If the wiki is correct that it only increases the distance by 5/level, I would say no. "Attack distance" is how far out the skill AoE is, I presume, and is 10/level (per the wiki) and seems like it would be more useful. "Shooting rush damage" on footwear says it's +4 dam/level, which would probably be quite potent (replaces grinding out more str/int.)
There don't seem to be any meaningful reforges for puppetry on footwear.
Assume you got level 15, that's 75 distance width. Imo that increase isn't a lot.
Shooting rush damage per level adds 4% per level, so if you have level 10 that's 40% damage or (400% + 40%) = 440% with rank 1 shooting rush. Essentially 10% damage increase, which is good.
Kay, I'll keep rolling it then. Thanks!