PvP burst needs to be quick or else people use defensive cooldowns or kite. I’ve been opening with SAber throw, leap (with combat focus), plasma brand, vigilant thrust, blade storm, overhead slash. That gets the armor debuff from saber throw, all the dots ticking, the autocrit blade storm, and the set bonus auto Crit overhead slash. But even that seems long... should I skip vigilant Thrust and use blade storm with only one stack? Could also skip saber throw and forgo the armor debuff. Thoughts?

if you're looking for burst, go make a concentration sentinel...

You are right, Kendra. Other classes and specs have more burst. I misspoke when I said I wanted burst. I meant I am doing less overall damage than I could be doing because my biggest hitting attack, the autocrit overhead slash, takes so long to get to. Often I never use it because either the target dies, kites, or pops dcd’s.

The DPS rotation doesn't change in PvP. What's optimal in pve is good for pvp too. You may need to interrupt your rotation with gcds for other things, but the baseline DPS rotation for best output does not change.

PvP burst needs to be quick or else people use defensive cooldowns or kite. I’ve been opening with SAber throw, leap (with combat focus), plasma brand, vigilant thrust, blade storm, overhead slash. That gets the armor debuff from saber throw, all the dots ticking, the autocrit blade storm, and the set bonus auto Crit overhead slash. But even that seems long... should I skip vigilant Thrust and use blade storm with only one stack? Could also skip saber throw and forgo the armor debuff. Thoughts?

 

PVP:

Don't use saber throw in your opener, use it only to root running opponents. I usually like to save my combat focus as well because I put the speed utility on it. So my pvp "opener" is something like this: Leap + Sundering Strike (armor debuff) + overhead slash(dot) + plasma brand (dot) + blade storm (dot) + then vigi thrust (to spread dots on whoever you can) + master strike or hew. Alternately, you can do plasma brand first since it has the longest dot 12s -- if you are trying to have the best dot spreads.

 

Personally, I prefer Focus for pvp. It's crunchier.

Edited July 9, 2019 by Rion_Starkiller