Honestly, Learning a rotation is just a mechanic of the game you're going to have to adapt to. Otherwise, 15k dps is where you're going to stay.

You can't just hit random buttons and expect to do good dps. I'm hitting 32k with only ele drain support this patch (no free whips). You just have to work at it. The standard rotation that pretty much all mdks use with little variation is:

eruption, rearming trap, flames of oblivion, bar swap
engulfing flames, burning embers, blockade
5x whips
engulfing flames, burning embers, blockade
1x whip, bar swap
repeat

Light attack between each ability, use standard of might on the back bar when it's available.

The standard mdk bars are:
flame lash, engulfing flames, burning embers, inner light, blockade of fire, shooting star
eruption, rearming trap, flames of oblivion, inner light, harness magicka, standard of might

Replace inner light on the back bar with molten armaments if you're too cheap to use spell power pots.

Standard mdk gear setup with some variation is:
infused inferno infal/moondancer staff front w/ shock enchant
infused inferno infal/moondancer staff back w/ spell damage enchant
5 burning spellweave divines
2 grothdar divines
3 infal/moondancer jewelry with spell damage enchants
apprentice mundus

If you want a budget setup, you can do:
infused inferno julianos staff front w/ shock enchant
infused inferno julianos staff back w/ spell damage enchant
2 burning spellweave body
3 julianos body divines
2 grothdar
3 burning spellweave jewelry with spell damage enchants
apprentice mundus

Gold out your weapons and enchants. Everything else is OK purple.

All attribute points into magicka. Use cp150 health+magicka food.

Lookup mdk guides on tamerialfoundry for CP suggestions. NOS's guides are usually good.

The above setups have been developed over 100's of hours of theorycrafting by dozens of players. If you want to break 30k dps on a solo dummy test then follow the above advice. Some setups may hit higher in very specific situations, but this is the standard setups for mdk.

Are you following the exact rotation I posted? And yes, proper rotation is that important. You can lose 10% dps just from missing half your light attack weaves.

@jaburns yes, but when doing self buffed tests just replace harness with ele drain and add it to the rotation.

Just so you get a rough idea of potential, class ceiling casting your own eledrain, pure solo, is ~40-41k. More like 38-39k if you don't cheese with lightning wall + shock enchant. 35k+ is achievable with only cheap+crafted gear.

I have 300-400 ping and I have managed to get to 20K on my Dumner MagDK but I cannot get higher. That is fully self buffed only (I apply ele drain and use molten weapons)

BSW + Julianos + Slimeclaw shoulders. My undaunted isn't leveled yet. I have used BSW + Sun but I didn't have a BSW staff I also don't own any trails gear. Never done a trail.

infused front, sharpened back.

The thing that massively improved my DPS is light attacking between each skill. It is the difference between 17K and 20K

I have a lot of Magicka issues because I always double cast ash cloud even with witchmothers brew. Every second rotation I do a heavy attack. I have actually tried fitting more skills on my bar but I run out of mag if I use anything more than my standard set of skills anyway.

Oh oh have you enchanted your jewerely with spell damage enchants? and on one of your inferno staffs, that is a large amount of spell damage you are missing out on if you forget.

AverageJo3Gam3r wrote: »

The standard rotation that pretty much all mdks use with little variation is:

eruption, rearming trap, flames of oblivion, bar swap
engulfing flames, burning embers, blockade
5x whips
engulfing flames, burning embers, blockade
1x whip, bar swap
repeat

Light attack between each ability, use standard of might on the back bar when it's available.

The standard mdk bars are:
flame lash, engulfing flames, burning embers, inner light, blockade of fire, shooting star
eruption, rearming trap, flames of oblivion, inner light, harness magicka, standard of might

Replace inner light on the back bar with molten armaments if you're too cheap to use spell power pots.

Standard mdk gear setup with some variation is:
infused inferno infal/moondancer staff front w/ shock enchant
infused inferno infal/moondancer staff back w/ spell damage enchant
5 burning spellweave divines
2 grothdar divines
3 infal/moondancer jewelry with spell damage enchants
apprentice mundus

If you want a budget setup, you can do:
infused inferno julianos staff front w/ shock enchant
infused inferno julianos staff back w/ spell damage enchant
2 burning spellweave body
3 julianos body divines
2 grothdar
3 burning spellweave jewelry with spell damage enchants
apprentice mundus

Gold out your weapons and enchants. Everything else is OK purple.

All attribute points into magicka. Use cp150 health+magicka food.

Lookup mdk guides on tamerialfoundry for CP suggestions. NOS's guides are usually good.

The above setups have been developed over 100's of hours of theorycrafting by dozens of players. If you want to break 30k dps on a solo dummy test then follow the above advice. Some setups may hit higher in very specific situations, but this is the standard setups for mdk.

Quoting this so I can find it later.

Personally, if you want to hit higher numbers with an easier rotation swap to a StamDK.

You'll have the same issue getting the "best" gear as its all stuff to grind in Trials. However, there are a few easier to obtain sets and the rotation is far easier to master. At least i found that anyway. The only reason i went back to MagDK is because i found the rotation for Stam quite boring and tedious to run but if you don't mind then it could be your best bet for now till you're more comfortable with a more full on rotation.

jaburns wrote: »

OP-

You should also remember: the elite guys that brag about getting 40-50K DPS during fights are only DPSing for the higher parse. They're not fulfilling the normal DPS role of rezzing fallen group members in the middle of combat.

You should realize that bragging about such high DPS and not fulfilling the rest of your intended role is the equivalent of a tank bragging about how unkillable he is... but doesn't maintain aggro or debuff the boss.

Dps isn't about the parse, it's a factor that influences the fight as a whole.Those parses don't include rezzing because the other players in those groups don't drop like flies. 'Not dying' is also part of a dps's job.