[Maksimum_Fire]

@smilegod Based on everything we've seen in the PvP scene, I don't think we can call Evoker the 'problem' with mages. Hexer and Rune Mage are just as monstrous in their own right. But that's also not the topic we're here fore.

Null shell, yes, counters positive status effects but I need to call out some of the ones you listed. Attrait isn't a buff that needs to be up for crit stackers. It just refreshes Perfect Poise. In my experience, Duelists have decent odds of evading non-sniper gunners when they have even one evade buff up, letting them pick up perfect poise pretty effectively- and with multishots and BoNR, a duelist is guaranteed to get and keep Poise, the 15-less-crit little brother version of Perfect Poise. Nulling off poise and perfect poise is actively detrimental because you're usually just giving them poise again right after the fact anyway- it's a filler buff that counters null shell. Even if I didn't plan on using Crit, I'd take one point in Poise just for that. I think outside of singleshots, 'most' of their statuses is an exaggeration, especially when we recall that mirage walk is also a status; a status you passively gain just by doing something else. In fact, you could even gain more statuses in that action. Ranger flip shot+acrobatics, suddenly you got +55 evade and two statuses. Disengage, suddenly you get 70 evade for one attack and two statuses. Several other statuses get tossed into this kind of combo, too. There are so many buffer statuses it's honestly insane. I already mentioned Initiative, but Skip status is also a thing- jump cancel is a status, for demon hunters- Prophylaxis(very easy to proc against multishots, especially), Spellthief's Margin Manipulation(from bonus shell damage), and more. There are plenty of offensive skills that give you a buff on top of what they already do.

I think that builds don't rely on positive status effects, more often than not. I am gonna acknowledge Fern's point, though. Transformation statuses being nulled is silly, and I'd suggest giving Death Knighting, Shine Knighting, and Mirror Knighting immunity to being nulled so that those sorts of moments don't get just pewed off. A similar problem case like this is Geist Schrit, and the fact it can be nulled off- I'd like to see this fixed immediately as well. Thank you Kameron8 for also putting your two cents on that- It feels like people only really struggle with specific statuses being nulled off, and gutting null shell is not only not the answer to that, it encourages a pattern of leaving the other dispelling effects behind.

I think Shapeshifter is too new for me to comment much on. If it's struggling, I'd love to see Shapeshifter get a buff. I don't think Install should have immunity to dispels, personally, since DW being unremovable makes a lot of matchups nasty.

If you're caught out in a matchup where someone has a null, I really think you just. Need to adapt and fight without using as many status effects- or use the passive status effects you gain to force the magic gunner into using Null. Y'all are acting like null isn't a resource, but it's not the only shell in the game. It's the active opportunity cost from using everything else you could be using in that matchup. Celsius shell to slow your opponent down and cover your escape. Vampire shell to save your FP. Interference shell to handle the youkai encroaching on you, or OC interference shell to handle heavy healing from the opponents. Sonic shell is less important these days but the KD effect and hesitation effect on Singleshots is still very good. Using Null Shell already diverts you from alll those other options that you'd need to use, and in matchups where null is important, oftentimes people are already forced to drop using other overcharge effects in order to hold onto null shell. It's just, good pvp. Know the matchup, and you can force your opponent into certain options, and vice versa. Worth noting also that Charge and Overcharge effects take 3m, still, to charge up if your opponent has decent crit evade, since spark drive loses reliability fast.

Now, the 'ignore resists' or '-25% resists' suggestion as a 'charge' effect. The issue I see with this is physical resistance builds. I think physical resistance is tricky to play against, and it's definitely a rough matchup for MG as things are, even WITH null shell- since MGs are super lined into Pierce Damage usually, and it is possible to remove the Nulled debuff. But now, in this kinda matchup, MG would be far less worried and could just spark drive at an opponent with low crit evade, or occasionally use charge shot and preserve OC if the opponent has crit evade. You could just repeatedly strip the resistance with no struggle. I don't really want to see that; especially since it's ALL resistances. The utility in a team fight is just insane. I don't think that SAN builds should have to shoot for 50% elemental resistance in order to proc Resist on enemy elemental attacks. The only class that can reliable hit numbers like that on multiple elements is Lantern Bearer- and even then, only one at a time.

synopsis; points for null shell being gutted involve the fact that it costs 'too little resources' for what it does. The answer isn't to remove its identity, but to just give it gentle nudges into where people will be happier with it. Statuses that shouldn't be nulled off need immunity to null. If necessary beyond that, a cap, maybe, similar to Sonic Shell's silence duration cap, could be employed to prevent Singleshot weapons from getting out of hand with 6 status effects dispelled.

Anything beyond that and I think we'd need to see a much fuller rework to magic gunner.