I dont Claim to be an expert on mDK, but I can hit 90K+ this patch on a raid dummy.

I will walk you through how I approach the DK rotation. For what it's worth, I am pushing 40 and my fingers dont work like they used to. I usually take a rotation from Liko, and I try to figure out how to approach it to simplify it to some degree with minimal DPS loss.

Your gear is great assuming you are using Elfbane on rings, chest and pants, and MS and Light Grothdaar on everything else. You need 5 light 2 heavy for this setup. Pro-tip, ilambris monster set is really strong with elfbane. Definitely stronger the grothdar this patch, and not hard to get. Maw is also great, but the pet is obnoxiously large. I see ilambris break 5k DPS in actual content. It really is good with elfbane.

If I am beating on a dummy, this patch, my bars look like this (for parsing I run Zaan and Siroria where you have MS):

Front Bar: Spam (blood for blood or forcepulse, whip also works), Burning Talons, Flames of oblivion, Scalding Rune, Innerlight, and Meteor

Back Bar: Eruption, Burning Embers, engulfing Flames, barbed Trap (minor force), Elemental blockade*, Standard.

The rotation is based on two things. The centerpiece is Talons. You can cast this every 9th skill. So cast, count to 8, cast, count to 8 etc. With elfbane :embers, flames, trap, and blockade are all essentially the same duration. I always cast in order, which means every other cast of Talons will have this as part of the 8 count. You can certainly cast eruption here is well, but you will end up over casting it.

*Unstable Wall is more DPS than blockade, but it makes the rotation more complicated. If you arent on point with a dynamic rotation, unstable will end up being a DPS loss.

Everything else (eruption, rune, and FOO), i handle pretty dynamically, but I error on the side of letting the other stuff run out than casting early (never cast FOO early).

In actual content (unless its a parse fight), I typically replace inner light with mystic orb (great AOE, but not worth it IMO for parsing, mostly because of sustain issues), and I replace Scalding Rune with either a shield or a heal depending on what is better for the situation.

If you dont want to run potions (bad idea IMO) put entropy in place of inner light. FOO gives you the crit, but you will take a crit loss on your back bar. Not the end of the world as you are really only there 5 skills out of 18 in a rotation.

Everything is a light weave, generally use ultimates on cooldown. It is worth holding your standard a bit if you are close to execute (25%) if you are running bloodthirsty jewelry, which I strongly advise on mDK.

So to simplify: Talons,swap, Blockade, Trap, Embers, engulfing, swap, Spamx4, talons, spamx8, repeat.

Spam is replaced by either FOO, Eruption, Rune, or Ultimate, as needed. This ensures excellent uptime on your minor force, which is VERY important. I only run channeled acceleration in a few places, mostly places like VAS and VCR, where mobility and range become more important

If you want a perfectly static rotation, check this out. https://liko.gg/content/3081/sparrow-greymoor-pts-magdk-88-90k-static-rotation

A more dynamic rotation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRMRd9-Z6eA

And if you guys havent checked out Liko.GG for all your eso related videos, the site is AWESOME. It is way smarter than youtube if you are trying to search for something specific related to ESO.

Minor force should be on fire rune for the mage's guild.

Bodycounter wrote: »

Thank you for all the input! I did not manage to find any time today but ill gladly post a parse tomorrow. There are most likely some things im missing in my rotation.

Minor Force on Scalding Rune would actually be perfect and very logical by ZoS because it‘s the direct counterpart from the Mages Guild of Barbed Trap from the Fighters Guild.

Pretty much, magicka has either channeled acceleration which benefits both stam and magicka to the same degree or trap, which benefits stamina much more, it only makes sense that magicka should get it's own minor force trap that benefits it more.

VoidCommander wrote: »

JinMori wrote: »

Bodycounter wrote: »

Thank you for all the input! I did not manage to find any time today but ill gladly post a parse tomorrow. There are most likely some things im missing in my rotation.

Minor Force on Scalding Rune would actually be perfect and very logical by ZoS because it‘s the direct counterpart from the Mages Guild of Barbed Trap from the Fighters Guild.

Pretty much, magicka has either channeled acceleration which benefits both stam and magicka to the same degree or trap, which benefits stamina much more, it only makes sense that magicka should get it's own minor force trap that benefits it more.

This is basically the only reason that stamina dps are “better” than magicka dps when it comes to raw numbers. If scalding rune got a minor force buff for its duration, the best stam dps would be behind even the worst of magicka dps.

This is partially wrong, magicka would do better damage if it had a set like relequen, but i'm not arguing from a perfect balance prospective, afterall, they can just bring stamina up to par in case it gets below, that's not a problem.

Also, they should standardize armor passives for damage, medium should get pen, and light should get spell damage, there is no reason to have this "distinction" It's worthless doesn't add anything to the game, it's just there to give a sense that it's not the same, but it doesn't really impact gameplay in any way those passives are there for one reason alone and that is to increase output, so let's just cut the ***, and stop pretending that they are actually doing anything to prevent homogenization, because they do not, they are just damage output increase stats.

Bodycounter wrote: »

I have uploaded my parse here which i made today: Magicka Dragonknight Parse Test 1.

Part 1

Part 2

I still have some issues with the game and it's input recognition, so some light attacks just did not go off or i had to double click my ultimate to register which was kinda annoying. But the parse does well reflect my current level. Without input problems i should be around 0.75 light attacks per second, which is still way too low it seems. I probably need to get used to it more. Another problem is probably Unrelenting Grip having a relatively long animation.

Only thing to note: My Barbed Trap is not morphed at this point and still on level 1 because i did not use it so far. My uptime should naturall get a bit better with it being morphed and level 4.

And here is my second parse with Burning Talons instead of Unrelenting Grip: Magicka Dragonknight Parse Test 2.

Part 1

Part 2

The first rotation was easy to sustain without any issues. I had to use several heavy attacks to sustain the second one.

I am really struggling as to why you are using unrelenting Grip (chains) in a DPS rotation. It doesnt have a DOT component to it, so I cant figure out why you would cast that over a spammable. Look at the average damage per hit on your Chains and your Whip. There are times to slot chains as a DPS, but they are very situational and should always be coordinated with your Tank. Yes its basically a free cast on a dummy, but you would likely be better off heavy attacking TBH. If you are struggling to sustain, go vampire (go vampire anyway this patch). That makes your spammable effectively free as it costs health. If you have a healer, you wont even notice the health drop. If you dont, well, burning embers will keep you alive.

Obviously, your LA ration is pretty low on your second parse as it is below .6. There are three primary factors that cause it to be low.

1. You are missing LA between certain skills. This can certainly be a performance issue, but usually, its just as much of a button mashing issue, likely, actually hitting the LA too soon after the previous skill.

2. The overall pace of your rotation is slow. Certainly a factor, just a matter of degree.

3. Your swap canceling is bad. What I mean is that every time you bar swap, you should still light attack before the next skill. Some people miss that completely, others will wait too long to bar swap (you can do it much sooner after a skill than you think), and the net result is that you lose pace when you swap. In theory, you shouldnt miss a beat just because you bar swap.

In reality, it is probably a combo of all of the above.

Other things to think about, you have 4 traits that need changing. Charged front bar on your staff is garbage. Change to precise. Precise +Shadow mundus is really important. At a mininum, change your health neck to Magic or bloodthirsty. At a maximum, change all 3 to bloodthirsty. 3 bloodthirsty is max DPS on a dummy, and honestly, best for most trial content. Might not be best for trash fights or solo, so it is a bit of a judgement call.

Most of the DPS from your DOTs is lower than I would expect, but they are generally in the right order I would expect. Burning Talons should probably be higher. Talons>8 skills>Talons>8 Skills. That is the centerpiece of a DK rotation, guessing your uptime is not great on that.

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

Bodycounter wrote: »

Hello Community,

i am still pretty new to trial content, but i have gathered my gear, my passives and my skills for the endgame content. I have two problems when im doing my parses (currently 45-50k dps) on my magicka Dragonknight:

1. Major Sorcery: I can't financially sustain to use Essence of Spell Power in every fight. That's why im currently using the Degeneration ability from the Mages Guild. Is this correct or are there better ways?
2. Minor Force: Im currently trying to get used to Channeled Acceleration but the cast time feels really off and the duration of 36 seconds keeps messing up my rotation (im using Elf Bane). Barbed Trap on the other hand is a stamina ability is feels strange to use with it's 18 second duration. How important is this buff?

This are currently my biggest problems within my rotation and i would appreciate some tips from more experienced players. Here is the difference in my builds im talking about. Version 1 feels really natural because my abilities line up really well, but im missing minor force. Note that this setup is for boss fights.

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Greetings,
Bodycounter

What you are discussing points to a larger issue all together, a lot of skills are flat out necessary in most content. Trap Beast is pretty much in every single rotation due to the Minor Force. Personally, I would prefer different classes bringing different buffs to the group as a whole with Minor Force being something that Nightblades bring.

Yeah, but that's not how the game works currently. Minor force is a pretty important buff that you really need to take care of your self. You can get it from Twlight remedy for a group, but realistically your uptimes wont be as high as they would with everyone slotting it.

On a dummy, or on a parse fight (plenty of fights you can treat like a dummy), you stack as many damage skills and buffs/dedbuffs that you can manage. In some content, you have to make tradeoffs (dropping a skill or 2 for utility/survival), but minor force is not one of the first to go.