A question about the Stamina Dragonknight vMA weapons rotation in PvE

Izaki · October 2016

Hey everyone, I have a question about the stamDK rotation with Maelstrom dual wield.
Its pretty simple... Is it worth empowering Noxious Breath or not?

What I'm currently doing (light attacks between each skill except weapon swaps obviously) :
Potion > Flames of Oblivion > Endless Hail > Caltrops > Noxious Breath > Bar Swap > Rapid Strikes > Venom Claw > Rapid Strikes > Rending Slashes > Rapid Strikes > Rearming Trap > Bar Swap > Endless Hail > Poison Injection > Noxious Breath > Standard of Might > repeat from Rapid Strikes.

So Noxious Breath can be empowered on the target you used Rapid Strikes on, but all other enemies in the target area take the normal damage. Please don't tell me that you can't empower the skill because you can.

So I was thinking of placing Noxious on the front bar and moving Rearming Trap to the back bar. So essentially the rotation would look like this (I highlighted the changes) :
Potion > Flames of Oblivion > Endless Hail > Caltrops > Bar Swap > Rapid Strikes > Venom Claw > Rapid Strikes > Rending Slashes > Rapid Strikes > Noxious Breath > Rapid Strikes > Bar Swap > Rearming Trap > Endless Hail > Poison Injection > Standard of Might > repeat from Rapid Strikes.

I'm thinking that the time taken to do an extra weave (Rapid Strikes + Noxious Breath) might negate the DPS gain from empowering Noxious Breath.
What do you think guys? Worth it or not?

PS:
If you are wondering about my bars:
Dual Wield Mainbar:
Slot 1: Venomous Claw
Slot 2: Rearming Trap/Noxious Breath
Slot 3: Rapid Strikes
Slot 4: Rending Slashes
Slot 5: Evil Hunter
Ult: Flawless Dawnbreaker

Bow-Bar:
Slot 1: Endless Hail
Slot 2: Caltrops
Slot 3: Poison Injection
Slot 4: Noxious Breath/Rearming Trap
Slot 5: Flames of Oblivion
Ult: Standard of Might

Gear is TBS+VO+vMA weapons.

Izaki · October 2016

Anyone...?

Asmael · October 2016

Most DoTs on stam DK with last 10 seconds, so you have to get the most out of those 10 seconds, considering:

You want to use Endless Hail
You want to use Rearming Trap (Minor Force, by Sithis, this buff...)
You want to empower the strongest DoTs possible

Flurry > Claw > Flurry > Rending > Flurry > Trap > Hail > Poison Injection

With the weaving and swapping, you basically have time for an extra ability before Claw runs out, so you don't have time to empower Noxious Breath.

Turns out Noxious breath is out-DPS'd by FoO (Flames of Oblivion), even if you refresh it before the last fireball is used in a single target situation.

I usually run the above rotation and add a flexible ability, depending on the situation (Deadly cloak, Caltrops, FoO, Standard...). If you really want to run Noxious breath, you are better of not empowering it.

Izaki · October 2016

Asmael wrote: »

Most DoTs on stam DK with last 10 seconds, so you have to get the most out of those 10 seconds, considering:
You want to use Endless Hail

You want to use Rearming Trap (Minor Force, by Sithis, this buff...)

You want to empower the strongest DoTs possible

Flurry > Claw > Flurry > Rending > Flurry > Trap > Hail > Poison Injection

With the weaving and swapping, you basically have time for an extra ability before Claw runs out, so you don't have time to empower Noxious Breath.

Turns out Noxious breath is out-DPS'd by FoO (Flames of Oblivion), even if you refresh it before the last fireball is used in a single target situation.

I usually run the above rotation and add a flexible ability, depending on the situation (Deadly cloak, Caltrops, FoO, Standard...). If you really want to run Noxious breath, you are better of not empowering it.

Thanks for the answer ! Yeah I completely forgot about the durations of the other DoTs falling perfectly with each other.
I usually don't use caltrops, as I prefer to have a stamina sorc run it to proc Implosion on multiple targets. So instead I usually use Bone Shield, Vigor or anything else. Sometimes I'd also swap Rearming to my back bar and put Deadly Cloak for that damage reduction on the front. Usually I'd end up with a flex spot and it fill it with Noxious Breath (looks pretty sick tbh).

ryanborror · October 2016

Can you even empower breath? Does it count as single target?

MalakithAlamahdi · October 2016

ryanborror wrote: »

Can you even empower breath? Does it count as single target?

Probably only the first hit.

Nidro · October 2016

The Breath will make empowered damage on the target u made rapid strikes on.
ist a kinda AOE DoT but it somehow works on single Targets with the vMA weapons empowered.

Theres a Video of Alcast on Youtube explaining it.

i think ist called something like: Maelstrom Weapons Guide or something.

Izaki · October 2016

ryanborror wrote: »

Can you even empower breath? Does it count as single target?

MalakithAlamahdi wrote: »

ryanborror wrote: »

Can you even empower breath? Does it count as single target?

Probably only the first hit.

Nidro wrote: »

The Breath will make empowered damage on the target u made rapid strikes on.
ist a kinda AOE DoT but it somehow works on single Targets with the vMA weapons empowered.

Theres a Video of Alcast on Youtube explaining it.

i think ist called something like: Maelstrom Weapons Guide or something.

Guys I just said in the OP that it can be empowered. Its really easy to test too. Its just like any non-ground based AoE DoT. You can empower the DoT on the target you used Flurry on. Just like the new Dual Wield ultimate.

DRXHarbinger · October 2016

You not want breath on first for the debuff? Makes more sense to debuff at the off.

Asmael · October 2016

DRXHarbinger wrote: »

You not want breath on first for the debuff? Makes more sense to debuff at the off.

Tank's job with Puncture.

If on your own and doing vMA/vDSA, you can cast it on portals, mobs will start taking damage as soon as they appear, in which case, yup, you prepare the ground with Noxious Breath (that and Endless hail, Caltrops and Rearming Trap).

IDcI_Insanity · October 2016

I wouldn't use Noxious Breath in a Trials based situation because chances are Tanks are using Puncture. So the Major Fracture is out of the question. In Maelstorm I would use it, like the earlier post stated it damages the adds. It's also not worth empowering in that situation as the dot isn't as strong as the other dots (Adds are likely to be killed fast anyways). Keep Trap on the front bar because it takes 1.5 sec to proc which allows you to swap, hail and let the Cruel Flurry enchant to empower your Poison Inject. Plus the passive 3% WPN DMG is nice.

Izaki · October 2016

IDcI_Insanity wrote: »

I wouldn't use Noxious Breath in a Trials based situation because chances are Tanks are using Puncture. So the Major Fracture is out of the question. In Maelstorm I would use it, like the earlier post stated it damages the adds. It's also not worth empowering in that situation as the dot isn't as strong as the other dots (Adds are likely to be killed fast anyways). Keep Trap on the front bar because it takes 1.5 sec to proc which allows you to swap, hail and let the Cruel Flurry enchant to empower your Poison Inject. Plus the passive 3% WPN DMG is nice.

Yeah but either Evil Hunter or Flames of Oblivion has to be on that bar in order to keep the Major Savagery buff (yes the bug with potions is still there) and I have to slot Deadly Cloak in trials if I want to survive and actually do some damage. So most of the time Trap goes on the back bar. You still can empower the trap and poison injection even if the trap is on your back bar, its not a problem at all.