Dragoons: A Rotation Reborn

[Ryuhou]

this is awesome rotation explanation. for almost DRG outside there already now how to rotate these skill, but this write is make my eyes open wider. good job!!

[notalltogether]

assuming 470 is the required accuracy rating (though this isn't necessarily decided yet). if we assume each point of accuracy gives the exact same value of hit. then a single point of accuracy would be worth .212766% chance to hit. this actually makes it slightly worse then determination if we assume that each ability hits on its own. however, missing an ability breaks the rotation, and really messes up a lot, so it should be prioritized. but for straight piece by piece comparison this is probably fair a good enough number to use until the impact of broken rotations can actually be calculated.

[EasymodeX]

in regards to contribution to DRG rotations - generally i have an issue with clipping chaos thrust. basically, if i apply a buff chaos thrust, in most rotations there will be 1-2s left on it before reapplication, and of course you can't overwrite a stronger buffed DoT with a weaker one. it's quite annoying @@

Aha, that's what it was. I kept noticing that once in awhile my CT was not applying as I expected and I forgot about that. How obnoxious. Have to inject a stray GCD after popping the buffed CT. May have to pick up Fracture ^_^.

[Zenmaku]

Aha, that's what it was. I kept noticing that once in awhile my CT was not applying as I expected and I forgot about that. How obnoxious. Have to inject a stray GCD after popping the buffed CT. May have to pick up Fracture ^_^.

I was wondering why this never happens to me.

It's because I use Fracture.

[Skies]

Hrm... If you need a stray GCD you might want to look at either Fracture or actually, if the boss isn't resistant, Feint.
Feint has a nice 20% slow debuff that is very helpful for your tank and also slows down move chargeups. Given your DPS might be more important but I like having chances to use Feint and help alleviate healer and tank lives.

[Zenmaku]

Hrm... If you need a stray GCD you might want to look at either Fracture or actually, if the boss isn't resistant, Feint.
Feint has a nice 20% slow debuff that is very helpful for your tank and also slows down move chargeups. Given your DPS might be more important but I like having chances to use Feint and help alleviate healer and tank lives.

Its rare that Feint actually works on endgame bosses these days, but it does work on one specific one that makes the fight feel easier (Garuda HM + her adds). Titan and Ifrit are immune to it I believe, since they have a specific pattern rotation that they follow.

[Ayvar]

Aha, that's what it was. I kept noticing that once in awhile my CT was not applying as I expected and I forgot about that. How obnoxious. Have to inject a stray GCD after popping the buffed CT. May have to pick up Fracture ^_^.

I've been using two alternate rotations to avoid clipping buffed CTs depending on the fight. I've been meaning to post about the DoT clipping issue (re: our earlier discussion on pg. 8 about the same problem), but I haven't had the time yet. Generally the default Fracture rotation is fine in ~80-90% of fights since movement + jumps will prevent the 2nd CT DoT from clipping (you don't have to worry about the 1st clipping the 2nd as you rotate around since it's a >12 ability gap). Here's the original rotation again for reference:

HFP-IDC-TTT-HFP-TTT-IDC-HFP-TTT-TTT

The problem arises on more static fights due to less movement and extra skill speed. With a 2.4 GCD, you'll never clip Phlebotomize or Fracture (until we hit a 2.37 GCD) because you cannot make up a full second of DoT duration over 8 moves because you're only saving 0.8s (2.5*8-2.4*8). However, the gap between CTs is longer (12 abilities), during which you will save a full second of DoT duration, so you'll generally clip your CT dots by a full second if you're using 12 ability gaps. This is further exacerbated by the "snapshot" method of DoT application. The snapshot occurs as soon as you cast the ability, but the actual application of the DoT doesn't occur for about 0.5-1s after you cast the ability. So the application of your snapshotted unbuffed 2nd CT actually comes almost 2s earlier than the buffed 1st CT.

To account for this you want a rotation that extends the gap between CT applications to 13 abilities (this sucks for Disembowel because you want a 12 ability gap for it, but a 13 ability gap for CT). This doesn't change the default rotation too much since it already operated on 9 ability gaps between HT's and only had one CT with a 12 ability gap. To create the 13s gaps, I use this rotation:

HF-IDC-P-TTT-HF-TTT-P-IDC-HF-TTT-P-TTT

This is effectively the exact same as the original Fracture rotation. You're still casting HT/F/P every 9th ability, and you use 3 of each in a full 27-move rotation. But, the movement of the 1st Phlebotomize to follow the first IDC creates the 1st 13 ability gap that you were previously missing, but it also reduces the 2nd gap to 14 abilities (as it was 15 before). The downside is your DoTs get rolling much later, so its worse if your rotation breaks earlier. If, on the other hand, you liked leaving Fracture out and using the IDC anchored rotation to hit your HT buffs and Phlebotomize's on the 8th ability, but still want to maintain the 13 ability gaps between CT's you can use this:

IDC-HP-TTT-TTT-HP-IDC-TTT-HP-TTT-TTT

Cutting off the final TTT would be a little nicer since it would allow you to rotate back to a perfect 8-ability gap between the final and initial HT buff, but it would also clip the IDC pretty badly as that would be only an 11 ability gap between CT's. You could interleave Fracture, but this would cost you the 8 ability gaps between HTs and Phlebotomize throughout the rest of the rotation. I chose to use an extra TTT instead of interleaving two Fractures since it keeps the TP cost down (one of the primary benefits of this rotation) and you get about the same buff durations from just using the final TTT. Also, worrying about coming back to the start of a rotation is not as critical since you'll generally only get through the rotation once on almost every fight in the game due to movement.

I want to be clear on two points for the original rotation. 1) It generally doesn't matter if there is a good amount of movement. Any movement essentially negates the single clipped CT as it will make up the 2 extra seconds you needed. 2) Jumps alone do not fix the CT clipping problem. While Jumps do add a little extra time to a rotation, they do not add nearly enough, and don't cool down quickly enough, to be a reliable means of preventing clipping without some help from movement.

EDIT: I'll actually probably just copy-paste the above into the guide later unless we want to make any significant changes

[EasymodeX]

Generally speaking, clipping the CT itself is not a problem. The problem is when the first one is buffed and the second won't apply at all -- this will only occur every BFB cycle. Adding any GCD to the "IDC" rotation lowers the base DPS -- the only purpose here is to make sure the CT sticks.

For the H IDC P TTT H TTT // P IDC H TTT P TTT rotation, you only need to inject 1 Fracture (or any GCD attack) like so:

H IDC F P TTT H TTT // P IDC H TTT P TTT

That will delay the unbuffed CT by 1 GCD so that it sticks properly, and it only needs to be done once every 80s (or however often you are using BFB in the fight).

IDC-HP-TTT-TTT-HP-IDC-TTT-HP-TTT-TTT

I re-wrote this to get a better handle on it:

HP IDC TTT
HP TTT TTT IDC
HP TTT TTT

It's similar in approach to the original HFP rotation:

HFP IDC TTT
HFP TTT IDC
HFP TTT TTT

Except it uses the second TTT on the second row to space out the overall sequence, instead of Fracture on each row. Note: this "HP-based no-Fracture staggered IDC" rotation models for higher PPS (125) than the prior HFP rotation (124.2), but less than the "IDC" rotation (126.7). The IDC rotation with 1 injected Fracture rates at 126.3 (to solve the BFB CT clipping). The IDC rotation with a Fracture every IDC is 125.9.

Edit: Checked

HF-IDC-P-TTT-HF-TTT-P-IDC-HF-TTT-P-TTT

And that is 124.8. The staggered H/P give slightly better uptime for the various buffs.

[Ayvar]

Generally speaking, clipping the CT itself is not a problem. The problem is when the first one is buffed and the second won't apply at all -- this will only occur every BFB cycle. Adding any GCD to the "IDC" rotation lowers the base DPS -- the only purpose here is to make sure the CT sticks.

For the H IDC P TTT H TTT // P IDC H TTT P TTT rotation, you only need to inject 1 Fracture (or any GCD attack) like so:

H IDC F P TTT H TTT // P IDC H TTT P TTT

That will delay the unbuffed CT by 1 GCD so that it sticks properly, and it only needs to be done once every 80s (or however often you are using BFB in the fight).

IR also causes DoT clipping. This rotation also increases the gaps between the initial HTs by an extra GCD as well, and you also don't get either of your DoTs started until after your first four abilites, which can really hurt you if you have to disconnect early. You also still have a 12 ability gap between the final and initial CTs, this isn't as big of a problem though.

I re-wrote this to get a better handle on it:

HP IDC TTT
HP TTT TTT IDC
HP TTT TTT

This has extended the gap between the 2nd and 3rd H/P to 11 abilities, costing you an added 2 GCDs where both HT and Phlebotomize are missing.

[xyaie]

Just tested it, you cannot replace an IR DoT with a non IR DoT.