Raid CA Order - New Raider trying to max DPS

[Rothgur]

<p>Hi GuysAs the only raiding assasin in my guild, no suprises the guild are looking to me to supply a good DPS and overall percentage of the damage during raids. I like this type of challenge so I've come here to share with you my combination of CA's that I've been trying to improve my DPS and I'm sure you'll be able to help me by pointing out obvious errors in my understanding.<u>AA Raiding build</u>Str 4-4-6-8-1AGI 4-4-7-8-1INT 4-4-4-8I have repeated stabbings, excessive bleeding and front load.I have adept 3 CA's some masters, moon blade, velium strike and lv 77 MC armour with some lv 80 legendary bits now.I have about 33% mele and range crit, about 5% double attack and 80 haste.<u>Raiding CA Order</u>I use exacting/murderous focus while tank getting mob.I start with auto attack when mob positioned.I then use both debuffs, mesh+squeeze (mob will take more dmg)I'll use deadly impale + gushing wound (so dots tick away)I'll use front load.I'll use the mark CAI'll use concealment, then velium strike to go into chain mode.I'll then spam through alll the back stabs finishing with fatal follow up.I'll then use any remaining CA direct attacks, if there are none..I'll back up and use two bow attacks ear+neck shot.By now masked strike and pinpoint are ready so I use those.At this point I'll reapply dots and debuffs and as the mob is 20% or lower I'll use death blow.How's that guys? so far I'm in the MT group and in SOH trash I was getting 4.3K average dps, but I'm sure by changing just the combination I can do more.Questions:Do you wait for auto attack to hit a mob inbetween all the direct attack CA's? I seem to spam them, maybe waiting a 2-3 secs between CA's gives more dps?Should I be leaving the bow attacks to the very end of the fight, I do see a big drop in dps as I back away from mele range and the casting time of the bow attacks maybe 50% into the fight.</p><p>Valkas</p>

[TuinalOfTheNexus]

<p>Would say 4.3k ZW seems about right for the crits and DA you have. There are no obvious mistakes in your cast order except you seem to be missing the defense debuff / damage CA at the start, and the additional AA attack for further poison debuffing (in a raid the mob will be poisoned in under a few seconds). I've often found too that if the tank is decent you can either stick a ranged attack in the mob or use slip away and a blue AE while you get behind the mob to start DPS sooner. The parser starts running the second the mob takes damage and those first 5 seconds of the fight can hurt DPS more than anything else - just see how much the parse shoots up if you move whole raid into position on a ruinic sentry in kor-sha compared to the tank bow pulling.</p><p>I think one key thing to realise is for ZW DPS it's all about hitting stuff soon as it's up and being consistent rather than waiting to do big concealment/fatal followup chains, whilst also making sure big hits are landing when debuffs are in. So it's also reliant on debuffers doing their job.</p><p>From a personal perspective you'd probably want to get a dirge/illu group if you can rather than the MT group. A Swash is better suited to the MT group in the majority of situations and lack of haste/DA in the MT group will inevitably mean DPS suffers.</p><p>You don't talk about gear much but if you only have 5% double attack that's an obvious avenue for improvement. Get a bloodthirsty choker if you haven't already, it's 2nd only to the mythical epic for DPS gain from a single item and only takes a small group to obtain. Whether you'll gain or lose from bow attacks depends a lot on the bow you have compared to your melee weapons; typically melee auto does a lot more than ranged auto, but ranged auto frontloads its DPS so a very well-timed shot at the end of the fight will bump the parse up a bit.</p>

[-Arctura-]

(( the thread called 'Combat Art order for Raiding' is about 10 threads down, on the very same page of these forums. Maybe take a look through the forums before making a new thread, we have about 12 of these exact threads scattered througout the various pages heh.Heres a link to the other one you could have added a post to <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=427792" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=427792</a>Hehe, anyways, my raid dps order:<p>(first of all, every fight I use one of the temp buffs, but not more than one (unless its a named, or the mobs NEED to die fast).</p><p>If you string out your temp buffs over a long period of time by using one-per fight, they will always be refreshing as they wear out, so you will have constant dps and haste boosts.)</p><p>Temp BuffDeath Markstealth AE Dot3 small Dotsdebuffs (snare, torture, crippling, SINISTER STRIKE! (if applicable)opening bladeRootResourceful weapon</p><p>-by this time, Stealth AE dot is back up and ready for the concealment combo</p><p>Concealmentsmall dotStealth AE dotSlatePinpoint bladeJugularMoon BladeKilling Blade (or whatever T8 one is called)ExecuteFatal Followup</p><p>-use Getaway in mid-fight to re-stealth instantly to continue a broken Concealment combo (this assures maximum fatal followup damage if you are very quick with Getaway) (concealment combos can be broken by mob dmg, AEs, lag, etc...)</p><p>after concealment combo is done, just a matter of keeping the buttons blacked out.</p><p>MAKE SURE YOU USE ALL DOTS IF THEY ARE UP IMMEDIATELY!MAKE SURE DEATH MARK IS USED ASAP EVERY TIME ITS UP!</p><p>Keep dots blacked out the whole fight!</p><p>If a dot is up, and a dd is up... use the dot instead, then the dd.</p><p>Nearing the end of the fight, (the last 5 %, dots are no longer viable, now is the time for the spike dmg attacks if you have them.If not, it's a great time to hit Death Blow, then switch to Ranged attack, pop a back-attack CA or two off, then a range autoattack will pop, then run in for a final melee hit or two.(if you do that right, you can get about 20-30k dmg easy from the 3 range Cas, + range DA+ crit, then melee DA + Crits)(its a big tasty spike at the end of the fight, when usually most peoples buttons are blacked out anyways)</p><p>Use finishing blow throughout the fight, it depends on how long the fights last. It has a 1 minute reuse timer.... so for the REALLY long fights, use it at the beginning when you are done with your dots and debuffs, so you can get it back by the time the end of the fight rolls around.(be careful with preemptively using Finishing blow though, if the fight turns out to be quicker than you thought, you just missed out on a good 8-16k dmg right there.</p>

[Mr. Dawki]

<p>I know someone is going to call me crazy for this but my conceal combo works like this</p><p>ConcealMasked attackpinpointmoon bladeJugular slicedeathly blade(tap auto attack key)executecloaked assaultslateFatal followup</p><p>Even if you have 0 haste at all the time it takes to go through ever backstab before the two AE's is wasting an auto attack. If you have your mythical 1 auto attack can be worth several tens of thousands points of dmg. It takes a little getting used to but with a little practise it becomes second nature to tap the "~" key right before the two AEs. If you are just starting to try it I would recomend only using it on fights where deathly blade and execute are not up, just so you can recover if you mess up. Also I do not recomend trying it on orange con mobs since auto attack can fail more often.</p><p>On large problem with this is by the time you hit FF conceal has ended so you are no longer protected by the -40% hate, you may grab agro depending on how hard your FF hits. 30-40K hits tend to do that.</p>

[Soulforged_Unre]

<cite>-Arctura- wrote:</cite><blockquote>Hehe, anyways, my raid dps order:<p>(first of all, every fight I use one of the temp buffs, but not more than one (unless its a named, or the mobs NEED to die fast).</p><p>If you string out your temp buffs over a long period of time by using one-per fight, they will always be refreshing as they wear out, so you will have constant dps and haste boosts.)</p><p>Temp BuffDeath Markstealth AE Dot3 small Dotsdebuffs (snare, torture, crippling, SINISTER STRIKE! (if applicable)opening bladeRootResourceful weapon</p><p>-by this time, Stealth AE dot is back up and ready for the concealment combo</p><p>Concealmentsmall dotStealth AE dotSlatePinpoint bladeJugularMoon BladeKilling Blade (or whatever T8 one is called)ExecuteFatal Followup</p><p>-use Getaway in mid-fight to re-stealth instantly to continue a broken Concealment combo (this assures maximum fatal followup damage if you are very quick with Getaway) (concealment combos can be broken by mob dmg, AEs, lag, etc...)</p><p>after concealment combo is done, just a matter of keeping the buttons blacked out.</p><p>MAKE SURE YOU USE ALL DOTS IF THEY ARE UP IMMEDIATELY!MAKE SURE DEATH MARK IS USED ASAP EVERY TIME ITS UP!</p><p>Keep dots blacked out the whole fight!</p><p>If a dot is up, and a dd is up... use the dot instead, then the dd.</p><p>Nearing the end of the fight, (the last 5 %, dots are no longer viable</p></blockquote>1. Debuffs before using any CA's (not counting temp buffs). Haven't the slightest idea why people wouldn't.2. Best to keep Murderous design and honed reflexes used at the same time, as they share re-use timers. The same goes for Exacting and Frontload. Your way may help smooth over your fights, but in zonewide terms, it doesn't matter.3. Any raiding assassin with Getaway should: Call of overlord and respec.4. Always use masked strike and pinpoint blade together, as they share a re-use timer.5. Use jugular slice and moon blade only really when concealment is up, unless the fight isn't going to last long enough for another concealment chain (in which case you can use masked and moon or jugular).6. Make sure your debuffs stay active throughout the fight.7. Stealth Assault's re-use timer is half that of concealment, so as soon as it pops back up, use spy and fire it off, it will still be up for your next concealment chain.8. Nearing the end of the fight, some DoT's are still viable: Scarring blow and Deadly impale both have some front end damage, which, unless you have a bigger CA planned, is worth it to fire off. The only one you don't really want spend time firing off near the end of the fight is Gushing wound, as it's damage only really comes into effect at the end of its timer.9. If you have your mythical, you may want to time your concealment as Yoyo posted to get an autoattack in there. 10. If you have a defiler in your group, then ask for RoA when you're about to go into concealment, as you'll be able to get off a second pinpoint, helping your FF damage.11. If you get knocked out of concealment for any reason, just auto attack or hit any of the other CA's that have come up to get back in.12. This one may seem simple, but oh so many people I've seen can't figure it out.... Make sure you're at the mobs back the entire fight, and make sure you're still in melee range.13. If you have any class in your group with a buff that increases your proc chances, use caustic poison. If you're specced to frontload (which you really really should be), use caustic. (or poisoned seeds of the tender)Nothing else I can think of at the moment.

[Jardon]

<p>You need to recheck number 10.</p><p>Last I read over at the other forum (and from my parses), was that getting two of the same stleath attack in for one Fatal Followup does nothing. It will only count one of them, even if you get two in.</p><p>If you have a parse of a FF with and without two pinpoints, and everything else is the same, and you get more damage from the FF with two pinpoints, I would love to see it, because I have been unable to get it to count move then one of any stealth attack for one FF.</p>

[Soulforged_Unre]

My apologies then, I only heard about that one in-game from the assassin channel, almost a year ago.