Archive for November 26th, 2008

26
Nov

Quick and Dirty…a Death Knight’s story…

   Posted by: Skeleton Jack    in Questions

Heya guys!!  Well…it’s not really a Death Knight’s story…  And well…this isn’t really a dirty post…  Well…the pic is a lil dirty.  But it’s there for those of you who wanted so much more and just didn’t get it!! *evil grin*

So why name the post this way?  BECAUSE IT’S CATCHY!!!  And it sounded good at the time!!  lol

So this is a quick and dirty post actually…the title did have some reference to what is going on.  This one is not getting more than 15-25 minutes top of writing time, nor my usual back up research to make sure what I post is accurate.  So beware of errors!!!

Lots of questions from you guys, and so little time…  /sadface  But we’ll do some questions real quick like a bunny!!  An undead berserking bunny of DOOM!!!!  Is there any other?

 

 

“Hey Jack any plans to go into in-depth discussion about attributes, stats, and caps? What about tanking?

I love the blog by the way.”

Well lets talk short and quick about this one.  Your most valuable stats are Strength and Hit Rating hands down.  They’re about equal (Strength just barely being ahead with full buffs and Kings), but Hit Rating caps while Strength does not.  Haste Rating is our worst stat hands down, worth on average between 1/4 to 1/5 of 1 Strength.  Yes, it’s really that bad.

Armor Pen is best for Blood, but still useful for Frost/Unholy.  Agility, Armor Pen, AP, and Crit are all about equal point for point.  And then you have Expertise.  This is better than any stats excepting Str/Hit until you cap it.  It’s just barely better than the other stats for Frost/Unholy, however it is significantly better for Blood.  Blood weighs Expertise in at more than half the value of 1 Str, which is a lot for a DK.

When it comes to tanking…Stamina, Stamina, Stamina, Stamina, Stamina…notice a pattern yet?  All tanks are the same there, Stamina is one of your most important stats.  You need to be able to soak hits.  Expertise and Hit are always valuable as well (you need to generate threat), but not a massive priority to where you should sacrifice other stats.  Keep them balanced.

You are an avoidance tank however, and as such should also be focusing on items with Dodge and Strength.  Avoid +block items when possible, but at the same time don’t discount good ones just because it has +block on it.  Parry rating is crap.  Nnever take a parry gem.  It’s fine on gear, but not for gems.

Getting to your Defense cap is mandatory.  540 Defense, don’t leave home without it.  Period.  After that, avoid it when possible.  We don’t get as much from it as War/Paly’s do because we don’t block.  Are DK tanks viable?  Yes siree!!  You can MT just fine.

Frost is considered the best tank spec in game, however once your avoidance is high enough to where your Bone Shield (read: Unholy spec tank) lasts a significant portion of time (say 15-25 seconds) then Unholy could be considered equal or greater than Frost at that point.  Using a BS glyph and just gearing out to the point where your avoidance is that good can help get you there.  Frost is arguably the best MT spec though, and Unholy the best AoE tank.  However they’re close enough that you could go either way.

 

“Congrats eriss and thank you for getting jack into wow?its been a great help in figuring out how to play a DK properly!!”

She just got married on Monday.  I’ll pass the good wishes along.  Thanks!! :)

 

 

“A debate has come up in some forums that in a raid with a top end weapon with max raid armor debuffs on a boss, that Blood Strike will do more total dps than Scourge Strike will.”

I did some rough in game tests.  With blue gear this doesn’t hold water.  SS pulls ahead just because it has the bonus crit damage from talents, plus it saves a GCD.  At higher levels of gear I will readdress this issue.

 

“I have that rune watcher mod but cant for the life of me figure out how to MOVE IT?its stuck right over my character and its very annoying. Anyone know how to move it?”

Type /runewatch config and go into the window and check the unlock box.  You can also just type in /runewatch to see all of the commands.  You can change the skin this way as well.  They have some nice ones in there built in.  I changed it from the base to one pre-loaded.  Most mods out there work that way btw.  If you type /”name of mod” it will pull up a command list.  Or an appropriate abbreviation.  For example:  /runewatch or /rw

 

“I?m leveling unholy and on your listed recommended talent spec it says to choose ?Virulence 2/3? over epidemic as well as ?Necrosis? and ?Blood-caked Blade? maxed out both. I realize this is from an older post. But later on you go on to say that you were wrong about epidemic and that we should get it. And also that Necrosis and BloodCaked.. don?t put out as much damage as intended. What would you recommend as a new talent spec taking all of this into account? Thanks. :)“

16/0/55 is probably how I’d level up if I had to do it again.  0/0/49 is probably what I would be at level 58.

 

“I love coming to your site, you always have something to read about, whether its a dps rotation post or just a ?i did this today? post, its always informative and an enjoyable read. Thanks again for taking time out of your life to scribble on here for our enjoyment :)“

What DID I do today?!!?  Good question!!  Thanks for asking!!

Eh?  What do you mean he didn’t ask what I did today?  This is my blog.  Shut it and sit down!!

As I was saying…  :)

I went back into Nax25 today and we cleared out two wings.  It was a relaxed pace, plus we started late.  Some trouble setting up the DKP page right and making sure everyone was charged correctly before moving on.  Afterwards I threw together two 10man Wintergrasp runs real quick for the guild.  No, I’m not usually a raid leader, but it helps take the stress off of our Captains and Guild Leaders.  And I did some JC sales today, which are still low due to not a lot of people are raiding yet.  So few sockets in leveling gear, did you guys notice that too?!!?

So yeah, came home from work.  Did the JC thing.  Watched some TV…I’m missing a block of time…what the hell?!  OH Yeaahhhh…  I was tired.  Slept only like 2 hours yesterday, been so short on time.  Took a 2 hour nap, stole some home grilled out hamburgers from my roomie (woot he’s a good cook), got into the raiding, and now I’m writing for you guys.

So I’m hoping all of you are having a good one.  Take care and see ya on the flip side!!

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26
Nov

Best in Slot Chest items for Death Knights – come get some!!

   Posted by: Skeleton Jack    in Best in Slot Items

Heya guys!!  Welcome back to the next segment of Best in Slot Items for Death Knights!!  Today we’re gonna talk about the best chest piece (or breastplate) that you can get for your DK.  And for all of you sitting there reading this going, “FINALLY!!!  You’d think he was never gonna get back to this…  Sheesh.”  I have one thing to say to you…

Sit and spin…sit and spin.  I mean that from the bottom of my ice cold undead heart.  Heh.

So for those of you who have been keeping up with the site, I mentioned we’re gonna change how we look at items for ranking.  I’m going to no longer value hit rating in item selection.  I’m already at 10% hit myself without even gemming for it, not to mention the +1% hit bonus from grouping with Draenei.  So obviously, getting to the hit cap is far easier than I expected.

I’m going to rank the top 10 best in slot items for you with no weight given to Hit Rating at all.  Then after that, I will mention some of the best items available that do have hit.  This should allow you to customize your amor more easily in regards to what will give you the greatest upgrades overall.

 

 

Blood - Top 10 Best in Slot Chest

  1. Chestguard of the Recluse  473 APE
  2. Valorous Scourgeborne Battleplate  423 APE
  3. Tunic of Indulgence  393 APE
  4. Tunic of Dislocation  386 APE
  5. Chestguard of Flagrant Prowess  385 APE
  6. Heroes’ Scourgeborne Battleplate  380 APE
  7. Breastplate of Frozen Pain  372 APE
  8. Hard Khorium Battleplate  372 APE
  9. Custodian’s Chestpiece  369 APE
  10. Deadly Gladiator’s Dreadplate Chestpiece  372 APE
 

Blood - Top 5 Best in Slot Chest valuing Hit Rating

  1. Undiminished Battleplate  609 APE
  2. Tunic of Indulgence  508 APE
  3. Cult’s Chestguard  506 APE
  4. Breastplate of Frozen Pain  490 APE
  5. Chestguard of Flagrant Prowess  487 APE

 

 

Frost - Top 10 Best in Slot Chest

  1. Chestguard of the Recluse  434 APE
  2. Valorous Scourgeborne Battleplate  398 APE
  3. Tunic of Indulgence  392 APE
  4. Chestguard of Flagrant Prowess  384 APE
  5. Tunic of Dislocation  359 APE
  6. Heroes’ Scourgeborne Battleplate  358 APE
  7. Custodian’s Chestpiece  354 APE
  8. Breastplate of Frozen Pain  353 APE
  9. Hard Khorium Battleplate  342 APE
  10. Bladed Chaos Tunic  340 APE
 

Frost - Top 5 Best in Slot Chest valuing Hit Rating

  1. Undiminished Battleplate  540 APE
  2. Tunic of Indulgence  494 APE
  3. Chestguard of Flagrant Prowess  474 APE
  4. Cult’s Chestguard  474 APE
  5. Breastplate of Frozen Pain  457 APE
  

 

 Unholy – Top 10 Best in Slot Chest

  1. Chestguard of the Recluse  436 APE
  2. Valorous Scourgeborne Battleplate  417 APE
  3. Tunic of Indulgence  379 APE
  4. Heroes’ Scourgeborne Battleplate  375 APE
  5. Chestguard of Flagrant Prowess  373 APE
  6. Breastplate of Frozen Pain  362 APE
  7. Tunic of Dislocation  361 APE
  8. Deadly Gladiator’s Dreadplate Chestpiece  348 APE
  9. Custodian’s Chestpiece  345 APE
  10. Hard Khorium Battleplate  343 APE
 

Unholy - Top 5 Best in Slot Chest valuing Hit Rating

  1. Undiminished Battleplate  567 APE
  2. Tunic of Indulgence  483 APE
  3. Cult’s Chestguard  471 APE
  4. Breastplate of Frozen Pain  469 APE
  5. Chestguard of Flagrant Prowess  464 APE

 

 

Things to remember

  1. THIS DOES NOT WEIGH SET BONUSES.  I CANNOT STRESS HOW IMPORTANT THAT FACT IS!!!  I have not yet seen a good model for measuring the DPS gain from our T7 set bonuses, however the 4 set bonus is extremely good and will have a significant impact upon our DPS.  If you can attain 4 pieces of T7, you should consider giving those items more value.
  2. These items are weighted using a system commonly refered to as APE, or Attack Power Equivalency.  This uses mathematical formulas, and often times simulators, to determine how much each attribute contributes to your dps.  It equates item stat values into a numeric value that equals 1 Attack Power, or 1 AP.
  3. APE means exactly what it says, this item has an equivalent value of x AP.  So if it says 1 is 519 APE and 2 is 492 APE, swapping from 2 to 1 would be like gaining 27 Attack Power.
  4. Take everything here with a grain of salt.  If you had all of your gear epic’d out from Naxx+, it’s likely your personal stats will skew the results of “best in slot”.  Short of running a simulator, it’s nearly impossible to know what the best stats are for any one character.  APE changes as your stats change.  As one stat goes up, its value to your dps goes down.  Meanwhile other stats’ values will go up in value.  This however is a good baseline, assuming you have the equivalent best in slot items and have kept your stats balanced while gearing out.
  5. Keep in mind also, my information could be wrong.  But even if it is, it is most likely the closest source of information to the actual truth about DK APE values.
  6. I don’t personally give Agility the full weight it deserves.  I weigh Agility in at 85% value.  This counteracts the spell crit it does not give to abilities like Death and Decay, Icy Touch, and Death Coil for example.  Also, I don’t give it value for the AP gains if you have 5/5 Bladed Armor (which many pure dps specs do).  18 Agi is effectively 1 AP due to the armor gain from Agi.
  7. Some stats can be capped.  You do not want more than you can actually use.  Items with a stat that you’ve exceeded the cap are not worth their “true” value anymore because you’re not getting all of the benefit.
  8. The hit cap is 295.11 rating or 9%.  The spell hit cap is 288.53 rating or 17% if you have 3/3 Virulence and Misery debuff up.  Meaning your hit cap is 295.11 so long as you have Virulence and a debuff.  If you are alliance and you group with, or play a Draenei, then your hit cap is 1% lower.
  9. The expertise cap is 122.96 rating or 15 skill for Blood.  The cap for Unholy/Blood is 172.15 rating or 21 skill.
  10. Your stats need to be balanced.  If you pick gear that always has +Strength on them, then you’re going to be screwed. These items are balanced around the concept that you do not overstack certain stats.  Aka, 4% hit and 3000 AP is bad.  But so is 15% hit and 1500 AP.  Sticking with these item lists will usually avoid that however.
  11. If you don’t agree you should seriously take a moment to stop and think about what factual data you have to back up that feeling.  Often times the number crunchers out there find things that look wrong to the average person.
  12. When gemming gear most of the time you will ignore the slot colors.  Only pay attention to slot colors when trying to meet a metagem requirement if you need to.  Otherwise every gem slot should be either a Bold Scarlet Ruby or a Rigid Autumn’s Glow.

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