You're waiting to use your bow proc on your sixth light attack. You also should be able to get another funnel or two in there before you swap back to your back bar. You're treating Twisting Path as a 8 second DoT, thus overcasting it.
You should have Destro ult on front bar for Ancient Knowledge passive, if nothing else.
I think ideal bar setup is:
Front bar: Inner Light, Funnel, Merciless, Twisting, Impale Ult: Destro
Back Bar: Inner Light, Blockade, Cripple, Siphoning, Harness Ult: Soul Harvest
^ Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong on that.
I wish I could give you a set rotation , but fact is I'm trying to figure mine out as well.
Vermintide wrote: »It's all about the weave. All the high end magblade rotations I've seen consistently get 2-3 bow procs per cast, time their blockade/path/cripple perfectly, and never miss a light attack. So I'm inclined to believe it mainly comes down to honing the rotation.
Swallow soul is a pain in the ass to weave, so I usually miss at least 1-2 light attacks per rotation. I still manage around 25k, without a maelstrom staff or trial gear.
I'm also pretty sure there are more useful sets for magblade than Aether, since the class works best with a light attack rotation in order to sustain and keep proccing that bow.
jakeedmundson wrote: »Vermintide wrote: »It's all about the weave. All the high end magblade rotations I've seen consistently get 2-3 bow procs per cast, time their blockade/path/cripple perfectly, and never miss a light attack. So I'm inclined to believe it mainly comes down to honing the rotation.
Swallow soul is a pain in the ass to weave, so I usually miss at least 1-2 light attacks per rotation. I still manage around 25k, without a maelstrom staff or trial gear.
I'm also pretty sure there are more useful sets for magblade than Aether, since the class works best with a light attack rotation in order to sustain and keep proccing that bow.
I've noticed that one... weird animation or something?
And i do get 2 bow procs on every cast. Its just an alt for me... so i'm not going to try to perfect it and get 3 procs. But i have a hard time believing that would prevent me from hitting 30-35k on a dummy.
jakeedmundson wrote: »Vermintide wrote: »It's all about the weave. All the high end magblade rotations I've seen consistently get 2-3 bow procs per cast, time their blockade/path/cripple perfectly, and never miss a light attack. So I'm inclined to believe it mainly comes down to honing the rotation.
Swallow soul is a pain in the ass to weave, so I usually miss at least 1-2 light attacks per rotation. I still manage around 25k, without a maelstrom staff or trial gear.
I'm also pretty sure there are more useful sets for magblade than Aether, since the class works best with a light attack rotation in order to sustain and keep proccing that bow.
I've noticed that one... weird animation or something?
And i do get 2 bow procs on every cast. Its just an alt for me... so i'm not going to try to perfect it and get 3 procs. But i have a hard time believing that would prevent me from hitting 30-35k on a dummy.
mpicklesster wrote: »jakeedmundson wrote: »Vermintide wrote: »It's all about the weave. All the high end magblade rotations I've seen consistently get 2-3 bow procs per cast, time their blockade/path/cripple perfectly, and never miss a light attack. So I'm inclined to believe it mainly comes down to honing the rotation.
Swallow soul is a pain in the ass to weave, so I usually miss at least 1-2 light attacks per rotation. I still manage around 25k, without a maelstrom staff or trial gear.
I'm also pretty sure there are more useful sets for magblade than Aether, since the class works best with a light attack rotation in order to sustain and keep proccing that bow.
I've noticed that one... weird animation or something?
And i do get 2 bow procs on every cast. Its just an alt for me... so i'm not going to try to perfect it and get 3 procs. But i have a hard time believing that would prevent me from hitting 30-35k on a dummy.
Another couple of things you want to keep in mind for mag NBs is your CP distribution and how you sequence elemental blockade into your rotation.
Mag NBs, like stam NBs, deal more direct damage than most other classes. Swallow Soul, Impale, Soul Harvest, and light attacks all count as direct damage--and they all make up a substantial amount of your DPS. Like someone mentioned above, light attacks do make up a large percentage of an experienced mag NB's DPS. Part of the reason for that is the expertise of their weaving, and the other part is the large investment they make into Master at Arms, the direct damage CP star. Try buffing that more than you do for other classes and see if it helps.
Also, if you're not used to playing magicka DPSs (or with a vMA staff), you might also want to make sure that you're not bar swapping immediately after casting elemental blockade. Otherwise, the crushing wall buff from your vMA staff might not apply. I believe you have to deal at least 1 sec of damage with elemental blockade before the vMA buff applies. So, just to be safe, I usually cast elemental blockade first when I'm on my back bar. Then I recast my other back bar DoTs. (Elemental blockade should get the same attention you devote to Endless Hail on a stamina build).
I know those might sound like minor details, but they can actually make a big difference in your parse.
On a personal note, I also like to simplify my execute rotation. At 25% I just maintain blockade and my buffs while spamming Impale on top of that. (I only stop to cast my bow proc or Soul Harvest if it's up.) Anyway, the more Impales you can squeeze in during execute, the better. Remember that, if you have more Impales in your execute rotation, you have a better chance of getting critical hits on your execute--which creates a huge boost to your DPS. (I only maintain blockade during execute because it's a good DoT and to get the vMA light attack buff).
Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »LMAO. Mageblade and Rotation dont go in the same sentence. Mageblades have by far the most non-circular "rotation" (for lack of a better word, crap broke my own rule) of any class spec there is. You cant make this rotation into a circle, it won't work.
Mageblades basically have to do 4 things:
1. Keep up potions, ultimates, and siphoning on cooldown. This doesn't fit into any standard rotation.
2. Manage merciless. The gold standard is to do 4 light attack skill weaves and then weave your bow as the fifth attack. this got a little wonky this patch, but hopefully a fix is incoming. You should see 11-12 bow procs on a 3 million health dummy. Much less than that, and you are not mangaging merciless very well. Also, it means you can NEVER miss a light weave. If you dont see around 60+ light weaves on a 3 million dummy, your weave needs work. If weaving is not your thing, NB is not the class for you.
3. You need to control 3 DOTs, all with different effective durations. The difference between low to mid 30s and breaking 40 lies here. The best mage blades juggle all 3 independently, casting them immedietly as they expire. Blockade and Crippling Grasp have the same durations, but CG has a travel time. Unless you have your nose on the boss, casting them back to back is a DPS loss. Path has a longer duration, again, should be managed seperately. Alcasts build suggests casting these 3 in order, which can still land you in the mid to high 30s, but people breaking 40k arent doing this.
4. You need to manage your execute. Generally this means Soul Harvest instead of your destro, no CG, and impales over funnels. If you just start spamming impale, it wont go well.
People will call mageblade OP in the current meta, and maybe they are, but most people cant pull it off. This is how you mageblade:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOH0uQ-Qgbw
Maybe a dozen people in the game can hit that "rotation" like that. He bar swap cancels 74 times in that parse.
jakeedmundson wrote: »Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »LMAO. Mageblade and Rotation dont go in the same sentence. Mageblades have by far the most non-circular "rotation" (for lack of a better word, crap broke my own rule) of any class spec there is. You cant make this rotation into a circle, it won't work.
Mageblades basically have to do 4 things:
1. Keep up potions, ultimates, and siphoning on cooldown. This doesn't fit into any standard rotation.
2. Manage merciless. The gold standard is to do 4 light attack skill weaves and then weave your bow as the fifth attack. this got a little wonky this patch, but hopefully a fix is incoming. You should see 11-12 bow procs on a 3 million health dummy. Much less than that, and you are not mangaging merciless very well. Also, it means you can NEVER miss a light weave. If you dont see around 60+ light weaves on a 3 million dummy, your weave needs work. If weaving is not your thing, NB is not the class for you.
3. You need to control 3 DOTs, all with different effective durations. The difference between low to mid 30s and breaking 40 lies here. The best mage blades juggle all 3 independently, casting them immedietly as they expire. Blockade and Crippling Grasp have the same durations, but CG has a travel time. Unless you have your nose on the boss, casting them back to back is a DPS loss. Path has a longer duration, again, should be managed seperately. Alcasts build suggests casting these 3 in order, which can still land you in the mid to high 30s, but people breaking 40k arent doing this.
4. You need to manage your execute. Generally this means Soul Harvest instead of your destro, no CG, and impales over funnels. If you just start spamming impale, it wont go well.
People will call mageblade OP in the current meta, and maybe they are, but most people cant pull it off. This is how you mageblade:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOH0uQ-Qgbw
Maybe a dozen people in the game can hit that "rotation" like that. He bar swap cancels 74 times in that parse.
Bold above - ha, i've heard this too... makes this class tough to use for many.
Also... after trying again last night i still struggle with it. Even though i enjoy the skills and play style, i'm only hitting around 27k. I'll try some more through the weekend but its hard to be optimistic about it. It seems like you need to risk carpal tunnel to play this class... loads of canceling.
I'll probably have to stick to my other magicka characters i guess (DK - when its un-nerfed, templar, sorc, warden - when it gets stronger)
Thanks again to everyone that took the time to provide me with some info.
.jakeedmundson wrote: »Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »LMAO. Mageblade and Rotation dont go in the same sentence. Mageblades have by far the most non-circular "rotation" (for lack of a better word, crap broke my own rule) of any class spec there is. You cant make this rotation into a circle, it won't work.
Mageblades basically have to do 4 things:
1. Keep up potions, ultimates, and siphoning on cooldown. This doesn't fit into any standard rotation.
2. Manage merciless. The gold standard is to do 4 light attack skill weaves and then weave your bow as the fifth attack. this got a little wonky this patch, but hopefully a fix is incoming. You should see 11-12 bow procs on a 3 million health dummy. Much less than that, and you are not mangaging merciless very well. Also, it means you can NEVER miss a light weave. If you dont see around 60+ light weaves on a 3 million dummy, your weave needs work. If weaving is not your thing, NB is not the class for you.
3. You need to control 3 DOTs, all with different effective durations. The difference between low to mid 30s and breaking 40 lies here. The best mage blades juggle all 3 independently, casting them immedietly as they expire. Blockade and Crippling Grasp have the same durations, but CG has a travel time. Unless you have your nose on the boss, casting them back to back is a DPS loss. Path has a longer duration, again, should be managed seperately. Alcasts build suggests casting these 3 in order, which can still land you in the mid to high 30s, but people breaking 40k arent doing this.
4. You need to manage your execute. Generally this means Soul Harvest instead of your destro, no CG, and impales over funnels. If you just start spamming impale, it wont go well.
People will call mageblade OP in the current meta, and maybe they are, but most people cant pull it off. This is how you mageblade:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOH0uQ-Qgbw
Maybe a dozen people in the game can hit that "rotation" like that. He bar swap cancels 74 times in that parse.
Bold above - ha, i've heard this too... makes this class tough to use for many.
Also... after trying again last night i still struggle with it. Even though i enjoy the skills and play style, i'm only hitting around 27k. I'll try some more through the weekend but its hard to be optimistic about it. It seems like you need to risk carpal tunnel to play this class... loads of canceling.
I'll probably have to stick to my other magicka characters i guess (DK - when its un-nerfed, templar, sorc, warden - when it gets stronger)
Thanks again to everyone that took the time to provide me with some info.
Don't give up. It's a bit trickier for us console folks but it's a fun and rewarding class to play. I was about where you were a couple weeks ago and a night here a night there practicing in front of the dummy or taking into a dungeon for some live action and I got it up to 37k. And I'm honestly still having issues with Twisting Path, either over or under casting. Also not even going for 3 proc rotation til I get the rest of my rotation ironed out, so I still have tons of room for improvement.
jakeedmundson wrote: »Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »LMAO. Mageblade and Rotation dont go in the same sentence. Mageblades have by far the most non-circular "rotation" (for lack of a better word, crap broke my own rule) of any class spec there is. You cant make this rotation into a circle, it won't work.
Mageblades basically have to do 4 things:
1. Keep up potions, ultimates, and siphoning on cooldown. This doesn't fit into any standard rotation.
2. Manage merciless. The gold standard is to do 4 light attack skill weaves and then weave your bow as the fifth attack. this got a little wonky this patch, but hopefully a fix is incoming. You should see 11-12 bow procs on a 3 million health dummy. Much less than that, and you are not mangaging merciless very well. Also, it means you can NEVER miss a light weave. If you dont see around 60+ light weaves on a 3 million dummy, your weave needs work. If weaving is not your thing, NB is not the class for you.
3. You need to control 3 DOTs, all with different effective durations. The difference between low to mid 30s and breaking 40 lies here. The best mage blades juggle all 3 independently, casting them immedietly as they expire. Blockade and Crippling Grasp have the same durations, but CG has a travel time. Unless you have your nose on the boss, casting them back to back is a DPS loss. Path has a longer duration, again, should be managed seperately. Alcasts build suggests casting these 3 in order, which can still land you in the mid to high 30s, but people breaking 40k arent doing this.
4. You need to manage your execute. Generally this means Soul Harvest instead of your destro, no CG, and impales over funnels. If you just start spamming impale, it wont go well.
People will call mageblade OP in the current meta, and maybe they are, but most people cant pull it off. This is how you mageblade:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOH0uQ-Qgbw
Maybe a dozen people in the game can hit that "rotation" like that. He bar swap cancels 74 times in that parse.
Bold above - ha, i've heard this too... makes this class tough to use for many.
Also... after trying again last night i still struggle with it. Even though i enjoy the skills and play style, i'm only hitting around 27k. I'll try some more through the weekend but its hard to be optimistic about it. It seems like you need to risk carpal tunnel to play this class... loads of canceling.
I'll probably have to stick to my other magicka characters i guess (DK - when its un-nerfed, templar, sorc, warden - when it gets stronger)
Thanks again to everyone that took the time to provide me with some info.
jakeedmundson wrote: ».jakeedmundson wrote: »Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »LMAO. Mageblade and Rotation dont go in the same sentence. Mageblades have by far the most non-circular "rotation" (for lack of a better word, crap broke my own rule) of any class spec there is. You cant make this rotation into a circle, it won't work.
Mageblades basically have to do 4 things:
1. Keep up potions, ultimates, and siphoning on cooldown. This doesn't fit into any standard rotation.
2. Manage merciless. The gold standard is to do 4 light attack skill weaves and then weave your bow as the fifth attack. this got a little wonky this patch, but hopefully a fix is incoming. You should see 11-12 bow procs on a 3 million health dummy. Much less than that, and you are not mangaging merciless very well. Also, it means you can NEVER miss a light weave. If you dont see around 60+ light weaves on a 3 million dummy, your weave needs work. If weaving is not your thing, NB is not the class for you.
3. You need to control 3 DOTs, all with different effective durations. The difference between low to mid 30s and breaking 40 lies here. The best mage blades juggle all 3 independently, casting them immedietly as they expire. Blockade and Crippling Grasp have the same durations, but CG has a travel time. Unless you have your nose on the boss, casting them back to back is a DPS loss. Path has a longer duration, again, should be managed seperately. Alcasts build suggests casting these 3 in order, which can still land you in the mid to high 30s, but people breaking 40k arent doing this.
4. You need to manage your execute. Generally this means Soul Harvest instead of your destro, no CG, and impales over funnels. If you just start spamming impale, it wont go well.
People will call mageblade OP in the current meta, and maybe they are, but most people cant pull it off. This is how you mageblade:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOH0uQ-Qgbw
Maybe a dozen people in the game can hit that "rotation" like that. He bar swap cancels 74 times in that parse.
Bold above - ha, i've heard this too... makes this class tough to use for many.
Also... after trying again last night i still struggle with it. Even though i enjoy the skills and play style, i'm only hitting around 27k. I'll try some more through the weekend but its hard to be optimistic about it. It seems like you need to risk carpal tunnel to play this class... loads of canceling.
I'll probably have to stick to my other magicka characters i guess (DK - when its un-nerfed, templar, sorc, warden - when it gets stronger)
Thanks again to everyone that took the time to provide me with some info.
Don't give up. It's a bit trickier for us console folks but it's a fun and rewarding class to play. I was about where you were a couple weeks ago and a night here a night there practicing in front of the dummy or taking into a dungeon for some live action and I got it up to 37k. And I'm honestly still having issues with Twisting Path, either over or under casting. Also not even going for 3 proc rotation til I get the rest of my rotation ironed out, so I still have tons of room for improvement.
I don't think i'll get rid of the character or anything like that... I'll keep pushing the dummy once in a while and see what i can do to improve. From what i read, mag sorcs are taking a dps hit this patch from off balance changes. So maybe i wont' have much of a choice but to learn the mag blade stuff.
Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »I can’t even begin to imagine trying to play this class on console with bad swaps and no buff timers.
jakeedmundson wrote: »Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »I can’t even begin to imagine trying to play this class on console with bad swaps and no buff timers.
Yeah... it gets pretty rough sometimes. It's bad enough on the dummy when you get lag/bar swap problems/heavy attack stuck on. It's even worse with all the lag in a trial
But yes, i didn't shelf the mag blade or anything. I'll keep giving it a shot once in a while. I probably just don't play the character enough to be really familiar with the button mashing necessary for good dps.
Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »jakeedmundson wrote: »Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »I can’t even begin to imagine trying to play this class on console with bad swaps and no buff timers.
Yeah... it gets pretty rough sometimes. It's bad enough on the dummy when you get lag/bar swap problems/heavy attack stuck on. It's even worse with all the lag in a trial
But yes, i didn't shelf the mag blade or anything. I'll keep giving it a shot once in a while. I probably just don't play the character enough to be really familiar with the button mashing necessary for good dps.
Even on PC, there can be a world of difference between Dummy and Trial. On a dummy, I can get 3 bow procs per merciless almost every time. In a trial, even on bosses that stand still, that number drops. Light weaves just arent as reliable once any kind of lag hits, which is probably the biggest drawback to mageblade currently.