Might DPS Master Thread - Rotations for Every Power and How to Build/Test Them

- Added an important note to Sorcery:

Important

DO NOT JUMP CANCEL SOUL BARRAGE OR SOUL STORM UNTIL YOUR BALLS ARE ALL OUT.

If you try to jump cancel Soul Barrage, you will only get 1-3 out of 5 projectiles and lose a large chunk of damage (and unlike normal behaviour, you don't get credit for these unlaunched ones if a single projectile hits). If you try to jump cancel Soul Storm, you might cancel all of your projectiles and deal 0 damage. Wait the split second for the projectiles to launch if you need to move.

Sup man. I finally upgraded my electric loadout lol. Give this a shot tell me what you think.

Loadout:
Arc, Tesla ball, genesis, ecute, amplified heat vision, circuit breaker

Rotation:
Arc > Tesla > gen > arc > HV > Arc > Tesla > ecute > arc > HV > repeat

Pretty much a combination of both of our loadouts and I think we both will be pleasantly surprised by it lol. Highest parser I recorded with this loadout and rotation was 97k parsers lol. And you know what else is awesome about this loadout? I can do back to back 60 sec parsers without ever running out of power lol. My powers last longer than a cola takes to come off cooldown lol

Nice. With both tested w same artifacts on, I have it doing ~2-4% more on average (+/- a % or two; oddly the spread's a bit wider on it, so hard to nail down but definitely has higher output potential and gains more the longer the targets live). Only considerations I can think of are that I don't think anything outside of an add-heavy bossfight will live long enough to let it reach full potential (eg. only reaches higher % gains when I test for an extended period, allowing both Electrocute and Electrogenesis overlap to adjust for the wind-up time), unless the tank pulls the whole zone and that it's vulnerable to electrogen targets' deaths and movement in general. I don't think the 12s CDs are a liability though.

Will add it now. Eventually I wanna take a closer look at 3-target alternatives, since both loadouts kinda hope to see large groups of adds.

Unfortunately that’s the downside with electric as a whole lol. What’s great about electric is that it has 3 abilities that don’t follow the normal spitting rules. These are arc lightning, Tesla, and electrogenesis. This loadout takes full advantage of those 3 moves which is what I wanted to fit in. The rest came to a matter of cooldown. Btw I am going to start working on a very old school loadout and see what I can come up with lol. Think of when new genesis came out lol

- Added Electrogenesis + Electrocute mass AoE variant to Electricity:

With Electrogenesis and Electrocute:
Arc Lightning>Tesla Ball>Electrogenesis>Arc Lightning>Heat Vision>Arc Lightning>Tesla Ball>Electrocute>Arc Lightning>Heat Vision>Repeat

Note: Slightly higher max output than the mobile variant but slower to reach max output; best suited for large, stationary groups of resilient adds.

- Added some burstier options for Celestial for weaker open world and alert/duo enemies:

Bursty - For weaker mobs, like in open world dailies/weeklies and alerts/duos

Note: These variations are relatively short ranged and designed to get a bit more damage out upfront vs targets that won't live long.

Loadout: Divine Light, Heat Vision, Wrath of the Presence, Blight

Rotations:

Heat Vision>Wrath of the Presence (full combo)(clipped with)>Blight (full combo)(clipped with)>Repeat

or

Heat Vision>Wrath of the Presence (full combo)(clipped with>Wrath of the Presence (full combo)(clipped with)>Repeat

Note: If multiple targets are present, consider initiating with Divine Light.

Alternatively, you may consider simply adding Divine Light to the Hybrid and doing Heat Vision>Consume Soul>Defile>Repeat w Divine Light when multiple targets present for a similar but max range approach.

Just to clarify: We still haven't given a ton of attention to 3-target rotations, which will sometimes outperform the trash-clear rotations listed, esp if the tank isn't pulling multiple hallway groups. Hope to be back on it soon. Test is currently down to fix the pre-emptive arti reveal and I'm personally currently still working on finishing the LPVE character rundowns but hope to give this more attention soon.

Also just wanna reiterate that this is all geared towards Elite. You may have to make some burstier substitions on certain powers if duo/alert/raid trash is melting before you can reach peak DPS. Have tried to provide some bursty alternatives where we can but obviously with covering so much territory there'll be gaps. Happy to try out anything you've found to be effective for specific situations.

I actually have an idea on how to find better loadouts for faster dying stuff. I’ll PM you in a sec

Added a quick explanation of how the game calculates our Stat Totals to the General Information section.

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How Stats Are Calculated

Every stat in the game is calculated as follows:

Stat Total = Σ(Raw Stat from all sources) x Σ(Stat % Modifiers from all sources)

Ie. The game first adds together all of the stats you're getting from gear, arts, sp, mods, augs, group buffs (eg. Tetra, Dilustel), trinkets, or any source. It then multiplies that by the sum of all of your % modifiers to get our Stat Total. The Stat Total is the number we see when we look at our stats menu.

There are some important takeaways from this:

- % Buffs at the cost of raw stat buffs may not be worth the sacrifice; always check what effect a change has on your actual stat total.

- Seemingly large % changes to powers (ie. during balance passes) are, in practice, usually pretty minute. Eg. the upcoming change to Fervor from 50% def buff to 45% def buff is, in practice, only a ~1-2% change in the total amount of def gained at most since that 5% difference is applied to the sum of all raw stats and not to the stat total people see in the menu.

- Group buffs from artifacts from things like Tetrahedron of Urgrund and Dilustel Refractor have a major impact because they count as a raw stat buff, meaning they enter the equation before % buffs are applied. Ie. If I give you 6000 Might with Tetrahedron and you have a modifier of 1.36 from all sources, your Total Might would actually increase by 8160.

So, is Heat vision mandated in your opinion, for aoe specifically, because it’s obviously is for st

If Solar Amp >160. Not mandatory but I'd strongly encourage its use for most powers. It hits like a truck still, doesn't split, applies an AoE DoT, and has a short CD so it's a solid af AoE opener. There are passable rotations that don't use it but, in general, their output isn't as good. It's just a universally good DPS power for any situation. As a bonus, it also allows for clean tac swaps.

I want to bother you with another question, what do you think about water, I’ve been the power before but I was using prec solely, so I’m curious about the might side. I’m celestial at the moment, and it’s doing extremely well, and I’m hoping that water can compete with it

First of all, thanks for taking the time to put this together. I think lots of new players will find it very helpful.

I'm a gadgets, might, range DPS. Up till now I've been using a rotation that relies heavily on PI (Cryo foam / gauss grenade / sticky bomb / paralyzing dart with the EMP for aoe situations and the Neuro Neutralizer for a shield). However, the damage I put out using this load-out really doesn't compare with those using load-outs similar to the ones you posted. So, I've always been wanting to try a new load-out. With possibly a whole month still to go before the BOP episode drops, I think now is a good time to give it a try.

My question is could you explain the mechanics behind "clipping" and "jump canceling"? I see these terms always being used by people but to be honest... I just don't know how to do them. (FYI I'm on the Nintendo Switch) Is there a video you could point me to that just explains how to "clip" and "jump cancel"?

With this load-out would you recommend a specific movement / weapon? Or it really doesn't matter. Also what artifacts do you recommend? Personally, I use the Grim and Transformation Card but am open as to what my third will be. With this load-out I'm assuming it should be the Solar Amp. (Wondering if the adjustment of permanent pets in the next GU and the new pet artifact will change things.)

Thanks in advance.

It's fine. As the ST demos show, really every power can do well. Only annoyance with water is that if you wanna do well with pure pure pure no-splash ST, you gotta do the Dehydrate-in-rotation variant but that's trivial since the only times we need 100% clean is for feats & a lil splash is generally ideal. If someone knows their power and is doing effective rotations, they'll do well no matter what so it really comes down to enjoying the look/feel of a power and the tools in its kit.

All those terms are explained in more detail in the General Information section, so I'd give that a gander and if it's still not clear, let me know.

Movement mode doesn't really matter but my personal preference is Super Speed (there are a few powers where Acro gives them better DPS options but Gadgets isn't one of them). For weapon, you want to use anything with a good ranged tap (ie. pretty much anything besides rifle, hb, pistols, bow); I prefer Staff personally.

For the ST loadouts you'll want Grim + Solar Amp at minimum then either La Mort, Trans, or Tetra. These rotations will be made stronger by the upcoming pet buffs as well.

Got it. Thanks for the reply.

Fleshed out the Advanced Techniques section with detailed explanation of artifacts' tac swap potential and interactions as well as demos.

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Tactical Swap

The value of many artifacts is maximized by only swapping them in for use at an appropriate time then swapping them back out quickly. This is best done during channeling or during uninterruptable animations (eg. Orbital Strike, Orbital Supply Drop, certain unclippable summons).

Note: This may seems challenging at first but once you've practiced it it becomes second nature, you can pull it off safely in every fight in the game, and it will result in a massive gain for your overall DPS output. Easier to do with a controller but not hard with kbm by any means.

Here's an explanation of the most import swap artifacts:

Dead King's Scepter

By swapping this in & out, you not only gain 100% of the value of it's Orbital Strike and pet/henchmen CD reduction but you also retain the 30s of Enhanced Orbital Assistance even if you immediately swap it out after dropping Orbital Strike; this is because Enhanced Orbital Assistance is a buff tied to your character, not to the artifact itself.

Orbital Assistance's damage is stat-based, not CR-based, and can therefore crit. You will get 8-10 procs after swapping, effectively giving you an additional ~20-40% (depending on crits) ST damage to your Orbital Strike every time you use it on top of the DPS gains gleaned from more frequent pet and trinket activation.

We effectively get %95%+ of the mechical value from Dead King's Scepter by only swapping it in for activations, as the standard Orbital Assistance is infrequent.

Philosopher's Stone

As with Enhanced Orbital Assistance, Alchemical Bond is a buff tied to your character, not to the artifact itself. You can immediately remove the artifact and still retain the 2x duration DMG buff from your Supply drop, making your Supply Drop buff last for the entirety of your Neo-Venom Boost/Circuit Breaker/Berserk.

This is in addition to the dramatically reduced Supply Drop CD and the much larger diameter benefiting the group.

We effectively get 100% of the mechanical value from Philosopher's Stone by only swapping it in for activations.

Tetrahedron of Urgrund

Tetrahedron's group Might buff lasts for 12s, meaning you don't have to always keep it on if you don't want to. Also, if you put it on mid-channeling, the next tick of channeled damage will proc the effect. However, non-initial DoT ticks will not proc the power; "active" damage only.

We can maintain 100% of Tetrahedron's mechanical value via (very) active Tac Swap management or while simply other artis in & out, making it the ideal Tac Swap companion arti.

Scrap of the Soul Cloak

Scrap's mechanic description is a bit misleading or, at best, omits some critical information. First, it doesn't just increase your max SC, it also increases your current existing SC by a factor of 1.27 when you put it on (this is why when you have full SC with it off, your SC stays full when you put it on). Similarly, when you remove it your current SC is reduced back to a factor of 1.

This means that we effectively get the benefit of the "increases Supercharge generation by 27%" aspect of the artifact whether or not we're actually wearing it during SC gen, meaning there's virtually no reason to ever mainline this arti except in cases where there simply isn't time to swap it (eg. some Nature cheese builds).

We get 100% of Scrap of the Soul Cloak's mechanical value by only swapping it in for activations.

La-Mort Card

La-Mort's Impending Doom stacks rest on the target, not the artifact, and last for 1min. As such, as long as you swap La-Mort in for a finisher activation at least once every 60s, you can retain a full Impending Doom stack without keeping La-Mort on. To do this without a DPS loss, however, requires placing a channeled ability before your finisher then swapping La-Mort back out during your finisher channel, so it's more challenging than the other swaps.

We can get 100% of La-Mort Card's mechanical value by only swapping it in for Finishers, but it's challenging and requires changing, requires changing the order of your rotation, and precludes the use of some other Tac Swap techniques.

Eye of Gemini

You retain 100% of the mechanical value of Eye of Gemini if you swap it out immediately after popping an SC. However, it's mechanic isn't generally as valuable as Scrap of the Soul Cloak's and you can only swap one (w/o sacrificing significant rotation DPS) so we don't recommend this for most situations.

Extreme Tactical Swap:

Note: Every power's max-output rotations (except for some variants of Nature's current cheese) are capable of doing this without suffering a rotational DPS loss.

Min:Max Swap

Note: You don't have to do the Scepter swap with the Stone+Scrap+Neo combo, I just wanted to demo them all at once.

Scepter>Henchmen+Pet (swap Orbital Strike during animation)>Orbital Strike (swap Stone during animation)>instacast power clipped with Supply Drop (swap Scrap during animation)>stat trinket + Bottled City Soder + Neo/CB/Berserk>HV or a comparable channeled power (swap aritfacts during channel)>continue with normal rotation

Note: Sorry the only pet I have on Test is Snake but you get the idea.

I've always done this safely, cleanly, and reliably in all elite content. That said, know the mechanics, know where to stand, and when not to do it (ie. if it's been a while since Lady Blackhawk has done her charge attack or portals in PCe, wait for when it's safe and for when you won't lose your damage to having to deal with mechanics).

One Man Army

If you want to put a lot of effort in, you can have your cake and eat it too by permanently maintaining the group's Tetra while only wearing Tetra for a fraction of your rotation. This requires that you maintain a high level of situational awareness and know fights very well, however. Tetra lasts for 12s so gauge the length of your rotation to determine how frequently you need to do this. If you time it perfectly, you can swap it in & out quickly during a channeled power (as per above) but you don't have to and it's a bit more awkward to do it that way)

- We're currently going through and giving some love to the raid trash rotations and revamping some powers for the upcoming pet changes. Rerecording existing rotations to bring outputs in line with the changes to allow for more accurate overall comparison.
- We've added Light's Raid Trash clear builds and expanded it's OSFA rotations with additional usage notes.

Added melee and full range Gadgets raid trash clear loadouts. Will re-up ST rotations tomorrow (same should hold true for post-update). These aoe rotations are for post-update but will be just as effective now (minus the annoyance of Turret currently potentially de-summoning between adds).

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Raid Trash Clear Loadouts:

Melee Range - This has the highest damage potential but does considerably less in actual content due to damage lost to range considerations, enemy CC, interrupts, enemy movement/pulls, and positioning

Artifacts: The Transformation Card, and The Strategist Card, Tetrahedron of Urgrund (or Solar Amplifier, Grimorium Verum, or The Philosopher's Stone if another Tetra is already in play)

Note: (Actually summon Suppressor Turret)

Thermite Mine>Implosion Mine>Paralyzing Dart (clipped with)>Stealth (clipped with)>EMP Pulse>Whirling Dervish (3 ticks)(Dashing Combo)(clipped with)>Thermite Mine>Implosion Mine>Paralyzing Dart>Whirling Dervish (3 ticks)(Dashing Combo)(clipped with>Repeat

Note: Do not queue melee taps onto anything but Paralyzing Dart, as if you do it will slow the flow down slightly and marginally reduce overall DPS.

Full Range - Despite parsing lower than the melee build on Sparring Targets, this will generally perform at least as well in content as it's not susceptible to range/position/interrupt concerns

Artifacts: Solar Amplifier, The Strategist Card, Tetrahedron of Urgrund or The Transformation Card

Heat Vision>Cryo-foam>Paralyzing Dart>Cryo-foam>Freezing Breath (2 ticks)(tap cancel)>Repeat

Gadgets now fully updated for the next GU:

- Revised presentation/explanation of boss loadouts and included additional tips and a new ranged variant

- Many critical usage notes added across the board

- Removed the basic right-left-right ST variant (it's already part of the optimal loadout anyways so it was redundant and confused some people)

- Added trash clear AoE

- Added comprehensive Source Shard / Godwave Strength loadouts and descriptions