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.

Gentlemen, Choose your Weapons

Choosing your weapon is one of your most important choice as a Enhancement Shaman on World of Warcraft. And it is also one of the most difficult challenge to face.

What does a Shaman wants from his weapons ?

1. First of all, he wants a slow weapon, both in Main-hand and Off-hand, actually the slowest weapons as possible. Why ? Simply because around 30% of a Shaman DPS comes from Windfury, so you want your Windfury to hit the strongest as possible. And you got to know that since the 2.1 patch WF got a 3 sec. cooldown, that means that the faster is your off-hand, the more you risk to see WF proccing on this same off-hand, which you should not want to see happened because it is your weakiest hand*. Here is a nice graph taken from Malan post on EJ forum :
   
   
   
2. You want the weapon with the highest base DPS possible, considering the previous factor.

Now that we know how to choose the weapon, let's see what you should spend your DKP at thanks to Spacetotem who created the Shaman Weapon DPS Index (WDI).

Here is his calculation to choose a weapon : ((DPS*Speed) + 0.5*DPS)/3. Seems really logical to me as we knows from above that the more the weapon is around 3.0, the prettier our DPS will be. I just add the Merciless Gladiator calculation to his Index, as it wasn't available when he has done his calculation.

   Weapon DPS Index
Rank
DPS
Speed
Index
Ratio
Differential
Weapon
1
100.2
2.8
110.2
1.1
10
Syphon Nathrezim
2
98.7
2.7
105.3
1.07
6.6
Rod of Sun King
3
97.6
2.7
104.1
1.07
6.5
Dragonstrike
4
97.6
2.7
104.1
1.07
6.5
WickedEdgePlanes
5
100.2
2.6
103.5
1.03
3.3
Rising Tide
6
97.5
2.6
100.8
1.03
3.3
Merciless Gladiator's Slow
7
93.7
2.7
99.9
1.07
6.2
TalonPhoenix
8
91.1
2.7
97.2
1.07
6.1
Dragonmaw
9
91.1
2.7
97.2
1.07
6.1
Black Planar Edge
10
93.7
2.6
96.8
1.03
3.1
Netherbane
11
92.1
2.6
95.2
1.03
3.1
The Decapitator
12
91.2
2.6
94.2
1.03
3
Gladiator's Slow
13
87.5
2.6
90.4
1.03
2.9
Fool's Bane
14
84.3
2.7
89.9
1.07
5.6
Planar Edge
15
84.3
2.7
89.9
1.07
5.6
Drakefist Hammer
16
87.6
2.5
87.6
1
0
Big Bad Wolf's Paw
17
83.7
2.6
86.5
1.03
2.8
The Bladefist
18
83.5
2.4
80.7
0.97
-2.8
Runic Hammer
19
100.3
1.8
76.9
0.77
-23.4
Boundless Agony
20
71.7
2.7
76.5
1.07
4.8
Reflex Blades
21
98.6
1.8
75.6
0.77
-23
Fang of Vashj
22
83.4
2.2
75.1
0.9
-8.3
Fel Edged Axe
23
71.7
2.6
74.1
1.03
2.4
Boggspine Knuckles
24
93.6
1.8
71.8
0.77
-21.8
Heartrazor
25
71.6
2.5
71.6
1
0
Terrok's Gavel
26
91.9
1.8
70.5
0.77
-21.4
Malchazeen
27
65.5
2.6
67.7
1.03
2.2
AH GREEN
28
87.5
1.8
67.1
0.77
-20.4
Emeral Ripper
29
100.3
1.5
66.9
0.67
-33.4
Tracker's Blade
30
100.3
1.5
66.9
0.67
-33.4
Swiftsteel Bludgeon
31
62.6
2.5
62.6
1
0
Mag'Hari Fury Bnd
32
93.7
1.5
62.5
0.67
-31.2
Claw Phoenix
33
91.1
1.5
60.7
0.67
-30.4
Gladiator's Fast

So you can see that 100 dps weapons from BT are less valuable than that AH Green you gought for 10 golds.

I've Fool's Bane (#13) as MH and a 2.6 AH Green at OH. As you can see, there is not an huge amount of OH available before BT. As I got 240 Arena points (sic.) and no DKP available, I'll go for that sweet Runic Hammer (#18 but #6 OH) as off-hand with a Mongoose enchant on it.

Now that you have choosen your weapon, you're probably wondering how hard it would hit on mobs ? Thanks to Hedin post and assuming that you've farmed Mana Tomb Heroic for the Totem of Astral Wind, there are the results :

• MainHand Damage :
  ([Weapon Damage] + [Fully buffed AP]/14 * [Weapon Speed]) * 1.10
• MainHand Windfury :
  ([Weapon Damage]+([Fully buffed AP] + WindfuryAP + [Totem of the Astral Winds AP])/14 * [Weapon Speed]) * 1.10 * 1.40
• OffHand Damage :
  ([Weapon Damage] + [Fully buffed AP]/14 * [Weapon Speed])/2 * 1.10
• OffHand Windfury (2.1 patch mechanic :
  (([Weapon Damage]+AP/14*[Weapon Speed])/2+(WindfuryAP + [Totem of the Astral Winds])/14 * [Weapon Speed])) * 1.10 * 1.40

Hope that this post will help you to find your correct weapons too.

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* As a Shaman, your Off-hand will always do half the damage that your main hand would have done with the same weapon.