Shadow Reflection as Combat

[Liliana 0]

I have been using Combat exclusively in Heroic and starting Mythic Highmaul now. Upon playing with Mythic players I have seen that my overwhelming lead in damage has finally been topped by other classes - specifically on single target encounters.

It's obvious that Combat is not the ideal single target spec, but I can still at least compete.

 

My question here is:

For single target encounters such as Butcher or Kargath (when not in stands) - is it smarter to change out the default level 100 talent Venom Rush to Shadow Reflection?

 

If the answer is yes, then what would be the best use of Shadow Reflection for Combat? Macro pairing it to Adreneline Rush? To Killing Spree? Ensure that the Reflection is cast and follow it up with a Deep Insight Killing Spree?

 

Just trying to increase my damage on single target encounters.

[Carrn 284]

Not really, no. Reasoning being that Combat doesn't have a lot of hard-hitting skills; it's got more, smaller hits. Killing Spree is really Combat's only burst damage, and using that takes up half of the Clone's copy time.

 

It's probably not terrible if you line it up with Deep Insight for the last few seconds of AR then finish it with KS, but it would only offer a benefit over an absurdly short fight... And other classes / specs have better burst anyways so you wouldn't look that much better

[Blaquenwhyte 1]

SR as Combat is just subpar all-round.  The reason it's powerful in other specs is because you can line up CDs with it easily (Vendetta for Assassination, Shadow Dance for Sub), but very rarely can you do that effectively as Combat.  It's just not in the nature of Combat to delay things for more than a few seconds so that they line up, so trying to delay SR for something like Deep Insight or Killing Spree, while it might make the SR better, it'll also cost you some DPS just from delaying a major cooldown.  Not to mention that, as Carrn said, you don't really have that many hard-hitting abilities, so your SR hits like a wet noodle if you don't save it for periods of higher damage (KS, AR, Deep Insight), which we've already said is pretty suboptimal anyway.

 

I understand your premise, though.  Venom Rush isn't that great in single-target fights either because the Energy regeneration it gives you with only one stack is pretty trash.  It does, however, fit the Combat playstyle best and doesn't encounter cooldown micromanagement problems, which Combat already has enough of.  Stick with Venom Rush--the short-term burst you'd get from using SR properly isn't relevant enough to trump the overall reliability of Venom Rush, even in single-target situations.

Edited January 26, 2015 by Blaquenwhyte

[Liliana 0]

I appreciate both of you for the answers.  Venom Rush it is!