How to DPS as a Chosen

It is time to twist and shout with class. Show us your moves in full detail right here!
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Meraslyss
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How to DPS as a Chosen

Post by Meraslyss »

We don't really have a Class or Archtype board so figured this would be decent here. Screen Shots included!!

Alright, so those of you who have played the Chosen class may have noticed when you go into Scenarios that there always seems to be a difference in the damage certain members of the Chosen class are putting out in comparison to their comrades. There is reasons for this, but there is more than one would think. I've bought Screen Shots to show as proof as well. All tests were done on level 20 Siege pads as they respawn quickly, don't move around either and can be hit by all debuffs.

First off, #1 most important thing (at least till level 20 as I wasn't in closed Beta) ALWAYS use Ravage as your DPS move, yes it does cost 5 more Action points than our Enraged Blow does, BUT it does more damage. This isn't a large damage increase until you learn HOW you can increase it. First off here's my Gear/Weapon I'm using at the time so if you want to use this guide as a point to shoot for you can look at my stats during this test.

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This is all my Gear, along with Weapon shown it's the level 19 Renown Weapon.

Alright, now that that's out of the way let's look at the damage Ravage does for me with my stats/Weapon.

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145 Damage per Ravage hit, and 99 Auto hit. Kinda meh for me using a 2 hander isn't it? It gets better, let me show you how. First off we'll see the difference with me using my Strength Aura, this is the most obvious way to increase our DPS as STR is our primary way of increasing the damage all our abilities do.

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My damage increases to 157 per Ravage Hit, and 107 per Auto Hit. Getting better, now let's look at the Toughness Aura debuff, this is a nice little Aura that increases your toughness while decreasing your opponents.

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A little less than my Str aura, BUT the thing to remember when in group combat. Toughness effects BOTH magic and Physical damage, so this aura while in group combat is actually very useful as it will boosts everyone's DPS who is focusing on anyone within your Aura Range. Now that we have the 2 most obvious ways of increasing our DPS let's look at the not so obvious. First up the Magic Resistance Aura. I know, immediately you're thinking "Uh fido, it's Physical damage" Actually ravage isn't, it's Spiritual Damage that is effected by Str for base damage and is increased or decreased depending on the targets resistances.

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Alright, so with Magic resist Aura my ravage is still just under what it was with my Str Aura, but my Auto attack suffered. Not hard to see why most Chosen aren't using this in PvP unless they're being casted on right? WRONG, let me show you a little something that a lot of people are not thinking about yet. How our abilities Stack, and OH how they do. First up how does our Magic Aura, and Blast Wave stack. (Blast wave is a Chosen AE ability that along with damage will also further lower magic resists by almost 3 times as much as the aura alone, and the debuffs stack together).

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WOW good damage increase from just my Str aura isn't it? And that's only from using one extra move along with my Magic Aura, keep in mind the Blast wave debuff also lasts for 20 seconds, so that's a good chunk of time for more ravage damage!

Alright now that we've seen that, let's combine two of the Aura's and Twist Str/Magic Aura and see the outcome.

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191 Ravage now, ALONG with the increased Auto attack from my Str Aura, starting to see why there's almost always a Chosen or 2 in the top DPS slots during Scenarios? Let's add in a little more shall we?

Next up is Str Aura/Magic Aura, Blast Wave, AND Taunt keep in mind this is a little harder to get off in PvP, UNLESS you have 2 Chosen working together to keep up the Auras/Blast Wave, then it's very easy to do.

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240 Ravage Damage now, when you compare that to the 145 normal hit Ravage it's starting to get nasty, then add in the 135 Auto attack and it's some nice damage.

Finally adding in the last one, as this one is the LEAST likely to happen in PvP Combat, but much more likely to happen in PvE combat. This is Toughness Aura/Magic Aura/Str Aura, Taunt, and Blast Wave used before i started smacking it. If you got all this off, typically you would have about 10 seconds worth of this type of damage as long as you kept up the Aura twisting and your target was not attacking you to get rid of the Taunt quicker.

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Now with this one, I was doing enough damage to kill the pad quicker than the Combat log could be filled up, which is why you see a few hits that aren't 250's as those were from a previous Pad i was testing on. 256 Ravage Damage, and 142 Auto Attack. Looking at over a 100 point increase in just Ravage and a 43 Point increase per hit from Auto Attack.

As a small point as well, ALL testing was done with the 15% damage increase Tactic that Chosen get as a Class Tactic. That also adds into the tests.

Also i know we have a couple Perci players from other guilds who have access to these boards, until better guides come out if you guys want to snatch this up and post it on your guild boards feel free.
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Cleon
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Re: How to DPS as a Chosen

Post by Cleon »

Thank you Meraslyss! That was an amazing read!

I was actually planning to put up class boards this weekend before CE starts.

We can move this there once i get it going.
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Meraslyss
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Re: How to DPS as a Chosen

Post by Meraslyss »

Thank ya much Cleon!
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Re: How to DPS as a Chosen

Post by lasky »

Meraslyss wrote:Thank ya much Cleon!
Well done!
/clap
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Re: How to DPS as a Chosen

Post by Lynnx Holyfield »

*bows* It is very well done, for anyone looking to do Chosen as a melee-dps over a tank.
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Re: How to DPS as a Chosen

Post by Ghoest9 »

Nice post. My main will probably be a Choosen with a 2 handed sword most of the time. I only played a little beta so this is helpful.
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Re: How to DPS as a Chosen

Post by Vaklen »

I learned that twisting was going to be needed to push up the damage back in closed beta. Specing properly will also help with this as well. Each aura is in a different line too, so depending on how you are spec'd will greatly increase the outcome of that damage.

Level 37 for Power from the Gods tactics.. that makes Auras cost nothing. Will be a good level indeed.

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Re: How to DPS as a Chosen

Post by Donkipunx »

I beleive there was also talk of a mod that makes twisting a little easier.
though I know some dev teams don't like the idea of twisting.
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Re: How to DPS as a Chosen

Post by Vaklen »

I tried the Discord spec in live fire. of running the T3 scenarios. I went back to Dread as Cleave is working alot better. I don't get parried/blocked. And I think the item you used to test cannot do those things, also resistances are different in the live theater.

This would be really good to test this against a living target on the other side willing to work with one of us. I know I hate being blocked/parried on mmy attacks, and that can bust into the overall DPS of the fight.

For twisting, I use Corrutping Wrath/Dreadful Fear. For attacks, Tooth when it's up and Cleave. Costs more AP's, but they are not wasted against being defended against.

I need to get some hard figures on these, but this is a spec for DPS that people should try. I am seldom outdone in damage in PQ's.
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Re: How to DPS as a Chosen

Post by Vaklen »

OK, i did a small case study of this. The test was between Dread and Discord paths. Here are the base stats of this test. I am normally Dread spec'd and in PQ's I am usually at the top of the food chain. I will be using Discord spec for a bit to see what improvements there are in the group as a whole. I know with another chosen in the group, we can lessen the twisting down which will save us AP's (At least till we get the free aura tactic)

Chosen level: 25
Strength: 348 (69.6 to ability DPS)
Weapon skill: 188 (19.8 to armor penetration)
Intellegence: 76 (+15.2 Magicial DPS)

Weapon level: 24 Blue Greatsword
Weapon DPS: 49.3

Test subjects: Griffin Flintlock (lvl 23 Empire)
5 test subjects per attack set below

Test 1 - Path of Dread - Cleave (lvl 27)
203 - Cleave alone
256 - Cleave w/taunt
217 - Cleave w/ Dread Fear (lvl 27)
286 - Cleave w/Corrupting Wrath (lvl 17), Dread Fear (lvl 27), Taunt
-- No tests were parried or blocked --

Test 2 - Path of Discord - Ravage (lvl 27)
257 - Ravage alone (1 test was parried)
? - Ravage w/ taunt. Test was parried all five times
280 - Ravage w/ Discordant aura (lvl 27) (0 test was parried)
352 - Ravage w/ DAura and Taunt (1 test was parried)
398 - Ravage w/ Blast Wave (lvl 27), DAura, Taunt (2 tests were parried)

Dread
Pro
Unable to block/parry the attack. It has not missed in the above test
Allows tooth to be stacked on it for the never miss hit
Tooth helps the group DPS as a whole for the next attack they do

Con
Attack costs 10 more AP's than Ravage
Only good for single target killing

Discord
Pro
Highest damage per swing
Spiritual debuff helps other classes DPS
General magical debuff aura helps the your group lay the law down on your target

Con
Prone to being parried/blocked
Long cooldown to get the most dmg out of it using Blast Wave

Summary
Dread is great for the small group tactics when making sure someone dies mighty fast. Discord is really good for those large RVR ights (6 or more per side) as the debuffing of resistances really helps alot of the classes out. Even though Ravage is not the sure hit, the benefits it gives to others on the team really makes a big difference.
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Re: How to DPS as a Chosen

Post by Brok »

I completely agree. I always run the resist aura since I saw that much of our damage is 'spell' based. It also ups our survivability more than toughness in PvP. Most enemies have some armor but not much when it comes to resists. So this is teh way to go.
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Re: How to DPS as a Chosen

Post by Meraslyss »

Nice test Vaklen, the reason I used the Ram pads was because they're one of the few things in game you can find with no Magic resists, no armor, no Toughness. So you will always get consistent numbers on them because with mobs they have hidden stats that we don't know about.
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Re: How to DPS as a Chosen

Post by Vaklen »

Thanks. Yeah, i was not concerned about the resists as much as the blockl/parry/miss % between Dread and Discord. I am still on the fence about end game with being Dread or Discord spec'd as the primary and the other secondary.
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