Ninja: Heaven-Sword (And Beyond)

[Dezwaan]

Putting together a Ninja guide. What are some thing you would like seen explained that aren't very delved into in other guides?

There really aren't a ton of guides outside of Shasta's. I would say the biggest thing I don't see talked about is aligning CDs or use as they come up. I know CD alignment is very fight specific, but it'd be nice to know if delaying IR 10sec to align with TA is worth it or not.

Side Question: I see that you send 3 people in for Timegate adds during A12S. We tried that with mixed success this past week. I need to look more into it, but what factors into their enrage? Does engagement time matter at all or is it just a specific timer from spawn or if a death occurs?

[SunnyHirose]

it'd be nice to know if delaying IR 10sec to align with TA is worth it or not.

Internal release buff = +10% crit rate, which we'll simplify to 1.05x damage (the effective rate varies depending on your crit stat). Popping IR on cooldown would, on average, be 1.05x * 25% + 1x * 75% = 1.0125x overall buff.

Going with an estimate of 65s cooldown on TA (there is always more than one way to look at these things, but we're simplifying here) would be 1.1x * (10/65) + 1x * (55/65) = 1.01538462x overall buff.

Assuming full periodicity, you would get 1.0125 * 1.01538462x = 1.02807693 combined overall buff.

If they were always pooled, you'd be looking at 10 seconds of IR + TA, 5 seconds of just IR, and 50 seconds without either. That's 1.1*1.05* (10/65) + 1.05 * (5/65) + 1 * 50/65 = 1.02769231.

Conclusion: avoid holding IR unless your target is about to leave combat. Despite its lackluster effect when untraited, 1m is actually a pretty short cooldown. You can ignore this sort of general-case calculation if you have a strong working knowledge of when combat is going to end, though.