Storm of Swords or Tornadoes? for greater boss dps

[Guest]

Since the trial damage values are based on the whole trial and not just the boss, it's hard to tell whether the Tornadoes or Storm of Swords does more damage. Which one of these is it worth focusing on for bossing or is there a set strategy I should use instead?

As for the Bladestorm Armaments, does the 2 set bonus affect the tornadoes or not? If not It may be worth having the WW axe and Sanguinarius together for survivability.

[Guest]

Threads more dead than my chances of getting back to veteran but I digress.

My theory: SoS>tornadoes for bossing

Test 1 and 2 are done by first noting the tornado and SoS dmg at the moment the boss is spawned (as best I can of course) and then noting the end values of which the difference in strategy can be discussed.

The strategy employed for 1 will be the standard run away when Kara attacks and activate WW while doing so, then charging back to her and leaping as part of the combo. If there is an extra charge or leap available to be cast then they will be done so while WW is up. In this way, this is the classic methodology, as far as I am aware, to utilize both SoS and Tornadoes as best you can. Note: There seems to be no other way to mostly use tornadoes while minimizing SoS use other than hopping and charging over and past the boss to spawn a couple more tornadoes which would provide abysmal boss clear times.

The strategy employed for for 2 will be focusing entirely on SoS and tornadoes will be given not a second thought. Running away will be used at times when Kara attacks but standing as close to the boss as possible while casting leap and charge will be employed here. WW will be used when it is up and priority will be given to charge first if it is up, if not then leap will be used and I will be cutting it short (as a tech noted here) to minimize use of tornadoes.
As a note on the strategies, since tornadoes can chip away a little at boss hp after killing the remaining mobs since they take 3 seconds to disappear, this can be controlled by simple ensuring the last mobs are killed with SoS instead.

In this way differences in damage can be discussed on the split between tornadoes and SoS. However, efficiency cannot be discussed without more data, such data required is the number of casts of each skill and/or time taken to kill the boss (procs of ToS and Power Infusion can be controlled by not having them and crits can be nullified by taking a fire lily). At this point it will be possible to discuss efficiency. Since I am lazy I'll just record times it took to boss. More tests of 1 and 2 would be better, but for an initial reading of an answer to this question a single test should be ok.

[davidz]

That’s right. SOS for boss and tornado for mobs.

I see the connection at least from taking 4wl2f now and not something else like defender or 6wl

[Guest]

Running trial 105 for this test.
Strat 1
tornado dmg before and after boss: 82.26B --> 88.23B difference is 5.97B
SoS dmg before and after boss: 14.05B --> 27.64B difference is 13.59B
boss kill time: 9:01 --> 9:29 time taken is 28 seconds

Strat 2
tornado dmg before and after boss: 82.19B --> 85.70B difference is 3.51B
SoS dmg before and after boss: 16.33B --> 31.82B difference is 15.49B
boss kill time: 8:59 --> 8:20 time taken is 29 seconds

from the results of this rudimentary basic test, the observations are that either strategy basically kills the boss in the same amount of time, both have dmg in favor of SoS and while the classical strat has SoS dmg about 2.5x that of tornado compared to SoS focus which is just less than 5x that of tornado (since less tornado and more SoS) the more important metrics are virtually consistent with the fact that it appears either strat is just as good as the other and there's a reason 4wl2f is a thing.

Further tests on the aspect of time, specifically relating to whether the 2 strategies really differ in terms of time can be easily tested by clearing a higher trial level. Small differences with short clear times will become larger and more noticeable the longer it takes to kill a boss. (and of course more tests will simply add to the accuracy of the answer to what strategy is better)

[Guest]

Running trial 115 for this test.
Strat 1
tornado dmg before and after boss: 232.13B --> 248.36B difference is 17.23B
SoS dmg before and after boss: 33.50B --> 70.80B difference is 37.30B
boss kill time: 8:09 --> 6:32 time taken is 1 minute 37 seconds

Strat 2
tornado dmg before and after boss: 241.65B --> 251.76B difference is 10.11B
SoS dmg before and after boss: 34.60B --> 76.00B difference is 41.40B
boss kill time: 8:26 --> 6:53 time taken is 1 minute 33 seconds

Here the obvious remark is that the second strat which focuses on SoS is a couple seconds quicker, but this is neither a significant time save nor statistically significant. More tests have to be run to see if the second strat is really what is causing the lower times. As of this point forward, damage values won't be recorded as they have been discussed a little in the form of rough ratios of which skill deals damage. To answer

Which one of these is it worth focusing on for bossing or is there a set strategy I should use instead?

The most important value is time between the strategies and which one kills the boss faster.

From this post onwards trial level and times for strats will be recorded