Importance of SS for DRG

[CookieMonsta]

Going above 2.42 GCD you risk losing auto-attacks being buffed by Heavy Thrust and gives VERY little room to play around with when it comes to mechanics that force you to disengage during a bossfight, proceed with caution.

This is incorrect, Auto-attacks have been decoupled from Skillspeed since Heavensward.

So I'm approaching (a very meh) first ever BiS for my DRG and I've been trying to keep to the proper stat ratios as is recommended, so my GCD is about 2.40. However I've heard from certain people that I should keep my SS low, but they didn't give a target SS or GCD number. If SS weren't important, I could ditch my Kinna Trident and aim for the Shire Halberd which I much prefer. Any thoughts?

The answer to your question is complex.

599 is the ideal and is generally the gold standard because it allows you to fit your whole rotation under the 24 seconds of Heavy Thrust with the 2nd HT being buffed by the first.

This however, is not true for everybody as it assumes a specific ping. The 599 figure is designed for people with roughly 100ms latency, you will gradually need more SKS in order to maintain the same 24 second window as your ping goes up.

609 is ideal for people in the 120ms-ish range, 625/651 is for people like me who are on 147-150ms.

That being said, it all has to be tested. You can easily do your opener on a dummy and see if the 2nd HT is buffed by the first by checking the combat log. Likewise, try activating BfB half a GCD after True Thrust and see if the Phleb is applied before the BfB runs out. Those two are the biggest cases for having SkS.

If your ping is exceptional, feel free to attempt the riskier 542/572 SKS windows.

PS: any SKS outside of those breakpoints mentioned are borderline worthless.