I think this was briefly touched on in the Bonescythe thread awhile ago, but wasn't sure it was necessary to bump that monster thread.

With the set bonuses of bonescythe, specifically the 4 and 8 piece bonuses, and a 2.8 speed weapon like the Servo Arm, is it possible a modified hemo build with specific equipment will begin to approach the combat builds in efficiency?

I was thinking Hemo has a much better energy efficiency, and that becomes even better with the 4 piece bonus. Add a lot of damage from 5 pt crit eviscerates, and subsequent crit on hemo from 8 piece bonus, which are much easier to hit with a hemo build, and it starts looking a little better and better.

It's a bunch of drops in the bucket, and in all honesty it's probably still not even close, but I thought I'd throw it up for discussion anyways. Afterall, there was a time when many didn't know how good SnD was, how good DW spec was etc..

Plus, I'm not enough of a mathematician to put together any kind of model to compare the builds. I remember once reading a thread where someone figured the theorhetical atk power you would need before a hemo build eclipsed a combat build, simply due to the unnormalized atk power on hemo, and it seemed like something that could be easily achievable in the expansion.

You still lose way too many DPS talents by getting hemo.

I think it was suggested you needed 1000AP+ with an ancient qiraji ripper before your Hemo would do more than an SS, but then thats still before accounting your white DPS increase through combat builds. The AP is ofcourse already acheivable, though I'm not sure what kind of AP you'd be required to have before a hemo build could out DPS a combat build, however my guess is the amount would have to be impossibly high / totally in-acheivable.

Yea, it probably is, but maybe it's not. I want to do the math to figure it out, but not sure where to start. It might be something slightly attainable, like 2000atk power, with full buffs and uber equip.

I think it gets skewed a little with the itemization that happened in naxx, though. If you look at the Servo Arm compared to swords/fists at that point, you've got a higher dps, 2.8 spd weapon vs lower dps, faster weapons. That is, until you've got Kel'thuzad on farm and have that 73.1dps sword. That, with the slight edges hemo gets from the bonescythe bonuses over sword/dagger, just made me curious. Like I said though, they are probably just drops in the bucket and it's still not close.

I'm not arguing that it's better, just curious if it got any decently closer in effectiveness to a combat build.

Evicerate usually accounts for around 5% of my total damage during a raid. a 15% bonus of 5% accounts for a .0025 extra damage (over an entire raid) (not counting the lower energy cost etc), far too little of a bonus to make it worth it. Hemo is a for a different playstyle, combat is the the way to go for sustainable dps. We'll see the changes in 1.12. Maybe things will change.

-Marajat

Yea, it makes up 5%, but that's with a combat build playstyle. You don't get to build up to 5 point evisc if your running the optimum 5/3/5 cycle. With Hemo, you'd possibly be doing a 5/5/5 cycle due to much lower energy expenditure, plus the 4 piece on top of it (which isn't much though). So, depending on the proc rate of the 8 piece, your now also getting a crit of Hemo after each Evisc there. The Evisc % of your dps would go up, as your doing 5 pt Eviscs instead of 3 point.

I've realized it's not close at this point, after figuring out how little energy the 4 piece actually saves you. But, I'm starting to wonder if the theorhetical atk power level where Hemo's damage alone makes up for the white damage loss, got within reachable means. It was somewhere in the mid to high 2k range last time I had this discussion with a better mathematician, if I'm remembering correctly, completely unattainable then and now. But, if these little advantages push that down some, would like to know. Unless 1.12 and the expansion completely changes things, Hemo could be a better dps build in the expansion, when atk power keeps going up.

It's all conjecture on my part, I'm not trying to convince anyone it's a better spec. .