Crystal Frag sorcs: rotation?

Sigh89

I've been trying some things out, trying to get a feel for how to more smoothly chain my abilities.

With a lightning staff it feels the smoothest, the other kinds that do not have a 'laserbeam' style heavy attack that connects the staff to the enemy, seem way more clumsy to animation cancel.

so far i think my best result has been Force Shock(cancel)Light Attack, (if proc) Frag. There are times when my game is running smooth and I can cancel Frag into a light attack for a nice 4 hit combo, but other times when attempting a second light attack cancel sort of 'stalls' me, and causes the next force shock to come out SUPER slow.

i've also tried Force Shock(cancel)light attack, Frag, Force Shock repeat...which is smoother when there's a delay, but i believe it's less effective dps.

also, for a vet one, what set ups would you recommend for this type of offensive build? currently using force shock to proc frag, Crystal Frags obviously, Streak for stun and positioning, Pulsar and Devouring Swarm (vamp ult) for groups, and finally Conjured Ward has been absolutely incredible for soloing or surviving dungeons where i draw aggro. i feel pretty comfortable with this set up but im wondering if anyone else has had a lot of success with something else?

Sigh89

forgot to mention (and cant edit for some reason), if frags doesnt proc i've noticed that sometimes i can animation cancel shock into light attack REALLY REALLY fast, like machine gun fast. it requires me to spam both buttons wildly, and sometimes it doesnt work at all, but others its so rapid that its hard to believe it's not some sort of bug LOL. anyone else managed to reproduce this cast speed reliably?

Dracane

Lightning staff light attacks are indeed faster than all other elements. I refuse using fire staff. Because ZoS forces us to use them, as they deal too much damage and I just hate this slow feeling of fire staff attacks.

However. Weaving force shock and light attack is the best thing you can do as a Sorc. You will want to remove devouring swarm and streak entirely, not beneficial in dungeons, as it only kills your DPS. If Overload isn't your style, at least try the storm Atronach for another 2-3k DPS or use soul assault. And I have the same problem with crystal shard procs. The proc of crystal shard is still not instant. After you fire the proc, you can't do anything else for a moment, which is very bad for our DPS. They improved that in 1.6, but it's still there.

You also want to try lightning splash for some DPS support.

Sigh89

yeah i was following deltia's pvp guide, but was feeling like i should do something different for pve. i leveled using power overload, and i love it!! each light attack hits about as hard as a shard (maybe not a frag proc but still, sometimes i go an entire boss fight without proccing...seriously...)

that thing about procs causing a delay sounds about right, its very frustrating. yet sometimes it does seem like i cancel it into another light. wonder if that's some weird thing where the game speeds up to catch up or i was just imagining it? or maybe its just incredibly hard to time.

why is fire staff so much more dps? i only use it because it cancels autos, and generates ult. is it just because of how dedicated my build is to magicka regen that i am able to rely almost solely on spells even in a long fight, and most ppl need a strong hard hitting weapon as backup?

Dracane

For light attack weaving, lightning staff is good. But with a fire staff, you weave force shock and medium heavy attacks. And fire staff has a passive, giving it 15% more damage with all heavy attacks and of course the burn damage on top of that and so many monsters are vulnerable to fire.

You're stupid, if you don't use a fire staff. So I am stupid Because I refuse using it.
And I also feel like the crystal proc thing is random. Sometimes I can weave it pretty good, most of the time not though.

Sigh89

oh i didnt consider the fire element + heavy attack skills. i love medium attacks with fire staff, it looks SOCOOL and people constantly whisper me like "wtf are u a hacker" LOL

but yeah...lightning staff so prettty.........ugh

btw, have you noticed that thing where you chain shock into LA insanely rapidly? like it seems like once every 6 dungeons or so it'll completely break the rules and gain insane attack speed out of nowhere, i have no idea why. i wish i could record gameplay so i could post it i it happens again, it's pretty glorious

Dracane

Sigh89 wrote: »

oh i didnt consider the fire element + heavy attack skills. i love medium attacks with fire staff, it looks SOCOOL and people constantly whisper me like "wtf are u a hacker" LOL

but yeah...lightning staff so prettty.........ugh

btw, have you noticed that thing where you chain shock into LA insanely rapidly? like it seems like once every 6 dungeons or so it'll completely break the rules and gain insane attack speed out of nowhere, i have no idea why. i wish i could record gameplay so i could post it i it happens again, it's pretty glorious

Yes, I noticed this. But I thought, that's me. Because at the beginning, I'm slow but as I get used to the fight, I become faster and faster and better. My reaction gets better over time.

So I think that's a natural thing

Sigh89

hm do you really think so? honestly it just feels like too big a difference, like i have a hidden stat that procs it or something. ive only been playing with the force shock/light attack combo for maybe a day though and like i said my fps was pretty poor so maybe it really is something you can master and do on command...that'd be incredible XD

Dracane

Sigh89 wrote: »

hm do you really think so? honestly it just feels like too big a difference, like i have a hidden stat that procs it or something. ive only been playing with the force shock/light attack combo for maybe a day though and like i said my fps was pretty poor so maybe it really is something you can master and do on command...that'd be incredible XD

Not on command. It happens over time. For example my first Dragonstar Arena levels are always a bit slow. But then, I get faster and faster with each arena, raising my DPS.

You shall see me in dragonstar arena O.o I jump around like a bunny, fireing my spells. It's so funny to whitness. I feel like when I jump, I am much faster and better somehow.

Sigh89

lol there's no better feeling than streaking off a cliff, proccing crystal frags, hitting the ground and rolling then fragging a dude in the face XD

idk what dragonstar arena is tho o.o a plede? or a pvp thing?

and i think if it happen sover time as you warm up, that its possible to master it...some day maybe!

pWn3d_1337

For best DPS there is currently only 1 type of Destrostaff: Fire. Cold and Lighning are a dps loss. The reason is already explained: Medium attack weaving. Lightning staffs lose out because you can't medium attack weave with them. And fire staffs win over cold because of +15% dmg passive, also a lot of mobs are vulnerable to fire.

Everyone who uses a Destrostaff other than fire gimps himself in the current version of the game. If it's good or not, obviously it's bad game design, but it's a fact it currently is that way.


For Crystal frag sorcs: You medium attack weave crushing shock/force pulse with a flamestaff(!) and when you fragments proc you use frags instead.

Sigh89

ah ok. i am generally pretty good at spamming mediums (if i happen to have a flame staff upgrade while leveling sometimes i use it instead of lightning staff and i always make sure to practice 10 mediums in a row once in a while)

but just out of curiosity, what is the timing to use it w ithin a rotation? is it ...

forfce shock (immediately hold lmb for a split second then let go)

or more like force shock (hold for a little longer to make sure it channels enough because you have time since you cancelled the animation)

i ask because there are times where i can weave medium after medium after medium just by inputting it fast and getitng a feel for how long to hold on, but other times ill randomly light attack so i wonder if maybe sort of doing a 'hit confirmation' by pausing another fraction of a second is ideal or super suboptimal?

i hope that makes sense, im having withdrawals while the server is down so my brain wants to daydream about combos LOL

Septimus_Magna

In my experience the fire staff is the best for weaving medium attacks with Force Shock.
You hardly see the charging animation of the fire staff but it does charge, damage statics shows heavy attacks (not fully charged ofc).
With the lightning staff I have troubles weaving because it takes half a second to connect.

When you hit the procced Cfrags you need to charge the next staff attack just a little longer (+- half a second) then usual, if you charge too short the attack wont go out.

Sigh89

are you saying that if you medium attack with fire staff (ie heavy with ani cancel) it does less dmg than a fully charged heavy? i thought it was some sort of bug that allowed you to get full heavy dmg without any of the downtime of charging...but i guess it's still more dmg than light if you can time it right.

Dracane

Sigh89 wrote: »

are you saying that if you medium attack with fire staff (ie heavy with ani cancel) it does less dmg than a fully charged heavy? i thought it was some sort of bug that allowed you to get full heavy dmg without any of the downtime of charging...but i guess it's still more dmg than light if you can time it right.

Of course O.o if you release a fully charged heavy attack, it deals more damage obviously. Everything else would make no sense. But for force shock weaving, you want to make the charge as short as possible.

Sigh89

well what i meant was i didnt realize that medium attacks were intentionally supposed to be medium speed and damage, i thought there was only light and heavy and we were just taking advantage of like, video game mechanics to animation cancel. idk lol

is there a training dummy somewhere? i want to practice force shock into medium cancel, ive been doing it here and there but im not happy with the consistency and enemies are getting harder LOL

Dracane

Sigh89 wrote: »

is there a training dummy somewhere? i want to practice force shock into medium cancel, ive been doing it here and there but im not happy with the consistency and enemies are getting harder LOL

Yes, there is hahaha
And his name is Bloodspawn

Sigh89

lol, well idk about that, but ive been working on it and definitely getting the hang of it. it's way more fun than light attacks!