Raid Analysis #4 : Serpentshrine Cavern

Let's go for another analysis !

Context : Serpentshrine Cavern, Hydross, The Lurker Below, Leotheras the Blind.

Ok, I didn't totem twist at all this time as this was only my second SSC and I had a lot of problem of survavibily in the first one. For the stat, the nice thing is that we got stats for each 6 out of 7 pulls, which means no biaised stats because of trashs, more specific details about each boss we have focused on. The bad part is that the rogue who had generate the WWS forgot to include my Searing Totem and my Fire Elemental in it. Now the ugly part : no Warriors or Feral druids in my group, so no Battle Shout, 5% Crit bonus which involves a terrible loss in DPS for me... Oooh, and I forgot I wasn't on the Might blessing rotation of the Paladins.

Set up for the raid : ~23,5% cc / ~1150 AP / ~16% Hit / ~6,8k HP (I know, too low) pre-buff. And I took a Flask of Relentless Assault which last me on all pulls except the three last ones on Leotheras. I had an Agility potion those.


20:56 // First pull : Hydross Wipe
WWS Link

Not that bad, and I didn't even drop any Searing totem on adds/Hydross between his phase. We failed at 15% because of the misplacement of a mage. I had 21,1% miss, 33% Crit, 254 Avg normal damage, 553 avg crit damage (respectively 471/811 for WF and 260/505 for SS). That gives a basis.

21:11 //Second Pull : Hydros Dead
WWS Link

Same #12 position even though I died at the end of the fight due to my low base HP (2 frost ticks in the bubble @3150, kthxbye `). 31% Crit, 16,8% miss this time. Avg normal Melee damage/Windfury/Stormstrike damage : 267/444/274, crits : 498/1013/470. Much less rotation of Flameshock, should've done better. IMO, with my current itemization on next Hydross pull, I could be on #10 if I don't die, do better rotation and have my Searing totem out.

21:45 //Third Pull : The Lurker Below Dead
WWS Link

If I could have done the whole pull, I would have been able to have the 13th or even 12th place. Please note the nice 506 DPS of this pull to compare with the 531/590 of the two last rogues. Can't wait to have a War/Feral druid/Might.

22:36 // Fourth Pull : Leotheras the Blind Wipe
WWS Link

It was the occasion for my guild to confirm last week down of Leotheras. Please note that on all 4 pulls we have him below 10% but (if you don't spoil, don't read after) we weren't enough aware about the phase 2 of this fight, which cause wipe. The first kill have been luckily either, Human form of Leotherass didn't left of the tank my comrades said me. Don't forget that my guild plays without any type of spoils, so we don't know exactly the abilities of boss if we did never have seen them before.As I can't DPS the first Binders and must be very aware of Leo cleaves, I can't really express myself on this type of fight. Moreover I was more into being alive the whole pull than having a top DPS. Note that I've done just 14,6% misses.

22:53 // Fifth Pull : Leotheras the Blind Wipe
WWS Link Again poor DPS. Now I'm thinking of it, let me add two more reasons than the ones I already said : effects of my flask was finished and I did damage with Lightning Bolt on the Elve phase of the fight. I got no data for the pull #6 so let's go straight to the last one.

23:33 // Seventh Pull : Leotheras the Blind Dead
WWS Link

10% damage on Lightning Bolt @lol (same for rogues with bows). Again poor base damage, without Flask of Relentless Assault life ain't the same. We finally killed him on this pull, me staying anywhere but near Leotheras at the end, didn't want my 4 evading rogues to miss any buffs. I was so careful to stay alive that my global damage was inferior to the previous pull.

I received True-Aim Stalker Bands, I have put a +8 Hit yellow gem on hit and tonight, before the raid I'll put a nice Strenght enchant. I've also leveled Leatherworking to 350, now I have to work on my reputations to have the new patterns which will enable me to go 375.

I have to change urgently my Spaulders, Chest, Boots, Pant, Rings, Trinkets which make me unconfortable for a guy who might see Lady Vashj tonight.

Totem twisting issues

For one simple reason, neither one nor the other of my last two raids was representative, sadly.
The first was my first SerpentShine run, but as I tried numerous things my stats weren't really interesting. The number one thing I have tried was Totem Twisting.

It's definitely works.

To those who don't know, Totem twisting technique is all about buffing your DPS both with Windfury and Air Totem. How is it possible ? Let's look more closely to our Windfury totem : it's not a permanent buff but a 9 second one fixed on your group weapons. So now do you understand what I mean ? Clever use of game mechanics ftw.
Put WF 1 sec, switch it off then put Grace of Air 8 seconds, repeat.
You could also spam a totem twisting macro like this one : /castsequence reset=8/combat/alt Windfury Totem, Grace of Air Totem.

Looks awesome, isn't it ?

But life, even in videogames, ain't that easy. Totem twisting will put you in constant pressure to be handled perfectly. While on a static fight it would be heaven, on "real" end-game fight, maintaining (and obviously watching your timers) your shocks, totem-twisting and stormstrike out of the WF cooldown will be sort of funny. And I don't even spoke about purging, dispelling a drop a urgent heal. And at least, the social thing, people will only notice you've lost ~100 DPS compared to your usual performance, sic.

Other interesting things :

• Thanks to my current 136 Hit rating, I've missed significantly less than in my two first raids. You'll see that in my next analysis I hope.
• Double mongoose enchant is just fantastic. I've at least one of the proc up in raid condition, just perfect.
• In the last raid, I was near a correct ~610 DPS and I still have margin to improve my rotations.
• Survivability : in the last Grull/Mathghe run, it was obvious that I manage much more easily my enhancement shaman in space.

At last, I'm also searching the perfect DPS UI for a Enhancement Shaman, thanks to a friend (/hug Spycat) I'm going the right way.