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Tips for Coordination
chemjeff
Member Posts: 544 Arc User
Any tips for how to successfully coordinate between different characters on your team for a dungeon run in a challenging dungeon, like FBI or TONG? I mean beyond the simple choices of which classes to take. Things like, GWF should hold off on Indomitable Battle Strike until he sees/hears the DC's Break the Spirit buff and/or the Anointed Army buff. Things like that. What are some main things that DPS'ers and/or support characters should be on the lookout for when trying to coordinate and help each other?
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When you see the GWF cast his Slam animation (right foot stomping on the ground), that is because he is proccing the Battle Awareness feat which grants him 25% more power, so that is also a good time for DC to cast Anointed Army.
Although I don't know which should come first, should GWF wait for DC to cast AA before casting Slam, or should DC wait for GWF to cast Slam before casting AA? Who normally sets the tempo of combat for you?
So it doesn't matter whether AA or Slam goes first, because the results will be additive but independent.
However, the slam is a visual indicator (along with HD) that your dps is buffing for big hits, so it serves as a good indicator of when to time buffs for best burst.
This may change if they let Mod12B move forward with revised bonding proc behavior, where it will be most critical to time power share burst for companion refresh windows. (I vehemently dislike that design decision).
Do you have examples of some powers/effects that grant %power increase that are buffed by AA and by powersharing generally? What do you mean by "companion refresh windows"?
I'll be honest, when I play my AC DC, I pretty much just spam AA. Unless I know a big hit is coming, like with Orcus raising his arms in CN, then I hold off in order to mitigate the effects of a big hit. Is this not desired behavior?
For best results, you need to get a feel for how your teammates run things, and plan accordingly.
I generally work off my teammates.
For example, if I run on GF, I usually wait to time my ITF before or just as I hear the DC(s) firing off their Emp buffs. If I'm running with, say, Sharp's doll, she'll usually pop AA after firing off EmpFF, so I hold back and wait to use my Griffons until then (inb4 she reads this and purposely holds back AA just to mess with me). If I happen to be running DC with someone I know, I usually fire off my Emp buff as soon as I hear or see the other Emp buff going off.
If I'm running with a greedy HR, I don't bother waiting for Longstriders. If I run with a certain drunken master, I usually wait to use my attacks after Longstrider shots, since I know he'll put up Longstrider Shots inbetween Longhangover Shots.
Depending on how your team fights, you'll need to adjust your stratgery (sic). Bonding Runestones right now give a % of your companion's stats. Since the companion is constantly attacking, and thus, proccing Bondings, then you can place AA on teammate's companions. Give their comps a second or two to attack, and their Bonding buff transfers to them. Easy.
In the new module, Bondings will only refresh every 25 (I think?) seconds Even if you place AA on teammate comps after they proc Bondings, your teammate's stats won't update.
That means you'll need to place AA on teammate comps before the companion attacks (or during the Bonding runestone refresh window), otherwise, the Powershare won't be counted in their stats.
At the fight's outset, you can simply cast AA + BoB quickly before doing your usual thing. Afterwards, you'll need to either spam and get lucky, or time 25 exact seconds before applying AA to companions.
1. What do you suggest for players such as myself who do not do dungeons with the same people every time? If for example I am on my DC, should I wait for the others to cast their buffs before casting my own? Or should I take the lead? What would you do, in, say, a dungeon like TONG?
2. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the duration of Anointed Army is about 15 seconds. Provided that the DC has enough recovery/AP gain to keep up AA continually, since the duration of AA is less than the proposed bonding refresh time, the amount of "downtime" for the power sharing would be relatively small. Perhaps only a few seconds. Is this not the right way to think about it?
The buff bar, enemy debuff bars, and visual/audio cues can assist you greatly in this regard.
Here's how I'm thinking, assuming if I'm playing anything but the class mentioned.
What GF type the GF? What gear do they have? What are they doing?
- If the GF is a Conqueror and is running DPS gear (Orcus set, Vorpal, Brutals, etc.), they'll either be stupidly reckless (You're going to have a bad time) or are extremely good, with no in-between. Depending on how they play, you might want to time your buffs around their ITF (or the good/patient ones will wait for you and the other DC to get setup.)
- If the GF is running tanking gear (ex: Valhalla set, lots of DR/Lifesteal/HP, Dancing Shield or Rust Monster), then you never really worry about their ITF uptime, since they'll have good uptime on their ITF. In that case, you can focus a bit more on working with your other DC to maximize your timing.
What is the (other) DC doing? What are their habits? How do they like like casting their powers?For example, if you see your AC DC running up to you/your companions, you can reasonably assume they're going to try to place AA on you.
If your DO is running to the center of the fight arena, you can reasonably guess that they'll be placing down Hallowed Ground.
If you hear and/or see the sounds of Forgemaster's Flame being spammed, you know your DC is going to cast EmpFF in a second or two.
If you hear a glass shattering sound being spammed, prepare to check your buffbar for EmpBtS (there are some DCs who don't "quite" get the concept of the "Empowered" part of "EmpBtS").
*If you are a DC in party with another DC, you'll ideally want to engage in some DC telepathy before the run, aka power coordination. This is also another indicator: is your DC responsive and knows what you're talking about? Or have they not answered you?
- If they answer you, then you can reasonably guess that your other cleric will be pleasant to work with and you can easily work off the other DC.
- If the other DC doesn't respond to you, well, good luck, these ones are wildcards. In this case, I'd just cast, and pray the DPS are reading your signals, not the other DC's.
I don't HR particularly well, but if you see them back up a few paces and try to get a line of sight on the boss, then they're probably going to fire off a Longstrider's shot. Longstrider's only lasts for a few seconds, so make the buff count.Of course, all of this goes out the window if your DPS aren't paying attention. DCs are the best force multipliers in the game, but if there is no force to multiply, well... there's only so much you can do. 10 seconds duration of AA last I checked.
Right now in Mod12, you have the right idea. Keep applying AA to teammate + their comp, and everyone receives a lot of power.
But in 12.5, the Bonding stats won't refresh until the companion procs Companion's Gift again, which is on a 25 sec (I think?) cooldown since the comp first procs companions gift.
AA disappears if the companions get hit 4 times, or if the duration runs out. I don't about you, but most of the time, the companions I see tend to like getting hit a lot. Factor in the extremely precise window of time that you can place AA on comps and the reduction of "% of comp stats" on 12.5 Bonding stones, and AA is looking less attractive to use in 12.5 (not horrible, but if you're a solo DC, I'd rather use TI for less effort and comparable/better DPS increase).
I don't always use the same encounter to build stacks of empowered as the power that I'm going to use those stacks on. You can't rely on exact sounds but hearing the same encounter mutiple times would be the tell.
For trash clearing, I like to use Chains to build stacks because it is very fast to cast and also because it avoids an annoying Mod 1 'fix' that makes the game ignore the exact order you press TAB.
TAB, BtS, BtS TAB, BtS will nearly always give you 3 stacks of empowered rather than a 2 pt emp BtS.
TAB, CoBL, CoBL, TAB, BtS will almost always give you your 2pt emp BtS.
In a boss fight, 3 stacks of empowered is what you want but for trash clearing, it can easily leave you empty at the end of the fight.
Two distantly related effects are bonding runestones and companion Legendary Active, which transfer the companion's buffed power stats to the companion's owner.
There are also a handful of insignia bonuses (Shepherd's Devotion, Artificer's Persuasion, etc.) grant non-power stats as a percentage of your power stat, and these use your buffed power for that calculation.
Also agree with @rjc9000 on all points
Edit: I just remembered TR's Shadowborn feat, but I don't remember if it's based on buffed power... so maybe there's an example of one?
But I think you misunderstand my point. If AA has a 10-sec duration, and if the DC has enough recovery to have, say, a 15-20 sec recharge time for filling the AP bar, that since both of these figures are below 25 sec, the amount of downtime on the companion won't be very long. But maybe I am thinking of it wrong?
Tank + Boss, people behind the boss, that stupid Archery spec HR that doesn't understand how buffs work so it's like he's trying to fight from the next room....
DG is a buff/debuff/heal/angelic graphical effect... it's got it all
If you are an archer, here is where you stand:
(tank)(BOSS)(party)<------25ft------>(you)(at a slight angle, so you can get a clear shot)
Other than that, you might as well just spend your time respeccing to trapper