Katana Attack Chains?

Is there a list of of the "accepted" attack chains for Katana that includes the recharge time necessary for them?

I've looked around a little bit and all I've found are various peoples chains...they all seem to be a bit different though.

I know I've seen them listed on a thread somewhere...thinking it was Werner maybe? Not sure........

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Damage is Mids' average unslotted. Using Arcanatime. Not taking into account the Achilles' Heel proc in Gambler's Cut, which you should use.

If you don't need Divine Avalanche at all:

74.56 DPS - Golden Dragonfly (3.43, +250%) -> Gambler's Cut -> Soaring Dragon (3.83, +135%) -> Gambler's Cut (1.58, +90%)

For two Divine Avalanches (technically drops for a fraction of a second):

60.86 DPS - Divine Avalanche (3.43, +0%) -> Gambler's Cut (1.58, +90%) -> Golden Dragonfly (8.45, +43%) -> Gambler's Cut -> Divine Avalanche -> Gambler's Cut -> Soaring Dragon (9.50, +0%) -> Gambler's Cut

And then drop one or two Gambler's Cuts as necessary to keep Divine Avalanche double-stacked when switching targets and the like:

60.50 DPS - Divine Avalanche (2.51, +20%) -> Golden Dragonfly (6.60, +82%) -> Gambler's Cut -> Divine Avalanche -> Soaring Dragon (7.00, +29%) -> Gambler's Cut (3.17, +0%)

Not sure about one Divine Avalanche chains. Looking at it now.

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"That's because Werner can't do maths." - BunnyAnomaly
"Four hours in, and I was no longer making mistakes, no longer detoggling. I was a machine." - Werner
Videos of Other Stupid Scrapper Tricks

Werner is one of the best when it comes to DPS, listen to him. No disagreements with that chain.

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Well, I'm not as confident in what to do with one Divine Avalanche. On brief glance, this looks best to me, but it does lose Divine Avalanche for a fraction of a second (similar to the double-stack chain I prefer), which might not be to your liking.

67.20 DPS - Divine Avalanche (8.84, +0%) -> Gambler's Cut (1.58, +90%) -> Soaring Dragon (3.43, +163%) -> Gambler's Cut -> Golden Dragonfly (8.45, +43%) -> Gambler's Cut -> Soaring Dragon -> Gambler's Cut

Dropping one Gambler's Cut takes significantly more recharge, but keeps Divine Avalanche up full time, and at least given my stated assumptions, improves DPS on paper. But I strongly suspect that in practice, it lowers DPS due to reduced contribution from Achilles' Heel (plus you should also have a purple proc in Gambler's Cut).

67.66 DPS - Divine Avalanche (7.92, +0%) -> Gambler's Cut (1.58, +90%) -> Soaring Dragon -> Gambler's Cut -> Golden Dragonfly (7.52, +60%) -> Soaring Dragon (2.90, +210%) -> Gambler's Cut

Dropping another Gambler's Cut again improves DPS on paper at the cost of higher recharge, but again, I'm betting that the loss of Achilles' Heel and purple proc'ing more than cancels out the gain.

68.21 DPS - Divine Avalanche (7.00, +0%) -> Soaring Dragon (2.51, +259%) -> Gambler's Cut (3.17, +0%) -> Golden Dragonfly (6.60, +82%) -> Soaring Dragon (2.90, +210%) -> Gambler's Cut

I think I've seen proposed just adding Divine Avalanche to the DPS chain. However, I think you then spend too much time doing Divine Avalanche, and too little time on Gambler's Cut and your big hitters. But for the sake of argument.

65.94 DPS - Divine Avalanche (5.41, +0%) -> Gambler's Cut -> Golden Dragonfly (5.02, +140%) -> Gambler's Cut (1.98, +52%) -> Soaring Dragon (5.41, +67%)

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"That's because Werner can't do maths." - BunnyAnomaly
"Four hours in, and I was no longer making mistakes, no longer detoggling. I was a machine." - Werner
Videos of Other Stupid Scrapper Tricks

Thanks for the info, Werner! I have quite a ways to go...recharge is too expensive!

GC - 1.33
SD - 4.32
GD - 4.71
TLD - 6.42
SOTW (wanted the single target attack instead of FS) - 2.16

I'm skipping Divine Avalanche on my Kat/SR. Easy enough to hit the soft cap without it and save a slot that could be better used for slashing baddies in da' face!

I'm gonig to add your info to a spreadsheet so I don't lose it this time!

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Yeah, recharge is a killer. If you need to double-stack Divine Avalanche, the recharge requirements are very low for the top chain. But if you don't need it at all, like on Katana/Super Reflexes, it's going to cost you if you want to do the top chain. Fortunately, you have Quickness, so at least you have a step in the right direction. Let's see, Haste for +70%, Quickness for +20%, slotting for about +90%, and you'll need 70% global recharge from IOs. The first +25% is easy, but the next +45% is going to cost you, both in influence and slotting trade offs. Fortunately, Super Reflexes doesn't have steep slotting requirements, so it's really down to influence.

I'm guessing your best cheap chain will be this:

70.68 DPS - Golden Dragonfly (5.68, +112%) -> Gambler's Cut -> Soaring Dragon (6.07, +49%) -> Gambler's Cut -> Sting of the Wasp (6.34, +0%) -> Gambler's Cut (1.32, +128%)

Looks like you're either set or maybe need just a fraction more recharge for Gambler's Cut.

Another possibility is dropping one of the Gambler's Cuts. It does better DPS on paper, but again, I'm thinking it might be giving up even more than it's gaining with the Achilles' Heel and purple proc.

71.79 DPS - Golden Dragonfly (4.75, +153%) -> Gambler's Cut (1.98, +52%) -> Soaring Dragon (5.15, +75%) -> Sting of the Wasp (5.41, +0%) -> Gambler's Cut (2.9, +4%)

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"That's because Werner can't do maths." - BunnyAnomaly
"Four hours in, and I was no longer making mistakes, no longer detoggling. I was a machine." - Werner
Videos of Other Stupid Scrapper Tricks

I'll throw in some "gameplay" exp that might be helpful (or could just be a complete waste of time, but hey, I'm at work so who cares). I used Werner's "cheap" attack chain (substituting FS for SoW) and still use it when hasten is down. It works well. My initial build was cheap (didn't start getting IOs until late 30s). You should be fine using this chain all the way up to 50.
However, if your like me, when you get into your 40s your gonna want to start to go after the best attack chain. I'm still working on it, but I can say I'm now at about 225% GD rchg (when hasten's up) and I run the optimal chain with the slightest of pauses. I can deal with the pause for what feels like a lot more DPS and more KD/KU more often.

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I'm always surprised to see these attack chains begin w/ Golden Dragonfly. True, it's the strongest Katana attack but Soaring Dragon has a faster cast time and it's knockup component seems (to me) more reliable than Golden Dragonfly's knockdown.

Is there a reasoning to this strategy that I'm misssing? I know that GD has a greater chance for double damage and both GD and SD reduce the targets def...

Up to now, I've been starting w/ SD so they get knocked up, then GC and/or SOTW, then GD. I can usually just get GD off as the target is getting up after using GC and SOTW and then knock them right back down. By that time, SD has had plenty of time to recharge and I can begin the madness again. It ends up being really fun when both SD and GD hit their KU/KD...little juggling action. heh...

As for recharge, the build that I'm currently working on is only sitting at 65%. I finally got enough merits last night for my first LOTG recharge. Too bad I need 4 more!

...sigh...it never ends...heh...

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As far as attack chains are concerned: Try to conceptualize them as a periodic function with respect to time (and that might be second to second, endurance consumption, or the timeframe of any manner of "build-up"). Using the most powerful attack first helps it to cycle through more quickly thus making it available, hopefully, for a second application in the cycle.

Im trying to top out a kat/elec (clearly wont have the same recharge because of slotting preferences, but the tools make it a lot of fun).

Dont forget Fury of the Gladiator unique (*very* expensive), thinking of it more in flashing steel, though, as a set-up attack.

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Miss Arc #147491: Rise of Bedlam
AKA Iron Smoke @Champion Server

Not a huge reason that Golden Dragonfly comes first. I generally worry about DPS over burst, and that comes across in my lazy attitude towards which attack I put first in my attack chain posting. Still, you often want Golden Dragonfly first so that you can fit two in a Build Up, assuming your chain is less than ten seconds. If I'm remembering correctly, the attack must only START in the Build Up, not FINISH. If so, then closing out your ten seconds with your long activation big hitter is a good plan for getting the most out of Build Up.

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"That's because Werner can't do maths." - BunnyAnomaly
"Four hours in, and I was no longer making mistakes, no longer detoggling. I was a machine." - Werner
Videos of Other Stupid Scrapper Tricks

Thats definately true about starting the attack in build-up. I especially recall total focus being a great example of this as an end attack in the chain.

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Miss Arc #147491: Rise of Bedlam
AKA Iron Smoke @Champion Server

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