Dark Arts Bloodspiller

[Mithron]

Do you treat it the same as Siphon Strike where you only use DA on it if you're going to cap on MP or are you supposed to DA every Bloodspiller as much as possible like Souleater?

[Mycow8me]

You only want to dark arts the critical hit / direct crit ones unless you will clip your max MP... Maybe we should whine that our dark arts aren't always criting and we can get forced directcrits for our dark arts?

It does feel pretty bad to use dark arts on a souleater for no crit/direct then no dark arts on your next one and it crits. Buhuhuhuhhhhhh SE PLS critical onry.

[MagiusNecros]

DA guaranteeing crits would be nice and would bridge the DPS gap. I guess.

[Mithron]

What if Bloodweapon did that for all hits while under it instead?

[Lannybaby]

It's not a bad idea, but I would like to put that effect on dark passenger instead, if only so there is a decent reason to use it. Remove, or halve, the mp cost of DP, and remove the blind effect (counter intuitive when you use blood price). The affected target will suffer guaranteed critical or direct hit damage, for the next X seconds, for blood spiller and quietus. Use that DP on a group, then DA+quietus that group for a nice chunk of pain plus mp regen. If you use it on a single target, such as a boss, then using DA+blood spiller would be nice, too.

Not only would DP be more usable, but it would give good synergy towards the blood-using skills.

[Rathael]

Dark Arts Bloodspiller Bonus (out of grit): 140 potency.
Dark Arts Syphon Strike Bonus: 140 potency.
Dark Arts Souleater Bonus: 200 potency.
Dark Arts Bloodspiller Bonus (in grit): 250 Potency.
Dark Arts Carve and Spit Bonus: 350 potency.

If you imagine Dark arts to be an off-GCD action of the same potency as the boost it is granting, your priority list is Carve and Spit >>>> Bloodspiller (Grit) > Soul Eater > Syphon Strike = Bloodspiller (No Grit)

You actually do not want to use Dark Arts on Bloodspiller unless you are absolutely about to cap MP or you are tanking in Grit. This works out nicely because bloodspiller is off the GCD, so it's good to save your ass if you've got blood weapon up and are gaining too fast. Add in a Blackest night and you can safely keep your MP below the cap during Blood Weapon.

Save MP for Carve and Spit and Souleater as much as possible outside of Grit. Dump into Blackest Night, Syphon Strike or Bloodspiller if you are going to cap. In grit, save MP for Carve and Spit and Bloodspiller. Dump into Souleater.

The heal on souleater is pretty pathetic at the moment so I wouldn't prioritize DA into it while in grit. I would still pump Bloodspiller in Grit to provide the extra DPS. I think it would be amazing if DA souleater significantly increased the heal, to provide us with a choice of DPS or sustain.

[MagiusNecros]

Bloodspiller isn't oGCD.

[Valdegarde]

I'm not sure where you're getting that Dark Arts is contributing 200 potency to Souleater. Are you comparing the non-combo dark arts potency to the combo version?
And by Bloodspiller being not a part of the GCD, I'm assuming you mean that it doesn't interrupt a combo chain, not that it's off-GCD, yes?

[Rathael]

Oh yeah my mistake on both accounts.

I was accidentally looking at the DA uncomboed to DA comboed. So it's actually 140 for soul eater and bloodspiller is on GCD.

On reflection then.... outside of grit it is irrelevant which ability you DA provided you DA Carve and Spit on cooldown. In grit, all DA after C&S should go into bloodspiller where possible.

The core is basically just decision making in order to not to cap mp or blood. Keep both below the cap (or at least not above the cap) and DA carve and Spit on cooldown and I think that's about it.

[Aana]

It only makes a difference if you are in grit. If you are in grit, DA BS adds more damage than DA+Combo action. In grit you want to DA every BS you can unless it prevents you from doing something even more powerful like a DA Carve and spit, or leaves you without MP for a tank buster.