Mechanics Breakdown

Breaking down mechanics of the Slayer class for a better understanding.

Gunblade Focus Quick Recharge

With the Patch from 06/07/2023 came a new Slayer Class skill which might sound good at first but looking further into it might not be worth your skill point.

• The skill amplifies our Gunblade Focus generation by 120% after using the finisher from Gunblade Focus Overdrive for a duration of 20 seconds.

• This effect does stack with Gunblade Focus Gauge Amplifier

Before we get into the pros and cons of the skill let us create a scenario in which we can compare the buildup with and without the skill.

500 Focus is needed to reach Gunblade Focus Level 5 and while attacking boss enemies our Gunblade Focus generation is 5 times the original Gunblade Focus value of our attacks.

In this example I will just chain a bunch of Stay Arts Flowing Sirius Stage 1 to 2 together until we reach Gunblade Focus Level 5.

Time to do the math without using the skill first. I will round the amount of times required to use the skill to approach an in game scenario.

Without using the skill it takes us around 7 of these or 21.7 seconds.

$$14.2*5 = 71 500/71 = 7.04225352113 7/3.10 = 21.7$$

With using the skill it would take us around 6 of these or 18.6 seconds.

$$(14.2*5)1.2 = 85.2 500/85.2 = 5.86854460094 6*3.10 = 18.6$$

The above example is a 14% difference since we are not able to make use of the 20 second buff duration in a scenario in which the enemy does not move.

• The skill is not active at the start of a fight.
• The skill does not help us when we lose Gunblade Focus to any other means than using Gunblade Focus Overdrive Finisher.
• Buff duration has to be fully utilized, every second of not making use of the skills buff duration decreases the impact it has.
• Killing an enemy with Gunblade Focus Overdrive Finisher will also cause us to lose some buff duration since in most cases there will be a small delay until we fight the next enemy.
• We usually build and want to build Gunblade Focus when an enemy is able to move so using Counters will shrink the difference in time even more.
• The skill does not help if you happen to use your Photon Blast right after using Gunblade Focus Overdrive Finisher.

Gunblade Focus Gauge Amplifier

The reason why we do not put more than one point into that skill is because it can cause diminishing returns.

For example if you use a Supercharged Normal Attack into a Step Counter Weapon Action you will generate less Gunblade Focus with the skill at Level 5 than at Level 1.

Using the skill at Level 1 will generate 232.5 Gunblade Focus. $(65*1.5)+(90*1.5) = 232.5$

Using the skill at Level 5 will generate 220 Gunblade Focus. $(65*2)+90 = 220$

The above example was taken from ものさし.

Slugshot

The skill would not be bad by itself, however since we are able to deal damage with our Weapon Action, the skill is in a rather sorry state.

This is a fundamental issue because the game handles Slug Shot like a PA which makes it unable to cancel another PA unlike the Weapon Action which then leads to the following drawbacks:

• lower DPS than using Weapon Action Stage 1 to 3 after a PA
• lower DPS than using another PA like Stay Arts Shifting Spica or Stay Arts Waving Rigel instead
• does not build Rage which makes using a PA instead more appealing
• only restores 2 more PP than Weapon Action Stage 1 to 3
• only has 3 more range than Weapon Action Stage 1 to 3

I made a table comparing a few different scenarios with sFS12 which has a Weapon Action cancel time of 0.25 seconds and sSS which has a Weapon Action cancel time of 0.1 seconds.

Variation	Potency	Time (s)	PP Cost	Focus	Rage	Focus/s	Rage/s	F0 DPS	F5 DPS	OD DPS
sFS12>Slug Shot	1350	3.61	34	19.7	11	27	9	374	416	436
sFS12>WA123	1510	3.88	36	23.2	11	30	8	389	433	453
sSS>Slug Shot	385	1.11	1	5.6	0.7	25	2	347	386	404
sFS12>WA123	545	1.53	3	9.1	0.7	30	1	355	396	414

This table already makes Slug Shot look bad in terms of damage but it actually does not even account for the fact that Weapon Action Stage 3 can be used to counter. So let us look at a counter scenario.

Variation	Potency	Time (s)	PP Cost	Focus	Rage	Focus/s	Rage/s	F0 DPS	F5 DPS	OD DPS
sFS12>Slug Shot>BCWA	2360	5.78	26	29.7	11	26	6	408	454	476
sFS12>WA123>BCWA	2470	5.68	30	32.2	11	28	6	435	484	507