I'm pretty aware of that, except what I'm trying to say is standard +5/+10 gear just doesn't cut it when comparing to Kai's "steadier" flow of DPS with the same type of gear, even if the Lann is a great dodger. You also can't expect a critical hit on every single hit,
Percentiles were given earlier, a single Double Crescent is 4 normal arrow shots. So even without critical hits, you're still going to outdamage a Kai. Also, given that most later raids have attacks that go further than Kai's Shortbow range, he's not actually putting out DPS at those moments. The only times he gets that DPS is when the boss is attacking something else entirely, in which case nearly every character would get more DPS.
even with great gear, and stuff happens in close combat that can really screw a player over. Kai can play it safer, and since -most- raids require a party, it's more or less spam spam spam, even if that normal attack skill I forget the name of is pretty weak.
I'm not denying that the distance + dodge grapple makes it easier to stay alive, but he will lose damage due to it. He will be safer, but he will do less damage. So even if a Kai doesn't die at all and a Lann dies a few times, the Lann could still put out enough damage.
Also Kai can barely attack if the boss is aggroing him, I had to solo the Labryinth version of Red Tyrant, and it was hard to fit in anything sides 3-4 normal shots before I was forced on the defensive. His movement speed while spamming is not enough to actually dodge most attacks once you get far enough in the levels. You could still sneak in Arrow Storm and some Twister Kicks, but in the end that's not playing it safe since those moves are very close ranged.
Bringing it over to Vella, she's a counterattack type character? She can take hits mid-combat and deal out damage while being attacked or something? Even more DPS there, Lann can only use up his invincibility frames to avoid getting knocked out in one hit. Might require the same amount of skill, sure, but one deals damage while the other doesn't.
You know what else doesn't do damage? Heavy Stander, Mana Amber, Blink, Rolling, Kai's dodge. Pretty much everything that's not called Karok. Fun fact is that Karok actually has one of the lower damage outputs despite being able to attack while staying alive. Just since she can cancel her attack into a counter does not guarantee her DPS will be better. Maybe if she was identical to Lann in all other aspects, but she isn't.
Edit:
At Akemii, but there's no fun in that~