An Inquisitor is a hybrid class. In other words, Inquisitors are able to do decent damage and provide decent support. While we might not do as much damage as a pure DPS class, or provide as much support as a Saint (or the Light Fury in the future), we can certainly perform those roles competently, if we skill correctly and play correctly
Our support element is easy-to-understand, buff and rebuff, cure ailments and heal when our party is low on hit points.
Here is the thing, we are hybrids, so the other half of our role is damage dealing, and from general observations of other Inquisitors, many do not understand our DPS rotation.
As such, I have written a complete guide to the Inquisitor DPS rotation, the goal is to teach new Inquisitors how to DPS and why is our rotation in such a manner. Read more to proceed to the guide proper.
Note: Blessings are not included as part of this guide as they are assumed to be up at all times.
1. Rotation is a Misnomer
While I say "rotation", Dragon Nest does not really have any rotation, for any class. A rotation implies that to maximise DPS, you must repeat certain skills in a certain order. The cooldowns of our DPS skills does not allow a "rotation" in the traditional sense.
What we actually follow is a "priority" system. In other words, if the cooldowns of two or more skills were to clash, the highest priority skill on the list is used first.
2. Building the Priority List
When building a priority list, one must take stock of the skills at one's disposal. This guide will assume you have at least:
Level 21 Charge Bolt
Level 16 Lightning Bolt
Level 16 Chain Lightning
Level 11 Holy Burst
Level 2 Heavenly Judgement
Level 6 Consecration
Level 1 Cure Relic
Level 1 Grand Cross
Level 1 Lightning Relic
Level 1 Detonate
Level 1 Mindbreaker
All EXs except for Detonate are taken
Now I am going to sort out the skills into individual categories
a) Boosters
Boosters are skills that, on their own, do little DPS, their sole purpose is to boost other, more potent DPS skills.
We have boosters in two forms, namely a) Light attack buffs and b) Light resist debuffs
Before continuing, however, I would first like to clarify something about that % Light resist debuff you see in the tooltips of our skills.
-% Light resist debuffs is the equivalent of -% Light defence reduction. In other words, if a boss has a -15% Light resist debuff, it takes 15% more damage from Light elemental attacks.
There is empirical evidence to support this here: http://www.gamephreak.com/threads/85271-Revisiting-Light-Resist-Reduction-Stacking
As such, in order to optimise DPS, a target should have as much -% light resist debuffs on it as possible
This chart above is taken from CDN's Duowan forums. This chart shows which light resist debuffs stack with each other. The group on the left all provides the same debuff, in other words, they do not stack with each other. The group on the right, on the other hand, each provides a light resist debuff seperate from the group on the left. In other words, they will stack with the debuff given by the group on the left and each other.
Combined with a paladin, your damage can be theoretically boosted by the amount stated on the right most column
Now back to the topic at hand, skills which I would classify under the booster category are:
Cure Relic: +5% Light attack
Mindbreaker EX: -15% Light resist debuff
Consecration: -10% Light resist debuff
Charge Bolt (Situational): -15% Light resist debuff
Lightning Bolt (Situational): -15% Light resist debuff
While Chain Lightning provides an electrocution debuff, it is under a separate category that will be discussed later on.
Charge Bolt and Lightning Bolt's status as a booster is situational based on your current distance from the boss. If you are close, use Charged Bolt. If you are far, use Lightning Bolt. Remember: If not dodging an attack or avoiding nest/raid mechanics, movement in general is always a loss in DPS. The rule of DPS in any MMORPGs is ABC - Always Be Casting.
While Lightning Relic provides an electrocution debuff, I find that it is generally unreliable. As such, it is not considered as part of the booster category.
When DPSing, you're highest priority skills are the ones that provide a boosting effect. These skills, ideally, should be casted in the order of lowest DPS to highest DPS. This is so that the higher DPS skills are boosted while the lower DPS ones are not.
As such, the first part of our priority list is
Cure Relic
Mindbreaker EX
Consecration
Charge Bolt (When close to the boss)
Lightning Bolt (When further from the boss)
This provides a total of +21% light attack and -40% light resist debuff. This significantly boosts the next category of skills
b) Nukes
Nukes are your hard hitting skills, the skills you want to be boosted by the multipliers stated above. Your nukes are, in order of most powerful to least powerful:
Heavenly Judgement
Chain Lightning
Lightning Bolt (If Charged Bolt was used to apply the base electrocution debuff)
Holy Burst
Charged Bolt (If Lightning Bolt was used to apply the base electrocution debuff)
After applying the boosts stated above. Immediately use these skills in that order to take advantage of them before they wear off. If you use Heavenly Judgement, you may forgo the Charge Bolt/Lightning Bolt Multiplier.
Note: Using Heavenly Judgement is based on team composition and nest mechanics. If you know in a certain phase a boss is going to use a very powerful attack and you're team needs, keyword here is needs, Miracle Relic to survive, don't use Heavenly Judgement, wait for the mechanic and use Miracle Relic. If you're team, for whatever reason, happens to include a Saint, don't bother, just use Heavenly Judgement. If the damage can be healed with either Healing Relic or Heal, again don't bother, just use Heavenly Judgement.
Also note that Heavenly Judgement replaces the -15% base debuff with a -33% debuff. This will make your subsequent attacks more powerful for the debuff's duration.
c) Fillers
Fillers are skills that you cast when you have absolutely nothing else to cast. Generally they are low DPS skills that are also on a short cooldown and serve no purpose other than to be used when you have nothing else in your arsenal. The fillers you have are:
Lightning Relic
Grand Cross
Detonate
Note that Detonate removes ALL of YOUR light resist debuffs as they are classified as electrocution debuffs. Unless you have to break a boss's Super Armor, Detonate will be placed last in you're rotation as you are removing multipliers for other skills (in other words, it is best to cast detonate when no other skills are left to multiply)
Fun fact: I've tested this with my Crusader friend, Detonate can be used on a Paladin's Lightning Zap without removing the associated debuff. If you skilled Detonate and can coordinate with your paladin, it might be a DPS increase to first Detonate after he Lightning Zaps then continuing with the normal priority list.
3. Forming the Priority List
Putting it together, an Inquisitor's final priority list is as follows:
1. Cure Relic - Maintain +21% Light attack (Highest Priority)
2. Mindbreaker EX - Apply -15% Light resist debuff
3. Consecration - Apply -10% Light resist debuff
4. Heavenly Judgement (Situational) - Ultimate, most powerful skill in your arsenal. Use when Miracle Relic is not needed. Applies a -33% Light resist debuff.
4. Conditional* Charge Bolt (If close to the boss) - Apply base -15% Light resist debuff when in melee range
5. Conditional* Lightning Bolt (If at range) - Apply base -15% Light resist debuff when at range
7. Chain Lightning - Your most powerful regular nuke. Use with as many multipliers as possible.
8. Lightning Bolt (If close to the boss) - Second most powerful nuke, use if you didn't use it to apply the base multiplier.
9. Holy Burst - Next most powerful nuke.
10. Charge Bolt (If at range) - Move in to use this skill.
11. Lightning Relic - Short cooldown, decent damage (especially if dropped on the enemy's head). Best filler skill in your arsenal.
12. Grand Cross - Short cooldown but long cast time. Decent damage even at level 1.
13. Detonate - Removes all electrocution debuffs, decent damage. (Lowest Priority)
*The condition is that your base -15% electrocution debuff has not been applied yet.
4. Closing Words
Inquisitors can be a decent DPS if you skill well, gear well and most importantly, know how to play. Hopefully with this guide you, the reader, understand Inquisitor DPS better. Remember that we follow a priority system - When resolving a clash in cooldowns, use the highest priority skill first.
The priority list I use above is designed to take advantage of the many boosters Inquisitors naturally have to offset the low board damage of our skills. In spite of what many say, remember that board damage is not the only determinant of damage. It is important, yes, but that does not explain why, given the above rotation, a Chain Lightning is one of the most powerful short-cooldown nukes in the game (for the record, when my Inquisitor was at a similar gear level as my GearMaster, his Chain Lightning does easily more damage than any single GearMaster skill, even a 3 Duck Mecha Bomber, in spite of being at a mere 12 second cooldown.) The secret lies in the fact that you're board damage is, in fact, boosted by many of your skills and you should always make full use of them.
Of course in standard parties Inquisitors are taken as a healer. Remember that if you are the sole healer in the group, regardless of the priority list, you should always cast a healing spell first if your party needs it, do not let a party member die because it will interrupt your DPS. The only time you can just tunnel the boss and DPS is when you're party has another healer, namely a Saint or Guardian (or Light Fury in the future), which is a pretty damn rare situation for most 4 man parties, don't count on it.
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