Dragoons: A Rotation Reborn

[Vegito]

So this is the rotation I was trying to use, including Off globals.

HT - LS - Fr - BFB - phlb - IR - ID - DB - CT - TT - PS - VT - LS - FT - Jump - HT - Fr - Phlb - TT - VT - FT - ID - DB - CT*

When I get to the 2nd CT in the rotation, I still have about 2-3 seconds left on the dot. This is on a training dummy, so ideal conditions. My GCD is at 2.42 and my skill speed is at 424.

Anyone else having this problem when you would clip the CT? If I add anything in or wait on the CT I risk not using it with the HT buff up.

[RoughDivider]

Shouldn't have any issues with that, I don't think at least. you cant always put another jump after the first CT though.

[Ayvar]

So this is the rotation I was trying to use, including Off globals.

HT - LS - Fr - BFB - phlb - IR - ID - DB - CT - TT - PS - VT - LS - FT - Jump - HT - Fr - Phlb - TT - VT - FT - ID - DB - CT*

When I get to the 2nd CT in the rotation, I still have about 2-3 seconds left on the dot. This is on a training dummy, so ideal conditions. My GCD is at 2.42 and my skill speed is at 424.

Anyone else having this problem when you would clip the CT? If I add anything in or wait on the CT I risk not using it with the HT buff up.

If you're at the point where that is becoming a consistent problem then just switch to one of the rotations in the guide designed to avoid CT clipping

[Vegito]

Wow I'm bad, can't believe I missed that section in the read ><. Thanks for pointing it out.

[Warrlordd]

hey guys, i had a question about use of Life Surge

because of the whole DoT "snapshot" system that xiv has - isn't life surge best used on a dmg boosted chaos thrust (assuming all ticks) instead of a full thrust?

Life surge is a really awesome ability as it has strong offensive and strong offensive capability. Unfortunately, it will not increase the ticks of your chaos thrust. It is best used offensively with Full Thrust and Blood for Blood up. Using your dots w/ BfB however will increase their damage by 30% and they can be activated at the start and refreshed efficiently near the end of blood for blood. lots of damage. I hope this answers your question fully

[SilverRhythm]

hey guys, i had a question about use of Life Surge

because of the whole DoT "snapshot" system that xiv has - isn't life surge best used on a dmg boosted chaos thrust (assuming all ticks) instead of a full thrust?

Just did the test earlier, yeah CT with Life Surge only affects on the CT strike but not the DoT.

[SilverRhythm]

With regards to your opening rotation, it's the same one as Easymodes in the op, although your timing of ogcds is off. His opener is a few pages back but it's somthing like:

Ht-bfb-id-ir-dis-sweep-ct-ps-phleb-jump-tt-ssd-vt-ls-ft-dfd

Only small detail I see wrong with yours is that ir crit chance is "wasted" by using life surge when it's up

True, indeed I also am trying to also adjust the placement of IR. The above rotation you gave is reasonable based on the placement of the IR. Probably I will give it a shot today.

[Ozpa]

Your damage won't go over the top, but it is a off GCD skill which boosts your actual dps, so why not?

WHAT?!? It is???? Holy shit I have to start using it LOL.

Oh 90s cd... excitement killed.

[Bossmoney]

90s cd + only can be used when target has less than 30% health left. So that means on most endgame bosses, you'll get to use it twice IF you're lucky. I mean yeah, sure, if you're being laser focused anal on picking abilities that will only boost your damage, yeah, Mercy Stroke fits that bill, technically. But I personally think it's pretty underwhelming and ultimately meaningless in 99% of situations. If you're raid group is wiping constantly and you're telling me 1 or 2 Mercy Strokes would've changed the outcome of it, there's much better ways to try to find ways to improve your group's performance than worrying about Mercy Stroke.

My personal take is, I'd rather have Mantra there. Now now, I know this is an unpopular opinion here (partly because I think no one likes the thought of leveling MNK to 42 to get this one ability, hell, I didn't really want to honestly lol). Yes, it is pretty mediocre without the MNK trait. Yes, it's an insanely high level requirement to get. Yes, it is totally NOT NECESSARY to get, unless your group is trying to min/max your group utility. These are all true.

I still think its benefits outweigh an attack you'll do once, maybe twice during a boss fight.

Our Coil group has a MNK, me as DRG, along with 2 BRDS, both which also have Mantra. Between the four of us, we cycle through our Mantra after each other, at 15 seconds each with a 2 min cooldown, that means every 2 minutes, for 1 minute, or half the time, the entire raid group is getting healed for 5% more, 20% more when the MNK does his. It's a small bonus, but it adds up over time and our healers have said for a fact, it's made raiding way easier since me and the two BRDs got Mantra recently.

Again, totally not necessary. You can beat Turn 5 coil and never pick up Mantra. But it's not about figuring out what's needed in an absolute sense, because neither Mercy Stroke nor Mantra fit that bill. It's what gives the most benefit. And imho Mantra's utility benefit > Mercy Stroke's DPS benefit by quite a fair margin.

However if you dread leveling up a MNK to 42 just to get this, then don't, trust me, you don't need it, I only did it because I'm crazy like that.

[EasymodeX]

I like how you're citing endgame bosses and Mercy Stroke, without observing that Mercy Stroke can be used a half dozen times in T5 and T4 (nevermind T2), particularly on strict add DPS checks like conflags.

Bottom line: replace Bloodbath or Fracture with Mantra, not Mercy Stroke. Bloodbath is only relevant on T4 when AOE'ing adds, or for long, sustained damage intake like bigADS on T2.