Gilgamesh

Standing in the meta

Tier B 19th of 30 — 2017 tournament tier list from dissidia.wiki (half matchup values, half expert player votes).

Ranked 19th (tier B) on the 2017 tier list; the overview places him historically in mid tier, noting that this placement owes more to competitive representation than to anything else.

Overview

Gilgamesh is a swordsman who operates at close and mid range. He draws a random weapon on every sword attack: weapon length, damage and EX Force generation change with the draw — up to and including a possible Iai Strike (Bravery Break) with Zantetsuken. To that is added a complete aerial repertoire: Double Trouble is the fast poke par excellence for playing safe, Electrocute controls space from afar, Whirlwind Slash closes distance and starts varied combos, and Hurricane finishes combos or catches opponents out with its lightning startup.

His strengths lie in his synergy with the system mechanics and in his aerial attacks: defensive play and Whirlwind Slash combos fill the assist and EX gauges at a steady rate. While the reward varies with the weapon, Gilgamesh always benefits from EX: his damage potential explodes in EX Mode thanks to his high base ATK, to Octo Break and to an EX Burst that is arguably the strongest in the game.

Historically ranked somewhere in mid tier — more a matter of competitive representation than anything else — he is not all-powerful: his ground combat is slower and riskier, and the random draws can produce big damage or 1 damage per hit, with no way to guarantee an effect in most cases. His close-range attacks are very fast, his mid-range attacks far slower and telegraphed: he chooses between the two, with nothing in between, unless he sacrifices his consistent aerial loadout. Cornered, he has little turnaround potential outside random weapon effects, high-risk reads and long-term defensive play. Well balanced overall in the areas that matter, he is a competent character in competitive play.

Stats & speeds

Moves

Bravery attacks

Ground

Aerial

HP attacks

Ground

Aerial

EX Mode: Gilgamesh Morphing Time! & EX Burst

The “Gilgamesh Morphing Time!” EX Mode — effects: Regen, Critical Boost and Octo Break.

Octo Break (always active in EX Mode): Gilgamesh brandishes a weapon in each of his eight arms, the line-up being known only on entering EX Mode. According to the overview, his damage potential explodes then, carried by his high base ATK, Octo Break and his EX Burst — Gilgamesh always benefits from EX, whatever the variance of the weapons.

EX Burst : The Greatest Sword: a flurry of attacks with the greatest sword ever known. Select Excalibur to deal heavy damage (the second part of the Burst is performed twice thanks to Excalibur)… and Excalipoor for the opposite result. Considered by the overview to be arguably the strongest EX Burst in the game.

Unique mechanic

Weapon Draw: Gilgamesh draws one of eight weapons on every melee attack, chosen at random according to fixed probabilities. Each weapon has unique traits — length, EX gauge depletion, different base damage. No weapon is drawn on Wind Slash, Electrocute, Rocket Punch and Missile.

The weapon multipliers affect the attack's base damage, not the final damage: it is one of the few mechanics in the game to modify base damage, so everything scales with the build (high ATK, and so on).

• Excalibur (10 %, reach x1.0): doubles the damage of every hit. Excalipoor (10 %, reach x1.0): 1 damage per hit.
• Genji Blade (10 %, reach x1.0): depletes the opponent's EX gauge, with reduced damage (x0.75, rounded down, minimum 1). Zantetsuken (10 %, short reach): a 2 % chance of inflicting a bravery break — with no stage bravery gained — for normal damage.
• Naginata (15 %, reach x1.5): the longest range, normal damage. Masamune (15 %, reach x1.3): long range, produces more EX Force on hit, reduced damage (x0.75).
• Battle Axe (15 %, reach x0.7): random damage on every hit (x0.25 or x1.75). Chicken Knife (15 %, reach x0.7): damage that increases as Gilgamesh's health drops, from x1.0 (100-91 % health) to x2.77 (10 % and below).
• Weapon retention: the weapon disappears if Gilgamesh dodges, blocks, gets hit or the Chase ends; it stays if he initiates a Chase or chains a missed attack into another (e.g. Double Trouble > Double Trouble). Sequences that keep the weapon: Whirlwind Slash > Chase; Double Trouble (missed/connected) > Hurricane or Sword Dance; Double Trouble (missed) > Double Trouble or Whirlwind Slash; Dual Thrust (missed) > Dual Thrust, Whirlwind Slash or Jump. Sequences that make it disappear (a new draw): Double Trouble (missed) > Tsubamegaeshi; Dual Thrust (missed) > Cross Slash or Death Claw.
• In EX Revenge, Gilgamesh can chain his attacks into one another; the weapon stays or disappears depending on the move chained (it stays on the Whirlwind Slash / Double Trouble / Dual Thrust chains into Double Trouble, Whirlwind Slash, Hurricane, Sword Dance or Jump; it disappears on Dual Thrust > Cross Slash or Death Claw, Cross Slash > Cross Slash and Tsubamegaeshi > Tsubamegaeshi).

Gameplan & advanced tech

Gilgamesh's game takes place in the air, the most contested zone of the game, where his repertoire is complete: Double Trouble as a fast, safe poke (11F, cancellable into an attack, a block or a dodge), Electrocute to check at a distance and punish with a combo on hit, Whirlwind Slash as a gap closer and combo starter, Hurricane (13F) to finish or to catch the opponent out. Defensive play and Whirlwind Slash combos fill the assist and EX gauges at a steady rate, and his fast faller status makes his air dodges harder to punish.

Managing the draw is part of the plan: every melee attack draws a random sword, and the chains steer whether it is kept — initiating a Chase or chaining a missed attack into the right attack keeps the weapon (holding on to an Excalibur), while chaining into Tsubamegaeshi, Cross Slash or Death Claw forces a new draw (getting rid of an Excalipoor). There is no way to guarantee an effect in most cases, though: the reward on hit stays variable.

Gilgamesh always benefits from EX: high base ATK, Octo Break and an EX Burst among the strongest in the game make his damage explode in EX Mode. On the ground, on the other hand, he is slower and riskier — a very slow run, dull bravery attacks — with nothing between his very fast close-range attacks and his slow, telegraphed mid-range moves. Cornered, his only resources are the random weapon effects, high-risk reads and long-term defensive play; against an EX Revenge, his single-hit HP attacks (Rocket Punch and Missile) are respectively ground-limited and slow to start.

Character-specific tech

Universal techniques (blodge, dash feint, lock off, dodge punishment): see the Techniques & glitches page.

Matchups

The only matchup analysed in detail in the period sources is Gilgamesh seen by Golbez (tehdr4g0n's guide, GameFAQs, 2012), and it illuminates both sides of the character. On one side: the variance in weapon reach — his longest is roughly Sephiroth's Reaper, his shortest roughly Tifa's — makes his attacks hard to dodge, to the point that the opponent would rather block; and among his HP attacks, Rocket Punch is judged consistently frightening: a little startup but blistering speed, range that exceeds Glare Hand, and the ability to catch the cooldown of a dodge — Sword Dance (depending on the weapon drawn) and Missile round out the threats, even if Missile can be dodged forwards without turning round and Jump is punished with an early dodge.

On the other side: his slow walk and the lack of startup invincibility on his charges leave him zoned at mid range on the ground, and kept away in the air by space-occupying projectiles (Sector Ray / Genesis Rock in Golbez's case). The opponent's verdict — a relatively simple matchup, but one where no lapse in concentration is allowed because he can turn a match around — matches the overview: Gilgamesh lives off converted hits and the EX threat, not off controlling the neutral at range. Another exploitable trait, noted this time in Balguna's Bartz guide (dissidiaforums, 2011): as a fast faller, Gilgamesh (like Kain) can dive under slow long-range HP attacks of the Luminous Shard type and dash beneath the attack to avoid it entirely — a free approach against aerial zoners.

Sources: gamefaqs.gamespot.com/psp/605802-dissidia-012-duodecim-final · web.archive.org/web/20130815135120/http://dissidiaforums.com

Match videos: Replay Theater — Gilgamesh matches.

Builds

The data contains only one detailed build, “Hybrid (EX)”, consistent with the overview: Gilgamesh always benefits from EX, his damage potential exploding in EX Mode. The build (450 CP, Equip Glitch assumed): 10299 HP, 996 BRV, 179 ATK, 182 DEF, 60 LUK, maximum booster x3.5; Kuja assist, Rubicante summon; Heaven's Cloud, Lufenian Dirk, Lufenian Headband and Lufenian Vest for the Seal of Lufenia special effect; accessories: Muscle Belt, Dismay Shock, Summon Unused, Pre-EX Mode, Pre-EX Revenge, Aerial, White Gem, Tenacious Attacker, Glutton, First to Victory.

A documented substitution: if you do not use Gilgamesh's solo combos, Muscle Belt can be replaced by Battle Hammer or Large Gap in HP.

The second build slot (“build 2”) is empty, the moves equipped in the build are not filled in, and no philosophy prose accompanies the tables.

Build and check a Gilgamesh loadout slot by slot: build creator (CP gauge, ability exclusions and tournament rules applied).

Assist synergies

Gilgamesh as an assist

As an assist (Mid tier on the assist tier list), Gilgamesh draws only Excalibur or Excalipoor, at 50 % each: Excalibur doubles the damage multiplier of the attacks and reinforces the drain on the opponent's EX gauge; Excalipoor reduces every hit to 1 damage and generates EX for the opponent. The reward of each call is therefore a coin toss.

His assist attacks: Cross Slash as a ground BRV attack (21F, Wall Rush, 30 damage with Excalibur against 6 with Excalipoor), Tsubamegaeshi as an aerial BRV attack (21F, Wall Rush, 60 against 5), Death Claw as a ground HP attack (41F, Wall Rush) and Hurricane as an aerial HP attack (13F, Chase).

Recommended assists

• Kuja — The assist equipped in the documented Hybrid (EX) build. Otherwise the synergies section amounts to a single sentence: Gilgamesh works well with most tournament-viable assists.

Community tech

Sources

• https://dissidia.wiki/Gilgamesh_(Dissidia_012)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFcdFkgU3Ks
• https://pastebin.com/8FWDXjvJ
• https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/psp/605802-dissidia-012-duodecim-final-fantasy/faqs/63562
• https://web.archive.org/web/20130815135120/http://dissidiaforums.com/showthread.php?10240-It-s-time-to-return-the-wind-to-the-world!-A-Bartz-Klauser-Guide
• https://dissidia.wiki/Tier_List_(Dissidia_012)
• https://dissidia.wiki/Tier_List_(Assist)

Known limits

• No per-move usage notes in the sources: moveNotes is synthesised from the official descriptions, the frame data and the mentions in the overview and the unique mechanic.
• The wiki's matchups page remains a stub: the matchups section rests solely on opposing views (tehdr4g0n's Golbez guide, Balguna's Bartz guide). No dedicated source on Gilgamesh's side could be read: the dissidiaforums guide “The Man with Many Arms — A Guide to Gilgamesh” is archived by the Wayback Machine only as 500 errors, and the only “Gilgamesh FAQ” on GameFAQs board 605802 is a parody with no competitive content.
• The combos section is undocumented: no detailed combo (only the Double Trouble > Hurricane chain at the ceiling is mentioned, through weapon retention).
• Builds: a single build (Hybrid (EX)) with no written philosophy and no equipped moves; the second build slot is empty.
• Assist synergies are reduced to a generic sentence (no assist recommended by name apart from the Kuja of the build).
• No external reference (the References section is empty): no attributable communityTech.
• The assist gain values of the moves are not filled in; the EX Burst text is truncated in the source (“Select Excalipoor to…”) and Excalipoor's exact effect in the Burst is not spelled out there.
• The solo combo record spells the move named Tsubamegaeshi in the data as “Tsubemigashi”: the same move, in the community's spelling.