Best order for Zen, Overload Saber and Cauterize?

[JnEricsonx]

I tend to pop Zen, then charge OS, then hit them with Cauterize and 2 other attacks. Should I not use Cauterize as a attack for OS, or what? Note, I'm level 33 and this for PVE only.

[Spungey]

my 2 cents.

 

Cauterize should only be used for the last stack of Zen.

 

Pop Zen + Overload Saber...with 100% uptime you will get 1 crit at 1 stack, 1 crit at 2 stacks and 3 crits at 3 stacks. 2 stacks of Overload Saber hit harder than Cauterize. I always wait for the 3rd stacks last tic and then apply cauterize..

[DonnyLong]

I think it's ideal to hit overload saber, then 2 hits to apply the first two stacks, apply the third stack with cauterize and immediately pop Zen. That way all of the ticks for Zen crit on 4 stacks worth of burns (3 OS and 1 Cauterize). I haven't parsed the logs to see if this works the way it seems like it should.

[Smuglebunny]

There is another thread about this.

 

You do:

 

Leap, OS, ZS, caut, ZEN, merc slash...and so on...

 

You want to hit Zen when OS is at 2 stacks, ZS and Caut put 2 stacks, merc slash puts the 3rd. Then you have OS(3) ticking and caut....

 

At least this is what we agreed on in the other thread. There are no metrics to support it yet.

[GaryCartel]

Yup. Zen > OS > Cauterize

[Vraelan]

my 2 cents.

 

Cauterize should only be used for the last stack of Zen.

 

Pop Zen + Overload Saber...with 100% uptime you will get 1 crit at 1 stack, 1 crit at 2 stacks and 3 crits at 3 stacks. 2 stacks of Overload Saber hit harder than Cauterize. I always wait for the 3rd stacks last tic and then apply cauterize..

 

Agreed. Pop Zen a split second before you add your 3rd stack of OS.

[blazerSERVE]

I tend to do

 

Force Leap > OS > ZS > Caut > MercSlash > Zen

 

Sometimes I get a refresh on Cauterize because of MercSlash in this rotation which is nice, and Also I can fully get the 3 ticks from OS for zen in this rotation, having built 3 stacks with Cauterize being the second stack. I do this rotation more often, but sometimes I do just get the 3 stacks of OS without Cauterize and then pop zen, after that I go on with a cauterize for the last 3 ticks of zen and finish with whatever I have left.

[Lanja]

My current order of use (at least on opening) is F. Leap > OS in air > ZS > Cautz > Merciless > Zen.

 

Initially I assumed that OS would apply to ZS, CZ and Merc. That would have 4 burns up (OSx3 + CZ); then I pop Zen to get them all going crit. In addition to the overall "optimal timing" issue for Zen that we're discussing here, I also have a couple of questions on the mechanics of it..

 

First, although the leaping part of Force Leap happens before OS, the actual strike happens after the in-air OS. Does that mean that the first stack of OS is actually applied to FL, making ZS and CZ charges 2 and 3 for OS?

 

I'm also curious about how exactly the 6 charges of Zen are applied. Is one charge spent per tick in which burns take place, applying the Zen bonus to each DoT active that tick, or is one charge spent on a per DoT per tick basis? Option 1 would see more DoT ticks going critical and have the overall effect last longer. Option 2 would see all 6 charges used up in 2 ticks if you had 3 burns active at the time.

 

I am pretty sure that it is the second of those mechanics as Zen charges tend to evaporate quite quickly for me if I'm using my standard opening rotation above.