Tips for Getting the Most out of Sindragosa's Breath in 6.2?

[TeamC 6]

I've been primarily sticking to Defile for Blood in HFC, but I was quite happy with Sindragosa's Breath in BRF days. It was, of course, easier to cheese a bit with the now defunct glyph of Icy Runes. I've also seen a number of the more advanced DK tanks running SB since it also seems to be an offensive boost if you can sustain it (it certainly was in the past).

 

I tried Sin. Breath out tonight on HM Xhul'horac, popping it primarily when a set of 3 imps were up along with the big green and purple adds, and while I got a nice spike in damage at the time, I couldn't sustain SB for the life of me, even when going in with all 6 runes up and full rune power. Use of Empower Rune Weapon gave it a boost, but the 5 minute CD vs. 2 minute CD of SB seems to make that a one-off use in a lot of fights.

 

Previously on fights like the Iron Maidens I could sustain it from a few seconds into the pull up to and through 1-2 boat phases, so I feel like I had a decent grasp of how to handle it back then. Definitely don't now. Unless I'm just misunderstanding how it's used now, and it's more of a 10-20 second CD, and not something you can extend indefinitely.

Raid buffed (also fully enchanted for MS) I'm at 42% Multistrike (714 ilvl) -- is that just too low to reliably proc Runic Strikes for the RP boost? 

 

Anyone got any tricks they've found to get the most bang for your buck?

[Zayele 0]

Breath of Sindragosa does not stay up indefinitely in 6.2; do not expect much more than 30% uptime on longer fights. It still is the best talent on every fight, but it doesn't do as much damage as you noted. 

 

Still, 10-20 seconds per Breath sounds very low; are you pooling runic power prior to using it? Are you also pooling Blood Charges to minimize RP overcapping? Are you trying to AMS soak as much as possible (this is very easy on Xhul'horac)? Are you using Vial of Convulsive Shadows? 

 

It's important to note that BoS doesn't need to stay up for very long in order to beat the other talents; 20 seconds per Breath is all that you need. 

[simpetar 12]

42% is little low for optimal usage, BoS starts to pay off at 50-60% - even most guides you will see recommend using BoS over Defile when you reach around 3000 MS rating. That does not come naturally, you need to seek MS gear on purpose and often break 4 tier bonus to achieve that (not a big loss though). In general the more MS you have the longer you can maintain BoS, but it also depends on how many enemies are hitting you, how good you are with AMS soaking, how much movement is involved and on sheer RNG luck.

 

Unless I am terribly mistaken you need at least 23 seconds of uninterrupted BoS on single target every 2 minutes to be as efficient as if you used Defile on CD and every tick hit the target during 2 minute window. That is however not taking the legendary ring into account, when used offensively. I ran these simulations a while ago, but I suppose not much has changed since then.

 

Xhul´horac is little tricky - the imps do not actually hit you, they cast spells, so you get no RP from them. They spawn more frequently than every 2 minutes and their life expectancy is 15 seconds or even less. Also BoS is diminishing in potency with more targets, it is better suited for cleaving than for aoe - and the imps need to die really fast. In summary: if you seek to dispose of the imps quickly, use Defile. One thing that you CAN do for BoS is soak Void Strike / Fel Strike with AMS. They not only give you enourmous amount of RP but AMS also prevents application of the debuff.

[TeamC 6]

Thanks, Simpetar. That shines a light on a number of things for me re: Breath of Sindragosa.

 

I should have made it more clear that Xhul'horac is just what we were working on, so that was the only thing I really had to test it against, rather than just coming off like I thought it'd be an ideal spot to break it out for optimal use. 

 

I assumed where I was in MS was lowish, particularly since I was seeing people pushing 50%+ self/unbuffed (looking at their Armory profiles). We haven't had much luck with plate dropping, so I'm pretty much stuck with the 4pc, which I'd happily break given the chance. Even the MS/BA drops have been scarce. I'll just have to pick up what I can when I can to boost the MS value.

 

Thanks again!

[migurug 0]

DK blood

hi guys only to summarize:

1) MS>=3000

2) haste?>=18% for more autoattack

3) crit?

 

best regards

[Zayele 0]

DK blood

hi guys only to summarize:

1) MS>=3000

2) haste?>=18% for more autoattack

3) crit?

 

best regards

No, multistrike >= bonus armor >= crit/mastery is the stat priority in general. Haste is not as good as crit for DPS and is fairly poor for mitigation. There is no multistrike cap (aside from the 100% hard cap). 

Edited November 16, 2015 by Zayele