salaciousc Posted April 28, 2013 Share Posted April 28, 2013 (edited) Rotation for the Lightning Sorcerer This rotation has some advantages: - Hard hitting abilities are used as quickly as possible after their cooldown - There is a maximum chance that Lightning Storm is active before casting Chain Lightning. In most cases Chain Lightning has no activation time - All offensive forces of the Lightening Sorcerer are used with their side effects (e.g. slowdowns of enemies or self heal by periodic damage) - Thundering Blast is required, the rest of the Lightning tree can be chosen according to your preferences. The rotation does not work with hybrid builds There is only one limitation: The described rotation does not work well with alacrity because it interferes with the cooldowns of some abilities. Better maximize accuracy, power or willpower. Affliction (Thundering Blast will score a critical hit) Lightning Strike (this increases the chance of Lightning Storm) Thundering Blast Chain Lightning (before there were 2 chances of activating Lightning Storm) Force Lightning Shock Affliction Lightning Strike Thundering Blast Recklessness (Chain Lightning will score a critical hit. Sometimes not available) Chain Lightning Crushing Darkness ->repeat Salacia, Scaeva - The Red Eclipse Edited April 30, 2013 by salaciousc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yopopodido Posted April 28, 2013 Share Posted April 28, 2013 Rotation for the Lightning Sorcerer This rotation has some advantages: - Hard hitting abilities are used as quickly as possible after their cooldown - There is a maximum chance that Lightning Storm is active before casting Chain Lightning. In most cases Chain Lightning has no activation time - All offensive forces of the Lightening Sorcerer are used with their side effects (e.g. slowdowns of enemies or self heal by periodic damage) - Thundering Blast is required, the rest of the Lightning tree can be chosen according to your preferences. The rotation does not work with hybrid builds There is only one limitation: The described rotation does not work well with alacrity because it interferes with the cooldowns of some abilities. Better maximize power or willpower Affliction (Thundering Blast will score a critical hit) Lightning Strike (this increases the chance of Lightning Storm) Thundering Blast Chain Lightning (before there were 2 chances of activating Lightning Storm) Force Lightning Shock Affliction Lightning Strike Thundering Blast Recklessness (Chain Lightning will score a critical hit. Sometimes not available) Chain Lightning Crushing Darkness ->repeat Salacia, Scaeva - The Red Eclipse Interesting rotation, first I want to point out alacrity is tied with accuracy and surge, not power or willpower as far as raw stat points go. SO the main reason a lot of TK sages and Lightning sorcs are getting rid of alacrity, is for accuracy. the bonus from higher accuracy and surge is far superior to alacrity. In essence the 2.0 upgrade killed alacrity for sorcs/sages for dps in PVE. PVP does not require Accuracy. I would like to post my rotation with a serendipitous relic and a underworld boundless, and adrenals put in. start with boundless relic proc-> crushing darkness -> affliction-> adrenal-> Thundering blast-> lightstrike-> lightstrike/instant Chain lightning/fast forcelightning -> (previousx1) -> polarity shift & recklessness -> lightstrike/instant Chain lightning/fast forcelightning x2 -> Thundering blast after this rotation, keep affliction up, cast crushing darkness whenever possible, cast thundering blast whenever possible(make sure affliction is on target!!!!!!!!) cast chain lightning ONLY if it is instant cast whenever possible, cast force lightning only when the speed boost procs whenever possible, and fill in all gaps with lightning strike, hit polarityshift/proc relic/recklessness/adrenal whenever available. this rotation is NOT static, it changes as you go depending on what procs and when cooldowns come up. this has produced the highest dps output for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xanazar Posted April 28, 2013 Share Posted April 28, 2013 (edited) There is only an opening rotation, after that it is all about popping procs and a priority list of abilities as they come off cool downs. I am assuming you're applying this to boss fights. First you should open with CD and get the tick going. Then affliction, followed by thundering blast. Get that cool down going right away. Pop shock, then LS x3 or until you get chain/LS proc. Hit those right away. Go back to a quick shock or LS if your TB is not up yet. After that its all about priority...Keep affliction up, TB, chain and FL off proc from LS. Shock on cool downs. Edited April 28, 2013 by xanazar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xanazar Posted April 28, 2013 Share Posted April 28, 2013 There is only an opening rotation, after that it is all about popping procs and a priority list of abilities as they come off cool downs. I am assuming you're applying this to boss fights. First you should open with CD and get the tick going. Then affliction, followed by thundering blast. Get that cool down going right away. Pop shock, then LS x3 or until you get chain/ce proc. Hit those right away. Go back to a quick shock or LS if your TB is not up yet. After that its all about priority...Keep affliction up, TB, chain and FL off proc from LS. Shock on cool downs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salaciousc Posted April 28, 2013 Author Share Posted April 28, 2013 Some responses: The segment Crushing Darkness -> Affliction - > Thundering Blast is also part of my rotation. I avoid Crushing Darkness as opener because with the skill " "Parasitism" of the Madness tree it will heal myself. This additional healing is most useful after a fight has started, not right at the beginning. Lightning Strike causes the least damage compared to Crushing Darkness, Force Lightning and Shock. That is the reason why I avoid a series of Lightning Strikes. Casting Lightning Strike and Thundering Blast results in a high probability (84%) that Chain Lightning is instant. There is a trade-off: Chain Lightning very seldom causes a casting time, on the other hand I hit the enemy as frequently as possible with a critical Thundering Blast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayshames Posted April 28, 2013 Share Posted April 28, 2013 (edited) I'll only use Crushing Darkness if my target is near full health. I've stopped using TD as much aswell, it does a bit more damage than Lightning Strike, though if you crit 2 Lightning strikes they are probably more. Also, 2 Lightning Strikes in the time you do one Thundering Blast gives you an extra 50% (technically) chance to proc Chain Lightning and Forked Lightning. I only use recklessness when Chain Lightning is proc'd. Edited April 28, 2013 by Jayshames Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SgtKlavier Posted April 28, 2013 Share Posted April 28, 2013 The segment Crushing Darkness -> Affliction - > Thundering Blast is also part of my rotation. I avoid Crushing Darkness as opener because with the skill " "Parasitism" of the Madness tree it will heal myself. This additional healing is most useful after a fight has started, not right at the beginning. Are you using this rotation for pve or pvp? For pve, you shouldn't have any points in parasitism as you are reducing your dps output at the cost of adding a bit of self healing, which will be taken care of by your healers anyways. I guess for pvp it might work in that sense, but its slim gains compared to the amount of damage going out in a warzone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salaciousc Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 (edited) @SgtKlavier I use this rotation for PVP and PVE, it works well for both. Self heal by parasitism is more useful for PVP. It is not a core ability in my rotation, it can substituted by an another ability. @Yopopodido Compared to the "Lightning Strike Spamming Rotation" my rotation is static. It is not intended to change the order of single attacks as their activation time works as counter for Thundering Blast and Forcestorm. However, I also insert an additional Force Lightening to my rotation if the speed boost is active as you do. - The probability for Lightening Storm after casting Lightening Strike and Thundering Blast is 84%. In other words: In about 7 out of 8 times Chain Lightning will be instant. I can repeat my rotation 4 times until a slow Chain Lightning can be expected. The duration of 1 rotation is ca. 29 seconds, 4 rotations last less than 116 seconds. Accepting the probability of 84% (instead of 100%) leads to an additional activation time for Chain Lightning of 3 seconds every 116 seconds. This is only a very low loss of dps. It is easily compensated by using other abilities that hit harder than Lightening Strike. The advantages of my rotation in comparison to Lightening spamming are - higher burst damage as Chain Lightning always follows Thundering Blast - Thundering Blast and Chain Lightning are cast as frequently as possible - I never miss an Affliction - about 1/7 higher dps than Lightening spamming Edited April 30, 2013 by salaciousc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Undead_Prince Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 So how much do you parse? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Undead_Prince Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 (edited) Rotation for the Lightning Sorcerer Affliction (Thundering Blast will score a critical hit) Lightning Strike (this increases the chance of Lightning Storm) Thundering Blast Chain Lightning (before there were 2 chances of activating Lightning Storm) Force Lightning Shock Affliction Lightning Strike Thundering Blast Recklessness (Chain Lightning will score a critical hit. Sometimes not available) Chain Lightning Crushing Darkness ->repeat Salacia, Scaeva - The Red Eclipse 1) Where is Polarity Shift? It's a crucial ability, esp for full Lightning. 2) Why is Recklessness so low? It should be up right after TB, to boost CL/FL. 3) Are CD and Shock really dps gains? I am seriously curious about that. 4) If even a few percent of alacrity can mess up your rotation, what about Lightning Barrage, Polarity Shift and the randomness of procs? 5) Finally, how much do you parse on the ops dummy? Preferably with link. Edited April 30, 2013 by Undead_Prince Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salaciousc Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 (edited) 1. I did not add polarity shift to the rotation, but in PVE i use it as frequently as possible. In PVP i find it more useful to save it for fights 1 vs 1 to avoid being interrupted. Its situational. 2. Recklessness comes right after Thundering blast to score a critical hit with Chain Lightening. The segment between the second affliction to Crushing Darkness can be put to the beginning. I did this in the German forum. In longer bossfights it does not make any difference. 3. Crushing Darkness causes about 50% more damage per second than Lightening Strike, "Double Darkness increases the damage furter. Shock has no activation time and hits harder than lightening strike, its high energy consumption does not play any role for the Lightening Sorc. It is an increase of dps. 4. Instant Chain Lightening, Polarity Shift and the 1.5s. Force Lightening do not mess the rotation up. The combination of an extreme alacrity and polarity shift could be a problem. 5. I don't have a parse, but in incomplete 66er gear I do between 1500 and 1600 dps on the testdummy Edited April 30, 2013 by salaciousc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Undead_Prince Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 (edited) 1. I did not add polarity shift to the rotation, but in PVE i use it as frequently as possible. In PVP i find it more useful to save it for fights 1 vs 1 to avoid being interrupted. Its situational. 3. Crushing Darkness causes about 50% more damage per second than Lightening Strike, "Double Darkness increases the damage furter. Shock has no activation time and hits harder than lightening strike, its high energy consumption does not play any role for the Lightening Sorc. It is an increase of dps. 5. I don't have a parse, but in incomplete 66er gear I do between 1500 and 1600 dps on the testdummy 1. Polarity shift in pvp is crucial and normally should be used off cooldown. It's one of the staples of Sorc DPS, especially for a lightning build. Waiting for a 1-on-1 fight is just a waste imo, especially since you should actually be running away from most 1-on-1 encounters (which will usually be against smashers who just love to jump squishy sorcs). When you are pressed into a 1-1, then better use WZ adrenal, medpack, and stun rather than go toe-to-toe, unless it's an obviously weaker opponent whom you can burn down quickly. 3. Will have to check the numbers on that one. 5. 1500-1600 is very low for a 2.0 sorc. Even though you are notably undergeared, you should be parsing higher than that. 2300 is the baseline for 69 gear, I am doing over 2200 while still having a number of 66 components, including hilt (no adrenals). My guess is that you don't have enough accuracy: check the miss ratio in your parses. Edited April 30, 2013 by Undead_Prince Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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