Heya guys!!  The Two Second Rule (2SR) is *not* a reference to some men with their…  *cough* …significant others.    It is in fact a Death Knight reference.  So let’s just jump right in eh?

Blizzard, in a very wise move I might add, realized from player testing that DK rotations were going to be impossible.  Spending all of that RP and Runes within 10 seconds was going to be hellish.  Any bit of lag, a few dodges or parries, and next thing you know the DK is doing nowhere near as much DPS as they projected.  So how to fix this?

2SR

The Two Second Rule basically is the leeway DK’s need to ensure that rotations don’t fall behind because of a small bit of movement, player error, lag, etc…  But how does it work?  Good question.

While you are in combat the 2SR is in effect.  But to make this easier to understand, lets address this in a step by step manner.  First we will examine it by just the mechanics as a player would understand them.  THIS IS WRONG.  Then we will do the same example as it would play out in game.  The second example is correct.  We will only use 1 Rune for the example.

Example 1, the Inncorrect Assumption:

1. Blood Rune (BR) used for Blood Strike (BS) – now it’s on a 10 second cooldown
2. 9.5 seconds pass (Runes have a 10 second CD) and you decide to fire off a Death Coil (1.5 sec GCD) – you are now at 11 seconds (the BR has been off of CD for 1 second)
3. Blood Rune (BR) used for Blood Strike (BS) – now it’s on a 10 second cooldown (WRONG)

Example 2, The 2SR:

1. Blood Rune (BR) used for Blood Strike (BS) – now it’s on a 10 second cooldown
2. 9.5 seconds pass (Runes have a 10 second CD) and you decide to fire off a Death Coil (1.5 sec GCD) – you are now at 11 seconds (the BR has been off of CD for 1 second)
3. Blood Rune (BR) used for Blood Strike (BS) – now it’s on a 9 second cooldown (2SR in effect)

So what’s going on here?  So long as you are in combat you are being given a 2 second grace period on all rune cooldowns, even if you have not used it again yet.  I’ve seen sources citing that the 2SR is actually 2.5 seconds. 

Considering I’ve seen some runes turn over to 7 seconds almost right away I’m not inclined to disagree, but I cannot in any way support or verify the claim.

Basically once a rune comes off of CD, it immediately starts it’s next CD (as if the Rune had been used).  This CD countdown continues for 2 seconds and then stops unless it is used within that time.

Self Testing (if you don’t get it)

A great example in game (if you don’t understand) is to go over to a target dummy and fire off one full rotation against it.  Say, IT – PS – BS – BS – DS (all specs have all of these attacks).  

Now stop doing anything other than autoattack on the dummy.  Wait there for a total of 30 seconds to a minute, whatever makes you happy.  And then fire off 3 Death Strikes, or 2 Death Strikes and 2 Blood Strikes (depending on Death Runes).

Watch your Rune CD’s closely and you’ll notice that all of them started at 8 seconds, and not 10 seconds.  I’ve personally tested the 2SR for up to 1 minute and can guarantee it to that point.  My assumption is that so long as you are in combat and not using runes, it will continue to be in effect as well. 

But it’s too boring sitting there doing that and I can’t see how you’d ever use runes, and then wait as long as a minute before firing them off again in the same fight.  If for some reason this does happen to you, then you’re wrong.  No, you’re WRONG!  Sit in your corner. 

How to use this to your advantage?

The main way to use this to your advantage is for RP generation or expenditure.

RP Generation

A perfect example here is if you don’t have enough RP to fire off an attack, but your runes are coming off of CD within a 1 sec or less (or just came up), then fire off Horn of Winter.  HoW generates RP guys on a 20 sec CD.  You can then use those runes that just came up (HoW use is a 1.5 sec GCD) before the 2SR ends and it’s like you never pushed the runes back at all.

RP Expenditure

Sometimes a build can get RP capped too easily or quickly.  But you need to make sure you spend the RP wisely so that it doesn’t throw off your entire rotation.  The 2SR gives you a lot of leeway with this.  You can fire off a DC/FS right as a rune comes off of CD, and then use that rune for a strike without loosing any CD on the rune itself. 

Try practicing on a dummy, and you’ll find that you can actually squeeze in 8 GCD’s (12 seconds) in a 10 second rotation when you have to, lag/movement/error permitting.  And when lag or other factors would have made you lose a few seconds on a rotation, this kind of skill can stop it from being lost.

So yeah.  That’s the 2SR.  Hope you understand now and that it helps!! 

-Suffer Well Brothers and Sisters.

Tags: Things you didn't know about WoW