Endwalker GNB Discussion

[Ixon]

From what was released by the media tour, there is a growing concern amongst myself and others about how busy and oGCD heavy the general rotation for GNB will be next expansion. Specifically when it concerns the timings of cooldowns and general movement during raids. Now while we have no idea how movement intense the next raid tier may or may not be, what we do know is we are given a forced oGCD, Hypervelocity, after each Burst Strike, and an increased cartridge capacity meaning more Burst Strike's meaning more Hypervelocity's on top of the already forced oGCDs ​after your Gnashing Fang combo GCDs every 30sec.

Currently you can utilize Burst Strike as padding to get any double weaves out necessary in time for a mechanic, or to move a boss without clipping your GCD, but a FORCED oGCD that you must use or lose restricts this current form of flexibility. Double Down on the GCD will give us some of that breathing room back, but only once every 60sec instead of the readily available Burst Strike that simply requires a charge. Normally, if you have the timings down, you can pre-pop mitigations necessary for a mechanic, but this only is effective if you are not trying to perhaps contain two damaging mechanics within a mitigation window.

Endwalker also introduces another issue of Heart of Corundum's(HoC) initial duration. In order to get the maximum mitigation of HoC, you must apply it to yourself or an ally within a 4sec window. While PLD and WAR also received similar effects, they are not prone to the cursed amount of forced oGCDs that Endwalker GNB will have, making the timings for HoC harder to accomplish. There is also the extra charge of Aurora which is yet another oGCD we must weave, but that is minor in comparison.

There are other minor issues that may or may not be prevalent by the time of expansion such as the 30sec Excog effect being overwritten by the 25sec cooldown of HoC, No Mercy's duration not long enough to apply to a final Burst Strike's Hypervelocity and not long enough to contain all your bursts strikes, Gnashing combo, and other GCD abilities during a Bloodfest window, etc.

TL;DR Endwalker GNB is about to reach Stormblood DRK levels of oGCD spam. Just wanted to get a non-DRK related Endwalker discussion going about the potential future of GNB.

[Ignimortis]

I'd take GNB's oGCD spam over what we get. Sincerely, a DRK main.

Also, I find it unlikely that EW GNB will approach StB DRK in that way. StB DRK had almost 60 APM, GNB will probably be pushing 40, 45 at most.

[Ixon]

I'd take GNB's oGCD spam over what we get. Sincerely, a DRK main.

Also, I find it unlikely that EW GNB will approach StB DRK in that way. StB DRK had almost 60 APM, GNB will probably be pushing 40, 45 at most.

The main difference for GNB is the fact that the oGCDs are forced after their GCD. As in you HAVE to use Continuation after the GCD, or you lose the damage. Whereas you can push an Edge back a GCD to make room for a cooldown or whatever else, without losing it entirely.

[Launched]

I'd take GNB's oGCD spam over what we get. Sincerely, a DRK main.

Also, I find it unlikely that EW GNB will approach StB DRK in that way. StB DRK had almost 60 APM, GNB will probably be pushing 40, 45 at most.

That's a huge exaggeration. DRK had 40-46cpm on high uptime fights in Omega, GNB has 40-45cpm right now.

[Ixon]

That's a huge exaggeration. DRK had 40-46cpm on high uptime fights in Omega, GNB has 40-45cpm right now.

Those numbers are what I see as well. I am assuming GNB gets a 3-5cpm increase going into Endwalker, which may not sound like much on paper, but I am concerned all those forced oGCDs will really start to get in the way.

[Ignimortis]

That's a huge exaggeration. DRK had 40-46cpm on high uptime fights in Omega, GNB has 40-45cpm right now.

So they are, around 45-47 CPM for Omega fights, out of which about 10 were Dark Arts uses. Posted late at night and forgot to take my rose-tinted glasses off. Although I'm seeing mostly 36-40 CPM for Gunbreakers on current endgame fights, but that might be due to forced downtime.

Anyway, I might really want to try out GNB seriously in EW. It already had 9 oGCDs per minute in stable conditions, now it gets even more.

[WhyAmIHere]

Yeah it looks a bit hectic, but personally I'm loving it. I enjoy the pacing of it, and I honestly look forward to having to further learn how my kit and the fights will interact, and having to be good at managing my cooldowns whilst in burst windows. I'd take this and have to learn how to fit everything in instead of any alternative which'd just be 1-2-3, with an occasional 4.

[Ixon]

So they are, around 45-47 CPM for Omega fights, out of which about 10 were Dark Arts uses. Posted late at night and forgot to take my rose-tinted glasses off. Although I'm seeing mostly 36-40 CPM for Gunbreakers on current endgame fights, but that might be due to forced downtime.

Anyway, I might really want to try out GNB seriously in EW. It already had 9 oGCDs per minute in stable conditions, now it gets even more.

It's closer to 42-44cpm on fights that have a decent amount of uptime according to top parsing.

A No Mercy burst window without Bloodfest has 9 oGCDs, 13 with Bloodfest, and that's just in the 20sec No Mercy window. Trying to weave in cooldowns or move during those 20sec can already be an issue that will only get worse with more forced oGCDs.

[Ixon]

Yeah it looks a bit hectic, but personally I'm loving it. I enjoy the pacing of it, and I honestly look forward to having to further learn how my kit and the fights will interact, and having to be good at managing my cooldowns whilst in burst windows. I'd take this and have to learn how to fit everything in instead of any alternative which'd just be 1-2-3, with an occasional 4.

It's not about managing your cooldowns as it will be physically impossible in some situations to get certain abilities out exactly when you want them without potentially compromising your DPS due to forced oGCDs. It will feel fun and engaging on a dummy, but will lead to unnecessary complications in raids, even more so in ultimates.

[Ignimortis]

It's closer to 42-44cpm on fights that have a decent amount of uptime according to top parsing.

A No Mercy burst window without Bloodfest has 9 oGCDs, 13 with Bloodfest, and that's just in the 20sec No Mercy window. Trying to weave in cooldowns or move during those 20sec can already be an issue that will only get worse with more forced oGCDs.

I think that instead of dropping GNB-specific oGCDs, SE should just take potency off the movement skills (Rough Divide being among them), considering both that they're supposed to be utility and that they're not really fun to weave.