6.1 Necroblight question

[Anfauglith 6]

I would like to ask a question concerning the Necroblight play style as of 6.1.

 

During 6.0.3, using Death Runes on Festering Strike wasn't an optimal use for them. It was a DPS loss when compared to using 2 Scourge Strikes (for the purpose of this discussion assume that NP time remaining > UB cooldown).  I don't have the exact numbers right now, but from my logs and some crude calculations, it equated to ~4k DPS loss (give or take 1k). 

 

But going over my logs after 6.1, I noticed that using 2 Death Runes on Festering Strike is actually better than using Scourge Strike.

 

Logs: https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/qymK4TzJXvkPR2aZ#type=damage-done&source=48 & https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/HXnf6w9ZxG3P8jF1

 

Armory: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/sylvanas/Anf%C3%A1uglith/advanced

 

Here's my reasoning. If we take the average numbers from the logs for each spell, this is the DPS gained for using 2 Death Runes on Festering Strike: 

1 FS = 19, 195 (and extends NP by 6 seconds, which is 3 ticks)

1 tick of NP = 11, 238 

Total damage = 1 FS + 3 ticks of NP = 52, 909

 

2 Death Runes on Scourge Strike:

1 SS = 13, 189 + 10, 694 (both the physical and shadow damage) = 23, 883

Total damage = 2 SS = 47, 766

(numbers taken from Flamebender Ka'graz) 

 

This is just an example from 1 log, but I did the same calculation on every other fight I used NP on, and the results are similar.

 

Do you think that this means that we should only use Death Runes on Festering Strike? Maybe this is just because of my gear, but I don't think that explains a difference of ~5k DPS. Please post your logs, if you have them, and share your thoughts. 

 

Thanks for reading.

Edited February 27, 2015 by Anfauglith

[drumsmani 47]

2 SS over 1 FS also gives you additional chances to proc Necrosis

[Storm 427]

I usually try to keep NP up 100% of the time, and save UB for when I have to move or switch to an add and NP drops, but mostly because I just find it easier to keep NP rolling. You don't need to completely use all of your death runes on festering strike to do it though. On average out of every 4 death runes I usually use 2 of them on festering strike, and 2 on Scourge Strike, and I don't have too much trouble keeping NP up close to 100% of the time.

 

I have one issue with your math though. You're combining NP damage with FS to claim it's better, but you wouldn't be completely ignoring NP by scourge striking more, you would just occasionally let NP drop to refresh with UB. so really you're gaining 27k damage for every 2 scourge strike vs Festering - the dps loss from Necrotic plague ramp up time with UB. which is at most 2-3 ticks which will hit for less than the full 11k, but not 0, and that will only happen ~once per minute.

[Anfauglith 6]

But I am only combining NP with FS because the extensions of the diseases is a part of it. The only reason why extending NP will not benefit damage output is if the target dies before NP runs out. So, until that condition is met, the 3 extra ticks can be considered a part of 1 FS. 

 

As for the Necrosis procs, I admit I didn't think about them. But you'll need 2 procs to bridge the 5k DPS gap, which requires 50% mulitstrike. 

[drumsmani 47]

If NP uptime > UB cooldown, then extending it further with FS doesn't net you any more gain than just letting it tick down and using SS with those death runes. Once NP falls off, you will pop UB and get it back to 15 stacks within few seconds. This is what storm has explained in his post. You will need to weigh the gain of 2x SS vs 1x FS against the 2-3 ticks of NP while UB is ramping up.

[Storm 427]

If NP uptime > UB cooldown, then extending it further with FS doesn't net you any more gain than just letting it tick down and using SS with those death runes. Once NP falls off, you will pop UB and get it back to 15 stacks within few seconds. This is what storm has explained in his post. You will need to weigh the gain of 2x SS vs 1x FS against the 2-3 ticks of NP while UB is ramping up.

 

This is exactly what I meant. You aren't completely ignoring festering strike and your NP duration when you use scourge strike. the goal is always to have NP up 100% of the time, the only difference is whether you keep it up with 15 stacks 100% of the time by using festering strike more often, or if you use more scourge strikes and let NP drop when you have UB ready to refresh your stacks. in which case you are gaining a few scourge strikes, and losing 2-3 ticks that will be at lower than 15 stacks (but not 0), while UB builds necrotic plague back to 15.

 

In order to keep NP up with 15 and never let it drop you basically need to festering strike 10 times per minute, with the initial 30 second duration of NP acting as little more than a buffer to make sure you can get in your 10 FS per minute average. By refreshing with UB you are reducing your number of Festering strikes to 5 per minute, gaining ~10 scourge strikes, and losing roughly 3 ticks of NP which will not be 0, but will be less than the full 15 stacks. however even if we want to count them as 0's:

for a full 1 minute snapshot you'd be looking at

 

Rolling 15 stacks:

Festering strike (19, 195) x 10 + NP ticks (11,238) x 3 = 225,264 damage

 

Refresh with UB

Festering strike (19, 195) x 5 + 3 NP ticks <15 stacks (0) [because the small amount for 3 ticks doesn't even matter in this comparison] + Scourge Strikes (23, 883) x 10 = 334,805 damage

 

that's a Net gain of ~1800 dps by letting NP drop once per minute and using UB to refresh.

 

The one time keeping NP rolling at 15 stacks could make a huge difference is on heavy add fights, which there are a lot of in BRF. if you just happen to drop NP and refresh with UB as adds are coming out, say on Operator, Blast Furnace, Beastlord, etc. then the loss of DPS from the <15 stack ticks could easily be 100k+ damage just in that few seconds vs. rolling 15 stacks and spreading with blood boil.

[Anfauglith 6]

Thanks for the detailed explanation, I guess I got confused with the refreshing mechanic. I ran some simulations and you are correct.

[demonardvark 556]

Just keep in mind necrotic is never "refreshed". Festering simply adds 8-9 seconds to the current duration. So, you will eventually get to a point where its not worth the runes to refresh it. You'll spend 2 death runes and uh oh only 12 secs left, spend 2 more, uh oh 10 secs left. So, once you drop below a threshold "15 secs" just say F it and let it fall off. The other thing too is to pop UB with 1 second left on NP. It doesn't refresh it and will let you keep 100% uptime.