Optimal Rotation for the Assault Specialist

[salaciousc]

Optimal Rotation for the Assault Specialist

 

Instead of using a priority list of single attacks I concentrated on objectives in my rotation:

 

- A fixed rotation with no variable positions of attacks, I want to concentrate on enemies, not on cooldowns and HIB procs

- High chance of High Impact Bolt procs

- No unproductive Charged Bolts BEFORE High Impact Bolt is triggered

- Damage peak - Assault Plastique is always followed by a High Impact Bolt

- Assault Plastique and Incendiary Round are cast right after their cooldown/end of burning effect

- As positions are predetermined AP and IR can never be skipped at the end of their cooldown

- Ammo level never drops under 80%

 

Despite (better: Because) the rotaion has a fixed duration and no floating attacks, it deals extremely well with all the uncertainties connected with the game mechanics of that class.

 

 

The Rotation:

 

1. (Interrupted) Full Auto

2. Assault Plastique (not available after initiating the opening attacks)

3. High Impact Bolt

4. Charged Bolts

5. Charged Bolts(Please don't skip this attack!)

6. Incendiary Round

7. High Impact Bolt

8. Charged Bolts

-> repeat

 

In addition an Incendiary Round, an Assault Plastique and a High Impact Bolt should precede that rotation when attacking a new enemy.

 

 

Some additional notes:

 

The rotation is flexible in view of the skill tree. Assault Plastique is required (no hybrids) and abilities that improve burning effects/the High Impact Bolt.

The timing of those attacks have a major effect on the result, not the selection of special skills.

 

Full Auto and the all the Charged Bolts work as timer for High Impact Bolts, they can not be substituted by another attack

 

Full Auto at position 1 can be interrupted right after it triggered the High Impact Bolt. After the opening attack the enemy will be hit by 2 High Impact Bolts and a Assault Plastique in the shortest possible time. This may be interesting for PVP-matches.

 

If the High Impact Bolt has already been reseted, the Charged Bolt at position 5 should not(!) be skipped, this leads to problems with the timing and positioning of the Thermal Detonator.

 

It helps to sort single attacks on the quickbar according to this rotation.

 

 

 

The Red Eclipse - Scaeva (Sniper), Salacia (Sorc), Lowblow (Assault Specialist)

Edited October 20, 2013 by salaciousc

[Helmholtzz]

Link an parse. I want to see how much dps you are doing

[salaciousc]

I don't use my trooper very often, I prefer to play as sniper or sorc. Sending a parse would not make sense as I don't have high-class gear. Edited October 19, 2013 by salaciousc

[Helmholtzz]

then how do you know your rotation is optimal?

[salaciousc]

Deep thoughts

[LordKantner]

Part of the reason HIB procs so reliably (Ionic Accellerator) is because you are procing it right at the end of the 6 second requirement. It is a close to 100% chance if you proc HiB from 6.0 seconds to 6.2 seconds. Any earlier and it won't proc, any later it may not proc.

 

Cutting off a Full Auto will likely make that an issue. If i read everything else right though, you are at least keeping a HiB proc every 4 GCD's so this might work.

 

3. High Impact Bolt

4. Charged Bolts

5. Charged Bolts(Please don't skip this attack!)

6. Incendiary Round

7. High Impact Bolt

 

Even though you are procing a HiB every 6 seconds, you aren't firing one every 6 seconds. I too would like to see a parse, I believe you would either lose a chunk of your dps or run into some ammo issues by not having the heat back as quickly as possible.

[salaciousc]

Hello LordKanter

 

I wrote a long article that indirectly answers your question, it is in the section of the Pyro Merc, entry #11.

 

It is impossible to trigger and cast every railshot in 6 seconds, the failiure probability of 55% and casting Incendiary Missile and Thermal Detonator prevent this.

[salaciousc]

To explain the timing and possible collisions I moved attack #8 to the beginning and substituted Full Auto with Charged Bolts at position #1. The target is burning, so the other condition for a HIB is fulfilled.

 

The goal of this rotation is to cast Full Auto and Charged Bolts after the 6 second lockout, if the first attack has not triggered HIB then the second gets a chance. When the counter reached 6 the next attack can reset HIB. Before it is impossible.

 

Green numbers: First Charged Bolts reseted HIB

Red numbers: Second Charged Bolts reseted HIB

 

8. Charged Bolts 1.5 reset

1. Charged Bolts (Full Auto) 3 1.5 reset by Charged Bolts

2. Assault Plastique 4.5 3

3. High Impact Bolt 6 4.5

4. Charged Bolts 1.5 reset 6 <-Collision if HIB was reseted at #1with Charged Bolts

5. Charged Bolts(Please don't skip this attack!) 3 1.5 reset

6. Incendiary Round 4.5 3

7. High Impact Bolt 6 4.5

8. Charged Bolts 6 <- Collision if HIB was reseted at #5

 

The timings in green are trivial, red numbers show where problems could surface, description below:

 

I assume that attack #8 has not triggered HIB, Charged Bolts at position #1 are used to reset HIB. 3 attacks later Charged Bolts #4 falls into the lockout phase, as a result Charaged Bolts #5 has a chance of only 45% to reset HIB. Using charged Bolts instead of Full Auto brings back a high degree of uncertainty, this is what should be avoided. Therefore I use Full Auto in the original rotation.

 

Full Auto shifts the timing 1 position backwards (it acts like HIB was activated by the previous attack), as a result Charged Bolts #4 and #5 are outside the 6 second barrier and both can trigger HIB. At #4 and #5 new counters begin.

More problematic is position #8: Those Charged Bolts can only activate HIB if Charged Bolts #4 triggered. This Problem is compensated by using Full Auto, which has a probability of 75% to reset HIB.

 

Thats the theory

 

The Red Eclipse - Scaeva, Salacia, Lowblow

Edited October 20, 2013 by salaciousc

[LordKantner]

Hello LordKanter

 

I wrote a long article that indirectly answers your question, it is in the section of the Pyro Merc, entry #11.

 

It is impossible to trigger and cast every railshot in 6 seconds, the failiure probability of 55% and casting Incendiary Missile and Thermal Detonator prevent this.

 

Not sure what you mean by this. 6 seconds = 4 GCD's which is completely doable in fillers such as:

 

HiB, Charged Bolts x 3, HiB

HiB, FA, Charged Bolt, HiB

HiB, AP, Charged Bolts x 2. HiB

HiB, IR, Charged Bolts x 2, HiB

 

I've read most of what you have said, just a bit confuses me. It'd be great if you can fit all the abilities evenly so they all line up, but most of the damage in the spec comes from the HiB. I haven't seen a way to incorporate a full rotation in this spec, which is why I am again asking for some parses because there may be a way to do just that. I however, as well as any good assault parse I've seen, uses fillers to always proc the HiB within 6 seconds.

 

Here is a recent parse of mine in assault hybrid: http://www.torparse.com/a/463605/time/1382237024/1382237325/0/Damage+Dealt

 

High Impact Bolt is my highest damaging ability.

 

Notice that I proc a HiB about every 6 seconds. If I don't happen to get the proc, I can use Full Auto to instantly proc one instead of using another Charged Bolts, and I'd have to wait for another cast by doing it that way.

 

If you are in perfect synchronization with the 6 sec proc, it is almost a 100% chance to proc HiB. If it doesn't proc it is because you have done the filler too quickly or too slowly.

[salaciousc]

If you use segments 1 or 2 you create a period of time where IR or AP are not on the target, therefore I don't use those.

 

If in segments 3 or 4 the first Charged Bolt failed to trigger HIB (probability =55%), you limit the chance for a HIB proc in the next segment to 45%, as the next Charged Bolt (or even FA) at the first position after HIB falls into the lockout phase. If that happened once it will happen again and again.

 

This is the reason why I combined phase 2 and 3, FA synchronizes the segments if a first Charged Bolt fails to trigger.

 

HIB, Charged Bolts, FA, AP, HIB

HIB, Charged Bolts, Charged Bolts, IR, HIB -> Those segments are the same

----

 

Original post:

 

1. HiB, Charged Bolts x 3, HiB -> first charged bolt cannot trigger

2. HiB, FA, Charged Bolt, HiB

3. HiB, AP, Charged Bolts , Charged Bolts, HiB

4. HiB, IR, Charged Bolts, Charged Bolts, HiB -> Probabiltiy to proc HIB is only 45%

 

failed

lockout

 

 

The Red Eclipse - Scaeva, Salacia, Lowblow

Edited October 20, 2013 by salaciousc

[LordKantner]

Those are fillers lol, only the last Charged Bolts has any chance to proc HiB.

 

http://www.torparse.com/a/464270/time/1382299799/1382300101/0/Damage+Dealt

 

There's a parse for 3201 procing HiB as fast as possible. IR will fall off quite a bit, but one tick of IR gone is nothing compared to an earlier HiB.

[salaciousc]

"Charged Bolts has a chance of 45% and Full Auto has a 75% chance to finish the cooldown of High Impact Bolt. This effect cannot occur more than once every 6 seconds."

 

That tooltip for "Ionic Accelerator" is misleading:

 

Those probabilities can't be reproduced at the testdummy, Full Auto seems not to fail in one out of four times, Charged Bolts succeed more frequently than expected.

 

My explanation for this behavior:

As mirror class the Assault Specialist is modeled after the Pyro Merc. With every attack the Merc hits the target twice (two guns), each Powershot (or Unload) has two times the chance of 45% (75%) to trigger a Railshot.

 

This changes the resulting probabilities, also for the Commando:

 

1 x Unload/Full Auto: 1-(1-0.75)^2 = 93.8% to trigger RS/HIB (not 75%)

1 x Powershot /Charged Bolt: 1-(1-0.45)^2 = 69.8% (not 45%)

2 x Powershots/Charged Bolt: 1-(1-0.45)^4 = 90.8%

Full Auto + Charged bolts: 1-[(1-0.698)*(1-0.908)]=98.1%

 

The calculated success rates are what I see at the testdummy, 2 Powershots in a row reset the RS almost as reliable as Unload (91% vs. 94%).

 

Those changed probabilities allow a reevaluation of attacks:

 

FullAuto/Unload:

Probability to trigger HIB/RS: 93.8% (3% higher than two Charged Bolts)

Probability to trigger the burning cylinder: 97%

About 15% lower damage than 2 Powershots/Charged Bolts (gear dependent)

16 energy

 

2 x Powershots/Charged Bolts in a row:

Probability to trigger HIB/RS: 90.8% (3% lower than Unload/FullAuto)

Probability to trigger the burning cylinder: 68%

About 15% higher damage than Unload/FullAuto (gear dependent)

32 energy

 

------

 

 

When I created the rotation I tried to maximize the frequency of Railshots/HIB by limiting the failure rate (or the effect of a failed reset) of Powershots/Charged Bolts. It makes sense if a Powershot/HIB actually fails more often than it succeeds(P=45%). However, in reality the probabilities are different to what the tooltip suggests. A failure rate under 10% in 2 GCDs does not make that large corrections necessary, my rotation is partly based on wrong assumptions.

 

Nevertheless the proposed rotation is decent. Even after the the bug with the energy regain of HIB/RS was corrected, I never have to use more than 20% of resources (ammo/heat). This gives me the flexibility to drop a heal or start an area attack when needed, its not limited by a low energy level.

 

At the testdummy a priority list delivers better results.

[LordKantner]

The proc rate is near 100% if your charged bolts activates from 6-6.2 seconds. The only time Ionic Accelerator has not proc'ed for me was when I was either too early (Because with the 4% alacrity in the tree, you can be a tenth of a second early. with 4% alacrity 1 GCD is 1.43 seconds, so if you spam it will come up short.) or too late. It is also worth mentioning that if you miss this window the 2nd Charged Bolts will also always proc Ionic Accelerator. Full Auto is not that useful which is why I save it for a filler or if my first Charged Bolts doesn't get the proc. FA will proc at the beginning of the cast so it is faster than a 2nd charged bolts if the first proc misses.

 

My Fillers, Procing ability bracketed:

 

IR>CB>[CB]>AP>HiB if no proc, FA

CB>HS>[CB]>AP>HiB if no proc, FA. Hammer shot can be replaced with an Explosive round initially to sync up Plasma cell.

FA>[CB]>AP>HiB tends to fail the most often due to no instant ability. So i will delay the CB a few tenths.

 

Having a Hammer shot, IR, or AP (Instant abilities) in the filler will increase your chances of not coming up short in the 6 second window. Casted abilities, regardless of lag, can be precast depending on how you set up your settings, so a FA>CB or CBx3 filler would most likely result in 5.8ish seconds, so no HiB proc.

 

All the numbers you put up seem to only apply at the beginning of the rotation. Once in the rotation HiB procs frequently.

Edited November 19, 2013 by LordKantner