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That was way before X gun was released... like 2010 Vindictus era... back when soloing was extremely difficult and you only had level 60 weapons to work with along with broken mechanics that were beyond the capabilities of the player... at times.
Though, I've been practicing with the new dodge, and turns out there is a way to reduce said delay even further by shift dashing (ctrl + w - quick press) as you finish the dodge. It isn't exactly the same as the original bolt dodge, but if it helps reduce delays, at least it's a plus for me. When I did glas Ein lacher with this trick, it reduced the amount of hits I took from 12 to 4 hits. Though, they were mistimed ones, so eh, still trying to master it.
Actually most of the crucial changes to survivability happened in the more recent wave of revamps in the last year or two, long after Xguns release, but I digress. Point is people have made it work with far less than what Xgun has now. Even today with Sword Lann most of the times I use Nimble Dash are because I'm not familiar with the boss or I know I screwed up my positioning/timing on the first dodge. I usually use only Slip Dash (same i-frames as xgun roll, probably worse distance) to save stamina and get some more uptime on attacks. Back when I was leveling my Xgun for the level up events I made it through just fine never using bolt-roll for anything other than getting through maps quicker. The majority of attacks in the game can be dodged with only one dodge, and some positioning.
Admittedly, I don't really see why such a change was "necessary," especially considering stuff like Delia's infinite twirl and Evie's rapid blink chains still exist, but what I'm getting at is that a lot of people seem to be blowing it out of proportion saying they're going to delete their Kai or he's useless or whatever, which is far from the case. If anyone should be complaining about a crappy dodge it's bow Kai, lol.
For the people complaining that Xgun Kai has a crap dodge without bolt-rolling, I have to wonder if you ever played old-school Spear Lann, Staff Evie, or Sword Lann. Or Fiona when like 70% of end-game was unblockable attacks. People used to do 1 hp solos on Spear Lann with NO i-frames. Back when Scythe Evie only had one blink she had a difficult time with combo attacks as well if you didn't move correctly. Positioning plays as much a role in this game as casually i-framing through attacks.
Seriously, it's really not that bad. What about attacks where Pillar Karok can't absorb them, or Vella can't cross cut them? Vella can't even appropriately chain dodges together because of slipaway, and Karok's roll doesn't have invuln. You just have to move right to get out of the way. It's not like Xgun Kai has 0.2 sec invuln, he has over half a second. "Now I can't easily dodge combo attacks" has been a problem for a lot of other characters long before this update. I can see how this would be problematic in solo play, but with the exception of Ein Lacher most people tend to party with at least one other player. If you used to rely on the bolt-roll a lot, then it'll obviously take some getting used to, but that doesn't mean the way the dodge is now is bad or insufficient.
Are there any videos of Xgun Kais soloing Neamhain? Best I could find were Korean Duo and the Xgun being the partner. If they have the same mechanics, might as well see how they play. It's a drag that there's no practice mode.
Things I've observed:
- When Neit attacks with the triple ring move, the Xgun Kai dodges slightly off from the center so that he will have enough time to dodge the upcoming overlapping ring.
- The Xgun Kai can attack the claws with Perforate and Six Shooter while they're idle (much like Kraken tentacles)
- When fighting Neamhain, he fights close to mid-range to her in order to avoid dealing with the purple circle.
While surviving is definitely a hassle, it's possible. But compared to other characters, you have to be more reactive and smart to where you should dodge.
