[Elemental] Enhanced Chain lightning on single target

[Chid 0]

Hello Everyone,

 

 

Since Enhanced Chain Lightning buffs Earthquake, i wonder why it is not listed on Single Target rotation Guide.

 

I made some tests, and if i dont cast Chain Lightning before Earthquake, looks like its dont worth put it in rotation, but casting CL it have a substantial gain.

 

Am i missing something? Any thoughts?

Edited December 12, 2014 by Chid

[twisted15 1]

I had the same thought. The two things I do that I've found to be effective:

Ancestral Swiftness allows for Chain Lightning to be instant cast and can be used to buff your first Earthquake during an encounter. I macro Ancestral Swiftness into both my Chain Lightning and Lightning Bolt. 

The second is to wait until my Lava Burst and Elemental Blast are both on cooldown, and squeak in a Chain Lightning and an Earthquake. This may mess us proc timing tho, and maybe that's why its not listed in the rotation. If there are multiple targets in the fight, this is forgivable in my mind. Also, if the fight requires movement, its nice to have a buffed earthquake up before you move, and cast your Lava Surge procs and other instant casts as you move.

 

The single target rotation assumes you're standing still and constantly DPSing. I imagine they did the tests and found the full cast time of Chain Lightning to not be worth it in this scenario for single target. When mechanics and movement come into play, some adaptions need to be made. Buffing earthquake with chain lightning may be one of them. 

Edited December 12, 2014 by twisted15

[Chid 0]

I do the same thing w/ Ancestral Swiftness. But still, on single target and even not moving, its looks a dps gain. Mostly time you are going to cast a Lightning bolt before Earthquake, and yes, if everything else is on CD and next spell to cast is Earthquake, why not cast that?

[Karanir 15]

Hello, 

 

I don't think that this is a good idea. There are two things to consider which I would like to add to the table. 

 

(1) If you replace 2 x lightning bolt with a Chain Lightning/Earthquake combo, you will lose out on approximately 1 fulmination charge every 10 seconds.

 

If you cast "Chain Lightning, Earthquake, LB x 2", instead of LB x 4, you will lose out on roughly a quarter of your fulmination charges. Fulmination makes up about 10% of our damage, so we lose about 2.5% damage. The gain in damage from using earthquake+CL is approximately about 2%. So it seems like a net loss overall. Furthermore, using earthquake adds in needless rotational complexity and you also have to spend time targeting the earthquake. 

 

(2) Earthquake is immobile and tanks cannot see it. If the boss has to be repositioned for whatever reason, then you would have lost out on the damage. 

Edited December 15, 2014 by Karanir

[Chid 0]

Hey Karanir, 

 

Actually Earthquake is part of our rotation, even not using CL. Its near Fulmination dps (take a look on this log:http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/6j3g0p6c48lcg56m/sum/damageDone/?s=5513&e=5821)

Just a tip, you can target Earthquake while u are casting your previous spell on rotation, its quite simple. 

 

The real question is about CL and fulmination loss.

[Stormy 9]

Is a single low dps log on Butcher heroic supposed to prove anything ? The maths has been done several times, on pure single target it's never worth it to use CL/EQ. It's however worth it there's adds (even 1) so you can have 2 stacks of enhanced chain lightning. If not, it's a dps loss.