How to Basic PvE Combo

[nTim1D8]

Introduction:

This short guide is designed to help noob Warlocks learn some basic concepts and combos for PvE damage dealing. If you don't understand some of the words used in this topic, I highly recommend looking at my other post about Warlock Terminology here. As a disclaimer, none of the combos I'm describing are original. These are combos that players on the Asian BnS servers have come up with long before BnS even existed in NA/EU.

 

Basic Combo:

Skill Requirements:

• Mantra (LMB) [T3S1]
  • Focus Recovery is very important for this combo
  • If you can upgrade to T5S1, that will be better but not absolutely necessary.
• Bombardment (RMB) [NOT Dimensional Volley]
  • Bombardment, especially T3S2, deals much higher dps than Dimensional Volley when the enemy is debuffed by "Target".
  • T3S3 is great at healing the player when fighting many mobs.
• Dragon Helix (4) [T2S3]
  • Dragon Helix is Instant Cast and Instant Cooldown. It's only cost is 3 Spectral Orbs, which are very easy to produce in this combo.
• Wingstorm (V) [T1S1]
  • The key mod that you need to use for this combo is "Mantra, Rupture available for use On Hit"
  • If you have the points to upgrade this skill further, every variant is good.

Keystrokes and Timings:

1. [V] Wingstorm (Cost 2 Focus)
   • Wingstorm has a 1 second cast time.
2. [4] Dragon Helix (Cost 3 Spectral Orbs, Enemies hit affected by "Target")
   • After Wingstorm's first hit, you'll get 3 spectral Orbs. Immediately cast Dragon Helix.
3. [RMB - hold] Bombardment 2x (Cost 6 Focus)
   • All enemies affected by "Target" can be hit with Bombardment with instant cast. Cast Bombardment 2 times (consumes 6 focus).
4. [4] Dragon Helix (Cost 3 Spectral Orbs, Enemies hit affected by "Target")
   • After Wingstorm's second hit, you'll get 3 spectral Orbs. Immediately cast Dragon Helix.
5. [LMB] Mantra (Generates 3 Focus every second for 5 seconds)
   • Wingstorm's hit will allow you to cast Mantra. Use Mantra to start regaining Focus.
6. [4] Dragon Helix (Cost 3 Spectral Orbs, Enemies hit affected by "Target")
   • After Wingstorm's final hit, you'll get 3 spectral Orbs. Immediately cast Dragon Helix.
7. [RMB - hold] Bombardment 3x (Cost 9 Focus)
   • You should continuously regenerate Focus for the next few seconds because of Mantra. Just keep spamming Bombardment until you can't instant cast it anymore.

 

Tether Blade > Leech Initiation (AKA XF Combo):

Skill Requirements (same as above AND):

• Tether Blade (X) [T1S1]
  • Applies the debuff "Brand" on hit. "Branded" enemies can be hit with Leech.
• Leech (F) [T1S1]
  • You want Leech T3S1 for the highest dps, but you don't NEED it for this combo.

Keystrokes and Timings:

1. [X] Tether Blade (Cost 2 Focus)
   • Applies "Brand" and knocks down enemies.
2. [F] Leech (Generates 3 Spectral Orbs and 10 Focus, gives player "Siphon" buff)
   • Leech has 2 projectiles. The first travels from you to your enemy. The second travels from your enemy back to you. You need both to be successful.
3. [V] Wingstorm
   • After a successful Leech, Wingstorm will be instant cast.
4. [4] Dragon Helix (Costs 3 Spectral Orbs, Generates 1 Focus from Siphon)
   • After Wingstorm is cast, but before it's first hit, cast Dragon Helix. Immediately after Dragon Helix lands, Wingstorm's first hit will land, giving you 3 Spectral Orbs.
5. [RMB - hold] Bombardment 3x (Cost 9 Focus, Generates 3 Focus from Siphon)
6. [4] Dragon Helix (Cost 3 Spectral Orbs, Generates 1 Focus from Siphon)
   • Use your 3 Spectral Orbs before Wingstorm's second hit, or you'll waste them.
   • Wingstorm's second hit should go off immediately after Dragon Helix.
7. [LMB] Mantra (Generates 3 Focus every second for 5 seconds, and 1 Focus from Siphon)
   • Wingstorm's hit will allow you to cast Mantra. Use Mantra to start regaining Focus.
8. [4] Dragon Helix (Cost 3 Spectral Orbs, Generates 1 Focus from Siphon)
9. [RMB - hold] Bombardment 3x (Cost 9 Focus, Generates 3 Focus from Siphon)
   • Wingstorm's final hit will go off sometime during this
10. [4] Dragon Helix (Cost 3 Spectral Orbs, Generates 1 Focus from Siphon)
11. [RMB - hold] Bombardment
    • Spam Bombardment until you're out of Focus or until you can no longer instant cast.

 

Soul Shackle > Imprison Initiation (AKA 23 Combo, pronounced Two Three):

Skill Requirements (same as Basic Combo AND):

• Soul Shackle (2) [any except T3S3 and T3S4]
• Imprison (3) [T4S1]

Keystrokes and Timings:

1. [2] Soul Shackle
   • Snare for 4 seconds
2. [3] Imprison
   • Make sure to land every hit, and at least 1 of your hits must crit.
3. Same as Steps 3 through 11 of X>F Combo

 

Conclusion:

So now that you can use all 3 combos at will, it's time to put them all together.

1. Start with the Basic Combo
2. Perform 23 Combo. Imprison 5th hit resets the cooldown of Wingstorm.
3. Perform XF Combo. Leech resets the cooldown of Wingstorm.

If anything can survive this, run around like a headless chicken until your tank finally regains aggro or until Leech comes off cooldown.

 

[Psychrome]

can you link your build?

[Kelllaayyy]

This is nice, this post and your other post are really helpful thank you :)

[nTim1D8]

1 hour ago, Psychrome said:

can you link your build?

My build is constantly changing depending on a variety of factors. Whether I'm solo vs boss, solo vs mobs, partied (with a good tank) vs boss, partied (with no tank) vs boss... You get the picture.

 

However, I often roll with something like this.
Mantra T3S1

Bombardment T3S2 or T3S3

Leech T3S1

Quell T2S1

Soul Shackle T3S1

Second Wind T1S1

Imprison T4S1

Dragon Helix T3S3

Bastion T3S1

TetherBlade T1S1

Sanctum T3S2

Wingstorm T3S3

Eclipse T1S1

 

1 hour ago, Kelllaayyy said:

This is nice, this post and your other post are really helpful thank you :)

Thanks

[Grillz]

hmmm don't you find the soul shackle into leech a better initiation? It's instant and always brands unless they resist it, which is pvp material.

[nTim1D8]

31 minutes ago, Grillz said:

hmmm don't you find the soul shackle into leech a better initiation? It's instant and always brands unless they resist it, which is pvp material.

So for PvE (title: How to Basic PvE Combo), if you use Soul Shackle into Leech, Soul Shackle won't be available for use when you try and use Imprison. You need Imprison's 5th hit to land in order to proc the cooldown reset on Wingstorm. That becomes incredibly difficult without Soul Shackle's 4 sec Snare, especially when fighting a boss.

[Grillz]

I was talking about pve, no need to remind me. I mentioned pvp because in pve mobs rarely resist. Also, why I mentioned soul shackle first is because bosses don't move often enough to dodge your imprison if you use it in the right moment (aka the moment where you freelo nuke the boss. Specially during soulburn moments) as for adds. If you spec into the aoe soul shackle It'll root everyone that enters the circle which sets up multiple enemies for leech to proc the reset on your wingstorm. Ofcourse it depends how you spec your soul shackle but going all the way down on the left side generally is the best for PVE. This is why I was asking, since generally wingstorm>soul shackle for the debuff over 5 seconds>spam helix, rmb, rupture>leech, cause the brand wont be over by then since it reapplied because of the specced soul shackle>wingstorm again, and then imprison or soul shackle again, depends on cooldowns. Since I'm not logged in atm I can't tell you EXACTLY with timers how the rotation works. But this is about the priority of it, if everything else is on cooldown and the boss stands still (which he 95% of the time when I time it, he is) I imprison, reset my windstorm and get 3 spheres (because of specced imprison and only IF it crits) followed up by a free helix (if imprison critted)and an instant cast wingstorm, rince and repeat.

[nTim1D8]

46 minutes ago, Grillz said:

I was talking about pve, no need to remind me. I mentioned pvp because in pve mobs rarely resist. Also, why I mentioned soul shackle first is because bosses don't move often enough to dodge your imprison if you use it in the right moment (aka the moment where you freelo nuke the boss. Specially during soulburn moments) as for adds. If you spec into the aoe soul shackle It'll root everyone that enters the circle which sets up multiple enemies for leech to proc the reset on your wingstorm. Ofcourse it depends how you spec your soul shackle but going all the way down on the left side generally is the best for PVE. This is why I was asking, since generally wingstorm>soul shackle for the debuff over 5 seconds>spam helix, rmb, rupture>leech, cause the brand wont be over by then since it reapplied because of the specced soul shackle>wingstorm again, and then imprison or soul shackle again, depends on cooldowns. Since I'm not logged in atm I can't tell you EXACTLY with timers how the rotation works. But this is about the priority of it, if everything else is on cooldown and the boss stands still (which he 95% of the time when I time it, he is) I imprison, reset my windstorm and get 3 spheres (because of specced imprison and only IF it crits) followed up by a free helix (if imprison critted)and an instant cast wingstorm, rince and repeat.

You're sentence structure is hard to understand. I think you're saying that you use Soul Shackle during Wingstorm, but I'm not sure.

 

Dragon Helix applies Brand for 4 sec on hit. You don't need to use Soul Shackle to apply Brand.

Wingstorm, Dragon Helix, Mantra, and Bombardment can all be used while kiting, so there isn't a real need to snare.

Bombardment T3S3 is a great way to clear adds. Soul Shackle doesn't do any real damage, so it does not clear adds well.

You can use Imprison without a snare effect, however that requires you to wait for the boss to enter a long animation.

Using Soul Shackle before Imprison allows you to cast Imprison whenever you want.

[Grillz]

That's not what I was saying. I said, Soul shackle as setup. Meaning you most likely won't have enough spheres (zero) to use helix. What I'm saying is to use it to apply the debuff, not to snare, specced it actually does quite some damage, however in big packed mobs u use it to deal damage, keep reapplying the snare over 5 seconds and to siphon life from them to stay sustained while you windstorm on top of that. It's not meant to clear adds however. And bosses stand still more often than not (except mm at harbor, he's annoying to deal with) other then that I feel that you can almost always get a full imprison off without any real issue - I might be wrong ofcourse, it was just a suggestion and how I've been doing it.

[Trickery]

On 13/3/2016 at 1:47 AM, nTim1D8 said:

 

Conclusion:

So now that you can use all 3 combos at will, it's time to put them all together.

1. Start with the Basic Combo
2. Perform 23 Combo. Imprison 5th hit resets the cooldown of Wingstorm.
3. Perform XF Combo. Leech resets the cooldown of Wingstorm.

If anything can survive this, run around like a headless chicken until your tank finally regains aggro or until Leech comes off cooldown.

 

 

Good writeup! However, consider swapping the combo order and do XF before you do 23, as your 3 (when skilled) will reduce the cooldown of Leech ( Decreases the cooldown of Leech by 6 sec on hit with the last attack ). Soulburn after will reset your 3 again giving you another 6s off of Leech.