Quote Originally Posted by Izsha View Post
That's still a cost for 'just in case'. That's 20 gauge that could have gone to an fc during a party buff window or delay on chaos use.

The gauge bar has just changed from a 'keep as high as possible for crit buff' to a battery you charge to unleash damage during buff windows.

The solution is to learn what moves knock you back and arms length them with onslaught being a specific and planned response to maneuver the battle field only when neccessary.

Optimal play will never involve sitting in gauge 'just in case'. You hold it to store damage for burst windows for potions, buffs, etc. There may be some specific scenarios where you have less than 50 and the buff is strong enough to justify the use of onslaught dat yo wrap up a potion use, but for standard rotation it will never be used outside ir.

With anti knockback in our toolkit now, onslaught is a last resort option.
Playing devil's advocate for a moment: What if knock backs happen more often than Arms Length is off CD? You seem pretty resigned to this possibility never occurring, so I'm curious what "optimal play" would be in this scenario.