A Guide To Being A Good (PVE) DPS

how to be a perfect dps

criticism and additions welcome. it's a bit of a long read, all my guides are. but i strive to make them worth it.

if the party was a person, the healer would be the soul, the tank would be the body, and the dps would be the hands. they are the prople who actually make the clear happen, healer keeps everyone alive, and tank protects everyone while getting the enemies inn the place for dps to kill. as such, dps often get kits that have several secondary purposes as well.

the main thing, however, is weapon. lets talk about that first.

there is always a best in slot(bis) for each activity, for example crystal reaper in tracking. however this can be problematic if you want to do multiple types of content. for example reaper isn't good for group dungeons, whose bis is blazing- while blazing is useless in tracking. there are however certain weapons that can act as cross sections accorss different content, for example 1h fire and mistpeircer can be used in both content quite well. when picking a weapon, one should be careful about this, and keep mindful of what they are taking. cost is also a factor, so for example a dagger pair is about 80% as much dps as a reaper, however is half the price.

now about using these weapons. there are 3 types of damage- direct damage, buff dependant damage, and debuff dependant damage. the buff and debuff dependant types may also consume the buff/debuff stacks, so one should be mindful of that. for example the 1h curse staff and battleaxe's e depend on the amount of vile curse and bleed stacks on the enemy respectively, and consume those when they are used, on the other hand daggers don't consume armor sunder and assassin spirit stacks. when your weapon is dependant on such stacks, make sure you have full stakcs before using your stack dependant ability.

then there is direct damage, like reaper e or blazing e. this does not depend on any buffs on you or debuffs on enemy, however you should be mindful to use these when all the debuffs from you and your teammates are active when this is used.

now about other debuffs. things like armor sunder from dagger and deadly chop of axes or beam(first w not third) of curse staves make the target's armor less, whereas the first passive on the third slot of plate chestpeice reduces max health by 10%, and the e from incubus lowers it a further 40%. so for example an armored mob like chosen of morgana or the undead quarry, if all this is stacked- the damage is 3x the normal. so for example if blazing en normally does 2000 damage, if the armor is 0 and both debuffs are active, it will deal about 6000 instead.

next is the buffs on the dps player. the foremost of these is usually the druid robe, with additions from things like adrenaline rush. usually the maximum extra damage is 50%, however some builds can go as high as 100%(when royal robe and stalker hood and such is included). this means the afformentioned 6000 is now 12000. 12k dmg means, if ideally played, a duo of blazing can kill most 8.2 group dungeon mobs in one single rotation with just e. now include the q and w, which deal 500 and 400 damage respectively pre buff, lets say 1000 for convenience, so they will deal an extra 6k damage. that's 18k damage from one weapon in one 30-second rotation, when played ideally. the weapons like reaper can do even more, i have personally seen t8 reaper maintain 600 dps throughout a fight against a t8 quarry(though, with reaper, this is a feat of incredible skill as it is very tricky to juggle all the cooldowns and buffs).

that, however, is idealism. it is not always sustainable, and i do not expect the players of this game to sustain it. 400 dps throughout a fight is already very much good enough for most content.

now let us talk about the other parts of the set. the cape usually is either Caerleon or morgana, which just depends on nature of weapon. these are usually interchangable, but certain sets nececitate certain weapons too(like shapeshifter needing Caerleon or whispering needing morgana).

the boots, i personally recommend those with good running speed like miner or soldier or royal shoes if you are doing open world activity(miner>skinner>quarrier>soldier>royal sandal is the order of running efficiency).

the offhand varies, for cooldown-poor builds usually there is no offhand because of being 2 handed, like greataxe but for cooldown sensitive one hand weapons like 1h curse staff i recommend mistcaller, which is simple and useful. for pure dps builds with competent healer of course the thing to go with is cryptcandle, and mana offhands like tome of spells or eye of secrets should never be used as the team will probably have druid cowl(if they dont its the team's fault). in easy content like tracking you can bring any offhand till they r all at 100 spec, as they gain spec very quickly.

the head armor should either be supporting team like druid cowl, dealing damage like cultist cowl, or boosting yourself like stalker hood. stalker hood is particularly good, since it gives both sides of the buff spectrum at once(armor shred and dmg boost)

the food should follow the same logic as offhand, if your weapon is cooldown sensitive like 1h curse then omelette, if it is damage sensitive like blazing then beef stwew, and if it is cast time sensitive like 1h fire then crab omelette. if you do wish to participate in pvp then always use avalonian stews as dps food.

the potion depends entirely on the situation, however in open world having at least 2 calmings on the opposite sides of the feild(one close to the ranged fighters one close to melee and tank) is a good thing.

the bag should be sufficient to carry the amount you loot, there is no other factor in it. using satchel isn't recommended unless you have a very good econ base.

the chestpeice, most commonly, is druid robe however it may change on team needs like royal robe/jacket in dungeons, or depending on weapon like hunter jacket for whispering, etc. in the dps role the chestplate is of both high significance and low note, as it is quite standardised.