Annihilation | Watchmen Compendium

[Ezmode]

So, for DoT up-times, starting with Deadly Saber:

0s: Apply first stack.
1.5s: Apply second stack.
3.0s: Apply third stack.
9s: DoT Expires.

Total up time: 9/12 = 75%

Rupture gets a little complicated thanks to Pulverize.

With the base cooldown, we can see at least 60/15 = 4 Ruptures per minute.

Taking Annihilate with 3 stacks of Annihilator buff up: 60/7.5 = 8 Annihilates per minute.

With pulverize: 8.57 * 0.6666 = 5.3328 Rupture resets.

Total Ruptures = 4 + 5.3328 = 9.3328

Average Rupture Cooldown: 60/9.3328 = 6.4289s

Rupture Uptime: 6/6.4289 = 93.3286%

Resets from Vicious slash becomes a little bit more difficult depending on the spec you chose (Enraged Charge vs Brutality), I have attempted to fix my reworked version of LagunaD's model and will be post very soon. It will include calculations for Vicious Slash and Rupture resets along with a ton of other fixes and changes.


Edit: Was using the wrong Annihilate Cooldown.

[Jeezas]

I assume with this answer that I have to trigger my Annihilation, Rupture AND DS as soon as they're up, and that I'd better apply my 3 stacks of DS on the straight 3 GCD's after I triggered my DS ?

[Ezmode]

Everything is assumed on cooldown. DS will be applied in 3 GCDs regardless because of the lack of nonmelee abilities in the rotation.

[Jeezas]

All right, I know they are supposed to be on CD. But with an eye on the priority list, DS and Annihilate are not necessarily used on CD, depending on the time they're up. If you have your Annihilate, Rupture and DS up at the same time, and your Annihilate buff is close to its end (I don't think it happens a lot, but it is for demonstration purpose):
T0: Annihilate
T0+1GCD: Rupture
T0+2GCD: Charge+DS.
That means your DS and Rupture were already expired, and you have to wait 1 more GCD for rupture, 2 to get your first tick of DS and a total of 4 GCD to get your 3 DS stacks. And by the time you applied your 3 stacks of DS, Rupture is already close to expire, and you have nothing but VS to try to reset the cooldown. That seems weird to me, being used to DoT specs where you couldn't imagin NOT having all your DoTs at the same time on the boss for one second in a fight.

[Ezmode]

Since the Annihilator buff lasts 15 seconds, you'll have plenty of time to refresh it and I do not believe there is any way it'll fall off on a stationary fight. I'm also assuming a different priority, given that all the appropriate buffs/debuffs (such as Annihilator) are already in place.

"Rupture"
"Deadly Saber"
"Annihilate"
"Battering Assault"
"Force Charge"
"Force Choke"
"Ravage"
"Vicious Slash"
"Assault"

[Jeezas]

I understand your new priority, I'll try this way when I come back home. But with this priority, I look at the Rage Maker / Rage Spender ratio and I fear for my Rage pool. Indeed, if we look at the top priority skills and their Rage cost / gain, it looks bad.

Rupture (-2, 10s average cd)
Annihilate (-4, 7.5s cd)
Battering Assault (+6, 15s cd)
Force Choke (+4, 1mn cd)
Vicious Slash (-2, no cd)
Assault (+2, no cd)

I don't count Deadly Saber and Force Charge in my example, since they are meant to be used together. Also, I'm using a "narrowed hatred / malice" 31/8/2 template so my Force charge only gives me 3 Rage.

I know there is extra incoming rage due to Empowerment, but even with this the figures make me assume that I will have to use lots of Assaults to keep a rage level around 6-7 in order to be ready when Annihilation and / or Rupture are up. Since Assault does few damage, is it really worth it ? Or am I forgetting something ?

P.S. Given your calculated average Rupture cd and my actual 15s average rupture CD (I checked that my talent was ok), I conclude that the RNG gods are clearly not on my side...

EDIT: I read again you first answer (top of the page), and I think there is, in addition to my luck problem, a flaw in your math.
Indeed, you add the 4 Ruptures per minute (base cooldown) to the 5.3328 Rupture resets you calculated from Pulverize talent.
But, when your Rupture resets from Pulverize and you use it, your cooldown starts again and you don't benefit from the "natural" 15s reset.
If I try to math my way out of this, when you trigger your first Rupture, you have 15s left until the next one, which is the maximum delay between 2 Rupture activations. So the minimum uptime is 6/15=40%
To simplify, I will not use Vicious Strike, and simply use Annihilation for the reset property.
Taking the most favorable case (Rupture resets at each Annihilation, statistically aberrant but mathematically interesting), and using a simple recurrence:
T0: Rupture
T0+1GCD: Annihilation, Rupture resets.
T0+6s:Last tick, Rupture fades.
T0+6s+1GCD(=7.5s):Rupture
T0+1GCD+7.5s(=9s):Annihilation up, Annihilation, Rupture resets.
T0+1GCD+12s(=13.5s):Last tick, Rupture fades.
T0+2GCD+12s(=15s):Rupture
T0+1GCD+2*7.5s(=16.5s):Annihilation up, Annihilation, Rupture resets.
T0+2GCD+18s(=21s):Last tick, Rupture fades.
T0+3GCD+18s(=22.5s):Rupture
T0+1GCD+3*7.5s(=24s):Annihilation up, Annihilation, Rupture resets.
T0+3GCD+24s(=28.5s):Last tick, Rupture fades.
T0+4GCD+24s(=30s):Rupture
T0+1GCD+4*7.5s(=31.5s): Annihilation up, Annihilation, Rupture resets.
T0+4GCD+30s(=36s):Last tick, Rupture fades.
T0+5GCD+30s(=37.5s):Rupture
...
I let a GCD between the last tick of Rupture and the moment you actually use the next Rupture, assuming (seemed logical to me) that you are using another skill when the last tick pops, and you aren't just waiting for the debuff to disappear.
So in the most favorable case, the time between each Rupture reseted by Annihilation is 6s+1GCD, so 7.5s.
So with only Annihilation to reset the cd, we have a maximum uptime of 6/7.5=80%. Quite far from the 93% you calculated for the average uptime.
But this is all theory, my question was also about practical uptimes you have experienced and tips you could maybe have to enhance these uptimes (make the DS ticks last longer with nonmelee skills, or something to fasten Rupture reset).

[Ezmode]

You are correct, I'll have to work on reworking how Rupture+Annihilate/VS is calculated, thank you for letting me know.

As for lengthening up time for DS, it is really inefficient to use Force abilities between, but I may take a look at using Smash in place of something else just to make the second stack last 1 GCD longer. Question is, would the 2 stack's second tick apply before the 3 stack's first tick?

[Jeezas]

What about (once a minute) inserting a Force Choke between ticks 2 and 3 ? I think it could lengthen it almost enough to keep your 3 stacks up by the time you hit your next DS (and if you add a smash, your are sure to keep your 3 stacks up for a nice big dozen seconds or more).

[Ezmode]

I considered that, but I believe tying down Force Choke to use with DS would cause Rage Neutrality problems, meaning you'd have to use Assault a fraction more and Vicious Slash a fraction less. I could try to work it out sometime after I figure out what to do with the Annihlate+Rupture resetting calculations.

[Jeezas]

I'd be happy to contribute, if you want to continue the reflexion in PM, before exposing the result here.