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Personal Tier 3 Support Gunlancer build

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2022-12-04 10:10:27

The Conception Of The Build

This is a preface for the thought process that came with creating this build beginning in Tier 1. You can skip this and go straight to the setup.

I came up with this build over the course of a few months of playing Gunlancer. It began in Tier 1 when I played different classes and could never pass the stagger checks with various teams in Guardian Raids and Abyssal Dungeons. I was not content with the idea that Whirlwind Grenades were needed for classes with no skills having High stagger. When I first made the Gunlancer and checked the stagger levels on his skills and saw his shielding skill, I knew he was it. When I saw how easy it was to repeatedly stagger Nacrasena, I decided to stick with Gunlancer.

In Tier 3, Igrexion tested the build's stagger, and after still failing it with various teams, I asked my friends about what I can expect in higher level Tier 3. I needed options for more CDR for the shielding skill (base cd 40 seconds is long af). After finding out about relic sets, I got my character to the level he needed to be to join my friends and get the required material to make the pieces I wanted.

First, it was 6-piece Yearning because they said that was a support set. I found it lacking because it didn't improve my build, and it was really more for the others. Once I gained the option to convert, I switched to 2-piece Nightmare (initial mana issues), 2-piece Dominion (CDR), and 2-piece Yearning (speed and Specialty gained). Finally, when I switched an Engraving to Spirit Absorption, I changed the 2-piece Yearning to Nightmare for even more CDR. Ever since, I've always had Advancing Annihilator in raids.

Skills, Tripods, Runes

Fire Bullet

Lucky Chance

Weak Point Enhancement

Attack Creation

Rune: Overwhelm or Quick RechargeLucky Chance is for a chance of regaining the bullet immediately and spamming it until your Bash is ready again. Weak Point Enhancement is for destroying armor faster in certain Guardian Raids and in the Valtan raid. It makes it more possible to break his armor twice before he gets to jump (though, no one will notice it). Attack Creation give the second bullet hit to proc Lucky Chance again and to apply Destruction again.

The rune choice depends on your preference. Even though Fire Bullet's stagger is Mid, Attack Creation's second bullet and Overwhelm make it equivalent to a High stagger skill. With the spam potential, it can replace Surge Cannon and other skills that could be used for stagger. Quick Recharge lets you cooldown skills like Shout of Hatred and Nellasia's Energy faster, but with the stat allocation I use, it is not as useful.

Dash Upper Fire

Quick Prep

Wide Hit

Rune: BleedQuick Prep is a straight-forward choice. More counters. Wide Hit makes it more likely for you to land a counter when you are not quite close enough to reach the boss or are casting at a weird angle. Bleed is there to prevent Abyssal Dungeon bosses from regenerating in the event you are the last one and they are low enough for you to finish off. I do not raise this skill to level 10 and add Extra Shell because this skill is not supposed to be spammed for stagger damage. Extra Shell also seems to add frames to the second hit, locking you in animation slightly longer.

Counter Gunlance

Sturdy Armor/Concussion

Quick Prep

Rune: Iron WallI use Sturdy Armor because sometimes after the shield health drops from the successful block, the next source of damage is more than I am comfortable with. Even though Defensive Stance is there for that, I turn it off in scenarios where I need to move around much more and faster, or I save the health meter to take damage from other sources. Concussion can be chosen for more stagger, but since this is not a skill that would be spammed freely, it's not as useful. Quick Prep makes it more available.

Why this skill over another source of stagger damage? There will be status effects or insane damage sources that can be avoided with this skill. Examples include Kungelanium's frost breath or homing freeze orb, Vykas's homing purple ring where the explosion kills most people, Vykas's frogs that everyone uses Time Stop Potion for (this will block all damage from both frogs, but you will be charmed immediately), any boss in Legion Raids that enter Berserk mode, etc.

Shield Bash

Ready Defense

Shield Enhancement

Additional Hit

Rune: OverwhelmReady Defense makes you more durable temporarily, making Defensive Stance take less damage. Shield Enhancement helps you regain shield meter while Defensive Stance is off. Additional Hit makes the stagger output the same as a skill with Highest stagger.

Bash

Armor Destruction

Concussion

Bell Strike

Rune: OverwhelmArmor Destruction reduces enemy defense and allows your party to do more damage. Concussion is a "duh" pick for stagger damage. Bell Strike makes it less likely to miss your Bash. Overwhelm is a "duh" pick too.

Skills, Tripods, Runes (con't)

Shout of Hatred

Quick Prep

Lingering Taunt/Shield

Open Weakness

Rune: What's even useful? I picked BleedIt's your Taunt skill. Quick Prep means more Open Weakness proc. Lingering Taunt keeps the target on you longer while Shield lets you take more damage without Defensive Stance taking damage. I use Shield to keep Defensive Stance for Push Immunity. Open Weakness gives you shield meter and makes enemies take more damage from your party, especially from Frontal or Back attacks. Rune choice doesn't matter for this skill.

Shield Shock

Armor Destruction

Ready Defense

2nd Turbulence

Rune: Quick Recharge/Overwhelm/ProtectionThis skill with 2nd Turbulence is equivalent of a High stagger skill. Armor Destruction is chosen over the others because Quick Prep has minimal effect due to other CDR sources and Nimble Movement is unnecessary since your speed will already be 140%. Shield Shock's Ready Defense is separate from Shield Bash's Ready Defense and lets you take even more damage. Second Turbulence lets you refresh Armor Destruction and Ready Defense if you hold off on the second cast. With the significantly larger AoE versus Bash, this is more reliable for reducing an enemy's Defense.

Protection is a rune option because of an unlisted Paralysis Immunity. Shield Shock prevents your character from being knocked backwards during use. So, you could use it against an attack that would normally push you and tank the damage.

Nellasia's Energy

Quick Prep

Shout of Purification/Lingering Power

Survive (imagine taking Leadership)

Rune: Really, what is there but Bleed or Quick Recharge? Wealth?Your party's temporary health. With max Swiftness, Quick Prep, and CDR from relic set effects, this skill's cooldown can be less than 18 seconds versus the base 40 seconds. Shout of Purification is for removing debuffs such as Frozen or Bleed in specific encounters (ex: Valtan Gate 1). Lingering Power lets the shield and its damage reduction effect last longer.

Engravings And Stat Allocation

Engravings

Awakening

Used with Lance of Judgment to increase your party's crit rate, thus increasing potential damage output.

Can be used with Guardian's Protection to ignore crowd control, paralysis, and push temporarily while reducing your party's damage taken more often. Not intended for refilling the shield meter.

Expert

Increases effectiveness of Nellasia's Energy and Defensive Stance. Party members low on health can potentially survive high overkill damage sources with Expert boosting Nellasia's Energy.

Vital Hit Point

Increases your stagger damage output.

MP Efficiency Increase (temporary Engraving)

For use until Nightmare relic is obtained. Replaces Spirit Absorption upon obtaining Nightmare 2-piece bonues. Without Nightmare 2-piece bonus, you will run out of mana constantly when spamming Fire Bullet, Shield Bash, and Bash.

Spirit Absorption

Not used until after Nightmare relic is obtained. Increasing your speed means delivering more blows with other skills in quick succession. Movement speed boost helps you reposition faster, even when Defensive Stance is active.

Combat Readiness

Technically optional since you won't do damage. Can be used to boost Defensive Stance's shield amount

Explosive Expert/Drops of Ether

If you don't want to use Spirit Absorption, use either for more emphasis on damage support. Explosive Expert lets you use more Dark Grenades. Drops of Ether gives a chance of a Flash Orb dropping, giving a party member who collects it more crit rate.

Stat Allocation

My preference is that all accessories should have Swiftness. The second stat bonus on the Necklace should be Expertise. My current allocation is 1650 Swiftness with the pet's bonus and 530 Expertise.

I am aware of people saying it should be the other way around, especially for stagger damage in Inferno raids. I do not agree with this, and you are free to disagree with me. I am also considering the fact that the same people say to go Yearning, which sacrifices CDR completely. Though, it would replace the need to spam Shout of Hatred for Open Weakness, not that anyone mentioned the fact.

My rationale for max Swiftness and Expertise being secondary is that if you miss that stagger burst, that is huge downtime for stagger damage, and you give shields more often while inflicting Open Weakness on an enemy more often to maintain the damage bonus uptime. Without consideration of Relic sets, the percentages of CDR from Swiftness and Stagger damage from Expertise are equivalent, so landing every hit with a certain number of casts over a long period of time in either scenario should result in the same amount of stagger damage. The penalty of missing a main stagger skill is much greater for a max Expertise build. I prefer to cast the skills faster in quick succession so that if I miss, the penalty is minimal due to CDR. Expertise is also overkill bonus stagger for stagger checks.

With consideration of the Relic sets I specified, it is better to go Expertise if you are going strictly for stagger damage. You sacrifice some CDR and speed, but overtime, if you are landing the same hits as you would with high Swiftness, you will do more stagger damage. The cost of it is your party not getting as many shields and you not regaining your shield meter as often.

Relic Set Choices

Dominion 2-piece bonus

Awakening CDR, usage count bonus.

Casting Awakening gives a buff that boosts CDR for skills, meaning more shielding and generating shield meter.Nightmare 4-piece bonuses

Reducing MP cost removes need for MP Efficiency Increase.

Temporarily gives more CDR when you proc Boundless MP from reaching 30% MP. Your shield cooldown can be as low as 12 seconds with this.Optional switch: Exchange 2 pieces of Nightmare with Yearning

Specialty meter gain increased, meaning more shield meter generated

Boost speed, removing need for Spirit Absorption

Afterword

I would ignore meta players and people who may not accept you into raids or call you out negatively for this build. Those people are not perceptive or do not understand its value, and that tends to come from the unfortunate design of the game where everyone is a DPS class except Paladin and Bard. Formulating ideas, executing them, and revising them is usually the best way to determine the usefulness of ideas.

Remember to play what you like, but play reasonably.

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2896972459

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