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Swing timer & GCD... noob question
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Post by
Paolo
Noob question. Be nice :)
I've played all caster toons, so the DK is my first melee and I don't understand the timing. You have the swing timer (let's say 3.4 seconds) and the normal GCD (1.5). How do these work together? I.e., if all I do is auto-attack, it will occur at the speed of the swing timer. But what about specials, from Frost Strike to Death Coil or Howling Blast? Are those tied to the main GCD? Or are special
strikes
(frost, blood, oblit) limited to the swing timer, and
spell effects
(HB, DC) on the GCD?
So far I'm just mashing keys, which I understand is the right way to play a DK. No no, jk...I really want to understand how this works so I can get my timing right, hopefully before I graduate from HFP.
Post by
svl007
only casts interupt the swing timer. so that means only army for dk's.
all other skills are instant skills and don't affect the swing timer.
Post by
Paolo
only casts interupt the swing timer. so that means only army for dk's.
all other skills are instant skills and don't affect the swing timer.
Great. But they're on the GCD? Some more specific questions to tease out the details:
(1) I do a melee attack. Is Frost Strike available immediately or after one GCD?
(2) I do a melee attack. Then two specials (e.g., FS+HB), which I assume will take 3 seconds. The swing timer is still swinging, meaning my next melee attack (or melee strike) can happen 0.4 seconds later?
Another way to phrase the question: are there two parallel timers? All melee happens at rhythm A, all non-melee specials happen at rhythm B, with no interaction?
Post by
svl007
just see normal swings as a big dot constantly going to mob.
other skills (provided they are instant) you do are totally independant from that. or like you put it are on different rhythms
so if you do a skill, you can do another skill 1.5sec later (aka the gcd) but a white hit can land in between.
simular if a white hit just landed you can do a skill right away provided your skills aren't on gcd ofc.
one exception to this rule is rune strike which is a skill that basicly converts a white hit into a yellow hit. but it doesn't affect swing timer just converts a white hit into a yellow one.
in light of this.
(1) you can do that frost strike right away, provided you didn't use another skill less then 1.5sec earlier
(2) yes (if your swing timer is 3.4sec ofc)
Post by
Kyura
Frost Strike
requires Runic Power, which is gained through spells and attacks (all but auto-attacks). Auto-attacks (your "3.6-second swing") doesn't provide you with Runic Power, you have to use skills like
Blood Strike
or
Icy Touch
to get that.
Post by
Paolo
@Kyura - thanks, I realize that. Resource management is of course is a real factor, but for now I'm assuming infinite resources, just to focus on the timing question.
@svl - thank you very much!
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Post by
Paolo
To OP best thing to do is not even worry about white swing damage walk up ad start using your instant skills and go through your rotation.
Thanks - indeed that's what I've been up to. But this thread has been very useful! I'm now spamming strikes & other specials
at the speed of the GCD
and (as you suggested) basically ignoring the swing timer. The notes on the specials that say "melee range" and "requires melee weapon" had me thinking that the strikes were limited to the white-swing timer, but I've been set straight.
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