Final Fantasy XIV Gunbreaker Guide

Unlocking Gunbreaker

The Gunbreaker job becomes available if you own the Shadowbringers expansion. The job starts at level 60 and you can unlock it by completing the “The Makings of a Gunbreaker” quest offered by a Gods Quiver Bow in New Gridania.

Tanking Role Basics

As a tank, the Gunbreaker’s job is to be the wall between your party and the enemies. You do this by grabbing aggro and leading the charge into whatever content you are doing. In most scenarios, you should be the first one into the fray.

By the time you unlock Gunbreaker, you should have a pretty good understanding of the content in FFXIV. Which is good, since you’ll be leading the charge. Luckily for us, the Gunbreaker is no slouch and has an answer for everything. With decent damage, low cooldowns, and a bunch of mitigations, the Gunbreaker is a jack-of-all-trades

Gunbreaker Tank Stance

The Gunbreaker’s tank stance is called Royal Guard(LVL 10). Turning this on draws enmity (or aggro) from enemies and makes you their top target. Whenever you’re doing group content, unless your role is off-tank, you should have this on. Without it, enemies will attack your more than vulnerable teammates, and they won’t last long.

A good rule of thumb to know if you should activate Royal Guard in eight-man trials and raids is to count the number of bosses. If there’s only one boss and you’re not the main tank, keep your tank stance off to keep the boss from moving. If a second boss or adds appear, turn your stance on and grab their attention. 

Gunbreaker Job Resource

In terms of resource management, the Gunbreaker is incredibly straightforward. This job utilizes the Powder Gauge which indicates whether or not we have our tank stance on, and how many cartridges we have stored.

Cartridges are a resource we build up by doing our regular rotation. Once we have a cartridge filled we can use it to execute powerful actions like Burst Strike(LVL 30), Gnashing Fang(LVL 60), and eventually Double Down(LVL 90).

Tank Role Abilities

Like every tank, the Gunbreaker gains access to all the tank role skills. Rampart(LVL 8) reduces damage taken by 20%. Reprisal(LVL 22) places a debuff on enemies that reduces their damage by 10%.

Low Blow(LVL 12) stuns a target, and Interject(LVL 18) interrupts a target’s action. Arm’s Length(LVL 32) prevents you from being knocked back and is perfect for when you don’t think you’ll be able to survive a knockback or pull.

Provoke(LVL 15) puts you at the top of a target’s enmity list. Shirk(LVL 48) diverts 25% of enmity to a target party member. These two abilities should be used to take and drop aggro in situations when your main tank is in trouble, or you are.

Damage Mitigation

In addition to the tank role abilities, the Gunbreakers also get a host of additional abilities to help mitigate damage. The first one, Camouflage(LVL 6) increases your parry rate by 50% while reducing damage taken by 10%. This is a great move to use when fighting large dungeon mobs to reduce the pressure on your healer.

Nebula(LVL 38) is a stronger Rampart reducing damage taken by 30%. Just like Rampart, this ability should be used for tank busters and high-damage moves. Heart of Light(LVL 64) reduces magic damage taken by you and your team by 10%.

Heart of Stone(LVL 68) is a unique mitigation ability that reduces damage taken by 15% to you or a party member. It also comes with an additional effect that when you’re under the effect of Brutal Shell(a barrier granted to you by your second single target attack), you grant the effect to your party member as well.

Heart of Corundum(LVL 82) is an upgraded version of Heart of Stone. In addition to the effects of Heart of Stone, this ability also grants Clarity of Corundum which reduces damage taken by 15%. It also grants Catharsis of Corundum which restores HP by 900 when the target’s HP falls below 50% or the effect duration ends.

Heart of Stone and later Heart of Corundum are excellent abilities for saving your life or the life of a teammate in a pinch.

Invulnerability

Each tank gets an invulnerability ability for bad situations and the Gunbreaker’s is Superbolide(LVL 50). When activated, this ability reduces your HP to 1 and makes you impervious to most attacks for 10s. 

Like all invulnerability abilities, this should only be used if you know for a fact you’re going to die. Dropping your HP to 1 leaves you in a very bad spot, and if used at the wrong time, a healer might not be able to heal you enough to save your life.

I’ve found that in most content, this ability is not necessary at all. You’re better off having faith in your healer or popping a mitigation/heal instead. 

General Tips for Playing Gunbreaker

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind while playing Gunbreaker, regardless of what content you’re doing:

• Always spend your cartridges. The Gunbreaker is a builder/spender class and your most powerful abilities involve your cartridges. Prioritize Gnashing Fang when it’s up, but otherwise just ensure you’re not sitting on any unused cartridges.
• Try to fit as many abilities into No Mercy as possible. No Mercy(LVL 2) is a simple damage buff ability, and you want to fit as many powerful moves in that 20s window as possible. Ideally, you’ll use the Gnashing Fang combo after activation of No Mercy, ending with Double Down or Burst Strikes. 
• In multi-target situations, switch to your AOE rotation. This is more of a general tip but when faced with more than two enemies, use your AOE Demon Slaughter combo. This will ensure you keep aggro on all enemies while also burning down the mob quickly.