Resistant/Berserk (Fury)

Thaith

So I keep delving into Fury stuff, and that well just seems to get deeper and deeper, so I'm trying really hard not to write off a skill as bad until I've thought about it for a good long while. I'm having trouble getting there with Resistant and Berserk, though, and could use some help.

Post #1 - Resistant

Starting with a simple rotation, working on the rather thin assumption that I'm fighting alongside somebody, and our strategy is to stay alive while we overwhelm a target with sensory damage.

Rotation #1
Gutrend/Resistant    (take advantage of Winded, defensive buff)
Drive/Daze    (reapply Winded, sensory damage)
Concuss/Strike    (take advantage of sensory damage, back to start)

For anyone who's messed with Resistant, you can see the obvious problem: it's not going to let me reapply it on every rotation:

You flow smoothly into the Ember stance.
You are resistant enough already.  <== can't reapply
The opportunity for using a rage attack has passed.  <== rage window expires
You have recovered your balance.
You are less resistant.  <== Resistant expires

I only missed renewing it by a second or so, though, so maybe it's actually possible to keep Resistant up with a four attack rotation.

Rotation #2
Gutrend/Resistant    (take advantage of Winded, defensive buff)
Drive/Daze    (reapply Winded, sensory damage)
Pummel/Flyinglash    (mental affliction for fun, maybe making it harder to get away)
Sear/Deflect    (literally just a move to get us back to Symmetry, with Deflect for a bit of tankiness)

Seems like it would work, but nope:

You flow smoothly into the Ember stance.
You are resistant enough already.
You are resistant enough already.
The opportunity for using a rage attack has passed.
There is no room for you to attack - you must first use a Battleflow attack to create an opening.
You are less resistant.

Based on the behavior, it almost seems hard coded to not let you reapply Resistant unless you've already given up the chance to reapply Resistant. Weird, but okay. Here's a workaround that you can use to pressure legs:

Rotation #3
Gutrend/Resistant
Sweep/Topple    (damage legs, knock off balance)
Cripple/Deflect    (prolong Weakened Legs, deflect attacks)
Gutrend/Upperlash    (reset, do some damage)
Legspike/Deflect    (take advantage of weakened legs)

You are less resistant.
You have recovered your balance.
You are no longer deflecting attacks.
You pivot in place, slashing a horned lapine horizontally across its body with a gutrending strike of an Axyr T-1-Elite kithblade.
Damage Dealt: 86 impact
You will execute the resistant rage maneuver when you can.
You flow smoothly into the Ember stance.
You focus your rage to become more resistant to damage.

With the first two rotations, I was only able to keep Resistant up 50% of the time (every other rotation). But now that I'm pressuring legs, I can keep it up 90% of the time and also deflect twice? If the goal is to keep people from playing too defensively, then this rotation circumvents that quite nicely, and instead we have a situation where we can be super defensive pressuring certain afflictions, but not-defensive-enough-to-be-worth-it when pressuring others.

Like I said, it just feels too niche for me to really fall in love with. Now, as for Berserk...

Unknown

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Tye

Re:resistant best way to keep it up I've seen is to not have a set rotation, making it much harder to code.

Thaith

Sorry for the delay in the second post. I had it all written out, went back and bolded a single line for clarity, and the forums ate the comment. So naturally I had to open a bunch of Christmas gifts to cheer myself up.

Post #2 - Berserk

Compared to Resistant, the limitation on Berserk seems even more arbitrary. First up, a variation on the bleed rotation we all know and love:

Rotation #1
Swiftcut/Berserk    (take advantage of muscular damage, offensive buff)
Wound/Rend    (start them bleeding, plus muscular subsystem damage)
Rupture/Strike    (more bleeding)

As above, Berserk won't reapply, but hey, that's fine. Maybe bleed is too powerful of an effect, and we shouldn't be doing it with a consistent 20% damage buff. Except...

Rotation #2
Swiftcut/Berserk    (take advantage of muscular damage, offensive buff)
Wound/Rend    (start them bleeding, plus muscular subsystem damage)
Rupture/Strike    (more bleeding)
Swiftcut/Flyinglash    (reset our counter)
Sear/Strike    (extra damage if the target is bleeding, then back to Symmetry)

You are no longer berserk.
You have recovered your balance.
Your movements are a blur, an Axyr T-1-Elite kithblade humming and flickering with grace and power as you swiftly cut into a horned lapine's weakened body.
Damage Dealt: 70 impact
You will execute the berserk rage maneuver when you can.
A horned lapine's powerful back legs thumpity-thump into your flesh, claws ripping at your skin.
You flow smoothly into the Flare stance.
You go berserk, flailing an Axyr T-1-Elite kithblade around.

With this rotation, we're still stacking bleed, and arguably gain more synergy by working Sear into the mix. Plus we keep Berserk up 90% of the time. Just like with Resistant, with a 50% of the time limitation, it's way too awkward to work into most of our rotations and ends up falling by the wayside. But then a separate rotation will come along and circumvent the 50% limit, which seems like it goes against the way the developers designed these buffs to work.

Considering both of these buffs have:
a) a stance requirement
b) a higher than average rage cost that prevents us from using them on the first round

would it really be that onerous to just let us reapply the buff whenever?

Izrith

I mostly agree; frankly I'd like to see RESISTANT and BERSERK applicable in any stance.

Sagex

i mean.. you could be in the situation where every area attack you have also attacks you :P