Optimising DPS for BRD

[Vaeria]

Pretty much what everyone above has said....with the exception that if youre a lazy, slow, socially unproductive brd like me, macros are your best friend. I use these for Frontline/ Wolves Den but have kinda started using them too in PvE. Better setups out there but if it helps at all..:

Heavy Shot macro-
Line 1> macroicon heavyshot
2>Misery's End
3>Haymaker
4>Bloodletter
5> Internal Release
6>Heavy Shot
7>Blunt Arrow
8>Repelling Shot

Straightshot and Bloodletter macros pretty much have the same setups. Using these, I never have to worry about Misery, Countering, or ESPECIALLY Bloodletter procs the very second they pop since list will prioritize on w/es up in listed order. The other was...

[Vaeria]

Burst!
Line 1> macroicon- Raging Strokes
2> Raging Strikes
3> Hawk Eye
4> Blood 4 Blood
5>Barrage

Sadly, in a good amount of PvE content..you'll actually lose Dps if gauging by Raging Strikes CD timer (like I said..i r lazy >_>) but (and make sure there are no /wait's in between, just mash 4 times) it goes off quick ;o

[Xine]

Bard is just that odd job without a traditional rotation like the other jobs. Its pretty much as Exia stated, Buffs up? > DoTs up? > Heavy Shot, always pop off Bloodletter when its up so its always on cd (similar with Internal Release.) Main idea of any job is to keep buffs and dots up, and to do straight dmg whenever possible, in almost every coil group I've been in I tend to take the top 2 dps slots in a parse, but I'm also usually the only one min/maxing my gear and trying to push it to do more. I'm not i110, I'm i106 but I am also the only one in my current coil group who has a Nexus aside from our PLD (half of them only have i100 or i110 weapon), but the group can't even clear t7 so I don't see them sticking around much longer after patch. I tend to put t7 and t8 after their last run of the week as it is, so I may end up finding a new group if it continues to be a slow group.

[Vethos]

Keep Straight Shot up 100% of the time, during your opener pop two buffs before using a GCD and repeat until you run out of buffs.

My personal opener:
Quelling + Raging
Straight shot
Hawk Eye+Blood for Blood
Windbite
Internal Release + Barrage.
Venombite
Flame Arrow

Your dots are affected by buffs as well so you want those on before you apply the dot, after that just spam weave heavy shot and bloodletter. Another good tip is after windbite and venombite you can do 5 or more gcd's before having to refresh (depending on skill speed)

[ChickNorris]

Your dots are affected by buffs as well so you want those on before you apply the dot,

and crit dot ticks proc Bloodletter early, which is very nice too.

[DenzelTaru]

thanks for all the info, i will be sure to try out some of the things i am not already doing in this list.. i think my problem is mostly missing straight shot and or dots.. only by a few seconds.. but a few seconds can be significant.. i already double buff between GCD skills so i am glad that came up.. glad i was doing something right :P

[SlyRoyale]

Ahh, okay then. 2-4s is usually a precaution in case a DoT falls off right when you reapply it. Depending on your comfort level and skill speed, reapplying around 1-2s left on your 1st DoT is optimal as long as the old DoT doesn't fall off. That is, of course, nothing interrupts the input like a latency issue (my inputs are being frequently interrupted by nothing lately, but I'm not sure if the issue is individual or wide-spread). It's tighter, but it's good DPS as long as the DoT doesn't fall off. Thank you for clearing that up.

[Snowaeth]

Didn't really read anything, but here's a BRD tip that boosted my dps quite a bit.
Once you are close to perfect execution on most of your skills it is key to spam Bloodletter really fast, prioritizing it even if you loose 0,5-1 of your GCD skill, having bloodletter back on cooldown while the dots are ticking is key to increase your dps by a lot.

This is something that is not urged enough in any BRD guide imo but you can seriously boost your dps when you can machinegun Bloodletters.

[Ravenloft]

I don't really agree with most of what's in this thread. I have my own rotations and they work well. At i100, I'm doing as much dps as some other i110 brds.
Generally if you can get 2 off-gcd skills off in between is best. I don't normally cause it can be a bit finicky.

My buff order is HE > RS > BfB > IR > Pot(if I feel like it) (order could be changed probably to maximize CDs, but I haven't bothered figuring that out).

Throw Quelling in whenever you feel you may need it.

Once you dip below 600tp, Invigorate on CD.

Boss Fights: (or any other single target)
Straight Shot
Buff (+ Bloodletter if you're quick)
Wind bite
Bloodletter (if you didn't get it off before) (+ Barrage if you're quick)
Venomous
Barrage (if you didn't get it off before, Flaming Arrow if you did)
Heavy Shot
Flaming Arrow (if you didn't get it off before)
Heavy Shot Spam.

Obviously use any Straight and Bloodletter procs you get. Especially Bloodletter, even if you have to lose a bit of time with your gcd not on.

As Dots are about to go off, restart the above rotation so that you reapply the Dots almost exactly when they fall off. You want to be buffing and hitting the first one when the old ones have around 2s and 5s left. If you get the timing right you should be able to keep DoTs on almost seamlessly without cutting them off.

If you had a Straight proc earlier, skip it in the rotation until you need to reapply it or you get another proc, whichever comes first.

Always buff BEFORE you put the DoTs on. I only use ONE buff per rotation on this. That lets me have a single buff up almost constantly, more-so if I use pots. It also means that almost every DoT you apply will be buffed (which they should be).

Foe Requiem while DoTs are ticking but not during Barrage.. Duh...

And for the love of God.. Don't Rain of Death Bosses for the debuff... read the tooltip people. Not the same as it used to be ages ago.

Trash Mobs: (3 or less) (can also do this with boss adds) (Needs a tank that knows how to hold AoE threat)
Same rotation as above onto first mob the tank hit (usually), until you get to Heavy Shot.
Instead of Heavy spam, switch to mob#2 and apply both DoTs + any Bloodletter procs.
After that switch to mob#3 apply both DoTs + any Bloodletter procs, then switch back to mob#1.
Heavy Spam + any procs for a few secs and Misery End.
Mob#1 should be dead by the time or before the DoTs wear off.
Move on to Mob#2 buff and reapply DoTs on it AND Mob#3 again.
Back to #2 and Kill.

That is the general idea, will need adjustments depending on party dps.

Trash Mobs: (4 or more) (General AoEing)
Straight Shot
Barrage (+Buff#1 if you're fast)
Wide Volley
Buff#1 and Buff#2 (+Bloodletter if you're fast)
Wide Volley Spam unless Rain of Death/Quick Nock procs
Use Bloodletter on CD
Reapply Straight Shot and Buff#3 and #4 when 1 and 2 wear off.
The AoEs do craptastic dmg w/o being double buffed.

[SlyRoyale]

Don't forget about those double Bloodletter resets! Getting two Bloodletters off between GCDs always feels good. It's one of the reasons why I use the DoT opener as Bloodletter is arguably our best move, maybe second to Misery's End around <20% of a boss's HP (and I feel that's a big maybe due to how often you can use Bloodletter). Getting a double Bloodletter right from the get-go is such an amazing feeling.

For that AoE rotation, Ravenloft, Wide Volley spam isn't exactly as effective as Quick Nock spam unless you luck out on Downpour of Death and Quicker Nock procs. Both Wide Volley and Quick Nock have the same potency, but the former is 20TP more expensive than the latter and does AoE damage in a circle around the target, while Quick Nock's range is a 12-yalm frontal cone from your character. More often than not, Quick Nock spam is worth more TP per point than Wide Volley spam in hopes of getting those procs. Even if you get a Downpour of Death proc, Rain of Death has 10 less potency and inflicts an evasion debuff that means squat outside of Coil trash (SE might as well change it back to the ol' damage reduction debuff as accuracy caps can be easily met from gearing up with iLv. 100+ gear now). After that, there's only a small chance for you to get a Quicker Nock proc after that. That's a 15% chance of hoping to get one proc for a weaker move that inflicts a meagre debuff, following by another 15% chance to get another proc for a stronger move.

Double-buffing for AoE is always recommended given our damage output for it. BRD AoEs could stand to see an improvement in the proc chances to make Wide Volley spam more viable.

One other thing I'd like to mention is using Invigorate at around 540TP in case you get a TP regen tick that puts you back to 1k TP. Anytime I used the move when I have a little more TP than that I feel is a waste because soon after the TP regen ticks me back up to full. It's more efficient to use it around 540TP for that very reason.