How to play / dps as lethality in a raid?

[paowee]

Do you keep Shiv on cooldown first and then using up your stacks (TA) using Cull? Or do you use Cull first as a priority over Shiv? How many Cull's can you usually get off before having to reapply CG and CD again? Also i am assuming that you try to replace your weak dots with the strong ones as soon as you can. I also find that when Shiv and Backstab is on cooldown and i have no TA for Cull, i find myself using auto-attack. What fillers do you use in these instances? I can think of Snipe, Frag Grenade (lol), and Explosive Probe. Edited July 9, 2013 by paowee

[Gondolindhrim]

I have a fairly comprehensive post about Lethality here somewhere. I'm about to head off for today, but I can dig it up for you tomorrow if you don't feel like sifting through my post history.

 

Anyway, I'm currently not running Lingering Toxins, and as such I refresh Corrosive Grenade exactly every 21s, which I follow up with a filler GCD (Shiv, Backstab, Weakening Blast, whatever is available) and then Corrosive Dart (to get both poisons in sync).

 

From there, you want to use Shiv on cooldown, with 3 fillers in between. If Fatality procs, 2 of those fillers will be Cull. If not, one of them will. The other fillers are Weakening Blast, Backstab, RIfle Shot and occasionally Explosive Probe. I do not use Snipe as a filler as the damage per energy is too low. Fillers that have a cooldown are prioritized over Cull unless Weakening Blast is up (you want as many Cull ticks to benefit from WB as possible, so I try to line it up with a Fatality Proc, or failing that, Cloaking Screen + Hidden Strike).

 

Never consume all your TA stacks unless you know your last stack will expire due to fight mechanics (Titan 6's Launch etc).

 

I try to cast Orbital Strike as close to on cooldown as possible, but it's a lot easier to keep your energy high if you cast it after a Fatality proc, even better if you have Weakening Blast off cooldown as well. OS > WB > Cull w/ Fatality is plenty of time to regenerate enough energy to fuel your rotation again without excessive Rifle Shot usage.

 

I'll leave it at that for now as I'm quite tired. Feel free to ask questions here or in a pm though and I'll answer tomorrow.

 

 

Edit: And B'oarder, I must've seen your sig change twice in the span of about two hours just now... I think someone may have an addiction. ;p

Edited July 9, 2013 by Gondolindhrim

[paowee]

I have a fairly comprehensive post about Lethality here somewhere. I'm about to head off for today, but I can dig it up for you tomorrow if you don't feel like sifting through my post history.

 

Anyway, I'm currently not running Lingering Toxins, and as such I refresh Corrosive Grenade exactly every 21s, which I follow up with a filler GCD (Shiv, Backstab, Weakening Blast, whatever is available) and then Corrosive Dart (to get both poisons in sync).

 

From there, you want to use Shiv on cooldown, with 3 fillers in between. If Fatality procs, 2 of those fillers will be Cull. If not, one of them will. The other fillers are Weakening Blast, Backstab, RIfle Shot and occasionally Explosive Probe. I do not use Snipe as a filler as the damage per energy is too low. Fillers that have a cooldown are prioritized over Cull unless Weakening Blast is up (you want as many Cull ticks to benefit from WB as possible, so I try to line it up with a Fatality Proc, or failing that, Cloaking Screen + Hidden Strike).

 

Never consume all your TA stacks unless you know your last stack will expire due to fight mechanics (Titan 6's Launch etc).

 

I try to cast Orbital Strike as close to on cooldown as possible, but it's a lot easier to keep your energy high if you cast it after a Fatality proc, even better if you have Weakening Blast off cooldown as well. OS > WB > Cull w/ Fatality is plenty of time to regenerate enough energy to fuel your rotation again without excessive Rifle Shot usage.

 

I'll leave it at that for now as I'm quite tired. Feel free to ask questions here or in a pm though and I'll answer tomorrow.

 

 

Edit: And B'oarder, I must've seen your sig change twice in the span of about two hours just now... I think someone may have an addiction. ;p

LOL granted dmy operative is only L47 but i've been using Cull "on cooldown" and using up my TA (fatality) stacks as soon as they reach 2. SO i guess that's one reason why im always autoattacking is when everything is on cooldown, TA stacks are gone and im using autoattack 2-3 times.

 

so a generic opener would be CG > Shiv > CD > WB > Cull then?

 

I've been doing Shiv > CG > CD > WB > Cull (until all stacks are gone),

then Shiv > Cull (until all stacks are gone) and just basically repeat that until my DoTs wear off then i do

 

Shiv > CG > CD (reapply) > WB > Cull repeat. I find myself auto attacking a lot doing what i just described above.

[Gondolindhrim]

LOL granted dmy operative is only L47 but i've been using Cull "on cooldown" and using up my TA (fatality) stacks as soon as they reach 2. SO i guess that's one reason why im always autoattacking is when everything is on cooldown, TA stacks are gone and im using autoattack 2-3 times.

You will end up using a fair amount of Rifle Shot, but between Shiv's 15 and Cull's 19 energy, you need the regen time in most of these situations anyway.

 

so a generic opener would be CG > Shiv > CD > WB > Cull then?

My opener is precast Orbital Strike > Stealth > Hidden Strike > Corrosive Grenade > Shiv > Corrosive Dart > Cull. If Fatality procs, I'll use Weakening Blast before the Cull train.

 

I've been doing Shiv > CG > CD > WB > Cull (until all stacks are gone),

then Shiv > Cull (until all stacks are gone) and just basically repeat that until my DoTs wear off then i do

 

Shiv > CG > CD (reapply) > WB > Cull repeat. I find myself auto attacking a lot doing what i just described above.

You don't gain anything by depleting all your TA stacks. You want to have 1-2 stacks at all times (for the 2% damage buff), and exactly 1 when Shiv comes off cooldown, so you don't need to delay it. Sometimes you'll have 2 left due to a Fatality proc, having to refresh your poisons or cast Orbital Strike, forcing you to delay Shiv by a GCD or two lest you overcap your TA stacks. It's unavoidable and you'll just have to accept it.

 

Anyway, if you're finding yourself with just 1 TA stack and all the filler abilities on cooldown, this is a good time to throw in an Explosive Probe or Cloak+Hidden Strike if you'd be in danger of overcapping your energy otherwise. Just make sure you never use Cloak+Hidden Strike when you get a Fatality proc, as you'll want to be doing:

(Starting at 1 TA)

Shiv (2 TA)

Cull (1 TA)

Cloak+Hidden Strike (2 TA)

Cull (1 TA)

Shiv

Edited July 10, 2013 by Gondolindhrim