As far as I'm aware, you cannot AC two skills directly into one another. You can AC a skill+weapon swap then repeat, and it will look like you just did two weapon's swaps. I do this to apply buffs, but you could apply DoT easily enough as well.

Abilities, even ones that say instant, have what you could call a "cast time" by animation movement. Animation cancel neutralizes the movement and allows the effect without impediment. When done in succession you increase dps by laying down abilities at a more rapid pace. By "weaving" an ability and weapons swap the same way you can weave crushing shock and a staff attack is one way of doing this.

Thanks for the responses.

I did a little bit more research and playing with AC and think I understand it a little better. I'm able to do it in PvE and have tried doing it a few times in PvP, but PvP is clearly where the AC jockeys shine, because I'm getting out-attacked in terms of speed by about 3 to 1.

So I think I have a little more experience than when I first posted.

Guys...it's still pretty wack.

I'm not sure how a character who is halfway through a light attack animation who Quicksilver-jumps to a skill execution is supposed to be anything but fringe-cheaty. Some people have developed this quasi-mythology that it is more skillful or that it's a more "pure" form of combat or that it's a reflection of where games are going.

The_Outsider wrote: »

Try a light attack with staff. You have 2 choices. You can let your characters arm extend, point the staff, let loose a fireball, retract the staff, and relax, and THEN cast an ability like crushing shock. OR, you can start the light attack and then immediately cast your spell.
Both have the same end result, with your opponent being hit by both your light attack and a spell. The second is an example of animation canceling. It just... Speeds up the casting.

A Macro accomplishes the exact same thing. This is just manual macro-ing that bypasses character animation design by being super-twitchy.

Anyways. Some people clearly like this system. I'm jealous of them, because I'd frankly love to keep playing this game. But, come on guys. It's clearly an unintended consequence that people are retconning as a virtue. Most of us have played lots of games and know a loophole when we see one. That's what this is, plain and simple.

Not my cup of tea, and not the kind of game I'm likely to support, if devs have no intention of fixing it.

I'm not sure how a character who is halfway through a light attack animation who Quicksilver-jumps to a skill execution is supposed to be anything but fringe-cheaty. Some people have developed this quasi-mythology that it is more skillful or that it's a more "pure" form of combat or that it's a reflection of where games are going.

Understandable that it feels fringe-cheaty just coming across it for the fist time.

I actually started doing it completely by accident as a way to build ultimate (light attacks) without compromising my skill rotation. And I've been doing it so long it feels completely normal, flowing quite nicely. I'm not hammering on keys willy-nilly just waiting for global cooldowns like it was with Wow. It's a very precise timing of clicks followed by keystrokes.

Part of my DPS rotation for PVE and PVP involves cancelling light attacks with surprise attack for maximum DPS + Ultimate generation, and honestly I can't imagine not weaving those light attacks in there. At least with AC there is timing involved. Take that away, and it's just simply a button pound.

Anyone remember the Arcane Mage from Wow circa Wrath/Cata? Max DPS rotation : 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,potion,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1. I don't want that for ESO, and animation cancelling provides a (small) layer of depth, and an added element to perfect.

One thing that I should probably clarify in my comments is that I don't really blame players for doing this -- so when I say "exploit" and "cheat", those terms don't apply in their truest sense, since the system design clearly allows it. Based on what Zen has been saying, I completely understand why some players believe that AC is WAI and nothing is amiss.

It is in the game to stay. If you pvp, there will always be a learning curve. Once you get the hang of pvp and animation canceling, it will become second nature.

I practice my canceling doing daily dungeons and it carries over well into PvP.


Hope this helps! Cheers and good luck!!