How to Dragoon per Second: A DPS Paradigm

[JackFross]

S-sorry for rambling;;; I do that a lot.


My rotation of B4B in A4S is 1 on each Legs 1-3, and I think 2 on leg 4? Then my next one is on the Manipulator after Rev. With my current raid dps, I *could* get a second B4B on Leg 2 and not waste any of it, but some of those hits would be on the Manipulator, and I'd rather hold it to start Leg 3 with CT>Ph leg >CT Jagd doll. I also could get a second at the bitter end of Leg 3, but I'd lose some to Mortal Rev, and I wouldn't be able to open Leg 4 with the same that I open Leg 3 with.

My group only kills the third Straf Doll, and I never even hit it once. I pull off, feed my doll, and then I'm back to full uptime on the leg, with B4B being used on both dolls, I'm pretty sure, I'd have to dig through logs. I have my whole Legs 1-4 rotation down pat now, I just can't for the life of me remember if I use B4B halfway through Jagd Doll 1 or 2 for some reason.

//EDIT: Second B4B comes up during doll 2 on leg 4. My first one I hold for Disembowel because once or twice, it's fallen off before my Jagd Doll CT when I pop it a gcd sooner or something? I honestly can't remember my reasoning for why I delay it a GCD there and trade the 180 ID for a 100 HT, especially because that makes my *next* B4B come up after I hit Phleb on the second doll rather than right before it. x:


That said, it's important to note the delay between the start of Leg 1 and Leg 2 and useful to note that the opener of IR>BL | BotD>B4B | Pot or BL | IR>B4B | BotD IS technically more potency than doing it the other way. If you *really* wanna pad dps on leg 1, you can even just skip Phlebotomize entirely and get 4 double gsks in the first 60s of the fight. I don't personally bother with it, since it DOES decrease my single-target dps on the leg I wanna hit. If positioning allows it (it doesn't in my group), the same can be done for legs 2 and 3, as well, I think. I just don't think it's conducive to clearing, so I wouldn't recommend dicking around like that until your group has it on farm. It might also be valuable to do that rotation on Leg 3 or 4 if you didn't get any Quarantines and you can't count on Goad/Paeon/Muscle, to improve TP efficiency.

But, in general, delaying B4B or not absolutely depends on whether delaying 1 gcd will pick up extra ogcd attacks like Jump, SSD, or DFD that you wouldn't get otherwise.

I do think it's interesting to consider shifting dps skills around by a gcd or two when you know you'll get exactly the same amount of them regardless when you use it (within that window), since the *only* reason it's optimal to use everything on-cooldown is to maximize how many times we can use a given skill in the duration of a fight.


Oh and to quantify all of this with numbers... Using an X-Potion of Strength HQ on leg 3 after adds, with 0 Quarantines, I end Leg 3 at ~1400 dps and Leg 4 ends at ~1340-1350 dps with me handling the Jagd Dolls that spawn next to the leg we're on. I use Thordan spear, Eso head/chest/belt/legs/wrist/ring, Gordian hands/feet/neck/ears/ring with Flint Caviar. Party comp DRG/NIN/BRD/BLM/WAR/DRK/WHM/SCH