Understand Gauss
Useful when…
- Charging the battery through movement
- Using Kinetic Plating for resistance to listed damage types and protection from stagger and knockdown
- Applying Cold or Heat Status nearby with Thermal Sunder
- Increasing fire rate, attack speed, reload speed, and casting speed with Redline
Movement and battery
Gauss’s passive fills his battery as he moves. Shield recharge speed and recharge delay improve based on battery level, but the numeric bonuses are not provided. Mach Rush is a hyper-sprint that knocks over enemies and charges the battery; crashing into a solid object generates a shockwave.
Defense and Thermal Sunder
Kinetic Plating converts a portion of absorbed Physical, Heat, Cold, and Blast damage into Energy and protects Gauss from stagger and knockdown. Its damage resistance depends on battery level. Thermal Sunder’s tap siphons kinetic energy, charges the battery, and inflicts Cold Status nearby; holding reverses the process, drains the battery, and inflicts Heat Status.
Redline and listed stats
Redline supercharges Gauss’s abilities and increases fire rate, attack speed, reload speed, and casting speed. When the battery is past the redline, electricity arcs periodically and explodes when the ability is deactivated. Gauss has 270 health, 455 shields, and 185 armor; his listed polarities are Madurai and Vazarin, with a Naramon aura polarity.
Comparison
Gauss Prime has the same listed health and armor, 550 shields instead of Gauss’s 455, and an additional listed polarity. Hildryn’s description centers on shield-powered abilities, while Oberon’s centers on healing and ally support; their stated emphases differ from Gauss’s movement-charged battery kit.
Limitations and tradeoffs
- Battery-dependent shield recharge and Kinetic Plating resistance vary with battery level.
- Thermal Sunder’s tap charges the battery and applies Cold Status; holding drains it and applies Heat Status.
- The passive’s numeric recharge bonuses and Kinetic Plating’s numeric resistance are not provided.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Mixing up Thermal Sunder’s tap and hold effects on battery charge and Status.
- Assuming Kinetic Plating has a fixed resistance regardless of battery level.
- Treating Redline’s speed increases as explicitly conditioned on being past the redline; that condition is stated for the periodic arcs and deactivation explosion.