Gunner Stuff Discussion ™

[Sp-24]

Updating the OP, since it's way overdue, and nobody seemed to bother to take over. I wanted to read the discussion and base the edit on the community's consensus on all things Gunner, but it's 2000 posts long, holy crap. So let's just assume I know better than all of you.

Since Hunter subclassing had been severely nerfed, I'm writing mostly from the Gunner/Ranger's perspective.

Hopefully at least one of the two is up to date:
http://pso2-skill.pwnedgalaxy.net/skillcalc.php
http://pso2skillsimulator.com/simulator/

Hopefully helpful stuff

• Selphia's tl;dr Gunner guide:
  
  Spoiler!

  
  
  
• Class combinations
  
  Subclasses for Gunner
  
  Spoiler!

  Gunner/Hunter
  Hunter is a somewhat viable subclass for Gunner. Hunter's Fury Stance branch offers a 1.6 damage modifier that doesn't require much setup for 52 SP, and there is a good selection of defensive skills that can improve your survivability, such as Massive Hunter, Flash Guard, Iron Will, the slightly more useful Automate Halfline and possibly Absorption.
  
  Gunner/Fighter
  Despite Fighter's tree being made of damage modifiers, you may have a hard time finding something that suits you, as they are all very conditional. Brave Stance skills provide a 1.5 damage modifier when you attack an enemy from the front. It's lower than Wise Stance's 1.755, but you are much more likely to end up face-to-face with your enemy, plus most of them have their weak spots on the front as well. PP Slayer is something you are likely to trigger very often with how fast certain PAs burn your PP, and its +200 R-ATK can be quite helpful. Staying just below the 50% mark shouldn't be a problem with Attack PP Restorate, either. Adrenaline might also be worth taking so that you get to keep your buffs for longer.
  On the other hand, while Halfline and Deadline Slayer provide +100 and +150 R-ATK bonuses, respectively, managing your HP without Limit Break can be very troublesome, plus they get in the way of Perfect Keeper. Similarly, status effects are too much of a hassle to use Chase Advance Plus. Tech Arts JA Bonus gives you a 1.15 damage modifier if you don't spam the same PA. But, with how most of Gunner's PAs don't work well together, and weapon actions such as S-Roll interrupt this skill, it is hardly worth it.
  
  Gunner/Ranger
  Perhaps the best subclass for Gunner, it offers a massive 2.4 ranged damage modifier with its basic skills (Weak Hit Advance and Standing Snipe), grants access to the invaluable Weak Bullet and allows you to easily recover PP with either Killing Bonus for automatic recovery while mobbing or with Tactics Trap and Stun Grenade (for mobs and bosses), Gravity Bomb (small mobs and certain bosses only) or Upper Trap (only viable against some bosses and really slow mobs). A carefully aimed Gravity Bomb can recover your entire PP gauge, but using traps requires you to interrupt your attacks.
  Among other useful Ranger skills are Moving Snipe, which powers up your attacks when moving and a for second after you stop (so, basically, right until Standing Snipe kicks in) and Weak Hit Blast Bonus, which lets you charge your PB faster. Power Bullet and PP Save Bullet are good options if you find yourself running around with a loaded WB often, though you might consider just playing Ranger then. And if you get your hands on a launcher that Gunner can use, you can enjoy its fun, but barely useful melee PAs and may consider picking up Jellen Shot for support.
  
  Gunner/Force
  If the shortage of T-ATK machineguns and complete absence of good ones among them isn't enough of a clue, Gunner and Force simply don't mix. None of Force skills help Gunner's playstyle, with the notable exception of PP Up 1 and 2, but Techer has those as well. However, it is possible to use High Time, Perfect Keeper and Aerial Advance to slightly improve your tech damage and can power up your Zanverse. When in a party, you can also use Chain Trigger to boost your hard-hitting techs, though keep in mind that they still won't be that strong with this class choice. Carefully timed Ilbarta or Namegid are still a possibility, but those are pretty much your only tricks.
  
  Gunner/Techer
  The few things that help Gunner in Techer's skill tree are Element Weak Hit, PP Restorate and possibly PP Up. Support techniques aren't very powerful without the Techer's main class skills, though they are still there. PP Convert could have been useful, if anything above level 5 didn't take away your Perfect Keeper bonus. You can also grab Reverse Bonus and humiliate people that you revive with your puny Shifta and Deband. With some Wind Mastery and Gunner's damage modifiers, you can also have a very powerful Zanverse.
  
  Gunner/Braver
  Braver doesn't offer Gunner much. Average and Weak Stances are the watered down versions of Hunter and Ranger subclasses, respectively, that you can switch between at will. It's even worse now that S-Roll JA Bonus isn't overpowered anymore and there's no reason to bank on Stance Charge skills to use with Heel Stab. Quick Mate and Just Reversal Cover can be of some help if you don't use Automate Deadline. Attack Advance can power up your normal shots and S-Roll attack, but not S-Roll Arts. Not sure if it affects Dive Roll Shoot.
  
  Gunner/Bouncer
  A melee fighter/support caster is a surprisingly good subclass for Gunner, even if far from the best. Shifta Air Attack Boost helps, with how many of Gunner's PAs can and should be used in the air, though you do have to recast that thing every minute. Critical Field can be sort of helpful when dealing with damage variance. Bouncer's stances, particularly Elemental Stance if you don't want to rely on breakables, aren't the easiest to use, but they are still very handy.
  PP is an issue for Gunner, so Bouncer's plethora of PP-recovering skills are worth noting. If you have no trouble using Elemental Stance, Elemental PP Restorate Field is nice as well. Deband Attack PP Restorate isn't too bad, either, but is a bit of a hassle to use propely and often. You may also consider getting Just Reversal PP Gain and then getting your ass kicked every once in a while for even more PP.
  You may also grab Field Remain, so that others can benefit from your useless support. Craft Mastery helps your survivability with extended units, and powers up extended weapons such as Pandora Extreme for when you want a devastating Chain Finish, or Blocker Bread™ for a 60 R-ATK stronger Satellite Aim.
  
  
  
• Skills
  
  
  Spoiler!

  Twin Machinegun Gear (ツインマシンガンギア)
  It's a heat gauge (so it goes down over time) thing that boosts your damage up to 1.3 times if you don't get hit and keep attacking. Pretty much a must have it you are seen anywhere near a machinegun.
  
  You can buy this skill in Challenge Quest if you plan to focus on machineguns for the duration of the run.
  
  Chain Trigger (チェイントリガー)
  Everybody knows how it works by now, but let's go over this anyway.
  
  When you activate Chain Trigger, next normal attack or uncharged technique that you do will leave a blue "target" of sorts on the spot that you hit. That target has a chain counter next to it. When you hit the spot with a normal attack or technique, or when other party members hit it with anything, the chain counter will go up by one for every hit. Any PA or charged technique that you, and only you, use on the target spot "finishes" the chain, which makes the target glow yellow and makes any PAs you touch it with deal x2-x5 damage, depending on the chain number, for the next few seconds. Chain counter can go up to 100 (101 with Twice Chain shenanigans), and it gets progressively harder to keep the chain active, since it wears off faster as numbers go higher. This skill works with any weapon, and switching weapons while there is an active chain won't affect it.
  
  Investing skill points into Chain Trigger doesn't change anything but improve its recast time, from 2,5 minutes to just one minute.
  
  You can buy this skill in Challenge Quest at level 10 right before the Final Mission for 50 grinders. I'm not sure what will you be up against there, but I'm assuming that Chain Trigger would be helpful.
  
  Chain Finish (チェインフィニッシュ)
  Further increases the power of "finishing" PAs and techniques, multiplying their damage by up to 1.35.
  
  Twice Chain (トワイスチェイン)
  Makes building up chain count exactly two times less of a pain if you use machineguns, since every hit will bump the chain counter by 2 instead of 1. With this skill, one full normal attack combo brings chain trigger to x3 damage modifier, significantly increasing Chain Trigger's usability.
  
  Chain Finish Bonus (チェインFボーナス)
  Shortens Chain Trigger's cooldown based on how high was your chain count when you successfully finished it. Each point cuts 0.25 seconds off of CT's cooldown. This means that each 4 points let it recover 1 second faster, and a full 100 point combo will bring the cooldown time to just 35 seconds. It is unfortunately unknown if a 101 chain shortens the cooldown further.
  
  Showtime (ショウタイム)
  Can only be activated when machineguns are equipped. After activating this skill, your machinegun gear charge speed and hate generated from attacking enemies both increase for the next 45 seconds. This skill is just barely helpful on its own, but some other skills down the Show Time branch are very good.
  
  Showtime Star (ショウタイムスター)
  Increases your max PP by up to 50 points so long as you have machineguns equipped while Showtime is active. This skill was made for Satellite Aim and you know it. It also works great with Ranger's traps, since every enemy that you hit with Stun Grenade recovers 10 more of your PP. Other skills that recover a percentage of you PP, such as Just Reversal PP Gain and probably nothing else, synergize with this as well.
  
  Toughness Time (タフネスタイム)
  Completely nullifies machinegun gear gauge reduction due to damage when Showtime is active. However, it will still go down over time if you aren't shooting at something.
  
  High Time (ハイタイム)
  Main class only. Is not actually a part of Showtime branch, but you do need Showtime to even use it. With this skill, so long as Showtime is active, the damage you deal steadily grows over time. Getting hit nullifies High Time's bonus that you've accumulated over time and makes it slowly increase again, which makes is sorta like what Machinegun Gear used to be. This skill will boost the damage of any weapon for the Showtime's duration, but you still need machineguns to activate Showtime in the first place.
  
  One More Time (ワンモアタイム)
  If you never get hit during the initial Showtime, it will reactivate for another 45 seconds, but only once. The 15 seconds cooldown that you normally receive after Showtime ends will still be there after One More Time is over. If you had High Time's effect during Showtime, you will not lose the damage bonus that it gave you upon reactivation. You will also need to have machineguns equipped upon reactivation, since it will refuse to trigger otherwise.
  
  Zero Range Advance 1 and 2 (ゼロレンジアドバンス1, ゼロレンジアドバンス2)
  This skill increases the power of all shooting attacks when at point blank range. Since Gunner's best moves deal ranged damage and have no range, it's a good skill to have.
  
  Zero Range Critical (ゼロレンジクリティカル)
  If you love critical hits, you might want to take this, since it gives you a +50% bonus to the chance of landing criticals point blank. Just like Zero Range Advance, it only works on shooting attacks.
  
  Perfect Keeper (パーフェクトキーパー)
  You deal additional damage while your HP is above 75%. Not too bad of a skill to put one point in for a 1.1 modifier, but spending 10 points on it for a 1.2 one is up for debate.
  
  You can buy this skill in Challenge Quest at level 1, which gives you 1.1 damage modifier.
  
  Aerial Advance (エアリアルアドバンス)
  You deal additional damage to enemies that are in the air. While there are plenty of aerial enemies in the game, and 1.2 modifier seems nice, this skill's utility is still questionable, as most of your enemies walk on the ground and can't be reliably kept in the air for long. In addition, some enemies that you'd think are floating, such as Val Rodos, don't trigger Aerial Advance for whatever reason.
  
  Automate Deadline (オートメイトデッドライン)
  Gives you a chance to automatically use a Mate item once your HP hits 25% without interrupting you in any way. The chance itself increases from negligible to 100% as you level up the skill. It's more economical that Hunter's Automate Halfline, due to it conserving your mates until you need them more, but is also more risky, should you find something that hits too hard. It also doesn't work well with Perfect Keeper, since Monomates will never bring your HP above 75% with it, and neither will Dimates if they're used when you are at less than 9% HP. To avoid this problem, consider not getting hit.
  
  Attack PP Restorate (アタックPPリストレイト)
  This skill increases the amount of PP that you get from attacking your enemies. Your PP seems to be stored as a real number, so you will still benefit from the skill if you only put 1 SP into it and use a weapon that recovers 1 PP per hit, like Rifle or Machinegun, even though PSO2 usually likes to round numbers down whenever given a chance. At 10 SP, this skill doubles your attack PP recovery. Unfortunately, it doesn't multiply with weapon potentials that are supposed to further boost that - when using such a weapon, you recover 200% of PP with the skill and then 30% or 80% more with the potential, instead of the numbers multiplying for 260%/360% recovery. Oh well.
  
  This skill can be bought in Challenge Quest at a rather low level, and it's still pretty useful. Go figure.
  
  Twin Machinegun Mastery (Tマシンガンマスタリー)
  A main class skill that increases the damage of critical hits by up to 1.05 and increases PP recovery when twin machineguns are equipped. Moderately useful, since PP is always an issue for Gunner.
  
  S-Roll Up (Sロールアップ)
  Increases the damage you deal when shooting during S-Roll. There are much better skills to put points into.
  
  S-Roll Arts (Sロールアーツ)
  Pressing the RMB/PA button during S-Roll deals a slightly stronger attack at the cost of 10 PP. While this skill consumes PP, it's not a PA, so you still recover your PP over time and from damaging your enemy as you would normally. It's still pretty useless despite that.
  
  S-Roll JA Bonus (SロールJAボーナス)
  Increases the damage of a JA done right after S-Roll by up to 10%. It only works on one attack done after S-Roll, which limits the skill's usability to just a few PAs, namely Infinity Fire, Elder Rebellion and Heel Stab. It is also incompatible with Ranger's Standing Snipe skill for obvious reasons. Furthermore, while S-Roll JA Bonus does work on regular attacks, PAs and techniques, the genius responsible for this skill made it incompatible with the normal S-Roll attack and S-Roll Arts skill. Use at your own risk, or, better yet, don't.
  
  Rare Mastery Gunner (レアマスタリーガンナー)
  A main class-only skill. Since anything below 10☆ is largely useless nowadays, you have no excuse not to put one point into this for 30 more R-ATK.
  
  Dive Roll Advance (ダイブロールアドバンス)
  Not that great for Gunners considering that they have S-Roll, but it does help one's survivability during S-Roll dancing if you interrupt every one or two S-Rolls with one Dive Roll. 2 SP offer 0.09 seconds of invincibility, a much more valuable asset than the low number may suggest.
  
  Dive Roll Shoot (ダイブロールシュート)
  Another thing that Ranger benefits more than Gunner from, Dive Roll Shoot still does give you another option to approach an enemy with. Works somewhat well followed with a ground Satellite Aim if you need to have your enemy lie stunned on the ground, but is pretty gimmicky, and probably not widely used.
  
  You can purchase this skill in Challenge Quest, and it seems slightly more useful in a Dead Approach- and Grim Barrage-less environment.
  
  
• Machinegun Photon Arts
  
  
  Spoiler!

  Aerial Shooting (エリアルシューティング)
  A largely useless PA now that Dead Approach has been reworked and Grim Barrage is being added. It doesn't deal good damage and can't compare to the usefulness of the alternatives for approaching things. It can be used to gain altitude, but this PA is still more of a waste of a palette slot than anything.
  
  This PA drops in Challenge Quest, though I'm not entirely sure if it's any good there. It is one of the few ways to approach enemies until you get to buy Dive Roll Shoot, but you can just walk up to them, too.
  
  Bullet Squall (バレットスコール)
  Hardly useful. The PA has extremely limited range, and while it hits relatively hard it isn't very easy to aim and takes too long to execute. One good thing about it is that it is S-Roll cancelable at any time after you've started spinning in one place, although doing that screws up your positioning if you don't do it in aiming mode. Pretty sure it doesn't synergize with Standing Snipe, either. One thing it has over the otherwise superior Satellite Aim is that it doesn't launch your super armor-less victims out of everybody's, including your own, reach, but there is still Shift Period.
  
  This PA drops in Challenge Quest and sees some use there, as it's the first Gunner PA you find.
  
  Bullet Squall Type 0 (バレットスコール零式)
  The custom recipe fixes Bullet Squall's lack of mobility, as you can move around for as long as you keep tapping the PA button with it. This allows you to deal massive damage to weak points, since Bullet Squall's AoE seems to home in on them with just a little positioning. Combined with the roughly 20% damage bonus, there is no reason not to use the recipe. It does increase the PA's PP cost by 10, but, incidentally, the type 2 craft effect is PP cost reduction by up to 10 points. So, rev up those PA fragments and meseta!
  
  Dead Approach (デッドアプローチ)
  One of the updates has made Dead Approach stun enemies it hits instead of launching them away, which used to make it the go-to PA for covering distance if you couldn't be bothered to walk somewhere (a common issue for a Gunner suspended in the air, such as when catching up to Magatsu or any time you use Satellite Aim against more than one enemy). However, with a (presumably) superior alternative being available for just 10 Photon Crystals after April 15, there may be no more need to bother with this PA.
  

  Spoiler!

  One issue when using this PA on its own separate weapon palette is the delay between switching palettes. The PA itself is incredibly fast, but switching from another palette to it and then immediately back is impossible, since you need to wait around a second to change them. If you need to stay in the air (which you probably do if you have to use it in the first place) it's possible to deal with this limitation by doing one regular attack right after using Dead Approach and switching to another PA during that attack.

  
  Messiah Time (メシアタイム)
  
  A somewhat good, even if slow, PA. It deals a lot of damage if positioned correctly, can hit multiple enemies, has invincibility frames during most of its execution and super armor when it doesn't, and can be canceled by S-Roll at any time during the second part of the PA. Its damage output against single targets is overshadowed by Satellite Aim now that it isn't shit again and Shift Period is a better option for AoE, but Messiah Time is probably the best thing to use with Guld Milla for rapid healing.
  
  Infinity Fire (インフィニティファイア)
  One of the long range PAs. Infinity Fire and Elder Rebellion aren't too different from each other in terms of DPS (in fact, I found their performance almost identical), but each has its niche use thanks to the way they work. Infinity Fire allows you to move on the ground and even jump without interrupting the PA, and it conserves PP better than Elder Rebellion. It's also arguably easier to get and keep the damage bonus from Standing Snipe with it. Its cons include being bound to terrain, which makes it harder to deal with aerial targets, and its double damage exploding shots taking a while to come out. Infinity Fire can also be canceled with both Dive Roll and S-Roll and gives you super armor for its entire duration.
  
  Satellite Aim (サテライトエイム)
  The one and only. This particular PA has very small range, consumes PP very quickly despite only costing 20 per use, takes way too long to use on the ground (and makes it impossible to get Standing Snipe bonus if you try), and it launches enemies without super armor high into the air, where few things can reach them.
  
  Lovely, isn't it? Well, this PA has some strong sides as well. For one thing, it's really goddamn strong. It hits hard. It deals tons of damage. And, on top of that, it synergizes with pretty much every damage-boosting skill Gunner and Ranger have:
  
  

  • Due to the way explosions work in PSO2, you are very likely to have it home on the taget's weak spot and deal double damage, which is further boosted by Weak Hit Advance.
  • When used continuously in the air, not only is it fast, it also makes you stand still, which means that Standing Snipe effect kicks in eventually.
  • It has no range, so Zero Range Advance works as well.
  • If you got Aerial Advance for some reason, the enemies that you launch in the air receive additional damage. Aerial Satellite Aim launches them way too far up, though, so it's not advisable to do that.
  • If you get to unload Satellite Aim on your Chain Trigger, you can expect its already tremendous damage to multiply further.

  
  
  
  Oh, and it's also cancelable by S-Roll at any time and has super armor.
  
  In Challenge Quest, Cougar in Mission 3 has a chance to drop a Satellite Aim disk, and you should beg the MPA to drop it for you after you kill it. You can and should buy it after Mission 5 for two disks.
  
  Elder Rebellion (エルダーリベリオン)
  The other long range single target PA. Full Elder Rebellion deals more damage than Infinity Fire does over that time, but it also burns through PP faster and leaves you with no option but to cancel the PA and roll away if you find yourself in need to maneuver. It also suspends you in one spot in the air, which makes it better for sniping whatever it is you need to shoot up there and also leaves you out of reach of some enemies (very few of them as of Episode 3, though). Starting stronger than Infinity Fire also means that it should be used on Chain Trigger should you find yourself unable to reach the spot with Satellite Aim.
  
  This PA drops in Challenge Quest, and is, naturally, very useful there.
  
  Reverse Tap (リバースタップ)
  A PA that deals striking damage at melee range, has a chance to stun the enemies hit with it and sucks them in closer to you. Not a bad PA to set up some targets for Satellite Aim, but not quite as good as Gravity Bomb, either.
  
  Heel Stab (ヒールスタッブ)
  A PA specifically designed to work with the one skill that was supposed to balance Gunner after the class got nerfed hard during Episode 2, it was added as a replacement to Satellite Aim at close range after somebody had the bright idea to make that PA completely unusable. Naturally, Heel Stab is quite useless now that the king is back and S-Roll JA Bonus isn't nearly as powerful as it used to be.
  
  You can buy this PA late into the Challenge Quest, though I'm not sure if you should.
  
  Shift Period (シフトピリオド)
  The only strong AoE option that Gunner has if you don't count Satellite Aim wizardry and creative use of exploding bullets. This PA deals large damage to targets at melee range and finishes with a wide and relatively strong AoE attack that shoots non-piercing bullets all around. Unlike most other good PAs, Shift Period doesn't give you super armor, but it is S-Roll cancelable.
  
  Grim Barrage (グリムバラージュ)
  The new 20 PP approach PA. It covers a very respectable distance, keeps you in the air, buys you enough time to switch back to your regular weapon palette and deals ranged damage (though that doesn't quite matter for a utility PA). Its downsides include being slower to execute compared to Dead Approach, but some of DA's issues are associated with its speed in the first place.
  

Helpful links

Didn't find any class info on Cirnopedia, so here's the Swiki page on Gunner skills as well as PAs.