Connecting the DoTs: A Summoner Guide

[xxalucard]

So I've been working on A3 Savage with my group (which has a bard and a ninja) and altered my opener again to what I think is the best:

Bio II ~ [Obey (while casting)] --> Miasma ~ Aerial Slash --> Bio --> Swiftcast ~ Fester --> Shadowflare --> Rouse ~ Spur --> Ruin 3 --> Ruin 2 --> Raging Strikes --> Drac Potion --> Painflare --> Fester --> Aetherflow ~ Dreadwyrm Trance --> Tri-Disaster ~ Enkindle [trick attack falls off at the buzzer here] --> Ruin 3 --> Ruin 3 --> Ruin 3 --> Ruin 2 (depending on size of balls) --> Fester ~ Deathflare [cuts dreadwyrm a GCD early but clips the drac pot at the buzzer] (i basically ripped this off sleigh) [Contagion right after deathflare] --> Ruin 3 spam (non dread) ~ Aerial Slash #2--> Fester --> *depends* slowcast shadowflare *depends* --> ruin 3 spam until around 4-5k mp --> refresh dots as they fall off --> fester the last time at some point before aetherflow is off cd (preferably 10-20 sec before its off cd)

*i don't slowcast shadowflare in the A3 Savage opener, I just spam ruin 3 / ruin 2 when moving

the way I do it revolves a lot around trick attack and the battle voiced Foe's Requiem in the background. hitting the dreadwyrm tri-disaster while trick attack + buffed foe's is active is the top priority.

for reference I'm ilvl 196.

This opener comes from watching my DPS in early a3 savage attempts on my stream, where I noticed that somehow one time I broke 2100+ burst in the opener around the time I hit deathflare. In all the other runs I'd only hit 1700 - 1800, and that would be with an amazing crit rate. Yet in that single 2100+ attempt I had a much worse crit rate compared to an average run (like 15-17% compared to 23-25%), and ran away from the group early, totally missing Fey Wind. (this is referring to a different run than what I linked below)

The only real difference in that older 2100+ run was that right after I entered dreadwyrm I happened to hit Tri-Disaster right away. Usually I cast Ruin III as I enter it as a sort of buffer to give me a second to think and then go Tri-Disaster + Enkindle. Then I noticed that my Tri-Disaster in that run just barely clipped trick attack as it fell off and that made the huge difference in damage.

All I can say is that if you have a ninja in your group don't do that ruin 2 filler crap in between raging / potion or painflare / fester. If you do you'll miss the trick attack window for the super buffed *raging + pot + dreadwyrm* Tri-Disaster which apparently is worth an exponential amount of DPS when it all connects. Hitting the exact same buffed Tri-Disaster a GCD after Trick Attack falls off is actually a really huge loss.

Here's a highlight from tonight illustrating what I'm talking about. Notice how I have almost no time to apply Tri-Disaster as our ninja's Trick Attack falls off:

https://youtu.be/kdHZXAq5mfo

12% crit rate. nice game