Its not the 2.5 gcd that's the issue but the animation. I've died countless times becuase I used HG or Holmgang near death only to be killed during the start animation and the skill still gets used and now im dead with my "oh #$%@" skill used up.

Skills have a 2.5 gcd but they take .5-1 sec for the actual skill to take effect in most cases because of that starting animation.