How to Dragoon per Second: A DPS Paradigm

[JackFross]

I have 4 questions:

First: if I just did an Impulse Drive Combo + a True Thrust Combo AND I know for a fact that I only have time for 2 combos (boss will die or disappears after these 2 combos), should I do an Impulse Drive combo or should I just do 2 True Thrust Combo (the second combo won't have disembowel)?

Important to note re: the above! When in normal rotation, you are always clipping your Chaos Thrust. You need that CT to last longer than 1 tick for it to be more effective than a Chaos Thrust in that same position. In fact, it needs to last for at least 3 full ticks (~9s) for it to beat out the FT there. If the boss will die less than 9s after applying Chaos Thrust (in normal rotation), you're taking a loss. In this case, since there's 5-6 gcds after Chaos Thrust hits, you're fine.

The "one tick" nonsense that spreads around all the time assumes two things.
1. You got your Chaos Thrust positional. If you miss this, you need 2 ticks (and 1 auto-attack under Disembowel).
2. You have just started attacking said target.

It's just very important to keep these things in mind when discussing Chaos Thrust v Full Thrust.

Third: Is it worth applying disembowel on Blaster's big add?

Fourth: Is it worth using Ring of Thorns (after Heavy Thrust) on Blaster's adds if I can hit 3 targets?

The person above is completely ignoring how this phase works. The add in the middle has far more health than the ones on the edges. Yes, it is absolutely optimal to be dropping RoT on the adds, but someone needs to be single-target attacking the middle one to kill it at the same time as the edge adds. What they said is all totally right.

5x100 = 500 (Ring of Thorns)
3x160 = 480 (Doom Spike)

However! A few things:

1. Be sure to burn a Geirskogul on three adds (pull off the middle a bit to hit it)
2. Be sure to hold Dragonfire Dive for the add spawn.
3. Be sure to use Jump, Mercy Stroke, and Leg Sweep on the center add.



And their response to 2 is very very important. Your DPS doesn't mean shit if you wipe. For example - I took a massive hit during Vortexer in a run where I was on the second rotation and had gotten no element passes yet. Our usual thunder soak (previous water) popped to Drainage, so I booked it across to grab the second Thunder, which meant I soaked the third one, too. We survived the fight and killed it so we could get back to A7 - and that's much more important than the 1500+ I was poised to get on that run.

That said - if your strategy includes Melee killing the goblin adds in A5S, you're no handling that mechanic properly. Ranged LB can catch both goblins and all the pigs. Caster LB is a lot trickier to target properly.

[Thyranne]

I'll keep doing Impulse Drive combo then.

Normally me and the other melee only attack the adds that are far away just to help things but I guess we can stay on boss (like the goblins in A5S).

Yeah I was not aware I could hit all 5.

Thank you for your time.

[Thyranne]

Where exactly should I be to hit 3 adds with Geirsokul?

---A
B C D
---E

Should I stay right on top of E and target A? (ignore the -----).

[JackFross]

Where exactly should I be to hit 3 adds with Geirsokul?

---A
B C D
---E

Should I stay right on top of E and target A? (ignore the -----).

I generally target C the whole time. If you target C and stand on E, your gsk will shoot through A-C-E. You can pull out and get back in in the span of a GCD, so you won't lose anything.

Seen here.

[Thyranne]

I generally target C the whole time. If you target C and stand on E, your gsk will shoot through A-C-E. You can pull out and get back in in the span of a GCD, so you won't lose anything.

Seen here.

Ah ok thank you. I have one more question that I forgot to ask: if there is only 1 add next to the boss right when I use Heavy Thrust, should I use Ring of Thorns to hit both boss and add or start a Full Thrust combo (add dies right when I finish the combo)?

[raela]

Welp, Wednesday we didn't raid due to three members with severe lag, Thursday we didn't raid because two members quit, Friday logged into broken LS.. oh well. The idea of trying for an A5S clear via PF terrifies me (still no luck with Seph Ex, will focus that), so lore gear it is. Not too optimistic about finding another static anytime soon. Back to lurking - thanks for all of the help!

[Kezy_Kaatapoh]

@Jack

The reason I said 1-2 ticks is because they would be doing the 2nd Full Thrust combo where some of it (I'm not sure how much of it admittedly) would be unbuffed by Disembowel, so I was giving an estimate of how much it'd take compared to that specific usage. I did word it a bit weird :P

And on adding in oGCDs on A6S adds, I didn't mention that because oGCD usage should be a given and they were asking about GCD usage specifically. I know how the phase works, but I will say there's no real reason the middle one has to die at the same time. Typically, I do RoT spam while adding in all of the oGCDs (Dragonfire as well from saving it), and it all dies with maybe 1-2 single target GCDs having to go out on the big one (in my old group. They all die same time in my current one). It's still quicker overall if everyone AoEs because melee can still get their Autoattacks and oGCD on the middle one and it'll die roughly same time, but AoEing will cause other party members to trade off an AoE GCD or two for a single target one, and it usually comes out being 1-2 GCD total less.

Just wanted to clarify some of my stances

[aleph_null]

I've heard here and there that some people miss at above 700 accu, but I don't know which sources are reliable and which are not. I guess I'll have to see for myself when I reach A8S lol.

[JackFross]

If the mob spawns just after your Heavy Thrust, you should hit it with Impulse Drive and passive AoE and not waste your time attacking it, since it's Chaos Thrust time! If you plan ahead, you should be able to slap it with a Geirskogul. You can use anything that's not Disembowel, Chaos Thrust, or Phlebotomize to hit the add. I'll sometimes burn an ogcd attack or two on the Gobbledygroper if it's being enough of a dick, but it usually just eats my TTT combo after that phleb alongside the third gsk in that BotD.