With lots of blue quotes floating around lately about them "looking at" or "rethinking" the problem of Armor Pen, I started to do some research concerning the viability of DW frost DPS ( [url=http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deathknight=0000000000000000000000000000320053503520030123000330013512302003050030000000000000000000&glyph=171318000000&version=10192]0/53/18[/url] ) as an alternative to the ArP stacking 2h Blood that seems to run the DK DPS world right now. Since 6xIT machine gun got nerfed, there has not been a real acceptance of dw frost as a dps spec in my raids until I have rolled in and shown them what dw frost can do with two bad weapons ( 2x [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/40491/hailstorm/]Hailstorm[/url] ). I have since upgraded my MH to [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/45463/vulmir-the-northern-tempest/]Vulmir, the Northern Tempest[/url] and hope to get a matching one before long. It has been my experience that getting good dw frost one-handers is easier than pulling a good two hander out of an instance. The bosses are just easier and the competition is generally less. For most 2h'ers, you are rolling against arms and fury warriors, retadins, other death knights, possibly hunters, and now druids on polearms. I don't know about the population of your raids lately, but I am seeing a lot of red and pink names. At this point, it feels like half of the horde is wearing plate and I have yet to fight the alliance where at least two paladins weren't cross healing each other between insane spike ret dps. Since DW Frost prefers slower [2.5+ spd] weapons (scroll down for numbers), your competition drops drastically: enh shamen, combat rogues (who only want one slow weapon), and other dw frost dk's. On top of that, some good one handers drop off some of the easier bosses: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/47508/aledars-battlestar/]Aledar's Battlestar[/url] drops in 5 man H-ToC (though in 2 weeks I have yet to see one), [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/45298/razorscale-talon/]Razorscale Talon[/url] from Razorscale-25 normal mode, [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/45463/vulmir-the-northern-tempest/]Vulmir[/url] drops off Thorim-25 regular mode, and let us not forget the Furious Gladiator line of slow weapons (Higher end raiders might consider [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/46097/caress-of-insanity/]Caress of Insanity[/url] from Yogg-10 HM). So you are rolling on good weapons usable by less people, making more drops matter to your raid and decreasing the shard count of your guild bank. Not to mention there are more 2.5+spd one handers in the game than non-hunter two-handers right now. The rotation is the same as it has always been for frost: IT > PS > OB > BS > BS > Dump; OB > OB > dump > OB; repeat while weaving in FS as rune power dictates. If you are applying the 2SR and weaving in rime procs, your DPS is better than it was in 3.1 as 2h Frost. It is interesting that this is also your tanking rotation [with RS toggled in when up], it means that when you are tanking, you are just dps'ing the boss from the front while keeping an eye out for proper cooldown application. The more you run this rotation, the more second nature it becomes, the higher the dps or threat you can put out while concentrating on what makes boss fights hard for your average person: situational awareness, movement, and being ready to use those not-so-average abilities to their highest. I have found I can run this rotation without thinking about it and it has boosted my raid dps greatly on fights like Mim and Hodir where movement is pretty key and keeping your dps up is the mark of a good raider. Additionally, DW Frost gives you ~99hit rating back in the form of other stats. Instead of 263, your hit cap is now 164 [with Nerves of Cold Steel 3/3]. I do not see any DW Frost specs that can be taken seriously w/o 3/3 NoCS considering the 15% offhand damage bonus comes with the hit. Turning that 99 hit into 99 str is a DPS bonus no matter which way you cut it [~70dps] that scales with BoK and other raid buffs. Some have stated that DW Frost needs more hit, not less, compared to the 2h alternatives, but that has not been displayed either in sim data or raid parses. Every +str you trade for +hit rating seems to cost you ~.8dps until you hit the main hand hit cap of 164 [with 3/3 NoCS]. Given the rise to 104 hit on the T9 sets, you are already using your yellow sockets for something besides hit so long as your other items are around the same iLvl. At 219, it is easy to hit 300+ hit just in items alone, not to mention gem selection. This changes the itemization priority slightly to Hit ( < 165) > Exp (soft cap) > Str > ArP > Crit > Haste > Spell Hit > AP. In most gear realities, unless you are experimenting with different gem layouts like me, you can almost ignore those [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/40125/rigid-kings-amber/]Rigid King's Amber[/url] and just pile on [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/40111/bold-cardinal-ruby/]Bold Cardinal Ruby[/url] into every socket available. Where dw frost will drop in comparison to blood is on fights with more than one target at a time. You can't beat the free blood cleave damage. To me, the blood cleave dps style is very beneficial to a raid, it just requires the right mindset and strategy, like all good DK dps builds. Maximizing your blood damage is a matter of having cooperating tanks dragging mobs together and knowing when to start blowing your cooldown chains, but that is another post. Fortunately, there are a lot of single target dps boss fights in Uld and ToC. I expect to see more in Icecrown, but who really knows at this point? For my money, dw frost dps is a lot of fun to play, and who knows, perhaps at some point there might actually be a death knight holding Frostmourne, as it should be. Side note: For gladiators, DW Frost provides a unique blend of control and pressure while maintaining that good ol' frost burst damage that got killed so badly in 2h frost's nerf. If you were running a burst frost team pre-3.2, you are probably running with a DW dk right now at similar ratings. Some gladiators have reported that dw frost suffers against plate classes but makes clothies easier. Disc priests are just as hard as before, same for resto-druids and shamen. Sim Results ( [url=http://elitistjerks.com/f72/t50274-kahories_dk_simulator_beta_1_0_a/]Kahorie's DK Sim 1.0 beta[/url] ) *Sample character was average 219 character with some uld25 raid experience. 2pc T8.5, access to Uld 10 and ToC-5 [w/o HM's]. * DW Spec: [url=http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?deathknight=0000000000000000000000000000320053503520030123000330013512302003050030000000000000000000&glyph=171318000000&version=10192]0/53/18[/url] * Blood Spec: [url=http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#jfVMVh0Icfkf0stZfzhhxc:IpGMmV]51/0/20[/url] * All sims done in Blood and Unholy presence, but blood came out on top for every situation, so I am only listing blood presence dps. Dual [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/45463/vulmir-the-northern-tempest/]Vulmir, the Northern Tempest[/url] - 7736 dps Dual [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/47508/aledars-battlestar/]Aledar's Battlestar[/url] - 7551 dps Dual [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/45142/remorse/]Remorse[/url] - 7342 dps Dual [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/45331/rune-etched-nightblade/]Rune-etched Nightblade[/url] - 7243 dps Vulmir MH/Remorse OH - 7581 dps Aledar MH/Rune-etched OH - 7444 dps. [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/45165/worldcarver/]Worldcarver[/url] - 7078 dps [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/45282/ironsoul/]Ironsoul[/url] - 6678 dps * Hit was scaled based on 5 +20 Str gems vs 5 +20 Hit gems. 1 Hit : 1 Str tradeoffs. As you can see, until main hand hit cap, dps goes up. Dual [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/45463/vulmir-the-northern-tempest/]Vulmir, the Northern Tempest[/url] - 144 Hit - 7531 dps Dual [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/45463/vulmir-the-northern-tempest/]Vulmir, the Northern Tempest[/url] - 164 Hit - 7736 dps Dual [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/45463/vulmir-the-northern-tempest/]Vulmir, the Northern Tempest[/url] - 263 Hit - 7699 dps Dual [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/45463/vulmir-the-northern-tempest/]Vulmir, the Northern Tempest[/url] - 303 Hit - 7666 dps [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/45165/worldcarver/]Worldcarver[/url] - Blood spec - 310 ArP - 263 Hit - 7077 dps

I started to write a from the ground up post about being a Blood DK, but decided it was too much work and most people bothering to read a DK Blog probably know how to run their character by now. So instead, I will focus on a guidelines for Blood ( [url=http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#jfVMVh0IcfofostZfzhhxc:IGL0mV]51/0/20[/url]) in 3.2 and hope you guys can figure out the rest. First and foremost, Blood is our most gear dependent spec. Right now, it relies on a lot of armor penetration(ArP) and pumping out lots of pure physical dps to do it's business. So if you are considering a switch to blood or wondering why your blood dps is so bad, chances are you are looking right at the problem: your character. I recommend trying Blood after you have access to 50% ArP cap (699 ArP) and [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/grim-toll/]Grim Toll[/url] or [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/mjolnir-runestone/]Mjolnir Runestone[/url] as a trinket, your other trinket being [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/darkmoon-card-greatness/]Darkmoon Card: Greatness[/url] or something like it. The reason for the trinket choice and ArP limit is the ArP cap is 100% of your opponents armor ( 1399.6 ArP as of 3.2.2). With the procs from the trinkets, you will hit this 100% cap and not waste any itemization points. Weapons and armor are pretty standard. All our tier gear seems to play well with blood provided you are using your non-sets for ArP. The sets will get you hit and some nice addons plus a good strength base, the non-sets will fill out your dps with armor pen or whatever else becomes great after ArP gets nerfed pretty soon. Also, be sure to grab your biggest, baddest two-handed weapon and slap a Fallen Crusader on it. There is no such thing as dual wield blood right now, at least if you don't want to be laughed at. For sigils, I recommend [url=db.mmo-champion.com/i/sigil-of-the-vengeful-heart/]Sigil of the Vengeful Heart[/url] as your primary choice. Haunted Dreams adds crit via strikes blood uses all the time, but not enough. Virulence does not apply to Blood strikes and Awareness benefits a strike that does not come up very often in the rotation (death strike only happens twice every 20 seconds), though it would be a close second choice if you can't get your hands on a SoVH. Although somewhat rare, SoVH is worth the effort. Your glyph choices are pretty light if all you care about is dps: Death Strike for a nice bonus so long as you stay above 25 RP, Dancing Rune Weapon for a nice bump to the 51 point talent point now that it is stabilized at 60 RP cost and duration, and Dark Death. Some have criticized the DD rune, but a 20% damage bump to what is normally 15-20% of Blood's damage is better than you will get out of any talent points. Finally, your rotation is pretty easy: IT -> PS -> HS -> HS -> DS -> Dump -> DS -> HS x 4 -> Dump for single target. For AoE targets, sub in epidemic after disease application and just keep the rotation the same. Blood boil has proven to be less dps than Heart Strike, including groups of up to five mobs. Even with the pending Heart Strike nerf, you will still be doing pristine dps against pairs of targets. However, do not forget about your rune of Death Strike and keep your RP above 25 at all times. Popping DRW at the right time and keeping your ghoul summon on cool down are the marks of a good Blood DPS'er. Good luck. I can't promise this information is useful, just accurate. Blood is on top for a lot of people, just not for this particular DK.

Since questions about hit cap seem to get asked about nine times a day in /2 and even [url=http://epicadvice.com/questions/5/what-is-the-hit-cap-for-a-level-80-death-knight]warranted a question over on EpicAdvice.com[/url], I decided to do a short Q&A post now that I'm back from vacation (which was relaxing, tyvm). * These questions are accurate circa-3.2.2. ** All of these questions, unless specified, are for PvE DK's fighting lvl 80 bosses (effective lvl 83). [b]Q: What is the melee hit cap for non-dual wield DK's?[/b] [i]A: 8% or 263 Hit Rating. [/i] - We currently have no +hit talents for 2h'ers, so just make sure your gear/gems has 264 hit on it or better. It is the best stat you can get until cap. [b]Q:[/b] What is the melee hit cap for dual wielding Frost DK's? [i]A: 5% or 164 Hit Rating. [/i] - With 3/3 Nerves of Cold Steel, a talent every DW Frost DK should have, you get 3% hit for free (and a healthy buff to off hand damage). Sims and parses have demonstrated that keeping yourself at the effective hit cap (3/3 NoCS + 164 Hit Rating) and supplementing the gem spots that were used for hit for Str/ArP/AP instead produces a DPS boost. [b]Q: What is the melee hit cap for non-frost DW DK's?[/b] [i]A: 8% or 263 Hit Rating[/i] - The math just does not back up going over the yellow hit cap (special attacks). After 264, hit rating goes down hill pretty fast compared to strength or AP. [b]Q: What is the spell hit cap for Death Knights?[/b] [i]A: 17% or 446 hit rating. [/i] - This number is unapproachable without serious DPS sacrifices elsewhere. Stick to 264 and take Virulence in the Unholy tree if you are that worried about spell hit. [b]Q: What is the PvP hit cap?[/b] [i]A: 5% or 164 hit rating.[/i] - At level 80, all players (except night elves) are the same level and thus only suffer the base miss rate. Night Elves "Quickness" racial gives them 2% extra miss. [b]Q: What is expertise cap and when do I use it as a Death Knight?[/b] [i]A: 6.5% or 26 expertise rating. [/i] - Expertise is a stat which lowers the likelihood that your target will dodge/parry your attacks. Most Death Knights ignore expertise unless they are tanking because a boss only parries from the front and only the tank should be in front of the boss and DPS DK's have more valuable dps stats to boost before expertise. [b]Q: What runeforge should I be using on my DPS 2h'er?[/b] [i]A: Rune of the Fallen Crusader[/i] - At the present time (3.2.2), there is no viable 2h spec that does not benefit from FC. [b]Q: What runeforge should I be using on my Tanking 2h'er?[/b] [i]A: Rune of the Stone Gargoyle[/i] - Stone Gargoyle effectively increases the soft defense cap from 540 to 565, resulting in a free .9634% dodge and parry. [b]Q: What runeforges should I be using as Frost DW DK?[/b] [i]A: Fallen Crusader main hand, Razorice offhand. [/i] - If you are on a target long enough to get RI to stack up, the debuff really starts to pay dividends compared to any alternative. [b]Q: What runeforges should I be using as non-frost DW DK?[/b] [i]A: Fallen Crusader on both hands. [/i] - There really is no alternative at the present time.

.. or whatever your zombie is named. I recently came across an [url=http://elitistjerks.com/f72/t72364-unholy_dps_scourge_strike_all_i_ever_wanted/#post1369597]excellent post on Elitist Jerks[/url] that outlined a few things most of us probably were not aware of about our best friend in whole unholy world. 1) Ghoul hit ratings are rounded down, so if you have 7.99% bonus hit, your ghoul only has 7%. 2) Ghouls gain expertise based on your hit rating. So if you have 4% hit, your pet also has 4% hit and 13 expertise. 3) Ghouls benefit from the haste provided by Unholy Presence, but not the damage of Blood Presence. 4) Ghouls receive 100% of your haste rating. (Includes Engineering Gloves and Unholy Presence!) 5) Ghouls receive the same Paladin greater blessings as rogues in your raid. 6) Army of the Dead zombies and Gargoyles will target the same commands your ghoul does (includes stay, follow, and attack). 7) Your ghoul, when properly controlled, is over 10% of your personal DPS in any given fight. Taking care of him is the key to maximizing your Unholy DPS.

As we look forward to climbing the heights and plumbing the depths of Icecrown Citadel, many changes are going on behind the scenes to our beloved Unholy Death Knight's arsenal. The most significant change is the newly redesigned Scourge Strike: [i]The base ability now deals 50% weapon damage plus an additional amount as physical damage. However, for each disease thedeath knight has on the target, the target will take additional shadowdamage equal to 25% of the physical damage done.[/i] This means that if you're holding a cheap ass iLvL 219 Ironsoul like I am, your SS is going to do a nice chunk of damage compared to now(upwards of 8k). Armor pen is going to push SS damage even higher,meaning all you folks who stored up a nice blood set with high ArP might want to give UH DPS a try as your secondary spec to see how theother half lives. As you can see, the damage potential for SS just skyrocketed so long as you can keep your diseases up. Along with this damage boost, there are several nerfs. Unholy Blight and the 4T9 Bonus got nerfed by 50% each. UB now does 10% bonus damage in the form of a DoT instead of 20% when you throw a deathcoil. 4T9 only makes blood plague critable instead of any disease, which was a response to the crazy frost fever pumping a lot of UHDK's were doing via glyph and frost sub specs. Glyph of Icy Touch got changed from a RP generator to a 20% frost fever damage bonus to curtail the fact that Unholy's most viable rotation involved generating as many DC's a possible (check 2000+ rated DK's in any S7 bracket, notice they're all UH and half don't even have SS). Also, the pets got screwed in PvP by changing Night of the Dead into a 45/90% AoE immunity that applies to PvE only, so expect some drilling on your zombies to occur in arena again, they're no longer just nice little DoTs waiting to be turned into 40% of your hit points. Unholy is almost reverting back to it's 3.1 state with these changes. Once again the Unholy DK is focusing on keeping diseases up, even clipping them at times, and throwing DC's when spare GCD's are available. I consider this more in line with what a Death Knight should be worried about while DPS'ing, even if a lot of folks disagree with me. The classic Unholy Death Knight is re-emerging. Unholy is still strong on DPS and competitive (1-2%) with it's Frost and Blood brothers on single target DPS. I believe it is the strongest AoE spec in the entire game. Played correctly, an Unholy DK that knows where to put himself and how to get diseases going is unparalleled indamage capacity. With the nerf on targeted AoE spells coming up, this ability will only shine brighter compared to rogues, mages and hunters trying to beast down packs with fan of knives, blizzard or volley. Ebon Plaguebringer continues to be unique to Unholy DK's and continues to provide that great extra boost that makes bringing an Unholy DK as dps along pay off. With rumors of Bone Shield going to a 5 minute duration (up for 1 minute), life as a DPS Unholy DK is going to get even better. My lone concern at the moment is arena participation. Without changes to cleansing totem spam or a real improvement in virulence to boost it to 50% disease dispel immunity, I do not see how these changes will make more DK gladiators. Nerfing DC is a kick in the teeth considering it's the only viable arena spec right now. Even improving SS damage is not going to make up for it considering how anaemic it is now. Less than 1% of all gladiators are Death Knights (any spec) and nerfing our chief arena abilities (4T9 and RP generation for DC) is only going to make that number go down. I hate to say it, but Blizzard has stated that classes without MS should do more damage than classes that bring it, where is our PvP damage buff to bring us up to the same level as Warriors and Rogues? Over all, I look forward to 3.3 dropping and trying like hell to figure out how to wrangle a Shadowmourne out of the place. My pursuit will probably ultimately fail since all of the raid guilds on Deathwing are ran by 13 year old twits, but I will see Arthas die and enjoy the moment. Bring it on, Blizz. (I *am* prepared?)

Like a great deal of other players, I took the holiday season off from WoW. I did my best to focus on real life and not engage Azeroth in any way, knowing that the Lich King was being sieged and his minions put to the sword. I held out quite well, I think. However, like Punxsutawney Phil, I have emerged from my burrow to look around at the snow covered ground and catch up on what I have missed these past four months. Wow, has the World (of Warcraft) moved fast. Four months is like 50 years in Internet Time, so it's like 150 years in WoW time. My formerly pretty pimping gear is now worse than the lowest rung of welfare epics. After playing with the dungeon finder, I figured out what a great addition it is to WoW and that it finally has allowed me to play as DPS instead of full time Tank. So I have decided to switch to DPS for a while and see how that side of life is (chasing the mob vs it chasing you). However, my DPS gear is in pretty bad shape, worse than my tanking gear by quite a bit. My gear score is sitting at around 4610 according to the addon, 2390 according to wow-heroes. So, the long look upward has started again. I am barely more geared than a level 80 fresh out of Icecrown questing. A few lucky drops here and there, a few breaks from nice raid leaders, and a whole lot of 5-man instancing should put me back where I like to be: comfortably mediocre raid gear (~264). For those of you also in a similar predicament or maybe just needing to fill a gear gap here and there for your off spec, I will outline a quick list of gear that is attainable without raiding, without rep grinding, and without needing to pander to wanna-be hardcores still grinding out ToC10 on regular modes. Total (assuming higher iLvL and set pieces): - Emblems of Triumph: 210 - Emblems of Frost: 150 - Gold: 3,550 - Honor Points: 52,000 - Some runs through Pit of Saron - Some runs through Halls of Reflection - Some luck to get a hilt drop. End gear score: 5060 (or enough to get into most of the PUG raids on Deathwing) [u]Head[/u] Currently: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/45299/dragonsteel-faceplate/]Dragonsteel Faceplate[/url] - 219 Replacement: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/48503/koltiras-helmet-of-conquest/]Koltira's Helmet of Conquest[/url] - 232 - Emblems of Triumph(50) [u]Neck[/u] Currently: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/45819/spiked-battleguard-choker/]Spiked Battleguard Choker[/url] - 226 Replacement: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/49485/sparkling-onyxia-tooth-pendant/]Sparkling Onyxia Tooth Pendant[/url] - 245 - Onyxia's Head Quest *raid encounter Alternative: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/50228/barbed-ymirheim-choker/]Barbed Ymirheim Choker[/url] - 232 - Pit of Saron(H) [u]Shoulder[/u] Currently: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/46117/conquerors-darkruned-shoulderplates/]Conquerer's Darkruned Shoulderplate[/url] - 226 Replacement: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/48505/koltiras-shoulderplates-of-conquest/]Koltira's Shoulderplates of Conquest[/url] - 232 - Emblems of Triumph(30) [u]Back[/u] Currently: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/42067/deadly-gladiators-cloak-of-triumph/]Deadly Gladiator's Cloak of Triumph[/url] =( - 219 Replacement: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/47320/might-of-the-nerub/]Might of the Nerub[/url] - 245 - Anub'arak(25N) * raid encounter Alternative: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/51354/wrathful-gladiators-cloak-of-triumph/]Wrathful Gladiator's Cloak of Triumph[/url] - 264 - 52,200 Honor Points * Currently, next to weapons, I believe the Back is the hardest item to gear without a raid [u]Chest[/u] Currently: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/46111/conquerors-darkruned-battleplate/]Conquerer's Darkruned Battleplate[/url] - 226 Replacement: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/48501/koltiras-battleplate-of-conquest/]Koltira's Battleplate of Conquest[/url] - 232 - Emblem of Triumph(50) Alternative: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/50272/frost-wyrm-ribcage/]Frost Wyrm Ribcage[/url] - 232 - Pit of Saron(H) [u]Wrist[/u] Currently: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/47565/vambraces-of-unholy-command/]Vambraces of Unholy Command[/url] - 219 Replacement: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/47572/titanium-spikeguards/]Titanium Spikeguards[/url] - 245 - Blacksmithed (~2300g on Deathwing) Alternative: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/50230/malykriss-vambraces/]Malykriss Vambraces[/url] - 232 - Pit of Saron(H) [u]Hand[/u] Currently: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/45341/valorous-darkruned-gauntlets/]Valorous Darkruned Gauntlets[/url] (seriously) - 219 Replacement: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/48502/koltiras-gauntlets-of-conquest/]Koltira's Gauntlets of Conquest[/url] - 232 - Emblems of Triumph(30) [u]Waist[/u] Currently: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/45824/belt-of-the-singing-blade/]Belt of the Singing Blade[/url] - 226 Replacement: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/50987/malevolent-girdle/]Malevolent Girdle[/url] - 264 - Emblem of Frost(60) [u]Legs[/u] Currently: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/47495/legplates-of-relentless-onslaught/]Legplates of Relentless Onslaught[/url] - 219 Replacement: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/48504/koltiras-legplates-of-conquest/]Koltira's Legplates of Conquest[/url] - 232 - Emblems of Triumph(30) [u]Feet[/u] Currently: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/47511/plated-greaves-of-providence/]Plated Greaves of Provenience[/url] - 219 Replacement: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/50305/grinning-skull-boots/]Grinning Skull Boots[/url] - 232 - Halls of Reflection(H) Alternative: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/49906/hellfrozen-bonegrinders/]Hellfrozen Bonegrinders[/url] - 264 - Blacksmithing (expensive as hell) [u]Ring 1[/u] Currently: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/42115/deadly-gladiators-band-of-victory/]Deadly Gladiator's Band of Victory[/url] - 213 Replacement: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/50453/ring-of-rotting-sinew/]Ring of Rotting Sinew[/url] - 264 - BoE (expensive) Alternative: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/51559/runed-ring-of-the-kirin-tor/]Runed Ring of the Kirin Tor[/url] - 251 - Vendor in Dal (1250g) [u]Ring 2[/u] Currently: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/49000/titan-forged-band-of-victory/]Titan-forged Band of Victory[/url] - 226 Replacement: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/47729/bloodshed-band/]Bloodshed Band[/url] - 245 - Emblem of Triumph(30) Alternative: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/50271/band-of-stained-souls/]Band of Stained Souls[/url] - 232 - Pit of Saron(H) * Not perfect, has agi on it [u]Trinket 1[/u] Currently: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/42987/darkmoon-card-greatness/]Darkmoon Card : Greatness[/url] - 200 - Has been a real PITA to replace Replacement: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/50355/herkuml-war-token/]Herkuml War Token[/url] - 264 - Emblem of Frost(60) Alternative: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/47303/deaths-choice/]Death's Choice[/url] - 245 - ToC25(N) * Raid encounter [u]Trinket 2[/u] Currently: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/40684/mirror-of-truth/]Mirror of Truth[/url] - 200 - Yes, seriously Replacement: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/50198/needle-encrusted-scorpion/]Needle Encrusted Scorpion[/url] - 232 - Pit of Saron(H) [u]Sigil[/u] Currently: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/45254/sigil-of-the-vengeful-heart/]Sigil of the Vengeful Heart[/url] - 226 Replacement: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/50459/sigil-of-the-hanged-man/]Sigil of the Hanged Man[/url] - 264 - Emblem of Frost(30) [u]Weapon[/u] Currently: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/45282/ironsoul/]Ironsoul[/url] - 219 Replacement: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/50267/tyrannical-beheader/]Tyrannical Beheader[/url] - 232 - Pit of Saron(H) Alternative: [url=http://db.mmo-champion.com/i/50048/quel-delar-might-of-the-faithful/]Quel'Delar, Might of the Faithful[/url] - 251 - Lucky me: My gift from the Pit of Saron for coming back to WoW

Quick update: RSS is fixed again, I'm not sure what went wrong, but it is working now and should continue to *fingers crossed*. =) Recently, I switched back to raiding as a full time arcanist. That is an arcane mage, for you non-mage folks. See, every mage tree has it's own special label and you can no longer refer to yourself as just a mage once you spec into say fire (pyromancer) or frost (hydromancer). When I join a group and someone asks what spec I am, if I reply "frost mage", you can tell who the other mage-alts are because I will be corrected. There are [url=http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=5383590424&sid=1]entire threads[/url] dedicated to naming what type of mage you are, regardless of the fact that they all basically throw the same three spells. However, I am digressing from my point. I am raiding full time as an arcanist. Returning to the back of the class has given me a new perspective on WotLK raiding. I don't want to say that it is a fresh one. I have raided as a mage before (TBC) and a hunter before that, so I cut my teeth in the back of the team throwing spit wads at bosses. Mostly, I get to watch what everyone else is doing. As a raid leader for several years, admittedly not since WotLK dropped, I think I have a pretty good eye for looking at raids and seeing how everything is working together. This also includes seeing what is not quite working so well. Right now, I would have to say I am probably one of the weak links in the raiding group. I am under geared for the adventures in ICC25 (5289 GS) and definitely under geared compared to my contemporaries. Two trips through ICC so far and I have only died twice in non-wipe situations, I feel like while I have a handle on the mechanics. However, my dps is just not up to par. An example from Professor Putricide: [img]http://www.phreakre.com/images/screenshots/brokensword-dps-professor-putricide.gif[/img] As you can see, I am pretty good at dodging damage, taking only about 1k dps incoming the entire battle with the exception of a neighbor getting wacked by a malleable goo at 21:44. Putricide is a fairly controlled encounter with few mechanics for ranged to really worry about besides target swapping to kill ooze. I picked it up fast and while this was my first fight against him ever, I felt I did my job: contributed dps without needing much healing. My DPS is pretty terrible, but that is changing. Conversely, lets look at a fight where I am basically dead weight: Sindragosa. A quick Sindragosa strategy recap for my fabulous readers who have not fought Arthas' mount yet. Sindragosa is a three-phase classic dragon battle that starts with her landing and has a few flying phases. Phase 1 she's on the ground and occasionally vacuums the entire raid into her then starts casting some mega-bomb frost PBAoE for you to run away from until it is over. This is pretty easy for mages since we just blink back to our position and start dropping bombs again. A second ability, Magical Backlash, is cast on single raiders that causes damage when you cast spells doing damage to Sind. Phase 2 is a flying phase where she targets five players to become ice blocks and everyone gets to hide behind the blocks while four frost bombs go off on the other side. The key to phase two is making sure no two ice blocks are within eight yards of each other or they will explode and kill the occupants. Do this enough times and she lands for good (< 35% health), and the real fight starts. Sind will start stacking a new debuff, Mystic Buffet, causing progressing levels of magic damage on everyone in the raid. Controlling the debuff is the key to victory as you can hide behind the ice block to shed it, then go back to DPS'ing the boss. You can see from my graph that our phase 3 started around 23:42:30 and my DPS never came above 5k again. [img]http://www.phreakre.com/images/screenshots/brokensword-dps-sindragosa.gif[/img] The graph looks like a mess. Metric shit-tons of spikes for both incoming (red) and outgoing damage (yellow). Metric shit-tons, mind you, not imperial, oh no. Imperial shit-tons would mean I'm actually carrying my end of the raiding bargain instead of being a giant damage sponge (which, I should remind you, mages are not built to be). I'm eating around 3500 dps the entire fight and only some pretty heroic measures by our healers kept me up through the end. That Sindragosa snapshot is a wipe, which you can tell because the blue and red lines continue after the yellow one ends. As you can see, I have no trouble blowing my load during phase 1 when she's on the ground and being handled. Dodging the various elements is pretty easy for a ranged and the constant frost damage hits are doing wonders for my incanter's absorption based spell power bonuses. Get hit, my DPS spikes. Run to the stairs, stand behind an ice block, DPS drops. All in all, every time the yellow bar hits the x-axis, you can assume I am standing behind an ice block when I should be dps'ing that ice block. The spike just before 23:38 is me eating some magical backlash. A look at my fellow Descendant of Draenor, Setsero, who is an awesome mage: [img]http://www.phreakre.com/images/screenshots/setsero-dps-sindragosa.gif[/img] Yes, this is also a wipe and yes, he's eating an imperial shit-ton of damage, but if you look at the outgoing damage spikes, you can see a great many of them are concurrent or slightly following behind an incoming damage spike. This is a signature for a mage attempting to leverage incanter's absorption against Sindragosa and it's paying off. 23:35:30, he absorbs ~17,000 damage, a few seconds later, his dps shoots up by ~12kdps. 35:39:00 he absorbs another 17k, his DPS shoots up above 17k for a few moments, meaning he's hitting for well in excess of 25k dmg per blast. The difference between Setsero's gear and mine is about 600 GS. He has 2T10, I don't. He has an ICC casting weapon, I don't. However, those differences should not account for *double* the dps output. So what have we learned? [b]That knowing the fight is the single best increase to personal dps available.[/b] Watching the videos and learning the strategies pays off when it comes time to have the metal hit the meat. It results in far less deaths, and far more dps. In this case, the payoff is four-fold: half the deaths, twice the DPS. So, a quick salute to you, Setsero, I have enjoyed shooting bolts of magic ooze with you so far and look forward to many more outings. Especially since only the Lich King remains. On a side note, I have recently joined a new guild, Descendants of Draenor, on the recommendation of my buddy Aurdon over at [url=http://www.isheepthings.com]iSheepThings.com[/url]. I cannot place enough emphasis on how awesome this guild is. However, that is for another post that will be coming out in a week. Until then, good hunting.