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KBN's Guide to Combat Spec (or: how to sentinel tank)


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It's the top skill on the tree but it's not being given to me to be used in a slot. I'd ask if it activates automatically or something but according to your rotation, it doesn't. Is this a glitch then that I don't have it?

 

Have to spend a talent point into it.

 

Usually it will dump in your next open slot in your quickbars (goes by order of the quickbars, so if it dumps into quickbar 3 and you dont have it active, you wont see it). If you can't find it, check your sentinel skills section of the skill menu. Expect it to be grayed out if you dont have any focus.

Edited by Maelael
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When you invest in the skill point, it will be assigned to your first available quickbar slot so depending on how many quickbars you have exposed you may not see it. To add it to your quickbar, just open your abilities menu (I forget what the default keybind is for this) and you can drag it wherever you want on your quikcbar.
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Turns out it was a glitch. What was happening is that the game was dumping my Ataru Form toggle into the open slot while removing Blade Rush from my Sentinel menu, thereby giving me two "ataru forms" but no Blade Rush. I was advised to reset my skill tree and that took care of the problem.
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Ok. So I was excited to finally test out Blade Rush as well as this rotation but...it doesn't work. :confused: The key stays dark and doesn't respond so the rotation ends up going like this: PS + BS > no attack > no attack [strike or zealous strike] PS + Dispatch > no attack > BS.

 

Ataru Form is on so is there something else I'm supposed to be doing in order to get this to work? I'm a little frustrated right now, particularly after the sheer volume of glitches and lag I've been dealing with for several weeks. :mad:

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Ok. So I was excited to finally test out Blade Rush as well as this rotation but...it doesn't work. :confused: The key stays dark and doesn't respond so the rotation ends up going like this: PS + BS > no attack > no attack [strike or zealous strike] PS + Dispatch > no attack > BS.

 

Ataru Form is on so is there something else I'm supposed to be doing in order to get this to work? I'm a little frustrated right now, particularly after the sheer volume of glitches and lag I've been dealing with for several weeks. :mad:

 

That's uhm...weird. Toggle Ataru on and off and then make sure you have enough Focus to use the skill. After that I've got no clue. D/L fraps and record the issue maybe?

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This might seem far fetched but is it at all possible that I'm having these issues because I'm not playing on a PvP server? The other reason I ask is because I just posted this thread in the customer service area.

 

I'm very frustrated right now so if that comes across in anything I've posted today, I hope it doesn't get taken the wrong way or offend anybody. The other factor contributing to my irritation is that I played most of this game f2p, and was fine with it, but have thus far received no commensurate benefit(s) from subscribing.

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I had been a firm believer in putting two procced Blade Storms inside the two Precision Slash windows. But just to test it while parsing on the dummy, I made Master Strike my top priority, as seems to be common sense among Marauders. So I used Master Strike as first ability in the first window, even if I had an Opportune Attack Proc at hand. I tried fitting in Blade Storm directly after Master Strike's last tick, i.e. activated it 0.2 secs before the end of Master Strike Channel, so I could use another attack in that window, or even 2 if under Zen. This crowded out Blade Storm out of the second Precision Slash window, of course, but I used it there anyway. If Master Strike was not ready, I did the usal "Blade Storm at the beginnig of window 1 and at the end of window 2"-thing. And I generally tried to never ever delay Precision Slash even by one GCD. Here's what happened: http://www.torparse.com/a/353757/time/1374765963/1374766263/0/Damage+Dealt

 

The only reason I can imagine, why this works, without doing theory crafting, is: 2 pc Set bonus on Master Strike + armor pen buff does more for Master Strike (melee attack) than for Blade Storm (force attack, right?) .

 

Maybe the specc is meant to work like that: Generally buff your melee attacks with one of the specc's key abilities (Precision Slash) and for the time it's not up you can gain another specc-specific hard hitter, if you play a good rotation: Blade Storm with Execute. Having played Watchman a long time it's a bit like Overload Saber for continous Damage increase plus one buffed hard hitter, Merciless Slash, that only becomes effective, if you play the right way, i.e. keep up your stacks...

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So, i've put all the Strenght augs according to KBN's guide instead of Power ones but I still don't know if it was the right choice.

I mean, KBN's guide is not very clear about.

 

Any suggestion?

 

My fellow Maras guildies use Power augs.

 

PS: Carnage here, full 69 with some 72 pieces (chest, bracers, main hilt)

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So, i've put all the Strenght augs according to KBN's guide instead of Power ones but I still don't know if it was the right choice.

I mean, KBN's guide is not very clear about.

 

Any suggestion?

 

My fellow Maras guildies use Power augs.

 

PS: Carnage here, full 69 with some 72 pieces (chest, bracers, main hilt)

 

I use Power augs as well because it's more consistent and the DPS difference in full min-maxed 72s is less than 1.9 DPS. (not a typo) I have a full set of Strength augs that I could swap in, but for now, I prefer Power.

 

The reason I advised Strength in the guide is it *is* mathematically superior, albeit by a very small margin.

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KBN :bow:

 

What you suggest me to do then?

Should i keep the Str ones or should i go for Power? Considering my gear...

 

Also, if i have to go for another full set of augs the cost will be very high... I have 2 millions left

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KBN :bow:

 

What you suggest me to do then?

Should i keep the Str ones or should i go for Power? Considering my gear...

 

Also, if i have to go for another full set of augs the cost will be very high... I have 2 millions left

 

Your choice. I would keep the strength ones if that's what you already have. The fact that I'm using Power is somewhat personal taste combined with a very wishy-washy argument about reducing RNG during boss pulls. It's a difference of a little over 1% crit chance, which really is not all that much. Overall, I think strength augments are a fine choice, especially since that's what you already have.

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I had been a firm believer in putting two procced Blade Storms inside the two Precision Slash windows. But just to test it while parsing on the dummy, I made Master Strike my top priority, as seems to be common sense among Marauders. So I used Master Strike as first ability in the first window, even if I had an Opportune Attack Proc at hand. I tried fitting in Blade Storm directly after Master Strike's last tick, i.e. activated it 0.2 secs before the end of Master Strike Channel, so I could use another attack in that window, or even 2 if under Zen. This crowded out Blade Storm out of the second Precision Slash window, of course, but I used it there anyway. If Master Strike was not ready, I did the usal "Blade Storm at the beginnig of window 1 and at the end of window 2"-thing. And I generally tried to never ever delay Precision Slash even by one GCD. Here's what happened: http://www.torparse.com/a/353757/time/1374765963/1374766263/0/Damage+Dealt

 

The only reason I can imagine, why this works, without doing theory crafting, is: 2 pc Set bonus on Master Strike + armor pen buff does more for Master Strike (melee attack) than for Blade Storm (force attack, right?) .

 

Maybe the specc is meant to work like that: Generally buff your melee attacks with one of the specc's key abilities (Precision Slash) and for the time it's not up you can gain another specc-specific hard hitter, if you play a good rotation: Blade Storm with Execute. Having played Watchman a long time it's a bit like Overload Saber for continous Damage increase plus one buffed hard hitter, Merciless Slash, that only becomes effective, if you play the right way, i.e. keep up your stacks...

Armor pen affects both MS and BS, as neither of them are elemental/internal

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I had been a firm believer in putting two procced Blade Storms inside the two Precision Slash windows. But just to test it while parsing on the dummy, I made Master Strike my top priority, as seems to be common sense among Marauders. So I used Master Strike as first ability in the first window, even if I had an Opportune Attack Proc at hand. I tried fitting in Blade Storm directly after Master Strike's last tick, i.e. activated it 0.2 secs before the end of Master Strike Channel, so I could use another attack in that window, or even 2 if under Zen. This crowded out Blade Storm out of the second Precision Slash window, of course, but I used it there anyway. If Master Strike was not ready, I did the usal "Blade Storm at the beginnig of window 1 and at the end of window 2"-thing. And I generally tried to never ever delay Precision Slash even by one GCD. Here's what happened: http://www.torparse.com/a/353757/time/1374765963/1374766263/0/Damage+Dealt

 

The only reason I can imagine, why this works, without doing theory crafting, is: 2 pc Set bonus on Master Strike + armor pen buff does more for Master Strike (melee attack) than for Blade Storm (force attack, right?) .

 

Maybe the specc is meant to work like that: Generally buff your melee attacks with one of the specc's key abilities (Precision Slash) and for the time it's not up you can gain another specc-specific hard hitter, if you play a good rotation: Blade Storm with Execute. Having played Watchman a long time it's a bit like Overload Saber for continous Damage increase plus one buffed hard hitter, Merciless Slash, that only becomes effective, if you play the right way, i.e. keep up your stacks...

 

The reason that parse is so good is not because you use master strike instead of 2x blade storm, but because this was a 49apm run. 49 APM on the other tactic would be 3,1k+

 

Armor penetration increases the damage of force attacks though (see dmg proc kinetic).

 

Under Zen I usually do PS>BR>BR>BR>BS>PS>MS>DP/TST

Edited by Ausgelebt
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First I want to say this is a great guide and it is what got me to (a bit reluctantly, I still prefer the difficulty of Watchman) to switch to Combat. There is one interesting thing I found out that I think people may like: you can fit Dispatch, Master Strike, and Blade Storm into one PS window without Zen. Now, don't bite my head off and listen a minute. KBN acknowledges that Dispatch is not a good follow up to MS without Zen with PS for one reason, it hits at the end of the GCD and it could cause you to miss the PS window. The solution? Use Dispatch before PS, but before it hits the target, use PS (you have about 1 second to do this). Dispatch will still get the benefit of PS's 100% Armor Pen, and you can then fit Master Strike and Blade Storm into the rest of the Window without Zen.

 

Thanks to Emperor Norton for the pro-tip! It's given me a very nice boost!

 

I'm in all Underworld gear except two arkanian armorings and kell dragon bracers. Here is my new best parse:

 

3030.84

 

I made plenty of mistakes, far from my most flawless execution, but by putting Dispatch before PS, I get that plus Blade Rush, TST and Blade Storm all into my second PS window. Bumped my best parse up almost 80 points over the previous best I reported in this thread with the same gear. It's not even something that takes that incredibly precise timing, just by hitting Dispatch first and PS second, it works out nearly every time.

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The reason that parse is so good is not because you use master strike instead of 2x blade storm, but because this was a 49apm run. 49 APM on the other tactic would be 3,1k+

 

Armor penetration increases the damage of force attacks though (see dmg proc kinetic).

 

Under Zen I usually do PS>BR>BR>BR>BS>PS>MS>DP/TST

 

Probably both: The more Master Strikes I use, the higher my APM. As stated before, I try to squeeze the attack following Master Strike into Master Strike's second GCD and thus use Master Strike + 2 Attacks in 3 GCDs. This is really tough, especially under Zen, and it worked very well in that parse. I will have less Master Strikes if procced Blade Storm is my top priority under precision and thus lower APM as well...

 

As for your Zen Precision window: Do you deliberately only use Blade Storm in the first window and if so, why? I ususally (try to) go

PS>BS>BR>BR(DP)>BR(DP)

>(Strike/Zealous)>

PS>MS<-DP/TST (as mentioned above)>BS

 

Will try the Dispatch before second PS technique as well, actually happened in that parse once just by chance...

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I want to thank you for taking the time to write up such a detailed guide on combat. I'm fairly new to the class and this helped a lot in understanding the basics of getting good DPS.

 

I remember testing Combat vs. Watchman in the 2.0 PTS. I found that I parsed significantly higher in Watchman (because it was WAY easier to figure out). Combat I did the worst out of all the A/Cs available. :(

 

Haven't quite made it to 55 yet (51), but this is helping me to solidify my rotation! I'm loving the speed that this class requires, thank you!

Edited by jackrunip
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Thanks to Emperor Norton for the pro-tip! It's given me a very nice boost!

 

I'm in all Underworld gear except two arkanian armorings and kell dragon bracers. Here is my new best parse:

 

3030.84

 

I made plenty of mistakes, far from my most flawless execution, but by putting Dispatch before PS, I get that plus Blade Rush, TST and Blade Storm all into my second PS window. Bumped my best parse up almost 80 points over the previous best I reported in this thread with the same gear. It's not even something that takes that incredibly precise timing, just by hitting Dispatch first and PS second, it works out nearly every time.

To be fair I didn't come up with it, Inocelda (Inovisible in game) came up with the idea when I mentioned that Dispatch hits ~1 second after activation. Yeah that trick can turn a pretty good parse into a really good one. The parse I had that you beat (with similar gear) has plenty of problems of its own. But 3k DPS is 3k DPS.

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True. I'm still struggling how to adapt the flow of my abilities to this, as it essentially means delaying Precision Slash/Gore a bit everytime this is possible, resulting in less usage of Precision/Gore over time...

 

What I find even more intriguing is her use of Force Leap, though. And she doesn't only do it after 10m ranged attacks like Force Scream/Blade Storm or Dispatch/Vicious Throw, but also after Blade Rush/Massacre.

 

Thoughts? Opinions?

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True. I'm still struggling how to adapt the flow of my abilities to this, as it essentially means delaying Precision Slash/Gore a bit everytime this is possible, resulting in less usage of Precision/Gore over time...

 

What I find even more intriguing is her use of Force Leap, though. And she doesn't only do it after 10m ranged attacks like Force Scream/Blade Storm or Dispatch/Vicious Throw, but also after Blade Rush/Massacre.

 

Thoughts? Opinions?

 

Looks like most of the times, Cauterize/Rupture is going, TST/DST is also used some times before. I might have to try and convince her to let me watch her on the dummy, or Fraps a test session.

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