Lesson 1: Single Target / DoT Spec RVR: Tactics, Rotation, Build

Since the last patch, 1.3.5., a lot of BW skills and tactics have changed. I've figured out the following after much testing and forum discussions and private chats with other bright wizards. And it really does work, it bursts through heals it makes choppas and dps doks go WTF-how-did-I-die-with-my-pocket-healer-spamming-me and it makes squig herders hate you with a passion. 

TACTICS TO USE:

Endless Knowledge, Devour Energy, Ignition, Fuel to the Fire (NOT Fueled from Within).

These are your solo tactics. If you know always that there will be a knight in your group charging into the destro debuffing their resists, swap out Ignition for Crown of Fire since ignition's debuff does not stack with knight debuff. And if you somehow never run out of AP, say you're using 1 or 2 sovereign rings, a warlord ring, sc weapon, and maybe 1-2 other pieces that regen AP like tyrant chest, or have a WP using refreshing radiance tactic, you can swap out devour energy for something else too, maybe close quarters (see next paragraph), flash fire or fueled from within.

- 1.3.6 update: Close quarters is a viable and sometimes even sexy tactic to slot in 1.3.6. Although some would claim the new close quarters & expert skirmish tactics are only good for pve, but even for single target / dot spec BWs, with no more dmg penalty for targets far away, and 50% reduced cast times within 20feet which is basically free focused mind, it's quite possible the new tank killer or even an mdps killer with the help of dmg absorb items and good heals, just spam fireball at them when they're close.

The tactic works wonders also for certain elements during rvr, such as keep doors, city siege cannons, stage 2 warlords, king, and even stage 3 destro champions. Swarm the destro champ with all your bright wizards, engineers, and shadow warriors, make sure they can't move, and spam them with your fireball or similar spells.

However, don't let it go to your head. When you're solo, vs multiple destro, it's still better to kite. Spamming fireball @ the destro chosen won't save you.

Fuel to the Fire is an absolutely necessary tactic for my rotation in the next section to work, it brings your boiling blood tick from 10 to 5 seconds and raises the damage significantly.

These tactics are for pvp only. PvE uses a set of different tactics.

ROTATION:

Time (sec)    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

---------------------------------- 8.5 sec rotation

1 Ignite      1 2 3 X 5 6 X 8 9 X

2 slow boil      1 2 3 4 5 X

---------------------------------- 5.5 sec rotation

3 boil blood        1 2 3 4 5 X

4 Pyro Surge           1 2 TX

5 Burning Iron/Sear        1 X

6 Nova/Withering Heat         X

This is your bread and butter burst rotation. The red X's are the damage ticks that matter. Global cooldown in Warhammer is 1.5 seconds.

8.5 sec: Best case scenario, nothing gets cleansed. Everything hits between 7.5 seconds since ignite, to 9 seconds since ignite. Throughout the entire rotation, Ignitition tactic will keep target corporeal resist debuffed. Fuel to the Fire is required for this rotation. T is the half second travel time for Pyro surge. It might feel longer, but it's only half a second. Two of ignite's ticks hit right before and after the main burst combo, at 7 and 10 second mark, if you want to count that damage.

In an non-best case scenario, something's gonna get cleansed. This is really up to you. If you prefer for ignite to get cleansed, the corporeal resist debuff will be gone, so sb,bb,pyro etc will all hit for less. You can definitely switch slow boil and ignite, since they both don't have cooldowns anymore, and let slowboil get cleansed first, so ignite will still keep corp. resist debuffed for the burst hits, but there will be one less hit from slow boil. Even if 2 things get cleansed, you'll still have skill 3-6 hitting, which actually becomes the 5.5 sec rotation.

The great thing about this rotation is that it can be repeated almost right away. Hence the need for Devour Energy. No time to rest.

5.5 sec: Ignite is of course optional, as well as taking out Slow Boil, taking out the two initial buffer skills, and starting at step 3 with BB will make this a 5.5 second rotation. with 4 skills hitting within 1.5 second of one another (last 4 X on chart). Do this if the destro is at less than 60% health and not getting healed.

FOLLOW-UP:

Quite often after you do your rotation, this destro isn't dead yet. What do you do?

• Target almost dead - If your target only has a sliver of health left, and you just hit your Nova, following up with the first tick of Withering Heat, fireball barrage, or use Choking Smoke, lots of people always forget, until they get used to it, that our silence is a good instant cast damage tick. Just keep in mind choking smoke and fbb has only 80ft range. Most likely at this point, the destro is running away anyway, so you need to be moving forward. The first tick of withering heat and fbb WILL connect and do damage while you're moving, keep this in mind for kiting as well. If they're still in fireball barrage range, stand still and channel it for the full duration. FBB doesn't not cancel channeling if your target moves out of range.
• Target getting heals - If they're starting to get healed, and there are other order trying to kill your target, the best thing to do at this point is begin your rotation again, but put in Playing with Fire, 50% incoming heal debuff, right after Ignite and Slow Boil. See if your 2nd round of bursting with a heal debuff kills your target.

BUILD:

So which build to use? Two builds will work for these burst skills, either high up incineration up to Fireball Barrage, or high up immolation to stop drop & roll.

1.3.6 update: I used to use fireball barrage for VL a lot, but with recent 1.3.6 close quarters changes, pretty much all a BW is doing in VL is spamming fireball or fiery blast up close and personal. So without the need for FBB anymore, I actually settled with the Stop Drop & Roll build. Keep in mind though, PyroSurge/Sear/BuringIron/Nova all benefit from higher up Inci tree to FBB, and these are direct dmg attacks that can't be cleansed. I do tend to solo a lot in scenarios, so the SDR build is more useful when I need to create some distance between a choppa charging at me or a WE that pops on me, SDR will give a 3 second breather room. Just keep in mind that it extinguishes ignite.

I'm not gonna post a wardb link for my build since they haven't updated their skill/tactic descriptions. But:

FBB build:
In the Incineration tree you want Nova, Fireball Barrage, and Funnel Power.
In the Immo tree you want Withering Heat, playing with Fire, Ignition tactic, Fuel to the Fire tactic.

SDR build:
In the Incineration tree you want Nova, and Funnel Power.
In the Immo tree you want Withering Heat, Playing with Fire, Stop drop & roll, Ignition tactic, Fuel to the Fire tactic.

The above two builds require rr70 and 29 mastery points. If you're not that high yet, for the FBB build you can leave FBB till the end. For the SDR build, I'd get SDR, fuel to the fire, and nova ASAP, then get the others.

Funnel power is a subject of debate. It definitely does more damage to your target than it does to you, it's not bad to run if you have constant heals. If you don't have any heals at all, maybe turn it off. It also helps to proc your 5pc tyrant bonus should you be lucky to have the gear.

Link to lesson 1: Single Target / DoT spec RVR: Tactics, Rotation & Build
Link to lesson 2: Renown Training & Gear
Link to lesson 3: Single Target / DoT spec RVR Advanced: Kiting

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