SMN: What is the proper rotation for Raging Strikes, Rouse, and Spur?

[Forever_Learning]

At the beginning of a fight, should i use all three (raging strikes, rouse, spur) and then when each one becomes available OR

should I use Raging strikes, wait for it to end, then use rouse, wait for it to end, and then spur?

Wondering what rotation is most effective.

thanks

[T0rin]

Rouse and Spur can potentially be used multiple times per fight, so you should lead with them early.

You assume that you won't be able to use Raging Strikes more than once, so once it is up, you waste no time on anything except putting down DoTs and apply direct damage.

Some people try to weave Rouse and Spur into the GCD after Ruin 2 that you do after putting up all your DoTs and Fester during the Bio GCD. But, this IMO is a waste of mana.

Personally, I Rouse and Spur at the start of the fight, if I'm going to lead with Garuda on Obey and not need to put her on Steady for a precision Contagion. Then I go into Raging Strikes and lay down the DoTs, Fester during Bio GCD, Ruin 1 x 3, Ruin 2, Fester, etc. Basically try to keep max DPS going during RS.

But, Rouse/Spur during RS is a waste of damage. So do it before, or do it after, but not during.

[Forever_Learning]

Thanks for the response.

You made me remember a reason for my concern: whether adding rouse or spur would make me even more powerful, or was it cutting into my raging strikes time.

I hadn't thought to myself about it only being up once, but on a 3-minute CD, I can see it only being used once if the boss fight is short.

Most boss fights aren't longer than 5 minutes eh? :L

[FUNgineer]

Rouse and Spur seem to stack multiplicatively so it's the best to use them together.

[Headl3anger]

I would try to always time your Raging Strikes with a Contagion. I pop Raging Strikes, Bio II, Miasma, Thunder, Bio, run towards enemy while using Fester, Energy Drain, Miasma II, Swiftcast, Shadow Flare, Fester, Contagion. That all fits into a single Raging Strikes. I think for total DPS you can squeeze out of a Raging Strikes, that's up there plus a Ruin II or two. If anyone can improve that rotation, I'm always looking to increase DPS.

You can get more burst out of it by saving Aetherflow up to use six stacks of it within a Raging Strikes.

I try to use Spur and Rouse together with Enkindle. I also pop them any time I can when Enkindle is on CD. Every other time, you can pop them together.

[Forever_Learning]

thanks - didn't realize spur and rouse were best used together and outside of raging strikes - ok. So you wait for 30 seconds till both are available?

Headl3anger - that's some wicked DPS!!!! Thanks. Six stacks of aether to burst with ragining sounds awesome too.

My one question: why thunder prior to bio? Is it because you are hitting bio while running to the boss?

[Headl3anger]

All casting is complete after Thunder. Everything after that is mobile insta-casting. If you have to move during those cast times, don't forget to throw some insta-casts until you can cast again.

I also tend to use Thunder before Bio in my normal start-up rotation because the durations are the same and it makes re-applying them a bit smoother. When Thunder is gonna run out, I can Thunder, Bio directly after it and it tops them both up at the same time. Cuts down on the multiple timers all ticking at different times.

EDIT: So.... I might be crazy. The internet says the duration of Thunder is 12 and Bio is 18? They always have the same duration when I cast Thunder, Bio. >.> Not in front of my game right now so can't check it out. xD

[pandabearcat]

So energy drain is a fairly high dps loss even with RS up. Theres no point in doing that.

You can pretty easily fit in 2 Festers inside an RS if you use swiftcast or miasma II or ruin II's.

There is no reason to delay contagion, as soon as all 5 dots are up you should hit it.

After RS is over you are free to rouse > spur then enkindle.

Or you can be lazy like me and rouse spur before RS on the pull, then enkindle about 10 seconds later when you have a free oGCD.

[Headl3anger]

So energy drain is a fairly high dps loss even with RS up. Theres no point in doing that.

You can pretty easily fit in 2 Festers inside an RS if you use swiftcast or miasma II or ruin II's.

There is no reason to delay contagion, as soon as all 5 dots are up you should hit it.

After RS is over you are free to rouse > spur then enkindle.

Or you can be lazy like me and rouse spur before RS on the pull, then enkindle about 10 seconds later when you have a free oGCD.

This seems to be directed towards what I said, so I'll reply.

Energy Drain is included to increase burst DPS while using Raging Strikes. It also has many useful applications to increase its merit such as MP maintainability in long fights.

There are two Festers in my rotation.

Contagion is delayed to the end because more DPS can be added before Raging Strikes expires. If you are out of things to cast before Raging Strikes is over, it is higher DPS to use a slightly boosted Ruin or Ruin II rather than wasting time to pop Contagion. The DoT timers will have enough time for Contagion after Raging Strikes.

Enkindle's DPS should be based on the pet's snapshot of your stats. If I recall from other threads, summoning a pet or using Spur will take a snapshot of our non-food-buffed stats and apply it to our pets. This means that the two seconds you are wasting on Enkindle inside of Raging Strikes is a waste of DPS when it can be done at any other time. Not sure how Raging Strikes + Spur would affect the pet's stats when using Enkindle, but it doesn't seem like it would be worth wasting the time in Raging Strikes.

[pandabearcat]

What?

Contagion takes nothing from you and can be used while you're doing anything. The only reason I can think of to delay contagion is so that you get a tiny bit extra dps from your pet during Spur/Rouse so it doesn't have to do the contagion animation (which btw, I'm not sure if it even actually delays wind blade since that has a CD).

Using energy drain during RS is a dps loss any way you look at it, starting around 20 seconds after opener when you could've gotten a third Fester.

RS is nice but its not the greatest thing ever. Its not worth sacrificing anything to put more stuff into it.