DCUO Guides: A detailed Earth DPS guide

Howdy, so enough time has passed since the release of Earth for me to test out various builds and now that I’ve finally found one that I’ve settled with… I say it’s time to put it in stone! CRUSHING your Enemies! A detailed Earth DPS guide by NP Seras & Friends!
 

Must haves:

Typical dps build, maxing out Might > Crit > Crit Damage.
Optimal:
Iconic Powers : Tactical Genious, Weapon’s Expert and Super Strength.
Recommended : Weapon’s Expert, Tactical Genious.
 
So before you settle in on a loadout, I previously suggested you fresh Earth toons go practice, also mentioned in some other posts about “Crushing” and “Dazing” loadouts. Earth powers may not look like much but a lot of time went into the design of these powers.
 
A “Crushing” loadout typically focuses on low cooldown, medium damage powers that can be used rapidly in succession of each other.
A “Dazing” loadout usually has some higher damaging powers with longer cooldowns which, when staggered, can also deal formidable damage to your enemies.
 
Things to note : Powers with “Crushing” interactions add an extra DoT to your target. With 1640 might, the three powers whose DoTs I have encountered are
 
Debris Field : An additional 15-20 damage is dealt along with the initial tick, lasts until Debris Field is finished.
Shards : Additional 25-45 damage is dealth after the initial triple hit connects, ticks 4 times.
Striking Stones: Additional 25-45 damage is dealth after the initial hit, ticks 4 times.
 

Power Descriptions

1) Rumblecrush – Summons a pet rock which deals aoe damage in a massive area and applies the “Crushed” effect to your enemies! Why do I use this? Simple, there are only two powers that add the crushing effect, one is Earthen Grip (Would use this over Rumblecrush for single target due to lesser cast time) and the other Rumblecrush. Rumblecrush works exactly as a weaponization attack would also utilizing the same modifiers such as “Super Strength” which is a staple for this build and “Neo-Venom Boost” also an option. The main reason we’re gonna want to frequently cast our Rumblecrush is so we can retain our additional DoT effect throughout a fight.
 
2) Shards – Summons pillars of stone to knock up and damage enemies in a cone in front of you. “Crushed” enemies take additional damage from Shards. Bread and butter for this build! Shards is a consistently high damaging power with great range and the DoT effect is also very wonderful. Very low cooldown, excellent timing for a Spin Chop clip or a dw 6 tap-hold clip. To get an idea of the range, imagine that enemies that are at about 3/4 your max range will take full damage from this power.
 
3) Debris Field – Staple in any Earth dps build, works exactly like Inferno does which drops an encircling AoE around a target area that lasts for a duration and continuously damages enemies within range. Crushed AND Dazed enemies receive the same additional damage from this power. See above ^
 
4) Striking Stones – Summons two massive rocks to come together and deal damage to your enemies. “Crushed” enemies take additional damage over time. This power is the one that I least like on my loadout, the animation is so overwhelming for such mediocre damage BUT…Proper cancelling can earn this power its spot in any respectable Earth dps’s loadout. This power can be used from max range and deals one initial medium damaging hit (300-400 with 1640 might). More info on when to use this power below.
 
5) Sand Blast – This power is a <35% power that deals intial damage and a latent hit that doubles its damage when the target is at or below 35%. Very similar to impaling thorns, does about 35% less damage than IT, best power I found to compare it to. When a boss gets to this stage, your standard combo will no longer include the 35%s AoEs as you're going to only want to drop a Crushing Debris Field and weapon attack clipped with Sand Blast to achieve maximum damage. Clips very well with Reinforce,Trinkets and Soders.   6) Reinforce – Pretty much a self buffing steroid, similar to firey weapon but with 110 precision. Lasts 12 seconds.
 

“But but…NP! When do I use this? What is the best time to use that?”
“Alright…relax, to the next section!”
 

My rotation is as follows:

 
STANDARD TRASH PACK OF 3-6
1) Rumblecrush (Best to precast and run around with the stone before the mobs actually come, saves a bit of time)

2) Debris Field (Doesn’t use up the “Crushed” Effect)

3) Follow up with a Striking Stones > Reinforce (Immediately casting reinforce after striking stones)

4) I use 1h so at this time I’d usually begin doing my Spin Chop –> Shards combo
 
Using this particular technique, you’re going to feel like you’re cheating but it’s just great synergy between powers.
 
On a side note, usually when I end up PuGing with an electric dps, it’s fun to use this technique, maximizing clips with soders and trinkets to obliterate them in damage. If you do this right, by the raid’s end you should be top damage (electricity may be behind by about 100k in GoT, depends on how much you broke their spirits along the way) and usually, I’m still never #1 in power in, even though this loadout is very spammy. The Electric dps’s somehow always tend to pull out by 10-20k ahead of me in power in :S
 

“But wait!! NP!!! What about single target!”
“Fine…scroll down love..”

STANDARD SINGLE TARGET ROTATION

1) Rumblecrush/Earthen Grip – Both end up doing very similar damage but rumblecrush leaves you with a 50% damage buff while Earthen leaves you at 35%. Personal preference as to which you use but I’d recommend Rumblecrush for those of you with the iconic power in Super Strength, those without should stick to Earthen.
 
2) Debris Field – Be careful where you drop this on boss fights, most bosses will hit you a massive troll face, take ONE TICK of your Debris Field and dash across the room for no apparant freaking reason lol, so make sure the boss is settled in a particular place before you drop Debris Field below him.
 
3) Striking Stones CLIPPED with Reinforce – Never, ever, ever use Striking Stones without a proper clip via trinket, reinforce or soder. You’ll miss out on about 3-5000 damage depending on your gear.
 
4) Sandblast – Slip these in your rotation changing the priority to : SANDBLAST > DEBRIS FIELD > STRIKING STONES CLIPPED WITH REINFORCE. The way you use this will heavily depend on your personal playstyle, I personally love to clip the animation with my dlc trinket or soder whenever possible. Another point to note, if you feel like keeping striking stones in your rotation at 35% < is hurting your damage then by all means, focus on Sandblast > Debris field > Reinforce.
 

PRIORITY POWERS:

DEBRIS FIELD (ALSO TRY TO KEEP THIS ON COOLDOWN, “SET IT AND FORGET IT” TYPE DPS NEVER HURTS!

REINFORCE (TRY TO KEEP THIS ON COOLDOWN, UTILIZING THE CLIP WITH STRIKING STONES OR SAND BLAST)
 
Also important to note that since we don’t have the massive trash to deal with at this point, you don’t need to use either Shards or Striking Stones on bosses unless you’re trying to conserve power. Shards is very high damage with low power cost, about 150 or so I would say and some players may not like having a 35% damage buff over simply keeping Debris Field’s 45% or Reinforce’s 50%. This is the point where your personal playstyle would take the most preference.
 
This is just a rough first draft of a guide guys so please, take it with a grain of salt. I made this effort because as far as I’ve seen no one else has. This guide is not set in STONE…hehe Pardon the pun, but there are other playstyles out there that work just as effectively, I just decided to share some insight into the success I HAVE HAD PERSONALLY, as NP Seras using this loadout.
 

We would like to say a big THANK YOU to syntank868 for making this guide. We think this will be extremely helpful for all of the DCUO community members and we hope you will enjoy it.