Warning for Orlgin: 2. All opinions should be stated as succinctly as possible.

constantius · 06/23/09, 12:55 PM

Post: Dual Wield Builds
User: Orlgin
Infraction: 2. All opinions should be stated as succinctly as possible.
Points: 0

Administrative Note:

Message to User:

You really didn't need to link the walls of text. Final dps would have been fine.

Original Post:

When Death Knights were first introduced, Duel-wielding was considered bad. Early posts proclaimed that 2H was King and that only noobs who missed their shamans should duel-wield. Now, of course, we know that DW was actually overpowered but it took some time to figure that out. History has shown that the best builds are not found immediately. Testing in the beginning stages were done using Frost and not full unholy. When I first started the Unholy DW thread, it was not taken seriously. I tried various ways of improving DPS including the controversial Death N Decay.

Finally, an idea of mine panned out. It was the original 0/18/53 that I proposed as an Obliterate spec. While the build itself didn't take off, it spawned two specs that did: 0/17/54 and 0/13/58. As it turns out, 0/18/53 was viable after all and my math was right. I just hadn't implemented it properly. As parses came in, it was clear that they actually could compete and in some cases, surpass 2H builds. Proponents of 2H would come up with a parse that had heavy AoE and compare it to DW with light AoE and declare itself the best. Proponents of DW did the same.

What you think you know may not be right at all. This is the reason we test and retest. We constantly strive to improve specs in the effort to produce maximum DPS. Testing for DW is still relatively new especially since Blizzard declared duel-wielding dead. The irony here is that the unintended successful DW spec may be better than the DW spec that Blizzard itself is making in 3.2.

If you want to know instead of guessing, use the simulator. Take your gear and input the stats accounting for procs, use two similiar ilevel one handed weapons instead of your 2H and put in the 0/18/53 spec found in the DW Unholy Thread and use the priority suggested there. If your spec is better, use it. If mine is better, use that instead. The simulator isn't perfect but it's damn good.

Ability Total % Landed Hit% Crit% Miss% Average
Death Strike 39174443 8 5308 51 47 1 7380
Plague Strike 11299349 2 4236 50 48 1 2667
Icy Touch 7677498 1 4249 67 31 1 1806
Heart Strike 151040798 31 26135 47 51 1 5779
Death Coil 49526250 10 12674 57 41 1 3907
Frost Fever 15655057 3 26202 100 0 0 597
Blood Plague 15708782 3 26292 100 0 0 597
Necrosis 25923395 5 32362 100 0 0 801
Blood Caked Blade 13299218 2 9631 98 0 1 1380
Main Hand 129621849 26 32362 56 42 1 4005
Ghoul 11965961 2 17792 81 12 6 672
Dancing Rune Weapon 9633828 2 11680 82 12 5 824
DPS 5562

Ability Total % Landed Hit% Crit% Miss% Average
Obliterate 85902553 16 16859 57 42 0 5095
Plague Strike 6497152 1 4233 52 46 0 1534
Icy Touch 10374513 1 4222 69 29 1 2457
Blood Strike 16183211 3 8425 57 42 0 1920
Death Coil 43466659 8 10463 61 37 0 4154
UB 21425185 4 68731 98 0 1 311
Frost Fever 24956248 4 26503 100 0 0 941
Blood Plague 24900786 4 26436 100 0 0 941
Necrosis 29347517 5 97706 100 0 0 300
Blood Caked Blade 18773738 3 29065 99 0 0 645
Wandering Plague 20238939 3 21491 98 0 1 941
Main Hand 85168465 16 34731 41 41 16 2452
Off Hand 48298960 9 62975 41 41 16 766
Ghoul 56870060 10 83206 80 12 6 683
Gargoyle 34152069 6 11350 82 12 4 3008
DPS 6094

The simulator disagrees with your assessment.