Gunbreaker Melding, Stat Priority, and Consumables — Dawntrail 7.1

This page will help you understand the choices that go into choosing the proper substats for Gunbreaker DPS. For lists and melds of the best endgame sets, take a look at our Gunbreaker best-in-slot page.

The stat priority is as follows. All stats are proportional to item level, and some stats only appear on certain pieces of gear.

1. Weapon Damage (main-hand weapon);
   • Weapon damage contributes the most to overall damage.
2. Strength;
   • Strength is tank's main stat, and it significantly affects damage.
3. Critical Hit;
   • Increases both critical rate and the damage multiplier on landing a critical hit. This double-dipping ensures that Critical Hit is highly valued.
4. Skill Speed;
   • Gunbreaker desires enough Skill Speed to lower its GCD to a desired value.
5. Direct Hit;
   • Increases chance to land a direct hit. Tank gear is devoid of this stat, making it a great choice to meld.
6. Determination;
   • Increases all damage and healing, but even with the buffs, it is not better than Direct Hit. It is sometimes melded to hit a specific stat threshold.
7. Tenacity;
   • Increases all damage and reduces damage taken, but the amount is insignificant compared to the gain from other substats. Tenacity is rarely melded.

Gear with higher item level has higher main stat (Strength) and HP (Vitality), as well as a higher spread of substats. This generally makes gear with higher item level always superior to gear with lower item level. This is especially true with weapons, and players should always seek to increase the item level of their weapon to increase their weapon damage.

All FFXIV stats increase their effects at specific intervals of stat points gained, referred to by the community as stat tiers. This effect can be seen with Skill Speed, as you lower your recast time by 0.01 seconds based on thresholds of Skill Speed stat gained. Any additional Skill Speed before the next tier is met is essentially wasted. Certain BiS sets will meld differently than what is indicated on the stat priority, as these melds aim to hit a specific stat tier and no more than that to ensure no stats are wasted.

Critical Hit has always been the prime substat for jobs in FFXIV due to its scaling nature, especially for Gunbreaker. Points in Critical Hit increase both the rate and damage of critical hits, and players should aim for pieces of the same item level with more Critical Hit as a rule of thumb.

After a threshold of Skill Speed is reached, it will lower the recast time of all weaponskills by 0.01 seconds. Gunbreaker wants to aim for a GCD that allows them to consistently land nine GCDs inside No Mercy. Apart from that, it is up to the gearing options available and personal preference on how much Skill Speed a player wants to run.

Tenacity offers both an increase in damage dealt and a reduction in damage taken. While this may seem like a great substat for tanks at a glance, in-depth research has shown the mitigation given by tenacity is negligible. Proper usage of Gunbreaker mitigation abilities will offer much more defenses than using this stat.

While Tenacity is worse than Determination in terms of damage increased, it is not a stat to fully avoid to the point of lowering your item level.

Direct Hit increases the rate of which your skills direct hit, dealing 1.25x damage. Tanks do not have any innate Direct Hit on their gear. This makes melding direct hit a very appealing option, and most tank sets often meld as much Direct Hit as possible to ensure high damage.

Determination increases your damage and healing. It was buffed in Endwalker and is a solid option for gear itself if accompanied with another good stat. It is rarely melded to meet stat tiering thresholds.

The best food will vary based on your gear due to stat tiering. Generally, players will want to use one of the food options with the highest Vitality stat gain, as it is extremely important for progression. Most best-in-slot sets recommend the usage of Roast Chicken, but some sets use Churrasco, a food that increases Skill Speed.

Potions in FFXIV increase a main stat by a decent amount and last for 30 seconds, with a 4-minute and 30-second recast timer. Using these during critical moments will increase your DPS and help meet DPS checks. As of 7.0, the strongest potion for Gunbreaker is the Grade 2 Gemdraught of Strength.

The tank gear calculator is a powerful spreadsheet that allows Gunbreakers to make the most informed gearing decisions based on the gearing options that they currently have. It is a volunteer community resource, and is currently not updated for 7.0. This section will be updated with a link to the 7.0 version when it is available.