You can't really put a DPS number on unholy aura because it's very dynamic. On fights like patchwerk it is pretty much useless (saves maybe half a second running to him on the pull), whereas on fights like heigan, 4hm and any other fights that requires movement its value increases.
You kind of answered your own question already, because the variables are undefined, and they differ for every group.

Really quick: Is that chart only for weapons or is it universal for all stats? So in other words - Would Expertise outweigh Attack Power for dps? And so forth for the other stats that outweigh the lesser ones?

The chart is for everything. It is not specific to weapons at all. If the number is higher it's better.

I realize this. I had hoped there was something that would take into account time while moving. I remember reading, quite awhile ago, a few posts addressing run speed enchants specifically, but it appears to be gone now.

I have read GM posts stating that DK spell effects are being changed to be easily spotted versus a mobs abilities, have they implemented this on PTR.

They said they'll think about it, but I wouldn't expect changes anytime soon, it's the kind of stuff that takes time because it's not very high on the priority list, and requires graphical changes(which are more annoying than just stat tweaks). The only fight I can see it being an issue is Sartharion, just turn spell details to low, DnD doesn't display but you can still see voidzones. To be honest, if you're paying attention, you can see void zones inside DnD easily too.

Actually they are easier to spot within Desecration. They should change the voids there to some dark purple.

With Necrosis going to 20% shadow damage every auto-attack is it better than BCB for 2hand Unholy now? In my PvE builds I always get Necrosis, Blood Caked Blade and Impurity but my Tank and PvP builds don't usually have room for all three. I usually max one of the three (typically BCB) or spread the points out.

3.0.8 has me stumped though and I haven't seen any point per point value updates on Necrosis.

DPS Breakdown Per Talent Point

#	Skill	Rotation(20) 4x SS	% per point
1	SS	19.82%	exempt
2	Epidemic	8.23%	4.12%
3	EbonPlaguebringer	9.27%	3.09%
4	Bone Shield	1.96%	1.96%
5	Wandering Plague	5.83%	1.94%
6	Crypt Fever	4.90%	1.63%
7	BcB	4.77%	1.59%
8	Rage of Rivendare	6.85%	1.37%
9	Vicious Strikes	2.56%	1.28%
10	impurity	5.34%	1.07%
11	Shadow of Death	0.75%	0.75%
12	Morbidity	2.07%	0.69%
13	Necrosis	3.16%	0.63%
14	Desecration	2.77%	0.55%
15	Virulence	1.14%	0.38%
16	Ravenous Dead	1.12%	0.37%
17	Outbreak	0.46%	0.15%

Now, if the effect of Necrosis is getting doubled, what should you do with the %/point in that table?

Kinda to the point above, I'm at a point to where I'm comfortable with my hp raid buffed and stats aren't bad. I just got JC up to the point to where I can cut the Dragon's eyes and having a hell of time figuring out which ones I should use. The stamina whore in me wants to go +41 on all 3, but I think I could probably use more dodge, since I'm an unholy tank and rely heavily on BS.

Armory

Any suggestions would be great, what's the base dodge/sta/parry we should be shooting for entering / leaving naxx? I haven't seen them posted anywhere, or if they have a link would be great and I can figure it out on my own.

As far as I know, boss dodge rate is closer to 6.5% than 6.25%, I've heard 6.4%, and 6.5%, and something in between.

# Skill Rotation(20) 4x SS % per point
1 SS 19.82% exempt
2 Epidemic 8.23% 4.12%
3 EbonPlaguebringer 9.27% 3.09%
4 Bone Shield 1.96% 1.96%
5 Wandering Plague 5.83% 1.94%
6 Crypt Fever 4.90% 1.63%
7 BcB 4.77% 1.59%
8 Rage of Rivendare 6.85% 1.37%
9 Vicious Strikes 2.56% 1.28%
10 impurity 5.34% 1.07%
11 Shadow of Death 0.75% 0.75%
12 Morbidity 2.07% 0.69%
13 Necrosis 3.16% 0.63%
14 Desecration 2.77% 0.55%
15 Virulence 1.14% 0.38%
16 Ravenous Dead 1.12% 0.37%
17 Outbreak 0.46% 0.15%



Why aint Dirge included in this table? If it was, where about should it be?

Also how much is the weight of hit rating after melee-cap?

Sorry to be a real idiot if I cant see it, but has anyone started number crunching on Blood Tanking, or is it just too unstable ?

I'm looking For an excuse to leave my Cat alone and stop speccing to bear, and i wondered if it would be possible to blood tank effectively.

im frost dps (which I love this spec the most) and I was wondering how does frost compare to unholy and blood. Do they all do roughly the same dps? whats the difference of dmg between the 3 dps talents?

I really do wonder then why I made an entire Naxx parse (tanking) with 24 expertise and seeing zero dodges, only parries. (24 translates to 6.25% iirc). Are there any debuffs that affect hit which also affect chance to be dodged/parried (like Insect Swarm)???

24 translates to 6%, and the answer to your question is statistics. You were just lucky. There are no buffs that help with dodge/parry

It seems to have been demonstrated that the Blood Strike Glyph also benefits Heart Strike.

But I've seen many posters mention that they "heard" that Blood Strike Glyph would also deal bonus damage from attack speed reduction debuffs (like Frost Fever) on the PTR, effectively making the Glyph work on bosses.

Can anyone who actually ran some PTR raiding tests confirm ?

I'm currently dual wielding Reaper of Dark Souls in my main hand, and Avool's Sword of Jin in my offhand with a frost spec. I've been saving up emblems for Grasscutter. The issue here is that Grasscutter is offhand only, but is faster than Avool's. I don't particularly want to stop using Avool's sword, but do I really have a choice? It would seem dual wielding Avool in main hand and Grasscutter in offhand goes against all conventional knowledge about dual wield DPS, but Avool's DPS is more than Reapers, and its approx 1.1 speed faster.

Essentially what I'd like to know is if I should go ahead with buying Grasscutter and have a faster weapon by .1 in my main hand and a slower weapon in my offhand, or if I should scrap the idea and try to find something else, perhaps buy Mirror of Truth instead, because maybe its a DPS upgrade? (not really sure). Any help would be greatly appreciated - i'd prefer not to waste emblems on a sword that isn't good for my spec.

The reason why you may have heard that the Blood Strike Glyph will work off of attack/casting speeds reductions is due to a change to the Mage talent Torment of the Weak. That talent, like the Blood Strike Glyph, only works on movement slowing effects on live but is being changed to work off of attack and movement speed effects as well. As such many have been wondering if, as a side effect, the Blood Strike Glyph will also be affected.

Unfortunately there hasn't been any conclusive PTR testing to answer your question that I'm aware of, despite the fact that it's come up in the Blood DPS thread numerous times.

However, depending on your raid make up it can still work regardless as some movement speed slowing abilities can be applied on bosses due to a secondary effect. FFB, Infectious Wounds and Desecration are the most common sources of such effects. If you have someone providing one of those debuffs you can actually benefit from the glyph on Live.

Naerys: You seem to be extremely confused somewhere. Let me break it down simply:

You want to attack as often as possible to proc Killing Machine as often as possible. This is so important that it's often worth it to go down 10+ DPS on a weapon in order to move from a slow (2.4-2.8) to a fast (1.5-1.6) weapon. Offhand hits versus mainhand hits are completely irrelevant; that is to say, you won't gain any KM procs by swapping your offhand with your mainhand.

Now, since you would be going from a 1.5 + 2.7 to a 1.5 + 1.6 (again, order doesn't matter for KM), you would be gaining significantly in addition to the increase in weapon DPS.


Note that this applies to this patch only. Next patch, speed becomes mostly irrelevant; just look for stats and DPS. Either way, Grasscutter is a solid upgrade. You might benefit more from Mirror though. You should also consider swapping your weapon hands, since your offhand is over 10 DPS higher than your mainhand, and offhand damage is halved. (Well, not quite halved with Nerves of Cold Steel, but still penalized.) Definitely swap if you don't have Frost Strike (cookie cutter DW build), but if you're messing around with a FS build, I'm not sure how the numbers stack up offhand.

Kuro: Thanks for your quick response. I brought this up in my semi-serious raiding guild, and all I got was 'NO NEVER USE A FAST WEAPON IN MAIN HAND, ESPECIALLY IF YOUR OFFHAND IS SLOWER!' and I was put off because from reading through the threads on EJ, I figured it wouldn't be a problem. In any case, my build does have Frost Strike in it - going away from the theorycrafting norm to see how it turns out. So far, for the amount of low level gear I have, the DPS output is surprising. With a total of 4 low level items, 2 of them green, i'm doing about 1600-2.2k 5 man DPS depending on the group make up in heroics. It goes even higher in raids, and while that, by itself, is not an impressive number, just think what it will look like decked out in full epics.

I'll keep experimenting with my strange build and see if there is a DPS threshold based on gear. Thanks again for your input, I'll be getting Grasscutter in 10 emblems and then saving up for my T7 gloves and Mirror of Truth.


EDIT: Would it be better to throw Avool's sword main hand and use Fang on my offhand?

Another long time reader, first time post.
One concept that has a irked me since I started playing my death knight is the value of reaching the expertise cap. I've read a good amount of discussion on it, but i've yet to see a definitive decision or math to support it. Coming from a caster, I keep having the idea that expertise=melee hit, even though I know better. I recently came from a DW build to a 2h frost build. I am currently sitting at 17 expertise (one below my cap). Browsing through some of my recent WWS, Frost strike is 28% if my damage with oblit sitting close behind at 27%. Auto attacks come in at 22%.

I guess my real question is: Is it worth gemming/enchanting/gearing for expertise up to the cap (especially with frost strike leading damage)? Or is it just one of those stats that if gear has it, great, but don't try to stack it?