I’m not a buccaneer myself, but this was pretty fun to think about. Bucc got dragon strike buffed 810% > 900%, transformation into perma & Crash buff benefits them well now too. Maybe you might have known, maybe you might not, perhaps all these might be just nonsense theory craft. This is just something interesting to test & play with. Not to be taken too seriously. I've written this in @Donn1e 's Bucc guide, but it might not a right place to discuss, due to it might just be a misleading information, but i'd like to hear on the buccaneer's opinion on this. According to the chart by @General_XM7 here (1 Target) Demo + Barrage = 1968.718 DPS (2 Target) Barrage + DS = 2140.8 DPS (3 Target) DS + Snatch = 2891.25 DPS (4 Target) DS + Snatch = 3855 DPS During patch #70. At least from my perspective, I've been watching lots of buccaneers simply Barrage + Demo in HT in almost every single other body part. For example this is our current 100% DPS output. 1968.718 with demo + barrage. Against 2891.5 & 3855.. hmm. As long as the bubble is active, bucc has quite a significant dps boost. Isn't this more effective if there's always 100% Crash buff uptime on buccaneers? ---- I believe this is more commonly known. By spamming Dragon Strike + Snatch in this area player is able to dish out quite a large amount of DPS. Since you'd be hitting 4 targets almost all the time. Corkscrew blow up to Head [C] to recharge bubble, or just hide on the larger middle right platform and spam demolition. ----- Below is what i've written in @Donn1e 's guide. so its more of a copy paste. Now i know there's a lot of NLs static parties, which this just overall theory crafting. C>A>B>Wings>Arm killing method might be more efficient since there will be a 25% dps sink for NLs, and allow lots of room for rotation when weap cancel is up. When a Bucc is available, to further maximize his/her dps. Drk/Shad/Hero probably benefits more from this setup as well. Should Buccs just simply do these if the opportunity arises? Or should a bucc still constantly barrage + demo. Imo using DS+SNATCH now even with the popular Wings >A>B>C killing order on the left side would be pretty sick. ---- Guide/Theory Craft Spoiler Important note ! Crash buff should always be applied to bucc. Start of Horntail. Dragon strike + snatch will be able to hit 3 parts (Red Polygons) when bubble is active When bubble is not active, rotate down to attack legs, Demo + barrage to recharge the bubble. When head A bends, you hit A too. ----- After Legs. Bucc using DS + Snatch will be able to hit 4 parts. Dragon Strike = 4 parts (wings, arms, head A , Head B) only when head A bends down | 3parts (wings arms and head B) when head A doesn't bend down. Snatch = 3 parts when Head A bends down. (Wings, arms and head A) | 2 parts (wings and arms) when A doesn't bends down. = Snatch hits Head B when head is moving up and down. Keep crash buff active on Bucc and 75% break dmg through weapon cancel. ----- After Tail Bucc will always hit x4 targets here. keeping crash buff active will allow the player to have maximum DPS. NL can rotate up and down between head C and wings to maintain 100% DPS. When Bubble is not active. Just go to the platform where the crash is and spam demolition on Wings. takes around 20seconds to get the bubble back that last 50seconds. ----- After Head C Bucc using DS + Snatch will be able to hit 4 parts just like before. Dragon Strike = 4 parts (wings, arms, head A , Head B) only when head A bends down | 3parts (wings arms and head B) when head A doesn't bend down. Snatch = 3 parts when Head A bends down. (Wings, arms and head A) | 2 parts (wings and arms) when A doesn't bends down. Snatch hits Head B when head is moving up and down. ----- After Head A Bucc continue using DS + Snatch will be able to hit 3 parts Dragon Strike = 3parts (wings arms and head B) Snatch = 2 parts (wings and arms). Snatch hits Head B when head is moving up and down. ---- After Head A is dead Bucc can Dragon strike + barrage wings & arm. that still does alittle more dps then Demo + Barrage. ---- After wings is dead. Just Demo + barrage and finish the boss. Overall, since bucc is able to hit 4 parts efficiently be it on the left or right side of horntail. Constantly splashing dps for a long amount of time. (Since focusing parts might not be as efficient as before) the possibility of it outshining NLs? So if Bucc > NL in HT Bucc > NL in Auf. Wait.. is bucc best class now? Meh. Single target demo + barrage is a no brainer strong. So.. how are we looking at this? For CWKPQ being extremely versatile as well. DS+Snatch at the bottom boss or Barrage+Demo on Mage boss. credit to @Tsue for the below chart against brandish!
It does seem right and I believe this is a very good way to maximize your damage, I wanna test this myself I'm not entirely sure about the Bucc>NL part tho, but that's not really my field.
Can confirm this method of doing HT can maximize buccaneer damage as I tested it with @Jooon yesterday. I believe if you can effectively hit multiple target, your overall dps will always be stronger than NL because NL expertise is to dash out damage on a single target. From the experiment, I whited 2 arms and wings smiliar to warriors. In addition, I was able to get Head B hp low enough to make the party have a easier time after killing Head A. Will continue testing this method with different horntail composition but so far it seems broken.
adding a cleave attacker is very efficient at ht but does not stack well as wings die fast and arms will start warning if you have multiple. i think in a 5 attacker run you can have a combo of two bucc/shad cleaving but if you throw in a hero or drk wings and arms will die/warn fast so the bucc might be better off being a single target attacker
If there’s no Drk, Hero, or shad, it’s a no brainer thats buccs should be doing this the whole time. If there’s a Drk or Hero, buccs should probably focus on single target. Otherwise, a bucc is basically a much worse warrior when doing multi target, and the warrior is just a much worse bucc when having to do single target earlier in the run. If there’s a shad, a mix between multi target and single target is probably best, since the shad multi target is not as strong as warrior but still considerably stronger than buccs. Obviously this depends on how strong the other melee is, but if they are strong enough, you’re essentially trading their multi target time for yours, and trading your single target time for theirs. I think this is especially true on the right side. On the left side it’s less clear because other multi target classes can only hit two targets, but buccs also miss head A a lot, not sure.
With the whole NL meta i think its pretty common to get x2 NL x1Bucc x1 SE x1 BS x1 Paladin I'm not sure if rushing wings now is still as effective like before, or allowing more space for NL to rotate between heads and wings whenever there's a cancel buff is more efficient. If its the latter, bucc using this technique logically seems possible since it won’t push arm sed. Well gotta test and have fun i guess?
just curious, how often do buccs get knocked off that mini platform where they can 4part from the right side of ht?
Same as warriors, 90% stance when bubble is up. That's not so often, but even when it happens you can climb back up really fast. When bubble isn't up theres no point in doing this, you will fall every time.
Wow, is it really 90%? I always thought it was 70%, but I can't find any source on bubble % kb reduction.
Since I couldn't find it anywhere aswell and the skill description just mentions that you get Stance, I always assumed it's 90%. It also felt that way to me even while using Snatch+DS, but I guess I could be wrong if that's true? Need some clarification
If we consider everyone in the party with roughly the same attack gear (let's say everyone is above average), if there is no warrior, Bucc should definitely stay at the mini platform. Even a barrage + DS works much better than a barrage + Demo at head C. If the team has a very strong warrior, let's say 10k+ hero, I would just focus on head C. In terms of multiple targets, Hero/DK is still better than Bucc. If the wing is downed too soon, a single target 10k hero might act like a 6k NL (just a guess, don't quote me on this lol), which I think will decrease the overall DPS. The same reasoning for a weak warrior (as compared to the range atker in the team). I would just do the wing with the warrior. You can tell that I like to balance out the DPS, which a Bucc can do well. This is why it is good to know the range of each attacker as an HT recruiter (slightly off-topic) I do agree that DS+snatch is good when you have bubble up (90% stance, I think it is stated in the new source changelog). However, we all know how tired an HT run can be, especially if you are doing it twice in a row (except NL). And a warrior player also understands the frustration of fake stance. That's I can understand why people still prefer to do head C even if they know that DS+snatch has much higher DPS. But if your team don't have a good warrior, I would still suggest that Bucc should do at least barrage + DS A side note, when you are at head A, you can barrage+DS when head B is not at weapon cancel to slightly increase your DPS TLDR: No warrior/weak warrior: Bucc stay mini platform, doing at least barrage+DS (DS+snatch if you want to be good boy) Strong warrior: Bucc focus on single target, not much benefit to kill the wing too soon
And to comment on what @Jooon mentioned near the end of the post, in my opinion (as a retired Bucc), Bucc is having the best life now, and here is the 10 reasons: Highly demanded in most boss runs with good party skill (SI/TL) and good DPS (3rd place in Krex 2nd eye run) Auf Even you don't have a strong DPS, people might still invite you for your party skill, especially if there is a warrior or Shad run Auf Cheap gear to achieve good DPS Auf Highly versatile: Bucc is a melee/range/singletarget/multipletarget class Freaking Auf Independent, unlike NL+SE, warrior+SI (both pirate classes are independent) I know there are people who run Auf without Bucc, but with a good Bucc, you will have a much easy life on Auf
Can do a quick test with mobs to see how often you will trigger stance. I tried earlier for about 200 hits in bubble (not counting any miss) and get around 90% stance rate. I did the same test for warrior stance and have similar result about 90% as intended . Stance in HT is still around 90% from when I counted from one of my recordings. From my experience I do not like to start on the higher platform because there is too high a chance of falling/stunning/tail knocking back that loses a lot of dps for bucc (especially when bubble is not active). When my bucc falls mid-animation it feels especially bad and can account for more dps loss if I continue to fall trying to climb up. Maybe damage is still worth to do but I think would much rather rush legs+tail for nearly constant, uninterrupted attacking in barrage+demo iframes.
Feels like its only useful when theres a bubble charge to reposition above for the overall bucc’s DPS Boost, then return to legs to barrage + demo to renew a bubble when its finished. But! If the bucc does drops too much, then definitely it might not be too efficient. Overall, this class is flexible. Thanks for sharing!
If you charge corkscrew blow, jump on rope, right jump and release, you get back to that platform decently fast. At least compared to warriors you're faster.
