Lock and Load: The Reassembled Machinist Guide

[Myon88]

Frankly, I don't know enough about melee mechanics to say if it forces them into suboptimal situations, but no one seems to have an issue with it.

I mean, they're going to be moving to hit the heart anyway won't they? Unless you mean some groups just leave their melee on the boss full time and let the ranged DPS kill the heart by themselves. I guess you could do that too - but in my group all the DPSers are on the heart anyway, so I'm just leaving myself out of the first one.

[Myon88]

Feint is a weaponskill and not an off-global cooldown ability, so you wouldn't be able to fire it in the position Blank is in, between weaponskills like that.

If you did try to fire Feint at that position, what would happen is you would spend the backswing of Split Shot doing nothing (because the game will only allow you to fire abilities off while weaponskill GCDs are resolving). And it would look something like this,

...
Split, (you're spamming Feint but nothing comes out)
Feint
Clean
(Wildfire explodes at the same time as normal, except there's no time for the Slug because Feint used up one weaponskill slot in the wildfire sequence)

And since it is a weaponskill, it means that in practically any situation where you can use Feint, you may as well fire Split/Slug/Clean Shot instead since those have higher potency and trigger procs. It does have uses, just very niche ones, mainly for when you want the slow debuff, or when you have to fire a weaponskill on the move and you can't/don't want to drop Gauss Barrel for some reason.

[Snugglebutt]

It would be nice if SE changed it (Feint) to an ability as opposed to weapon skill. I just have a personal dislike of using Blank against specifically bosses due to being a close range skill that has no effect on the boss outside of a slight potency which to me defeats the point of playing a long ranged class if need to run into melee range/using essentially a positional skill which the fight mechanically should not require from this class. The rest of the rotation working well with the concept of ranged class but that one skill throwing a spanner in the works if end up having to use it running up close when the bonus effect (knock back) is useless and the fight itself mechanically does not require it followed by then once used putting some distance again between you and the boss. It just feels wrong somehow using it in that situation.

The exception and time I do like the skill however is when against generic mobs which can be knocked back when your in trouble (often I follow up with either leg or foot grazes), I don't mind throwing it out there/weaving it in also when the actual fight mechanics bring you into close range to avoid AoE's but as a skill when used against mobs/bosses which can neither be knocked back/does not require being so and does not require you being close range due to the mechanics of the fight...it's just bugs me. I would love it if was an alternative ability skill with potency that could replace it in that situation. One that remains ranged like the rest of the rotation yet doesn't screw things up, even if had slightly lower potency than Blank I would still prefer that. It might sound petty and I am not sure if I can get across/adequately explain well enough why bugs me but if honest it does slightly annoy me.

[Snugglebutt]

Fair enough, was just curious as mentioned.

[Myon88]

No worries, Feint has always been in a rather unusual position for MCH and BRD post-3.0 since it's a weaponskill that can be fired instantly even with GB/WM on.

It would be interesting to see how gameplay would change if it were an ability (on top of being spammable with no cooldown like it is now). If you wanted you could weave it behind as many weaponskills are you want, and fill literally every gap in our rotation - for a massive TP cost of course. It would be kinda cool actually, it would make TP management matter again.

[Only1zbro]

OK so I'm new to the MCH class, typically I'm a tank. I've gone over the 3.05 opening rotation from Aiurily and am going over the 3.25 version now as well. I have a noob question though, I know at the end of the 3.05 rotation before the last Slug Shot you turn off Gauss Barrel but throughout the rest of a fight when and where are you supposed to be turning it off and on for optimization? It's not evident to me so I assume there's a really solid answer to this, hopefully one that I don't have to sift through 50 pages for.
Cheers

[RLofOBFL]

OK so I'm new to the MCH class, typically I'm a tank. I've gone over the 3.05 opening rotation from Aiurily and am going over the 3.25 version now as well. I have a noob question though, I know at the end of the 3.05 rotation before the last Slug Shot you turn off Gauss Barrel but throughout the rest of a fight when and where are you supposed to be turning it off and on for optimization? It's not evident to me so I assume there's a really solid answer to this, hopefully one that I don't have to sift through 50 pages for.
Cheers

You remove gauss when you have NO unused gcd(most popularly in all your WF) to get one auto attack in then reattach it. The longer you end up w/o GB, the longer it take to auto when you do remove it & the less overall dps you're outputting. At least that's what I learned from Aiurily so it's probably right lol

[Snugglebutt]

I tend to keep GB on throughout dungeon and raid runs unless the fight has such a high movement/dodging/kiting requirement that it becomes detrimental so I can't help you with that question because I do not follow that rotation and I do not turn off GB for rotation purposes. I only turn mine off when fight mechanics aka things like the AoE's and movement are too complex to keep up a decent level of DPS with it on. In those types of fights I master weave and have no set in stone rotation to begin with until done that same fight enough times to pre-plan everything without worry of major mistakes.

[JackFross]

The idea is that you need your Auto Attack (which feels like it's ~80 potency) to outweigh the loss from dropping GB. GB is a 30% gain.

Hot Shot = 120 => 36 / 140 => 42
Split Shot = 140 => 42 / 160 => 48
Slug Shot = 180 => 54 / 200 => 60
Clean Shot = 200 => 60 / 220 => 66
Lead Shot = 490 => 147 / 510 => 153

That's the gain you get from GB - aka the loss you suffer when dropping it and hitting said GCD. The oGCD stuff is a bit wonky because you can only use two of your oGCD hits without being under GB - Blank and Head Graze/Suppressive Fire. Both are 100 Potency, so a gain of 30 with GB equipped. Applying these to the above, the only situation where you could GCD > oGCD without GB and still get a gain is if you're hitting Hot Shot or Split Shot - and even then the gain is minimal at best and ONLY a gain IF there's actually an Auto in that timeframe.

The general rule of thumb is you want 1 auto per GCD you use out of GB.

If you end up delaying Ricochet or Gauss Round by turning GB off, you're taking significant hits to damage - those things are 260 and 390 potency off-gcd attacks - comparable with Dragoon's Jump and PS+Jump - two of our strongest attacks. Don't delay them if you can help it.

This is all garnered from a bit of research into Aiurily's videos as well as my own number crunching as seen here. I call Autos 80 potency because they hit about as hard as Rook attacks, which are 80 potency.

[RLofOBFL]

Okay so I never ever use feint, for me(221) it does 1000-1050 damage & crits 1600 with gauss, split shot without Gauss does 870-930 & crits 1400 & I get an auto for 490~ than can crit for 800. Correct me if I'm wrong but the only time I think feint would be even remotely useful is if GB is on cd & I can't stand and cast for a few seconds bc some annoying mechanic.



Is there ever any situation I SHOULD use feint? I get a lot of mixed answers with google...