Which is all around better lightning strike or spamable Force Lightning?

Thanks

force lightning. madness almost never uses lightning strike, only time really is when you have a wrath proc but crushing darkness is on cooldown and youre moving

Which is all around better though a Lightning build with Lightning Strike or Madness with Spamable Force Lightning not which is better for Madness?

Thanks

Which is all around better though a Lightning build with Lightning Strike or Madness with Spamable Force Lightning not which is better for Madness?

Thanks

Are we just talking Lightning Strike vs Force Lightning or are we factoring in the rest of the tree? If just LS vs FL, let's consider the following (using 2x LS vs 1x FL, since FL takes twice as long to cast) -

1.) Both are more or less free when specced up, and they even contribute to actually regenerating more Force if you're just spamming them.

2.) FL does more damage.

3.) FL has a slow.

4.) FL is channeled, rather than activated, so you can cut it off to move. But, LS only takes half the time to cast, so you can cast one, move / do something else. FL is somewhat front-loaded in damage, though, so you can do half it's damage in the first second.

5.) LS can proc Forked Lightning, which I guess is nice? (My Sorc is 39, but I've never bothered going high enough up the Lightning tree to mess with this).

If the question was "Given a hybrid spec between Madness and Lightning, what should I spam?" I'd say I prefer Force Lightning, because the damage / cost and damage / time ratio favors it, along with having a slow. But, there are of course other considerations when determining spec (bubble stun!).

Lightning Stike being so poor is one of the reasons people dislike the Lightning Tree. Force Lightning being so awesome is a great draw for the Madness tree.

Make of that what you will.

Are we just talking Lightning Strike vs Force Lightning or are we factoring in the rest of the tree? If just LS vs FL, let's consider the following (using 2x LS vs 1x FL, since FL takes twice as long to cast) -

 

1.) Both are more or less free when specced up, and they even contribute to actually regenerating more Force if you're just spamming them.

2.) FL does more damage.

3.) FL has a slow.

4.) FL is channeled, rather than activated, so you can cut it off to move. But, LS only takes half the time to cast, so you can cast one, move / do something else. FL is somewhat front-loaded in damage, though, so you can do half it's damage in the first second.

5.) LS can proc Forked Lightning, which I guess is nice? (My Sorc is 39, but I've never bothered going high enough up the Lightning tree to mess with this).

 

If the question was "Given a hybrid spec between Madness and Lightning, what should I spam?" I'd say I prefer Force Lightning, because the damage / cost and damage / time ratio favors it, along with having a slow. But, there are of course other considerations when determining spec (bubble stun!).

Your question is, well, questionable. It's like asking which is better Tracer Missle or Power Shot? Well Power Shot does technically do more damage (I think, I think it has a slightly higher tooltip damage number) but of course Tracer Missle is always better. Tracer Missle is tech, Power Shot is ranged, tech has higher crit and never misses.

There are various reasons why Force Lightning is better. Damage wise it does more damage.

Your question is, well, questionable. It's like asking which is better Tracer Missle or Power Shot? Well Power Shot does technically do more damage (I think, I think it has a slightly higher tooltip damage number) but of course Tracer Missle is always better. Tracer Missle is tech, Power Shot is ranged, tech has higher crit and never misses.

 

There are various reasons why Force Lightning is better. Damage wise it does more damage.

Well I'm talking Force for both and both are ranged I'm just asking for opinions from those who have played Sorcerer and more experienced at MMO's.

lightning strike

lets discuss

my sorc has about 940~ bonus dmg and 1280~ expertise

my wrath proc which adds 20% dmg and lightning strike still hits non tank targets for under 1k

that is a waste of a cooldown bioware.. and a prime example of bioware's ignorance with this class

i will admit ive crit upwards of 2.2k ish with wrath on other sorcs...

which still pales in comparison with other classes and even other ranged classes...

snipers have ridiculous burst.

mercs as weak as they are, if left to free cast have much harder hitting abilities than us

sorcs in general need a dmg buff across the board

I run a lightning/madness hybrid spec with a crit and surge focused setup. I spam force lightning while running crushing darkness and affliction. It's not uncommon for me to thow in lightning strike when I can use the perk to instantly cast it instead of having to wait for it to charge and then cast.

On raid it's normal for me to tick over 1k per force lightning due to having an almost 50% chance of critting. On the last dread guard on TFB running moxparser I recorded 392 crits on force lightning alone and that was just on the last guy mind you this didn't take into account the other 2.

Lightning strike straight out sucks, pure and simple.

The only reason to ever use LS is- if you don't have spammable FL.

Which means 1- for some reason you've gone full lightning (I dunno, maybe that's good for pve- I don't do operations so I dunno... full lightning however is absolutely terrible for pvp though so never go it). or 2- you're a corruption/lightning hybrid.

I am the latter- no spammable FL, and LS gives me CL procs as well as my force regen- it's also my only spammable dps ability.

Let's say though I was a spec that had wrath and CL procs (lightning/madness hybrid, presumably for the root KB and stun bubble)- in such a case, I would indeed spam FL over LS, not even a question- wrath procs, force regen, snare, far better damage, only reason I'd use LS was for a wrath proc where CD was on cooldown... that said, I dunno if I'd go such a hybrid- yes, it has some better control, but to be perfectly honest lightning doesn't add much damage at low levels... LS is terrible no matter what, CL is shoddy damage even when instant proc- and it's never worth the 3 second cast.

Best thing low other than the CC in lightning is lightning barrage procs for quick FL.... so it'd come down to that and the CC vs creeping terror's root and the extra dot damage high in madness.

TL:DR- there is never, ever, ever a time where I would spam LS if I had the spammable FL talent (along with wrath procs and the force regen from it).

the reason to use lightning strike is the lightning tree...

with smart use of it you can get free chain lightning, free power use, force regeneration, bonus damage etc...

so... if you pve lightning is pretty good tree for sorc dps as you both ranged and virtually got unlimited force power.

the reason to use lightning strike is the lightning tree...

with smart use of it you can get free chain lightning, free power use, force regeneration, bonus damage etc...

 

so... if you pve lightning is pretty good tree for sorc dps as you both ranged and virtually got unlimited force power.

What about PvP?

Thanks

I think I might have a similar spec to you.. so let me chime in. I currently spec 0/23/18 which allows me to obtain "Wrath" in the Madness tree and "Forked Lightning" in the Lightning tree.

Generally how I work it is, I spam Force Lightning, because it does more base damage than Lightning strike and also allows for the proc, which makes my Lightning Strike instant AND have +20% damage. Once I get that proc THEN I use the instant "buffed" Lightning Strike. This allows me to stay very mobile in pvp.

Additionally I NEVER hard cast Chain Lightning. The same rule applies. I only use Chain Lightning once I get the instant proc. Lastly, I use Lightning Barrage which allows my affliction dots to trigger doubling the speed of Force Lightning.

If you play a Lightning/Madness Hybrid the trick is to use your procs and synergy with your skills to rotate what you are using. Additionally it's the only spec that has access to instant Whirlwind, snare on knockback AND stun bubble.

P.S.

Final note, I think this is by FAR the best 1v1 Sorc spec and great for pugging. I think in any rated combat the healing hybrid comes out on top though.

I think I might have a similar spec to you.. so let me chime in. I currently spec 0/23/18 which allows me to obtain "Wrath" in the Madness tree and "Forked Lightning" in the Lightning tree.

 

Generally how I work it is, I spam Force Lightning, because it does more base damage than Lightning strike and also allows for the proc, which makes my Lightning Strike instant AND have +20% damage. Once I get that proc THEN I use the instant "buffed" Lightning Strike. This allows me to stay very mobile in pvp.

 

Additionally I NEVER hard cast Chain Lightning. The same rule applies. I only use Chain Lightning once I get the instant proc. Lastly, I use Lightning Barrage which allows my affliction dots to trigger doubling the speed of Force Lightning.

 

If you play a Lightning/Madness Hybrid the trick is to use your procs and synergy with your skills to rotate what you are using. Additionally it's the only spec that has access to instant Whirlwind, snare on knockback AND stun bubble.

 

P.S.

 

Final note, I think this is by FAR the best 1v1 Sorc spec and great for pugging. I think in any rated combat the healing hybrid comes out on top though.

Thanks

lightning strike

 

lets discuss

 

my sorc has about 940~ bonus dmg and 1280~ expertise

 

my wrath proc which adds 20% dmg and lightning strike still hits non tank targets for under 1k

 

that is a waste of a cooldown bioware.. and a prime example of bioware's ignorance with this class

 

i will admit ive crit upwards of 2.2k ish with wrath on other sorcs...

 

which still pales in comparison with other classes and even other ranged classes...

 

snipers have ridiculous burst.

 

mercs as weak as they are, if left to free cast have much harder hitting abilities than us

 

sorcs in general need a dmg buff across the board

lightning is better my opinion. If u have the ability to instant cast use it on crushing darkness because its internal damage not energy

Would you post the 0/23/18 please because I'm still deciding on AC?

Thanks

Here's what I run.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#201ZbsbMdRrhZcMcRsMz.2