Saboteur is back with a vengeance, doing very nice AOE damage in 1.8. The catch is it has the most pain-in-the-ass rotation that we’ve ever had to do, because you must target a different mob and use abilities with janky cooldown differences.
Pros: High AOE damage, high mobility, good single-target damage
Cons: Complex rotations, no utility, indiscriminate damage
The theory behind Sab AOE is getting all your DoTs going ASAP and keeping them rolling. These are Caltrop charge, High Explosives and to a lesser extent, Chemical Bomb and Shrapnel Charge.
High Explosives has been changed so that it is now a stacking DoT applied by Frag Bomb and Time Bomb. It lasts 10 seconds, which is also the cooldown on Frag Bomb, so you can’t rely on Frag Bomb to keep it active, because of travel time. This is where Time Bomb comes in. It’s important to always keep Time Bomb rolling, but not clip it. Frag Bomb also detonates your charges now.
I recommend basically the rotation posted by Beckmann for AOE DPS. He’s contributed the most to Saboteurs over the course of testing in 1.8.
Simple AOE rotation
Rapid Setup>Caltrop Charge then Time > Frag > Chem > Shrap > Det
Afterwards: Time > Frag > Chem > Caltropx5 > > Det > Shrapnel
Use Carpet Bombing on cooldown to spam Fragmentation Bomb (gives an extra tick of HE with every toss) and use Rapid Setup to make Shrapnel x5 every 3rd rotation.
Even the simple rotation isn’t that simple, because of cooldowns and dependencies. Since Time Bomb is an AOE, there’s no need to apply it to the same target as your charges . In fact, nothing needs to hit the same target in your rotation except your charge sets, as long as the mobs are grouped up. This lets you use a more advanced rotation, that is more of a pain, because it requires hitting multiple targets.
Advanced AOE rotation
Rapid > Caltrop > Time(a) > Frag > Chem > Time(b) > Caltropx2 > Time(c) > Caltrop x3
Afterwards: Time(a) > Frag > Chem > Time(b) > Caltrop x2 > Time(c) > Caltrop x3
w/ Carpet: (with Caltropx5) > Time(a) > Annihilation > Chem > Carpet > Annihilation x3 > Chem > Time(b) > Caltrop x2 > Time(c) > Caltrop x3
w/ Rapid: Time(a) > Frag > Chem > Time(b) > Rapid > Caltrop > Det > Time(c) > Shrap x2
(a)(b)(c) don’t have to be the same target each time, but they must be different from each other. A macro to help you throw Time Bombs is:
cast @mouseover Time Bomb
cast Time Bomb
This will throw Time Bomb at your mouseover target (if you have one) and otherwise throw it at your current target. Its a pain, but its easier than setting a focus for your charges and then tabbing (at least imo).
Single Target Rotation
Time > Frag > Spike x5 > Det > Caltrop x2
w/ Carpet: Time > Frag > Spike x5 > Time > Carpet > Frag x3
These rotations really won’t be possible to stick perfectly in many encounters because of the need to move, change targets, change priorities, etc. The important thing is to always keep HE up, by always using Time before Frag.
Hopefully the spec will get some more refinement soon, or we’ll find a better way to do things!
i cant see look u saba build i clik link and i see mesaga This build is set to private.
Should be fixed now. Sorry about that.
Unless something changed very recently on PTS (I haven’t been on it in a few days) then Annihilation Bomb should be triggering HE as well as Time and Frag. It also does more damage than Frag (I know what the tool tips say, but parses from myself and others have found it to be the opposite).
That being said, it would be a better choice for Carpet Bombing rotations.
You’re right. I was going by the tooltips but Anni definitely does trigger HE and does more damage. Good call.
Are you using the Sab HK crystal in this spec?
Yes definitely. Its very good and nothing else has any effect at all. :)
Good write up Dunsparrow, I’ll practice these rotations when I get home from work today, I was fudging around with the first boss in ID last night and got up to 14k AoE dps, the single target damage was also quite good.
My only comment Dunny is this: Sabo DOES have utility, and pretty good utility at that. Aoe silence/Snare plus traps makes it very adept at add control. Otherwise i will be following this closely thanks for the writeup.
You’re right, I don’t often think of those bombs. They aren’t reliable for regular interrupts though because of the long CD and snares are really only useful for a few gimmick fights like Vladmal.
Also in addition to bombs you could include the AoE snare trap and Incriminate. Also to a very small degree Land Mines because of the knock up effect. Yes its gimmicky, but you never know and at least its there and we have yet to see the end of ID. Again, just trying to add to your already wonderful post. Also loving my 13k+ AoE damage, thanks Trion :P.
Time > Frag > Spike x5 > Det > Caltrop x2
what do you mean by x2 are you using det after that and then repeating the rotation again? Why caltrop x2 over blast? Doesnt blast do so much more for ST then the 2 of then. Ty again
The next frag will set off the caltrop, so you don’t need to detonate. Caltrop does more than Blast on single targets. Don’t ask me why. :x
ok why frag over annihilate when its up, would it be safe to say to have a macro with anni frag and detonate in it as a finisher so to speak and frag by itself just in case a HE is going to fall off?
also what kind of numbers are you getting ST withthis build self buffed, i pull 2400 tops with vial and whetstones and tablet
yo dun. why u no spike charge AoE? if you detonate spike with annihilation it hits 8 more targets for the full effect of spike, which is > caltrop.
Plus the reason anni is > frag is because anni is earth damage, frag is physical and therefore affected by armor.
Annihilation Bomb no longer works that way. Now its just a more powerful Frag bomb with a 2 second stun.
anni bomb STILL does bro :) check it out dont know if its bugged or not
Tooltip doesn’t say it. I’ll give it a shot.
Nope, doesn’t work.
http://www.twitch.tv/guildparanormal/b/315889146
check it out my man, working
You misunderstood me. Annihilation Bomb detonates charges, but it does not spread spike charge to any mobs. You can’t use Spike Charge on AOE.
hey i dropped a message on the forums, I read becks post about hitting 3200 st with this, NO WAY! I have been able to do about 2400ish 5 minute parse with whetstones, tablet and vial. Is that about right? Definetly better then using blast no doubt, tried this over and over trying to hit his numbers and I cant see it being possible. Telling me its about 50 dps off of bloodstalker, im finding it near to impossible to believe
3200 is pretty high, but that may be on the PTS with ID gear.
what is a good dps parse with your rotation, I love it more then becks, and even started a thread about his proposed DPS. 2700 with bard sound good to you ?
Whats your gear? Sounds pretty solid on a single.
check my video over at http://www.twitch.tv/guildparanormal/b/315888579 and i linked a video about anni bomb detonating charges
how much more dps does it do compared to http://forums.riftgame.com/rift-general-discussions/classes-telara/rogue-discussion/rogue-guides/312264-saboteur-1-8-guide.html vs dps
3200 dps is very low
should be doing 3500-3700 in ID gear at the least 4100-4500 high end.