
Originally Posted by
Mikey_R
It's still barely a gain now based off of some back of the envelope calcs.
Assume 20 seconds, which is a full 5 scattergun and 5 AC, that is a total of 1450 potency, take FT, which in those 20 seconds (along with 4 Scatterguns) is 1480 potency, before calculating in heat potential. If we extend it to 40 seconds, we double the first value to 2900 and the second one, taking into account heat gets to 2330 potency over the 40 seconds, with net 40 heat generated. So, initially, it seems for short bursts of AoE, it is strong, however, the longer the encounter goes on after FT, the more value it loses. I didn't go further than this as you have to start taking into account GCDs used up by Bioblaster and Chainsaw (which I should have considered before, but I don't think in this case it would change anything).
As a small aside, here is the potency per second of each action: Flamethrower is 880 potency over 10 seconds, so 88 potency per second. Scattergun is 150 potency over 2.5 seconds or 60 pps and finally, Auto Crossbow, 140 potency over 1.5 seconds is 93.33.. pps.
So, you want to get as many Auto Crossbows out as possible, which is why FT starts to fall off. As one final comparison, Take FT and the highest potency over 10 seconds (5 AC and a Scattergun), Flamethrower only beats it by 30 potency. 880 for FT, 850 for AC+SG and for completeness, SC is only 700 potency.
Now, I know this isn't a comprehensive guide, however, it is mainly just for quick and dirty maths. Initial thoughts are that getting more ACs out is more beneficial than FT in the long run. You could, in theory, run the calcs and find out exactly when FT is a gain, ie, how long does an encounter have to last for it to be worth it, but nothing lasts longer than 60 seconds in endgame dungeons currently.