SK DPS

[Dead Knight]

It seems that the average DPS for a 70 SK, at least from what I'm seeing on the forums is 800-900. On T7 EoF content I'm only parsing about 650 per encounter. This was based on my parses in CoV and Unrest. The entire time I was top parser with the Zerker close behind and /gasp the Warden right up his [Removed for Content]. But anyway, if people are achieving those numbers, any advice on how? I have maxxed out spell crits, 8 points in INT increase and a few in the STR line.

[Tyrani]

<p>One thing to take into account is that a <i>lot</i> of those parses are from raids and dps as a whole is hugely based on group make up.  That being said...</p><p>- Spell crits are a must have (you have those)</p><p>- Any and every single "On Hostile Spell" proc item you can get...these will proc off of taunts, debuffs, any spell you cast basically.  The other good thing about them is that they, too, can crit based off of your crit %.</p><p>- Slow, big damage 2h weapon, offensive stance...(if tanking 1h+shield, still in offensive)</p><p>- DPS modifiers help us moreso than haste ever will...</p><p>- Adept III or Master I any/every spell/CA you can</p><p>- Pause just a moment between spell casts to let auto-attack through</p><p>That is about all I can think of at the moment.</p>

[Dead Knight]

Got everything there down except the pause, I'll have to do some testing with that.

[Tyrani]

<p>Yup....biggest thing is group make up.  Anybody that mods INT, STR, DPS, adds procs, Damage Shields.</p><p>Fury, Conjuror, Dirge, Templar...add another random DPS class and you'll be golden.</p>

[Dead Knight]

<cite>Tyranire wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Yup....biggest thing is group make up.  Anybody that mods INT, STR, DPS, adds procs, Damage Shields.</p><p>Fury, Conjuror, Dirge, Templar...add another random DPS class and you'll be golden.</p></blockquote> Aye, problem is they always refuse to buff me. They always throw STR to the scout or zerker which I can understand. And INT to the mage which sometimes I don't understand. Most of the time I out DPS the mages since 99% of the ones on my server have crappy gear anyway. In fact the only mages I have trouble with are really good necros and of course warlocks on a big pull.

[Tyrani]

People have a real issue realizing that 1 damage = 1 aggro....since most of our aggro is going to come from our damage output, we need to be buffed to the hilt.

[Anca0202]

I am still working towards top end gear with my sk.  I parse relativly high and usually suprise the heck out of people who don't realize what SKs are capable of.  I can parse 600-800 most of the time through oob/valdoon/unrest and I know others can go way higher than that.  I basicly have 448 sta/wis/int, rever, and hate lines all full 100AA.  I use cudgel of pain all the time for hammer ground and a shield so I know I miss out on wis/int abilities.  I have all but 5 masters (4 now, had tap veins drop for me last night in poets /happydance) and am always in defensive stance.  I raid some with an allied giuld but we are not too serious.  We had our first crack at labs and I was overall 3rd on parse at around 750.  2 assasins beat me out but I was ahead of a bunch of casters and other scouts.  I tanked the first half and was in a general group for the second, not too many dps but enough for a good time.  Well that is how I operate, hope it helps.

[Arthik]

Klobo, I noticed one thing about your post: You're in defense stance. If you're DPS-ing, even sometimes when you're tanking, you should be in offense, not defense. It's like... Rule #1. At Deathtoll, I was parsing around 1100-1700 DPS this past weekend. Surprised the heck out of my guild who I had been raiding with for a few months, and even had some of the rangers and necros asking me how I did it.

[Anca0202]

I do switch into offensive when not tanking but when I am tanking 99% of the time I am in defensive and can still put out some nice number because I know a few furies that accomadate my int when I tank for them.  But thank you for the clarification.

[Beldin_]

<cite>Tyranire wrote:</cite><blockquote>One thing to take into account is that a <i>lot</i> of those parses are from raids and dps as a whole is hugely based on group make up.  </blockquote><p>700-900 is often possible in groups without special setup, i can do that in Nest/PP-runs duoing with just a warden, 1000+ is more raidbuffed. However a lot depends on the setup of the enmies, your dps is always better on huge groups of mobs with no upgrades then in triple-ups. The endskill in STR also helps in my opionion, 10% faster cast means less interrupts, and 10% faster recast means you can simply cast more spells in the same time, and pull the next group earlier.</p><p>However, i normally look for zonewide DPS .. on special encounters it may be 500 on one .. and 1500 on the another </p>

[deathhascome]

Arthik@Crushbone wrote: <blockquote>Klobo, I noticed one thing about your post: You're in defense stance. If you're DPS-ing, even sometimes when you're tanking, you should be in offense, not defense. It's like... Rule #1. At Deathtoll, I was parsing around 1100-1700 DPS this past weekend. Surprised the heck out of my guild who I had been raiding with for a few months, and even had some of the rangers and necros asking me how I did it. </blockquote>Ok, Off stance does AOE right? or that just on my zerker? How does this work with mezz or some of the other abilities? Won't the AOE affects of off stance cause problems?

[Danimal24]

Nogort@Kithicor wrote: <blockquote>Arthik@Crushbone wrote: <blockquote>Klobo, I noticed one thing about your post: You're in defense stance. If you're DPS-ing, even sometimes when you're tanking, you should be in offense, not defense. It's like... Rule #1. At Deathtoll, I was parsing around 1100-1700 DPS this past weekend. Surprised the heck out of my guild who I had been raiding with for a few months, and even had some of the rangers and necros asking me how I did it. </blockquote>Ok, Off stance does AOE right? or that just on my zerker? How does this work with mezz or some of the other abilities? Won't the AOE affects of off stance cause problems? </blockquote>Your SK's offensive stance buffs your INT, melee skills (crush slash pierce) and disruption (damage spells). It has no aoe proc that I know of.

[Zoradan]

<p>Off stance and int. I look at so many lvl 70 sk's and they have horible int. Lots of gear out there has int on it, just check your stuff and try to balance things out, also check int potions there cheep last 30 min and Grandmasters boost int by 66.</p><p>Exp/exploring almost always in Off stance, burn the mobs down and ya don't have to heal thrue them.</p>

[Zayan]

I'd definitely check your INT setup too. In offensive with DPS gear I run 617 INT / 489 STR. I'd like to get that up to 650 eventually (after playing around a bit, I think that that's a great break even point for me.) When in tanking gear in offensive I run around 591 INT / 499 STR. My sta is usually around 440-470. That's self buffed. As Zoradan says, check potions, I chug em like a mofo which then adds on some pretty numbers. Definitely snag some cheap int gear and see what you can produce with your int being 200 or so higher. (all that being said, I gave up a lot of int for resists) So.. what's everyone's INT here?

[Tyrani]

Offensive stance with normal gear....512 (with Inny pet), but my STR is in the 500-ish range too, STA is 450-ish.