Dirge
From Ecodex
Posted two ideas on Dirge Tricks that can be used during Raids.
Cacophony of Blades
Oration of Sacrifice
Cacophony of Blades: CoB
Cacophony of Blades is one of the few Buffs a Dirge has that has a marked improvement to the Groups DPS. Any Attack is it Melee Based, even combat Arts are including. *NOTE* It affects the group only. No need to spam the raid with "Casting CoB" as it doesn't benefit them.
That includes Special abilites that have a damge type attribute other then Slash, Crush, and Pierce. For instanced All Dirge Combat Arts are Disease based but the auto proc will still effect and get tagged on to the attack successful attack. A Monks hundred hand punch will have a Chime tagged to each seperate hit.
CoB Also effect AoE's that are Combat Arts and procs that are Melee Based.
CoB's Damage is based off of the individual person's strength. The Dirge does not need any Str boost.
A good tactic when raiding is to have the MT group Cast CoB right before the pull to help the MT to astablish Agro.
A good Combo for the Dirge in the MT group is to Cast CoB, then Cast OoS emidiately after. This will give the Tank a window of about 11 Seconds to make the pull before the 2 buffs drop out. And the faster the MT pulls the quicker the Dirge can shut down the OoS so he can stop taking damage.
Here is a sample Macro for the MT Dirge.
/useability Cacophony of Blades
/useability Oration of Sacrifice
/g Cacophony of Sacrifice up, git that mob you.
This macro is also useful in duoing or grouping because now the Tank has a powerful Regen, The Dirge is Stiffled due to the OoS but is still putting out a good DPS through normal Melee Attacks.
Oration of Sacrifice: OoS
Oration of Sacrifice:
Oration of Sacrifice is a 0 power casting Cost, .5 second casting time, "chain gun" heal. At (Master I) OoS heals 109 HP every .3 seconds for a total of 26 times over the course of 8 seconds. It also Stifles the Dirge, and can be clicked a second time to turn off the effect. Recast is 45 seconds. It can be used on anyone in the Raid. It also takes about 82 HP per .3 tic from the Dirge, and if left to go the full 8 seconds it can drain the Dirges HP pool by 1/2 to 1/3 of his Max HP. (Dirges can heal themselfs with 2 attacks so if the mob you are fighting doesn't AoE, Healers should let the Dirge deal with his damage.)
I fear that the OoS spell that dirges use is one of the more under utilized abilities during a Raid. One would say, so what if it heals 109 HP these mobs are hitting for 5K+ damage.
But Think about it, 109 every .3 seconds equates to 327 HP regen every second, how many "healing" Classes can boast about that? What happens when you have 3 Dirges casting OoS on the Tank on the Pull? You have nearly a 1000 HP Regen every second During that very important first few seconds when the Tank is away from the Raid and the healers haven't yet started their Heal spells on the MT, Sometimes the Tank, or puller, gets Stunned and can't move for a few seconds and can die really quickly if he's not being butressed by the healers.
The great thing about OoS is that it is a quick reaction time heal spell that doesn't take the Attention of the real healers from it's primary goal, that being keeping the MT up.
If the Puller gets rooted or stuned on the pull OoS maybe the only thing that will keep him standng to make it back.
Also in the event that when the MT pulls, the mob goes after someone else, the Dirge can cast the OoS while targeting the Mob and the unfortuate person about to get wailed on will have a slightly better chance of survival in those few seconds that the MT is trying to regain Agro.
I major problem with OoS is that is it a Minstration skill based ability. There are currently only 2(3 if counting the second rez spell) spells that Minstration is used in it's checks. Because of this it is very hard for a dirge to get their Skills up in this skill set. I recommend a Dirge when ever they are grouping to periodically cast then turn it off emidiately after when you aren't doing anything in a group. It turns on and off so fast you and other's wont notice. But becareful to not do this when you are in hard fights because you'll be hitting yourself if you wipe because your spell hasn't refreshed.
Submitted by: Silentchord, AB
