Poster: Dayne at 8/7/2006 8:39:11 AM PDT
Subject: Dual Wield Fury DPS 101 v1.2 |
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*This is a repost. The original was a bit broken up, due to not properly anticipating the length of the post and reserving appropriate space. This is being reposted in order to correct that. There have also been changes and additions. If you wish to see this post stickied, please click the Biohazard symbol and request it.
For starters - There is no One True Way to dps. There are several variations, and all of them work. How you should dps is largely dependant on the fight.
The goal of every dps warrior, no matter the spec, is to maximize your damage without stealing hate from the tank. This is accomplished mostly by knowing what you are and are not capable of.
Precepts -
Damage Meters are good. No, not so you can lengthen your e-peen, that's just a fringe benefit. A damage meter is a useful tool. Knowing how you work is essential, knowing how other classes work is also pretty darned useful. The following are the most popular variants:
Recap - http://www.curse-gaming.com/en/wow/addons-761-1-recap.html
Developement of Recap has been infrequent since it's author gave it up, but despite that, it still works very well. It tracks all kinds of data, and is what I personally use to track how well gear changes are working out for me. The major drawback is that it cannot be synched.
SWStats - http://www.curse-gaming.com/en/wow/addons-2909-1-sw-stats.html
An excellent addon that takes all the best features of Recap and puts them into one mod, with intelligent sync'ing. It has steadily been gaining popularity.
DamageMeters - http://www.curse-gaming.com/en/wow/addons-791-1-damagemeters.html
The old tried and true version. It still works pretty well, and I still use it. I reset it for every single boss fight, and it is effectively my threat gauge.
Now, let's take a couple useful bits of knowledge -
Rogues have a couple aggro sheds. So, while a rogue may be outdamaging you, you are very likely higher on the mobs hate list than they are. Mages have some pretty nice threat reduction talents, as well as set bonuses that add to that effect. Paying attention to whether or not the warlocks are using an Imp (it's not just for the stamina buff for the MT, ya know) isn't a bad idea either.
What this means is that, if the only people ahead of you on the damage meter are those with some form of threat reduction, you need to watch it. Obviously if you're topping the damage meter, you also need to watch it.
Battle and Berserker stance have a built in -20% threat modifier. Due to the high sustained dps dual wield fury is capable of, we can negate that threat modifier pretty damned easily. Therefore, the good fury warrior is the one who is very conscientious of how well he or she is riding the aggro curve.
Different tanks have different aggro thresholds. Some tanks can hold aggro even if you go all out from the word go. Others need a little bit of lead time. Your damage potential is directly limited by the tanks threat potential, so it is to your benefit to learn that tanks threshold.
Unfortunately, this is only accomplished through trial and error. My personal method is to watch Recap's dps indicator for the current fight. Once you get to know your tank, you'll know the danger zones for when you're doing too much dps and to step it down. This is even more important for encounters with a built in aggro ceiling.
Any kind of aggro shed you can get is good. If you're Alliance, there is no excuse to not have Blessing of Salvation up at all times, other than retarded paladins. Fetish of the Sand Reaver should be on every single dps warrior's /drool list. And if a mob has an aggro reduction ability that you can take advantage of (ie, Wing Buffet) DO IT!
I must, in all fairness, make some reference to KLHThreatMeter (http://www.curse-gaming.com/en/wow/addons-3488-1-klhthreatmeter.html)
This is an addon that effectively tracks your hate as compared to others via the CTRaid channel. It can only do this for other folks who have the meter installed. In order to truly be effective, the entire raid needs it. This mod has caused a great deal of controversy. Some feel it is an unnecessary crutch, some view it as a tool to be used like any other. This is a choice that each individual and/or guild must make for themselves.
Gear and Stats -
How well you perform as Dual Wield Fury is largely dependant on the rest of your gear. There is no One True Stat that needs to be buffed before all others. Instead, there is the Holy Trinity.
+crit - Besides the obvious DPS increase from more damage, crit also triggers the bread and butter ability of Fury, Flurry.
+hit - You have a natural 24% chance to miss with each regular swing. Your specials have ~6% chance to miss against level 63 mobs (5% against level 60)
Attack Power - Besides having a profound effect on the final talent of the tree, it directly effects how much damage you do with every single one of your attacks.
There needs to be a balance. If you have a 35% crit rate in Battle Stance but only 600AP, you're gimping yourself. Hit like a girl, crit like a girl. (No offense to any girl warriors)
A respectable balance between all three needs to be obtained. There is some debate whether more than 6% +hit is needed. Yes, it doesn't do anything for your specials after 6%, but if you're intelligent and pay attention to your damage parsers, you'll find that the majority of your damage comes from your autoswings, and +6% hit beyond that most certainly does effect it. This is particularly true in the case of the offhand.
We are not rogues, our offhand is not simply a place to put a weapon for stats or to proc poison. It is a viable source of damage, and more importantly, rage generation. Therefore, once you have a respectable crit rate to where you can keep Flurry proc'd the majority of the time, it is to your benefit to start stacking +hit gear.
Attack Power cannot be neglected. Focusing on +hit and crit and not caring about AP just means you're hurting your potential. AP comes from 2 sources - Strength (each point is 2AP) and direct +AP gear. So in other words, if you have a choice between +agil and +str, take the strength. It is also important to keep in mind that with the expansion on the horizon, the amount of agil for +1% crit is going to change (it'll take more), so stacking agility is usually not the best way to increase your dps. As you make your gear selections, keep an eye towards the future and realize that +1% crit is more valuable that +20 agility. This also means don't be a fool, enchant your weapons with Crusader, not +15 agil or Lifestealing.
* NOTE: Alliance Warriors may find it more favorable to stack +agil, due to the existance of Blessing of Kings. I'll leave it up to the individual warrior to decide.
My personal baseline for the Holy Trinity is 25% crit in Berserker, 1000AP unbuffed (that means without Battle Shout) and 10% +hit. When I have to make a difficult gear choice, and +hit is one of them, I generally take the +hit because I can make up AP and crit via consumables and buffs. The only way to get +hit is through gear (seasonal buffs don't count).
Now, what you may notice is that Stamina is not part of the Holy Trinity. Some of you will swear up and down that you need stamina. They're entitled to their opinion, but I happen to think differently. The tradeoff you make for more DPS is you take a hit in survivability. If you are doing your job properly (ie, you don't draw aggro and get yourself killed) the only damage you should be taking are from secondary sources, and most of those will not kill you outright even if you do only have 4k hp unbuffed.
Most fights that include damage of a secondary nature are resist based, which changes up your gear selection anyway. In those fights, you go for good resist gear with stamina, since your dps is already gimped anyway. For every other non-resist fight, the secondary damage is not enough to kill you outright, especially if you came prepared. This means you step out and bandage if you need to. It means using stuff like Greater Fire Protection Potions for encounters where you don't need to wear your full fire resist kit. It means using Greater Nature Protection Potions on C'thun and Ouro. It means knowing what you're going up against and being ready for it. Rogues manage to survive being melee dps on mobs without stacking insane amounts of +stam. If you avoid pulling hate too, you will be taking the same damage as them, and if they can live through it, you have no excuse for not being able to other than being a poor player.
Weapons -
This is another eternal debate between warriors, and will be for a long time.
I'm not going to say which is right and which is wrong, just present the pros and cons of each style and you can make the decision for yourself on what works best for you.
The first thing to keep in mind is that Dual Wield Fury is not Mortal Strike. There are preceisly two abilities that do weapon damage, Whirlwind and Overpower, and whether or not they're worth using is of some debate as well. As such, in general, the damage range on your weapons does not matter. The speed does not matter. The dps is what matters.
As stated before, most of your damage is going to come from white damage. Your next most damaging attack will likely be Bloodthirst, which has absolutely no attachment to your weapon,
only to your AP Rating. Therefore, you want the most damaging weapons you can possibly get.
Fury is not about the burst, it is about consistency.
Weapon Wield Styles:
Note: I play a Horde Warrior, and Windfury does some interesting things to rage generation. Alliance players may find their mileage differing, the best way to choose a weapon combo is to try them all and find out what works best for you.
But first....
A Word on Glancing Blows -
Glancing blows are a %based reduction on incoming damage by mobs higher level than you. There's nothing you can do to eliminate them entirely, and they're a factor in your dps on raid level mobs. You can alleviate the amount of damage the glance reduces via the use of +skill equipment. At +10 skill of the weapon type you're using, the glancing blow damage reduction is eliminated entirely. It is important to note that glancing blows cannot crit.
* Note: Orc Warriors using axes and Human Warriors using swords and maces have a +5 weapon skill via their racials. WTB more end game 1h axe itemization.
Fast Mainhand/Fast Offhand - The main arguement for this style is the speed of rage generation, especially if you have Unbridled Wrath (and you're a moron if you don't). It works pretty well.
You also need a respectable crit rate to keep Flurry up, as the fast weapons will eat your Flurry charges almost instantly. The other downside is that, while you're generating rage faster, you're also generating hate faster, and need to keep a closer eye on your aggro.
Fast Mainhand/Slow Offhand - The main arguement for this style is that the slow offhand tends to hit hard, and spike your rage up, thereby allowing you to use the On Next attacks without fear of being rage starved. The rage generation is not as consistent as it would be with a faster offhand, however.
Slow Mainhand/Fast Offhand - Again, the main idea behind having a fast offhand is that you generate rage faster. The slower Main hand helps a bit to throttle your threat, and also makes Overpower and Whirlwind more viable. It provides you with a degree of burst damage if that's what you want.
Slow Mainhand/Slow Offhand - Your rage generation will be slower, but will come in bigger chunks. Also pretty good for helping to throttle threat. +hit gear is a little more important as you really don't want these weapons to be missing their swings.
Again, what combo works best for you is something you'll have to discover for yourself. I personally go for the heaviest hitting 1 handers I can get, and adjust my playstyle to what I actually have. All you really need are weapons good enough to make sure you have enough rage to hit Bloodthirst every 6 seconds.
DPS Styles -
There are two major DPS styles:
Spamstring - This is popular among Horde warriors due to Windfury. Basically, you spam Hamstring while Bloodthirst and/or Whirlwind are on cooldown. Alliance Warriors generally use it to keep Flurry up. It's a pretty good method of keeping your DPS steady, the only major spikes are when you hit your cooldown abilities, and as such it's good for not drawing threat. It also does not consume alot of rage, you will be sitting with a full rage bar most of the time, which you can dump at Execute range. This also means that your rate of rage generation is less important
Heroic Hate - This basically entails taking advantage of the fact that HS and Cleave are On next swing abilities instead of instants, and therefore do not trigger the global cooldown, which allows you to use your cooldowns as soon as they come available without sacrificing any specials to the global cooldown. To effectively use this method of dpsing, you need EXTREMELY good rage generation. By using HS/Cleave, you are losing a good bit of main hand rage generation, which leaves it up to your offhand to generate most of it. Do not rage starve yourself so that you have to wait for rage to use Bloodthirst. This method has the advantage of dropping your miss rate on your mainhand (HS and Cleave are specials, and therefore only the 6% miss rate applies) but if using HS, you will have to watch your aggro very very carefully, as you can steal hate without even thinking about it.
Another point of controversey is the use of Overpower and Whirlwind as dual wield fury. While these abilities do not have the same effect as they do for someone using a 2hander, they have their ups and downs. In general, Whirlwind is worth using if you have the excess rage to burn off, such as if you're using Spamstring. If you're using heavy rage dump skills, you generally won't have enough rage to burn both cooldowns and still use HS/Cleave.
Overpower is another point of contention. Most warriors DPS in zerker stance. As such, the use of Overpower generally means a large loss of rage. Improved OP is pretty much a guarenteed Flurry proc, so if your crit rate is low, it's worth doing. If you have a heavy hitting mainhander, it's worth doing. If you're using a fast low damage range mainhand and you have the crit rate to keep Flurry up, it's generally not worth it. It all depends on how well you are at managing your rage. It's entirely possible to hit both cooldowns and HS, dump your rage below or near 25 and then Overpower before your chance to use it expires.
I personally do not use Overpower, my mainhand just has too low of a damage range to be worth it. I also do not restrict myself to one method of DPS. In general, I tend to start the fight in Spamstring mode to keep my initial threat low and get the TF proc up as soon as possible. Once the tank has establised a solid lock, I switch to using HS because my rage generation can handle it, and I'm not likely to steal hate. If I hit a bad spot where Flurry just won't go up, I may go back to spamming Hamstring to cheat the odds. In mobile fights where I can't get reliably get a Windfury totem the entire fight, I generally use Heroic Hate to get better burst. In fights with an aggro ceiling, or where a tank swap is required, I never ever touch Heroic Strike.[ post edited by Dayne ]
Come, Pinky, or I shall have to hurt you...
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