Brd opener

New to bard end game. For FCoB, should I use all my CDat the start of the fight?

it depends on a few things. how much time you have till the boss does a break phase, how much time till the adds appear, how strong are the adds, what mechanics are coming up that can really make you screw yourself etc.

for example we'll use ramuh. a good opener is to apply both dots, pop cooldowns, in between those cooldowns use straight shot and any bloodletters that proc, a dex potion is completely up to you and depends on your healers/group. from there i just keep up my dots, straight shot and hit any bloodletters since his adds come around 63% blood and internal release will be ready together. so for the first add i pop those two with flame arrow. then for the second i use hawk eye with barrage. third get's raging strikes with flame arrow.

some people pop them all together for increased dps on parsers but it can make other phases go slower that way. just judge fight by fight and you'll do fine but always stick with your dots first, straight shot and then heavy shot-bloodletter.

Btw when ahould dots be reapplied?

about 3 seconds till your first dot is about to wear off. always keep up both dots and straight shot.

http://angered.guildwork.com/forum/t...ide-by-krietor Perhaps that may help somewhat.

This is the rotation I use:

Windbite (Bloodletter) > Venomous Bite (Hawk's Eye + Blunt Arrow*) > Straight Shot (Blood for Blood, Raging Strikes) > Heavy Shot (Internal Release + Barrage) > filler (Flaming Arrow + Repelling Shot**) > filler until DoT reapplication

Here are some things to note about this rotation:
1) Filler means Heavy Shot unless you have a Straighter Shot proc. If you get a proc, use it then go back to using Heavy Shot until you get another proc or you have to reapply DoTs.
2) Bloodletter's recast timer may reset during the opener, which accommodates for such a situation. Quickly weave it in and go back to where you left off in your opener.
3) If you're using a HQ X-Potion of Dexterity, use it after Internal Release and before Barrage.
4) This is the most important point: this rotation lets you reapply your DoTs without having to sacrifice TP and DPS to clip them. This opener offers better DPS than the traditional Straight Shot opener.

*Blunt Arrow is optional if you need it for silencing duties, or your skill speed is too high for you to weave it in without being locked by the animation.
**Similar to Blunt Arrow, you have to be selective in weaving in Repelling Shot not only due to animation lock, but position as well. You don't want to jump into something that can kill you like lingering AoEs or death walls.

About Foe requiem, do I have to be near the enemy for the increased damage (from magic) do be applied to it? does it apply to caster LB?

also, for does ballad or paeon have any range?

Foe will appear on the enemy if it's close enough. You cannot be max range for For to be on, you must be closer.

here's what I shared in another thread

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChriZirhC

here's my rotation:

off global cooldown order - bloodletter(reapply whenever available) > hawkeye > raging strikes > blood for blood > barrage
you weave these between global cooldowns. if you have a good ping you can insert 2-3 of these in every global cooldown. if misery's end and bloodletter are both available prioritize misery's end, but again if you have a good ping you can cast them both.

global cooldown priority - straight shot > windbite > venomous bite > heavy shot(filler)
once you have like 5-6 seconds left on hawkeye, reapply your dots. always prioritize your dots before anything else and clip them whenever a buff is about to expire(with the exception that straight shot is about to expire)

buff rotation after opener:
internal release
hawkeye + b4b + barrage
internal release + raging strikes

hope this helps

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by SlyRoyale

This is the rotation I use:

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please explain to me how the "traditional" way of opening up with straight shot before your dots, parses lower dps than your rotation.

And why would use use blunt arrow from the start. While im confused why so many bards dont bother using Blunt arrow and repelling shot. I have always used them at the bottom of my priority list. I don't know maybe im missing something, curious :)

This is what im personally using as a standard rotation. without pots and with BloodletterMisery always on cooldown

(Quelling strikes) pre pull (Internal Release) StraightShot (HawkesEye) Windbite (Raging Strikes)Venoms Bite (BfB) Filler Heavy Shot/Str. Shot procs (Barrage) and I will weave in Flame Arrow, Repelling Shot and Blunt between my fillers and procs. My dots generally are reapplied with less than 3 seconds.

1) Opening with Straight Shot wastes a potential Bloodletter proc.
2) If you open with Straight Shot, you need a Straighter Shot proc within 3-4 GCDs. If you don't get it, you are faced with three scenarios:
a) Reapply Straight Shot early, wasting TP and potency.
b) Clip your DoTs, also wasting TP and potency.
c) Reapply DoTs without Straight Shot (defeats the purpose of the opener).
3) The opener I use has all the buffs up for the 2nd set of DoTs.
4) With the Straight Shot opener, to stack all your buffs and get the most out of your DoTs, you have to hold onto them long enough that you end up losing DPS. On the other hand, weaving your buffs ASAP means you only get some for your first set of DoTs, and some for the 2nd set. This isn't as good as having all of them up for your second set and none for your first.

To answer your question about Blunt Arrow, it has to do with animation locks. If you aren't holding on to Blunt Arrow to interrupt certain moves (like the Allagan Naga's Baleful Roar), you can weave it in for extra DPS. The reason this move is used right after weaving Hawk's Eye has to do with the animation lock from the off-GCD attack. Depending on your skill speed, you can weave in two off-GCD abilities without having them cut into your GCD. If your skill speed is too high, you can save Blunt Arrow for after your buffs are all applied and weave it in on its own. That's pretty much why.

1. you do know that a crit buffed dot will reset bloodletter right? I'll trade that one guarenteed bloodletter from the start and enjoy the BL procs from my dots from the start and normally a dex pot is drinked from the start and I love the Bloodletter procs on dex pots.

2. How do you even get "within 3-4 GCD" If I dont get it within 3-4 GCD I have no problems

3/4. Do you have any logs showing the "traditional vs yours" When I say logs I mean at last 20 parses of each and examined?

But anyway thanks for your explanation, its appreciated :)

1) The opener exposes you to more DPS from the get-go. Bloodletter is a free 150 potency attack. There's no reason not to take advantage of it ASAP. Also, the crit increases are based on your crit rate rather than a flat rate increase. The difference from the beginning isn't much. You'll see more from having your 2nd set of DoTs having all the buffs instead, both in their damage and Bloodletter procs.
2) Heavy Shot has a 10% chance of proccing Straighter Shot. Each GCD takes about 2.5s or less depending on your skill speed. If you open with Straight Shot and apply your DoTs, you have 15s left on your Straight Shot buff after both DoTs are up. If you don't get a Straighter Shot proc and you have 3-5s left on the buff, you are faced with those three aforementioned scenarios. If you don't have a problem with that, I assume you either reapply the buff early before your DoTs are about to expire, or after reapplying your DoTs?
3&4) I have a parse showing my opener and another using Krietor's opener. I wish I could've done more, but I'm a console player and I'd have to catch one of my PC friends when they have nothing better to do to parse for me. If in-game parsing was a thing, I'd gladly post more than 20 parses for each opener. Instead, this is what I could provide before my friend parsing at the time had to leave for breakfast:
DoT opener: http://puu.sh/dvtcK.JPG
Krietor's opener: http://puu.sh/dvtHk.JPG
It may not show much, but it's better than nothing. I would post more parses as long as it isn't a waste of the parser's time.

Personally I've tried like...six different openers on Bard, never the one Sly is talking about, but I can tell you the one I've found to be the best in regard to pure DPS output.

Straight Shot > Bloodletter > Every Buff You Have (Raging Strikes, Quelling Strikes, Blood for Blood, Hawk Eye, Barrage, Internal Release) > Windbite > Flaming Arrow > Venomous Shot > Blunt Arrow > Heavy Shot > Repelling Shot > Heavy Shot

Naturally, skip any off global cooldown skill and use bloodletter when it procs, and replace any heavy shot with straighter shot when it procs.

The logic: Straight shot for crit increase and to initiate auto attack, BL because it should always be on cooldown. Buffs are prioritized with longest CD first, however it is essential that RS, B4B, and HE are used before Barrage for the increase in auto attack damage. The point made above is that the critical hit increase isn't that big of a deal, but what is being left out is that your initial dots will benefit from every damage increasing cooldown you have.

P.S.: Square hates Bards. Skill Speed is the devil. Try to minimize it as much as possible. It's only good for two things: starving your TP pool, and making you miss out on the ability to fire off to oGCDs in between GCD.

opener i use(this opening pulls from everything but the best tanks)

windbite, venomous bite, bloodletter, blood for blood, internal release, hawk eye, straight shot, raging strikes, quelling strikes, dex potion, barrage, flaming arrow, blunt shot, repelling shot.

you can skip the potion and quelling strike if you don't think you'll need it or aren't that geared up but i've found it's better to just include it unless you want to aggravate a tank :b

after the open you make sure to keep your dots and straight shot crit buff up. after that i use blood for blood+internal release+flaming arrow together. then hawk eye+barrage. then raging strikes by itself. every other roation you can wait a second and use blood for blood+internal release+hawk eye+flaming arrow+barrage if you'd like. every third rotation you'll use hawk eye+raging strikes+barrage together. great for maintaining damage even while singing and it helps with tp.