Dragoons: A Rotation Reborn

[HonchoBancho]

I apologize in advance as this has probably been covered multiple times: Something I've been wondering since launch but never got to the bottom of is whether it's better to save cooldowns to be used together or to use them immediately off cooldown. Assuming no mechanics and you're just poking away at your heart's content. Is it a significant DPS difference? I've always been hesitant to use untraited IR on its own for whatever reason.

And while we're at it, IR or B4B first? The OP explains IR first to avoid the risk of B4B falling off before Full Thrust, but those days are long gone with the amount of SS we tend to have now. I got into a strange habit of B4B > x > IR just have them end at the same time. Again, totally unfounded and pure preference. I figure it's worth investigating as our numbers are getting significantly bigger.

[Daweism]

snip.

To do max DPS, always keep your Cooldowns... on Cooldown.
I do PS (as the MT is about to pull), IR+B4B (right before u get into melee), HT (right as you enter melee), LS, ID, JUMP, DE, DFD, CT, SS, PHLEB.

[EllPii]

And while we're at it, IR or B4B first? The OP explains IR first to avoid the risk of B4B falling off before Full Thrust, but those days are long gone with the amount of SS we tend to have now. I got into a strange habit of B4B > x > IR just have them end at the same time. Again, totally unfounded and pure preference. I figure it's worth investigating as our numbers are getting significantly bigger.

IR first, this is because IR will drop off after Vorpal Thrust, then you'd Life Surge the Full Thrust, otherwise it'd be a waste of a potential crit.

[SunnyHirose]

I've always been hesitant to use untraited IR on its own for whatever reason.

Using IR on cooldown will apply it to every other Chaos Thrust and one out of every three Phlebotomizes. Because of the snapshotting system, the crit chance for each tick will be locked in even after IR wears off. DoTs give you the most opportunities for IR to work its magic, and so they more reliably make use of it as a buff, rather than depending on luck.

Holding IR given perfect conditions is ultimately not beneficial because (1) it's not a big enough buff to multiply with BfB compared to how much shorter the cooldown is (2) and it throws off this synergy.

It's not obvious it's working (like it is on monk), but it's definitely there.

And while we're at it, IR or B4B first? The OP explains IR first to avoid the risk of B4B falling off before Full Thrust, but those days are long gone with the amount of SS we tend to have now.

In a dummy situation, BfB would not be falling off before Full Thrust even with no extra skill speed at all. The rotation in the OP is more "best practices" than it is some theoretical ideal you can't always attain. If you have less than perfect uptime in the first few seconds of a fight for any reason, that slight delay on BfB often proves to have exactly the benefit stated.