ON GLOBALS:
1) Is straight shot buff down or do you have a straighter shot proc? --> Straight Shot
2) Are windbite/venomous bite dots down or are they about to expire while you still have buffs up? --> Windbite/Venomous Bite
3) Straight shot buff and dots are both up and you don't have a straighter shot proc? --> Heavy Shot
OFF GLOBAL MACRO:
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>
/ac "Flaming Arrow" <t>
/ac "Repelling Shot" <t>
BUFFS MACRO:
/ac "Internal release" <me>
/ac "Raging Strikes" <me>
/ac "Hawk's Eye" <me>
/ac "Barrage" <me>
/ac "Blood for Blood" <me>
Then simply set up a large hotbar near your field of view with your off-globals and buffs on it so you can see which are on cooldown so that you can easily avoid using repelling shot accidentally when you're in a poor position for it, or blood for blood if there is upcoming unavoidable damage like stomps.
Hit your off-global macro in-between each on-global skill unless repelling is the only skill off cooldown and you aren't in a good position.
Pop your buffs together as much as you can (especially when barrage is up), and if possible stack them two at a time in-between globals to minimize wasted globals while maximizing up-time with stacked buffs.
Last edited by Bardo; 01-06-2014 at 02:05 AM.
Once you begin to replace that Ballad and remaining DL pieces your DPS should increase overall. Crit hit rate and DEX paired up play a pretty big role in bard DPS. HQ Mega Dexterity Potions help a bit for improving burst dps when you need it. Everyone above has already stated rotations so I'm not going to beat the dead horse there.
You should be using a macro to assimilate all your cooldowns into one button, aka Hawk's eye, Blood for Blood, Raging Strikes, Internal Release, and Barrage should all be in one macro, in that order. Quelling strikes should be omitted as it's a DPS loss to be using it every time you use all your CD's, its about a half a second wasted or so. Use quelling strikes as you see fit. For me, I've never had aggro problems outside of the first 20 seconds of a fight or so, even when I pop CD's for the second or third time midfight. However, if you are pulling aggro midfight, just pop Quelling Strikes again (preferably before you pop all your other CD's)
Using this, you can pop your CD's faster than otherwise, and you don't need to clog up your hotbar/keybinds with 5 unnecessary buttons.
Cooldowns should all be popped together. It is a DPS loss to pop CD's separate, as they boost each other significantly. It is a DPS increase to hold CD's until they are all up. The only time where you should split CD's would be during things like twintania's burst conflags, where its most efficient to use half on one conflag, and half on the other burst conflag, because if you blow all on one, you won't have anything for the next burst.
Try to get into a position where your dots are just about to wear off as you pop CD's. dots applied under your CDs are far stronger than not, but it is a DPS loss to clip dots, so line your dots up to wear off as your last CD is popped to maximize DPS. If in a bad situation, its best to just clip pre-existing dots with fresh, CD-influenced dots.
Besides that macro, you shouldn't be using any others.
In my opinion, BRD doesn't really follow a rotation as much as it follows a priority list, although it can be interpreted either way.
For abilities on the GCD:
1. Straight shot if unbuffed/Straighter shot (proc)
2. Windbite
3. Venomous Bite
4. Heavy Shot
For abilities off the GCD:
1. Miserys End
2. Bloodletter
3. Flaming Arrow
4. Repelling Shot
5. Blunt Arrow (assuming you do not need to silence)
Never let mana sit at full if you have offensive casters in the party, as requiem increases caster dps by ~15% without battlevoice.
For opening on fights, I go:
Straight shot > Bloodletter > Windbite > Flaming arrow(if target isn't moving)/Blunt shot (if target's moving)/bloodletter (if proc) > Venomous Bite
It's best to pop CD's right off the bat along with Quelling strikes unless you need to save them for something specific where they will be needed in the next minute or so.
Stat priority: Crit > DET > SS
Last edited by Slark; 01-06-2014 at 06:38 AM.
1) Your GCD priority list is slightly off. Should be Straight Shot (unbuffed) > Windbiter > Venomous Bite > Straighter Shot > Heavy Shot. That is, Straighter Shot procs do not out-priority our dots. I think you meant this, just wrote it wrong.
2) Your oGCD list is also off. Flaming Arrow is higher priority than Bloodletter, assuming that the enemy will be within the circle for 15 seconds (less if there's more than 1 enemy).
3) I say all that, yet we still use basically the same opening rotation. Go figure.
4) I'm not certain that Crit actually beats Det point-for-point, even taking into account bloodletter. I don't have any math on hand to back this up, though. . .
Using it after Windbiter pushes back the first time it can reset from River of Blood.
0.0 Straight Shot
1.0 Bloodletter
2.5 Windbiter
3.0 Global Dot tick can reset Bloodletter
3.5 Bloodletter (if reset)
Versus
0.0 Straight Shot
2.5 Windbiter
3.0 Global dot tic, Bloodletter is already up
3.5 Bloodletter
Now, if you're actually using Flaming Arrow in that first GCD, then you're actually doing better than most (myself included). But if you're just letting it sit idle. . .no.
I love these talks about not macroing Bloodletter/Miseries end. I know I am not a monk or tank who need to up multiple skills. But during hectic fights my main advantage is my mobility. If I am struggling instead since I need to check if Bloodletter or miseries is up I actually lose dps. I like to have my main skills on 1/4 so I barely have to move my hand in a wierd position just for another skill. Macroing those skills actually increases my dps. I have em slotted seperatly on my hotbar as well, so as to check I don't buff while I actually can use bloodletter. Or to see if I don't accidently block myself out of a blunt arrow in t2. But overal, this macro makes sure I keep using bloodletter and miseries when I need to.
Ah ok, not saying i was doing better then anyone but thanks for that info, i may go back to my original rotation which was what you postedUsing it after Windbiter pushes back the first time it can reset from River of Blood.
0.0 Straight Shot
1.0 Bloodletter
2.5 Windbiter
3.0 Global Dot tick can reset Bloodletter
3.5 Bloodletter (if reset)
Versus
0.0 Straight Shot
2.5 Windbiter
3.0 Global dot tic, Bloodletter is already up
3.5 Bloodletter
Now, if you're actually using Flaming Arrow in that first GCD, then you're actually doing better than most (myself included). But if you're just letting it sit idle. . .no.
Yeah, that's the way I do it as well, so as to not waste a Rivers proc. SS -> BL -> DoTs, then HS / BL game. Throw in other stuff as needed obviously (although as noted in this thread, it's worth using Blunt in standard rotation unless you need to save it for an interrupt).
I'd also like to note that this much discussion over a "simple" class rotation suggests it's not so simple. And, let's be honest, none of the classes in this game are particularly difficult to play. But I digress![]()
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