Thread: Soloing DPS rotation?

Hi, I'm leveling a loremaster, currently in Moria. It takes me a while to kill stuff though; I was wondering what you guys think is a good DPS rotation so I can kill those mobs a little faster! Also, what pet is best for killing things faster? Bear for the +10% damage? Lynx? Other?

Thanks.

It's not a rotation per se, but make sure you're in melee distance to use Staff Strike on the mob as much as you can. The -CD for staff strike on the staff LIs is a nice one to have for adding on damage through that too, if you can manage to get it.

Firstly, the bear's shatter arms is a debuff that gives buff to physical damage if I recall correctly....its of very little use while soloing since most of our damage is tactical.....its better use in raids or group content where you have a lot of champs/hunters in the group....the lynx burst damage is quite good...but in moria I usually recommend the eagle for auto interrupts, sturdiness and the flank rate and also the rez.....its a pain to fight your way back from the rez circle in moria .....if not the eagle, raven is good too......good flanks and the fire mitigation debuff (benediction of the raven) is very useful....

Now, pets with flanking, that brings us to staff strike....as mentioned above, our melee autoattacks and improved staff strike (Master of Staff is a 100 percent recommend for soloing) alongwith staff sweep cause a LOT of damage.....much more than one can imagine....so dont be hesistant to go into melee and whack with your staff.....the staff strike cooldown legacy is a must for soloing.....

Use your debuffs....always....all that are possible....every melee mob should have SoP:C and Fire Lore on him, every ranged mob should have SoP:C and Wind Lore....same for tactical damage dealing mobs...SoP:C and Frost Lore.....if the mobs are tougher or more than 2 and grouped, always throw ancient craft.....even if you dont intend to use Lightning Storm.....

And about rotation of skills, it depends....gets more complicated as the number of mobs increases.....but for a single 1 on 1 fight, my rotation goes SoP:C -> BE -> appropriate lore skill debuff -> LotRD/ToW -> BE -> Staff Strike -> Staff Sweep......insert a Staff Strike or Wizards Fire on a flank as needed.....normal landscape mobs shouldnt survive till the end of that chain.....just try some combinations out and you'll find one that is comfortable to you

for single target linx can be the best choise for a lot after reached level 60 it's useless ... his dps it's too much low !

For single target pulls I usually go like this (starting from max range normally):

SoP:C --> Burning Embers --> Light of the Rising Dawn --> Burning Embers --> Cracked Earth --> staff skills, they are usually dead by now.

2-3 mobs:

SoP:C --> Burning Embers --> Gust of Wind --> Cracked Earth --> Fire-Lore --> staff skills --> Improved Sticky Gourd, one or more are usually dead by now, burn down the rest with BE/LOTRD and staff skills (remember we got the highest auto attack damage in the game so using staff skills and auto attacks can dish out some good damage)

3+ mobs:

SoP:C --> Sticky Tar --> Burning Embers (using this just to pull in most AoE cases and get a DoT ticking on one of them) --> Cracked Earth (trying to hit all of the pulled mobs with this one) --> Staff Sweep --> the from Cracked Earth should popp in any second now, so I run through the mobs so that they get rooted in the tar --> Ancient Craft --> Ents go to War --> Lightning Storm --> Improved Sticky Gourd if they aren't dead yet.

This has worked as a charm for me. These rotations are what I use at 75 though, so I'm not sure what you got access to yet. Think you got all the skills I listed for single target pull though.

I always run around 5 deep Master of Natures Fury traited (with the capstone legacy, once you get it, you will never take it off unless you're required to!) along with the raven. I never use the lynx to be honest, I just don't like haing to wait for it to re-stealth and the skills to come off cooldown. I have always prefered the raven, good fire debuff (-10% fire mitigation, short cooldown and it's AoE), good tactigal mitigation buff and a good flank rate. This outweights the potential burst DPS of the lynx in my oppinion. It just feels less dynamic for me to run with the lynx compared to the raven, even though it is the "recommended" solo pet according to most.

For DPS, I've found the important thing is to get in melee so that you can use the staff skills whenever they are up and get the auto-attacks going. The actual rotation will vary depending on how dangerous the mob is and if you need to save cool downs for anything.

For the average mob that doesn't pose any real challenge and I want to save cool downs for a future pull, I'll do something like this: BE -> LotRD -> SoP:C while running into melee -> Staff strike -> Staff Sweep -> BE -> Staff Strike...

I'll add CE or LotRD or debuffs during the brief windows when the staffs skills & BE are all on cool down.

Staff strike cool down legacy is great.

On more difficult mobs and some group pulls, I'd rotate in more debuffs early.

If don't need to save CDs for anything then I'll use ancient craft everytime it is up, and Ents and Lightning Storm as well. Use BF or CttV if stuns are on cool down and having trouble getting off an induction. AC->Ents->Lightning Storm is potent when those are all up.

This is all assuming you don't have ISG yet.

I always use the Raven with the fire debuff on auto.

I was just about to ask about more or less the same stuff, and this thread answered good portion of my questions. Thank you!

LM is so far the hardest thing I ever played (I admit neither capt nor champ and rk were too difficult though :P) and I still question my capabilities in groups when I hit the cap, but I am having a blast with the class anyway.

My advice is dont 'save' your big skills, like Wisdom of the Council and Lightning-Storm.

If you want/ need to use them , do it ! They cool pretty fast and are very helpful

i wrote a column on this a while ago which might be of interest:

http://docholidaymmo.com/2011/08/28/...a-lore-master/

SOP:command(if i remember)->test of will(useful intiator)->LOTRD->BE(for dot)->cracked earth(1 on 1) or ents(multiple foes)-> BE/LOTRD/CE/staff attacks spam. Fire lore if up agianst multiple

Originally Posted by dragerslayer

SOP:command(if i remember)->test of will(useful intiator)->LOTRD->BE(for dot)->cracked earth(1 on 1) or ents(multiple foes)-> BE/LOTRD/CE/staff attacks spam. Fire lore if up agianst multiple

Test of will (or any stun) is a very poor choice to initiate combat. The main point of stuns for a LM is to use them strategically to stop your induction skills (esp burning embers) being interrupted or setback. When you're OOC pre-combat, you already can't be interrupted so you should always start with an induction skill, preferably burning embers which has the advantage of slowing the mob down. If you really want to increase DPS though (at the expense of some survivability), use sop:wf to pull. This gets the mobs into melee range quicker so you can really start beating them up.

ToW is not a bad skill to use when the enemy is ~2sec run distance away (which gives the mob 5sec next to you, stunned - hit staff strike and then an induction skill). Other than that it doesn't have much use solo, as it's generally too slow to be able to get off while you're being attacked. Use LoTRD, storm lore and improved staff strike as your close-range stuns.

Test of Will is a great starter at low levels. It has a long reach, and relatively high crit chance and damage. The problem is that ToW scales poorly, so at higher levels, it's really not viable as a damage skill, particularly due to its long induction and cooldown. That said, ToW is useful as a backup stun, especially when you're trying to double mez or do similar things.

I was thinking about my rotations and realize that I currently don't have one. What I use depends in part on what's on cooldown, the number of mobs, how dangerous they are, and what else is around. Most generally, it's something like what Arolas-EU wrote.

Regarding pets, I used the lynx quite a bit in Moria. I don't worry about keeping it alive. The main benefit is its initial attack - treat the lynx as a quick attack skill and then forget about it. Because landscape mobs die so fast, burst damage is preferred over general DPS. However, if the mobs present any kind of danger, or if you're fighting mobs that take more than a minute to kill, you're probably better off with a bear or some other pet.

My operations are quite technical but basic as I can be, I hit them a lot with my stick. Poke their eyes with my sharp metal thing and throw flammable objects at them when they're down.

^ Really similar to you I alternate between my staff attacks, fire DoT's and the occasional debuff on most landscape mobs, on bosses ...I lay warding,tar, air lore my pet, knowledge of the loremaster ...debuffs, then tortoise until the pet is near dead ...then I heal him (stealing aggro) and go all out.

Granted my LM is not at level cap (66 currently) my main rotation for landscape mobs goes something like this: SoPC, Test of Will, burning embers, LoTRD, burning embers or staff strike (depending where said mob is) and then generally alternate SS and BE until the mob is crispy crittered.

For bosses I use a slightly different approach, I almost always use the Eagle (I just love the interrupts/flanks) and so use I Tar, warding circle, SoPC, (my pet has attacked in the meantime) fire-lore, SoPSAE, Test of wills, BE, SS, LoTRD, and continue with a cycle of debuffs, BE/SS/LoTRD, and heals from flanks until the target is dead.

Originally Posted by PsychobabbleJJ

Test of will (or any stun) is a very poor choice to initiate combat. The main point of stuns for a LM is to use them strategically to stop your induction skills (esp burning embers) being interrupted or setback. When you're OOC pre-combat, you already can't be interrupted so you should always start with an induction skill, preferably burning embers which has the advantage of slowing the mob down. If you really want to increase DPS though (at the expense of some survivability), use sop:wf to pull. This gets the mobs into melee range quicker so you can really start beating them up.

ToW is not a bad skill to use when the enemy is ~2sec run distance away (which gives the mob 5sec next to you, stunned - hit staff strike and then an induction skill). Other than that it doesn't have much use solo, as it's generally too slow to be able to get off while you're being attacked. Use LoTRD, storm lore and improved staff strike as your close-range stuns.

Quick question how do you expect TOW to stop you from being interrupted when it has a long induction itself(2s is fairly long in combat as its enough time to be setback). also being the longest range skill if you pop it from a distance then BE you'll get a 5s stun + a slow which is enough time for you to cast cracked earth locking down foe even more with a root.

Regardless of rotation, the most important thing to remember as a LM is what your skills do and combat states.

When I see a LM in PvE or PvP do ents on a bunch of red-circle stun-immune mobs I just sigh.

Knowing when to stun and not wasting stuns is huge.

I absolutely hate wisdom of the council because it removes my ability to plan stuns.

That's my 2 cents.

Originally Posted by dragerslayer

Quick question how do you expect TOW to stop you from being interrupted when it has a long induction itself(2s is fairly long in combat as its enough time to be setback).

As I said - "ToW is not a bad skill to use when the enemy is ~2sec run distance away (which gives the mob 5sec next to you, stunned - hit staff strike and then an induction skill). Other than that it doesn't have much use solo, as it's generally too slow to be able to get off while you're being attacked. Use LoTRD, storm lore and improved staff strike as your close-range stuns."

You have other stuns which you use to stop getting interrupted.

also being the longest range skill if you pop it from a distance then BE you'll get a 5s stun + a slow which is enough time for you to cast cracked earth locking down foe even more with a root.

The point is that a lore-master you don't WANT to stop things getting into melee range, you jst want to soften them up a little so that you can easily finish them off with melee attacks (staff strike, sweep and auto-attack), which is a huge source of damage for us. As I go into in the column I linked earlier in the thread, we aren't ranged nuking class like RKs or hunters, we're hybrid melee-ranged DPS.

In extension to what was said above, I find that in PvP 1v1s, especially with reavers and wargs who are continually interrupting and setting back your inductions - you are to an extent forced into MELEE more than anything else. If you have the reduced induction gourd, that'll work a treat, but otherwise if you're up against a half decent melee creep who knows what he is doing, you'll be hard pressed to get a BE off unless it is early on or you get lucky with CC, or you're lucky enough to get an induction off period.

Your soloing DPS rotation, whatever it may be, should be adaptable to your opponent and the scenario you are in. Sometimes it may be crucial to get an interrupt/mez off immediately if you're up against a ranged target or a BA/defiler, etc.

If you're just soloing in a PvE situation generally you'd open up with embers, mez/CE, embers, WF (even better with the + legacy, cast it early on and add another substantial DoT, why not), LOTRD, embers... by then your target should be dead, really. Crit nice and end the fight in 3 clicks. If you're up going to take on a whole cluster of opponents - throw down tar first, and then open up with embers, kite around the tar or if you're feeling bold get up close - use Staff Sweep -> Storm Lore -> Ents. Doing these 3 in succession is destructive because the stun from SL will give you enough time to get off Ents, and because you're under the crit chance buff from staff sweep, you're going to hit hard. Not dead yet? Throw sticky gourd down, between that, and the decreased mits from the tar and the raven (best all around pet - between the tactical mit, fire mitigation debuff and reasonable flank rate, it is a good one) you'll pretty much annihilate everything.

Or you could allow yourself to become surrounded: Staff Sweep -> Sticky Gourd -> Storm Lore -> Ents...

So many possibilities, at the end of the day just experiment and see what works best in any given situation for you. It's all fairly logical, really

Originally Posted by Arolas-EU

I never use the lynx to be honest, I just don't like haing to wait for it to re-stealth [...]

You should get into the habit of using Return to Master soon after combat ends. It resets any pet's morale and power, and the Lynx goes back into stealth immediately. (Take care of any DoT effects before doing this, though, else the lynx will pop right back out of stealth.)

I have Return quickslotted on the = key ... easy to remember and well away from keys I use for combat skills.

Theres not a specific rotation. What i like to do is keep the mob as far as possible alternating damage with debuffs and stuns and finishing them when they come close with staff strikes. You can try something like this: burning embers - lightning flash - appropriate debuffs according to mob type - cracked earth - light of the rising dawn - staff strikes.