Heya guys!!  Welcome to another installment of Questions and Answers!!  Overdue much SJ!?!?!  Why, yes it is!!  So, what do we have here to look forward to?  No idea yet, lol!!  I’ve just cleared off most of the junk out of my E-mail account, so I’ll be going through one at a time.  Which is actually a daunting task because I’ve let these suckers pile up all the way back from late Jan.  >.<  Yeah…I’ve been kind of bad about keeping up with E-mails, so sue me!!  :P  I am answering them now!!

  

Normalized Damage

One of my readers recently read my post about Deathtards and asked me two questions.

You have 2 points when listing Deathtards that I don´t understand:

Don?t use a fast 2H.

Don?t wear spell damage gear.  Ever.  I mean it. 

Spell damage gear? What is it and why not use a fast 2H?

So…yeah.  /facepalm  OK.  The fast 2H question is solid actually.  But you don’t know wtf spell damage gear is?  I just…  How could you not have seen some before if you leveled one toon up, and then leveled up a DK?!?  Right…  Spell Damage gear is any item that has the “Spell Power” stat on it, or has a specific spell damage type listed, such as “Arcane”.  In other words, if a paladin item drops with spell power on it, don’t use it.  As to weapon speeds…

Way back in the day, before Burning Crusade came about, there was a massive problem with weapon damage ranges for any class that used “Instant Cast Attacks”, such as DK Strikes like Obliterate or Blood Strike.  Because of this Blizzard created “normalized damage”.  Basically faster weapons were always inferior to slower weapons because the end damage result was being multiplied by the weapon speed.  So the slower the weapon used, the higher the damage multiplier.  To fix this issue, they normalized the damage by creating set figures for each “weapon type” as follows:

• Daggers: 1.7
• All 1H weapons: 2.4
• All 2H weapons: 3.3

Now you may be wondering at this point why weapon speed matters if they normalized everything.  The base weapon damage still comes in to play.  And a faster weapon will still have a lower base damage number than a slower weapon.  While the margin of difference is far less than it would be without “normalized damage”, you still gain more from a slow 2H over a fast 2H.

 

New DW Spec Ideas

28/43/0 and 27/44/0  are two suggestions/ideas I was asked about for viable 3.1 release DW specs.  Now there were several questions, but we have to stop before even looking at anything else because of the blatant and glaring problem staring you in the face if you clicked on these specs.  I’ll give you a second.  Do you see it?

These specs have talents focusing on Strikes such as Obliterate, Frost Strike, and Blood Strike.  The entire premise of all successful DW builds has been on the emphasis of “spells” and enhancing white damage.  Hence why DW is in so much trouble atm on PTR.  Any Strike heavy build will always outperform with a 2H simply because the 2H will cause the strikes to do significantly more damage.  Remember always that the strength in DW specs is about heightening the white damage potential and increasing spell damage.

 

Hey SJ!!  I’m from Gretna, have we met?!?!

Heh, I doubt it!!    I am a New Orleans boy, having spent the vast majority of my life here in the Big Easy.  I was born up north and moved down here around the age 2-4.  Grew up on the west bank until 4th grade, and then moved to the east bank in the middle of 4th grade.  I moved to Atlanta on 3 occasions and lived there for about a year each time.  I graduated from Jesuit HS 1994.  (Yes you can roughly guess how old I am now.  )  If that sounds familiar, then E-mail me personal info.  But otherwise I’d be shocked if any reader who stumbled across my site actually knew who the hell I was, rofl.

 

SJ, can you lookit my gear/spec and yadda yaddaa?!?

No.  Probably not.  If you send me an exact link with your Armory, and then also a link to a WoW Head or MMO Champion Talent Calculator if your talents are not correct, then maybe.  I’ll probably go look actually.  But if you send me your name and server, not a chance in hell.  It’s not personal, but I’ve only got so much time in the day.  So if you can’t take the time to send me the relevant information in an easy to acquire format, then I’ve got other things I could be doing.

 

What weapon should I be using SJ?!

Betrayer of Humanity  Nuff said.

Hehe.  For those who cannot get to said awesomeness atm, moar dps = good.  Really guys, it’s not *that* hard.  I love helping people.  Hell, I am more than happy to.  But some things you need to venture out there on your own.  If you are deciding between two weapons that are both 186 dps, in all honesty they’re not going to make that much of a difference chosing one over the other.  But if one is 10+ dps more, then hell yeahs upgrade that mofo’!!

 

What’s the best spec, and what are the rotations/glyphs etc?

Blood Disease-less Spec and DW are the 2 best specs hands down for 3.0.9, followed probably by Unholy after that (though there are probably a few DW variants near the DW spec).  But as far as what is going to happen after 3.1 release, the bag is up in the air guys.  You can click on any of those three links and get some solid info for rotations, glyphs, and specs.  But I am not willing to delve yet into the potential of 3.1 specs simply because I know that the DK changes need to change some more, or everything is gonna be borked when it goes live.  So you’re gonna have to wait for 3.1 to go live before we can really say what the best specs are then.  Please note that the glyphs are on the “talent calculator” themselves.

 

Why do you say to use the Blood Strike Glyph for PvE dps?!

OK, so lets look at the Blood Strike Glyph for one moment.  Any time any boss is affected by a snare of some kind you get the bonus damage.  In addition to that, this glyph affects Heart Strike as well.  I don’t remember every single effect that can cause a snare effect on a boss, but the most prevalent one is the Frostfire Bolt.  The slow effect is applied to bosses even though it is not actually slowed.  So you get the damage bonus.  Realistically not ever raid make up will allow for you to take advantage of a boss being under this effect, so if you will not have a FF Mage (or alternative snaring source), then of course you should select another glyph.

 

SJ can you please help me?!?!

Uhm, sure!!  How did you need some help?

SJ can you please help me?!?!  My dps is low!!!

/sigh  If you need help guys you gotta send me the whole picture.  Raid makeup, what types of buffs you get, a direct link to your armory and correct spec, what glyphs you use, etc.  You have to give me the 411 yo!!  Feel me bro’?!!?   If you’re looking to maximize your dps however, right above me are 3 links to some of the best specs possible in game atm.  I’d strongly suggest starting there.

And more importantly for those questions that are not about upping dps, but about playstyle or spec swapping, etc.  Again, give me the ENITRE PICTURE!!!  If you ask me for suggestions or opinions about stuff guys, I need something to work with.  One guy asked me about whether he should use a DW or Disease-less spec while the only things he told me is what 2H weapon he had and that he wants it to be feasible in PvP as well as PvE.  If you don’t understand why that isn’t enough info, go talk to a buddy of yours or something.  Or your mom or dad.  For the love of God…

 

SJ, there is no better DK than you!!

Uhm, I’m flattered but that is decidedly not true.  There are quite a few DK’s out there who can put out more dps numbers than me.  They’re a bit more dedicated than I am, play more often, or perhaps just have more natural talent.  *shrug*  I run into lava walls from time to time at Sarth.  I sometimes mess up the Heigan dance.  I’m one of the better players out there, but there are people better.  I’m damn good mind you.  I’m just not the best there ever was.  You’d be surprised how many people actually tell me this one.

 

Runic Power Dumps

This isn’t a set question, but enough questions related to this that it deserved comment.  Killing Machine is a great talent, but a lot of people try to do “Runic Power Dumps” at the end of a rotation which wastes the potential of KM.  Ideally for Frost Specs specifically with KM, you want to spread out the Frost Strikes as much as possible so that you have a greater chance of getting a KM proc on FS, rather than being wasted on say Icy Touch which does less damage.  So basically you’d use Runes until you have about 40 RP, then fire off a FS.  Then you’d go back to using Runes until you had enough RP for another FS.  Once you got really good at this then you could potentially delay the FS’s one or two runes on the chance of getting a later KM proc.  But you need to be really comfortable and solid at your rotation first.

Outside of KM and FS, there is also Death Coil.  Again, people are often mistaken and think they have to keep a solid perfect rotation up, and then blow all of the RP at the end.  It just doesn’t always work out that way.  The vast majority of the time you will take a DPS loss by activating a Rune if it would push you over the RP cap instead of firing off a DC to bring yourself to a lower RP.  Now this isn’t always the case, as with some Blood specs, but it generally is.  Always remember the 2 second leeway Runes have on their recharge if activated within 2 seconds of coming off of GCD.  You have some breathing room to work with.  A rotation that works in RP attacks before Runes is not always a bad thing.  But always saving your RP and spending it all at the end generally is a bad thing for several specs.

 

What gear should I be using?!

Well…it just so happens we have BISI!!!  It’s not finished…I know.  /sigh  It will be!!  Soon!!  And now I’m GLAD I never worked out the DW BISI stuff!!  I knew Blizz was gonna F with it.  Hell and tarnation!!  That would have given me fits had I worked out the DW stuff and then they just ditched DW as it is like they are.

 

What is the best leveling spec?!?

Erm…  Let’s take this a different route before anything else.  There are 3 things that make a spec a potentially “best spec” for leveling purposes.

1. Movement Enhancing:  Unholy Aura and On a Pale Horse are unequalled in all of the trees.
2. Downtime Reduction:  Self Healing
3. AoE Capacity:  Mulching, farming, whatever you want to call it.  Being able to kill tons of mobs at once.

Now On a Pale Horse is not even negotiable as far as I am concerned.  This talent alone will shave hours off of your leveling.  Now at this point you can either race off to Blood or you and go deeper into Unholy.  While you can level up as Frost, it is not competitive with Blood or Unholy for leveling purposes.  Unholy tops you off with UA, meaning you are always moving at +15% speed, and then fills you out with the best Death Strike healing (Unholy has 3 diseases for the healing multiplier) and the most amazing AoE capacity possible.  Geneally speaking, as Unholy, you go round up 4-8 mobs and AoE them all down.  And if you happen to be low health after, you go pull one mob and then Death Strike your health back up.  Rinse and repeat.

And then if you go Blood, while you run slower you have far more self healing available and pretty much never stop to even pull one mob for some healing.  The down side to Blood is that it has weaker AoE capacity compared to Unholy, but when dealing with 2-4 mobs only it does kill faster with the cleave effect on Heart Strike.  Overall Blood falls slighly behind Unholy, but is more than close enough to go either path.  Frost is solid, and will still level quickly.  But it just doesn’t hold a candle up to Blood and Unholy for leveling purposes.

 

PvP Builds?!?  /sadface

Yeah, I’ve been kind of lax on this as of late.  Sorry guys.  I came to a strange realization in PvP about a month or two back.  I’m nowhere near as good at PvP on my DK as I was on my Shaman.  Which is understandable really when you consider how much more time I spent actually playing my Shaman.  I spent a *ton* of time on my Shaman.  But then, I don’t play all that often anymore outside of raiding.  So my mastery and skillset with this brand new class isn’t all that stellar really.  At least, imo.  And I’m a much harsher judge than the average joe. 

When it came down to it, I realized that at this moment in time I did not feel like dedicating the necessary time to master all of the abilities available to DK’s.  So PvP got pushed to the back burner.  But to make it up to you, I will be doing a post on the “Shadowfrost” PvP spec realtively soon.  And the upside is that it is only being marginally affected by 3.1, so it will still be viable down the road with some tweaks.

 

Should I be facerolling my keyboard?!?

No.  NEVER.  No matter what anyone tells you.  Lots of people want to sit there and say, “LOL DK’s just spam buttons, rofllolerskatesdairyqueenbbq!!!”  It’s not true.  Rotation, rotation, rotation, rotation.  Learn ‘em, use ‘em, master ‘em.  That is part and parcel with being a DK.  End of story.

 

MOAR QUESTIONS!!!!!

Hehe, there are more E-mails waiting to be answered by me.  But now is no longer the time.  I need to get some eats, and get some other things done for now.  I will be getting back to this very very soon however!!

If you sent me an E-mail and you did not get a response it is because of one of the following reasons:

1. You wrote one of the E-mails asking questions without telling me any relevant or pertinent information that would be necessary for me to help you in the first place.
2. I answered the question in this post or a previous post already.
3. It’s still sitting in my mail box and is on the list of the next ones to be answered within the next few days.
4. You sent it to the wrong place, or I accidentally F’ed up and deleted it or something. 

While I’ve been lax in answering as of late, I’d like to correct that and have been answering all questions as is possible.  Please let me know if you have any questions!! 

Skeleton.Jack@hotmail.com

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters

Tags: Questions