Beating mobs to 5% life?

Hello there,
I am a bit puzzled about something that I have now repeatedly observed in several dungeons and maybe someone else has an answer to that.

Several times now in several different dungeons have I seen different members of dps classes beating a mob down to about 5% of its life bar. After they reached this magical value, they switch to the next mob in the pack and start beating that one down...leaving the tank and healer...and sometimes the other dps to finish killing the first mob off (if the second dps isn't doing the same as the first dps which I have also seen a lot of times by now).


The question that is bothering me for quite some time now is: WHY? Why leave the mob at 5% and starting beating onto the next one like a crazy person? Are they hoping that the first mob dies from the surprise of being beaten to 5%? Or maybe they are hoping that such a sever beating is enough to force the mob to retreat? Do they think that the tank with his massive dps can oneshot the mob? I am not quite sure how this is beneficial to the dungeon progression because it certainly isn't faster in any way.

Unless I am not in on the secret of speeding up dungeon runs by leaving mobs alive.

So anyone has a clue? With a good tank this normally isn't that much of a problem as mob cycling should have given him some sort of hate cushion already. But it is a bit of an annoyance because it forces the tank to stay on mob number 1 and kill it while eager dps are hacking down the hate cushion on mob number 2.

I would just really like to know why they are doing it and what the supposed benefits of that behavior are.

PS: In case you think that they just want to let their dots do all the work....i have observed this with and without dots on the mobs.....and 5% is more of a guesstimate than an actual value...sometimes it is more sometimes it is less.

Only the tank should be switching early.

The only logical reason for DDs to switch early is so they can get their DoTs started on the next monster, and that's a bit of a stretch. They're probably switching since they think the other DD is going to kill it before their GCD is back up or something.

If there are dots ticking on a mob.. .they will slowly kill it off while you focus on another one, or if you use a few AoE attacks. Often times playing Bard and Summoner I am focusing on a variety of different enemies to spread DoT spells (very high MP/TP/GCD return if they tick fully) which often means I'm ignoring the enemy with very low health unless I have a quick action to finish it off.

Sounds like it could be the tank switching early to build enmity on the next mob and the dpses using a shoddy target focus macro meaning they auto-switch alongside the tank.

Target focus makes it easy to see the initial tank focus without the tank having to mark (or the player having to use their eyes). Presumably if, say, someone lets a pre-scripted bot do the 'hard work' for them, it's using a script that maintains target focus.

Does that sound legit, or am I such a bot-hater that I'll blame everything on them? *dons darksteel foil hat*

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Originally Posted by Starvald

I am a bit puzzled about something that I have now repeatedly observed in several dungeons and maybe someone else has an answer to that.

Several times now in several different dungeons have I seen different members of dps classes beating a mob down to about 5% of its life bar.

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Next time you're in a party that does that, you should ask them the reason. Then please post the answer here.

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Originally Posted by Raldo

They're probably switching since they think the other DD is going to kill it before their GCD is back up or something.

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^ this generally is why I do it, wasting GCD's is no good.

Ooh, I know MAYBE they're using a parser and know that any 'overkill' they mete out would negatively affect their parse results, so they move on before it's dead so their full output is soaked up?

For MNKs and DRGs it sometimes makes sense, since they have a combo system. For example DRGs basic 1-2-3 combo ends with a 300 potency attack which would be kind of wasted if you unleash it on a mob with that low health. Same with combos that end in a dot like MNKs demolish. It probably makes less sense for ranged dps though (with the exception of SMN).

Sounds like maybe their judgement of a mobs health was a bit off.

I usually tab around to put dots on different targets. It's a substantial dps increase (meaning everything dies faster), and it should be easier on the tank as it's not so much damage that they can't keep the mobs on them.

That said, those same dots will kill off a target that is almost dead, allowing me to focus on the next target in line. It's a matter of efficiency really.

I know on SMN I'll sometimes switch early, if I'm putting on new dots and Garuda still pounding on the old mob.

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Originally Posted by ChaozK

For MNKs and DRGs it sometimes makes sense, since they have a combo system. For example DRGs basic 1-2-3 combo ends with a 300 potency attack which would be kind of wasted if you unleash it on a mob with that low health. Same with combos that end in a dot like MNKs demolish. It probably makes less sense for ranged dps though (with the exception of SMN).

Sounds like maybe their judgement of a mobs health was a bit off.

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Exactly! As a mnk and if i'm and just finished my combo, often times I'll switch targets so I can land Dragon Kick on the next mob. Imo, why waste a perfectly good debuff on a near dead mob, of course if the previous one is still alive after then I'll Twin Strikes or something to finish him off.

I do that when I DPS (BLM), after my last cast if mob only has about 5% life reminding, I would switch to the next mob, most of time the tanks would have killed the mob before i can finish my next cast.

Not really understanding the big deal here. Is this causing you to wipe often or something? I switch early at times to keep from over killing a mob, if I look back and see the mob still alive I tab over and start my next combo and kill him. To me that just makes a little more sense. If that's the biggest problem I had in a dungeon, it would be a lucky DF to me.

I'm guilty of this alot on BLM. If there's one thing i hate, it's an interrupted cast. And it will happen alot of times that you set off that last fire and the mob is dead before you get it off. For that reason i 99% of the time elect to hop to the next mob at that point rather than waste a CD on an interrupted cast or Scathe. There's the sometimes awkward moment where everyone hops and it stays up for 5+ seconds and i'll just kill it off at that time. That's my rational.

It makes sense, especially for caster classes, to switch early, to avoid wasting a GCD casting.

It doesn't make too much sense for melee classes or bards.

Everyone should be multidotting or AoEing anyway, so that should be happening constantly.

If my dots are rolling and I don't have a charge of Aetherflow for Bane, I'll switch targets since it takes 4-5 seconds for my DPS to start rolling and it's a waste for me to put those 4-5 seconds on a mob that'll die in 3.

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Originally Posted by Starvald

Hello there,
I am a bit puzzled about something that I have now repeatedly observed in several dungeons and maybe someone else has an answer to that.

Several times now in several different dungeons have I seen different members of dps classes beating a mob down to about 5% of its life bar. After they reached this magical value, they switch to the next mob in the pack and start beating that one down...leaving the tank and healer...and sometimes the other dps to finish killing the first mob off (if the second dps isn't doing the same as the first dps which I have also seen a lot of times by now).

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as a BLM i find myself doing this very often because i know that the likelihood of my next Fire cast reaching the mob is slim

Alright...i understand the case of not wanting to waste a GDC or whatever...(even though I don't really care about that). Dotting on mobs is also fully understandable and so on and so forth..
what makes no sense to me is switching targets without paying attention to the fact that there is no dot on the first. or not switching back after using your GDC on the second mob. That's just bad playing in my books.

And no, it doesn't result in wiping as has been asked before....but i find it plain annoying if the tank or the healer have to clean up after their DPS.

i often leave the mobs at 5-10% life
why ? because i'm summoner and my dots do the rest of the job lol :D

Because that last bit of HP is often a waste of whatever we are about to use next... that and dots will normally finish stuff off. Mnk, Drg and Brd can all throw out a quick aoe if there are several targets to finish off anything low on hp. Summoners are rarely focusing anything other than bosses and if they are you should ask that they stop.

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Originally Posted by Starvald

Alright...i understand the case of not wanting to waste a GDC or whatever...(even though I don't really care about that). Dotting on mobs is also fully understandable and so on and so forth..
what makes no sense to me is switching targets without paying attention to the fact that there is no dot on the first. or not switching back after using your GDC on the second mob. That's just bad playing in my books.

And no, it doesn't result in wiping as has been asked before....but i find it plain annoying if the tank or the healer have to clean up after their DPS.

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Perhaps they were making a point that the healer should have had dots on the target, or figure they'd make the healer quit slacking and finish it off... dem lazy healers.

I will do this occasionally (though not at 5%, usually a bit more) as a DRG, especially when running in a full-relic group. I'll often apply my DoTs and one Thrust combo and suddenly the enemy is at 15-25% hp, not enough to get another combo off (often in a good group I'll only be able to get a True Thrust off before it dies at this point), so I'll switch targets and start applying combos to it. Usually this also involves an assumption that the other DPS will finish the mob off.

There have been some hilarious situations where both DPS (usually double DRG AKs, though it also happens with DRG/BLM there) switch targets at pretty much the same time and DoTs aren't enough to kill it. Everyone just stares at this almost-dead mob for a few seconds after everything else is dead wondering why its still alive, then laughs as it gets nuked.

If people are switching early and not going back to kill it if needed, that's bad. But switching early is a good idea, especially with all the DoTs and debuffs you have to maintain in this game. For some classes it might take a few GCDs before they're at a good point in their rotation to switch back, and every job has some incentive to switch before the mob dies.

Dots........... But on MNK I will do this if It means I will be wasting Opo form, means I can get DK up on the next mob.

As a BLM it's pretty simple - the GCD, along with the cast time of every spell I have that actually does respectable damage, is too long to warrant another cast when the mob could/should/and probably will die before my cast finishes. If the game would actually stop my cast when my target dies, instead of letting me stand there continuing to cast on nothing like an idiot, I'd be more inclined to finish off a mob at very low health. Switching to the next mob is simply more efficient. And in the event that DoT's, or rest of the party, didn't finish the mob off either, I'll throw a Scathe on it and hope the extra damage proc'd.

Also, as others have mentioned, a lot of DPS classes have somewhat rigid rotations. Sometimes you don't want to hit the almost dead mob with a big damage skill, but that's where you're at in your rotation. So you might switch to the next mob at full(er) health at this point. There are a lot of reasons, and people have been doing it since forever.

Good dps (min max) will do this on purpose. Why? Because it can be super efficient. If theres a 5 pack of mobs (common in WP, sometimes more, even), honestly switching at 10% would be good. The first mob is going to die to 1) dots 2) splash AE damage on the other mobs 3) tank dps (no lol'ing here) or a combination thereof. Instead of spending that extra few seconds on mob #1, you have move frontal uptime on the next mob. Rinse and repeating this can add up.

If you say, so what, its just a few seconds -- then clearly you are not a mix maxer and aren't going to understand.

Some people just want to get through the dungeon.
Some people want to get through the dungeon as efficiently as possible.