Increasing skillchain limit

[machini]

Hello SE,

Would it be possible to increase or unbound the number of weaponskills that can participate in a skillchain? Currently, the limit is 6, and 2 for light or darkness. Very few people ever go up to 6, but if the limit were increased it would be more of an incentive for people to go up to and past 6 for increased damage.

Thank you for your consideration.

If I understand correctly, there is no actual limit on how many WSes can be chained together. What limits it is the fact that the window in which each successive weapon skill must be performed shrinks with each successive weapon skill, so that after six the window no longer exists. With sufficient TP generation (and a lack of stun, paralyze, terror, and petrify), a decent DNC at attack speed cap can do back to back to back 5 part double darknesses, and a SAM (and, in theory, a THF) can do the same with six parts (on light for SAM, Darkness for THF).

The one problem I can see with increasing the number of steps in a skill chain is how the damage scales with each successive step in a skill chain. A six-step double darkness is going to do 225% of the damage of the WS that caused it. If you add in capped skillchain bonus, which some jobs can get, you're looking at 3.375x damage on that second light or second dark. Given that it's still fairly easy to hit 50k Rudra's Storms, even if it's infrequently, on a mob that is weak to piercing, or on SAM for a mob that is weak to slashing, you could be looking at, currently, well over 300k damage off that second Darkness or Light. And that's not including all the damage that precedes it. The first Darkness or Light, under those circumstances, could well do approximately 300k itself, with two SAMs or two THF/DNC/BRDs coordinating. Which means you can do, as it stands, more than 800k damage in two steps of a six step skillchain with appropriate buffs, and under favorable conditions. Even in normal conditions, with appropriate buffs, you're looking at 400k damage in two steps of a six step skillchain.

This is also the reason why following a Light or Darkness with a second Light or Darkness ends the skillchain. Assuming that, with good buffs, moonshade earring, and 2-3 THFs/DNC/BRD/SAMs coordinating, you could easily have 10k Fudos and 10k Rudra's Storms pumped out back to back to back. That's 145k damage, easily, with two or three people coordinating, and could possibly be done with any job combinations that all have access to Light or Darkness properties. If there's sufficient TP generation, you could go much higher. I know when I'm at attack speed cap, doing skillchains with a partner, I can almost always reach 2kTP before it's my turn again. Sometimes higher. Which means now you're pumping out even larger Rudra's Storms, Tachi: Fudos, Victory Smites, Camlann's Torments, etc, etc.

If you increase the maximum length of skillchains, going base on current progression, along with removing the "following a light or darkness with itself ends the skillchain" rule, at 8 steps you'd be looking at easily 217k damage, or 300k damage at 10 back to back to back Darkness/Lights.

The only way you could really increase the maximum length of skill chains would be by increasing the window, which means any job that can already do six step solo skillchains could easily do 7, 8, 9, 10, or whatever steps, assuming they don't get interrupted. That would be an insane amount of damage, especially if those were back to back to back Darkness or Light. And if they're all Darkness, or all Light, that makes it trivial to repeatedly magic burst off of those. Throw in another 100k/+ damage for a good BLM, and you're taking out delve NMs, vagary NMs, pretty much anything that is not outright immune to physical or magical damage, in 18 to 30 seconds. Sixty, tops, assuming no interruptions.