Machinist is a fast-paced ranged DPS that specializes in abusing raid buffs with flexible burst timings and maintaining uninterrupted DPS through most mechanics thanks to their mobility.
Openers
6th GCD Wildfire (General Purpose)
Prepull:
Continue
This is the default opener that offers the best gains from raid buffs.
4th GCD Wildfire
Prepull:
Continue
This is a slightly faster
3rd GCD Wildfire
Prepull:
Continue
Very fast
2nd GCD Wildfire
Prepull:
Continue
Even faster
Single Target Rotation
Overview
The structure of the single target rotation is built from the following static elements that should be used as close to cooldown as possible:
Drill 20s cooldownAir Anchor 40s cooldownReassemble (REA) 60s cooldownBarrel Stabilizer (BS) 120s cooldownWildfire (WF) 120s cooldown
Additionally, the following flexible elements should be used in a way that avoids wasting resources and gains the most from raid buffs that go out every 60s, 90s, 120s or 180s:
Hypercharge (HC) (Heat gauge)Gauss Round (GR) andRicochet (Rico) (Charges)Automaton Queen (AQ) (Battery gauge)
Drill and Air Anchor
Drill and Anchor should always have 0-2 GCDs between them either in the front or tail end to allow comfortable
Drill’s 20s cooldown means that it should be used every 8 GCDs and Anchor similarly every 16 GCDs with 40s. This divides the GCD rotation neatly into 8 GCD segments.
If we stack six of these 8 GCD segments on top of each other, we get the full 120s rotation. When the empty cells are filled with the combo sequence, we can see how the rotation loops around.
Reassemble
Reassemble (REA) should be paired with
Due to not gaining anything from Critical and Direct Hit raid buffs, it’s usually best used outside of raid buff windows with an early prepull cast.
Barrel Stabilizer
Barrel Stabilizer (BS) generates 50 heat and allows us to quickly use
Wildfire
To get the most out of Wildfire (WF), it needs to be paired with
There are three possible setups to achieve the 6 GCDs:
Wildfire +Hypercharge → 5Heat Blast → 1 GCDWildfire → 1 GCD →Hypercharge → 5Heat Blast Hypercharge → 1Heat Blast →Wildfire → 4Heat Blast → 2 GCD
The first option is the most lenient timing wise (~0.25s longer error margin). The second option allows an earlier Wildfire in opener and certain
As pointed out in the opener section, the position of Wildfire in the rotation can be modified to fit the encounter and party composition:
Hypercharge
Hypercharge (HC) should always be followed by 5
Each cast costs 50 heat to use and 15 heat to execute because of the replaced Heated Shots for a total cost of 65 heat. Without any Hypercharges added, the 120s rotation would generate 195 heat from the Heated Shots with an additional 50 heat from
Unfortunately the heat count doesn’t divide evenly with Hypercharge costs and results in some awkward alignments. The heat allows 3-4 Hypercharge casts each loop but occasionally the 4th Hypercharge has to be skipped and heat saved for the upcoming Wildfire.
Generating 50 heat takes 10 heated shots and along with two Drills and one Anchor cast it takes a total of ~32.5s to accomplish. This means that unless we have at least 65 heat saved when Wildfire’s cooldown hits ~33s, the 4th Hypercharge must be skipped and heat saved for Wildfire to use it on cooldown. If we’re anywhere between 65 and 100 heat at that point, we must Hypercharge to avoid overcapping.
*replace with combo to save heat for Wildfire when needed
Using Hypercharge 3-4 GCDs after
Skill Speed Adjustment
The rotation aligns perfectly at base skill speed with 2.50 GCD. For every 0.06s reduction in GCD speed one filler GCD must be added to the rotation to delay
The timing of the filler GCDs doesn’t matter all that much but for simplicity’s sake we can add the necessary filler GCDs before starting each Wildfire sequence by delaying
Gauss Round and Ricochet
These oGCDs are part of our flexible damage kit. Some charges can be saved for raid buffs but generally they should be used as quickly as possible and their charges kept low to avoid overcapping.
As a general rule, we should never have more than 1 of each before entering
Automaton Queen
| Battery | Punches | Duration | Pile Bunker | Total | Pot / Battery |
| 50 | 5 | 12.5 | 400 | 1150 | 23.00 |
| 60 | 6 | 14.0 | 480 | 1380 | 23.00 |
| 70 | 7 | 15.5 | 560 | 1610 | 23.00 |
| 80 | 8 | 17.0 | 640 | 1840 | 23.00 |
| 90 | 9 | 18.5 | 720 | 2070 | 23.00 |
| 100 | 10 | 20.0 | 800 | 2300 | 23.00 |
Automaton Queen (AQ) is another flexible burst ability. The damage scales linearly with the battery gauge so it should be used to target favorable raid buff windows since Queen mirrors any buffs we are affected by, except
The 120s rotation generates 150-160 battery depending on if we’re using 3 or 4
Since most raid buffs have either 120s or 180s cooldown, the easiest way to target both and avoid overcapping is to pair Queen with
- 50-60 battery → Summon 1 GCDs after
Reassemble dDrill . - 70-80 battery → Summon after
Reassemble dDrill . - 90-100 battery → Summon before
Reassemble dDrill .
If the party does not have 60s or 180s buff windows to take advantage of, the first summon in the loop can be done at 50-70 battery in order to save 90-100 battery for a bigger burst at the next 120s window. Example battery plans below:
| Time(s) | Buffs | 60s plan | 90s plan | 120s+180s plan |
| 0-20 | 60s, 90s, 120s, 180s | (70) | (100) | (100) |
| 20-40 | ||||
| 40-60 | 50 | 50 | ||
| 60-80 | 60s | 80-90 | ||
| 80-100 | ||||
| 100-120 | 90s | 90 | ||
| 120-140 | 60s, 120s | 70-80 | 50 | 100 |
| 140-160 | ||||
| 160-180 | ||||
| 180-200 | 60s, 90s, 180s | 80 | 50 | 80 |
| 200-220 | ||||
| 220-240 | ||||
| 240-260 | 60s, 120s | 70 | 70 | 70 |
| 260-280 | ||||
| 280-300 | 90s | 50 | 50 | |
| 300-320 | 60s | 80 | ||
| 320-340 | ||||
| 340-360 | ||||
| Loop back to start | ||||
Rook Autoturret
Only relevant for level 70 content.
*It’s possible to get an extra shot depending on ping and timing but it can be extremely inconsistent.
| Battery | Shots* | Duration | Overdrive | Total | Pot / Battery |
| 50 | 2 (3) | 7.5 | 200 | 360 (440) | 7,20 (8.80) |
| 60 | 3 | 9.0 | 240 | 480 | 8,00 |
| 70 | 3 (4) | 10.5 | 280 | 520 (600) | 7,43 (8.57) |
| 80 | 4 | 12.0 | 320 | 640 | 8,00 |
| 90 | 4 (5) | 13.5 | 360 | 680 (760) | 7,56 (8.44) |
| 100 | 5 | 15.0 | 400 | 800 | 8,00 |
Multiple Target Rotation
The general structure of the rotation stays the same as in the single target rotation but single target skills are replaced with their AoE variants.
Bioblaster
Replaces
Auto Crossbow
Replaces
Flamethrower
Ticks once per second for a total of 11 ticks over 11 seconds which makes it stronger than
Spread Shot
Replaces Heated Shots against 3 targets or more.
Reassemble
Use with
Do not use
Ping Adjustments
Ping problems with machinist are related to weaving oGCDs between
VPNs
Virtual-Private-Networks and tunneling services can help stabilize connection and lower ping by improving network routing to the game server. It’s important to note that regular privacy focused VPNs can actually make the connection much slower. It’s better to use a VPN focused strictly for gaming:
- Mudfish: https://mudfish.net/
- WTFast: https://www.wtfast.com/
- Pingzapper: https://pingzapper.com/
- NoPing: https://www.nptunnel.com/
- Battleping: https://www.battleping.com/
- ExitLag: https://www.exitlag.com/en
Gear sets
General Stat Priority
- Weapon Damage
- Dexterity
- Critical Hit
- Direct Hit = Determination
- Skill Speed
Optimizing gear sets comes down to finding the most efficient stat tiers to hit the highest damage multiplier available. This can mean deviating from the general priority due to the stats available on gear and some pieces being more efficient than others. Skill speed can also greatly alter the priority depending on how efficient it is to hit a good rotational GCD tier.
Item Level 530
Item Level 500
- 2.50 GCD: Etro
Item Level 475 (TEA)
Item Level 375 (UWU)
- Synced gear above i470
- BiS Options: Ariyala
Item Level 345 (UCOB)
- Synced gear above i418
- BiS Options: Ariyala
Optimization Tricks
Flamethrower Fishing
Flamethrower can be used during downtime to fish for a tick before re-engaging. However, the first GCD shouldn’t be delayed just for the sake of getting the extra 100 potency.
Drifting Wildfire , Early Barrel Stabilizer
By drifting Wildfire casts on purpose and changing the Wildfire setup depending on heat, it’s possible to get a faster
- Opener:
Wildfire +Hypercharge - 2m:
Wildfire +Hypercharge → GCD →Barrel Stabilizer - 4m:
Wildfire → GCD →Barrel Stabilizer +Hypercharge - 6m:
Wildfire → GCD →Barrel Stabilizer +Hypercharge - 8m:
Wildfire → GCD →Barrel Stabilizer +Hypercharge - 10m: delay into
Wildfire +Hypercharge → GCD →Barrel Stabilizer - 12m:
Wildfire +Hypercharge → GCD →Barrel Stabilizer - 14m:
Wildfire → GCD →Barrel Stabilizer +Hypercharge - 16m:
Wildfire → GCD →Barrel Stabilizer +Hypercharge - 18m: delay into
Hypercharge → GCD →Wildfire
Actual encounters with downtime will see these setups change due to changing heat counts but the above can be used as a proof of concept and works for 100% uptime at 2.50 GCD speed.
Extra materials
Credits
Document written by Lynn Nuvestrahl (Odin). Feedback, suggestions and questions are welcome at The Balance discord Machinist channels or at Lynn#8794.
Special thanks
Anonymous mch
0rp (Irina Sykes, Odin)
Shuni (Shunittseru Tohka, Cerberus)
Sune (Sune Dakwhil, Twintania)
Contra (Contra Banned, Gilgamesh)
Allagan Studies (The Theoryjerks)
And everyone in The Balance Machinist community!
Changelog
- 1-Jun-2019
- Primer created.
- 28-Jun-2019
- Primer updated to official launch values.
- 29-Jun-2019
- Updated Queen usage.
- 1-Jul-2019
- Updates to Flamethrower math.
- 4-Jul-2019
- Added notes on Queen usage, tentative opener, more notes on the rotation and skill speed.
- 15-Jul-2019
- All sections expanded towards guide status. Added Gearing section.
- 18-Jul-2019
- Added notes on Rook behavior. Primer updated to Guide status.
- 19-Jul-2019
- Added skill icons and fixed some typos.
- 25-Jul-2019
- Small change to Late Wildfire opener, now starts with Gauss Round + Ricochet after 1st GCD, also broke up the Reassemble + Barrel Stabilizer double weave so that the rotation scales better with skill speed. Slight update to Fast Wildfire opener as well to open with Gauss Round + Ricochet as there’s no downside to delaying Barrel Stabilizer.
- 26-Jul-2019
- Updated Fast Wildfire opener to reflect new findings on Drill and Air Anchor delays. Added a note of the delay to Drill and Air Anchor sections.
- 31-Jul-2019
- Updated for patch 5.05. Updated Reassemble info and rewrote the skill speed section due to new available GCD tiers as the cooldown on Reassemble is no longer a limiting factor. Added Best-in-slot section.
- 9-Aug-2019
- Added Optimization section. Changed general purpose opener.
- 11-Aug-2019
- Fixed Chain Stratagem timing, updated General Purpose Opener and both cdh and multiplier openers using early Anchors by moving Anchor to 4th GCD to make use of the Chain. Added a section on how to deal with ping issues along with modified opener.
- 20-Aug-2019
- Added sections on Gauss Round / Ricochet, Hypercharge and Queen optimization.
- 21-Aug-2019
- Updated BiS sets. 2.48 GCD gear set switched one Det meld into DH. Added another equally strong gear set for 2.44 GCD, the faster GCD can be good at squeezing extra Drills / Anchors with fast instances.
- 1-Sep-2019
- Reworded Notes on Rook Autoturret and updated the Rook Summary based on new testing.
- 11-Sep-2019
- Big update on Barrel Stabilizer usage added to Optimization, updated related references on Hypercharge to reflect it. Additional battery plan added for 120s/180s only timings.
- 28-Oct-2019
- Updated potencies based on patch 5.1 preliminary notes.
- 28-Nov-2019
- Added 2.38 GCD BiS set.
- 2-Mar-2020
- Added i500 set for patch 5.2.
- 20-Mar-2020
- Overhauled the Rotation section with longer explanation and better overview of alignments. Edited various sections for better clarity and wording.
- 12-Apr-2020
- Added a small section about opener modifications to the Rotation segment.
- 16-Jun-2020
- Complete rewrite of the guide to condense information.
- 20-Aug-2020
- Updated gear sets.
- 22-Aug-2020
- Updated gear sets.
- 12-Oct-2020
- Updated rotation tables to better represent Hypercharge. Moved Skill Speed Adjustment section to where it makes more sense.
