Optimising DPS for BRD

[ChickNorris]

Your dots are affected by buffs as well so you want those on before you apply the dot,

and crit dot ticks proc Bloodletter early, which is very nice too.

[Ooshima]

Sorry, but that BRD guide is horrible. 'Achieve 450 DPS' rubbish. Their opener involves clipping your dots by 3 ticks. Zero sense made.

Hitting a lvl50 dummy (Misery's End), with a party buff, and DRG buff... Anyone can do that. And this looks better than '449'. http://i.imgur.com/lAOKgBU.png

Boss that's why I said it is "recent bard discussion"

You saw that I disagreed with the guide and the OP too. But reading that I guess this thread's OP can understand some of the concepts and why people disagree etc. Negative example, you know...

[SlyRoyale]

First off, Mr. Happy's 2.1 guide is outdated and not the best source to go by (heresy, I know, but bear with me here).

Second, ditch macros. Regarding the way they work, they're a DPS loss and encourage senseless button mashing. You want to be fluid and concise with your inputs.

With that out of the way, your opener should look like this (which I got from a pretty damn good BRD):

DoT1 + Bloodletter > DoT2 + Hawk's Eye* > Straight Shot + Raging Strikes + Blood for Blood > Heavy Shot + Barrage** + Internal Release > Heavy/Straighter Shot + Flaming Arrow > Heavy/Straighter Shot filler until 2-4s remaining on your first DoT. Reapply your DoTs before they fall off and go back to your priority system.

*If your skill speed isn't too high, or there isn't a move that needs to be silenced, you can weave in Blunt Arrow right after Hawk's Eye.
**If you are using high-quality X-Potions of Dexterity, you might want to use it before Barrage. The potion greatly boosts your damage output, and Barrage grants us our biggest damage spike with three auto-attacks in a single auto-attack.
Here's a list of priorities BRDs should watch for:
1st) Use Bloodletter in-between GCDs whenever it is off CD. Should the recast timer refresh during your opener, use it and keep on going. Your DoTs will still be reapplied with all buffs still up regardless.
2nd) Reapply DoTs before they fall off. Letting DoTs fall off is not only a DPS loss, but you lose out on potential Bloodletter resets, which helps contribute to our spikes in DPS.
3rd) Reapply Straight Shot's buff before it falls off. Reapplying DoTs with the buff up improves your chances at getting more Bloodletter resets.
4th) Does Straighter Shot proc after using a Heavy Shot? USE IT. Guaranteed critical damage is always welcomed, and using Straighter Shot refreshes the Straight Shot buff.
5th) Make sure to face the target whenever possible. Auto-attacks contribute to our DPS and not facing the boss means a chance to lose out on that damage.

Before anyone bashes me for not suggesting the traditional Straight Shot opener, opening with either Windbite or Venomous Bite and following up with Bloodletter right after, in-between GCDs, exposes you to potential Bloodletter resets right from the get-go. That means you already have the chance for a 150 attack potency move to reset its cool-down and be ready to weave in again. On top of that, you reapply your DoTs with all of your buffs up, so you don't have to lose DPS to clip them before the buffs fall off. With the Straight Shot opener, you have to get a Straighter Shot proc within 3-4 GCDs or you have to reapply it before clipping your DoTs, or reapply your DoTs without the buff up which defeats the purpose of the opener.

Now for cool-down rotations, which are used throughout long fights like trials and raids. I credit our resident BRD Ooshima for this rotation of cool-down groupings, which I copied and saved in a text file months ago while lurking.

LEGEND
RS = Raging Strikes
HE = Hawk's Eye
B = Barrage
BfB = Blood for Blood
IR = Internal Release
FA = Flaming Arrow
XD = X-Potion of Dexterity

CD Groups
G1: IR + FA
G2: BfB + HE + B
G3: RS

Weave Rotation
Start: The opener I provided
60s: G1
80-90s: G2
120s: G3 + G1
180s: G1 + G2
240s: G3 + G1
270s: G2 (+XD between HE and B)
300s: G1
360s: Go back to Start (use XD when available)

With this rotation of cool-down groups, your overall DPS should see some definite improvement. Remember to keep your DoTs up, use Straighter Shot and Bloodletter whenever they proc, face your targets. Oh, one more thing: be mindful of how you use Repelling Shot and always sing Foe Requiem right when the tank begins the pull and turn it off after that pull is cleared. You don't want to have "loldrg" (or is it "lolnin" now?) moments with it. As for Requiem, it is the only song that doesn't nerf our damage while its up and boosts all caster damage. Even if you don't have caster DPS (BLM, SMN) in your party, sing it either way in case you get a healer who also helps with DPS when they don't need to heal. Just remember to turn if off after each pull or otherwise you'll pull the mobs instead. A lesson I learned the hard way. Sing the other two songs when needed.

I hope this helps you out, OP!

[dday3six]

*snip*

There is some okay info here and while I disagree with your opener for other reasons the notable lack of Quelling Strikes is the most worth mentioning. Unless woefully under-geared your opener should include QS.

[DenzelTaru]

thanks for all the info, i will be sure to try out some of the things i am not already doing in this list.. i think my problem is mostly missing straight shot and or dots.. only by a few seconds.. but a few seconds can be significant.. i already double buff between GCD skills so i am glad that came up.. glad i was doing something right :P

[SlyRoyale]

There is some okay info here and while I disagree with your opener for other reasons the notable lack of Quelling Strikes is the most worth mentioning. Unless woefully under-geared your opener should include QS.

Allow me to explain why I prefer opening with DoTs over Straight Shot.

1) Starting with Straight Shot means missing out on a potential Bloodletter reset, a 150 potency attack.
2) If you start with Straight Shot you need a Straighter Shot proc in about 3-4 GCDs (10% chance isn't exactly in your favour). If you don't get that proc, your options are as follows: a) reapply Straight Shot early, wasting potency and TP over a Heavy Shot (70TP for a 140 potency move vs. 60TP for a 150 potency move); b) clip your DoTs (again, a waste of potency); or c) reapply DoTs without Straight Shot which defeats the purpose of the Straight Shot opener completely.
3) With the opener I use, Windbite and Venomous Bite are reapplied with all of the buffs up without having to clip them. On average, I reapply my first DoT whenever it has 2-4s remaining, and by the time my second DoT is reapplied my first buff used, Hawk's Eye, still has 4-6s of duration left before it falls off. You don't need to have your first set of DoTs buffed, and besides...
4) With the traditional Straight Shot opener, to stack your buffs and get the biggest increase you can on your skills, you would have to hold them all long enough that you'd end up losing DPS. From another perspective, if you were weaving your cool-downs as soon as possible, you would only have some buffs up for your first set of DoTs and some buffs up for your second set, which isn't as good as having them all up for your second set of DoTs and none at all for the first.

As for Quelling Strikes, I omitted it due to its usage being on a case-by-case basis. If you have a tank who can hold aggro against top-notch DPS, there is no need for it other than to buy breathing room. If a powerful add needs to be grabbed by the tank, Quelling Strikes can help let the tank grab it safely (i.e. Clockwork Dreadnoughts in T8). If you need Quelling Strikes for anything outside of adds or speedrun pulls, that says more about the tank's ability to hold aggro instead of the lack of using Quelling Strikes. This is coming from someone who runs both BRD and WAR on a frequent basis.

This is the gear I use outside of SCoB, by the way: http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/O5A5

thanks for all the info, i will be sure to try out some of the things i am not already doing in this list.. i think my problem is mostly missing straight shot and or dots.. only by a few seconds.. but a few seconds can be significant.. i already double buff between GCD skills so i am glad that came up.. glad i was doing something right :P

No problem. If missing Straighter Shot procs and not reapplying DoTs before they fall off are your only issues, that should be quick to remedy. After using Heavy Shot, wait a bit before using it again to see if you get the proc. With a 2.4s-2.5s GCD (depending on your skill speed), that should give you plenty of time to wait for a proc. For DoT reapplication, the best time to refresh them is around 2-4s on the first DoT. As DoT damage is based on server ticks and not the duration of the DoT itself, it's best to reapply them around that time lest you miss a tick soon after a DoT falls off.

Good on you for double-buffing, by the way! It gets tougher to do with higher skill speed and animation locks on certain skills, but damn is it good. Maybe Square will reduce the animation locks for a lot of skills like they did with the DRGs Jump abilities this patch one day? Anyway, keep working on your BRD and continue to strive for improvement!

[dday3six]

*snip*

I didn't feel like going into greater detail. Frankly I doubted it would change your mind, and thus only add clutter. Nevertheless, the short and sweet of it is basically summed up as follows:

Re-upping dots before 2 seconds is clipping them. The first at 2s, the other at 5s is the re-up window. You've given 2 instances of 2s holes at this point. That is nearly a gcd, and shouldn't happen optimally speaking. If you're really worried about the 10 potency of needing to re-up Straight Shot, how does 2 seconds or nearly another gcd skill not translate to a dps loss as well?

[SlyRoyale]

When you reapply your first DoT when it has 2s left on it, you don't miss out on the server tick and chance for a 150 potency attack that's off GCD for its recast timer to reset. By that time your first DoT is about to fall off and your second will soon follow. Clipping it earlier like around 5-6s just to reapply DoTs before buffs fall off is losing out on up-front DPS. Should you reapply as the DoTs actually fall off instead of just catching them before they do, you miss out on a server tick which is a loss of DPS. As for worrying about a difference of 10 potency, you are also forgetting the difference of 10TP. During battle, TP refreshes at 60 per tick. While Straight Shot does give a 10% critical hit rate buff, that is based on the specific stat rather than a flat 10% increase. On top of that frequently using a move that costs more than 60TP per GCD will eventually leave you TP-starved in longer fights should the management of the resource be an issue (there are BRDs who don't cross-class Invigorate or play a Battle Voiced Army's Paeon for 30-45s for a quick burst of TP regen. Heavy Shot has 10 more potency and costs 10TP less than Straight Shot, and has a 10% chance of proccing Straighter Shot which is a guaranteed crit worth the 70TP. The only time you should use Straight Shot outside of that is to reapply the buff. It all boils down to reliable and consistent DPS, which is never a DPS loss.

On a personal note, do not hesitate to go into detail. If you do not feel like delving into it, why bother posting when another person like myself doesn't mind explaining their case when asked? An exchange of information is never "clutter," and I seriously hope I'm not wasting my time on you if you actually think that way.

[dday3six]

*snip*

Yep I said that about dots. However in your posts you mention a 2 second window. Example:

...On average, I reapply my first DoT whenever it has 2-4s remaining, and by the time my second DoT is reapplied my first buff used, Hawk's Eye, still has 4-6s of duration left before it falls off...

That's my issue. If you are re-upping dots at 3 or 4s left, you've clipped them. And if you did it at 4s you likely wasted a gcd in the process. Bringing up bad Bards, who don't understand TP management, or who lack the proper cross-skills does't change that. While TP management might have a place at the table during talks of optimization. Lacking the proper cross-class does not.

[SlyRoyale]

Ahh, okay then. 2-4s is usually a precaution in case a DoT falls off right when you reapply it. Depending on your comfort level and skill speed, reapplying around 1-2s left on your 1st DoT is optimal as long as the old DoT doesn't fall off. That is, of course, nothing interrupts the input like a latency issue (my inputs are being frequently interrupted by nothing lately, but I'm not sure if the issue is individual or wide-spread). It's tighter, but it's good DPS as long as the DoT doesn't fall off. Thank you for clearing that up.