Shots Fired: A Machinist Guide

[VitalSuit]

How does the dps of MCH compare to BRD and the other jobs?
While the RNG is actually a lot of fun ( imo ), it kinda worries me a bit.

Rapid fire burst is hilarious in pvp to people that don't expect it. Had a NIN run up to me to try and kill me.
Needless to say he got bursted down so fast when he tried to run away I snared him with foot graze and then used between the eyes to crit him for 6k :s

[Odowla]

MCH seems to sustain and burst a bit higher, just saying~

[Aiurily]

MCH seems to sustain and burst a bit higher, just saying~

my experience is different, with bard sustaining more dps in my own baseline parses (gear difference being accounted for) though disembowel is a bigger increase for machinists, since like 25.5% of a bard's damage is dots/flaming arrow lol (vs machinist where leadshot is around 11.5%, then wildfire is around 7.5%; though wildfire can mostly also be buffed by disembowel indirectly, so really, it's only 12% or so of a MCH's damage that isn't affected by disembowel, with the extra 0.5% from leadshot dot damage in wildfire)

their burst is sort of apples and oranges, too. wildfire is a big delayed burst, bard has immediate burst (ie - instant kill the alarums in a1 savage without needing to bait resins lol)

[Lavieh]

my experience is different

I agree with this. I do think that MCH's are better for progression since they can maintain resources better but I'm fairly certain once we start seeing speedclears BRD will be on top.

[Odowla]

Also account for how rediculous BRD is to sustain high - that being said, i can sustain 1.2kish with both but sustaining it with b ard is so insane

Also, lol 12% on leadshot, i always knew it wazs that high but when you think of a single dot being 12% of your damage.. lol, holy shit

[Livaille]

I am able to react to the slug shot proc quickly enough, I was just wondering what was the best way to deal with it. Thanks for your answers.

[BannedatRegistration]

Another tactic you can use is to conveniently centralize your Status Effect HUD bar to your character so you can see the proc immediately instead of waiting for the combo bracket to show.

[Judge_Xero]

I'm going to be trying a different opener, if anyone wants to critique it as well.

Gauss On

HC -> HS -> GR -> RS -> LS -> Reload -> WF + Gauss Off -> Split -> HE+B4B -> Slug (X-POT) + QR -> Split + Gauss On -> Rapid -> Clean -> Ric -> Slug -> Crit + Clean -> Head+Blank -> Split + GR

** Trying to get more AA in during WF
** Not sure if I can get GR to fit in twice

[Myon88]

I'm going to be trying a different opener, if anyone wants to critique it as well.

Gauss On

HC -> HS -> GR -> RS -> LS -> Reload -> WF + Gauss Off -> Split -> HE+B4B -> Slug (X-POT) + QR -> Split + Gauss On -> Rapid -> Clean -> Ric -> Slug -> Crit + Clean -> Head+Blank -> Split + GR

It's hard to justify using Lead Shot before you're finished putting up all your buffs (BFB, HE, RS, Potion), it's by far our highest potency per cast time attack and you want it to be as strong as possible.

The way I see it, you always want to use your buffs from weakest to strongest too. If you cast BFB after Raging Strikes for instance, you're basically wasting one precious GCD of Raging Strikes uptime to stop DPS to cast the (weaker) BFB buff. So you can see it's better to do it the other way around, let the uptime of your weaker buffs get 'eaten' up by the more important things.

You can generally view the logical progression of the opener as split into phases of priorities like so,
1. Put up buffs from weakest to strongest where applicable i.e Hypercharge, BFB, HE, RS, Potion, Hot Shot
2. Lead Shot
3. Wildfire and Reload come next, you obviously want Wildfire up before you start getting into the meat of the opener, and Reload to make sure your Split/Slug/Clean sequence progresses smoothly
4. Proceed to cycle through Split/Slug/Clean, weave in any ogcds you have from strongest to weakest, use Rapid Fire and Reassemble sensibly

I personally favour this double Gauss Round opener that fulfills all the above considerations,

Hypercharge, BFB, HE, RS, Tank pulls the boss, Gauss Round
Hot Shot | Pot
Lead Shot | Reload
Split | Wildfire
Slug | Rapid Fire
Clean | Ricochet
Split | Head Graze, Blank
Slug | Reassemble
Clean | Quick Reload
Split | Gauss Round
Wildfire goes off

[Judge_Xero]

It's hard to justify using Lead Shot before you're finished putting up all your buffs (BFB, HE, RS, Potion), it's by far our highest potency per cast time attack and you want it to be as strong as possible.

You are right. When I was initially looking at it, it didn't seem like I was getting the last couple skills under the HE/B4B timers if I popped them first prior to LS, so I was comparing the difference in gained potency from Wildfire if I delayed the cast till after LS.

One of the issues I was running into with excess latency, was not fitting the skills into the Buff timers and, my first Slug Shot not registering under Wildfire. Which I thought to alleviate both with swapping out of Gauss Barrel to have Wildfire Initialize quicker between the GCD and to be able to cast my buffs during the first couple GCD while not under the effect of GB. But, for some reason the AA Damage does not have as big of an impact on Wildfire, although calculated higher potency for AA + Split and AA + Slug. (and it gets very clunky swapping GB mid Burst)

So here's what I ended up doing, which is pretty well the same as the Double GR Opener.

Hypercharge, BFB, HE, RS, Tank pulls the boss, Gauss Round
Hot Shot | Pot
Lead Shot | Reload/Wildfire (this lets me get Wildfire Credit for both the first Split and Slug Shots, where as if I used Wildfire on the next Slug, it wouldn't register before Slug goes off due to it being instant cast)
Split | Quick Reload
Slug | Ricochet
Split | Reassemble/Rapid Fire
Clean | Blank
Slug | Head Graze
Split|
Clean | Gauss Round
Wildfire goes off