To combo strike or not to combo strike?

A guy over at the forums asked about the combo strike, and I remembered I'd written something about that a few months back. The original thread is here. The question is about the sweet spot where you switch from initial attacks to the one big hit, so I did a lot of math (though I suck horribly at it) and came to the following conclusion: Armor eighteen is the breaking point. 

• At armor 17 or lower; the initial attacks inflict more damage on average.
• At armor 18; the average damage is equal, but only if every attack hits. The potential damage is also a bit higher for the initial attack option, and you don't risk loosing the entire damage pool on one bad roll.
• At armor 19 or above; the combo strike option pulls ahead in terms of raw potential damage.

It doesn't really matter how much Focus you apply, as the results will be the same, as buying an extra attack will be the best option below 17 anyway.. I made a "not so simple" formula you can apply, in order to determine, if sending in the combo striking Slayer is a viable tactic:

• Target must be ARM 19 or better. [Otherwise the Initial attack option is better]
• Target must be at low health. [Health should equal 32, reduced by targets current armor score. Further modify the target number by current armor -23, for each available focus.]
• Target must be hit on 3+ in order for this equation to be anywhere near valid.

Example: Combo striking on a charge. against an Khador Juggernaut, would require it to be at 32-20 health (12), and each available Focus would modify that number by 20-23 (-3). Attacking an closed Devastator would require it to be at 32-25 health (7), and each additional focus would reduce that by 25-23 = nothing. You can buy another attack and boost it instead, which would give you an average of 25-26, and equal one whole point of damage, which will rarely be worth spending two Focus on.

As you can see the combo strike option is really meant as a finisher, and only against Heavy Warjacks that are easily hit, and only if there are no debuffs available. There are rare heavy infantry models that require the same attention as a Khador Heavy, but generally it will be a poor trade to send in a Slayer against such a unit.
____________________________________________________________