Warrior: How to maximize DPS and survival during large dungeon pulls.

[SpookyGhost]

Drive-by HS -> Maim is better than Flashing as it allows you to get Maim up as soon as you're able to. You shouldn't be low enough on TP to need to Flash for picking up packs.

You also don't want to start with HS->Maim once everything is together, you want to start with Overpower and if Maim isn't already up you would do Maim after you've established AOE aggro.

Infuriate also shouldn't be back up within the same pull, even if you activate it as soon as possible, you have 25-30s (can't remember what the number is) before 5 Wrath completely wears off, and then 30-35s before Infuriate is back up. It won't be up two times unless your group's AOE DPS is incredibly low.

Another thing to note is you can activate Thrill + Conv and turn off Defiance in place of using Unchained when it's not available, after you've used your 5 Wrath on a Steel Cyclone. This also works for any pack that can be stunned without Thrill or Conv up, because you won't be taking damage while things are stunned.

Infuriate -> HS -> Maim (drive-by) -> Unchained + Berserk (as you're approaching your stop point) -> OP -> Vengeance + IR -> OP -> Bloodbath -> OP spam

Alternatively:

Infuriate -> HS -> Maim (drive-by) -> Berserk + IR (as you're approaching your stop point) -> SC -> Thrill + Conv + Defiance off -> OP -> Bloodbath -> OP x inf

That's really just min/maxing your AOE DPS, though. As long as you get all your buffs up while spamming OP then you're fine.

[Artair]

You also don't want to start with HS->Maim once everything is together, you want to start with Overpower and if Maim isn't already up you would do Maim after you've established AOE aggro.

This is the reason I flash on the pull. If you are getting into position to use an unbuffed overpower without vengeance up you are gonna take a big spike in damage, likely freaking out the healer and making them think twice about DPSing. If you use vengeance then unbuffed overpower before unchained/zerk you are losing potency from vengeance by delaying zerk/unchained by 2 GCDs. As you reach the last pack, just HS 1 Unchained/veng > Maim 2 IR/Zerk > go to town. Even if there's 2 untagged mobs in the last pack the range on overpower will rip them back easily if they head for the healer.

Infuriate also shouldn't be back up within the same pull, even if you activate it as soon as possible, you have 25-30s (can't remember what the number is) before 5 Wrath completely wears off, and then 30-35s before Infuriate is back up. It won't be up two times unless your group's AOE DPS is incredibly low.

You refresh the timer on the stacks as you are half way through pulling with a HS > Maim so the 5 stacks last more like 45 to 50 seconds. Same idea as OT unchained opener using infuriate > wait 29 sec > vengeance to refresh stacks > wait 15 sec > MT pulls > you get unchained + 2 inner beasts on opener before turning defiance off.

Another thing to note is you can activate Thrill + Conv and turn off Defiance in place of using Unchained when it's not available, after you've used your 5 Wrath on a Steel Cyclone. This also works for any pack that can be stunned without Thrill or Conv up, because you won't be taking damage while things are stunned.

Indeed! It's slightly less effective as you lose 6% crit rate from 3 stacks (maim, veng and zerk). It's useful if you are splitting the pull between bosses into 2 or in a gated dungeon, otherwise I prefer to pull everything and burn those on the bosses so I can keep defiance off for them.

Infuriate -> HS -> Maim (drive-by) -> Unchained + Berserk (as you're approaching your stop point) -> OP -> Vengeance + IR -> OP -> Bloodbath -> OP spam

I unchained before maim so I gain an extra 2% crit from the additional wrath stack. As unchained wears off, I infuriate then SC so I lose no potency.

Infuriate -> HS -> Maim (drive-by) -> Berserk + IR (as you're approaching your stop point) -> SC -> Thrill + Conv + Defiance off -> OP -> Bloodbath -> OP x inf

I wouldn't use zerk while approaching before steel cyclone. You'll have to wait for the mobs at the back of the pack to catch up and get into range to hit them with SC, that's a lot of healing and damage lost if you don't wait and if you do wait, you'll miss the 9th hit on zerk.

For pure DPS I'd do things differently like moving vengeance to after the first overpower so all hits are fully buffed, but for max survival, you should always get bloodbath/veng up before the first overpower. It slows incoming damage down to a crawl and gives the healer confidence to go ham.

[SpookyGhost]

This is the reason I flash on the pull. If you are getting into position to use an unbuffed overpower without vengeance up you are gonna take a big spike in damage, likely freaking out the healer and making them think twice about DPSing. If you use vengeance then unbuffed overpower before unchained/zerk you are losing potency from vengeance by delaying zerk/unchained by 2 GCDs. As you reach the last pack, just HS 1 Unchained/veng > Maim 2 IR/Zerk > go to town. Even if there's 2 untagged mobs in the last pack the range on overpower will rip them back easily if they head for the healer.

As far as my experience goes, the healer starts with a Cure 2 -> Regen -> etc., so the initial damage you take is covered by the Cure 2 anyway. Delaying Vengeance isn't the end of the world, I use it directly after my first OP regardless. The reason Flashing isn't ideal is because for those 2 GCDs you spent Flashing for no damage, you could've gotten up Maim and went directly to Overpower town as soon as you're at the end of the pull. Pairing Maim with Unchained + Berserk is ideal of course, but in an AOE situation it's better to press the button that hits all the things for 2 GCDs than buffing yourself on one mob for 2 GCDs. That's why I think drive-by Maim is ideal, the initial and following OPs will get all the hate you need, including all the buffs you'll be popping. Your healer can't heal you as you're going, but they really shouldn't need to. A SS should take care of 75-99% of the damage you take and if you need to you can pop a weak CD like Foresight as you're running.

You refresh the timer on the stacks as you are half way through pulling with a HS > Maim so the 5 stacks last more like 45 to 50 seconds. Same idea as OT unchained opener using infuriate > wait 29 sec > vengeance to refresh stacks > wait 15 sec > MT pulls > you get unchained + 2 inner beasts on opener before turning defiance off.

This still requires 60s between you pressing the Infuriate button and the trash pack you're killing to die, which shouldn't be happening. If it does, your group's DPS is massively slow or you're pulling for a full minute. On the chance that does happen, obviously using Infuriate is good though saving it for the boss could be better, depending on the situation (mobs will probably be low, will probably waste damage on a SC when a BLM is casting Fire2 or w/e anyway).

Indeed! It's slightly less effective as you lose 6% crit rate from 3 stacks (maim, veng and zerk). It's useful if you are splitting the pull between bosses into 2 or in a gated dungeon, otherwise I prefer to pull everything and burn those on the bosses so I can keep defiance off for them.

Yeah, Unchained is definitely way better, but that does assume that there's 2 minutes between pull 1 and pull 2, which there won't always be (especially with a massively geared group and a lower ilvl dungeon). Most newer dungeons (maybe all?) have stop gaps, so you're definitely going to need to not use Unchained on a few of the pulls unfortunately. Thrill + Conv is also good on the boss, yeah, it just kind of varies from dungeon to dungeon and where you need the extra DPS most.

I unchained before maim so I gain an extra 2% crit from the additional wrath stack. As unchained wears off, I infuriate then SC so I lose no potency.

Not sure if 2% extra crit outweights the benefit of having 1 extra Unchained buffed OP, but that's sort of splitting hairs anyway.

I wouldn't use zerk while approaching before steel cyclone. You'll have to wait for the mobs at the back of the pack to catch up and get into range to hit them with SC, that's a lot of healing and damage lost if you don't wait and if you do wait, you'll miss the 9th hit on zerk.

Yeah, if you instead go IR + Berserk -> OP -> Thrill + Conv -> SC -> Defiance off + Bloodbath -> OP x inf that would give you 9 hits of Zerk and delay your SC one GCD, it would just cost you one OP with Defiance still on which isn't much of a loss.

[KisaiTenshi]

As far as my experience goes, the healer starts with a Cure 2 -> Regen -> etc., so the initial damage you take is covered by the Cure 2 anyway.

Yes. Usually it will be one of two:
Cure 2->Regen->Cure 2 and then Cure I's if the HP stays above 80%
Cure 2->Regen->Cure 2 -> Presence of Mind -> Cure 2 spam, if HP isn't staying above 50%
(It will look the the healer is standing still/not-doing-anything after Regen fires, but that's because the GCD prevents everything from being used.)
And that's only for the initial pull after casting Protect+Stoneskin II completes. If a tank takes off before SS casts, that's going to be a much shorter pull.

I'll cast cure/cureII if the tank hits the 50% point and is still running, because even if a tank has 10000HP, Cure II is only going to cure 3000-4000HP unless it crits.