Fine-Tuning PLD rotation - tips?

[Mirateski]

General thread update: according to a friend of mine who parses, I'm now at least solidly netting 1k dps minimum in full shield oath in i260.

My static... are probably not going to keep me around for much longer, for a variety of reasons unrelated to my fervent desire to use sword oath, so there's that.

Our blm does not pull stupid crazy aggro levels, honestly. A friend of mine who plays smn and sch can hit ridiculous numbers that make me weep blood on smn and he definitely has quelling.

I've started practising the general rotation while in shield oath, so when I start hopping it'll be second nature, but using FoF after fast blade then CoS after riot blade has really helped me keep aggro a lot better than the previous rotation I was using. It's surprising how much of a difference it makes!

I'm probably going to be running 9s and 10s with mostly members of my fc from now on, so I may be stuck in shield oath for a week or two while our totally fresh ast gets used to the mechanics in both floors, but I'm confident that moving forward I'll be able to really push my dps, my stance dancing and work on fine-tuning my cooldown usage. That, and I levelled WAR to 60 and have been practising the rotation for that, so as soon as I get the axe from zurvan I should be ready to jump into high-end content on that, too.

Thanks so much to everyone for all your tips!

[Awful]

So then that's basically that if your healers can't accept you pushing DPS then find a new static this is a decision you should have made because it seems that you're not happy at all. You need to find good healers and make friends with a War/Nin and start doing stuff out of ShO, start at EX primals like Sophia that are laughably easy, and even A9S which is a tank n spank fight.

If you're switching to war with a 265 axe instead though stick with that, if you can do Zurvan EX which is a SUPER easy brain dead fight you can do A9S as an OT war, learn it that way, and move onto A10S+. Your static shouldn't of been holding you back because you weren't satisfied and now we're onto the next big content patch with easier ways to get 260 and 270 gear so it should be easier for you and others as well.

[Nerael]

I'm probably going to be running 9s and 10s with mostly members of my fc from now on, so I may be stuck in shield oath for a week or two while our totally fresh ast gets used to the mechanics in both floors

Small last tip of advice: Assuming your other healer is seasoned, start with stance dancing as soon as possible. The AST needs to get used to the damage levels you will sustain in sword oath/deliverance so they too can plan accordingly.
We have a guaranteed WHM and our second healer swaps between AST/SCH. The WHM being our main healer (although she does DPS when she can), the secondary healer generally only helps out in high damage phases of fights or when pre-shielding is necessary.

Savage is all about working together with your group and getting a feel for one another, then adjust tactics to what works for your group. A guide will only help somewhat. (Just a heads up, Raidfinder always has its own "Set ways" of doing things and most people do not like deviating from that)

[TenZer0]

Just tossing it out there but Fracture is a waste of a GCD. Proven multiple times over.

Oh? I play PLD a lot, but don't main it (DRG & DRK). Curious, but can you reference me to a good discussion thread on why not to use Fracture? It sounds intriguing.

Thanks in advance =)

[Reynhart]

My rotation is as follows:
open with shield lob
Fast Blade - Spirits Within
Savage Blade - Fight or Flight
Rage of Halone - Circle of Scorn
Fast Blade - Bloodbath
into goring blade, then Royal Authority combos unless GB or RoH needs refreshing (for the healers)

Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but if the boss is using physical attacks, you can precast Sheltron to proc Shied Swipe at the beginning. The enmity it gives, combined with Shield Oath, could, at best, bypass your first RoH combo right into Goring Blade and, at worst, allow an opener with RA combo, since Savage Blade got a nice enmity boost.

On a sidenote, it should give better results to let the DRK MT to make the most of Blood Price and Reprisal.

Curious, but can you reference me to a good discussion thread on why not to use Fracture? It sounds intriguing.

Basically, Fracture has a 220 cumulative potency. The average potency on PLD's rotation is higher than that (Unless you spam RoH combo ). So, by using Fracture, you're decreasing your average potency per GCD.

[TenZer0]

Basically, Fracture has a 220 cumulative potency. The average potency on PLD's rotation is higher than that (Unless you spam RoH combo ). So, by using Fracture, you're decreasing your average potency per GCD.

Ahh, that's interesting. Thanks for the note!

[Ultimatecalibur]

Basically, Fracture has a 220 cumulative potency. The average potency on PLD's rotation is higher than that (Unless you spam RoH combo ). So, by using Fracture, you're decreasing your average potency per GCD.

To be a bit more specific, the Royal Authority combo has an average potency of ~233 for ~63 TP per gcd and the Goring Blade combo has an average potency of 200 with a dot that deals 50 potency every 3s for 24s (~40 potency per gcd) for 60 TP per gcd.

A 9 gcd GB -> RA -> RA rotation and clipping the last tick of the GB dot the average potency of the rotation will be ~261 for ~58.8 TP per gcd.
A 10 gcd GB -> RA -> RA -> Frac rotation that does not clip the last tick of the GB dot the average potency of the rotation will be 262 for 61 TP per gcd.

Using Fracture is basically a .3% dps increase at the cost of a 6% increase in TP consumption.

[Reynhart]

Using Fracture is basically a .3% dps increase at the cost of a 6% increase in TP consumption.

If you clip GB, then you may have too much skill speed.

I've made a calculation on a 90 GCD window and using Fracture is a DPS gain only if you clip GB on at least 9 full rotations. In real situations where you probably move a little and might lose some tenth of a second, it's mostly innefective.

[Ultimatecalibur]

If you clip GB, then you may have too much skill speed.

Clipping will happen no matter what. Even a base gcd of 2.5 will clip a 24s dot if inputs are perfect. 22.5s for 9 gcds does that, but you will get the 8 ticks (for 400 damage) if the first tick happens between 0s and 1.5s after the dot is applied.

I've made a calculation on a 90 GCD window and using Fracture is a DPS gain only if you clip GB on at least 9 full rotations. In real situations where you probably move a little and might lose some tenth of a second, it's mostly innefective.

Agreed, and to get to that point you would need around a 2.00 gcd and would burn through all of your TP in a 90s rotation.