Hound Dog or the Bloodhound.
 * A hound is a dog whose main purpose is to aid hunters by tracking prey by scent, similar to how this Trigger tracks and follows an opponent.
 * Sumiharu Inukai is the only known official agent to use Hound both as a Gunner and as a Shooter.