Death Knight: Cataclysm Simple Q & A - Page 4

Odric · 09/17/11, 7:33 PM

I will keep using my ghoul, I figured it added a reliable amount of DPS as well.. it just seemed odd not to use something that acts independently. Like Dancing Rune Weapon, it's more DPS that you don't have to control. So yea, I agree it's a plus.

Pintofbrew · 09/21/11, 7:16 AM

Ghoul serves a very critical purpose, when you activate Pillar about 4-7 seconds in, you'll hit a small lul where there's nothing to cast, all your runes are cooling, there's not much RP, or there is RP but you're >1s away from another rune and want to Rime-OB instead. Then is the time to drop a Ghoul. Having a ghoul go off when there's Bloodlust and combining it with a Str trink like Essence and a strength pot and he tears faces.

Army is a totally different story; Army is a colossal waste of time to channel and does negligible damage compared to a ghoul. The only time Army is debatably useful is during downtime, like when Rag drops his hammer just before sons come up, or in BoT when the 4 elements combine to form captain planet. Even then, Army is nearly trivial in it's output, at best around 100k. There are technical points where army is brilliant, however, because they still do taunt adds. I'm told you can cheese a Son at Rag with an army, but I haven't tried.

EwokChilli · 09/22/11, 11:25 AM

@Odric

I looked at your WoL report for Shannox (since you should be doing single target for that entire fight). You have 84x HB and only 55x OBs. So, either you're trying some wonky shadowfrost priority with a low Mastery value (which you should reforge much higher if this is the case) or you're hitting HB for times other than Rime (which again is bad unless you're doing AoE, which you shouldn't be for Shannox).

ikool · 09/23/11, 7:38 PM

Hi there,

i got the following Question :

My DW DK can get +95 Haste Rating through another possible Reforging,
but will loose -46 Mastery Rating, -42 Hit Rating and -7 Expertise Rating.
I think that sounds very good, but there is one Problem. My Expertise is
actually 782, so it will be 6 Points below the Softcap.

So whats the better Deal ? More Haste & Slightly below the Expertise-Cap or beeing Capped with some less Haste ?

Thanks for any Suggestions

Ascar · 09/23/11, 8:01 PM

Originally Posted by ikool

Hi there,

i got the following Question :

My DW DK can get +95 Haste Rating through another possible Reforging, but will loose -46 Mastery Rating and -7 Expertise Rating.

the point of reforging is to trade one stat for the same amount of another, how can u gain 42 rating (95-(46+7)) through reforging, you are missing something.

to your question: 6 mastery below the softcap is okay if you gain enough haste as a trade for mastery/haste/crit.

ikool · 09/23/11, 8:34 PM

Thx for your Reply,

im not missing something, i just have not inluded the Hit Rating that i would loose, it dont matters in my Situation.
But i will edit the Post to clarify it. So with 6 Mastery i think u did mean the Expertise, can you tell me why exatly
u would choose that Way of Reforge?

nergal119 · 09/24/11, 7:37 AM

For DW Frost reforging, you only have two constraints:

Expertise:
Try to have as close to 781 expertise rating as possible, with slightly above being preferable to below, given you might end up in front of bosses at times.

Hit:
Have at least 601 hit rating for strikes to not miss, but if you can't reforge it all away it doesn't hurt as much as 820 is where your spells stop missing and 2883 is where your melee swings stop missing.
Essentially the strike cap is what you are aiming for as hit loses most of its value afterwards, then loses more after the spell hit cap, so don't even bother going for the melee cap.

So reforge all you want so long as you follow these guidelines, with everything going to haste then mastery if it already has haste. (certain fights prefer mastery, though don't ask me which since I don't bother tweaking for them)

Meygaera · 09/28/11, 11:04 PM

I have a question for AoE'ing the adds in phase 2 Ragnaros. Sometimes in 25man it is hard to tell exactly where the add your targeting is standing and I have trouble facing the right way to use howling blast. Is it possible to simply target and attack rag and hit him with howling blast and will it hit the adds too? Does anyone have any tips on this?

Predrag · 09/29/11, 2:57 AM

Originally Posted by Meygaera

Is it possible to simply target and attack rag and hit him with howling blast and will it hit the adds too?

Nope, that doesn´t work.

Originally Posted by Meygaera

Does anyone have any tips on this?

I use a simple target macro for aoeing the adds.

#showtooltip howling blast
/tar molten elemental
/cast howling blast

Probaton · 09/29/11, 7:01 AM

Originally Posted by Meygaera

Is it possible to simply target and attack rag and hit him with howling blast and will it hit the adds too?

Although Rag seems all up in your face he's actually too far away to even tab to when you're standing at the edge of the platform (try it sometime) and is only hittable due to his huge hitbox. As such he is waaaaay too far away to hit the adds with Howling Blast aoe.

If you're really having trouble finding the add in front of you there's always the addon tidyplates, which clears up the chaos considerably if configured correctly. Alternatively, you could position yourself at the edge of the aoe circle. That way (almost) all adds should be standing in front of you anyway as long as you're facing inward. Just make sure you're not standing out of aoe-healing range.

JustinP · 09/29/11, 12:49 PM

It really depends on what your haste is to be honest. If you have fairly high haste, which Unholy does, I would go with the Crit bonus.

padfoot · 10/01/11, 1:33 PM

Hi guys, as most of the others here, I come here looking for help. I've tried running a haste-heavy and mastery-heavy gear set to see which will improve my DPS the most. I'm mostly frustrated because I don't lack in gear, I have high up-times on the boss, don't let my diseases fall off...etc., but I feel like I'm still having a huge DPS lack. Especially in comparison to another death knight in my group, who primarily tanks, but on bosses like Baleroc/Domo, gets to go DPS - and he keeps up to par with me even though I have way more gear than him. As stated above.....it's incredibly frustrating because I can't figure out if I'm doing something wrong. Here are my WoL charts as well as my armory - I'd appreciate any help I can get.

World of Logs - Real Time Raid Analysis
Possession @ Silver Hand - Game - World of Warcraft

Thanks in advance.

Illundai · 10/01/11, 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by padfoot

Hi guys, as most of the others here, I come here looking for help. I've tried running a haste-heavy and mastery-heavy gear set to see which will improve my DPS the most. I'm mostly frustrated because I don't lack in gear, I have high up-times on the boss, don't let my diseases fall off...etc., but I feel like I'm still having a huge DPS lack. Especially in comparison to another death knight in my group, who primarily tanks, but on bosses like Baleroc/Domo, gets to go DPS - and he keeps up to par with me even though I have way more gear than him. As stated above.....it's incredibly frustrating because I can't figure out if I'm doing something wrong. Here are my WoL charts as well as my armory - I'd appreciate any help I can get.

World of Logs - Real Time Raid Analysis
Possession @ Silver Hand - Game - World of Warcraft

Thanks in advance.

At first glance you need to prioritize OB more than FS, as DW your OB damage should outweigh your FS in almost every situation.

eredor · 10/02/11, 5:29 AM

In AOE situations in the main hand, will an Elementium-Edged Scalper with cinderglacier do more damage than an Obsidium Cleaver with rune of razorice despite the 13 ilvl difference?

Dev93L · 10/02/11, 4:55 PM

I want to make sure I understand Frost priority completely. I read the priority system many times.

As I understand it, we Obliterate whenever the button for it is lit up. This is to maximize Rime and Runic Empowerment, because more spells/attacks are better. This is assuming you have diseases up and you are not RP capped of course.

I've previously been sitting on runes for Obliterate to try and line KM procs up. I did this when I had 1-2 pairs up. I did not do this when all 3 were up. I did a dummy test the my way, and did a dummy test with hitting Obliterate as many times as I possibly could, regardless of munching KM to FS, and I went from 11,xxx DPS to 13,xxx DPS. I know dummies are not accurate, but I would assume the damage increase trend is. I believe I understand now, but I just want someone to let me know I am not over simplifying it.