Attack timing

Reivax

I hope not a stupid question, but I just don't see how to really tell. I'm playing a Nightblade, mostly using assassin and dual-wield attacks. I'm at level 20 now.
Let's say I have Rapid Strikes attack, then immediately hit Killer's Blade. Rapid Strikes describes as six rapid attacks, each building on the last. But if I immediately hit Killer's Blade, am I interrupting the Rapid Strikes?

Xvorg

Hi. First of all, good name, Reivax is the name of my first char in this game xD

Second, each skill has 1 sec cooldown, but you can cancel skills by using basic attacks (most precisely light attacks) because those basic attacks seem to reset the cooldown of 1sec. It is what we call "weaving"

so, to do it efficiently you need to cast rapids, then light attack and then killer's blade. The 3 attacks should hit (or that was some time ago)

Snit

Reivax wrote: »

But if I immediately hit Killer's Blade, am I interrupting the Rapid Strikes?

Rapid Strikes has a learning curve, and it's easy to screw it up by interrupting the series before the last strike. As that's where all the damage is, you want to keep that last strike. You may not even be aware if you miss it, unless you use an addon to add a proper combat log (CLS is a good one).

I depend on the sound. Each strike has a distinctive sound, including the final one. You can also manage by looking at your character and tracking the animation. That does not work for me, as I play a stamina sorc. Hurricane renders us mostly invisible.

There may be a better way to do this. Perhaps someone else will chime in. For me, though, timing my attacks by sound works reasonably well to ensure you get through the whole series of strikes.

Reivax

Xvorg wrote: »

Hi. First of all, good name, Reivax is the name of my first char in this game xD

Lol, no wonder I couldn't get that name...

Reivax

Snit wrote: »

There may be a better way to do this. Perhaps someone else will chime in. For me, though, timing my attacks by sound works reasonably well to ensure you get through the whole series of strikes.

Thanks, I am going to try listening for the sound tonight!

Also, are you able to move while the attacks are going? Like in this example of Rapid Strikes, can I be moving around the enemy without interrupting the attack? Sometimes they start a "rush" or "aoe" attack and I move out of the red.
Does moving interrupt the attack? edit: Assuming I don't move out of range, of course.

Snit

Reivax wrote: »

Also, are you able to move while the attacks are going? Like in this example of Rapid Strikes, can I be moving around the enemy without interrupting the attack?

You can move. For some fights, it's important to circle-strafe while continuing your rotation without interruption.

Reivax

Snit wrote: »

Reivax wrote: »

Also, are you able to move while the attacks are going? Like in this example of Rapid Strikes, can I be moving around the enemy without interrupting the attack?

You can move. For some fights, it's important to circle-strafe while continuing your rotation without interruption.

Oh, that's good news. I've perfected the circle-strafe! lol never heard it called that, but perfect. As a good example, having spent much of last week in Wrothgar, I can kill mammoths and giants with taking almost no damage just by doing that

Nestor

Learn to circle around the mob while using the Rapid Strikes, all 6 hits will land, as long as you stay in range as you mentioned. I do this all the time, it's fun.

Channel Attacks are the ones that can't really be Animation Canceled, as they attack takes so long to play out. Some attacks can be animation canceled quite well by using a Light Attack or Block or Weapon Swap just after firing the skill. Good rule of thumb is, if the animation takes less than 2 seconds, you can cancel it more than 2 seconds you have to ride it out. There could be exceptions to this, but practice is what you need.

Nestor

And, remember the key to combat in this game is to be Mobile, Agile and Hostile. Attack from advantage, move around, block, dodge, bash. It's easier to get out of Red if your already moving.

Brutusmax1mus

I've noticed my dark flare into light attack sweeps cancles my dark flare about 100% of the time. Seems some skills are ignoring the skill queue while others aren't.

Kutsuu

Xvorg wrote: »

Hi. First of all, good name, Reivax is the name of my first char in this game xD

Second, each skill has 1 sec cooldown, but you can cancel skills by using basic attacks (most precisely light attacks) because those basic attacks seem to reset the cooldown of 1sec. It is what we call "weaving"

so, to do it efficiently you need to cast rapids, then light attack and then killer's blade. The 3 attacks should hit (or that was some time ago)

You've got it backwards. The priority order goes Light/Heavy Attacks > Abilities > Bash/Dodge/Weaponswap/Block. This means that the animations of light and heavy attacks can be cancelled by abilities, and the animations of abilities can be cancelled by bash/dodge/weaponswap/block. The majority of abilities cannot be canceled by a light/heavy attack, except maybe completely canceling a cast time ability.

To the OP, it's common to "medium weave" with Rapid Strikes. As soon as you begin your rapid strikes, hold down the basic attack button. Once you see your character winding up for a heavy attack momentarily after the rapid channel finishes, hit rapid strikes again and momentarily release the basic attack button simultaneously. It will cancel the heavy attack windup (resulting it what we like to call a medium attack) and go back into a rapid strikes. It's not a HUGE DPS gain to do this, but your stamina sustain will be much better.

Block and weapon swap cancelling is very common when using instant cast abilities in order to shorten the animation so you can go into your next light attack a little more quickly. Some animations are longer than others and get a bigger benefit, while some animations get no benefit at all from block canceling. As a major example, block canceling the cast of Endless Hail at the right time can save you almost a whole second in your rotation.

ryanborror

Brutusmax1mus wrote: »

I've noticed my dark flare into light attack sweeps cancles my dark flare about 100% of the time. Seems some skills are ignoring the skill queue while others aren't.

If you start dark flare animation and wait like a quarter second and then hold down heavy attack, they can both hit at the same time or at least it used to work. It messes with the animation and looks jenky, but can do a lot of damage.

RajinPVP

You cant cancel rapid strikes with anothef skill tho .. but you can however cancel it by blocking, roll dodge or bar swap.