How to improve Scourge bust damage

[eaman.7562]

I run the usual meta build with viper in fractals and open world events, sometimes there are very fast pulls when guardians and other bursty classes almost prevent me to do much damage with the standard rotation.

So what is a better rotation and trait for some burst? I tried to train for fear damage, weakening shroud, then casting all fire: F1, F5, F4, torch 4, F1, epi as soon as possible, well of Suffering. So now I'm considering using grieving trinkets in these scenarios, with template it's not that hard to swap fast. Maybe a separate set of weapons with bursty sigils?

Would it be worthy to have some more direct damage with grieving or better to improve and throw out more fire / torment / fear ?Dho I could also go condi reaper I guess.

[Dadnir.5038]

Power damage.

ANet made not so long ago changes to condition damage so that they feel more like damage that you need to ramp up instead of burst damage. So for burst, what you need is the type of damages designed for it. As a scourge, you can achive some kind of burst power damage by stacking skills that deal power damage: well of suffering, locust swarm, sand shroud and dagger auto attack can make up for some pretty nasty damage burst in a proper build.

[Anchoku.8142]

@"Dadnir.5038" said:Power damage.

ANet made not so long ago changes to condition damage so that they feel more like damage that you need to ramp up instead of burst damage. So for burst, what you need is the type of damages designed for it. As a scourge, you can achive some kind of burst power damage by stacking skills that deal power damage: well of suffering, locust swarm, sand shroud and dagger auto attack can make up for some pretty nasty damage burst in a proper build.

Yes, power damage is your only burst left. Scourge Dhuumfire-Terror condi burst is, as you say, a "bust."

[Rym.1469]

I have the same question. I've always wanted my Scourge to be more busty.

Sadly I met the limit in the character creator.

[eaman.7562]

Well I tried to equip my dagger in main hand and it was terrible.I remember that last winter (patches ago...) I used to run in grieving and I used the dagger / wh for some breakbar burst in FoTM, like the ice elemental. I tried with my viper set and it was bad.

So how does the Firebrand work? Is it mainly burning or is part of its dps direct damage?

[starlinvf.1358]

@eaman.7562 said:Well I tried to equip my dagger in main hand and it was terrible.I remember that last winter (patches ago...) I used to run in grieving and I used the dagger / wh for some breakbar burst in FoTM, like the ice elemental. I tried with my viper set and it was bad.

So how does the Firebrand work? Is it mainly burning or is part of its dps direct damage?

Firebrand's damage spec is the exact same principles as DH and Core. FB adds Tomes, which F1 is offensive burning. So you can do the math in your head at that point.

[alez.2137]

You can achieve close to 20k dps in 3-4 mobs pulls like the ones prior to boss in urban battleground with that combination: sand shade, 2, f2, f3, f5, 4, f4, epi. With a bit more of health or if u are confident your teammates not gonna burst very fast put a BiP before f5.

Of course its depends on your other team members, if there is some guardian or another over tuned class in your group the mobs gonna despawn very fast and your dmg wont ramp up. You also need to be the very fist starting the burst combo so you can epi prior to mobs being low health.

Imho this is a fail of design, there should be a hard cap maximum dps a class can achieve. Im gonna drop here an idea I just had. If a melee hit, let say, 3 targets in a single hit, the most realistic behaviour would be: first target get hit for 100% of damage, second target get 75% dmg, third target get 50% dmg. This would be realistic because every mob the weapon hits it loses strengh because of physics. Also due to physics, it is a bit unrealistic that a power class can crit hit several targets, crits should be limited to main target, or, as much, to the first 2 targets. This would balance a bit the exaggerated numbers some power classes show in packs fights.

[Hesacon.8735]

Sigil of Air and Fire/Blood give decent burst damage, but are more for power builds.

[eaman.7562]

@"alez.2137" said:You can achieve close to 20k dps in 3-4 mobs pulls like the ones prior to boss in urban battleground with that combination: sand shade, 2, f2, f3, f5, 4, f4, epi. With a bit more of health or if u are confident your teammates not gonna burst very fast put a BiP before f5.That's a good example, but shades hit only 3 targets and many of those pulls are 4-5, so it may be worth it to train for the big single shade but that remove one stack of burning from F1 and torment. I'd rather do Tail of Anguish -> F1, F5, Sand Flare -> F1 .

Of course its depends on your other team members, if there is some guardian or another over tuned class in your group the mobs gonna despawn very fast and your dmg wont ramp up. You also need to be the very fist starting the burst combo so you can epi prior to mobs being low health.Yeah that's the problem: when a DH spins to win in there he does like 22k DPS without any buffs: I can just F3 him...As racing to burst I don't like that: the chrono pulls and then the dps do their thing.

I'm gonna try condi reaper next time: F2 in the pack and "chill bolts to win". Swapping just a trait line and a weapon is very fast (with templates).

Imho this is a fail of design, there should be a hard cap maximum dps a class can achieve. Im gonna drop here an idea I just had. If a melee hit, let say, 3 targets in a single hit, the most realistic behaviour would be: first target get hit for 100% of damage, second target get 75% dmg, third target get 50% dmg. This would be realistic because every mob the weapon hits it loses strengh because of physics. Also due to physics, it is a bit unrealistic that a power class can crit hit several targets, crits should be limited to main target, or, as much, to the first 2 targets. This would balance a bit the exaggerated numbers some power classes show in packs fights.

Well we blame dragon hunters but firebrands do the same burst dps, and they use condi.IMHO it's just the design of the class: scourge build up slow. Parasitic Contagion goes parallel with our damage so you become invincible after a while but you gotta wait for it to ramp up. Guardian DH is the opposite: you get in a fight with aegis, F3, do your thing fast, get away coz u have 11k HP. Thing is firebrand is very good on trash pulls, it does condi and has decent control and some heal too.

And we are lucky that there are few power chronos with a GS.

[alez.2137]

@eaman.7562 said:That's a good example, but shades hit only 3 targets and many of those pulls are 4-5, so it may be worth it to train for the big single shade but that remove one stack of burning from F1 and torment. I'd rather do Tail of Anguish -> F1, F5, Sand Flare -> F1 .

For pulls of more mobs, for example the first pull of molten furnace, I precast a row of shades in the spawn zone, plus I drop the elite in the middle just at the precise moment that is easy to predict. Using trail of anguish is a good idea to add some conditions to spread but I tend to use the shadow demon for the fractals pulls unless I need some stability/stun-break. It does some aoe and recharges lf with no casting time.

Thing is firebrand is very good on trash pulls, it does condi and has decent control and some heal too.

Well, fb clearly does more single target damage than scourge, that is a fact. However in pulls when Im paired with a good fb some pulls he does more dps, some I do, and I see that my dps tends to be higher when there is one around, just because im spreading my conditions and his conditions.