Martial Arts: Eagle's Claw ... how to exploit the 3s +Damage buff after 2.5s

[Redlynne]

Decided to do a bit of testing of the Eagle's Claw +Damage buff, keeping the Combat Attributes window open to cross-check results.

• +33% Damage (All) Strength (self only) for 3s after 2.5s
  

What I was noticing was:

• Eagle's Claw would animate (completely).
• There would be a delay (the as advertised, 2.5s delay) and then the +Damage buff would come online temporarily (for 3s) before disappearing again.

Seeing this behavior happening in (almost) real time (because there's a lag involved in the Combat Attributes window reporting) made me realize that I had a TETRIS problem with how I was sequencing my attack chain.

Up to this point, I had been doing this:

• Eagle's Claw
• Thunder Kick
• Storm Kick
• Cobra Strike (in my previous build, Crippling Axe Kick)
• (Dragon's Tail: optional)

• ... repeat

Doing some offline analysis (see below), I realized that my attack sequencing was missing the timing on making best use of the (delayed) +Damage buff duration from Eagle's Claw. At best, only 1 attack power in the sequence was getting buffed ... when a different sequencing could do a better job of "claiming" the +Damage buff by multiple powers (2-3) instead of just 1.

Granted, it's only a +33% Damage buff ... but still, Players (like myself) are going to optimize for performance whenever it's practical to do so.


0.00 ... -2.530 = Cast Eagle's Claw
2.53 ... +0.000 = Complete casting time of Eagle's Claw
2.772 ... +0.242 = Complete ArcanaTime of Eagle's Claw
5.03 ... +2.500 = Begin +Damage buff from Eagle's Claw for 3 seconds
8.03 ... +5.500 = End +Damage buff from Eagle's Claw for 3 seconds

Time between end of Eagle's Claw ArcanaTime and beginning of +Damage buff duration:
5.03 - 2.772 = 2.258 seconds

Time between end of Eagle's Claw ArcanaTime and end of +Damage buff duration:
8.03 - 2.772 = 5.258 seconds


Challenge
Formulate a repeating attack chain that squeezes the most number of attacks initiating within the 2.258-5.258 second window AFTER Eagle's Claw has competed its ArcanaTime.

Bonus
Formulate a repeating attack chain that begins casting Eagle's Claw in less than +5.500 seconds after the previous casting of Eagle's Claw, allowing the +Damage buff to affect subsequent castings of Eagle's Claw in the repeating cycle.


Tanker Martial Arts ArcanaTimes
Thunder Kick = 1.056s
Storm Kick = 1.056s
Cobra Strike = 1.848s
Warrior's Provocation = 1.848s
Crane Kick = 1.848s
Focus Chi = 1.32s
Crippling Axe Kick = 1.848s
Dragon's Tail = 1.716s
Eagle's Claw = 2.772s

Tanker 1s Activation Pool Powers ArcanaTime: 1.188s

ArcanaTime Sequencing Mixes
1.056 + 1.056 = 2.112 < 2.258 = delay fail
1.056 + 1.188 = 2.244 < 2.258 = delay fail
1.188 + 1.188 = 2.376 > 2.258 = delay succeed, but must use Pool powers
1.056 + 1.320 = 2.376 > 2.258 = delay succeed, but requires use of Focus Chi which is not always recharged and ready
1.056 + 1.716 = 2.772 > 2.258 = delay succeed, but Dragon's Tail cannot gain +Damage buff from Eagle's Claw
1.056 + 1.848 = 2.904 > 2.258 = delay succeed
1.056 + 1.056 + 1.188 = 3.3 > 2.258 = delay succeed, but takes too long
1.056 + 1.056 + 1.716 = 3.828 > 2.258 = delay succeed, but takes too long
1.056 + 1.056 + 1.848 = 3.96 > 2.258 = delay succeed, but takes too long


Single Target Rotation

-2.530 = Cast Eagle's Claw
+0.000 = Eagle's Claw casting complete
+0.242 = Eagle's Claw ArcanaTime complete

+0.242 = Cast Storm Kick
+1.072 = Storm Kick casting complete
+1.298 = Storm Kick ArcanaTime complete

+1.298 = Cast 1.848s ArcanaTime attack power (choose: Cobra Strike, Warrior's Provocation, Crane Kick or Crippling Axe Kick)
@ +2.5000 = +Damage buff from Eagle's Claw applies to powers cast AFTER this timepoint
+2.968 = Power casting complete
+3.146 = Power ArcanaTime complete

+3.146 = Cast Thunder Kick
+3.976 = Thunder Kick casting complete
+4.202 = Thunder Kick ArcanaTime complete

+4.202 = Cast Storm Kick
+5.032 = Storm Kick casting complete
+5.258 = Storm Kick ArcanaTime complete

+5.258 = Repeat by casting Eagle's Claw
@ +5.5000 = +Damage buff from Eagle's Claw expires


PBAoE Target Rotation

-2.530 = Cast Eagle's Claw
+0.000 = Eagle's Claw casting complete
+0.242 = Eagle's Claw ArcanaTime complete

+0.242 = Cast 1.056sArcanaTime attack power (choose: Thunder Kick or Storm Kick)
+1.072 = Power casting complete
+1.298 = Power ArcanaTime complete

+1.298 = Cast 1.848s ArcanaTime attack power (choose: Cobra Strike, Warrior's Provocation, Crane Kick or Crippling Axe Kick)
@ +2.5000 = +Damage buff from Eagle's Claw applies to powers cast AFTER this timepoint
+2.968 = Power casting complete
+3.146 = Power ArcanaTime complete

+3.146 = Cast Dragon's Tail
+4.646 = Dragon's Tail casting complete
+4.862 = Dragon's Tail ArcanaTime complete

+4.862 = Repeat by casting Eagle's Claw
@ +5.5000 = +Damage buff from Eagle's Claw expires


Martial Arts Damage by powers:
Thunder Kick: 37.37 (base)
Storm Kick: 58.72 (base)
Cobra Strike and Crane Kick: 87.20 (base)
Crippling Axe Kick: 94.31 (base)
Dragon's Tail: 52.50 (base)
Eagle's Claw: 101.43 (base)

+33% Damage buff from Eagle's Claw
Thunder Kick: 37.37*0.33 = +12.3321
Storm Kick: 58.72*0.33 = +19.3776
Cobra Strike and Crane Kick: 87.20*0.33 = +28.776
Crippling Axe Kick: 94.31*0.33 = +31.1223
Dragon's Tail: 52.50*0.33 = +17.325 per $Target
Eagle's Claw: 101.43*0.33 = +33.4719

Note: Thunder Kick + Storm Kick combined = +31.7097 when paired together, as a point of comparison.


I figure that by "reshaping" my attack chain rotation into this new sequencing, I'll be able to better exploit the +Damage buff from Eagle's Claw in a way that actually improves damage throughput over time.



Trivia Note:
My new {RI 6} SR/MA/MP Tanker respec build has sufficient enhancement+global recharge modifiers to make this attack chain sequencing work ... assuming the Player has sufficient skill/practice investment so as to be able execute in the correct order(s), reflexively (there is muscle memory re-training involved in order to form new habits).

I'm hoping that the insights that can be gleaned from this analysis will be useful/helpful to other Tankers who want to make more efficient use of Martial Arts: Eagle's Claw in their attack rotations.