Unbearably HoT

Bushidox, of Cenarion Circle, is the second winner of the Guest Yogger contest and comes to you today with a discussion about the benefits of Armor Penetration.

With the 3.1 patch and Ulduar there are a number of new gear choices and options to maximize your effectiveness as a cat. The biggest stat change is to Armor Penetration, which used to be the ugly redheaded stepchild of DPS and has recently turned into the girl next door (re: catches your eye but remains fairly unobtainable). Theorycrafters agree on a couple of key points about Armor Penetration. First, the ArP stat was made a great deal more effective in 3.1, to the tune of around a 25% increase in effectiveness. Second, there is now a great deal more gear to be had from Ulduar that has significant ArP, typically at the cost of Haste or Crit Rating. Third, while effective, ArP has to be stacked fairly high in order to see real results. The general consensus is that with Faerie Fire and 5x Sunder Armor active on a boss target, an ArP trinket proc, and an ArP value above 400, ArP becomes our greatest stat to stack for DPS increase.

Currently, testing illustrates that you can reduce a target’s armor below zero, at which point ArP becomes the best stat by a fair margin. I know what you’re thinking: that’s too much ArP to reach, and even if you did hit it, you would have to give up so many better choices to obtain it. This is in actuality false. Using Rawr, I configured a gear set up that has the following sexy attributes. Two piece bonus for tier 8.5, two piece tier bonus for tier 7.5, 266 hit rating, 137 expertise rating, and 667 armor penetration rating before trinket procs. All told this gives you an unbuffed crit rating of 43.5%, and nearly 7400 attack power before raid buffs.

Here is a table of the gear pieces used and the pertinent values for each piece:

For the sockets, one yellow socket is 16 Hit, 3 yellows are 8 Hit/8 Exp, and the last yellow socket is 8 Hit/8 AGI. All three red sockets are 16 ArP, all three of the blues as 8 ArP/12 STA, the extra socket in the belt is 16 ArP, and the Meta is a Relentless Earthsiege Diamond. The enchants are assumed to be Ebonhold helm, Hodir exalted shoulders, 22 AGI to cloak, 10 stats to chest, 50 AP to bracers, 44 AP to gloves, Crit/AP on pants, 16 AGI to boots, and Massacre on weapon. This may be further enhanced by your choice in professions.

Why is 667 ArP significant? The reason being, is that if either Grim Toll or the Runestone proc, the target suddenly has zero armor towards the penetration cap against your attacks. On the table you will note that the Runestone is listed as 655 proc when the tool tip has it listed as only 612. Several players have reported the proc rate as giving 655. It remains to be seen if they change the tool tip or the item proc to match the current tool tip. Either way, you now are doing true maximum damage. You get the benefit of both of your 2 piece set bonuses, have no misses, and are at the soft 6.5 Expertise cap assuming you took the talent Primal Precision. The current model of Rawr supports this, as at this point ArP now becomes the best choice for gem sockets over any other option. In addition, with 600+ ArP and at least one trinket proc checked, Toskk’s model supports ArP as only being beaten out by Critical Strike. Fully buffed, you will be around 50% crit anyway, which is where most experts agree is the sweet spot for cats.

Now understandably you are going to say, “But wait, that’s a dream set up! There is no conceivable way I can possibly get all that gear in this lifetime—why would I care about a theoretical model?” To this I can only assure you that 400+ ArP will result in a significant gain when paired with a Grim Toll/Mjolnir Runestone proc. The best news is that with Valorous Helm and Shoulders and an Aged Winter Cloak, you are already around 100 ArP. My advice is to pick up the ArP pieces when you can cheaply, and save up for the Mjolnir Runestone. I also would not bother gemming for ArP until you hit at least 300+ penetration and have one of the two trinkets. The Moljner Stone and Grim Toll will likely outstrip any conceivable trinket pairing, even the godly Darkmoon Card: Greatness. While not nearly as noticeable on non-bosses, significant ArP will benefit you for all sorts of DPS.

Now that you know the facts, go out and give your pussy the penetration it deserves!

For more of BushidoX’s reference notes, please click here!

Wickit, of Ysera, was one of the winners of the Guest Yogger contest and offers up his two-copper about set bonuses for feral DPS.

Like everyone else, when I got my first two pieces of tier 7 armor I was thrilled by the +4 seconds it added to Rip uptime. Who didn’t love the idea of two extra free ticks of Rip? Then along came 3.1 and it became even better with Primal Gore. With the average 50% crit chance the bonus basically guaranteed a free Rip crit, but it couldn’t last forever, right?

Patch 3.1 also brought us our Feral Tier 8 set and two new set bonuses. The first of these two bonuses allows our bleeds to proc a Clearcasting state. This is fantastic for Feral DPS. Clearcasting from Omen of Clarity is a huge boon to Shreds, so increasing the chance we have to enter this “state” is great. The four-piece bonus, however, is heavily debated. The second bonus adds eight seconds to Savage Roar, but to get it you have to break your tier 7 bonus.

It’s an interesting dilemma, because it’s essentially doubling the tier 7 two-piece bonus. We aren’t increasing the DPS of Rip anymore and will have to reapply it four seconds sooner, but we’re now able to reapply Savage Roar eight seconds later. The problem is that most of us clip Savage Roar anyway, so just how helpful is this?

For every combo point after one point we spend putting up Savage Roar, we gain five seconds (on top of the initial 14 seconds from one combo point). This means we can equate T8’s four-piece bonus to 1.6 combo points, but let’s call it two for argument’s sake. What is the cost of two combo points? At the high end, a Shred crits for two combo points and costs us 42 energy. At the low end of the spectrum, a Mangle or Rake can crit for two combo points at a cost of 34 energy. Double those values if the ability doesn’t crit. We’re going to use those abilities anyway, but now those combo points can be put towards Rip or a Ferocious Bite.

The set bonus thus has a few benefits for Feral DPS:

1. Generally, it’s best to get Savage Roar up as soon as possible in a fight. This means that it often applies with one-three combo points depending on your preference and luck with crits. With the four-piece T8 bonus, a one or two combo point Roar will be pretty close to a three or four combo point Roar.
2. On trash your Roar will last a bit longer while you’re moving from mob to mob or Swipe spamming. This is nice since less time spent refreshing SR means more Shreds/Rakes/Swipes.
3. I mentioned Ferocious Bite earlier and I meant it. By decreasing the number of combo points needed to keep SR up for a decent period of time, we open the window for weaving more Bites into our rotation.
4. There are fights out there where an extra long Rip will be wasted. For example, XT-002’s phases might clip your Rip if applied late before a switch to a heart phase or applied too late during the heart phase.
5. The bonus really lends itself to a Feral DPS who loves Armor Penetration. If you’re stacking ArP, Rip begins to devalue (even if only slightly), but SR increases in value.

However, there are drawbacks:

1. There are fights where Rip uptime is very nice (i.e. Hodir and Razorscale). Applying a Rip and getting a couple of Shreds in to increase its duration (Glyph of Shred) just before a Flash Freeze or before Razorscale lifts off into the air can really help your DPS while you aren’t touching the boss.
2. Much like #1, there are fights that might incapacitate you (i.e. Ignis Slag Pot) and an extra four seconds on Rip can help you maintain a close to 100% uptime.
3. Of course, the most obvious is it’s free damage and statistically at least one free Rip crit.

Personally, I’ve made the move towards Armor Penetration, but currently maintain my tier 7 bonus (head and shoulders). I have been debating if I should pick up the Conqueror’s Helm and Valorous shoulders for tier 8 (I wear Winter’s Icy Embrace for my chest and we haven’t downed Yogg yet for Conqueror’s shoulders). The conclusion I’ve come to for myself is that I will pick up the T8.

With my ArP I want to get in there and start Shredding as soon as possible. I want that extended Savage Roar to help weave in more Ferocious Bites. I maintain a near 100% Rip and Rake uptime, of course, but Shred crits for 13-14,000 and Bite crits for the same or even more with an extra 25% chance to do so (5/5 Rend and Tear). With a focus on ArP you want to maximize SR, and the T7 bonus becomes less important. With a focus on critical strike (AGI) Rip is probably still the way to go with Primal Gore.

You have to take into account the T8 stats, too. The shoulders will really help reach the Expertise soft cap (especially if you choose Footpads of Silence or Flamestalker Boots over the Runed Ironhide Boots) and the pieces have pretty high AGI for Blessing of Kings and talents to increase. I think for a Druid like me I’ll take the 4-piece bonus from T8, but not until I can replace both my T7 pieces at the same time.

No sense in breaking the bonus too early.

If you recall, I posted a preliminary Ulduar Gear List for Feral DPS a few weeks ago. Since then, I’ve done a lot more raiding, have made substantial changes to my spreadsheet (thank you, Gingershnaps, for the extensive and awesome layout work), and have a different methodology for how you can select Cat gear. I’ve also noticed a disturbing trend in the way some of the new Druid gear looks.

The new spreadsheet can be downloaded here.

How does this shit work? First of all, it’s important to know how and why I selected the items that I did. In my spreadsheet, I calculated and then sorted all the stat data based on the following criteria: number of sockets, Total Crit%, Total AP, and Armor Penetration (in that order). Remember, after Armor Penetration (which is a little ridiculous to gear for at the expense of other stats), AGI is the best stack to stat as a Cat. In the spreadsheet, I’ve translated AGI into both AP and Crit, and have attempted to pick out the item in each category with the most Crit Percentage and Attack Power. But why, you say, is sorting by socket number important?

An item with more sockets is not necessarily better than an item without sockets; however, the number of sockets can make or break a gear determination. Take the Flamestalker Boots and the Footpads of Silence. If you look purely at the Total AP and Total %Crit columns, you’ll notice that the Flamestalker Boots come out ahead (and have Haste). When you consider, however, that the Footpads of Silence are only 17 AP and 0.3% crit off and have two sockets, it’s easy to see why they’re better. As always, remember to carefully evaluate your gear. Crit, AP, and ArP (and even Haste) are totally awesome, but if you’re completely overlooking Hit and Expertise Rating, you’ll find yourself in trouble.

While you can find your best-in-slot items listed on the spreadsheet in red, I’ve put together two gear lists for you: one for the folks focused on Hard Mode Achievements, and one for the folks still trying to push through the first few bosses.

Best-in-Slot:

Back: Drape of the Faceless General. Normal General Vezax, Hard Mode.

Chest: Conqueror’s Nightsong Raiments. Heroic Hodir.

Feet: Footpads of Silence. LW recipe that drops from Heroic Ulduar.

Hands: Conqueror’s Nightsong Handgrips. Heroic Mimiron.

Head: Guise of the Midgard Serpent. Normal Thorim.

Legs: Legguards of Cunning Deception. Heroic Yogg-Saron, Hard Mode.

Neck: Seed of Budding Carnage. Normal Freya, Hard Mode.

Rings: Metallic Loop of the Sufferer (Heroic General Vezax), Godbane Signet (Normal Yogg-Saron).

Shoulders: Conqueror’s Nightsong Shoulderpads. Heroic Yogg-Saron.

Waist: Soul-Devouring Cinch. Normal Yogg-Saron, Hard Mode.

Weapon: Dark Edge of Depravity. Heroic Yogg-Saron, Hard Mode.

Wrists: Mechanist’s Bindings. Heroic Flame Leviathan.

This “set” will put you at 197 Hit Rating/5.91% (coupled with Grim Toll, you’re at 281, already over-budget) and 203 Expertise Rating/6.09% reduction in Dodge & Parry chance (assuming Primal Precision).

Slightly-Less-Ridiculous:

Back: Drape of Icy Intent. Heroic Hodir.

Chest: Conqueror’s Nightsong Raiments. Heroic Hodir.

Feet: Flamestalker Boots. Heroic Ignis.

Hands: Valorous Nightsong Handgrips. Normal Freya.

Head: Guise of the Midgard Serpent. Normal Thorim.

Legs: Proto-hide Leggings. Heroic Razorscale. These are also BoE.

Neck: Broach of the Wailing Night. 19 Emblems of Conquest. This is a super nice necklace.

Rings: Strength of the Automaton (Heroic Flame Leviathan) and Cindershard Ring (Heroic Ignis).

Shoulders: Treacherous Shoulderpads. Normal XT-002.

Waist: Belt of the Twilight Assassin. 28 Emblems of Conquest.

Weapon: Twisted Visage. Heroic XT-002. Lotrafen is technically better, but Twisted Visage is a lot easier to get.

Wrists: Mechanist’s Bindings. Heroic Flame Leviathan.

This “set,” which is a lot easier to assemble and will give you the two-piece T8 bonus, gives you 307 Hit Rating/9.21% Hit (super over-budget; if you can pick up Lotrafen, you’d be in better shape) and 177 Expertise Rating/5.31% reduction in Dodge & Parry chance (assuming Primal Precision).

I highly recommend using the spreadsheet to mix and match the gear you know you can attain and balance it with the stats you already have. Terrible with math? You can use the spreadsheet in conjunction with a tool like Rawr to get a leg up. Rawr also has the advantage of caching a number of other data elements and gear for your perusal. As always, the spreadsheet will continue to be updated as gear changes and discoveries occur. Looking for Bear information? Check out ThinkTank for super awesome tanking discussion and gearing suggestions.

While working on my DPS rotation post, I came across what is potentially the most accurate and well thought out diagram for Cat damage cycles on the Elitist Jerks forums. Originally authored by Epilogue of Arygos.

Please click here for the entire flowchart.

There’s nothing better than stomping the Iron Council into the ground and trekking back up the staircases to see a giant Titan dude emerge from the depths of Ulduar. If you haven’t seen him yet, Kologarn is so big that you actually only get to hit his regenerating arms and his giant-ass torso. For most folks, the strat is ridiculously simple—keeping everyone alive makes the encounter difficult. As always, having stellar DPS is an absolute must; however, there is no possible way to DPS any part of Kologarn from behind. What does this mean, kittens? No Shred. This is a Problem. Although Primal Gore boosts our Rip damage enough to keep us mostly viable for this fight, the sad reality is that you will be losing approximately 25% of your normal raid DPS (depending on the idol you use) here.

Fortunately, I had ample time last night to test out a variety of things in a patently unscientific manner to determine the best ways to make the most of your frontal DPS.

For what I did, you need this shit:

1. 6.5% chance not to be dodged or parried. This is the soft expertise cap, and it’s CRUCIAL because you’re unable to stand behind the boss.  Being hit capped or close to hit capped is also important.
2. Elixir of Mighty Fortitude. EXCITING! This is only because you need a guardian elixir and it’s really the only choice.
3. Elixir of Lightning Speed. I realize that this is surprising.
4. A stack of Imperial Manta Steaks (40 Haste) or, if you’re not Expertise Capped, a stack of Rhinolicious Wyrmsteaks (40 Expertise). I used Haste food, because I’m just below the soft Expertise cap.
5. Idol of Worship. This serves to maximize your DoT damage, which is essentially the only thing you’ve really got going for you. Especially useful because your DoTs will still be ticking when you inevitably have to kite an Eye Beam or become a victim of Stone Grip.
6. Potion of Speed. Unless you really fail and will absolutely need a health pot.
7. 5/5 Feral Aggression. You want the extra Bite damage.

These buffs will also help tremendously:

1. Improved Icy Talons. This can boost your Haste (if you happen to be lucky enough to be with your DK pal) by 20% for 20 seconds.
2. Windfury Totem. No DK? Windfury Totems are still pretty awesome and provide 16% Haste.
3. Heroism. This is pretty self-explanatory, I believe.

The idea is to increase your melee Haste and boost your white damage—your auto attacks. The more auto-attacks you do, the greater chance you have to proc your Clearcasting ability. But hey, we can’t Shred! Why bother? Although you will ultimately have so many Clearcast procs that you won’t know what to do with yourself, here’s how how you can use up all that Energy:

1. Mangle spam. No joke. You’ll (mostly) be using Mangle to build combo points.
2. Savage Roar for four combo points. To start your rotation here, SR at two combo points.
3. Keep up Rake. But don’t clip it. Refresh this only when it’s about to run out.
4. Keep up Rip at five combo points. Same rules apply. Don’t clip your DoT here because you’re only going to lose out on damage. Refresh this only when it’s about to run out.
5. Ferocious Bite like it’s your goddamn job. You will OFTEN have five combo points and seemingly nothing to do with them. Use that to your advantage.
6. Use Tiger’s Fury and Berserk as appropriate.

So why does this work so well? I am also running at a flat, unbuffed 265 Haste Rating, which many of you other cats in similar gear may have. With onlythe Elixir of Lightning Speed and Imperial Manta Steaks, I’m bumped up to 350. I’m also gemmed for Armor Penetration and run with approximately 197 ArP unbuffed. If you count Grim Toll’s proc in there, that’s more like 809. When you combine the strategy outlined above (that has an emphasis on boosting physical damage done) with a significant armor reduction, now we’re talking.

Questions? Good luck with Kologarn!