Gunner’s Guide to maximize damage output in PvE
Subtitle: because PvE is oh-so-fun and serious business
(watch in 1080p to better understand the situations explained below)
Disclaimers:
*I copy and pasted this document to post on Gameforge’s forum but it did not let me for the reason “Your message is too long. The maximum length of a message is 10,000 characters.” Thus I post this guide as a Google document.
*Any constructive retort/criticism/input/suggestion/feedback are welcome.
*If you do not enjoy reading TL;DR, you can press on your browser’s back button now.
*The skill terms used within this guide would follow the Gameforge’s version of 4.0 in-game skill translation, not the North American NCWest version. I personally find it more natural as the translation is direct literal translation from Korean Aion. For example, the Sorcerer’s new 4.0 skill that replaces ‘Inferno’ is called ‘Fire of Magic Power’ which is a direct literal translation from Korean Aion, as opposed to North American NCWest’s translation of the skill ‘Balaur Seeker’, which befuddles my mind why someone would name it like this.
*Initially, this video was just a randomly recorded footage of the instance Runadium run as I wanted to start learning to use Sony Vegas video-editing program. This video was my very first Sony Vegas project. Then after I created the video, I thought to myself, “Hmm maybe I can write up a Gunner PvE guide based on this footage.” Thus here it is.
This introductory guide seeks to serve as a general guideline to novice (“noob”) Gunner players of Aion in providing some useful tips on how to optimally maximize damage output in PvE. The video provided of the instance Runadium run demonstrates the proper usage of skill rotation to maximize your Gunner class’ damage dealt over time.
In essence, regardless of what class, to maximize your damage output in PvE in Aion, you must; a) have ideal ping, gear, manastone and stigma build setup, b) have optimal skill rotation, and c) minimize deal loss (the term ‘deal loss’ meaning the time your character is basically “wasting time” not dealing damage, thus losing what could be potentially turned into time of dealing damage).
a)
Gunner by the nature of class design benefits from having a high passive skill Magical Accuracy (MA), as opposed to other magic based classes such as Sorcerer or Spiritmaster. It is known to be that Gunner can overcome the MA : Magical Resist (MR) difference of ~300 in PvP and PvE. In comparison, a Sorcerer or a Spiritmaster would start to notice a “resist” even when the opponent has a higher MR value of 1 than his/her MA (disregarding random 1% magic skill resists of the game). An example could be the instance Runadium as demonstrated in the video provided. Sorcerer would require minimum MA of ~2150 to be successfully not get resisted by the addtional mobs (adds). Gunner, having higher passive MA, has almost no problem with being resisted with ~2050 MA (my own MA in the video being 2045 with Chanter’s Magic Matra; @00:48). As can be seen in the video, throughout the entire run I was resisted only one time by the adds and that was because of the lower MA in using cannon as compared to pistol. Therefore, Gunner must stack only Magic Boost (MB) for PvE to maximize damage dealt per skill to overcome the opponent’s Magic Suppression on top of the 2900 MB-cap. Stigma PvE-wise, I suggest full ‘Soul Cannon’ stigma tree with ‘Rapid Fire Posture’ for faster attack speed and ‘Load Magic Projectile’ to maximize pistol skill rotation. Some may prefer to use ‘Spirit Cannon’ (Katalam fortress siege rank 1 reward) for burst nuke damage but I believe its 3 minute cooldown is not so applicable in maximizing damage output over long run in PvE unless it is of short “DPS race” such as in sieges then it might come in handy.
b) and c)
These two components are interrelated to each other. Having a b) proper skill rotation of your class lets you c) minimize deal loss in PvE of Aion by not having any gap in dealing damage. For example, melee classes such as Assassin, Ranger, Gladiator, Chanter and Templar achieve best damage output in PvE by weaving (or auto-attack-cancellation) to minimize deal loss. If a player solely spams skills in rapid succession, then the character runs out of skills to use because of skill cooldowns and the character has no choice but to stupidly auto-attack for next few while until the skill cooldowns come back. To solve this issue, melees mix in auto-attacks (weave) in between every 1-5 skills (depending on Attack Speed and skill animation) so that there is minimal loss of time in dealing damage (deal loss). Caster classes (rather magic based, as Gunner is not really a “caster”) are not as much concerned by weaving as opposed to melee classes. Although some weavings are recommended for magic classes as well, as demonstrated in the video. Mixing in weaves right before you initiate each skill chain is good for starter Gunners. For example, Sorcerer could deal much more damage by weaving in an auto-attack right after the skill ‘Freezing Wind’ as there is a small animation delay-gap between ‘Freezing Wind’ and the next skill anyway. By weaving as a magic class, you put in extra ~500-1500 PvE damage for free, with minimal deal loss (time wasted) and increase chance of “proccing” damage godstone. Essentially, proper skill rotation is of upmost importance and ultimately the determining factor in differentiating a good damage dealer and a bad damager dealer in PvE. One could have the same manastone, gear, and stigma as the other but there could be a whole world of difference in damage output differentiated by the skill rotation.
As an example, I am at many times the first Gunner “DPSer” in Katalam fortress sieges with 140-180 ms ping even when other Gunners out-gear me with their composite manastones and better weapons. As can be seen in the video (@00:49), my Gunner (which I play only for fun casually) has basic average stats which is 2790 MB and 2045 MA in PvE (2994 because of 204 free MB from Magic Mantra and Invincibility Mantra) as it only has full Bloodmark gear, accessories and weapons. I do have full mythical armor pieces comprised of mixture of Mad Grendal and Enraged/Angry Hyperion (can be seen @05:23) but due to the insufficiency of Kinah, I cannot be bothered to socket them with manastones, so I continue on using Bloodmark gear.
As can be observed from the video, the basic simple broken-down skill rotation of Gunner in PvE is as follows:
Pistol chain 1 – Reload – Pistol chain 1 – Load Magic Projectile– Pistol chain 2 – Cannon nukes – Pistol chain 1 – Reload – Pistol chain 2 – Cannon nukes – repeat from start.
This basic skill rotation optimizes and takes the most advantage out of the 30 second ‘Reload’ and 1 minute ‘Load Magic Projectile’ skill cooldowns. Below explained are the seven keypoints to help you to successfully go through this skill rotation with minimal deal loss to maximize damage output in PvE.
First point to make in regarding having ideal skill rotation is that the Gunner benefits in not running out of mana in PvE (and in many cases in PvP as well) thanks to its ability to leech mana with its ‘Soul Shot’ pistol skill chain. Coming from a Sorcerer as my main class, this is indeed a blessing. For example, in Runadium run on my Sorcerer, I pride myself in having the best mana-management by; a) using the skill ‘Gain Mana’ and taking Abyss mana potion only right after stripping myself of gear using macro (10% mana to 90% mana with this method in 3 seconds), b) using ‘Exchange Vitality’ 2 times within the run, only using it after mana is almost completely depleted as well coupled with ‘Stone Skin’, c) proper and frequent usage of ‘Refracting Shard’, not implicating the whole skill rotation circle, d) Fine Recovery Potion at every 30 seconds, and e) having optimal skill rotation to maximize damage output with the same mana pool given. Even after all these, Sorcerer starves for more mana in Runadium with the help of Chanter’s ‘Recovery Mana’ and Spiritmaster’s ‘Transference’ skills. However this issue is like a laughable story from another universe for Gunner players. As can be seen in the video, I neither carry mana potions/serums in my inventory in the first place and I’m solely using life serum. Gunner is the only class out of ten classes in Aion whom does not need to worry about using mana postion/serum in PvE (Bard has to sacrifice time in healing mana as compared with Gunner still dealing damage while leeching mana). All this was explained to emphasize the fact that the pistol skill chain ‘Soul Shot’ must be used at every “Pistol chain 1” interval in the above basic simple broken-down skill rotation. This way, Gunner upkeeps full mana at every skill rotation cycle and minimizes deal loss.
Secondly, the “Pistol chain 2” must be composed of the pistol skill chain ‘Pistol Shot’. This chain has a skill cooldown of 16 seconds as opposed to the skill cooldowns of 24 seconds of ‘Soul Shot’ and ‘Headshot’ chains. By using ‘Pistol Shot’ as your “Pistol chain 2”, your pistol skill chains will be back from cooldown after you go through your “Cannon nukes” interval even without having to use the skill ‘Reload’. Time fits in flawlessly to be emerged within your skill rotation cycle. The only variation I make in Runadium runs, as can be seen at 02:55 and 07:35, is using ‘Headshot’ chain instead of ‘Soul Shot’ or ‘Pistol Shot’ chain for the first target of the adds. I use ‘Headshot’ to knockback (“stun”) the mage mob to interrupt its initial attempt to nuke and/or Aether’s Hold.
Thirdly, switching between your pistols and cannon must be intertwined within your skill rotation cycle with minimal deal loss. In order to do this, you must at foremost have an easy-to-access “Change weapon” keybind. Aion (especially the European client for some odd reason, compared to Korean Aion) has a small delay in switching between weapons resulting in a gap of deal loss during that time. To minimize this deal loss, you must use an instant skill in quick succession right after swapping the weapons to “cancel” the animation of switching weapons. For example when going from pistol to cannon, I use the cannon skill ‘Fissure Cannon’ right after swapping. This serves two purposes: it instantly minimizes the deal loss gap of swapping weapons and as well reduces the target’s Magic Suppression by the value of 400, letting me do more damage. When going from cannon to pistol, I use the pistol skill ‘Promise of Magic Power’ right after swapping. Again, serving two purposes, it minimizes the deal loss gap and it lets me buff up for additional damage. Also, by buffing up this way constantly, I do not have to remind myself actively to use the buff skill in odd moments while going through skill rotation cycle, minimizing deal loss in that aspect as well.
Fourthly and debatably, your “Cannon nukes” skill rotation must be fluent and flawless. Ideally, it was tested that the best damage-over-time (DPS) by using cannon stigmas is by using the cannon charge skills at their second charge level (meaning your skill goes out right after the first charge). However, in my own PvE experience, this was somewhat unnatural in making my whole skill rotation cycle flow fluently. Thus, as can be seen in the video, I use my cannon charge skills to the max charge level (of course letting your skills go right after second charge is complete to minimize deal loss). The only variation regarding charging can be observed at 08:00 of the video, as I do no charge at all to do three of my AoE cannon skills in quick succession to burst the two Lapimila mobs. As well, importantly, make sure to use the buff ‘Gift of Magic Power’ on five cannon skills not pistol skills as this will grant you more gain in dealing damage as the additional 10% damage will be multiplied on top of the cannon nuke damage which deals more damage than pistol skill damage. Also, as mentioned in the third point, always start your “Cannon nuke” interval with using ‘Fisssure Cannon’ as the first skill to bring the target’s Magic Suppression by 400 for 18 seconds, letting you do much more damage with cannon (basically this is equal to having a free 400 MB boost).
Fifthly and importantly, make the most out of Aion’s game mechanic of giving you 10% more damage in forward movement momentum. Gunner has many pistol skills that are usable while moving, especially the three main basic chain skills are very ideal in using while moving. As can be seen in the video, I run around constantly in forward movement like a “mad monkey” (as my friend called me) within this small instance map that is an island. By running forward (around) constantly grants me extra free 10% damage boost and as well lets me kite adds/boss’ skills more fluently (Grendal’s Ice-Sheet thing for example). Personal tip would be that I run forward by holding down the left and right mouse buttons, rather than using your left hand for pressing down upon “W” key for example. This way, it lets me be entirely free with my left hand to make the most out of my keybinds for skills with ease and speed.
Sixth, utilize your non-chain skills such as ‘Disruptor Shot’, ‘Soulsucker Shot’, ‘Aimed Weakpoint Shot’, “Aimed Wing Shot’, ‘Aimed Shot’ and ‘Encircling Bomb’. As can be observed in the video, I fit in these skills right after I use ‘Reload’ after going through “Pistol chain 1” interval. The reason for using these non-chain skills is again emphasized by minimizing deal loss. Mixing in these skills within the whole skill rotation cycle grants me constant damage dealing without a gap, minimizing deal loss. The reason for using these skills right after “Pistol chain 1” and ‘Reload’ is so that the skill ‘Reload’ ‘s skill cooldown 30 seconds comes back “faster” after having to go through these non-basic skills.
Finally, make good use of our 2,000 DP skill ‘Power of Magic’. It provides us with 1.1 Attack Speed and grants us free 150 MB. Use your DP skill accordingly so that you know you won’t die for the next two minutes of skill duration time. In this Runadium video example, I use my DP buff at the clone phase to burst them fast and because I know that I would not die for the next two minutes.
That is all I can think of for now. I’m sure I missed on many points and the points that I made may be quite profounding and confusing to comprehend due to my lack of solid writing skills.
I will keep editing this guide and adding points as I recall more information and get feedback.
Thanks for reading if you read that giant wall of text.
I hope this basic guide helps novice Gunner players in improving their PvE damage output.
