First. I'm not sure how advocating going for the expertise cap in the guide leads me to undervalue expertise. Even back in t12, when crit was reporting significantly higher EPs than expertise, I had a specific paragraph advocating how expertise capping was completely viable and reasonable. To put this another way, there's no more value in a stat once you cap it. You can want to cap it more and more, but you're still getting to the cap either way, therefore it rarely has any impact on your gearing.

Secondly, SimC extremely undervalues the t12 2p, even with the latest release for this tier (8th, as of this morning). So anything pertaining to the 2p vs 4p discussion coming from SimC is going to be taken with an equally sized dose of salt. Therefore, it's a pick your poison scenario, and at the moment I'm siding with Shadowcraft.

Lastly. The backend has been public for well over a year. In fact it was accessible by everyone before Antiarc's UI ever went up, it's even linked to on the front page of shadowcraft.mmo-mumble.com. If you don't know how to use python, that's one thing, but nothing is being obfuscated here.

If you cannot get any CP before opening, it is probably best to use Premeditation -> SnD, then open with SS/Ambush, CPs, Rupture. This gives maximum uptime on SnD while still getting Rupture in the MoS window.

Shadowdance may be best used with 1-2 CP on the enemy, so that you can use:
Ambush->Evisc->Prem/SS/Ambush->Evisc->Ambush->Ambush?
Having the last two abilities be ambushes (instead of just one at the end) better ensures you will have max uptime on FW without going over 5 CP (of course you should wait to use the last ambush as late as possible anyway). This also means you will potentially have more finishers during the course of the entire FW buff, which means more energy returned, thus potentially another BS or Hemo.

Also, during ShD it might be best to use finishers at 4-5 CP, as using an ambush at 4 CP will waste at least one, and potentially three CP (HaT and Initiative). Waiting long for an HaT proc also means you might waste ambushes during ShD, which translates to fewer CP therefore finishers therefore less energy. (though using 4 CP evisc may not proc RS, and you could not refresh rupture, though the latter shouldn't be an issue)

Any thoughts on how much it would be worth waiting to get a FW'd Hemo? Would depend on how much of a damage boost the buff is.

What about waiting 14 secs to use the first Ambush so that you can have SS, Prem, and Soon TotT up?

You might want to add that agi is also the strongest stat cause of Sinister Calling.

I was under the impression that SnD could be refreshed with any number of CP (like combat) due to the glyph and its sheer usefulness. Is this true, and if so, would a 5 CP Recup refresh be better than a 1-2 CP SnD refresh if both are falling off?

Edit: You might also want to mention that it is best to wait as long as possible (just before HaT procs or you are near the energy cap) before refreshing rupture because you might get extra ticks that way, which also gives more time overall for keeping other abilities up.

Hey i still just have the p1 Dagger so i got a Question: Would it be better to play with Hemo instead of Backstab when you have the Deathwing Heroic Axe ? Or is Backstab still better ?

Check it out with Shadowcraft, you can choose Hemo as CP builder.

I think he meant with 4pc instead of 2pc 2pc using tricks right into dance I'm assuming it is definitely possible to get 7 ambushes (with glyph and 4pc+TotT) This is just from some napkin math and tests on a target dummy though.


Update
I looked through the chart you linked and I think it was just a miscommunication he was saying 7 straight ambushes vs 5 and evis you can not get 7 and 2 eviscerates as well.

The post I linked to was outdated, here is an updated one:

Ambush Only:
With Evis:
Edit: Changed to only 5s of Tricks of Time.

So it's really between 6amb+3evis or 7amb, seems like the evis rotation is a no brainer.

How are you managing 6 28-energy gcds? Tricks takes a gcd, so this is only going to work if you pop tricks while you aren't attacking something, which is going to cut into your setup. It also assumes absolutely zero latency.

If for any reason my rupture goes off and I'm about to vanish with 5CP up. What is better, vanish and do a 5CP rupture (MoS) or an ambush that will trigger FW?

Many thanks.

@Manthony
It used to be in the thread, and was since removed when t12 ended (hence the past tense tone in that post). I'm not sure what numbers you're looking for, since the general EP weights are on the front page.

@Kromos
It's hard to say without knowing what your remaining Slice and Dice uptime, Recuperate uptime, and Time-to-Die is for your current target, and if any other targets are in the vicinity.

Let's say I have more than 10s for SnD and Rec and the boss is above 15% with no adds.

I got confused because a MoP Rupture is first on the general finisher priority and Ambush is the main CP builder and after that my head exploded.

@Pathal
Ah ok, I see now I had misinterpreted some of the posts I had read. I was under the impression that at "X" crit it was advisable to start reforging Expertise. I see now that in the end it's just a good idea in general to cap it, and then move forward from there. My apologies also for typoing your name :P I start some Python courses at school next quarter, hopefully then I can use the backend to get the answers I need. At the moment it kind of baffles me, heh.

Thanks again for your time.