376 DK dps application

[yujiao]

Player information:
- Age & Location:
23, Toronto

- Usual Play Times (Server Time):
7pm-12am EST. This match guild raid time exactly.

- Number of Testicles:
2 LOL?

- Can you attend raids on these days:
-- Monday:
-- Tuesday:
-- Wednesday:
-- Thursday:
-- Friday (optional):
-- Saturday (optional):
-- Sunday:
Yes. I can.

- Do any others have access to your account?
No.

- Do you use a blizzard authenticator? If no, why?
I was using it but felt too inconvenient. I think it might be beneficial to start using it again.

- How long have you played WoW:
6 years on and off.

- Endgame experience (What bosses have you killed):
MC clear, ICC HM 12/12, Cata 12/12, FL 7/7

Character Information:
- Name, & Class:
Yujiao, frost DK

- Race & why did you choose it:
Tauren. They look sexy. War stomp is nice.

- Link to Battle.net Armory: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/b ... iao/simple

- Can you describe the ruckus?
Is this right? "All Ruckus participants are expected to be respectful, safe, and courteous on the course and to fellow challengers."

- Professions and why did you choose them:
Eng/JW.
Eng makes available glove enchant that grants 480 strength for 10 sec every min.
JW brings 3 67+ strength gems.

- Spec, Dual spec. How often do you play other specs?
Blood spec. I play it regularly to farm VP.

- Explain your choice of gear for main & offspecs:
I am trying to put as many BiS as possible. This site provides info on BiS for dps DK: http://elitistjerks.com/f72/t121704-fro ... _all_odds/

- What glyphs do you use for each spec and why:
Glyph of Dark Sucoor, Glyph of Anti-magic shell, Glyph of Pestilence. These are known to be good options in latest patch. Didn't choose hungering cold since I favor Pestilence so it works better on AOE targets.

- If you are applying as a DPS, what is your normal rotation?
This is not hard. There is an addon called CLC DK that tells you what to do. I don't use it. However, I checked the rotation and it matches mine exactly. Basically keep diseases always up. OB whenever possible. FS when you have 5/6 runes on CD so extra runes can be proc'ed and activated. After getting extra runes proc'ed, try OB. when you can't do OB and FS, try RIME, which provides more runic power and possibly more FS rune proc.

- If you are applying as a healer, what spells do you use & when/why?

- Highest PvP Rank on this character (vanilla & arena titles):
Grand marshal on warrior.

- Prior guild(s) & your reasons for leaving:
They don't have enough progression that match what I aim for.

Other Information:
- A Screenshot of your character's UI:
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B3JBLS ... y&hl=en_US
I use these addons:
Acherus - DK runes and CD, Bartender4 - action bars, DBM - boss fights
Omen3 - threat meter, OminiCC - CC timer, Quarts - boss casting
Recount, Tidy Plates - enemy health bar, X-perl - unit frame
Others: Equiped Item Level, LoggerHead, Playerscore, SpamThrottle, Dccords, Unicode Font, CLC DK.

- WWS/Wowmeter/Worldoflogs reports (not optional):
I will update this ASAP with the BEST INFORMATION.
Latest log: BOT HM halfus
http://www.wowmeteronline.com/combat/21118388#damageout
Been a while since doing BOT, loss of dps not familiar with fight.

This is a ZA boss fight, single target. Couldn’t do more dps because of aggro issue. No flask. No Potion. (Everyone knows DK do insane dps on AOE )
http://www.wowmeteronline.com/combat/21111368#damageout

- Alts & their name/level: In about one-two more months, I will have 1 warrior, 1 shaman, 1 hunter, 1 priest, 1 druid, 1 paladin all leveled to lvl 85. I am having my friend to level them. Then I will play them to learn those classes.

- Out of game contact information (AIM/MSN/etc): [email protected]

- How did you find us? Is there anyone you know in Simple Math?: guild recruitment forum

- Why Simple Math? Is there anything else you'd like to tell us? You guys sounds sweet when I listened to your raid on vent. Your raid schedule fits me very well. Your progress also match what I aim for. It is not so hardcore as 6/7 HM but that's a good thing for me.

- What kind of computer do you use? CPU/Memory/Video Card? Typical FPS during a 25-man raid?
I am playing on Intel Core i3, 4GB memory, Intel graphics media accelerator HD. Typical FPS in 25 raid is good. Don't remember exact number.

- What kind of internet connection do you have? Run an internet speed test against New York at speedtest.net Link the results below.
Faster than 99% of internet users in CA.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1388708644.png
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B3JBLS ... y&hl=en_US

- Finally, we ask that you draw us a picture using MS Paint. (This is not optional).
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B3JBLS ... w&hl=en_US

[phazon]

small things I have noticed-
-are you aware that you are .30 under the hit cap?
-did you raid on a different character durring ICC?
-what do you consider your BiS off piece? because EJ's BiS list is not rly great : \

otherwise gear is up to date and armory looks good and you know how to frost.
i cant rly extract anymore information as the logs are from WMO.

[yujiao]

small things I have noticed-
-are you aware that you are .30 under the hit cap?
-did you raid on a different character durring ICC?
-what do you consider your BiS off piece? because EJ's BiS list is not rly great : \

otherwise gear is up to date and armory looks good and you know how to frost.
i cant rly extract anymore information as the logs are from WMO.

Isn't hit cap 8%? why are you at 10.20% on your armory? Did you make a mistake? Because armory shows 3% lower than actual stat due to Nerves of Cold Steel.

No I didn't raid on different character. The reason you see I did not kill Lich King is because I was dc'ed right before Lich king was done. All other people got the light of dawn achievement except me.

My off piece? You mean "what I think of none-BiS items"? They are horrible. The guantlet and boots they have the worst stat I could ever imagine. First of all, crit is bad, it is not the best stat for DK. Second of all, I need 8% hit cap, but I am at like 10% even after reforging all my hit. If I get a replacement for these two pieces, I think I will be in much better shape.

[yujiao]

More about alt: I have a bunch of low level chars to be level this month. I am leveling this one right now:
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/i ... aoo/simple

I was main tank back in MC, and dps in BWL with this char:
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/t ... guo/simple

[mouthwash]

what made you chose 2/2 improved blood tap over epidemic?

[yujiao]

what made you chose 2/2 improved blood tap over epidemic?

I was testing this. I was epidemic build before. From my standpoint, blood tap is handy when I have all runes on CD and no runic power. That is the point where you just can do nothing but wait for more rune to be avialable.

[yujiao]

what made you chose 2/2 improved blood tap over epidemic?

I was testing this. I was epidemic build before. From my standpoint, blood tap is handy when I have all runes on CD and no runic power. That is the point where you just can do nothing but wait for more rune to be avialable.

Also, you have extra runic power for more Runic Empowerment. The only drawback is I am busier keeping track of my diseases.

[yujiao]

what made you chose 2/2 improved blood tap over epidemic?

I was testing this. I was epidemic build before. From my standpoint, blood tap is handy when I have all runes on CD and no runic power. That is the point where you just can do nothing but wait for more rune to be avialable.

Also, you have extra runic power for more Runic Empowerment. The only drawback is I am busier keeping track of my diseases.

To clarify a bit.
I have blood tap in a macro along with pillar of frost and Eng guantlet enchant. They activate once/minute. Because Blood tap in this build has 30seconds cooldown, what I found was when all abilities are on cooldown, blood tap can be used to get more runic power and more runic empowerment and more OB and more runic power and so on.

A lot of encounters are single target boss fight, it is easier to keep diseases on. This is disadvantage in AOE but that happens less in boss fights.

[yujiao]

To add one more thing to my rotation. It is suggested to align OB with killing machine. If you do that, then you runic power would normally not deplete often. Sometimes you waste runic power. Then blood tap probably would not be too helpful.

[phazon]

Isn't hit cap 8%? why are you at 10.20% on your armory? Did you make a mistake? Because armory shows 3% lower than actual stat due to Nerves of Cold Steel.

No I didn't raid on different character. The reason you see I did not kill Lich King is because I was dc'ed right before Lich king was done. All other people got the light of dawn achievement except me.

My off piece? You mean "what I think of none-BiS items"? They are horrible. The guantlet and boots they have the worst stat I could ever imagine. First of all, crit is bad, it is not the best stat for DK. Second of all, I need 8% hit cap, but I am at like 10% even after reforging all my hit. If I get a replacement for these two pieces, I think I will be in much better shape.

I guess armory is still not right when reading it from spell hit or something, but yes its 8% which means your fine. (mines at 10% because I'm not wearing new gear on the armory.)

What I actually meant by BiS off-piece is what exactly do you consider the 1 oddball piece out of the chest, helm, shoulders, pants, and gloves slots that isn't a piece of tier (like the helm from alysrazor).

[yujiao]

What I actually meant by BiS off-piece is what exactly do you consider the 1 oddball piece out of the chest, helm, shoulders, pants, and gloves slots that isn't a piece of tier (like the helm from alysrazor).

I am trying to type this to make myself understand it better. It all comes from top of my head with some reference.

Primary stats are normally the same on these gears, so they usually don't affect gear selection.
However, different gemming option give different primary stat. These are important to take into consideration.

Secondary stat goes like this: haste > mastery > crit.

More haste means more killing machine and more crit.

More mastery means you do more frost damage(in a single target fight i tested, frost damage including frost strike, frost fever, and razor frost is around 25%. Each point of mastery grants 2% more frost damage. This means 50 mastery grants double frost strike damage I think.). This stat is probably close but not as good as haste since crit from killing machine not just work for frost damage but also weapon damage I think.

Those are general ideas.

When you choose best piece for your gear. You'd have to consider these:
You must have 8% hit, 26 expertise.
The more haste the merrier.
Can't get more haste? go for mastery.
Lastly you got crit.
Basically choose the best combination that maximize your gear stat.

I am not sure about the accuracy of these stat but it does provide some ideas.
378 DW,378 2H,391 DW,391 2H
Strength 3.10 2.64 3.20 2.76
Yellow Hit 2.29 2.01 2.27 2.27
Expertise 1.64 1.63 1.87 1.89
Haste 1.47 1.29 1.78 1.44
Mastery 1.44 1.26 1.57 1.39
Crit 1.16 1.15 1.28 1.28


From what I read, the 4 piece set bonus is around 2%. 2 piece set bonus is around 1%. So normally you probably go for 4 tier piece plus a none tier piece to replace ur worst tier piece.


Example:
Greathelm of the Voracious Maw. This has a blue socket. Tier helm has red socket. In my case, I don't need 20+ hit from blue gem.Using blue gem means I loose 20+ strength which is something equal to 40+ haste. These helms have similar haste and mastery. Tier piece has 205 hit which you can reforge 82 into haste. Greathelm of the Voracious Maw has 192 crit which is not as good stat as haste or mastery. Overall, assuming you need hit from the tier helm, it is better choice.

Advantage of tier piece: you can upgrade it.

Other none tier piece items:
Breastplate of the Shifting Visions
Fireskin Gauntlets
Lavaworm Legplates

Elitist jerks says only Breastplate of the Shifting Visions is none tier piece BiS.
http://elitistjerks.com/f72/t121704-fro ... _all_odds/
This makes sense since it has mastery/haste instead of a crit combination.

Fireskin Gauntlets: it has +hit bonus. Not as good as +strength bonus from tier gauntlet.

Lavaworm Legplates: hit/mastery combination not as good as tier piece haste/expertise most likely depending on if you need expertise or hit. However, it has +20 strength geming bonus. You most likely would use a blue gem instead of red. Better than tier piece I think.

[yujiao]

So when I go into farming stage, I'd loot all those items. Then I'd reforge and try to select the best combination I think.

[yujiao]

Those are all theoretical ideas. Maybe dps testing would be best choice. I normally just look at the best guild DK gear. One guild example is Blood Legion on illidan 6/7 HM. I keep all their dps/tank dk as reference and make comparisons. Those DK should be good reference usually.

[yujiao]

More mastery means you do more frost damage(in a single target fight i tested, frost damage including frost strike, frost fever, and razor frost is around 25%. Each point of mastery grants 2% more frost damage. This means 50 mastery grants double frost strike damage I think.). This stat is probably close but not as good as haste since crit from killing machine not just work for frost damage but also weapon damage I think.

I was wrong in that frost damage is not 25%. Some of those damage is actually weapon damage. I was also wrong in haste and mastery comparison. I think that if mastery or haste is better and by how much depends on some formulas and math.. I normally see big crits with when killing machine is used. So more haste, more big crits..

[yujiao]

http://www.askmrrobot.com/wow

I think this place could help testing reforging the optimal way from what I read.
Then all you need to do with two pieces of gear is to wear one and reforge it, and wear the other one and reforge the other. Compare the stats those two sets gives.

It can be complicated if you take consideration of multiple similar gear pieces.