preevious wrote: »

@Oreyn_Bearclaw

Ok. Yes. The kilt. Indeed.
+6k DPS, I'm at 88k, now. Thansk a bunch.
Now, if I could improve my LA ratio, and figure why I don't have minor force on all the time despite using traps, I'd break the 90k barrier.

Thanks again.

You wont get 100% uptime on minor force using trap. Anything north of 90% uptime is REALLY good. Even with sets that give minor force, it wont be quite 100%. Even Tzogvin, that carries over to your back bar takes some time to build. Medusa could do it if you double barred it, but not worth dropping your VMA staff. Honestly, if you have better than 80% uptime, i wouldn't lose a lot of sleep over it. Your 70% is not terrible. I bet it goes up with barbed trap.

Pace is everything. Just a guess, but you are probably going to be around .85 or so LAs/Sec with very few misses to consistantly break into the 90s. To break 100k, you need to be north of .9, assuming you are doing everything else fairly well. I would focus more on that than how much time between blockade casts or number of frag casts TBH.

preevious wrote: »

Thanks a lot, Oreyn.

I did a few more parses, and I'm still stuck at 82.
However, a close look at combat metics show me that my pace does not seem so bad. Average delay between 2 cast of unstable wall is 10.40s. In a ideal world, it should be 10, but do you think that 0.40 lost per rotation add up a lot?
Also, I cast frags 119 times. Since frags amounts for half my rotation, I should cast it 125 times on a 4min 10s fight.
Do you think it's an issue? Do I not read those numbers correctly?
(honnest question, there. I'm not trying to defend myself, so, do speak your mind if those numbers are of)

I miss a lot of weaving, that's why I hover between 07 and 08 la per sec (closer to 8, though .. 7.7 or 7.8, most of the time)

So, To answer all your points :

1) Using traps actually increased my DPS over medusa gear, even in real content. Sure, trap does less damage that the skill it replaced (entropy), but having a stam skill in my rotation increase my sustain, and having minor force on a skill frees a 5-item bonus. And I use lightweight traps over barbed traps because I'm ranged.
Do you think the difference between the 2 would be noticeable?

2) I could slot boundless storm, but I don't know what to give up for it. I need traps for minor force, I need my two pets.
The only option would be giving up bound aegis, but the max magicka loss would lower my damage. Damage still scale woth max magicka, right? You think it would be better to slot storm instead? (also, the range on storms is not great)

3) I thought about an execute, indeed. I would use mage's wrath, instead of frags on execute range (except when instant frags procs) However, I'd have to give up bound aegis for it. Would it be worth itn, you think?

4) Yeah, that's my bad. I'm indeed backbarring maelstrom. My spammable is on the bar I spend 80% of my time on, Siroria.

5) Yes, a Kilt. Since I don't use a full monster set, there's no real point in not having a mythic item. The bonus on the kilt are more than enough to cover for the loss of a light piece. I'll farm it. Death's dealer is nice, too. And also, I was thining maybe Valkyn's? 200 spell damage seems better that 680 crit chance.

6) For my pace, I told you my numbers. I'll post a pic right under. Can you tell me if it seems off? I do miss a lot of weave, because of my dumb fingers, that, I notice.

As for the dynamic play, the semi-dynamic rotation stated above gives me over 80% of prey uptime, and is easy enough so that I don't screw it up.

Parse :

https://ibb.co/6smnKJg

https://ibb.co/sQXWBBH

1.Trap is more damage than Tzogvin or Medusa, but its not a lot and that bar slot for a shield or self heal can be important. It can also be the better option in places like VAS+2 where you are constantly moving. I really dont have a firm answer on the diff between barbed and lightweight. Historically, both were really only used for minor force, now, because of how things scale, the DOT component is not to be dismissed. Personally I use Barbed when I can be in Melee, and Tzogvins when I cant for the most part.

2. I would need to see your bar setup. dropping aegis is a DPS loss, but boundless is a DPS gain. I see very little reason to stack your back bar with things like aegis. For Max Parse, I am going like this:

Front: 2 Pets, Frags, Mages Wrath (or bound Aegis), Prey, Dawnbreaker
Back:2 Pets, Wall, Orbs (or boundless/hurricane), trap, Strom Attro.

The reason you use hurricane over boundless is that its a stamina dump, so better sustain. The better your pace, the harder your sustain is. You may find your sustain begins to struggle as your LA/Sec gets better.

3. That is the trade off. You typically drop bound aegis for an execute or a traditional spam if you want to use it. All are within a few K DPS. If your execute rotation is on point, then Mages wrath is going to be a bit more damage.

4.Okay good. Haha

5. One monster piece for crit plus a mythic is usually your best play. You wont beat the kilt on a dummy. In an optimized group, crit is usually your best one line bonus, all else equal. Medium armor is not a DPS loss especially since they changed the passives recently. In fact its potentially more damage than light assuming you are at the pen cap and sustain is not an issue. 6 light/1 medium is my standard, but there are fights that people will go as many as 4-5 medium on a mag DPS (usually they are short bursty fights like the spider boss in VHOF, are stack and burns under a minute).

6.Actually, these are unusual, and not in a terrible way. Your pace is actually pretty darn good. You are missing a LOT of light attacks. Frags is far and away your biggest culprit. Something is going on there. If I miss more than 5 light attacks on a trial dummy, its a throw away a parse. You missed 30 just on frags and 5 on Prey, 2 on blockade. You need to really work on your frag weave, or perhaps, play a traditional spammable. My guess is that your Blockade misses are coming off bar swaps, so perhaps look at that as well. Not quite sure why Prey would be an outlier TBH. Get those missed LAs into the single digits and you will break 90k easily. Your Frag weave is the Elephant in the Room at the moment.

Dynamic vs static is a decision you have to make. Some classes I play fairly static, some I play fairly dynamic. Even a dynamic rotation can become pretty scripted after awhile.

preevious wrote: »

@Oreyn_Bearclaw

Thanks a lot, this is very encouraging.

When I talk about my uptime of minor force, it's really some kind of an issue. I have an uptime of (prepare to be underwhelmed) a whopping 60%. I think that some of my casts land behind the dummy, where it can't proc, thus losing a full rotation's worth of traps.

And yeah, it's good to know that my pace is correct. I'll work on those frags weave something fierce, because 35 LA-worth of damage loss is really an issue. Landing those attacks would allow me to have a better sustain, since stuff would die quicker. Cursed be my dumb fingers.

My sustain took a slight hit by slotting a med piece, but on the dummy, it's not noticeable, I can still last the whole fight without being tapped out.

As for mage's wrath, as soon as I get a bit better with my weave, I'll try a few parses with it replacing aegis.

For my slots, I still have one "free slot" on my backbar, wich I use for survivability (shield or self heal). But since it's on my backbar, I don't spend much time there anyway, so it's not a real loss not slotting aegis there.
Bars are as follow :
Front : 2 pets, curse, aegis, frags, strom atro
Back : 2 pets, wall of elements, trap, [survivability skill], dawnbreaker.
(maybe I should switch ultimates .. but sorc skills also gives spell dmg, so, it would be the same)

Anyway, thanks again for your advices and your analyze. Really.
It's good to know that my pace (wich is everything, then) is good and that I have "easier" misshaps to fix.

And for static vs dynamic .. I'll stay as is for now. That semi-dynamic rotation I use gives me 85% uptime on prey. That'll be enough until I improve my weaves..

It's up to me, now.

Def switch your ultimates. Skills you slot just for passives (Dawnbreaker, aegis) make the most sense on your front bar. If you want attro on front bar for ease of casting, that's fine. A decent option in actual content is to front bar Attro (good passive buffs, just not as good as dawnbreaker), and back bar Destro ult. That way you have an AOE ult when you need it.

Not too go too crazy, but give this a try. Put boundless on your back bar (it is technically a survival skill ). Morph to Barbed trap.

Now, with your rotation, simply alternate Barbed Trap and Boundless where you are now casting Lightweight Trap. Its a common trick in a 2 line rotation like yours. Each line is roughly 9-10 seconds with minor variations. Take two longer duration skills, and just alternate them in the same spot. Your uptimes wont be perfect, but they will be pretty darn good. You will end over casting boundless slightly, but who cares.

Unstable wall --> lightweight trap Barbed Trap--> SWAP --> volatile familiar --> daedric prey --> crystal frag *5 --> daedric prey --> SWAP --> unstable wall --> lightweight trap Boundless Storm --> SWAP --> volatile familiar --> crystal frag * 2 --> daedric prey --> crystal frag *3 -- > SWAP

*Pro tip, Barbed trap can be part of your opening because it wont trigger the fight until it goes off, and there is a small delay. Sorc can get pretty creative here. Before you engage the dummy, you can cast both pets, drop your ultimate (far enough away that it doesnt hit the boss when it lands, drop your trap and then begin the rotation. If you go that route, switch the order of Trap and Storm above. Openings can definitely get a little cheesy on a dummy (people will do things like swap a skill quickly to channeled acceleration and back again), but they are worth practicing. Good player do skill swaps in actual content when pushing score, depending on the fight. Some bosses that spawn and a given location, its worth knowing how to get everything ticking as quick as you can early in the fight.