ClydesShadow wrote:
Hey Bartel would you mind describing your experience with the class a bit more in detail?
I've also been thinking of trying PUG but I'm not really sure what to expect from the class. What kind of rotations are you working in parties?
Absolutely. Pug is basically all about using different combos along with positioning and non-GCD abilities to maximize your DPS. At low levels, your main rotation is Bootshine > True Strike > Snap Punch. The intersting mechanic with pug is that after using each ability, it puts you into a different fighting "form". You start in opo-opo form, and then using bootshine puts you into raptor form, and you have to be in raptor form to use True Strike (or twin snakes at later levels); using either of those abilities puts you into Couerl form, which opens up using Snap Punch (Demolish at later levels). Using those abilities resets you to opo-opo form. So it's cyclical in that regard. The unique part comes with the different abilities you can use in those forms (true strike which hits harder or twin snakes which gives a 10% damage buff for 10s; snap punch which hits harder single target or demolish which is AoE, bootshine which is single target or arm of the destroyer which is a DoT) along with the positioning bonus certain skills give.
In terms of positioning, you gain a 5% crit damage bonus if you use True Strike from behind the mob. The potency of Snap Punch goes from 140 to 180 if you use it from a mobs flank. Twin Snakes goes from 100 to 140 when used from the flank also. On top of all this, the third skill in your rotation gives you a buff called greased lightning, which increases your attack speed by 5% and damage output by 7% per stack, and stacks up to 3 times by level 50. So basically, you are reducing the GCD and increasing your damage output the longer into the rotation you go. Think of it as scalable damage.
At level 15 you get Touch of Death, which is another DoT that can be used at any time (I use it at the start of all boss fights and keep it up as much as possible, not really as necessary on trash mobs since they die so fast).
You also get featherfoot, which increases your evasion by 20% for if you pull aggro, and a move called haymaker which can only be used after evading an attack (reactionary ability), hits pretty hard, and adds a 20% slow to the mob. On top of that, we get a skill called Internal Release, which increases crit chance by 30% for 15s (which is sick).
At later levels you get traits that either increase your speed, increase your damage, or increase your damage mitigation that are basically a toggle (you can have 1 of the 3 active at all times). You also get another AoE attack and a stun that don't need to be in a specific form.
The class is constantly moving, constantly determining which buffs you have and which you'll want to add...for instance, my rotation goes Bootshine > Twin Snakes (for damage bonus) > Snap Punch > bootshine > true strike (positioned for crit chance) > Snap Punch to maximize DPS. Then you can throw in cross class skills like raging strike (20% damage bonus for 20s) and straight shot (10% crit bonus for 20s) as well as something like bloodbath (restores a chunk of hp based on damage for 15s) and go nuts on bosses once you've capped your greased lightning stacks (for max DPS).
The class is very deep imo, and a lot of fun to master.