PvE Cobalt Punch + Iron Shoulder

[Renn]

I made this topic over on the Dojo so I'm going to go ahead and copy it over here. I might need to edit after posting.

 

Here's the original Dojo post.

 

Two points to keep in mind as you read.

 

• I do not like PvE Right Punch. I'll say it again, I do not like PvE Right Punch. It's simple. It's annoying. It's easy and whenever I use it, I see no significant difference in my damage. Ever since SF launched, it's been stated over and over again that Right Punch massively does more damage; I understood why this was said the first time I used HM Right Punch. I saw exactly why people would believe this information too as you can quickly stack 5 Chi levels for V; then add the triple Golden Dragon buff. Yet: playing everyday, doing all the purples, using both builds, doing well or perfectly with a tank holding aggro - I see no difference. Apparently, it's just me. Please, don't try to tell me I'm doing Frost spec wrong. RMB behind the boss (4-8 hits, depending on your luck & energy stacks) till F is active, repeat till you can cast V, throw in elemental stance whenever you can optimally use it, and sustain chi by defending yourself or using 2+F, X or last resort, C/LMB. Not hard. I don't like it. Please don't waste your time typing: "You should be using Right Punch".

 

• I played FFXIV before coming over to B&S. If you know how the Monk class operated back when it launched, then please, keep this in mind: I was one of those people who chose not to miss their flanks in any fight. Period. I hit all of them unless it was physically impossible to do so without dying or wiping the party. Yes, I even hit flanks on moving targets as all it took was predicting where the AI would move. I try to do the same in this game but sometimes the tank can just be a little too sporadic so I can't make it perfect.

 

If you're anything like me, you're not going to use Right Punch even though it is the "current SF meta" - I can't really argue against that statement, the reasons were stated in the 2nd point. If you actually took the time to just sit at a training dummy and made sure you can actually ani-cancel, then you may have realized that it's sorta impossible to sustain the Golden Dragon buffs without using Z or elemental stance. Absolutely fun mechanic that is.

 

Here's the point of this thread:

I always used Kingfist to improve my positional awareness. Yes, I know, less damage, but it's fantastic practice because you feel the weight of your mistakes. Ebondrake Citadel forced me to use Frost Storm as positions can go so wrong, way too fast and way too often.

 

Kingfist -> Dragonfist: V -> V -> F, does not allow you to use any F abilities whatsoever.

 

Frost Storm -> Dragonfist: V -> F, does. If you have a Breaking Claw, you can fit it in right after casting V. If you have a Breeze Kick, you can fit it in. If you have a Howling Blast, you can fit it in. If you have an Iron Shoulder, you can fit it in.

 

This is an insignificant point for all you Right Punchers. You can just ignore me. All you Cobalt Punchers though, I didn't find this out until I started seriously learning Citadel. I never used Frost Storm because getting a flanking position every time was always easy until this dungeon. Not once have I seen this information get posted. This is really important yet I have never seen it stated in any relevant thread.

 

What does this mean? I'll be posting a video tomorrow to show exactly what it is. For now I will have to type it.

 

After stacking 5 Chi levels, instead of blowing V instantly, you can hold onto it for roughly 5.5-6 seconds and cast: V (Frost Storm) -> F (Iron Shoulder) -> F (Dragonfist). You will have 30 seconds to stack only 4 levels of chi instead of 5. Combine this with the Fury's season Soul Badge from the Tower of Infinity: Breaking Claw reduces the cooldown of Iron Shoulder by 0.5 seconds, and Cobalt Punch becomes a monster.

 

Not much else that I can say other than people will always state that Right Punch is better, though I can't blame them, it even seems like the devs prefer Right Punch to be the norm if this is how they design the differences of their elemental focuses.

 

There are two things though:

1. If you don't know how to sustain your triple Golden Dragons using Cobalt Punch, quit wasting your time, use Right Punch. It's just not worth it.
2. If you're using Kingfist like I did this whole time, quit using that and start applying what I just typed above. Practice it on a dummy and realize that you can correctly sustain your Golden Dragons without gimping your Elemental Stance abilities. If you already have the Soul Badge then you can already sustain it but just revel in the fact that you only have to stack 4 Chi levels instead of 5 in those 30 seconds.

 

If you didn't know this, you're welcome. If you did, why didn't you say anything?!? I've been playing SF since its launch and I just found this out two freakin' days. Jeez.

[Nuruo]

I read the first sentence of your first bullet at the top, and immediately smiled. I agree with it completely.

 

Now, I want to correct you on one thing, you have about 25 seconds to stack 5 chi if you used the entire dragonfist, since dragonfist's cast time is roughly 5 seconds. Of course with this it would be 25 seconds for 4 stacks of chi.

 

Would take me some time to get use to it, but seems like a brilliant idea to get 2 golden dragons without much worry.

[Pestiferius]

Heya,

ok personal prefernce is a thing, true. i like azur/breaking claw better too actually. And you shouldnt forget that you can get a chi stack each 30sec via the pve howling blast and theoreticly each 6 secs (practicly more like each 20sec) via pve Counter, especially when you got the HM variant!

BUT L/R Punch has some undenyable advantages:

1) you need less skill pts ( both on Hm variant same points but azur needs 3 (or 5) points on lmb too ! currently (on HM 11, all HM skills unlocked) i could go for azur only by skipping some nice utility abilitys  like 5% hp heal on my resist or the movement speed buff/bleed after charge etc

2) when theres no tank (and although you need to be behind boss to make l/r punch rolling smoothly) its easier to tank with then with azur due easier combo+movement. Ok not really a dealbreaker but still.

3)Soulbadges+Upcomming HM skills: the new pve soulbadges from infi tower are both nice. but the free iron shoulder+focus reg on l/r punch variant seems way better then the azur variant. And as soon Hm Iron shoulder comes out it ll become our hardest hitting single attack ( better then first hit of pve kingfist  but lsightly less dmg then 2nd use or the pvp kingfist) that ll make you want to use it as often as possible!

 

Little math (upcoming patch and priority change in our f skills taken into credit, asuming you got perfekt uptime, focus chi left aside same for both speccs) :

 

1) azur+breaking claw+new soulbadge will roughly give you a iron shoulder each 4,5sec+ 2 chi stacks per min from howling blast+ 3 chi stacks from counter=

That makes 13-14 Iron shoulder per min and overall 18-19 chi stacks. Optimum maybe 4 V per min!

 

2) l/r punch gives a iron shoulder each 4sec (lil less actually with perfekt uptime) + 10 iron shoulders per min (1 after each charge) + same as above 2 chi stacks howling and 3 chi stacks from counter=

That makes 25 iron shoulders per min and 30 chi stacks ! thats using V each 10sec !

 

Ok you dont have 100% uptime but i think with lower uptime l/r becomes even better since after jumping boss etc you can get out 2 iron shoulders really fast since each cahrge gives a full bloom/iron shoulder with the new badge!

 

You see the new soul badge is a real deal breaker for pve specc choice! Not saying your totally wrong but future content,gear and skills will (from current standpoint) lead to r/l punch beeing totally superior to azur in pve !

 

Greetz PEST

 

 

[Auron1992]

I've always used right punch and i can substain perfectly the 3 stacks of dragonblood in most bosses (obviously not masts or dungeons where there are long void times).

 

Although since i did the legendary i'm torn between the two. Baleful gives me 3% on cobalt punch that in the cancel animation is 1/3 attack instead in the right punch tree the bonus is valid for every attack, correct me if i'm wrong. So using baleful (not seraph) should mean higher dmg with right punch compensating the gap between the two builds.

 

Finally it's true that dragon blood is maintaned both ways but doing 4 frost storms instead of 3 is a big difference in the long term run

I don't know what it's best between the two builds. I'll try doing the purples today with right punch.

 

Btw i'll switch to seraph weapon at stage 6 probably because the effect is much better when it becomes higher, non only for the chi stacks but for the self buff too.

I think in a long battle (like a 24 man raid) seraph is a better weapon than baleful but i have to think that more carefully later on.

 

Edit: i've tried some dungeons and my hands hurt less since i don't have to do anything at all. I will right punch when i'm brain afk, otherwise i strongly suggest using cobalt punch