How Easy Is Gunblade Compared to Paladin?

Hi everyone! I am disabled and this limits me to fairly easy jobs.

You know, like paladin. Dragoon is as difficult as I can play.

Gunblade looks interesting; but, I am concerned about its complexity.

So, how hard is the job to play?

It's not that bad it might get worse the higher your level I don't know the extent of your disability but you need to reliably hit about 6 buttons during a fight or flight damage window

I honestly find gunbreaker easier to play than both dragoon and paladin so... I think you're good to try it. They start you off at 60 with relatively no skills for what it feels like until you hit 70 so, I think its pretty tame. It's as boring to play as DRK right now though at level 50 since you only have 1 combo and one spender for said combo.

If you're interested in playing it, you should definitely try how it feels for you! :) The main difference between PLD and GNB to me is that the optimal GNB rotation is busier as you are often using two off cooldown abilities between your global cooldown abilities (when you're trying to optimise your DPS, which is not necessary for more casual content). Additionally, you'll have to keep track of your cartridges. Whether or not you'll find it difficult (or fun) depends on the person, so the best thing to do is to see for yourself!

GNB is extremely fast paced and fun. The rotation is fairly static (i.e. everything is set in stone as long as you have enough sks and keep mistakes to a minimum), but it will require quite a few keybinds to use well. It has a slightly higher skill floor than the other tank jobs, in my opinion. I would definitely place it below paladin in terms of ease of use.

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Originally Posted by WulfCall

It's not that bad it might get worse the higher your level I don't know the extent of your disability but you need to reliably hit about 6 buttons during a fight or flight damage window

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Six buttons? I can do that. I was running a monk in ARR.

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Originally Posted by Taika

If you're interested in playing it, you should definitely try how it feels for you! :) The main difference between PLD and GNB to me is that the optimal GNB rotation is busier as you are often using two off cooldown abilities between your global cooldown abilities (when you're trying to optimise your DPS, which is not necessary for more casual content). Additionally, you'll have to keep track of your cartridges. Whether or not you'll find it difficult (or fun) depends on the person, so the best thing to do is to see for yourself!

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You're right. The only way for me to tell if a class is a good fit is for me to dive in. *glub* *glub*

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Originally Posted by Absimiliard

GNB is extremely fast paced and fun. The rotation is fairly static (i.e. everything is set in stone as long as you have enough sks and keep mistakes to a minimum), but it will require quite a few keybinds to use well. It has a slightly higher skill floor than the other tank jobs, in my opinion. I would definitely place it below paladin in terms of ease of use.

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Oh. I keybind a lot of things. It's much easier than cursor and click. Can you recommend how my bars should be set up?

The hardest thing is to bear new sound effects. I find it very easy to play, rotation is very obvious.

GNB has more different buttons in it's rotation than PLD, but if you can play DRG you dshould still be fine, in fact if the number of buttons on DRg is not a problem i don't think it's going to be a problem on any class really^^. The othe rthing shich might be a problem is that GNB double weaves a lot, while DRG and PLD don't really double weave that much ( DRG has a huge chunk during the opener but that's it), so if you have problems with that you might have problems with GNB.

GNB is an easy-mode version of PLD which gives you more dps for less effort. PLD is more versatile overall though.

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Originally Posted by Lyth

GNB is an easy-mode version of PLD which gives you more dps for less effort. PLD is more versatile overall though.

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Most players will strongly disagree with this statement. Paladin is definitely much easier.

Pld is a job you can pick up easily, Gnb needs some basic knowledge of tanking. As it should be.

after play both i find PLD have more things to keep an eye on but is not necesary more harder while GNB being nice and fast i find more harder to keep the integrity of his rotation depending of the fight due how you need to keep using gnasing fang and how you have to delay the combo 30 sec or no to realing everything againg, wich adds some kind of quick choise making on combat.

in resume both have his own dificulty and depend more of the player perspective and i consider they are more or less equally harder and obviously much more harder that WAR and braindead DRK.

In design goals the PLD is the low skill floor low skill cap job and the GNB is the high skill floor high skill cap job.

PLD is supposed to be easy to master but doesn’t go as far. GNB is supposed to be hard to master but will go further once you do. And the same is supposed to be true at entry skill.

As an Overwatch player I liken it to PLD is meant to be Lucio, and GNB is meant to be Ana. Despite one being for entry level players and one for experts the ideal comp has one of each. The meta is basically GNB mt, PLD ot.

Now... the use if the word supposed to was key above. Some might disagree that the above is how they ended up, but it is the goal Yoshi-P put forth for both.

I would recommend warrior.

It may be easy, but feels quite good and is strong for how little effort it needs.
GNB is not overly too complicated, you could use macro to help you out in playing him, but its really fast paces and you find yourself pressing fast. PLD share the same level of complexity with GNB, if not a little more.

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Originally Posted by aqskerorokero

Pld is a job you can pick up easily, Gnb needs some basic knowledge of tanking. As it should be.

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Interesting! A lot of other posters speak of the speed of gunblade rotation which may cause some problems for me.

However, you've given me hope.

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Originally Posted by Nedkel

I would recommend warrior.

It may be easy, but feels quite good and is strong for how little effort it needs.
GNB is not overly too complicated, you could use macro to help you out in playing him, but its really fast paces and you find yourself pressing fast. PLD share the same level of complexity with GNB, if not a little more.

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*nods* . I have warrior on three of my alts. It's rewarding to play. :)

I found GNB to be pretty easy, it only feels flimsy until you get Heart of Stone, after that it feels mostly like a DPS that does its own tanking.

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Originally Posted by Nedkel

GNB is not overly too complicated, you could use macro to help you out in playing him

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GNB requires too much speed to use macros as a fallback. The amount of clipping that would occur is ridiculous.

WAR is a better option than GNB as its a speed class that will punish you if you screw up your rotation while WAR is the most straightforward tank job of all now to almost a detriment..
Overall ease of tanks from ease of use is:
WAR
PLD
GNB
DRK

I would argue DRK is the hardest of the tank jobs simply because it is resource intesive outside of casual duties.

After levelling all 4 tanks to 80 and doing quite a bit of max level content with them I'd say GNB is by far the easiest and the most intuitive of them all BUT it's a very fun job to play and it feels busy nonetheless. Uptime loss feels a lot more punishing on GNB than other tanks tho. Optimizing GNB's DPS requires very good knowledge of the fight and its timings in order to lose the least possible amount of GCDs while doing mechanics since the rotation is so fixed and not resource-based at all (and unlike PLD, it doesn't have a 10sec burst window that doesn't require melee range every minute). I'd say easier to play than PLD but a bit harder to optimize in relevant content.

Objectively speaking, I think WAR has the fewest abilities to put on buttons and PLD the most.

I knew a guy long, long ago who was missing multiple fingers (I don't recall exactly how many, 2-3) and that was his problem, he just didn't have enough fingers to hit all the buttons. I don't know about your disability, but that's the kind of thing I always imagine when people mention having a disability of some kind. That said, there's a couple different setups you can use to get around that sort of problem. You can get the MMO mouse (which I just think everyone should have one anyway), this game is also pretty controller friendly, or you can do like a one handed keypad with a thumb stick and Razer and Logitech both make those.

For myself, I just had to put pads down to protect my wrists because certain high APM jobs were a strain and the pads have alleviated a lot of the problem.

I don't know, is any of that helpful?

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Originally Posted by Wyndam

Objectively speaking, I think WAR has the fewest abilities to put on buttons and PLD the most.

I knew a guy long, long ago who was missing multiple fingers (I don't recall exactly how many, 2-3) and that was his problem, he just didn't have enough fingers to hit all the buttons. I don't know about your disability, but that's the kind of thing I always imagine when people mention having a disability of some kind. That said, there's a couple different setups you can use to get around that sort of problem. You can get the MMO mouse (which I just think everyone should have one anyway), this game is also pretty controller friendly, or you can do like a one handed keypad with a thumb stick and Razer and Logitech both make those.

For myself, I just had to put pads down to protect my wrists because certain high APM jobs were a strain and the pads have alleviated a lot of the problem.

I don't know, is any of that helpful?

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Yes, very much helpful. I won't go into all that's wrong with me. I'll just say I go OUCH a lot. :)

I'll give GNB a whirl. and if that doesn't work out, I'll level WAR.

The thing about GNB is you have to be able to double weave well, and you have to be able to time your gcds and other skills well with your No Mercy window.

Also, GNB has the most skills of all the tanks, so if you don't have at least 3 FULL hotbars worth of control options (more if you use optional buttons for hard content), it's not going to be a tank you want to play.

GNB has more APM, so if you are struggling against a disability, go with PLD. Both are much easier than DRG though so I think you'll be fine no matter what tank you play.

Gunbreaker is much easier to play than Paladin. You have less to keep track of as a Gunbreaker, but you also have less options. (In terms of protecting/healing your teammates/party - clutch moves that Paladins can pull off at the cost of lost dps). Gunbreaker is a fun and flashy class that is easy to produce good dps numbers with. I think a good analogy would be Machinist to Bard. You have more things to keep track of as a Bard, whereas Machinist is just straight dps for the most part with 1 party damage mitigation ability. I main Paladin, with Gunbreaker, Machinist, Samurai, and Bard as alt jobs. Good luck with it!

Honestly tanks are pretty easy to play. Not a single one of them is hard to play. This is not like WoW where you have to do special mechanics to play a class well. Yes WoW Tanks from Mist of Panda to Legion actually had some depth to them. Maybe not for Warriors, Paladin and bears. Yet at less Death Knight and Monks had you learning your class mechanics or dropping dead.

All tanks are easymode now, i personally find DRK the easiest because you just put on Edge of Shadow and your good to go, war needs a 3 hit combo to set up Storms Eye wich i find abit more annoying.

easy mode:

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/micon "Gnashing Fang"
/ac "Continuation"
/ac "Gnashing Fang"
/ac "Savage Claw"
/ac "Wicked Talon"

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Originally Posted by DaphneLing

easy mode:

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Just don't mode

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Originally Posted by DaphneLing

easy mode:

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More like monumental loss of DPS mode. Macros are awful.

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Originally Posted by Absimiliard

More like monumental loss of DPS mode. Macros are awful.

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SMH. Monumental DPS loss is an exaggeration. Not everyone plays like an elitist or perfectionist. I go through contents just fine, even savage raids. More buttons = more complexity = more mistakes = DPS loss.

Imo GNB is easier than PLD, GNB gauge is by far the easiest Gauge from all Tank to fill and use, their skills are similar to PLD ( DoTs, Heals, Shields, Support, etc ) but way simpler to manage, no MP usage and etc. But WAR are the easiest Tank at this moment imo, tbh there's no complexity on Tanks anymore.

Gunbreaker doesn't feel too bad for me. It just takes some getting used to on using their power combo and off global combo. The off global combo is all in one button. Just make sure the 4 buttons are in a comfy spot for you to press. Once you finish the power combo, the standard combo feels very similar to the other tanks' speed.

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Originally Posted by Absimiliard

Most players will strongly disagree with this statement. Paladin is definitely much easier.

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For me, I tend to do better with classes that have more of a priority system than a set rotation. This is really the biggest difference between PLD and GNB. The PLD rotation is VERY set in stone and once you master it, it is extremely easy to use. Literally it is (123, 66667 -- 123, 124, 555 -- 123, 124, 555 repeat) The GNB rotation on the other hand is basically just a simple priority system where optimization comes from using CD's correctly. No mercy, bow shock, and sonic break are all 60s CD's, so you just make sure to use them all together. Gnashing fang and blasting zone are both on 30s CD's, so they always line up well with other CD's as long as you use them when they are available. The entire rest of the job actions are just a 123 combo. This is just about one of the simplest priority systems in the entire game (though WAR is definitely easy too lol).

IMO, I find GNB easier than PLD, but that is purely subjective, since I tend to find priority based systems easier than strict rotations. I can definitely see how players that find rotations easier could see PLD as an easier job.

I find all of the tanks pretty easy, but if I had to rank them from hardest to easiest it would be:
DRK, PLD, GNB, WAR

Even DRK is really pretty simple to master, it just has a more punishing mechanic (TBN) if you mess it up than the others. Messing up TBN is literally a 500 potency mistake. That's pretty severe.

There's alot of subjectively here, but in order to avoid a long winded response that will lose the point i want to make, i'll settle with this;


If you find dragoon particularly difficult, I would advise against Gunbreaker. Gunbreaker's playstyle, or specifically rotation, is very similar to Dragoon. everything is lined up in a particular way. it's admittedly not 1:1, but they are very similar in structure- more then any other 2 jobs, and thats including the "Warrior of DRKness" memes even still on the front page of this forum section.

theres a particular "flow" inherent to GNB thats very easy to grab and run with, and the 1% for pld isnt as clear cut as it appears. That said, though, I find, personally, PLD is the better choice if DRG specifically isnt something you can play well. If DRG is rough, I would feel "off" telling that same person to use GNB

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Originally Posted by DaphneLing

SMH. Monumental DPS loss is an exaggeration. Not everyone plays like an elitist or perfectionist. I go through contents just fine, even savage raids. More buttons = more complexity = more mistakes = DPS loss.

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And basically you instead of trying to better your rotation and timing you should shrug and say "meh, DPS will pickup the slack". This is what our old static leader said before we finally booted him for doing less dmg than PLD on WAR during SB...

There is a minumum DPS threshold every tank should be hitting in fights especially since the DPS checks right now are so tight. Macroing such a massively important part of your kit will result in far more DPS loss than simply making a mistake in your rotation. Everytime you hit that macro you are losing 1-2 GCDs in the fight and that stacks up fast especially as a GNB when you use it every half a minute. That is a total on the generous side of 1 GCDs in Eden Prime or 20 GCDs in the worst case. That is not something a simple rotational mistake will make you lose.

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Originally Posted by DaphneLing

SMH. Monumental DPS loss is an exaggeration. Not everyone plays like an elitist or perfectionist. I go through contents just fine, even savage raids. More buttons = more complexity = more mistakes = DPS loss.

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You lose your ability to queue abilities before they're actually ready. I.e. you can't just keep mashing burst, for example, and expect it to go off immediately upon completion of your GCD. It will instead only read the input once your GCD is complete, robbing you of valuable time and wasting GCDs. Macro usage also tends to interfere with double weaving, and uh.... Well, let's just say the amount of DPS you lose in your No Mercy window by not double weaving oGCDs is rather significant. GNB is punished heavily for failing to efficiently use its No Mercy window. Definitely do not use macros with GNB if at all possible. Clearing savage while gimping yourself like that is a disservice to the rest of your raid team. It basically amounts to being carried.

In a dungeon setting I'd say their probably about the same, while not optimizing. PLD offers way more safety, because if your healer sucks you can save runs and keep youself and your party up (IE: best used with PUGS and new players). GNB basically just offers more damage, which if your entire party is good can get rid of a few minutes on your total dungeon run time.

Optimal rotations though I'd say GNB is harder due to the fact that on top of having to keep everything aligned, you still need to do standard tank duties which over whelms some people and if you don't learn to optimize the rotation you're not taking full advantage of GNB as at the moment I believe it's whole identity is based around less self sustainability and more Burst damage.

But in the end if you like GNB style, just play it. It shouldn't matter if it's hard or not, because if you're not using it, you're not going to get good with it. Same goes for any job / class.

In my experience, to the contrary of what many in this thread are suggesting: Paladin is the most difficult job in the game if you make substantial efforts to heal.

Coming from a healing background in other RPGMMOs, I've developed quite the instinct for tossing heals to my teammates at low HP. Combine this with tanking, DPS, Boss Mechanics, and OT support duties, and Paladin gameplay can become quite overwhelming. In this context, any tanking job is a step down from Paladin. If, however, you're the type who rarely throws out raid heals then PLD is probably easier to play than Gunbreaker, and you should thus stick with it.

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Originally Posted by Valic

I honestly find gunbreaker easier to play than both dragoon and paladin so... I think you're good to try it. They start you off at 60 with relatively no skills for what it feels like until you hit 70 so, I think its pretty tame. It's as boring to play as DRK right now though at level 50 since you only have 1 combo and one spender for said combo.

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No positional requirements and a pretty forgiving rotation early on, the higher you get the more you have to add to your rotation to maximize your output, as you start to add your powder combos and off Global cooldowns. Keeping the rotation tight is probably the biggest challenge the Gunbreaker has, it's very easy to lose Potential DPS by not spending powder when you could resulting in inefficient stock management.

Define difficulty!?

If you struggle with button bloat, Warrior is the job with the least buttons in the entire game (PvP and roleplaying during quests excluded).
Paladin' and Gunbreaker' skills and abilities both make use of almost 3 whole hotbars. Whether you take PLD or GNB barely makes a difference in button bloat. Anyway, from abilites you'll use the most/always make use of, GNB has the slightly larger button bloat.

Rotation-wise both PLD and GNB are pretty straight forward. Imo PLD has the easier one.
PLD rotation is fixed and doesn't change in the slighest, unless you suffer from downtime. But even then I'd argue it's way easier to recover from it on PLD than on GNB. There aren't many situations where you gonna double weave either.
Your only concern is when to use FoF or Requiescat when they are up, and ofc you have to look out for your mana pool.
GNB on the other hand is little more "freestyle with rules". At certain situations, you'll have to manage 2 combos at the same time without dropping neither of them (Gnashing Fang and standard 1-2-3), applying DoT, double weave, while also handling your defensive CDs. Your standard opener for maximum DPS output requires to double weave at least 4 times in a row! Defensive CDs not included!
This also makes GNB more dependent on ping and connection. PLD rotation doesn't have this problem to pull optimal DPS.

In conclusion: Imho PLD is way easier than GNB, in both button bloat, and rotation-wise (APM/CPM).