I know, I'm usually going through parsec when checking on this stuff. IDC about a non critted DST. I care about the critted ones

Well, that's not really fair, because a critted Massacre gets a 107% damage increase, while a critted DST gets a 77% increase. They don't crit every time though, so you need to look at averages that take both the crit chance and the surge talent into account. This is precisely what my calculations do. So if you care about optimal Gore usage, then my calculations are going to be what you want. However, if you really only care about crits, then DST is never going to be optimal when weighed against Massacre (I think even Rupture would be sub-optimal, if all you care about are crits and average DPS is a non-factor).

Put another way, unless you only use Massacre outside of Gore and only use DST inside of Gore, your average critical hit from each will show Massacre in the lead. In other words, looking at parsec's Average* (which is to say, the average critical hit for a particular ability), Massacre is going to win out over DST even without including the forced Ataru hit. However, if you look at average damage for each ability taking both crits and non-crits into account (which Parsec doesn't directly show but Torparse does), DST should win over Massacre.

Well, that's not really fair, because a critted Massacre gets a 107% damage increase, while a critted DST gets a 77% increase. They don't crit every time though, so you need to look at averages that take both the crit chance and the surge talent into account. This is precisely what my calculations do. So if you care about optimal Gore usage, then my calculations are going to be what you want. However, if you really only care about crits, then DST is never going to be optimal when weighed against Massacre (I think even Rupture would be sub-optimal, if all you care about are crits and average DPS is a non-factor).

 

Put another way, unless you only use Massacre outside of Gore and only use DST inside of Gore, your average critical hit from each will show Massacre in the lead. In other words, looking at parsec's Average* (which is to say, the average critical hit for a particular ability), Massacre is going to win out over DST even without including the forced Ataru hit. However, if you look at average damage for each ability taking both crits and non-crits into account (which Parsec doesn't directly show but Torparse does), DST should win over Massacre.

Just remember while doing this to take offhand hits into consideration.

Just remember while doing this to take offhand hits into consideration.

Yep! It's included and respecting the accuracy penalty. The only off hand element I didn't include was the chance for the off hand to prof ataru. If I were to include this, it would make DST very slightly better.

With regards to KBN's opener ...

Opener

 

I'm pretty sure the following is optimal:

 

Leap + Zen + Valorous > ZS > BR > Inspiration + Adrenal + [PS + MS > BS > Disp/TST] > Cauterize > Strike > Strike > BR > [PS + BS > Disp/TST > BR] > ZS

... in my experience, the second PS window lines up a bit differently. When PS comes off cooldown, BS seems to be one GCD away from being available. I therefore do the following:

[PS + TST > BS > BR] > ZS

For the next (third) PS window of the opener, I find that Disp procs at the very last second. Watch for that and you then should be able to get:

[PS + Disp (Zen) > BS > BR], popping Zen as it becomes available right before BS.

Anyone else doing it this way?

... in my experience, the second PS window lines up a bit differently. When PS comes off cooldown, BS seems to be one GCD away from being available. I therefore do the following:

 

[PS + TST > BS > BR] > ZS

 

For the next (third) PS window of the opener, I find that Disp procs at the very last second. Watch for that and you then should be able to get:

 

[PS + Disp (Zen) > BS > BR], popping Zen as it becomes available right before BS.

 

Anyone else doing it this way?

I try not to rely on Zen or DIspatch being available at any particular point. You're absolutely correct though that BS isn't off CD when PS is. I need to modify the OP.

what augments would you run? overkill or might?

Might are slightly superior in terms of average DPS, and slightly inferior in terms of consistency. If you already have overkill augments, don't sweat it.

Changes to Combat Sentinels in 3.0:

"Combat Sentinels gain a new passive ability that reduces the focus consumed by Blade Rush and Cyclone Slash by 1 each, during Zen. They also get another new passive ability that automatically triggers an Ataru Form attack on all targets damaged by Cyclone Slash. Force Health has wiggled its way over to Combat from the Concentration (formerly known as Focus) discipline to help the Combat discipline with focus generation. Additionally, Combat has gained a new ability:

Clashing Blast: Unleashes a powerful blast of Force energy at the target, dealing energy damage. The blast stuns standard and weak enemies for 5 seconds. Shares a cooldown with Blade Storm.

Precision Slash no longer ignores the global cooldown, but as a result, it now deals much more damage and increases armor penetration for 6 seconds instead of just 4.5 seconds. These changes, combined with the changes to alacrity (which now reduces the global cooldown and the cooldown of most abilities), mean that Combat Sentinels can rather easily sneak an extra attack into every Precision Slash window."

Changes to Combat Sentinels in 3.0:

 

"Combat Sentinels gain a new passive ability that reduces the focus consumed by Blade Rush and Cyclone Slash by 1 each, during Zen. They also get another new passive ability that automatically triggers an Ataru Form attack on all targets damaged by Cyclone Slash. Force Health has wiggled its way over to Combat from the Concentration (formerly known as Focus) discipline to help the Combat discipline with focus generation. Additionally, Combat has gained a new ability:

 

Clashing Blast: Unleashes a powerful blast of Force energy at the target, dealing energy damage. The blast stuns standard and weak enemies for 5 seconds. Shares a cooldown with Blade Storm.

 

Precision Slash no longer ignores the global cooldown, but as a result, it now deals much more damage and increases armor penetration for 6 seconds instead of just 4.5 seconds. These changes, combined with the changes to alacrity (which now reduces the global cooldown and the cooldown of most abilities), mean that Combat Sentinels can rather easily sneak an extra attack into every Precision Slash window."

swotor is bae