Looking for help to improve DPS

[FallenFeather]

Heys, I've been playing bruiser now for half a year with t7 raiding, its only casual so my gear is not uber, but quite decent KoS fabled most of it, and I feel like I'm doing just about everything right yet I'm still just 5th spot on parse list, so now I'm interested in how I can improve it even more (I'm doing 800-1200 atm) remember we had a monk that usualy pushed it up to 1500 in quite a few fights during raids and that was way back so should be posible for me as well. I'm wielding twin calamites and Fist of bashing atm, and adorned em with fire dmg and slow target 16% + disease proc  got 25% haste, 35% DPS mod    (Fire Cloak and DPS mod adorn for neck + own group buff) I'm using mastercrafted rings agi and str for those nice buff procs Got off stance M1, and most of my masters M1( well not the realy expensive ones <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> ) For AA I have done wizdom line for crane flock, and with CoB in an ae encounter I'm able to push it  2k ++ , I'm also using it for cooldown on long encounters(should I change to Mantis Bolt), and int line for everything but last ability | Bruiser tree for all that helped dps As for playstyle; When I have Knouckout Combo up I usualy wait in the start and put 4-6 CA in with a litle pause in between to see my auto attack hit, and then I burn with all I got by using combat arts with the shortest retimes first and inding it with the "big" and I usualy end it with Savage bruising, an alternative way would be to only use the small CA and wait for target to get dispatched and then use KC, but since we usualy keep target dispatched from beginning of fight this is how I'm doing it. If I'm so lucky to have a dirge on my team, I always wait using KC until after CoB, its such a waste to have em both up at the same time. Savage bruising is something that seems to be doing massive dmg even on single targets but I'm getting the best effect of it when our target is dispatched, so I'm sometimes waiting for it, and other times I'm just using it to fill in if I'm waiting for retimers. If KC is not up, I usualy take my time and let my auto attack do its dmg between CA, so, soon as I see auto attack trigger I start hitting a new CA. Would it be better to ignore the auto attacks and try having a perfect CA cycle so that you always have a new CA to trigger ? <i>Anything above that could be changed ? As for changing gear I will get my hands on the claymore final reward also Wurmslayer, will also change back to my proc cloak soon as I get the DT haste wrist </i>Also there is something I need to clarify;  how important is it to max strength, and does Int help for anything at all ? Ty, Isaac

[Gungo]

<p>max dps KoS AA 4/4/8 sta/wis/int Max str dont worry about int both dam procs on fist look to upgrade the fist of bashing with razor fist(mmis), hand of deflection(3p), or SoD(DT) The Pumkinhead helm (if possible), or the shredder helm Clawed basilik boots I would use the rallos cloak and drop the CoF Use the DT wrist or a haste belt when able the 5 piece bruiser fabled set If able get into group w a dirge, illusinist helps (you prolly wont get illusionary arm) if in group w assassin get apply poisen, inqusitor My group last night i was hittin 2k regularly and 1.5k+ zone wide (hos, lyceum, 3p, cheldrak) w alot fights i ended up being offtank and mostly main assist</p><p>The group was dirge, inqusitor, assassin, illusionist, bruiser (me), and conjuror. I am fairly certain a few upgrades (5 piece fabled)(pumkinhead helm) with the same setup i can hit ~2k zone wide. </p><p>Only other tricks i can give ya look for range items w + proc on a successful attack not ranged attack. They still add work. Once you get a haste or dps proc item use the nizara ring or if your haste or dps is high enough generally 80%+. </p><p>use crit potions, and/or racial proc brock's thermal shocker is still worth the time casting vs damage. use ranged when you are running into and out of combat master EVERY dps spell. knockout combo as soon as you can (if your tank can hold agro), or timed w cleric spell haste. use Ho's intecede is the same as completeing the taunt horn. any and all + dps, haste, + str, Int, sta adornments you can get </p>

[eyes007]

<p>I'll add some bits here and there:</p><p>Hand of DESTRUCTION is what Gungo meant to say, he's just tricking us hehe. It's prolly easier to get the sceptor if your guild isn't the best at contested farming. The dps Twin is also pretty good, if you have the 62 dmg rating one, it's still worth using.</p><p>Yep, DT bracelet, 2% attack speed adornment on you belt and the rallos cloak = Cloak of Flames + bonus of Rallos Cloak.</p><p>DPS Pro of 45 = 25 CA-based, 10 on neck piece, 10 on ranged.</p><p>I dropped Razorwing (ornate still as well) for the Broken Cogs for the 10 on dps, the unlimited supply of ammo, but will replace with something at the earliest op. Keep Broken Cogs for ammo, has a + to dmg.</p><p>I like dirge, inquisitor, coercer, bruiser (all dps buff at least 160dps), swashbuckler and conjuror although I don't fully know what the dps cap is, I thought it was 200 but I could be wrong.</p><p>potions - str for long auto attack fights (although with an enchanter, prolly not necessary) and crit potions for CAs.</p><p>make sure you do mastery on Knockout combo in bruiser aa's as it raises the damage made. Int used to be a worthless stat for us but it now helps increase damage proc so make use of it if you can.</p>

[FallenFeather]

hmm well its a bout that int,, do anyone knows for fact that it helps ?

[Gungo]

<p>Int helps MOST magically wpn procs. Our magic damage proc (i think still). </p><p>NOT our offensive stance or heat based combat arts. </p>

[eyes007]

yes sorry, thanks Gun I was too lazy to clarify. I've seen adornments change [Removed for Content] Int as well, you know the added damage ones (magic damage of 300-500 etc.), might want to test to make sure.

[FallenFeather]

Gungo@Lucan DLere wrote: <blockquote> <p>Only other tricks i can give ya look for range items w + proc on a successful attack not ranged attack.  </p></blockquote><p><a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=253157" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: #ffcc00"><b>Game Update #31</b></span></a> (January 31, 2007) </p> <ul><li>Bows will no longer proc on sword swings.</li></ul> I knew that was to good to be true.

[Bobbette]

Another suggestion to add to the ones above ... The jeweler made proc'ing rings.  I still wear mine to get the extra dps mod and haste procs on top of everything else.  The stats aren't too bad and getting that boost to dps mod and haste is nice. Ivy-shrouded Earring of Tunare gives 8 to dps.  I just did the questline yesterday and got it.  I'll be experimenting with using it versus a higher strength earring that had 1% add to crits on it.  But with the earring I'm now at 53% dps mod (buff, 10 on my neck, 10 on my sheath, 8 on the earring). I switched to the Zek cloak and use the Deathtoll wrist + 2% adornment on my belt (=25% haste).  The Zek cloak really does up dps. on the EoF Bruiser Tree -- put 5 points in every combat art enhancement (+25% to each's damage) ... might as well put 1 put into Drag while you're at it.  Doesn't do damage but man that AA rocks, I use it all the time for tanking groups and for raiding (dragging mobs off squishies, aggro changes in certain encounters, etc). Also consider putting points into Shiftiness if you haven't.  If your dps is pulling aggro off the MT and you have to FD, then you've lowered your average dps for the time you're face-down shaking aggro.  I put 5 points into it and haven't regretted it a bit.  I can go full bore knowing that every hit has a 50% chance of pushing me lower on the hate list.  I've had instances where I did have aggro and shiftiness detaunted it back off me, helping to put it back onto the MT/OT who was trying to get it back. Finally, buffs make a HUGE impact on my dps.  The more dps mod and haste and strength buffs I have, the more dps I do.  I generally raid in a group that has a wizard, a fury (I get agitate <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> ), bard/chanter, bruiser (me), summoner, another scout (ranger or swashy usually). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Actually talking about buffs brings me to a question ... I've been debating weapon usage lately.  I don't have the twin calamities yet -- hasn't dropped. *pout* I do have the Scepter of Destruction and use that in my off-hand. For my main hand I have a choice of .... Fists of Bashing (with heat proc on it), Bonetooth Skewer (proc adorned too), or Marr's Fist (also proc adorned).  Oh and I also have the Wurmslayer (use this in high draconic zones but otherwise not so much). I know the Fists don't have an innate proc but they have the highest high end and are the slowest delay of those 3.  In thinking of cloak, ring, and buff procs working off the main hand proc rate, Fists of Bashing seemed like a good choice.  But it is missing innate procs on top of what I adorned. Marr's Fist has some really nice innate procs and I definitely use this while doing heroics.  There's slightly less benefit against epics (some of the procs don't work) ... the high damage number is lower than the FoB and the delay is alot less.  But my attack rating is the same with Marr's or FoB equipped with the SoD.  So I dunno. Bonetooth Skewer -- my attack rating is alot less using this, so unless someone can tell me a reason this is better, I've tossed it into my bags for when I need piercing but otherwise ignore it. My question is this ... are slower weapons only really beneficial when I'm super hasted?  And when I'm super dps-buffed I should look at faster weapons?

[FallenFeather]

Some very helpful posts here and I thank you for it, when it comes to usage of potions, could it be so simple as to think that str will (for  the mostly) help your auto attacks, and crits for CA's ? AA picks; EoF is just easy as you dont realy have that much flexability if your raiding, but as for KoS AA.. I used to have Mantis Bolt but it seemed that the proc rating + dmg done was rather litle, so I figured I might as well try crane flock now with the decay system, and until just recently Crane Flock have been a rather big part of my DPS cake but things have changed, now with the new raid tank I dont get so much time like I used to have from pull to pull, and on top of that I dont have the luxury of having any suport class where I used to have dirge cob, so because of that I have been thinking about changing back to Mantis Bolt (CoB + Crane Flock must be the only way I can think of to break 2,5k if the encounter is perfect maybe even 3k).

[Raidi Sovin'faile]

<p>With regards to delay:</p><p>The only time delay of a weapon comes into play is when autoattack is going to be prevented from occuring. The base weapon delay has no bearing on whether or not you get more out of procs, or doing damage overall... it's only when your CA's stat interupting your delay that it becomes an issue.</p><p>So we have to look at our CAs and how long they are. Half second cast, and half second recovery means you will be delayed to 1s delay autoattack during chaining CA's (which we do with Knockout Combo), so having a weapon that goes substantially lower will notice a hit in performance whenever you chain your CAs.</p><p>With 68% haste from an Illusionist, my Twin Calamity (1.6s delay) was down to 1.0s on according to /weaponstats. Now, it truncates to the first decimal point, so if I had 1.01s I could get screwed on CA chaining. So putting on even an extra 10% haste (armband from EoF) brings it to 0.9s and guaranteed to go off in between each CA with very little loss.</p><p> Having a couple extra haste items to switch around seems to work well when being put into non-static group buff situations. If you are in a static raid group setup sort of thing, then you can really fine tune your equipment.</p><p>Basically.. aim to have a modified hasted delay of 0.9s, 1.9s, 2.9s, etc. This will fall in synch with spammed CAs very well.</p><p>So it's not so much about having a long delay weapon, as it is getting a set of weapons and haste that matches your CAs.</p>

[MakhailSamma]

<p> All good advice through and through and you seemt o have the basics pretty much covered.</p><p> I have been finding it hard to switch the high proc of the twin calamity out as my main hand. The added proc from it on CA's and the one in between attack seems to be much better then any high DR weapon I put there (even the razor).</p><p> Secondly, I l;ove Cranne flock. I keep one point in the stamina proc just cause I can, but the damage you can put out with CF is amazing. If you time it with Cob, it procs every time on everything. Not only is it pretty, but can make some nice 3k parses as well as get you agro immeditely if needed. Its one more tool to use when trying to manage group agro as well (something we lack. </p><p> To put out max DPS, I through up KO combo, go though my CA's as normal, then once they are birnt, wait for CoB to be called (if you have a Dirge), then hot CF. Great skill to use while your CA's reset.</p><p> Anyways, just my 2 cp.</p>

[Raidi Sovin'faile]

<p>Totally agree.. AE damage is nuts with Crane Flock.</p><p>Here's a recent parse on last boss of OoB (has two adds and spawns those dopplegangers).</p><p>Allies: (00:22) 150429 | 6837.68 [Ranger-Sniper Shot-9394]                    Damage   DPS    Crits Kaisoku        42143 | 2634 | 30/121 Zerker ---MT 35331 | 1767 | 22/131 Ranger         29772 | 1861 | 11/26 Monk            23519 | 1307 | 13/91 Dirge            19664 | 1035 | 7/44 Monk had comparable equipment, mostly the same as myself with more relic, even a little better in weapons. Just goes to show Bruiser = Burst here. CA's did a lot of the damage, and there wasn't time for the Monk to get his recasts in.</p><p>Blade Chime (Dirge's CoB) took up 7% of my damage alone. To put that into perspective, my offhand weapon did only 9%. And I hadn't even lined it up right.. I sent mine off right away and the dirge waited a moment (i think timer wasn't quite back yet or waiting on zerker to grab aggro).</p><p>Mainhand weapon did 26% of my damage, 2.5x my offhand. That Crane Flock can really add up. I could have done higher too, had Knockout Combo been up.. we cleared too quick, heh. Probably woulda broke 3k.</p><p>This post really doesn't add much new, it just reaffirms what Krommus was saying. That, and it's a Bruiser doubling an equally (even superiorly) equiped Monk's DPS.. bwaha!</p>