[Top 10] FF14 Best Gunbreaker Skills That Are Powerful

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The latest Tank in the game, introduced in the Shadowbringers expansion, the Gunbreaker battle job!


Gunbreaker is the newest Tank in Final Fantasy XIV as of right now, and they were introduced in the previous expansion Endwalker along with the Dancer battle job. As a Gunbreaker, their primary objective in a party is to lead the team and protect them, as well as dealing damage to the enemies.

Gunbreaker has a lot of skills and abilities that focus on dealing damage, mitigating damage taken, as well as fast movements and fast combos that are quite hard to master.

For this reason, this article would like to feature ten of the best Gunbreaker’s skills that are often used, and is very powerful and useful.

 

10. Nebula

A video describing how to play Gunbreaker as a beginner. See Nebula in action at 1:32.

Nebula is the first skill to be featured in this article, and it is a mitigation ability skill that is often used by Gunbreakers to absorb damage taken.

Why Nebula is Great:

  • First, it is a low-level skill of 38, and considering that Gunbreaker starts at level 60, players will gain access to this skill as soon as they unlock it, and can bring it to most content they will go to.
  • Nebula will grant the Gunbreaker a buff that will reduce all damage taken by them by 30% for 15 seconds, allowing them to live longer and survive from taking major Tank Busters from the boss.
  • On top of that, Nebula can also be weaved in between other GCD attacks done by the Gunbreaker, so the Gunbreaker can still deal damage while preparing to use Nebula between their attacks.

Nebula details

 

9. Brutal Shell

A video describing Gunbreaker’s skills from 1 to 90. See Brutal Shell in action at 4:35.

Brutal Shell is the second skill to be featured on this list. It is also the first offensive or attack skill to be introduced.

Why Brutal Shell is Great:

  • Just like Nebula, Brutal Shell is also a low-level skill, and this one players can even learn it at a low level of 4, meaning that Gunbreakers can already use this skill very early on and bring it to every single content in the game.
  • Brutal Shell is a combo from Keen Edge, and upon successfully delivering the combo through the order of skills, the Gunbreaker will restore their own HP with a 200 cure potency, allowing them to recover a bit from the damage they have taken.
  • Not only that, Brutal Shell will also grant the Gunbreaker a barrier which will nullify damage taken equaling the HP restored for 30 seconds. So this skill will allow the Gunbreaker to also absorb less damage thanks to the Shield granted by the skill.

Brutal Shell details.

 

8. Aurora 

A video describing why Gunbreaker is great. See  Aurora in action at 4:05.

Aurora is the next skill to be introduced in this article. Unlike Nebula or Brutal Shell, Aurora is neither an offensive or a mitigation ability skill. Rather, it is a support skill not dissimilar to that of the Healer’s.

Why Aurora is Great:

  • Aurora is a really useful healing ability that will grant a regeneration of HP to the Gunbreaker or a chosen party member with a 200 cure potency for 18 seconds. It is a very good help to be used on self, a dying party member, or their own co-tank.
  • Not to mention, Gunbreakers will also have two charges of Aurora that they can use freely, with one charge refilling every 60 seconds. This will allow a Gunbreaker to be able to easily help heal themselves or their party members out of danger in a pinch.
  • On top of that, Aurora can also be weaved in between other GCD attacks, meaning that the Gunbreaker can easily weave Aurora between their routine combo and does not have to interrupt their usual rotation in order to use Aurora, making it even a more useful tool.

Aurora details.

 

7. Heart of Light

A video describing Gunbreaker’s skills in detail. See Heart of Light in action at 23:20.

Heart of Light is the fourth ability skill to be introduced in this article. Just like Nebula, Heart of Light is also a mitigation skill ability.

Why Heart of Light is Great:

  • Heart of Light is an important mitigation ability skill not only for the Gunbreaker themselves, but also for the whole party.
  • Using Heart of Light will grant a buff for the whole party that will reduce magic damage taken by them by 10% for 15 seconds.
  • This makes the ability very useful to be used before a large, painful raidwide so that the party member will absorb less damage and has a higher chance of survival.

Heart of Light details

 

6. Blasting Zone

A video describing the Blasting Zone skill.

Blasting Zone is the next skill to be featured in this article, and it is also another offensive attack skill after Brutal Shell.

Why Blasting Zone is Great:

  • Blasting Zone is an ability skill that can deal a whole lot of devastating damage to the enemy. Using Blasting Zone will deal a whopping 700 damage potency to the enemy, allowing the Gunbreaker to have a devastating attack skill.
  • Not to mention, Blasting Zone also has a low cooldown of 30 seconds, meaning that the Gunbreaker is able to use this very powerful skill every 30 seconds. On top of that, it does not require any prerequisite to use.
  • In addition, Blasting Zone can also be used in between GCD of the Gunbreaker’s usual attacks.This means that Gunbreaker can easily weave this skill in without breaking their combo.

Blasting Zone detail

 

5. Continuation

A video describing the changes on Gunbreaker’s skills in the Endwalker expansion. See Continuation in action at 1:15.

Continuation is the next skill to be featured in this article, and is a skill that has been heavily changed in the Endwalker expansion.

Why Continuation is Great:

  • Continuation lets a Gunbreaker do their main combo of their finisher attacks in a rotation. It is one of the big reasons why Gunbreakers can deal a lot of damage to the enemies as it unlocks the use of skills of combos for them.
  • Continuation will allow the use of Jugular Rip, Abdomen Tear and Eye Gouge. These skills all deal a lot of damage and can even be weaved in between other GCD of their combos, allowing the ‘continuation’ of the combo itself.
  • Jugular Rip is an ability that will deal 200 damage potency, Abdomen Tear is an ability that will deliver an attack with a 240 damage potency, and lastly Eye Gouge is an ability that will deliver an attack of 280 potency. While these may seem small, it is important to remember that they are extremely fast and can be weaved in between the combos.

Continuation details

 

4. Bloodfest

A video describing how to properly use Bloodfest in the Gunbreaker’s opener.

Bloodfest is the next skill to be featured in this article. Similar to some other skills in this article, Bloodfest is not a mitigation or offensive skill. Rather, it is a support skill that allows a Gunbreaker to do more combos.

Why Bloodfest is Great:

  • Bloodfest is an ability that can be instantly used and weaved between other GCDs, meaning that a Gunbreaker does not need to worry about breaking their combo or rotation in order to use Bloodfest and reap the skill's benefits.
  • Using Bloodfest will add 3 Cartridges to the Gunbreaker's Powder Gauge. Cartridges are used by a Gunbreaker to gain access to their powerful skills and combos, like Double Down and Fated Circle.
  • By using Bloodfest, Gunbreakers will be able to use powerful skills like these instantly without the necessity to do the prerequisite combo in order to gain Cartridges in their Powder Gauge.

Bloodfest details

 

3. Superbolide

A video showing the Superbolide skill.

Superbolide is the next ability to be featured in this article. While often used as a Meme, particularly those including Benediction, it is still a powerful ability when being used properly.

Why Superbolide is Great:

  • Using Superbolide will instantly render the Gunbreaker's HP to 1 and makes them impervious to most attacks for 10 seconds.
  • While this ability to instantly set the HP to 1 may seem disadvantageous at first, it is actually very useful when facing hard-hitting Tank Busters. This is because during the 10 second of invulnerability the ability provides, the Gunbreaker's HP won't be reduced to 0. 
  • In addition, even when they have been healed and are being hit again, as long as they still have the invulnerability period, their HP won't drop back down again. This makes it so that healers have more time to heal the Gunbreaker before the next mechanic resolves.

Superbolide details.

 

2. Heart of Corundum

A video describing all the changes and additions on Gunbreaker’s skills in the Endwalker expansion. See Heart of Corundum in action at 1:15.

Heart of Corundum is one of the newer skills introduced in the Endwalker expansion. Because of its extremely useful nature, it has won a high rank in this article.

Why Heart of Corundum is Great:

  • Heart of Corundum will reduce damage taken of the Gunbreaker's or the chosen party member by 15% for 8 seconds. 
  • Additionally, when targeting a party member for this ability when under the effect of Brutal Shell, it will also grant Brutal Shell to the targeted party member for 30 seconds.
  • On top of that, it will also grant Clarity of Corundum, which will reduce damage taken by 15% for 4 seconds.
  • Lastly, it will grant the buff of Catharsis of Corundum, which will restore the HP of target when it falls below 50% or upon effect duration expiration for a whopping 900 cure potency.

Heart of Corundum details.

 

1. Doubledown

A video showcasing all of Gunbreaker’s skills and how to use them. See Doubledown in action at 1:25.

Doubledown is the last skill to be featured in this article and is also coincidentally the last skill that the Gunbreaker will learn as of right now, at level 90, the current level cap of Final Fantasy XIV.

Why Doubledown is Great:

  • Doubledown is an amazingly powerful skill that will deal a whopping 1200 damage potency for the first enemy, and 20% less for all enemies at the cost of 2 Cartridges.
  • This makes this skill a powerful single target as well as AoE skill, which makes it a very useful skill to be used against a pack of mobs in a dungeon or even a boss in a raid.
  • It also has quite a low cooldown of 60 seconds, meaning that the Gunbreaker will have access to this powerful skill every 1 minute so long as they have 2 Cartridges ready by the time the skill will go off cooldown.

Doubledown details.

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The writer from a land long-lost that has dedicated her life to working on her own writing and enjoying playing with her burly friends on the side.
Gamer Since: 2005
Favorite Genre: RPG
Currently Playing: Final Fantasy XIV
Top 3 Favorite Games:Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dragonborn, The Sims 4


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