Watchman Rotation?

[bionamaster]

Before I get started, I should state what my gear is. I have full 72s except for my Sabers, one of which is 69s, the other is 78s. So, I was in a HM TfB PuG last night (Which was probably a mistake, but hey. Free comms). First two bosses (three, counting the Lobel miniboss) went down easy enough. Third boss, however (Operator IX) gave us some trouble. Now, for this run, the majority of players were in a hardcore Ops Guild, so they had me enter a parser (I think it was called Parsec). I'm normally opposed to parsers, as I've known some groups to use it as an excuse to kick people from the party, but I only needed a few comms, so I jumped in. I died on Operator IX, they said I was doing less DPS than the Tanks and kicked me. I noticed that the names of the two players above me in the parser didn't seem to match those of the Tanks. However, I did seem to be doing less DPS that run than I usually do. So, I thought that I should check to see what you guys out here on the Forums think. Here's my rotation/prioritization:

 

If I'm approaching from a distance, I use Twin Saber Throw, then Force Leap. If my target is closer, I open with Zealous Strike and Strike. I commonly use Overload Saber, then Master Strike, then Cauterize, then Merciless Slash, Cauterize again if Merciless ended the Cooldown, then switch to Strikes and Slashes, with some Zealous Strikes thrown in, then repeat. When Zen is up, I'll use it before hitting Overload Saber/Master Strike. I'm also considering opening with Call of Valor, so I can hit Zen for my first barrage of Overload Saber/Master Strike.

 

That's about it for now. Any advice is welcome.

[mr_twopercent]

My two cents: opener: force leap+overload saber>zealous strike>cauterize>valorous call+Zen+adrenal>merciless slash>master strike>cauterize>twin saber throw

 

After that it's all about keeping 4 stacks of merciless up and keepin your bleeds up as much as possible. Use slash only when low on focus and twin saber throw when your main abilities like merciless slash, cauterize and master strike and overload saber are on cooldown. I'm sure I'm wrong on some aspects but it seems to do very good dps for me

[Genghistwelve]

The length of my Sent epeen: http://www.torparse.com/statistics/Overall/Damage?ac=Jedi+Sentinel

The girth of my Sent epeen: http://www.torparse.com/statistics/Overall/Heals?ac=Jedi+Sentinel

 

It's good that your seeking out ways to improve your performance.

 

First, some side comments. That group you ran with and kicked you were jerks, no lie. You are clearly prepared for TFB HM -- as well as anyone can be. Know that many feel this Op is arguably comprised of "NiM" level mechanic; it is the EC of its day. If you were running 16-man, the simple truth is that your group probably lacked the necessary level of coordination that is required for this Operation. And it requires coordination.

 

Next up, the use of parsers for HM raiding? Look, I nearly beat the game that they call Torparse, and I'm on the fence about using it to such drastic extremes as they did with you. For a hard mode? They're just being jerks. For NiM Ops, they have a place in diagnosing why the raid cannot do certain things. Related questions to you on this about your situation: were you failing the enrage timer? There's absolutely no reason to use a parser to kick. Next, were you failing any cores besides purple (which a team might intentionally fail as their strategy)? If so, well, their analysis has merit; maybe they're not quite the jerks as initially thought, especially since it appears your dps-spec is not beating tank-spec'ed tank dps. But, all of that's an aside.

 

Beware of focusing too much on any set rotation. Rather, I think your best use of your abilities will come not with a rigid rotation you try to impose on every situation, but a more general understanding of a "summum bonum" type of ability hierarchy that allows you to tool your maximum output at any given moment to your available abilities at that moment. Over time, and with a parse-based detailed performance review, you'll cease living within each discrete moment, and begin connecting the moments together in the more and most optimum ways. With practice -- and this stuff simply is a trained and acquired skill -- you'll find that output becomes less and less sensitive to your environment.

 

The key is letting go of the low impact abilities, ones that even if optimized don't amount to a hill of beans. Embrace the triggering abilities, all the ones which proc for a free reset of cooldowns; you might have dismissed them because in many cases they are low impact in and of themselves, but their power comes from chaining with the free powerful attack they reset. And always, of course know your must-have ability or abilities, the ones you are always striving to use, and if used then reset as quick as possible.

 

As has been said, you should be seeking to maximize your merciless stacks and keep them up. That is absolutely, hands down, the most important point about maximizing your performance. Next up, keep your burns up. Burns from Cauterize and Overload Saber track separately -- as any decent parser will tell you. But, Cauterize is more important than Overload Saber, and it will get triggered from CD with much more frequency. Regardless of the moment, these two points are the driver of our damage. Next up, as you look at your CD"ed abilities and look to the future use, always, always, always Cauterize+Overload Saber your Zen use, preferably for Master Strike.

 

In the big picture, your total Burns should be contributing a third or more of your total damage. Within this, your Cauterize Burns should be roughly equal to your Merciless Slash. Your next highest-damager should be Master Strike. Every thing after that is generally non-rotation focus-builders and ability-triggers, that proc your important ones off of cooldown.

 

In the medium-duration game; if the raid will be long enough to use Inspiration again when you must have it, then trigger it at the beginning of the fight. Remember Inspiration has a 5min CD, so try and use it in an occasion within the first minute or two of a fight that will last as long beyond five minutes.

 

Beyond your rotation, seek to get your set bonus on gear; in this case, shoot for two piece Underworld first. Keeo that set bonus armor piece and then add to it Oriconian mods. Shoot for UW SA relic. I'm using the Conquerer Dark Radiance, until I can pick up a BA. As you can see from my parse, Dark Spike contributes about an additional 100 dps (90 to be exact).

 

Finally, for that final epeen slap to the jerk-raider's face, politely (or not so) remind them of the utility of your heals: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=696565

 

I mean, so what if your not doing out of this world dps, for stanged sake, your healing for 700HPS to the entire raid group keeping everyone alive!

 

You should seek to use a parser for your own benefit. It will be enlightening for you. Don't just parse the Operations dummy. But track your real Ops parses. Seeing what works vs. what doesn't. Focus on areas where you can improve, and seek to work them into your rotation with greater frequency.

 

Our story is the long game. We build up to amazing -- best-in-game -- performance. But, you have to put the time and attention into the early battle to build to that. By about 40s or so, you should be improving your DPS.

 

Well, those are my thoughts. Good luck.

[bionamaster]

Thanks so much for the replies! In answer to some questions:

 

No, we were not failing the Enrage timer. The purple channel was being failed, but I was in charge of Yellow (The group had also not even so much as passingly mentioned the use of failing the purple channel). I was also new to parsers (last time I used one was Memories of Xendor, back when EC was the highest-end Op), so I had no idea how fair or unfair their use was. I'll keep this information in mind. ALso, the Parser did indicate my Burns did the most damage of all my powers, tied with Merciless Slash.

 

I've been trying to simply use the Ability system you suggested, Genghistwelve, but I noted I was still falling into a pattern regardless. I'll work on it. Thanks again!

Edited November 10, 2013 by bionamaster

[Emperor-Norton]

an impressive amount of nonsense

Literally no one at all cares that you can parse high on whatever boss is the 4th in KP. That Operation is beyond dated and no one cares for it. Since that boss doubles all damage you do no one takes it seriously as a demonstration of what DPS you can normally do, also since no one in decent gear runs that Operation anymore nor would they upload to TORparse. If you actually want to see how well you stack up against other Sentinels, parse on the Operations dummy and see where others are on the DPS threads. The only way people test rotational effective DPS is on the Operations Dummy where outside factors (armor debuffs, Legacy Abilities, other Inspirations etc.) are eliminated.

 

And bragging about HPS when 75% of your healing came from "Health Infusion", aka not any healing from a Sentinel's abilities and just the Health boosts next to Thrasher's adds (took me about 30 seconds to see that). So you either seem to not know what you are talking about or are lying.

 

Also, in 78 gear OS will do around 9000-10000 Damage per cast while Cauterize will be at around 6500. So saying Cauterize Damage does more damage than Overload Saber is really wrong, even if it will make up a slightly bigger portion of your overall damage (when you include the DoT and direct damage). But any player playing Watchman well will have their biggest portion of damage be Merciless Slash over, say, a 5 minute parse.

 

Plus, what you recommend makes no sense. For maximum DPS Merciless Slash needs to be used on cooldown same with Overload Saber and Cauterize when it procs (usually from Merciless) and the idea that Master Strike is a fixture of your rotation makes me think your rotation is sorely lacking, since for optimum play it is little more than extra damage to augment your existing heavy hitters.

Edited November 10, 2013 by Emperor-Norton