Fun with Berserk

Ok so recently I picked warrior (currently i99) back up, and have been having a blast after switching from vit to str. But one ability I have a love hate relationship with is beserk. Damage boost is nice and all but that pacification can get in the way of combos so i gave it some quick thought and here\\'s the result. Remove the pacification effect, slightly lower the damage boost while swapping vit and str for the duration of berserk. Sounds fun no? Any rate just felt like getting this out on the forums for fun. Keep flipping tables fellow warriods :3

Wecome back!

I think zerk is fine. Two things can help though. I have built my zerk into a macro that asks for a leeches/esuna around 3 secs before pacification hits. Usually the timing is just right that I get cleansed as pacification hits. Other is increase in Skill Speed a slight bit. Lot's of talk out there on it, and an increase in skill speed would allow for that last part of the combo or and extra IB to come out. Personally I get in my combo's and IB before it hits, if the heals missed the cleanse then I use a Brutal Swing, as it's not affected by the pacification debuff.

As long as you're activating it on the 2nd hit of a combo (Maim or SS), you should be able to get off 3 full combos and an IB. Activating it as late as possible and having the appropriate SS for your ping is the key to just adding in a Fracture @ 5 Wrath. The pacification is annoying but I like it thematically - you go into a rage and need to calm down for a few seconds afterward.

Don't pop Berserk until your GCD will be up as the oGCD animation is completing in order to get every hit out of it. A little bit of skill speed (no more than 30 necessary, for sure) can help as well, after that point, in case of some lag in queuing up GCDs over the duration. You can get in 8 moves, so if pop Berserk just before Butcher's or Storm, you can get in 2 more combos and a Fracture or IB/SC. Usually the Leeches or especially Esuna will cost the healer more in dps than it could possibly save me by removing the Pacification (they will almost never manage to remove more than 4 seconds of it, and usually no more than 2), so I just carry Flash for dungeons.

Make a macro for Berserk that does a /wait 17 and then tells the healers in 3 seconds you will need esuna/leeches to get rid of pacify. It's a great skill, and so very, very strong when you can easily get that silly pacify cleansed off :D But even while pacified, you can still use Flash, Provoke, or Brutal Swing.

Thank you all for the helpful suggestions ^_^ just though of it as a way to sneak a little flavor into the ability afterall swapping str/vit = more powerful attacks but is risky. Its kind of a throwing caution to the wind. I'll give the macro a try, but my pacification usually gets ignored anyway lol.

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Originally Posted by Shurrikhan

the Leeches or especially Esuna will cost the healer more in dps than it could possibly save me by removing the Pacification (they will almost never manage to remove more than 4 seconds of it, and usually no more than 2), so I just carry Flash for dungeons.

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problem I almost always have with using esuna on war after berserk, it never wants to register properly
like I could start the cast right when berserk hits 0 and esuna won't remove it
I've even waited until pacify shows up before starting the cast and it still won't clear it
earliest it's ever let me is when I start at 4 seconds, and by then is it really even worth it?

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Originally Posted by aisustrong

problem I almost always have with using esuna on war after berserk, it never wants to register properly
like I could start the cast right when berserk hits 0 and esuna won't remove it
I've even waited until pacify shows up before starting the cast and it still won't clear it
earliest it's ever let me is when I start at 4 seconds, and by then is it really even worth it?

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Noticed same its hard as you cannot precast that esuna/leeches :mad:
But it can be worth it... I had a T6 where my pacification hit me due to some dps spikes right at slug pop and the lash wasnt enought to keep aggro gainst a cure 3.... Guess its a matter of fight and timing :/

Berserk is already really good. If you take away the pacification effect and make it weaker it pretty much just becomes fight or flight. You'll just need to time your berserks in such a way that 1) You don't get pacified at a really bad time and 2) your pacification comes right after a skill so you really only miss out on 1 attack rather than 2.

Like already mentioned, work with your healers to get that leeched off. It's so nice to have that debuff taken off so you can continue hacking things.

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Originally Posted by stoxastic

Berserk is already really good. If you take away the pacification effect and make it weaker it pretty much just becomes fight or flight. You'll just need to time your berserks in such a way that 1) You don't get pacified at a really bad time and 2) your pacification comes right after a skill so you really only miss out on 1 attack rather than 2.

Like already mentioned, work with your healers to get that leeched off. It's so nice to have that debuff taken off so you can continue hacking things.

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This pretty much sums it up. I just started playing WAR again after abandoning it when I bought my PS4 (too lazy to redo the crossbar setups). I haven't created a macro to let my healer know to esuna me, so I just make sure to time it so that pacification won't come at a bad time.

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Originally Posted by ShaolinMike

This pretty much sums it up. I just started playing WAR again after abandoning it when I bought my PS4 (too lazy to redo the crossbar setups). I haven't created a macro to let my healer know to esuna me, so I just make sure to time it so that pacification won't come at a bad time.

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if you want some ideas, you can look at my war controller setup: http://youtu.be/kfNxoyPNSdo
it's slightly out of date, I've moved vengeance and internal release

Y'all are doing better than me. I didn't even think that Pacification was leeches/esuna-able. That's why I'm a PLD.

I don't bother asking for an ensuna/leeches or whatever. If the healer has time to waste a GCD on such a short debuff, they can use it for another stone 2 or a dot. Not to mention if you manage to get a weaponskill off right as it ends, your GCD and pacification effect can overlap, making the pacification effectively around 2.5-3 seconds long. I'm not going to worry too much about losing slightly more then one weapon skill worth of time.

But I really like berserk. I just love that if you Infuriate -> Heavy Swing -> Maim -> Heavy Swing -> Unchained/Berserk, you get +50% AP, Maim bonus, and no defiance penalty boost all at 20 seconds for massive threat generation. All the timing works great, and getting close to 1700 damage butcher blocks crits is awesome and lets me get full credit on an A-Rank even when I'm by myself.

The thing that annoys me is that if you precast Esuna/Leeches even by one microsecond too much, it won't have any effect at all. And if you wait till the debuff pops out, you'll only shave off around one GCD off of it =/ (Less if you're forced to wait for your GCD cos it had no effect >.< )
Sure, that GCD can be important sometimes, but not always, especially if there's MP left for Flash. I'll do my best to get rid of Pacify even without macros, if I notice it in time, but if the first Esuna/Leeches fails, I'm most likely not going to make another attempt ^^;

(Though on that note, I've had both lovely and not-so-lovely reactions... This one tank in Brayflox NM paused for a few seconds after the trash group was downed, and then we got the message "OMG did you just Esuna my Pacification? You did! I love you!" ♥
And this other tank with a macro who downed the group just as berserk wore off, and then berated me for not Leeching him during the five or six seconds it took us to run to the next group... -_- Thus further delaying the next pull by the time it took him to type that. That was just... What?)

As someone who heals a lot: those macros saying "Esuna me in 3 seconds" are the main reason I prefer to work with Paladins. Seriously, I can see the icon. I don't need to be told to remove it.

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Originally Posted by point09micron

As someone who heals a lot: those macros saying "Esuna me in 3 seconds" are the main reason I prefer to work with Paladins. Seriously, I can see the icon. I don't need to be told to remove it.

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Useful as OT if you're not doing any tanking (so healers won't have a direct eye on you), otherwise yeah I agree.

I'm new to MMO, New to FF14, and new to tanking. Your controller setup video was very helpful.

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Originally Posted by DorianKezek

I'm new to MMO, New to FF14, and new to tanking. Your controller setup video was very helpful.

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good
just dont forget to bring the meat
tanking as war is all about dealing damage and self healing off of it
also, once you hit level 45 go back to george, get your artifact gear, its good and is one of the best looking sets in the game

I Just hit 45 last night and went to see george. Now I'm rocking some of that sweet, sweet warrior gear lol. I'm also going to stock pile some meat. Thanks for the tip.