Lightening Sorc 4k+ DPS

[Azurestone]

Here is a screenshot of my sample parse

 

I have trouble breaking 4k and I am seeking help. My current stat is at 4110 wp, 1726.2 bonus dmg, 110.32% accu, 26,27% crit, 73.95% sruge and 2.13% alac, with gear level of 192/198 mix with no set bonus. I've read Ktap's dulfy guide and tried to keep my priority abilities on CD as best as I could, but I just can't avg at 4k+.

 

Do you guys think it's my rotation or do I really need that set bonus to break 4k+? p.s. I am pretty sure it ain't RNGesus that kept me from 4k because I average at 3.9 over a bunch of parses on 1 mil dummy with armor reduction.

Edited February 26, 2015 by Azurestone

[FlyinSpaghetti]

You say you are in 192/198 mix but do you have optimized enhancements (even if just 186)?

 

That could be the difference between you breaking 4k or not.

[Citruzz]

your values looking very strange.

[KeyboardNinja]

It's hard to tell without seeing the damage tab, but based on what is visible:

 

• You're using Force Speed a lot. Way way too much. It's a situational proc that you used to squeeze another ability under some buff (adrenal, polarity, and in rare cases relics).
  
• For using Force Speed so much, your APM is very very low. I know you don't have the old Force Master 4pc, but you're low by at least 4-5 given that much Force Speed. If you substitute a normal amount of sprinting, you're still low by about 0.5-1 APM (based on differences between my sage and my sorc, thus accounting for the 4pc set bonus)
  
• I think you're delaying Polarity Shift. Do you have the old 2pc or the new 4pc? Their impact on the Lightning rotation is very significant.
  

 

So, do things faster. Start there and see where it leads you.

[Azurestone]

It's hard to tell without seeing the damage tab, but based on what is visible:

 

• You're using Force Speed a lot. Way way too much. It's a situational proc that you used to squeeze another ability under some buff (adrenal, polarity, and in rare cases relics).
  
• For using Force Speed so much, your APM is very very low. I know you don't have the old Force Master 4pc, but you're low by at least 4-5 given that much Force Speed. If you substitute a normal amount of sprinting, you're still low by about 0.5-1 APM (based on differences between my sage and my sorc, thus accounting for the 4pc set bonus)
  
• I think you're delaying Polarity Shift. Do you have the old 2pc or the new 4pc? Their impact on the Lightning rotation is very significant.
  

 

So, do things faster. Start there and see where it leads you.

 

1. I force speed on CD. I thought I was supposed to force speed on CD as I took the 5 sec CD reduction on force speed and that proc seems awesome. And inb4 anyone asks, yes I took chain shock and tempest just to make parse better, and hopefully I didn't get that part wrong.

2. My APM seems low and it might be because I use a naga mouse so I only hit one button for each and every of one of my offensive CDs / abilities.

3. I am using polarity shift on CD and no I do not have any set bonus, not even the old one.

 

You say you are in 192/198 mix but do you have optimized enhancements (even if just 186)?

 

That could be the difference between you breaking 4k or not.

 

Yes I do 186s purples fully aug'd.

 

your values looking very strange.

 

Please elaborate by telling me exactly how does it look strange so I can try to fix it on my part. Are you talking about my gearing stats or my parse values? I am new to PVE gearing and struggling especially with 3.0 PVE gearing (stat changes and stuff). I just get what I can for gears, mostly force-lord stuff and aug to make up for stats I am falling short. I tried as hard as I could to keep up with instructions I learned online, and this is the best set of gear I can get with all my comms and credits and not-so-shiny loots.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Azurestone

[Azurestone]

I loaded back the combat log and a SS of damage tab, and here it is. I can also submit the original combat log if that is gonna be of any help to figure out my parsing problem. I'd be glad to do so (ignore that surprise l2p 3.3k parse in there if I do, bc that one is a huge derp.) Edited December 27, 2014 by Azurestone

[Citruzz]

Please elaborate by telling me exactly how does it look strange so I can try to fix it on my part. Are you talking about my gearing stats or my parse values? I am new to PVE gearing and struggling especially with 3.0 PVE gearing (stat changes and stuff). I just get what I can for gears, mostly force-lord stuff and aug to make up for stats I am falling short. I tried as hard as I could to keep up with instructions I learned online, and this is the best set of gear I can get with all my comms and credits and not-so-shiny loots.

 

For your limited possibilities, you have a lot of secondary stats in your gear and way to low bonus damage. First of all try to hit 110% accuracy exactly (758 rating). Don't stack critrating above ~240, at this point power is always stronger. You should drop off all of your alacrity. Stack as much surge rating as possible through enhancements. 12-13 of your augments should be mainstat or attackpower + 1 accuracy and maybe 1 surge rating.

[Azurestone]

For your limited possibilities, you have a lot of secondary stats in your gear and way to low bonus damage. First of all try to hit 110% accuracy exactly (758 rating). Don't stack critrating above ~240, at this point power is always stronger. You should drop off all of your alacrity. Stack as much surge rating as possible through enhancements. 12-13 of your augments should be mainstat or attackpower + 1 accuracy and maybe 1 surge rating.

 

Ok, please don't laugh at me guys cause this is the first time I get into the PVE scene, but I have like 7 accuracy augs cause I can't figure out how to bring myself from 106 to 110 otherwise as the Force-lord's gear I purchased have a but loads of power/surge in them. Should I dump all accu augment and try to get accu from enhancements? Why would that make my stats better?

[KTap]

1. I force speed on CD. I thought I was supposed to force speed on CD as I took the 5 sec CD reduction on force speed and that proc seems awesome. And inb4 anyone asks, yes I took chain shock and tempest just to make parse better, and hopefully I didn't get that part wrong.

2. My APM seems low and it might be because I use a naga mouse so I only hit one button for each and every of one of my offensive CDs / abilities.

3. I am using polarity shift on CD and no I do not have any set bonus, not even the old one.

 

Force Speed on cooldown isn't a dps increase under normal circumstances. If anything, it's a dps loss since you cannot queue your next damaging ability. It should only be used when you're mobile or when a proc/buff/etc is going to fall off before your next cast.

[Azurestone]

Force Speed on cooldown isn't a dps increase under normal circumstances. If anything, it's a dps loss since you cannot queue your next damaging ability. It should only be used when you're mobile or when a proc/buff/etc is going to fall off before your next cast.

 

Thank you for the help. Does that apply to PvP as well or is it just for dummy parsing?

[KTap]

Thank you for the help. Does that apply to PvP as well or is it just for dummy parsing?

 

It applies to everything, although I would suggest not using it for dps in PvP (unless mobile) and use it instead when necessary to live/protect objectives (Emersion utility is a good choice as well).

Edited December 27, 2014 by KTap

[TACeMossie]

Ok, please don't laugh at me guys cause this is the first time I get into the PVE scene, but I have like 7 accuracy augs cause I can't figure out how to bring myself from 106 to 110 otherwise as the Force-lord's gear I purchased have a but loads of power/surge in them. Should I dump all accu augment and try to get accu from enhancements? Why would that make my stats better?

 

Hey, that tends to happen. At least you were smart enough to get 100% accuracy.

 

What you should do is drop all but 1 accuracy augment, and then the following:

 

Implants: Crafted Accuracy/Power, or Token Accuracy/Power. Don't go with comm stuff

Earpiece: See - Implants

Enhancements: 4x Advanced Initiative Enhancement 36 (Accuracy/Power) and 3x Advanced Adept Enhancement 36 (Power/Surge)

 

Mods + crystals: Get your crit through these, and if you're augmenting power also get it through augments.

 

Fixing that up should get you above 4k. Maybe

Edited December 28, 2014 by TACeMossie

[KTap]

Hey, that tends to happen. At least you were smart enough to get 100% accuracy.

 

What you should do is drop all but 1 accuracy augment, and then the following:

 

Implants: Crafted Accuracy/Power, or Token Accuracy/Power. Don't go with comm stuff

Earpiece: See - Implants

Enhancements: 4x Advanced Initiative Enhancement 36 (Accuracy/Power) and 3x Advanced Adept Enhancement 36 (Accuracy/Power)

 

Mods + crystals: Get your crit through these, and if you're augmenting power also get it through augments.

 

Fixing that up should get you above 4k. Maybe

 

Quite note - Adept Enhancements are Power/Surge

[TACeMossie]

Quite note - Adept Enhancements are Power/Surge

 

Yeah thats a typo. Ill fix it up

[Azurestone]

Hey, that tends to happen. At least you were smart enough to get 100% accuracy.

 

What you should do is drop all but 1 accuracy augment, and then the following:

 

Implants: Crafted Accuracy/Power, or Token Accuracy/Power. Don't go with comm stuff

Earpiece: See - Implants

Enhancements: 4x Advanced Initiative Enhancement 36 (Accuracy/Power) and 3x Advanced Adept Enhancement 36 (Power/Surge)

 

Mods + crystals: Get your crit through these, and if you're augmenting power also get it through augments.

 

Fixing that up should get you above 4k. Maybe

 

Yo thanks, boss! Gonna work hard on this personalized gearing guide! Thanks a lot!

[Bravari]

I may be wrong on this but I disagree with how you have itemized your gear. Your augments should not be accuracy. Buy 7 initiative enhancements and slot them into your gear. Your accuracy will not be 100%, but it will be like 99.50% which outforms wasting an augment slot to go over 100%.

 

Alacrity is not very helpful for lightning sorcs because it misalines alot of your abilities. I would not go above 100 alacrity rating. I would invest in surge to 350-400 and crit to about 200. Remainder of your stats should be in power. I would augment with power augments.

 

Again the ratings mentioned are just a suggestion, there are many variables that cannot be accounted for such as your connection, lag, and RNG. Lightning suffers from alot of RNG but the true value is having your routine down. I think the core of lighting rotation is dots, thundering blast, lightning flash, recklessness (if off) and then chain lightning. I think you rotation should work out that you can hit those abilities (exception of recklessness) every time thundering blast comes off cooldown.

 

I would also suggest that you put up a video of your parse so we can see what your doing. Try this set up and see what your parse is. I think you may be surprised.

 

DISCLAIMER - I am still testing various itemization options so my opinion is not to be taken as the way it should be done. Obviously, the opinions of well known people like Qwerty should be relied on. I simply am a fan of trying things out for yourself and see what works best for you.

Edited December 31, 2014 by Bravari

[Botho]

I was looking at this damage numbers on that and comparing them to my own, one thing I noticed that seemed odd (not with his parse specifically) the proc of Thundering Blast

 

Thundering Blast (Forked Darkness) hits there for 3257 damage

 

The Rep equivalent Turbulence (Mental Momentum) I do only hits for 2329

 

And yea I realise a different character with different gear but my Turb hits for 8875 and his Thundering Blast 8998.

 

Surely with those being that close in numbers, the 2nd proc attack would be closer than that. it's less than the 30% of main damage that it should be and more than 30% for him.

 

Makes me think there is something wrong with Reverberation the lvl52 passive. I dunno. Is it just me or did I miss something completely?

[ceazare]

I was looking at this damage numbers on that and comparing them to my own, one thing I noticed that seemed odd (not with his parse specifically) the proc of Thundering Blast

 

Thundering Blast (Forked Darkness) hits there for 3257 damage

 

The Rep equivalent Turbulence (Mental Momentum) I do only hits for 2329

 

And yea I realise a different character with different gear but my Turb hits for 8875 and his Thundering Blast 8998.

 

Surely with those being that close in numbers, the 2nd proc attack would be closer than that. it's less than the 30% of main damage that it should be and more than 30% for him.

 

Makes me think there is something wrong with Reverberation the lvl52 passive. I dunno. Is it just me or did I miss something completely?

 

You're right, coefficients for Mental Momentum and Forked Darkness are different and neither are set at 30% of Turbulence or Thundering Blast. Forked Darkness seems to hit for about 35% more, in line with your numbers.

 

Yet another bug

[Botho]

Just roughly with my rubbish math skills that (If the 30% surge boost is being added) that Turbulence Mental Momentum is doing 20% instead of 30% and yea, Forked Darkness more like 35%

[KeyboardNinja]

You're right, coefficients for Mental Momentum and Forked Darkness are different and neither are set at 30% of Turbulence or Thundering Blast. Forked Darkness seems to hit for about 35% more, in line with your numbers.

 

Yet another bug

 

Holy cow… That's just nuts. It goes a lot further than just the set bonuses in explaining why my sorc buries my sage in terms of DPS.

[Divona]

Unbelivable. I just tested on my sage about that new bug and i confirm it. My turblulence hits 10k but turbulence mental momentum only 2.8k

Tested on Sorc i did 9.2k Thundering blast and forked darkness was 3.3k

 

We need a new thread about this find. Yet another bug favors Sorc.

Edited January 4, 2015 by Divona

[Botho]

Hah, cheers for looking into it further, I have no Sorc to test with myself so was just going by comparing parses of others and bad maths, This is the kind of thing that can slip unnoticed for a while or perhaps they know already

 

As someone mentioned above though it should probably have it's own thread somewhere for the sake of trying to draw some attention onto it. I nominate any of you!

Edited January 4, 2015 by Botho

[Revenal]

I for one couldn't break 4k sustained until i got my 192 gear and 6 set bonus (with 186 enhancements). I really think Ktaps opener is ideal to setting yourself up for good numbers and making sure you time your Force Potency to ensure you use it with Wave and Gust (or Quake). As Ktap said in his guide it really is RNG dependant sometimes but good timing on the rotation should help you get to that sustained level.

 

I parse 4.2-4.4k consistently now with the right APM.

 

On that note, that you Ktap for your guide it really did help a lot.

[MusicRider]

For your limited possibilities, you have a lot of secondary stats in your gear and way to low bonus damage. First of all try to hit 110% accuracy exactly (758 rating). Don't stack critrating above ~240, at this point power is always stronger. You should drop off all of your alacrity. Stack as much surge rating as possible through enhancements. 12-13 of your augments should be mainstat or attackpower + 1 accuracy and maybe 1 surge rating.

 

Why high surge/ low (or 0 alacrity). With the new changes shouldn't alacrity favour dps by allowing a higher APM, particularly given that crit is low? On the other hand I do get it that the autocrit TB and potency being more frequent with the set bonus would benefit from high surge, it just seems to me that after 70% surge (which diminishing returns start kicking in if I recall well) alacrity would be a better option.

[Azurestone]

Thank yall for the replies. I am still working my *** off for the set bonus as it's quite hard to find a raiding guild on my server that fits my schedule. I followed Ktap's gearing advice and actually hit 4k without optimized gear, and it was quite a struggle with RNGesus' blessing.