How to Dragoon Per Second: A DPS Paradigm

[-strik3land-]

First of all this thread is a great help (Thanks to the OP and all contributors!!). I'm a newbie dragoon and I have been wanting to improve on this job. I recently started using parsing software and I don't know where I could post a question. So, when you guys are saying "parsing 600s, 700s and so on, is it the total you were referring to? TIA

[Lisotte]

Just was reading this, and was confused. In the beginner rotation listed, "H -> [BL+BFB] -> ID -> [DRAC-POT] -> DI -> [IR + BOTD] -> CT -> [PS+ LEGS] -> 4TH -> [GK] -> P -> [JUMP] -> TT -> [DFD] -> VP -> [LIFES] -> FT -> [SPD] -> 4TH -> Repeat," what in blazes is the "DRAC" in the "DRAC-POT" part of it? The POT part is simple enough, X potion of strength, but nowhere do I see an explanation of "DRAC."

[Dervy]

Draconian Potion...

It's the new end-game potion. HQ gives 105+ STR.

[Jonnycbad]

That...is a lot of strength.

[Valera]

Hi Dervy,

Was thinking for ps4 players or people with worst latency connections (including myself even though I am in Canada...) about a one OGCD rotation except for where to place GK since it has a short animation and found that it could be fit in with life surge. I was watching videos from Thendiel and Aiurily for inspiration. I came up with this. Let me know what you think.

This is without Potion but that can easily be worked in somewhere at the beginning of the rotation. I apologize if this has already been done.

Battle Litany -> HT - > BFB -> ID -> IR -> DI -> BOTD -> CT -> PS -> 4TH - > LegS -> P -> Jump -> TT -> DFD - > VP -> LS + GK -> FT -> SPD ->4TH -> RPT

With potion *As Suggested by Dervy*

Battle Litany -> HT - > BFB -> ID -> DRAC-POT -> DI -> BOTD + IR -> CT -> PS -> 4TH - > LegS -> P -> Jump -> TT -> DFD - > VP -> LS + GK -> FT -> SPD ->4TH -> RPT

Doing the rotation this way in turn mimics basically how the basic structure of the 'advanced' rotation works and would fit the timings correctly. Could perform the next GK at the next TTT4 in the chain and then at IDC4 Just before BOTD comes up again. Then you can proceed and alternate.

[Dervy]

I'd seriously try weave IR + BOTD together, so you can fit your potion in. They both have very short animations, no excuse not to be able to do so.

[QCrimson]

I just love astrologians. With the arrow card we can go CT FT FT again <3

[Thendiel]

(I've been MIA for a while, so here's some theorycrafting I did today by way of apology. I think it deals with an interesting issue involving our new rotation. Also, sorry for the wall of text; feel free to skip to the Conclusion section as a TL;DR.)

With our 4th hit proc attacks--Fang and Claw/Wheeling Thrust--thinking about Life Surge usage gets a little more complicated. Should we save Life Surge for Full Thrust the way that we generally used to, or does it make more sense to blow Life Surge on F&C/WhT? After all, they deliver an impressive 290 potency, and they happen very often throughout the rotation.

Let’s check out the math.

If I land a Full Thrust without Life Surge--assuming that Heavy Thrust and Disembowel are both active--I end up with a raw potency of 360 x 1.15 x 1.10 = 455.4 potency. However, there is a chance that we might get a critical hit on that FT. Let’s use a Critical Hit Rate of 593, which is what we end up with using full i180 Law gear plus one i170 Law ring and a Hive Spear. At 593 crit, we have a 10.5% chance of getting a critical hit, and critical hits deliver a bonus of almost exactly +50% to base damage.

So, that 455.4 potency hit becomes 455.4 x 1.50 = 683.1 potency, 10.5% of the time. A little number crunching tells us that the average potency of your Full Thrusts over time (crits and non-crits averaged together, across infinity uses) comes out to 479.31 potency.

(455.4 x 0.895) + (683.1 x 0.105) = 479.31

By using Life Surge on a Full Thrust, we get a bonus of 683.1 - 479.31 = +203.79 potency.

Next, we’ll turn our attention to Fang and Claw/Wheeling Thrust.

Base potency for a 4th combo hit with Heavy Thrust and Disembowel comes out to 290 x 1.15 x 1.10 = 366.85 potency. Potency with a critical hit reaches 366.85 x 1.50 = 550.28. The average potency in the long-run with our Critical Hit Rate of 593 comes out to (366.85 x 0.895) + (550.28 x 0.105) = 386.11 potency.

By using Life Surge on a Wheeling Thrust or Fang and Claw, we get a bonus of 550.28 - 386.11 = +164.17 potency.

Now, let’s put those numbers to use. Obviously, a crit Full Thrust is better in absolute terms, but the real question is: How long, if at all, should we be willing to save Life Surge for Full Thrust for that pairing to be worth it?

Consider our rotation: HT - ID - Dis - CT - 4th - Phleb - TT - VT - FT - 4th - (repeat)

Now, if Life Surge becomes available between Phlebotomize and Vorpal Thrust, there’s no question that we’ll want to pair it with FT. But there are two other, more complex situations: we can potentially decide to use Life Surge immediately after Chaos Thrust, or after Full Thrust, if it is available at these moments. I’ll label these two decision points (A) and (C).

HT - ID - Dis - CT -[Life Surge? (A)]- 4th - Phleb - TT - VT -[Life Surge! (B)]- FT -[Life Surge? (C)]- 4th - (repeat)

One thing I’ve noticed while practicing and using the rotation is that, at a 2.4 second GCD length, each Life Surge will be available to buff an attack exactly one GCD later in the overall rotation. (This is only for a 2.4 second GCD. More on that later.) Thus, if I buff TT-VT-[Life Surge]-FT-4th in my opener, LS is next available for TT-VT-FT-[Life Surge]-4th. There is, in other words, a 21 GCD gap between Life Surges becoming available, and this slightly staggers the GCDs we can pair it with.

One approach would be to pop Life Surge with the soonest possible Full Thrust, Wheeling Thrust, or Fang and Claw, regardless of whether we’re at point (A), point (B), or point (C):

HT - ID - Dis - CT - 4th
Phleb - TT - VT -[use Life Surge (B)]- FT - 4th
HT - ID - Dis - CT - 4th
Phleb - TT - VT - FT - 4th
HT - ID - Dis - CT - 4th
Phleb - TT - VT - FT -[Life Surge becomes available]-[use Life Surge (C)] 4th
HT - ID - Dis - CT - 4th
Phleb - TT - VT - FT - 4th
HT - ID - Dis - CT - 4th
Phleb - TT - VT - FT - 4th -[Life Surge becomes available]
HT - ID - Dis - CT -[use Life Surge (A)]- 4th
Phleb - TT - VT - FT - 4th
HT - ID - Dis - CT - 4th
Phleb - TT - VT - FT - 4th
(entire pattern repeats)

A second strategy would be to only use Life Surge immediately before or after Full Thrust. That is, we could pop LS at points (B) and (C) without ever popping it at point (A). After all, maybe point (A) is close enough to Full Thrust that saving Life Surge for a few GCDs is actually advantageous.

HT - ID - Dis - CT - 4th
Phleb - TT - VT -[use Life Surge (B)]- FT - 4th
HT - ID - Dis - CT - 4th
Phleb - TT - VT - FT - 4th
HT - ID - Dis - CT - 4th
Phleb - TT - VT - FT -[Life Surge becomes available]-[use Life Surge (C)]- 4th
HT - ID - Dis - CT - 4th
Phleb - TT - VT - FT - 4th
HT - ID - Dis - CT - 4th
Phleb - TT - VT - FT - 4th -[Life Surge becomes available]
(entire pattern repeats)

Last of all, we could use Life Surge exclusively with Full Thrust, on the assumption that it delivers enough added potency to be worth the wait every time.

HT - ID - Dis - CT - 4th
Phleb - TT - VT - FT -[use Life Surge (B)] 4th
HT - ID - Dis - CT - 4th
Phleb - TT - VT - FT - 4th
HT - ID - Dis - CT - 4th
Phleb - TT - VT - FT - 4th -[Life Surge becomes available]
(entire pattern repeats)

In the first case, across the course of 70 GCDs, we end up with one LS+FT and two LS+4ths. That’s a bonus of 203.79 + 164.17 + 164.17 = 523.13 potency.

523.13 potency / 70 GCDs = +7.47 potency per GCD, or
(523.13 potency / 70 GCDs) / 2.4 seconds per GCD = +3.11 potency per second

Under the second approach, we get one LS+FT and one LS+4th every 50 GCDs. That’s 203.79 + 164.17 = 367.96 potency per pattern, giving us…

367.96 potency / 50 GCDs = +7.36 potency per GCD, or
(367.96 potency / 50 GCDs) / 2.4 seconds per GCD = +3.07 potency per second

Under the third and final approach, we end up with +203.79 potency across every 30 GCDs, for a benefit of…

203.79 potency / 30 GCDs = +6.79 potency per GCD, or
(203.79 potency / 30 GCDs) / 2.4 seconds per GCD = +2.83 potency per second

In the end, approach #1 (using LS as soon as possible with any FT or 4th hit) has the edge. It’s also a nicer approach in the sense that it frontloads Life Surge use, which could mean that you land an extra LS-buffed attack before an enemy jumps away or dies.

Conclusion: At a 2.4 second GCD, we should burn Life Surge on the soonest possible Full Thrust, Wheeling Thrust, or Fang and Claw (except during the opener).

HT - ID - Dis - CT -[Got LS? Use it!]- 4th - Phleb - TT - VT -[Got LS? Use it!]- FT -[Got LS? Use it!]- 4th

Note that this should work well at pretty much any reasonable level of Skill Speed. For this pattern to actually change, we would need a GCD length of about 2.5 seconds (in which case Life Surge always pairs perfectly with every other Full Thrust), or a GCD length of about 2.3 seconds (in which case there are 22 GCDs separating each Life Surge use).

Also, it's worth pointing out that the potency differences between these three approaches are incredibly small. If you're just more comfortable with Ye Olde Life Surge Full Thrust, then by all means, use that every time. But for a very slight DPS advantage, we'll want to follow my above advice.

[Dervy]

Thank you for the Analysis. I was actually going to bring this point up that we should save it for 4ths & FTs, but you've done a much better job than I could've.

I've been looking at the Cooldown alignment doc I'm working on and your analysis brought up something interesting for me. On the second Life Surge, you're using it on a 4th after FT. However, if you hold it for 5 GCDs to land it on your next 4th after CT, this 4th is buffed by a Blood for Blood.

523.13 potency / 70 GCDs = +7.60 potency per GCD, or
(523.13 potency / 70 GCDs) / 2.4 seconds per GCD = +3.17 potency per second

That's the baseline math for using LS's on FT/4ths... Having said that, where id 3.17 come from? 523.13/70 = 7.473285714285714/2.4 = 3.113. Anyway...

So, if we're withholding this for an additional 5 GCDs:

Over the course of 75 GCDs, we get x1 Ft, x1 4th and x1 BFB 4th.

That's 203.79 + 164.17 + (164.17*1.3) = 581.381 potency.

581.381/75 = 7.751746666666667 / 2.4 = 3.229894444444444

So maybe there's some merit on holding Life Surge and/or other cooldowns and use them together?

[Thendiel]

Thanks for spotting my error! Not sure how I ended up with that number, exactly, but I've corrected my post.

I've been looking at the Cooldown alignment doc I'm working on and your analysis brought up something interesting for me. On the second Life Surge, you're using it on a 4th after FT. However, if you hold it for 5 GCDs to land it on your next 4th after CT, this 4th is buffed by a Blood for Blood.

So, if we're withholding this for an additional 5 GCDs:

Over the course of 75 GCDs, we get x1 Ft, x1 4th and x1 BFB 4th.

That's 203.79 + 164.17 + (164.17*1.3) = 581.381 potency.

581.381/75 = 7.751746666666667 / 2.4 = 3.229894444444444

So maybe there's some merit on holding Life Surge and/or other cooldowns and use them together?

Interesting. It sounds like what you're proposing is:

HT - ID - Dis - CT - 4th
Phleb - TT - VT -[use Life Surge]- FT - 4th
HT - ID - Dis - CT - 4th
Phleb - TT - VT - FT - 4th
HT - ID - Dis - CT - 4th
Phleb - TT - VT - FT -[Life Surge becomes available]- 4th
HT - ID - Dis - CT -[use Life Surge]- 4th
Phleb - TT - VT - FT - 4th
HT - ID - Dis - CT - 4th
Phleb - TT - VT - FT - 4th
(entire pattern repeats)

...which is identical in the long-run to my "second" approach (one LS+FT and one LS+4th per 50 GCDs), except with slightly adjusted timing in order to allow for better BFB synchronization. If that works the way you describe, then it's probably optimum, given that there's only a 0.04 PPS difference between it and my recommendation without accounting for BFB.