Thread: 5.0 RDM AOE ROTATION...NOT A FAN OF THE IMPACT CAST TIME, WOULD'VE DONE DIFFERENTLY

I main RDM on 3 different DCs. I'm excited about the few changes there were giving to RDM but 1 change doesnt really sit well with me & if I had the power to change it, I would.

Right now, Jolt & Impact have a 1.96s cast time & verThunder/Aero have a 4.91s cast. So when hit Jolt/Impact you get the duel cast proc & then you hit ver/Thunder/Aero & verFire/Stone respectfully.

In 5.0, Scatter (aoe skill) will become Impact (aoe) with a 4.89s cast time & the aoe verThunder/Aero have a 1.95s cast time. So in your aoe rotation you would hit (aoe) verThunder, get the dual cast proc & then hit Impact, then hit (aoe) verAero, get the dual cast proc & then hit Impact. Personally I dont care for it but I love RDM so just have to deal with it.

What I would have done was kept the (aoe) Impact at 1.95s cast time & (aoe) verThunder/Aero at 4.89s cast time. So the aoe rotation would have been IMPACT->DUAL CAST->VERTHUNDER->IMPACT->DUAL CAST->VERAERO.

This is just my opinion but would like to hear what you think.

I imagine it is this way, in part, for visual clarity. Big flower looking better blooming out from your destructive thunder and wind, vs it blooming and being visually clogged with an element instantly afterwards.

Aside from that it also allows them to give the larger mana gain (7) in the first step, which could lead to some changes in how things fold out.

Is the main reason on why you want to change it so it has that parallel feeling to the rest of the kit? (Jolt -> Elements, Impact -> Elements, rather than what it is now which is a bit flipped compared to single target).

Originally Posted by Shougun

Aside from that it also allows them to give the larger mana gain (7) in the first step, which could lead to some changes in how things fold out.

This comment intrigued me so I did some maths. Each of the following scenarios assume you will use a Verfastspell if you have one Ready.



Verslowspells are 310 potency and 11 mana, with a 50% chance to proc Verfastspell Ready. The difference between a Verfastspell and Jolt is 90 potency and 3 mana, so let's attribute half of this to the Verslowspell. This means that when alternating with Jolt, a Verslowspell has an expected potency of 355 and an expected mana generation of 12.5.

Jolt(180, 6) >> Verslowspell(355, 12.5) => 535, 18.5
or 267.5 potency and 9.25 mana per GCD


The difference between a Verfastspell and a Verareaspell vs two targets is 30 potency and 2 mana. Again, let's attribute half of this to a Verslowspelll. This means that when alternating with a Verareaspell vs two targets, a Verslowspell has an expected potency of 325 and an expected mana generation of 12.

Verareaspell(240, 7) >> Verslowspell(325, 12) => 565, 19
or 282.5 potency and 9.5 mana per GCD


Pretend for a moment that Scatter/Impact are the fast AoE spells instead. The difference between a Verfastspell and Scatter vs two targets is 30 potency and 3 mana. This means that when alternating with Scatter vs two targets, a Verslowspell has an expected potency of 325 and expected mana generation of 12.5.

Scatter(240, 6) >> Verslowspell(325, 12.5) => 565, 18.5
or 282.5 potency and 9.25 mana per GCD


So for what it's worth

• up through Lv61 (as long as Jolt is Jolt 1)
• and against exactly two targets
• and ignoring Acceleration and Embolden
• and ignoring other jobs' actions that might make one mob take more damage than another

the optimal spell rotation is alternating Verareaspell>Verslowspell, replacing Verareaspell with Verfastspells that proc. If Scatter/Impact were the fast spell and the Verareaspells were slow spells, the spell potency per GCD would be the same but the expected mana generation would be 1 less every 4 GCDs.


NOTE: I'm not making any judgments here as to quality of development decisions. I'm just saying what the maths say given the data we've been given.