My Balance Rotation for 4.0

[drbonesmccoy]

Hello Everyone,

Intro

I wanted to share my thoughts on the Balance Rotation. I'll also point out, that Balance for this expansion got a noticeable buff from 3.0. As such, it's a great spec to use in operations, especially boss fights that allow you to have optimal up time on the boss themself. With that being said, I would recommend using Telekinetics for Burst phase fights such as Revan, or high target swapping fights like Revanite Commanders. However any fight that allows maximum uptime on the boss, or has adds, Balance will be the superior spec. So lets get into it....

 

Rotation Discussion

For most DoT specs the idea is to have max up time on your dots then filler abilities. With balance, I typically let the dots fall off before I reapply so as to let the dot consume every tick. If you reapply early, you'll lose some dmg because it isn't allowed to tick for the full duration. The DoT does dmg over time, however if that time is cut off, say half way, then it would have been more beneficial to use a burst dmg ability rather than waste the gcd on a reapplication.

 

Annecdote: If the boss is about to die, and you need to reapply dots, its better to just use Tk throw and disturbance to kill the target, because the dot would deal only a small portion of the dmg.

 

Continue: Think about, all the dmg the dot deals, within a single gcd, IE the application. If you're reapplying it early, then you essentially cut off some of the dmg from the previous application.

 

Example [Letting the dot fall off before application]

 

1) Dot Application +1.4k dot

2) Filler +6k dmg +1.4k dot

3) Filler +6k dmg +1.4k dot

4) Filler +6k dmg +1.4k dot

5) Filler +6k dmg +1.4k dot (falls off)

6) Dot Application + 1.4k dot

7) Filler +6k dmg +1.4k dot

8) Filler +6k dmg + 1.4k dot

9) Filler +6k dmg + 1.4k dot

10) Filler +6k dmg + 1.4k dot (falls off)

Total dmg = 62k dmg

 

Example [Reapplying early to have 100% uptime]

 

1) Dot Application +1.4k dot

2) Filler +6k dmg +1.4k dot

3) Filler +6k dmg +1.4k dot

4) Filler +6k dmg +1.4k dot

5) Dot Application + 1.4k dot

6) Filler +6k dmg + 1.4k dot

7) Filler +6k dmg +1.4k dot

8) Filler +6k dmg + 1.4k dot

9) Dot Application + 1.4k dot

10) Filler +6k dmg + 1.4k dot

Total dmg = 56k dmg

 

Basically, you end up using more applications at the end of your fight with reapplying early to have 100% uptime. Letting it falloff, then reapply, minimizes this, and allows you to use more filler abilities. You should though, reapply immediate after they fall off. My rotation below follows this mentality, and I tested both ways to be sure, and saw a considerable increase in my dps doing it the latter, rather than reapply early.

 

[*#] - Will mark Force Potency Stacks

Opener

 

Offensive Cooldowns

[Force Empowerment / Mental Alacrity / Attack Adrenal / Force Potency]

 

Precast Vanquish / Weaken Mind / Sever Force / Offensive Cooldowns + Force In Balance*1 / Force Serenity*2 / Tk Throw*3 / Disturbance / Tk Throw / Disturbance / Tk Throw / Tk Throw (Cut Off)

 

Start Normal Rotation

 

Normal Rotation (Updated 2015.11.02)

 

Part 1

Vanquish / Force In Balance / Weaken Mind / Force Serenity / Sever Force / Tk Throw / Disturbance / Tk Throw / Tk Throw [Cut Off]

 

Part 2

Vanquish / Force In Balance / Force Serenity / Weaken Mind / Sever Force / Tk Throw / Disturbance / Tk Throw / Tk Throw [Cut Off]

 

Part 3

Vanquish / Force In Balance / Force Serenity / Tk Throw / Disturbance / Weaken Mind / Sever Force / Tk Throw / Tk Throw [Cut Off]

 

Part 4

Vanquish / Force In Balance / Force Serenity / Tk Throw / Disturbance / Tk Throw / Tk Throw [Cut Off] / Weaken Mind / Sever Force

 

Part 5

Vanquish / Force In Balance / Force Serenity / Tk Throw / Disturbance / Tk Throw / Disturbance / Tk Throw / Tk Throw [Cut Off]

 

Back to Part 1

 

Where to use Force Potency

 

You'll typically want Force Potency stacks to be consumed by Force in Balance and Force Serenity. Those both are the major priorities.

 

Examples

 

Part 1

Vanquish / Force Potency + Force In Balance*1 / Weaken Mind / Force Serenity*2 / Sever Force / Tk Throw*3 / Disturbance / Tk Throw / Tk Throw [Cut Off]

 

Part 3

Vanquish / Force Potency + Force In Balance*1 / Force Serenity*2 / Tk Throw*3 / Disturbance / Weaken Mind / Sever Force / Tk Throw / Tk Throw [Cut Off]

 

Where to use Mental Alacrity

 

The biggest thing to keep in mind, is that you want the mental alacrity window to be used up before you reapply dots. Or, in other words, use it directly after you apply your dots, mainly just Weaken Mind and Sever Force.

 

Examples

 

Part 2

Vanquish / Force In Balance / Force Serenity / Weaken Mind / Sever Force / Tk Throw / Disturbance / Mental Alacrity + Tk Throw / Tk Throw [Cut Off]

 

Part 3

Vanquish / Force In Balance / Force Serenity / Tk Throw / Disturbance / Weaken Mind / Sever Force / Mental Alacrity + Tk Throw / Tk Throw [Cut Off]

 

Part 5

Mental Alacrity + Vanquish / Force In Balance / Force Serenity / Tk Throw / Disturbance / Tk Throw / Disturbance / Tk Throw / Tk Throw [Cut Off]

 

Part 5 would be the most ideal use of Mental alacrity, and safest to intermix in your rotation. However with that said, I do not recommend sitting on this cooldown for long, you want to use it as soon as possible.

 

Priority List

 

As recommend by MusicRider, I wanted to add a "Oh Crap Where Am I" section and describe what you can do quickly to get back on track. The following list is the order I use abilities to get back on the dps train if I lose my place.

 

Priority List

 

Vanquish (With or Without Proc)

Weaken Mind

Force in Balance

Sever Force

Force Serenity

Tk Throw

Disturbance (With Proc)

Start Part 1 of the Normal Rotation

 

Annecdote: Ideally, Vanquish would have its proc up, however if it isn't, don't waste time using Tk Throw to get it, just channel Vanquish immediately and then FiB right behind it. The reasoning behind this, is that the channel for Vanquish is slightly shorter than Tk Throw, and doing it this way will save a GCD. Basically you'll waste a small amount of time using Tk Throw getting the proc to insta cast Vanquish.

 

 

Utility Discussion

 

I would suggest always using Force Mobility as one of your Heroic Utilities. Otherwise, take a moment before the fight and think about what would be best. Typically for Skillful Utilities I'd use Pain Bearer and Jedi Resistence. If the fight requires mobility bring the Upheaval utility. If there is more adds, then use Tectonic Mastery. The two masterful utilties and the final heroic will be up to you, and they, at least for me, change per fight.

 

Skillful Utilities

 

1) Definitely bring Jedi Resistance for the 3% DR

2) Definitely bring Pain Bearer for the 10% received heals

3) Either use Tectonic Mastery for more aoe dmg or use Upheaval for more mobile dmg

 

Masterful Utilities

 

1) Blockout is a good general choice for more damage reduction

2) Either use Mind Ward, Egress, or Valiance

- Use mind ward for fights where you know you'll receive a DoT, like Nefra

- Use egress for fights where you know there is a lot of cc, like Underlurker

- Use Valiance for more self heals, if the above two don't have any use

 

Heroic Utilities

 

1) Always use Force Mobility

2) Either use Mental Defense, Force Haste, Containment, or Ethereal Entity

- Use Mental Defense for fights where you'll be stunned, like Torque

- Use Force Haste for most fights where the others don't apply

- Use Containment for fights where you need the instant stun, like Revanite Commanders

- Use Ethereal Entity for added AoE reduction off of phase walk, for fights like Underlurker

 

Hope this helps you learn a bit about balance, and perhaps increase your dps. Good luck

 

P.S. I'll update this post with more information as I remember it, and as patches possibly change dot timers or whatever.

 

(Updated 2015.11.02) Added Color to make it easier to read and point out abilities. Also added more to the rotation and highlighted, when and where to use mental alacrity and force potency. Added a priority list to help get players back on track without panicking about what to do.

Edited November 4, 2015 by drbonesmccoy
Changing the rotation slightly, and updating the thread.

[NvrShoutNvr]

very similar to what I used pre-4.0 but I would suggest a minor change in the force potency window that I found to be a massive increase in boss fight dps;

 

use force serenity before FiB. reasoning is using FiB first and hitting multiple targets will use both stacks of force potency and leave serenity critting up to chance. Otherwise, solid rotation 10/10 would take into nightmare progression.

[drbonesmccoy]

very similar to what I used pre-4.0 but I would suggest a minor change in the force potency window that I found to be a massive increase in boss fight dps;

 

use force serenity before FiB. reasoning is using FiB first and hitting multiple targets will use both stacks of force potency and leave serenity critting up to chance. Otherwise, solid rotation 10/10 would take into nightmare progression.

 

Are you talking about an aoe rotation?

 

I find that if you use Force Serenity before FiB, the cooldowns don't match up as well. Also there will be times when you use Force Serenity when the Force Suppression debuff isn't on the target. For those that don't know, using FS on a Force Suppressed target will refund 15 force. In my parsing, I find that I slowly bleed force, to the point where I need to contemplate using Vindicate to regen, if I use FS before FiB in the rotation. Also, to reiterate, the cooldown on FS is shorter than FiB, so each cycle, you'll be using FS sooner and sooner, to the point where, you'll use it behind FiB anyway.

 

Also, I understand the thought behind it, and agree that FiB consumes all the FP stacks, and it would be beneficial having other abilities consume some first. However, I think that regardless of what consumes the stacks, you'll get more crits either way. If you consume all the charges of FP on FiB, it still means more of the FiB hits will crit. Using FiB with 1 stack of FP, doesn't necessarily guarantee that each hit will crit. It only guarantees 1, the rest is up to chance. Even then, it doesn't fully guarantee a critical hit. Honestly, the best use would be to use it with a channeled ability, such as Tk Throw, or Force quake. However, the cooldown time, lines up perfectly, with FiB and Force Serenity, and ideally, you want to use FP on cooldown, so as to get more crits earlier, and thus start FP on its cooldown once again.

 

Sorry, I had to play devil's advocate, FP is a strange cooldown in any case. Thank you for the "10/10" compliment, good luck with 4.0 NiM progression, if we can even call redoing old ops progression lol.

[Kawabonga]

If i remember correctly once upon a time Recklessness would cause all of Death Field's targets to receive a critical hit, regardless of the stacks. Same with Chain Lightning. Same as how all the targets of a force storm receive critical hits (though Recklessness tooltip actually states force storm will only consume one stack). Normally i would check myself, but i don't have a pc with swtor installed available...

[drbonesmccoy]

If i remember correctly once upon a time Recklessness would cause all of Death Field's targets to receive a critical hit, regardless of the stacks. Same with Chain Lightning. Same as how all the targets of a force storm receive critical hits (though Recklessness tooltip actually states force storm will only consume one stack). Normally i would check myself, but i don't have a pc with swtor installed available...

 

Tooltip for Potency/Recklessness reads as, "Grants 2 charges of Potency/Recklessness, which increases the Force critical chance of your direct attacks and heals by 60%...... Each time a direct Force ability critically hits or each time a channeled Force ability is activated, 1 charge is consumed..."

 

Force Storm and Force Quake only consume 1, because they are channeled abilities. FiB and DF are both direct attacks, so every hit is considered 1 direct attack. This is why, FiB and DF consume all the charges of Potency / Recklessness. I will admit, I've seen FiB and DF consume a charge of Potency / recklessness and crit hit across 5-8 targets. However, taking crit chance into effect, try taking off all your gear, then try the same experiment, and you'll notice that it will not crit across everything as often. Tk Wave and Chain Lightning follow the same mentality, they are direct dmg abilities, and will consume all the charges of Potency / Recklessness, as long as there is multiple crits. With the amount of crit chance we get now, that'll always be the case.

[MusicRider]

+1 for the guide, that's pretty much my rotation and priority system also.

 

A couple of comments since in your guide since you already you don't take an absolute stance that your way is the best way:

 

1. Make clear that the use of potency on your opener assumes the set bonus, without it potency is better used in serenity and FiB.

2. Make clear that due to mechanics, etc. often the rotation will get out of sync, then emphasize the priority system which will put you back to track.

3. I am pretty confident that there will be other variations with minor differences in the order of the abilities that might have close enough or similar dps results, and in fact they might work better for a given player than these rotations, They also allow recovery per (2). So basically make it clear that there might be small variations that might work better for you.

 

Other than these, thanks for the time taken to write the guide. Can't spot anything false. +1 to its validity and +1 to be sticky.

 

PS: Realised you don't have a priority section. IMO you should most certainly include one.

 

EDIT: Corrected per comment further down.

Edited October 28, 2015 by MusicRider

[Kawabonga]

What i meant was that FiB under FP will crit on all the target it hits, regardless of whether you have 1 or 3 stacks, even though it will consume one stack per target.

 

1. Make clear that the use of potency on your opener assumes the set bonus, without it potency is better used in serenity and tkt.

 

What's your reasoning behind that? Tkt deals just over half the DPS of FiB

Edited October 28, 2015 by Kawabonga

[ceazare]

I find it better to put weaken mind after sever force. That way there's less chance it will fall off before using force serenity. SF also does slightly more damage so applying it first can make a small difference in damage if the enemy dies early or becomes immune.

 

I'm also not sure about keeping force serenity after force in balance. It means you're using it 10% less often than you could. The rotation is a lot easier your way, probably also less force negative, both pretty important factors in boss fights, but I don't think it yields highest damage.

[MusicRider]

I find it better to put weaken mind after sever force. That way there's less chance it will fall off before using force serenity. SF also does slightly more damage so applying it first can make a small difference in damage if the enemy dies early or becomes immune.

 

Actually same here with putting weaken mind after serenity although tbh its more of a habit from pvp rather than for having 1 extra gcd for serenity (although I have noticed that putting it before has fallen before being able to cast serenity).

 

I'm also not sure about keeping force serenity after force in balance. It means you're using it 10% less often than you could. The rotation is a lot easier your way, probably also less force negative, both pretty important factors in boss fights, but I don't think it yields highest damage.

 

Out of curiosity, what do you mean? In general do you prioritise serenity before fib? I prioriotize fib over serenity as my main priorities are dots always up or on cd in the case of mind crush and 15 stacks as much as possible which basically means fib on cd.

[MusicRider]

What's your reasoning behind that? Tkt deals just over half the DPS of FiB

 

4 critical ticks of TkT (conseume 1 stack) do more damage than a single hit of FiB, altough it depends on armor debuff also.

[Kawabonga]

4 critical ticks of TkT (conseume 1 stack) do more damage than a single hit of FiB, altough it depends on armor debuff also.

 

Unfortunately i don't have access to swtor, but a quick glance at parsely show that Avvg crit for tkt is around 2k, with max crit being 2.5k give or take.

 

Avg crit on FiB is 11.5k, max 13,5k. Not even 4 max ticks of tkt reach the damage an average FiB hits for. That's not even taking into account the fact that tkt is a 2 second channel (before alacrity), meaning that to compare dps we'd have to compare 3 ticks instead of 4

[MusicRider]

Unfortunately i don't have access to swtor, but a quick glance at parsely show that Avvg crit for tkt is around 2k, with max crit being 2.5k give or take.

 

Avg crit on FiB is 11.5k, max 13,5k. Not even 4 max ticks of tkt reach the damage an average FiB hits for. That's not even taking into account the fact that tkt is a 2 second channel (before alacrity), meaning that to compare dps we'd have to compare 3 ticks instead of 4

 

You might be right, not in front of my PC either. And probably should have mentioned that in 3.x cycle I mostly played TK in PVE and both in PVP where many classes have aoe DR but even without it 4 crit ticks of tkt always hit harder than a crit fib. We also have 4.0 so maybe some things have changed, althgouh I cant see any obvious change that would have such an effect. Need to test later.

 

EDIT: And on second look 2k average crit of tkt tick is very low, I used to get in pvp about 1.4-1.8k ticks in 3.x.

Edited October 28, 2015 by MusicRider

[MusicRider]

Unfortunately i don't have access to swtor, but a quick glance at parsely show that Avvg crit for tkt is around 2k, with max crit being 2.5k give or take.

 

Avg crit on FiB is 11.5k, max 13,5k. Not even 4 max ticks of tkt reach the damage an average FiB hits for. That's not even taking into account the fact that tkt is a 2 second channel (before alacrity), meaning that to compare dps we'd have to compare 3 ticks instead of 4

 

You are right. Had a look on 3.x parses also. Hmmm, works very differently in pve than in pvp. Good catching me there.

[Ycoga]

Unfortunately i don't have access to swtor, but a quick glance at parsely show that Avvg crit for tkt is around 2k, with max crit being 2.5k give or take.

... Unless you're a shadow tank in DPS gear, where it hits for about 7k per tick in 4.0.

 

<3

[drbonesmccoy]

I find it better to put weaken mind after sever force. That way there's less chance it will fall off before using force serenity. SF also does slightly more damage so applying it first can make a small difference in damage if the enemy dies early or becomes immune.

 

I'm also not sure about keeping force serenity after force in balance. It means you're using it 10% less often than you could. The rotation is a lot easier your way, probably also less force negative, both pretty important factors in boss fights, but I don't think it yields highest damage.

 

Thanks for the post, I will agree with you about the SF before WM. It was how I was ordering my dots, however, I decided to get away from my norm and test reversing the order to WM > SF. I found that on avg, I got higher dps. To be honest, I have no clue as to why. I'm still parsing to find out, however you're right, SF does more dmg, as was my reasoning as well for applying it first. Also Force Serenity does more dmg when used on a target suffering from WM. With my rotation, there does come a time when you use FS without WM on the target, because of the order of dots. However I stand by my rotation, as it was the highest dps I could get out of different theories and arrangements.

 

About your second topic, FS's cool down is succinct with FiB, if you use it after FiB, it'll always just be coming off cool down. However if you use it before, than the cool downs become mixed, and eventually, you'll be using FS behind FiB anyways, I believe it comes about 1:45 into a parse or so. FiB has a 14.5 second cool down, and serenity is an 11.5, however serenity has a 1.5 second cool down. Therefore if you use FiB, then channel serenity, when serenity finished channeling and goes off, the cool downs of FiB and Serenity are the same, therefore, imo, there isn't a dps loss using it this way, nor do I feel is there any negative theory around it. There is only a positive aspect to doing it this way, because FS will refund force, each time.

[drbonesmccoy]

+1 for the guide, that's pretty much my rotation and priority system also.

 

A couple of comments since in your guide since you already you don't take an absolute stance that your way is the best way:

 

1. Make clear that the use of potency on your opener assumes the set bonus, without it potency is better used in serenity and FiB.

2. Make clear that due to mechanics, etc. often the rotation will get out of sync, then emphasize the priority system which will put you back to track.

3. I am pretty confident that there will be other variations with minor differences in the order of the abilities that might have close enough or similar dps results, and in fact they might work better for a given player than these rotations, They also allow recovery per (2). So basically make it clear that there might be small variations that might work better for you.

 

Other than these, thanks for the time taken to write the guide. Can't spot anything false. +1 to its validity and +1 to be sticky.

 

PS: Realised you don't have a priority section. IMO you should most certainly include one.

 

EDIT: Corrected per comment further down.

 

Thanks for the positive feedback. I updated the post to include a priority list.