Question on 20k+ DPS / Weapon Damage

Dragonnord

Hello,

Can someone clairfy for me what 20k dps means?

I see that many veteran players, when talking to or instructing a DPS, mostly to run gold pledges, say "You have to do 20k or 25k dps to be a good DPS build".

What do they mean with those numbers? 20k or 25k dps when? Or how? Or taking into account what numbers? They mean on a boss? On a determined battle time? On PvE?

Can someone provide a CLEAR example so I know what my weapon damage or dps are?

And for what rank? Without yet knowing what those numbers mean, I suppose a VR1 can't have them.

Also, after the explanation, how do you get to 20k or 25k dps? How can you raise your numbers to hit so hard (because it sounds hard) while also having enough stamina or magicka, enough health, physical and spell resistance to survive? Or they raise weapon damage but die easily?

I would like a clear example please, if possible.

Thanks A LOT!!! in advance.

Masuimi

They mean 20k dps, not 20k weapon damage

Mighty_oakk

Dps = damage per second

If your on console its extremely difficult to measure numerically

Dragonnord

Masuimi wrote: »

They mean 20k dps, not 20k weapon damage

I meant dps, I edited the post.

Masuimi

And those are end-game numbers. Other than that i don't have much to tell you.

Dyride

Wow if they can't carry someone with a measly 10-12k DPS then it sounds like a L2P issue on their part.

Dragonnord

Thanks for the responses so far.

Any clear explanations on how to get to 10 or 20k+ dps? Clear or specific please, if possible.

ku5h

If you wander how they know how much dps they do, its addon that shows you combat logs and your dps.
As for how to reach that dps, thats diff story. For that you ll need to search for some battle tested builds, but any class should manage 20k+, everything over that as a req is an overkill.
To me, easyest way to achive that is magica dk(dunmer), stamina Templar(redguard) is also a great choice...

Mighty_oakk

Are you on pc or console carbonhd?

Oreyn_Bearclaw

As stated above, DPS is Damage per second. The most common addon to keep track of this is Foundry Tactical Combat. Highly recommended. Sure its nice to post your DPS when you have a good fight, but more importantly, you need to know your DPS if you want to improve it.

There are really two types of DPS. Single Target and AoE (Area of Effect). The most important generally is single target, meaning the numbers aren't being inflated by hitting adds (the extra bad guys that spawn in a boss fight). If you kill a boss in one minute that has no adds and you do 900,000 total damage, your single target DPS was 15K for that fight. If you simply want to get a ton of DPS on your recap, its far easier to pull a large number of mobs and spam an AoE skill like steel tornado, but that doesn't tell you much. AoE DPS can hit 100k+ in certain situations with lots and lots of enemies on the screen.

If you legitimately pull 20K+ on long single target fights (more than a minute), trial bosses, single target vet dungeon bosses like Bodgan, etc., then you are in the top few percent of damage dealers, and your name is probably on the leaderboards. Unless you are going for competitive leaderboard runs, there is absolutely no reason to require someone to pull 20k DPS. All the content in this game can be cleared with your DPS doing 10-12k with no problem, as long as you pay attention to basic mechanics. You will find that the more DPS your group does, the more boss mechanics you can simply ignore. Anyone that says you need to do 25K DPS to do a gold key is probably a really crappy Tank that can't stay alive for more than a few minutes. I wouldn't waste my time with them.

There is no one way to get these types of numbers. Currently Magic DKs are topping the charts in long single target fights and Stamina Templars are winning the shorter fights (45 seconds or less) and AoE fights (stamina AoE is better than Magic AoE), but this is always changing as people figure out new builds and the game gets re-balanced.

Some general advice: Find a build type that suits your class, race, and playstyle. Most (not all) DPS rotations have a few basic things in common. I will take a NB for example:

1. You apply a player buff: Haste buffs your weapon damage, keep it up all the time.
2. You apply an enemy debuff: Reapers Mark (or pierce from your tank) lowers the enemy's armor so you hit harder.
3. You apply a Damage over Time (DoT) effect (or several) something like twin slashes. You generally dont want to spam these, you simply recast as they run out. The best DK builds involve keeping 5 DoTs up at all times.
4. You have a spam skill. This is the skill that you use on repeat (normally while weaving light or medium attacks), when all of your buffs, debuffs, and dots are running. For a NB, it's probably surprise attack (stam) or funnel health (magic). For a DK its probably Whip, etc. You are looking for something that hits hard, fast, and isn't to expensive to cast.
5. You use an execute. This is an ability that does increased damage when the target is low on health (usually 25% or less). It is almost never a good idea to use an execute outside of the low health range, but once the health is low enough, you usually spam this skill to finish a fight.

DPS frankly is about 70% Gear and 30% skill. Yes I made that up, but the gear you wear is HUGE! The skill comes from being able to keep track of your buffs, DoTs, etc. so they are always active and maximizing the number of times you can weave your spam skill in any given fight. Maybe the most important thing is staying alive. Remember you do Zero DPS while dead.

SirAndy

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

Remember, you do Zero DPS while dead

I nominate this as a hint on the death recap screen!

Egonieser

DPS is overrated. Glass cannons are only viable for so much. There's far more factors involved to a fight than just show off your leet skill spamming abilities.
Had this today in vDSA, a guy bragging about his ultimate dps and how hard he can hit, yet he was the guy i had to spend most of my soulgems on and keep my healing ward on as apart from spamming skills in tunnel-vision he completely ignored the rest of the game and group.

My advice to OP:
While high DPS is good to have in some scenarios, it should not be your ultimate goal. Learn how to manage your resources, do proper counters and contribute to your group in more ways than just DPS. My sorc is also mainly DPS specced, but i save my group and throw heals and bubbles to help the healer and tank to make their life easier, also make sure they spend least time on me keeping me safe and alive. That goes leaps and bounds above just plain DPSfest and teaches you group play and your class/build capabilities. Most top ranked leaderboardists do this so they can just outdps the boss mechanics and score higher by bypassing intended features and fights, which does not make them skilled or good.

Dragonnord

Mighty_oakk wrote: »

Are you on pc or console carbonhd?

I'm on PC. Thanks.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

CarbonHD wrote: »

Mighty_oakk wrote: »

Are you on pc or console carbonhd?

I'm on PC. Thanks.

Get Foundry Tactical Combat and Srendarr buff tracker. They make managing your Buffs/DoTs and keeping track of your DPS much easier. If I could only have 2 addons in the game, it would be those 2.

Also, I agree for the most part about the glass cannon comments above. Top DPS should not be your initial goal. First learn to clear content without dying, then work on maximizing DPS. The less skilled your group, the more you will have to fend for yourself on a few occasions.

Most min/maxers would laugh at the idea of a DPS DK slotting a skill like Green Dragon Blood for the emergency self heals. They would say that your roll as DPS is to kill things, not to heal. While they are definitely not wrong when shooting for leaderboard runs, this is not applicable to a new group trying to clear content for the first few times.

Being a glass cannon is a sliding scale, find a safe spot and gradually get more "glassy". For example, if I am going for a Trials speed run, I run at about 17.2k health. I do this because I know I have 2 dedicated healers that will keep me alive as long as I have not parked my behind in a red circle, and in that situation, glass cannon is the right answer. If I am running casually through some dungeons, I run closer to 20K health, if I am running with PUGs, I usually slot a self heal after the first wipe.