powertech dps end game

[curtisloew]

I'm currently levelling up a DPS PT and was wondering for end game what the best specc would be? I haven't been able to find any good sites to help me out

 

http://mmo-mechanics.com/swtor/forums/thread-1165.html

[steave]

FB/CGC was hitting for approximately 1300+549. I forgot the individual crits, but combined it was as 3.4-3.6K. This is without the additional damage from HI. RP was hitting for about 1500-1600, criting for 2.9K. That was with IF. Both cost 16 heat. I got my friend to do a little testing as well. He was getting about the same DPS with a rapid shots/FB two button combo as he was with the normal rotation for that 7/6/28 build. I'm going to see if I can convince our best DPS to change and give it a go.

 

That makes sense at first glance, but it's actually slightly flawed logic - using FB again doesn't add a new dot, it simply refreshes the one that is already there. If left alone, it ticks 3 times (at 0, 3, and 6 seconds after being applied) so if you use 3 FB in a row you only get 1 extra tick of CGC for a total of 3 instead of 2.

Translating that into effectiveness in practice is hard though - f.e. if you are in a phase where you'd FB/RS (since RS also reset the dot) every GCD (which is viable for a short time when you have vent heat available) will double the amount of DOT ticks (effectively adding half what the DOT ticks for to each FB during that phase), but if you need to manage heat it becomes more complicated - you'll need to use RpS every now and then, but how often will depend on how lucky you get with procs and how much that impacts the DOT application rate depends on how often and when your RpS triggers CGC, and on top of that the order and timings of those applications play a huge part - if you go FB - RpS (proc) - RpS (no proc) you'll get the same amount of dot ticks (3) regardless of if the next attack is a FB or RP, but if you reverse the order of those procs from RpS using FB will mean more DOT ticks (3 instead of the 2 RP would provide, but using RP means that the attack after that will have a DOT tick no matter what while using FB would mean the automatic tick would come one GCD later - but then again, if the attack following the FB/RP triggers the dot that won't matter). It's further complicated by if the target is above or below 30% HP, which would increase the value of getting more DOT ticks.

TL;DR: Even in optimal conditions, only half the damage done by the DOT tick can be counted as extra damage from that attack since the dot would often have ticked anyway during that GCD, and when vent heat isn't available it's impossible to predict how much more you'll get from that (although it will never go above 50% of the dot tick/attack).

 

What is certain though is that 27% (15/55) of the times that your FB fails to proc RS, RP would have managed it, and if you proc it you both get to use your (by far) highest hitting attack and re-apply CGC. Add in the fact that more procs = more heat vented = more FBs/RPs = more damage done and more procs, and the cycle then repeats itself with those extra procs again leading to more heat vented etc etc.

Basically, the point is that theorycrafting on the value of reapplying the dot with FB is impossible beyond deciding that it will never increase DOT damage by more than 50% since it's impossible to predict, and it will be changing depending on the current conditions. My personal estimate would be being able to attribute roughly 30% of the dot tick as extra damage for the FB, and in my case RP does about 200 more damage then FB while CGC ticks for 555, and 30% of 555 is 166.5 - but that goes up to 721.5 and 216.5 when target is below 30%.

 

Therefore, my conclusion is that FB spam will do about the same damage as including RP in the rotation when it's available if you don't use RS, but since you WILL use it, the extra procs and heat venting provided by using RP will put it ahead of pure FB spam. We are however talking about a VERY small difference considering the small difference between the 2 attacks and the fact that RP is on a 9 second CD, so even if you're trying to include RP in the rotation the amount of times you RP instead of FB will be pretty small.

 

 

T-Assassin...for dailies, FPs etc you can pretty much just throw on any random spec and hammer buttons randomly and you'll still do just fine. It's OP content that actually requires optimization.

Edited January 16, 2013 by steave

[colin_]

Having played around with a lot of different specs/play styles I find that they are so close it boils down to personal preference in the end. Every parse that i have finished in the top 20 or above on torparse is mainly based on proper cd/heat management not my spec.

[T-Assassin]

Having played around with a lot of different specs/play styles I find that they are so close it boils down to personal preference in the end. Every parse that i have finished in the top 20 or above on torparse is mainly based on proper cd/heat management not my spec.

 

i was thinking something very similar. my thinking was based on playstyle, group make-up and such. mainly skill.

 

in about 10 OPs in 3 weeks, i've broke the top 50 quite a bit, in 61's.

 

so, i must be pretty awesome, using a less than ideal spec and all