Gunslinger PvP Skill Builds

Lost Ark lets players customise characters by levelling up skills and giving them special attributes via "tripods", functioning like a talent system. In PvP, you are limited by the "Book of Coordination" which grants you a total of 340 skill points to distribute between your skills. There's a strict limit on which skills you can take and where to spend your points, but also an overwhelming 18 different pod combinations for each skill. Understanding what works best in PvP and why is crucial to starting off right.

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This is a standard 3v3 build, Gunslinger does however have some flexibility with how to spend her skills points after investing in her core abilities. Different options will be covered in the alternate skills section. There are some skills that have no points invested that will be mentioned in the skill overview.

The following will cover what is linked in the build as well as some of the skills that are left at 0 points.

• Spiral Tracker

Gunslinger's main combo tool. Only inflicts hit-stun so it's unlikely this will catch anyone unless they are sleeping. Due to the travel time Gunslinger actually has to place the skill as close to her as possible while still hitting the enemy else they may be able to get out of the combo if caught with Dexterous Shot

Spiral Tracker is one of Gunslinger's most important tools, keeping the enemy in hit-stun for about 1.5 seconds which allows Gunslinger to use Catastrophe, Perfect Shot or Last Request for high damage. Not much purpose using it outside of combos unless the Quick Pace pod is taken. The Weakness Exposure pod applies a debuff on hit to the enemy that reduces their crit resistance by 10%, which functionally gives everyone on your team an extra 10% chance to crit as long as the debuff is active, this can make Gunslinger combos do astonishing damage that cannot really be accounted for due to how

• Somersault Shot

Somersault Shot is Gunslinger’s main mobility tool. The Super Armor pod gives it both super armour and reduced cooldown.

Somersault Shot is used for repositioning and running away, the cooldown is only around 5 seconds making it one of the best movement skills in the game. It inflicts paralysis and can combo into Dexterous Shot for a full combo.

• Quick Step

Quick Step is one of Gunslinger’s main catching tools. Quickstep is both a mobility tool with super armour and a strong catching tool that inflicts a long lasting paralysis hit.

Quick Step is one of Gunslinger’s core skills, setting up combos and being used for protection and mobility. Quick Step can combo straight into Catastrophe for a quick fast and safe combo that’s almost entirely immune. The follow up shot from Quick Step can be delayed by a fair bit to extend the super armour but waiting too long will cause the immunity to drop momentarily even if the follow up is still available.

• Dexterous Shot

Dexterous Shot is a strong catching tool along with being used for combo confirming.

Dexterous Shot firing around Gunslinger makes it a very strong catching tool, it does not however have any paralysis immunity so use of it has to be considered carefully and this is a move most classes look to punish Gunslinger when they see it. It can be reused an additional time though when dueling certain classes this is a risk as it leaves Gunslinger exposed for an extended period of time.

• Bullet Rain

Bullet rain does not inflict paralysis but can still be used when trying to catch the opponent while keeping Gunslinger relatively safe.

Bullet Rain is normally used to keep Gunslinger paralysis immune while retreating, though it can be used on slower classes that lack mobility skills to force them to basic attack to avoid getting hit, which opens them up to getting caught by Dexterous Shot. It’s important to note that while Gunslinger has a movement speed debuff, Dexterous Shot can be used to return to normal movement for its duration which is especially powerful against March to avoid getting hit by move orbs and having the debuff time extended.

• AT02 Grenade

AT02 Grenade is usually Gunslinger’s only forms of hard CC with the Freeze Grenade, pod making it incredibly valuable and boarderline a requirement for Gunslinger.

AT02 Grenade is used mostly as a combo tool and has the ability to reset the combo timer if an attack is timed at the exact same time the freeze ends. Grenade is also used as a self peeling tool due to it being Gunslinger's fasted form of CC, all other skills take far too long to be used in a duel. While it can be used to peel for allies Gunslinger has to get fairly close to use grenade which is fine in a 2v1 situation but can be dangerous otherwise.

• Death Fire

Death Fire is Gunslinger's strongest catching tool with extra use as a strong mobility tool. Death Fire only inflicts hit-stun but is unreactable and hits prior to what the visuals show.

Death Fire is one of the best catching tools in the game and is something the enemy must always be wary of if they are in range. Comboing from Death Fire is usually done with Dexterous Shot due to how short the hit-stun is, however the initial hit of Death Fire has a slightly longer hit-stun duration and allows Gunslinger to combo into Quick Step for a safer combo route. Following the inital dash of the skill from the Infiltrate Decimation is when the superarmour begins so some lingering Pushes like Upper Slash can hit Gunslinger out of the skill. Despite Gunslinger being in super armour during the shooting part of the skill, she is fairly vulnerable to any burst attacks so it shouldn't be held unless she has no other options.

• Peacekeeper

Peacekeeper is a simple mobility skill that Gunslinger uses to move around the map quickly, it doesn't have any immunity so can easily be interrupted so needs to be used carefully in duels.

Peacekeeper is normally used solely for the extra mobility it provides, it does have a ranged followup that can sometimes catch either unaware opponent or be used if they have nothing left, the range of the followup is relatively short for Gunslinger however so isn't a go to option.

• Last Request

Last Request is left at 0 in this build so its use is mainly for adding damage when there are no rifle skills available, the damage is an acceptable 10k even at level 1 and has a knockup so roll can be forced out of the enemy even if damage skills are down.

• Sharpshooter

Sharpshooter is used primarily in duels due to its range and paralysis immunity. Deals around 10k but takes a while for the skill to finish.

Sharp Shooter is a fairly decent multi-purpose skill, it's especially safe not only because of the paralysis immunity but also because Gunslinger is able to stance swap out of the skill at any time with no delay. It's commonly used to reset the combo after ice grenade. It should be noted that, while at first glance the Omnidirectional Fire pod might seem very power, in PvP taking this pod causes Sharpshooter to lose its paralysis so this pod is not taken under any circumstance.

• Dual Buckshot

In this build Dual Buckshot is used for extra protection, the Tenacity pod gives it Push immunity and the followup can be delayed slightly similarly to Quick Step.

Dual Buckshot is usually reserved for when the Push immunity is needed, it can be used in a similar way to Quick Step but with less range. Against certain skills Dual Buckshot's immunity is very useful allowing Gunslinger to do things like move into Glavier's Half Moon Slash and punish her even if the tornado comes out. Against a team comp that doesn't have many Push skills, Gunslinger can drop the points in Dual Buckshot and use them elsewhere.

• Hour of Judgment

Hour of Judgment is left at level 1 just for some moderate, fast damage to add onto the end of combos if it's safe to do so, the skill doesn't have much use beyond that.

• Perfect Shot

Perfect Shot is one of Gunslinger's core and most defining skills, it's both long range and fairly damaging, dealing at least 20k and potentially more to low defence classes.

With the Perfect Aim pod the skill becomes a one second channel and can be cancelled freely, the skill will go on a three second cooldown instead of its usual full cooldown making Perfect Shot a constant threat the enemy has to look out for and giving Gunslinger the ability to always get value out of the skill as she can cancel it if it has the potential to miss. Perfect Shot is used for combos, poking, zoning and peeling, the Stable Stance pod also grants the skill paralysis immunity which makes it harder to interrupt and can be used in duels in certain matchups that lack reliable knockups such as Arcana or the Gunslinger mirror match.

• Catastrophe

Catastrophe is Gunslinger's main damage skill, with the added benefit of being very hard to interrupt due to the Tenacity pod giving it Push immunity.

Catastrophe does around 25k damage with the Cutthroat and Carpet Bombing pod, increased to around 30k when the target is below 50% from the cutthroat execution damage. This is the skill Gunslinger usually wants to make sure she uses in her combo, not only because of the damage but also because it forces the opponent to use hard cc if they want to stop her. The skill has a sweetspot where both explosions hit which is what gives the skill such high damage, without hitting this sweetspot Gunslinger's damage decreases significantly.

• Spiral Flame

Spiral Flame is used usually just to create space or zone, the projectile leaves behind a trail of fire that, while it doesn't do much damage, works to dissuade moving into it.

Spiral Flame is left at level 4 just for utility purposes with the Quick Aim pod to speed up the startup of the skill. Gunslinger is animation locked until just before the shell is fired so be wary about using it in bad positions. The skill applies Push but it is fairly slow so is often not that effective a peel tool, but still has its uses if Gunslinger's other skills aren't available.

• Focused Shot

Focused Shot is Gunslinger's last burst skill, its range is slightly shorter than Perfect Shot but it has more width. The damage of the skills isn't too impressive, at around 14k, but with the Breaking Breath pod the damage increases to about 19k.

Focused Shot is used mostly for just damage, though it is better to go for Catastrophe or Perfect Shot if the target is above 50%. It can be used to poke the enemy and possibly force rolls but since the skill cannot change direction after activation, their movement has to be predicted. The skill has no paralysis immunity and a notable windup so the range of the skill needs to be used to make up for how easy it is to interrupt and punish Gunslinger.

Due to Gunslinger only have 5 rifle and shotgun skills, with access to 4 of them at a time, and her unused pistol skills having no use in pvp, this section will cover mostly alternate tripods for skills previously covered along with covering the single unmentioned shotgun and rifle skill.

• Target Down

One of Gunslinger's most unique abilities. Does not inflict any paralysis and the skill itself has no paralysis immunity, there is also a blue wave that appears on use that the enemy can see which indicates range and makes them aware that Gunslinger is using the skill

• Quick Aim
• Semi-automatic Rifle
• Steady Aim

Target Down can be used but is very weak against any rushdown classes that can react to the activation and jump on Gunslinger. The skill covers a very large area and does a lot of damage, easily adding around 25k to a combo. The skill is best used to add damage onto a teammates combo as Gunslinger is able to add a lot of damage while minimizing risk to herself. Comboing with Target Down can be someone tricky unless the enemy has no roll and they are knocked down, attempting to combo from a raw ice grenade allows the enemy to break out and retaliate before Gunslinger exits the skill; the same applies for Spiral Tracker so the only effective way to combo into Target Down would be a knock up into ice grande combo, that way the enemy is on the ground when freeze ends. Target Down would best be used in place of Focused Shot, both Catastrophe and Perfect Shot are too valuable to replace.

• Last Request

• Incendiary Bomb
• Execution
• Double Shot

Running Last Request at level 10 is frequently seen on Gunslinger, this set of tripods makes Last Request as fast as possible due to the Double Shot pod, the Double Shot pod also applies 2 stacks of burn caused from Incendiary Bomb causing the burn to around 4.5k on top of the 20k the skill does if both hits land. Running Last Request at level 10 makes using 250 Domination instead of the normal 250 Specialization more viable. Last Request has no paralysis immunity but the short dash from the Execution pod along with the skill not being too long means the enemy has to already be in position to interrupt this skill.

There is another common pod the Volley which does a bit more damage but increase the skill duration a bit due to turning the skill into 3 hits, as a result the knockup is also delayed as it applied on the final hit. The damage of the Volley pod is evened out by the double debuff from the Double Shot pod, by taking the Volley pod however, Quick Prep can also be taken which means Last Request can be used more frequently with the Volley pod. Double Shot + Incendiary bomb is normally the better choice due to not much decrease in damage and being faster, while the Volley pod can be used more often Last Request isn't a skill Gunslinger would choose to use frequently over Perfect Shot or Catastrophe.

• Dual Buckshot

• In a Tight Spot
• Enhanced Fire
• Final Strike
• or
• Recoil Evasion

Dual Buckshot can be invested in to be used in a similar way to Last Request, though the damage is similar and the skill is much longer, in return Dual Buckshot has paralysis immunity while Last Request doesn't. The Final Strike pod does more damage, has more hits and applied a Push at the end while Recoil Evasion helps Gunslinger get back to a safe spacing with the added jump back at the end of the skill. Recoil Evasion having less hits and most of the damage applied on the last hit means crits have greater value, with Gunslinger's Crit resist debuff and the inital crit chance boost from In A Tight Spot, it's not all that uncommon for the final hit of Dual Buckshot to crit for around 25k, which makes the skill deal about 32k with all hits included.

Dual Buckshot can be used to have some more variety on Gunslinger but with how the class plays speed is of the essence and trading in speed for a little more safety isn't a very effective trade for Gunslinger when it comes to her damage skills. Even with the paralysis immunity of Dual Buckshot, Gunslinger is still vulnerable to Push skills and the longer skill animation makes it more likely Gunslinger can be peeled off by the enemy team.