Haste vs ilvl

[Ruarthak 0]

Hi, first time posting in Icy Veins!

I've been roaming around forums looking at various posts, looking for various ways to push my DPS. One topic I keep seeing is Haste stacking.

Now, in my mind, ideally you want to go up in ilvls, this "should" be directly tied to a DPS increase. However, as I keep reminding myself, I don't know everything.

 

Has the math been done for the dps increase of prioritising haste or ilvl (Which would typically be tied directly to Intellect, I believe?).

[Smacktard 2]

It depends on two things: One, which spec are you playing?

Only Demonology has any reason to prioritize haste over item level, as far as I can tell. Haste is far weaker for the other two specializations and should never be prioritized over item level unless the stat allocations are significantly better, and even then if it's more than 10-15 ilvl you're probably better off with the higher ilvl piece.

If you're primarily Destro and you're using a haste/xxx piece, and the upgrade in question has zero haste, then it may not necessarily be an upgrade (I would consult something like AMR's gear comparison tool with a set of stat weights you trust). If you're Affliction, you should be gearing for Mastery over everything else, in which case the same considerations below should be made with Mastery in place of Haste.

Two, does the item in question have intellect on it? 

If you're looking at rings, trinkets, and necklaces, it usually won't. But if you come across a trinket with both haste and intellect (either one of the WQ stat sticks or a dungeon trinket with a good proc, like from Suramar mythics or EN) then it'll usually be an upgrade even if you drop a few item levels.

 

That said, the stat weights for Demo show that Haste is only 5% (ish) stronger than intellect. So dropping 1000+ intellect for 900 haste is going to net you a loss. An 825 ilvl Int/Haste trinket from WQs has 977 int/849 haste. So if you drop one of those for something like Moonlit Prism (drops from Cordana in VoW) you'll probably see a loss. As interesting as some of the trinket procs are, most of them really don't do much in terms of pure numbers. That said, the Moonlit Prism is probably one of the stronger ones and helps to shore up one of Demonology's weaknesses - burst windows.

Edited October 5, 2016 by Smacktard

[Genu 0]

There is an Addon named Pawn that does the stats weight math for you. Download it and import the Stat Weights published in the Warlock Discord (the default ones are nonsense since all stats default to 0.5).
Hover over the item in your inventory and it displays if it is an upgrade over your current equipped one. With rings however, it only compares to your second best ring, so be sure to switch the right one.