Help a brother out!

Alexandrik · 03-28-2008, 11:42 AM

I have been reading these forums since I removed my Dirge from retirement and I check everyday for any tips that may allow me to become a better Dirge. I have only been a “Raiding” Dirge for about two months though I have raided for years with a Ranger (easy mode) and a Brigand.

I read the T8 Parses and I am left wondering, WTF am I doing wrong? I can never manage to hit a true zone wide (ZW) of 1500+. Hell in Lev I can parse about 2300-2400 on the trash but when the night is all said and done I am at less than 1500 ZW. This happens in all other zones as well. I even managed to hit 3400 on a mob last night (27 Mar) in Kor Sha, one of the Ruined Golem thingies. I wish I knew what I did right there LOL. Now I pride myself in being an above average player in this game, I am fairly knowledgeable of all my classes and I am not afraid to ask a question and listen to advice from better players than me. This being said, I am going to post as much info as I can think that is pertinent and see what you others think I should do to better my ZW, a tweak here and maybe a tweak there. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Lets start off with some non raid buffed stats:
Melee Crit - 33%
Melee DA - 19%
DPS - 43
Haste - 31
Melee Mod - 450
Spell Mod - 185

Str - 823, Agi - 861, Int - 477

My two weapons are Intrepid and Segmented Serrator, both have the Vampiric Handle Adornment (Damage / heal proc)

Buffs I run during raid:
Weapon Boon, Power Ballad, Riana's Indignant Sustain, Dead Calm, Athletic Strain.
Selos, DKtM, Allegro, LotD, Fortissimo (it is at 10%), Deaths Edge.
(Obviously you can see I am not the MT dirge)

AA Lines:
Bard -
Str 4/1, Agi 4/4/4/8, Sta 4/4/4/8, Wis 4/4/6/8/1

Dirge -
LotD, Confront Fear, Degredate

My diety is Sol ro (I like the incinerate LOL)

Now to the good stuff, casting order is as follows:

Cry of Banshee (on pull)
Shroud
Scream of Blood
Chimes of Blades
Gravitas
Bump
Grim Strike
Sinister Strike (IF I can use and if it is up)
Shriek Blade
Penetrating Shriek
Vile Blade
Lanets Scream
Siphon Blade
Howl of Death

I also have Turnstrike and will fit it in anywhere on the list when it is up and an AE is about to hit.

That is how I start ALL attacks, after that I spalm hit anything that pops up while trying to slap debuffs on the mob.

Now I have read that you just hit auto attack(AA) and spalm CA's, is this true? Should I pause for a count of 1 between each CA or will my AA go off while my CA's are casting?

I also heard a rumor that top end players do not cast CA's when CoB has been cast, is this correct as well?

Flame away!

Kall · 03-28-2008, 12:03 PM

Your DPS mod is low. 35~ from Riana's and 24 from 2 adorns should put you at 59. Add a STR ring and you're at 90 which is decent.

Use HO chains. It doesn't look like you do. Drop Turnstrike for Rhythm blade. Turnstrike really is pretty useless.

Time your master strike when your epic proc is up.

Parsing is kind of stupid right now to be honest. Way too much of your DPS is reliant on your epic proccing and double attacking. They need to nerf auto attack across the board and up CA damage because it's gotten out of control. My best parse on one of those golem things in Kor-Sha is 6k because of an epic proc and a string of double attacks that critted.

The whole don't do anything but auto attack and swap in a fast weapon when CoB up is so dumb. It all started when some guy who sucked at pushing buttons noticed his DPS goes up when CoB is cast. Then since most Dirges are fucking terrible a lot of them followed his lead and started spreading this bullshit to more and more people. On the bright side, if you're one of these morons then all you'll just have to do is toggle auto attack since CoB will always be up when both dirges have their 4 piece.

Pausing between CAs isn't necessary because recovery time already does that for you.

rukkis · 03-28-2008, 12:06 PM

Different classes are different but from what Ive seen on a dirge spam everything.

Gravitas pre pull
Banshee on the pull
Shriek blade
bump
SoB
whatever debufs your responsible for
COB
Hit buttons like a monkey

is what i do, able to put out a little more dps than your doing with slightly lower stats, although could just be different group set up.

rukkis · 03-28-2008, 12:10 PM

Yeah, and as Kall said im runnign at 52 dps from the t7 addorns and 70 master plus str and cloak proc. I would think that would be the minimum for any dirge to have, well not the cloak but the rest.

Doomjudge · 03-28-2008, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rukkis

Gravitas pre pull

Gravitas affect to heals wards that are cast already so gravitas should be cast when mob is on tank (not prepull)I think so it will be in use all of its duration while tank is taking dmg..

If I've understood that spell correctly..

and I don't have money to adorn my bow with dps adorn

so I'm running at 44 when not fighting .. ring adds more of course at a times..

rukkis · 03-28-2008, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doomjudge

Gravitas affect to heals wards that are cast already so gravitas should be cast when mob is on tank (not prepull

Yeah, except that the only time it is really necesary is before the mob gets debuffed. Casting pre pull allows it to be up when the mob is at full strength and allows you to get those debuffs and long durration damage abilities on faster. And your not really wasting anything, just switching what healer you have it on a bit earlier. I would rather have it up a couple seconds early than a couple seconds late.

Alexandrik · 03-28-2008, 12:47 PM

Ok, so if I were to drop Turnstrike for Rythm Blade, where should I insert that in my casting order, I am guessing near the top.

Right now I do have the str ring but I do not have my bow adorned as it is only mastercrafted. As I stated I have only began raiding with this character and we are now in VP so I can snag a bow there fast to adorn.

My group is always changing too but I will look into HO chains.

If you guys have any other ideas swing away!

Kall · 03-28-2008, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexandrik

Ok, so if I were to drop Turnstrike for Rythm Blade, where should I insert that in my casting order, I am guessing near the top.

Right about where CoB is.

Dagator · 03-28-2008, 01:25 PM

Not that this is dps related, but I gravitas our MT defiler before pull and even before he does his final wards for pull, that way they take that initial shot better. This also allows me to gravitas the templar about 10 seconds or so into the fight, when they start doing the big direct heals as the wards are down and being refreshed. It seems to work out well. After that, I just gravitas who ever I happen to click on the raid window...lol just for fun...

Alexandrik · 03-28-2008, 01:43 PM

I have also heard talk from some Dirges about dropping AGI and going to INT ... what are your thoughts on that?