Why can you take damage during gun strikes?

[ExplosiveBolts]

This is one of the most blatantly stupid design decisions I've ever seen.

[冚家寧]

Because we can knock back mini enemy in many different way to trigger gun strike such as dodge, parry, heavy attack etc. If we don't take damage during gun strikes, we will be invincible most of the time in the run.

[ExplosiveBolts]

Originally posted by XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD:

Because we can knock back mini enemy in many different way to trigger gun strike such as dodge, parry, heavy attack etc. If we don't take damage during gun strikes, we will be invincible most of the time in the run.

Sorry there is no way to argue that this is a good mechanic if the game won't even let you fire in a certain direction without locking you into a gun strike animation.

[DragynDance]

I would of agreed with you when I first started playing, but after regularly doing ruthless difficulty, I think it would be quite busted if gun strikes had full invulnerability like executions do. It is EXTREMELY easy to knock down chafe in the middle of a horde and set up multiple gun strikes, and a kill with a gun strike restores armor. So you can do something like the chain sword light -> heavy combo to punch a guy down, then gun strike for armor; or force sword in power mode just a single light attack always guarantees a knockdown, gun strike for armor restore. If you also had invulnerability during gun strikes, as long as there was always chafe around, you would be impossible to kill. So now you have to be kind of tactical about it, knowing when it's safe, hopping around before actually executing the gun strike, etc. Gun strikes also always interupt/stagger any enemy that survives it out of any animation, even bosses. Even the hive lord. And you can "bank" your gun strike for about ~2 seconds before it goes away, so you can save it to interupt an animation after your parry/dodge.

[DapperApple21]

Because its way faster than an execution, can be done at a farther range, and can even be done against enemies that aren't even incapacitated yet. Thus allowing you to more quickly return to the fight and to aid your squadmates, while consequently shirking i-frames.

[Jonny Rico]

You get:

Armor back
Insta Kill Smalls
Extra Damage To Large Enemies
Literally 1 second long

You don't have to use it every time you see it, get some distance if you really want to gun strike. It'd be insanely easy if you were invulnerable during gun strikes because you can chain them so easily.

[Mullins]

It's called "bad design".