Back in one of the old unholy threads Zurm suggested that the displayed number for resists does not include all (or any) modifiers:

Unholy DPS Discussion
"Another side note, when you see a strike that says, say "Your SS hits X for 4000 (200 resisted)", you wouldn't have originally done 4200 damage, but actually quite a bit more. The (X resisted) is actually before modifiers/buffs/talents/crits, so in reality, if half a strike was resisted, you might actually see something like "Your SS hits for 2.5k (1.9k resisted)". Just some food for thought. I can't tell you how many time's I've seen 5500(900 resisted) when my SS crits that don't resist always break 8k."

I believe you are correct. Going back over, I find that the formula ((PhysDmg x .75 x 1.15 x 1.05 x 1.02) - Resist) then x1.13 for EP gives the actual amount done.

Though to be honest, it wasn't the resist discrepancy I was concerned about; it's the fact that the shadow portion is using Spell Hit and the x1.5 spell crit formula.

Of course, the 10-20% resist rate on the shadow portion is also worrysome.

Although I can undertand Outbreak not double-dipping, RoR seems somewhat odd. Regardless, actually getting on the PTR, I receive similar numbers - an approximate 1.0438 modifier.

Which is still a clear improvement over the current SS and, with crit working properly on the shadow half, probably still enough for Reaping. If you assume a 200% crit modifier (which isn't affected by Viscious Strikes), and a 35% crit rate, that brings the shadow half up to 1.40913, which places your average SS at slightly above 9600 (if you use 4k as a base number for the physical portion). If, however, you assume the crit rate of the shadow half is affected by Subversion/Viscious Strikes, putting it at 50% crit, you then get a modifier of 1.5657, which puts your average SS at slightly over 10,000.

If the crit modifier on the shadow half is supposed to be affected by Chaotic/Relentless and/or Viscious Strikes, that would further inflate the numbers.

Either scenario would be enough for Reaping to be superior to the current Dark Conviction. I say current because DC's value will change as well - it will go down a lot with the 4p t9 nerf/drop, and go up some because of the SS change. Most likely down more than up, which would give Reaping an even wider lead.

Anyways, calculating the value of Black Ice is simple enough, Jackinthegreen.

Damage without Black Ice: 1 + 1.0438 = 2.0438
Damage with Black Ice: 1 + (1.0438 x 1.1) = 2.14818

Essentially a 5.107153% increase in total SS damage.

2H Weapon Specialization, on the other hand, provides nearly the same bonus (4% exactly, as the second portion doesn't double dip), except for the fact that you lose much less speccing into Blood than you do speccing into Frost (partially because there's nothing in Frost aside from Black Ice and Annihilation, partially because Black Ice is an expensive talent, and partially because you have to go into Blood for Subversion anyways).

When you consider the UB nerf, fewer DCs being casted (due to the GoIT change, and the fact that even without GoIT, a 20 second rotation produces less RP), and the nerf/eventually loss of 4p t9, on top of it's weaker affect on SS, Black Ice is going to be even less competitive than it is now.

Edit: It's still too early to calculate EP values, as the sim isn't quite right yet. If I were to guess (emphasis on guess), haste will be around 1.6, ArP will be around 1.4-1.8, and crit (without 4p t9) will be around ~1.8. Merely guesses, however, based on current/past values.

Edit 2: The sim is still showing Reaping as a dps loss, regardless of the combination I try. SS simply isn't doing quite as much as damage as I thought (various reasons as to why). Epidemic is definitely a go, however. Black Ice is not worth it, as expected. Without 4p t9 or with it nerfed, BA > DC, point for point.

Scourge Strike on PTRs

* 1) Scourge Strike should crit for 200% damage like other DK spell effects.
* 2) The Shadow part of the damage should never miss if the physical part hits.
* 3) The Shadow part of the damage should never be decreased additionally to the physical damage. It should not "double dip" from resilience et al. Example: My physical portion that hits for 2000 is reduced to 1000. The Shadow part should then hit for 1000 (modulo bonuses) and not 500 or whatever.
* 4) The Shadow part of the damage will still be increased additionally by talents and anything else that buff Shadow damage. It will "double dip" in the DKs favor. Example: My physical portion hits for 2000 and is reduced to 1000. The Shadow portion hits for 1500 because I have +50% Shadow damage.


Scourge Strike Damage
Only the physical damage can be reduced. The Shadow damage can only be buffed, since it is essentially already reduced by the physical mitigation, resilience or other defensive effects.

The intent was just to split the damage into part physical and part Shadow. We didn't want the split itself to be a penalty, if that makes sense.

This was posted by GC on the forums today.