Didn't see this little nugget posted anywhere.

All 2h Hardmode weapon drops from Ulduar (10 and 25) are being buffed to a 3.6 speed.

The section on Glyphs in the OP seems to have gone missing?

Not exactly on topic with what was being discussed before, but I was reading the "Proc Mechanics" article in the Think Tank section, and i stumbled upon a list of the commoly-used procs from the BC era, containing their proc chance and internal cooldowns.

I thought this thread could use a similar listing so i'll try to get the work started by browsing whatever info i can find on Wowhead and my WWS parses, but very likely, i'm going to need some help on this, especially on the internal cooldowns part for trinkets i don't own... Anyway, here goes :

Commonly used/desired DK Trinkets :

DPS :

* [Blood of the Old God] :
10% proc chance, unknown cooldown
* [Mjolnir Runestone]
15% proc chance, unknown cooldown
* [Pyrite Infuser]
10% proc chance, unknown cooldown
* [Bandit's Insignia]
15% proc chance, 45 seconds internal cooldown
* [Grim Toll]
15% proc chance, 45 seconds internal cooldown
* [Darkmoon Card: Greatness]
35% proc rate, 45 seconds internal cooldown
* [Mirror of Truth]
10% proc chance, 45 seconds internal cooldown

Tank :

* [The General's Heart]
5% proc chance, unknown cooldown
* [Essence of Gossamer]
5% proc chance, unknown cooldown

Please note that, when i'm saying "unknown cooldown", i don't mean nobody knows, i just mean i don't !
Feel free to add any info you have and i'll try to fill in the blanks as needed.

RuneForging :

I haven't been able to find any reliable info on the proc chances or internal cooldowns to our Runeforge enchants, but i'll gladly add those to the list if some gentle soul helps me out.

Uptimes :

On a sidenote, i was wondering if, by using a gross oversimplification such as "a Death Knight uses on average 1.2 attacks per second", it would be possible to calculate an average uptime for any given DPS trinket, based on its proc chance, ICD and buff duration...

Here's the maths i came up with :

An Unholy DK DPS uses the following cycle on a 20 seconds period :

SS SS BS BS
SS SS SS

That's 7 special attacks able to proc a trinket such as Mjolnir Runestone (procs happen on attacks) every 20 seconds or 0.35 attacks per second

If this DK is using a 3.6 speed weapon with the 27.35% haste from Windfury and the BiS unholy set from OP, he gets another 0.298 attacks per second, so taking white and yellow attacks into consideration, he casts 0.70 attacks per second all able to make the trinket proc, or one attack every 1.421 seconds.

Then, Mjolnir Runestone has a 15% proc chance, so i think i'd get the average time for it to proc again after internal cooldown finished by calculating this :

Sum(for i=0 to infinity) 0.15*(0.85^i)*1.421*i = 8.052 seconds

So the average uptime for Mjolnir Runestone would actually be 10 seconds every 45+8.052 seconds, which is 18.85%.

If my maths is correct, and assuming a 45 seconds internal cooldown for all the trinkets listed before, that proc on ANY attacks, you would get the average uptime :

* if proc chance is 5% : uptime = 13.89%
* if proc chance is 10% : uptime = 17.3%
* if proc chance is 15% : uptime = 18.85%
* if proc chance is 35% and duration is 15 seconds (Greatness trinket) : uptime = 31.49%

Now it's different for trinkets such as Mirror of Truth or Blood of the Old God that proc on critical strikes :

Let's assume a 45% crit chance for the average raiding DK. This DK, using the same stats as before, now casts on average one critical strike (able to proc the trinket) every 3.158 seconds.

All 3 trinkets that proc on critical strikes have a 10% chance proc rate so their uptime would be 13.62%, as it would take on average 28.42 seconds to get a proc after the internal cooldown finished.

I'm aware that these calculations assume that you spend 100% of your time hitting the boss, which on many (every?) Ulduar Encounter is just not possible. These uptimes may also vary with a different spec (blood gets more hits in 20 seconds, i think), a different weapon, a different crit chance... I tried to leave as many explanations about how i did the calculations so anyone would be able to use them with his own stats.

I'll wait for corrections, then perhaps add these approximate uptimes to each trinket description.

Quick mentions for Frost. Seperate Frost because unless running an HB build/glyph rotation Frost is not even close to similar to Unholy, more or less leaning towards Blood without the ArP requirements.

ArP scales different due to spec. For instance due to the extra OB's an IT build would obtain (not tlaking about ITx6 with DRM I mean the classic IT/DRM spec) would have ~1 OB more per first rotation vs HB making ArP better in that regard. HB makes Hit Rating far more important due to GCD as well as it's own heavy cd.

Strength given the weight scale listed is something I have an argument on, UA is an amazing clicky. One of the best Frost build provides, making Strength a very strong stat due to the fact that you can make UA a comparable pseudo trinket to some Nax/Ulduar clickys.

Another suggestion. A clicky + passive trinket might be suggested for Frost. This is due in major to the large burst Frost provides when popping Empower Rune Weapon as they use a large amount of Rune abilities (OB for the most part) + the heavy FS usage. This would make popping a clicky + UA strong as it's more reliable as well as possible to correctly time Empower usage without worries that passive trinkets (i.e. Pyrite or Greatness for example).

Haste is incredibly weak for Frost. We have the largest haste from talents then any of the 3 builds, it's easily maintained as well. Also the haste affecting KM is so minimal compared to taking on other stats.

That said, there's quite an argument of the weight scale of crit due to Deathchill, KM, and the massive amount of crit that Frost provides when specc'ing either HB or IT builds. (some argue more crit from talents then either Unholy or Blood ironically).

Finally, there's no mention of top end damage which is significant as not only BS & OB are based off this but the most crucial ability: Frost Strike is as well. Over 40-70% of overall damage (depending on build) is based off weapon damage. Which seems to be unmentioned currently. This could lead the argument of Earthshaper vs Vold for BiS weapon depending...

Now with the current patch, I believe was 3.1.2 or whatever (I apologize, it's quite late here unfortunately) t7/7.5 received a significant nerf. This makes using only 2set t7/7.5 viable in Ulduar and 4set being harmful for dps. This also pushes nearly every Frost into Blood > Unholy Presence wise.

As previously mentioned Fallen Crusader > Razorice or Cinderglacier. The uptime and proc chance isn't too shabby and it's far more dps wise vs the other two enchants.

Now a few quick mentions, my apologies for letting this drag on a bit
@ Valtiel - Amazing job, I enjoyed reading some of these posts and hope to use more, would be wondering if you mind if I take some snippets for my own Frost 2h thread (sticky) on Wowhead. Thank you and I was hoping you'd take a moment to look at 3.1 Frost 2h DPS, Everything Explained - Death Knight - Wowhead Forums and tell me what you think, it'd be greatly appreciated.

@ Fallfromthegrave - Jawbone > Relentless Edge due to speed issues as well as Top End. Also the Str > AP in consideration of Blessing of Kings (who doesn't raid without it)

@ Valmir - The issue with heavy IT rotations (DRM + ITx6) is the fact that IT damage output is very weak currently even for Frost. As most have noticed IT damage has been significantly reduced since 3.1 came out. 4set with the nerf is now also very weak making the ITx6 possible but not the most dps efficient or maximum output possible as it lacks the ability for Rime as well as several other smaller issues :P Dropping PS from Frost rotation is also a good way to beef up damage, especially if you're not running 4set t8.

@ Norg - Nice collection of information and looking forward to more. The Frost section definitely needs a bit of a revamp. I would suggest separating Frost from Unholy entirely or keeping Frost + Unholy section and make note for HB glyph/build only and create a separate Frost for IT as the two builds are independent and from Frost population it's 50/50 as both builds provide ~equal dps. My apologies. I will have more updated and thorough posts at a later date, unfortunately it's late and had to wait this long to be able to post here as I was told to by several people at Wowhead for varying reasons >.<

Edit: As Valtiel has mentioned FS is a strike therefore is the 8% melee Strike cap. But it acts as a spell in the same that SS does as it ignores armor (Frost damage) therefore not affected by ArP and the likes. As it's instant Haste and etc. also provide nothing for the ability.

18,8% uptime does seem to be right. From going through parses from WMO uptime on all those trinkets except Greatness is 18-22% (varies) so I usually just think it as 20% uptime avg. because of haste effects.

In terms of raw stats before any considerations, HoCW is on par with Worldcarver for orcs, which is what I meant. The values obviously change when you start considering hit cap, making full use of the orc racial, JC gems and so on.

One could argue that the higher damage range and slower speed on the HoCW would make it superior to WC should you not be able to make full use of the orc racial. Its only a stepping stone to Voldrethar anyway so picking up either of these two weapons would suffice for that purpose.

Just taking a look at your Unholy BiS list seems there is a calculation error.
When you go from "No restriction" to "No restrictions w/ Draenei Aura"..

Stat	BiS	BiS+Draenei
Health	25,477	25,477
Strength	2011	2013
Agility	193 (3.09% crit)	193 (3.09% crit)
Attack power	4931	4935
Crit rating	736 (16.03%)	736 (16.03%)
Hit rating	285 (8.69%)	232 (7.08%)
Expertise	11 (Plus 5 from Rage of Rivendare)	11 (Plus 5 from Rage of Rivendare)
Haste rating	241 (7.35%)	229 (6.99%)
ArPen rating	109	109

You gain:
2 Str (4AP)

You lose:
53 Hit
12 Haste

Just looking at known Pawn values for Unholy:

Stat	Naxx Gear	Unholy(BiS)	Unholy(T8+BiS)	Unholy(BiS)
1AP	1.000	1.000	1.000	1.000
1STR	2.981	2.964	2.979	2.986
1CRT	1.234	1.341	1.397	1.399
1HIT (precap)	~1.968	~1.968	~1.968	~1.968
1Haste	1.276	1.417	1.523	1.514
1Exp	1.38	1.504	1.596	1.565
1ARP	0.729	0.938	1.026	1.0152
1AGI	0.850	0.926	1.012	1.080
1Armor	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.0278
1dps (wpn)	6.337	6.192	6.526	6.3234
Spec	0/10/61	0/10/61	0/10/61	12/0/59

53 Hit heavily outweighs 2 Str even after Softcap and that's not even mentioning 12 Haste.

I assume you calculated the stats incorrectly, as the iLvl of the items remain the same (Goes from [Warhelm of the Champion]+[Conqueror's Darkruned Legplates] -> [Conqueror's Darkruned Helmet]+[Plated Leggings of Ruination]) and the amount of Stamina on the items is the same.

Draenei aura should mean an increase in DPS and easier gearing - Not a decrease.

You gain ArP, which isn't reflected. Clearly, the DPS will be higher, just an issue of fixing the table.

The full change looks like
+2 Str
+49 ArP
-69 Hit
+3 Crit
-4 Haste
And the big thing I think you may have overlooked, +1 Blue Socket

So those APE values yield a net gain of about 36.949 from making the switch (Using .88 as the APE for Hit to spell cap)

If you wanted to be really thorough you would also take into consideration that you have to do some shuffling of your gems due to the fact that you would want to get the 8 STR bonus from the legs, so the actual net change would vary a little, but the point is your dps increases.

If anyone can come up with a better Alliance set then feel free, as I'm not convinced it's perfect. I got the stats from plugging it into Rawr so I'll have to double check the table. The thing is, you want to keep 4pc T8 but that ilvl 239 helm has so much hit, which you're obviously trying to shed. So you take the ilvl 239 legs instead, which are really nice, but then you're left with the problem that the T8 helm is crap for Unholy.

There might be away to keep the helm and T8 legs and ditch hit elsewhere which could be an improvement. I can't check right now but the necklace seems a good place to start.

So is Fury of the Five Flights not performing as well as Bandit's insignia for 51/0/20? From what is sounds like to me is that Greatness and Bandit's are best in slot pre Ulduar trinkets.

Had another look at frost sets with the new weapons running them through Zerack's spreadsheet the current pre heroic hardmode set in the original post is scoring 10132.4 (with JC gems). I managed to get a higher score by changing a few pieces ending up at 10178.7 (JC gems) it's small but since we trying to optimise it's an improvement.

Actually managed to find a use for Blood of the old God which on pure stats is superb trinket but only if you can use most the hit rating which is fully used in this set (for Zerack in your sheet currently Blood of the old god has 104 hit rating when it should show 108 hit rating)

Suggested Frost pre heroic Set:

Helm: [Conqueror's Darkruned Helmet]
Amulet: [Favor of the Dragon Queen]
Pauldrons: [Shoulderplates of the Eternal]
Cloak: [Drape of the Faceless General]
Breastplate: [Conqueror's Darkruned Battleplate]
Bracers: [Bitter Cold Armguards]
Gloves: [Conqueror's Darkruned Gauntlets]
Belt: [Belt of the Titans]
Legplates: [Conqueror's Darkruned Legplates]
Boots: [Melancholy Sabatons]
Ring: [Bladebearer's Signet]
Ring: [Sif's Promise]
Trinket: [Darkmoon Card: Greatness]
Trinket: [Blood of the Old God]
Weapon: [Aesir's Edge]

Jeweler's: Waist, Legs, Weapon
Non-standard: None
Boot: Icewalker
Glove: Crusher

Sit at 263 hit and 21 expertise (+5 from tundra stalker)