How do you guys play Lightning Sorc in raids?

 

I use an "Obvious" rotation from looking at the skills and abilities, but when i go on the dummy, im doing more DPS in madness than in lightning! "Obviously" im doing something wrong and afaik isnt Lightning supposed to be superior to Full Madness in DPS (if you can pull it off and stand still and cast abilities)?

 

Please help!

 

PS. I don't have the 4pc pve bonus (the one that gives alacrity)

Edited February 1, 2013 by paowee

I'm far from fully geared on my Sorc (mostly Rakata and Black Hole), but in my experience I also get more dps with my 1/13/28 madness hybrid than going lightning spec against the training dummy. I cant seen to match it regardless of the lightning rotations I try. It might be due to requiring more alacrity with lightning spec though. I think madness hybrid it's better single target dps, but lightning is undisputably more multi target dps. I also think it's easier to mess up the lightning rotation since I believe it's a much more active and advanced rotation to maintain. It's also less mobile. Madness hybrid simply requires the use of 4 skills the majority of the time, as I'm sure you know, so it's easy to maintain. This probably isn't too helpful, but I'm interested in this too as I have also read a lot of threads that claim lightning has higher dps potential and I would like to sere some evidence of this because my experience says it is not.

Sorry, this second post was a double that I edited and deleted... stupid phone. Edited February 6, 2013 by Sixclicks

I ran Lightning at first then Madness for almost six months after that before switching to heal spec and I always did more overall damage with Madness... It just seemed easier for me to pour on a slow, steady stream of damage throughout the fight with full Madness than full or hybrid Lightning...

 

Even though it was fun, since I switched to healing, I don't think I would switch back to either of those specs (though I do get tempted at times to respect back to full Madness and run a couple WZs)...

I am a Full Madness with Camp and BH gear. Overall I do more damage that equally geared Lightning Specs in my guild in ECHM and TFBHM. However, the on the spot dps is just below that of my fellow sorc or on par; ive never outbeat the direct DPS rotation to rotation. Thats not to say its not possible but the fact that Madness build up their damage while Lightning just fires it off.

It totally depends on the fight

 

If you have a fight with low mobility (Writhing Horror, any of the big droids) then Lightning is king by a minor 100 DPS

If you have a fight where you need to run around a bit (Dread Guards, Toth Zorn) then Madness rules over Lightning due it its high mobility

 

Lightning however is less forgiving if you mess up since the resources are scarcer.

My advice is to become efficient at both and get a field respec kit and respec when needed. For groups Madness is the obvious choice

When I made my sorc I started out as a lightning spec. Went all the way to lvl 33 as a lightning spec then switched to madness. In my personal opinion I found lightning to be too interruptable for pvp which is what I mostly do so I went to madness. Now I think for PvE then lightning would probably be better but from a PvP standpoint madness is king for sorcs when it comes to damage.

When I made my sorc I started out as a lightning spec. Went all the way to lvl 33 as a lightning spec then switched to madness. In my personal opinion I found lightning to be too interruptable for pvp which is what I mostly do so I went to madness. Now I think for PvE then lightning would probably be better but from a PvP standpoint madness is king for sorcs when it comes to damage.

 

Lol sorry you just said the obvious with "lightning = interruptable." IMO Lightning was always the PvE spec since it can be better realized and the gear works better tor it. PvP was always the Madness Zone and again the gear reflects that with the set bonus.

Thanks for the tips! Do you guys do more single target DPS as lightning or madness tho?

 

I thought lightning was more single target dps but when i tested on the dummy i was doing less than madness...

Edited February 9, 2013 by paowee

Thanks for the tips! Do you guys do more single target DPS as lightning or madness tho?

 

I thought lightning was more single target dps but when i tested on the dummy i was doing less than madness...

 

i asked a couple of people (including me) that are all full elite warhero to dps a dumyy for 5 min in each spec.

every single one did less single target damage on lighting then on madness. (in hybrid madness with lighting baragge they were slightly higher then full madness though)

i asked a couple of people (including me) that are all full elite warhero to dps a dumyy for 5 min in each spec.

every single one did less single target damage on lighting then on madness. (in hybrid madness with lighting baragge they were slightly higher then full madness though)

 

Lightning, played optimally, should parse slightly higher on a dummy. It is the hardest spec to play to its full potential, however, so if the people who are testing it are not familiar and experienced with the spec, they will have a hard time getting the most out of it. That said, lightning is a trash spec for PvP because you will get interrupted constantly.

 

Also worth mentioning that dummy parses really aren't great for comparing specs because they don't simulate the movement or mechanics of either PvE or PvP. You can use dummy parses to optimize your gearing and stats, but if you want to determine which spec works best for you, your best bet is to try each of them and compare your parses on actual ops fights or your experience in warzones.

 

Lightning is the least mobile of the specs, so the dropoff between a dummy parse and an actual boss fight will be the most severe. This is mitigated somewhat by knowing the mechanics of the fights really well and properly positioning yourself to minimize downtime. But between the lack of mobility and the complicated nature of the rotation and proc tracking, lightning has the highest margin for error. Most of the top Sorc and Sage parses I have seen either use a full balance/madness build or the hybrid. The hybrid is probably the easiest to play because the rotation is extremely simple and easy to master. I do slightly better in full Madness in most fights. I find Madness outperforms the other specs even more on multiple boss encounters like Toth and Zorn or Stormcaller and Firebrand because of the ability to DOT multiple targets with both Affliction and Creeping Terror (and hitting both with Death Field if your timing is right).