The Hrothgar of northern Ilsabard have passed the art of the gunblade from one generation to the next. The weapon itself combines a sword with a firing mechanism, emitting a range of magical effects by utilizing aetherially imbued cartridges.
Originally employed by Queen Gunnhildr’s personal guard, they were once known as “Gunnhildr’s Blades” and differ greatly from the similarly named weapons used in the Garlean Empire.
Gunbreaker was added at the start of the Shadowbringers expansion and begins at level 60. The job also has no corresponding class so all abilities earned are on the job itself. In order to become a Gunbreaker you must complete the following quest.
| Quest | NPC | Location | Conditions |
| The Makings of a Gunbreaker | Gods’ Quiver Bown | New Gridania (X:11, Y:11) |
For each quest you complete, you will be rewarded with a new ability, while the latter quests will also reward you with artifact (AF) armour that is shown in the screenshot above.
Introduction to Gunbreaker
Gunbreaker is a tank job which uses defensive tactics to hold enmity. It is still capable of dealing decent damage however this should not be your main priority – you should always focus on defense before offense.
Gunbreaker Attributes
As a Gunbreaker your main stat is Vitality (VIT) as this increases your HP and allows you to survive big attacks from bosses. You should be focusing on equipment with this stat. It is also worth looking at equipment with Strength (STR) to increase your damage and the percentage of damage mitigated by block and parry as this will be useful in boss fights.
For secondary stats you should be focusing on the likes of Direct Hit Rate, Determination, Critical Hit Rate and Skill Speed in addition to simply boosting VIT. However you’ll find Skill Speed is generally not worth it.
Skill Speed and Critical Hit Rate are self-explanatory in what they do. For the other two, Determination is used to boost the damage dealt by all attacks and the amount of HP recovered when healed while Direct Hit Rate is Stormblood’s replacement for Accuracy. Instead of a simple hit or miss effect that Accuracy could give, having a low Direct Hit Rate for a fight will reduce damage dealt so it is important to improve this stat.