Dire Frenzy

[Sisco 23]

The talent guide suggests for mostly pure single target with the Legendary Shoulders to take Way of the Cobra (WotC) and Dire Frenzy (DF). I have seen that there are reports that the shoulders are bugged to not benefit DF yet the logs show top hunters still using it. Has this been fixed? Secondly, does the damage output by Dire Frenzy over Stomp plus the bonus damage of WotC with 2 pets outweigh the increase in damage of using WotC combined with Stomp for more pets. With Stomp, more pets will buff the WotC higher but it has to outweigh how much more single target damage DireFrenzy does over Stomp. 

[Luthixx 138]

DF is still bugged, and is a pain to work around to avoid focus capping. Stomp is still better and the damage buff you get from the extra pets (especially if you have shoulders, which I'm assuming you do given your post) makes WotC actually useful.

I personally never use DF as every time I've tried it's been about a 30-40k dps loss. And for most single target fights since I don't yet have shoulders I still don't even run WotC and instead run dire stable purely because the extra focus works far better for me in my burst phases. 

Stomp is also just in general a lot cleaner to use and there's also the negative of DF not affecting Kill Command damage. 

[Sisco 23]

Thank you for your response.

I did some in game testing last night with for single target using WotC static and the following combos in order of best results to worst:

Stomp/ Bestial Fury  873k

Stomp/ Blink Strikes 864k

Stomp/One with the Pack 644k

Dire Frenzy/ Bestial Fury 450k

I do have the 2p legendaries shoulders and belt but do not yet have my 4p. ilvl around 880. These numbers were on a single target dummy over 4 minutes to simulate a pure single target fight. While i know it is not the most accurate way to evaluate numbers, it clearly shows that there is an issue with the shoulders and Dire Frenzy. I think with Stomp, BF and BS are close enough to say its a wash and with the added benifit of the blink movement, will probably pick Blink Strikes for single target fights that have some movement or a target change. One with the Pack was a little lower but i think the 4p may boost it a bit. Will retest once i get my 4p. 

[Luthixx 138]

Yeah you'll find when you have One with the Pack, 4pc and shoulders your dps will skyrocket. Blink strikes is still good for pure cleave, but since stomp ends up as a lot more of your dps it's only really worth taking if there's a significant amount of cleave.

[Sisco 23]

Thanks again. I''l follow up with what find after getting my 4p legs and head. So nice of blizz to put them on the last 2 bosses. 

[Eyeroll 5]

Yeah, I spec'd into DireFrenzy for M Botanist.   DPS really sucked, as I was also tasked with mechanics (flowers, dispelling spores).  I'm going to hit a target today and see if can understand why frenzy was showing up, but refused to execute.

[Sisco 23]

Update: Got my 4p this week. This is what i found single target dummy. 4 minute fight. 887 ilvl with 4p and Leg shoulders/belt. Way of the Cobra used for all tests.

 

Dire Frenzy/ Bestial Fury 495k

Dire Frenzy/One with the Pack 509k

Stomp/One with the Pack 674k

Stomp/Blink Strikes 1.02MM

Stomp/Bestial Fury 1.06MM

 

It still seems that something is wrong with Dire Frenzy as it's results were 1/2 that of the Stomp combinations. I was very surprised that the Stomp/One With the Pack  combo was so low but that may attributable to my crit. I only have ~20% crit but have nearly 100% Mastery. This probably also explains the much higher damage from the Stomp combined with either Blink Strikes or Bestial Fury. The "single target" fights for me are below and the spec i will try with them next week.

Stomp/Bestial Fury:

Anomaly 

Trillax 

Krosus 

Etraeus 

For Elisandre and Guldan I am curious of a few things. 

Elisandre - There is a lot of cleave for me on this fight so I am debating giving Dire Stable this fight for more uptime on swipe without losing Kill Commands, Stomp is obvious, but because of the target switching to the stationary blue add if Blink Strikes will increase the time of my pet on target enough to make up for the lost of taking it over Bestial Fury. Going to try  Dire Stable/ Blink Strikes

Gul'dan- Way of the Cobra since there is almost no Multi-Shot usage. Stomp again is obvious, but i have almost the same question on the Blink Strikes vs. Bestial Fury. Blink Strikes will give me more time on target for the eyes. However, because the aren't up nearly as much as the blue adds on Elisandre, I think it is less likely that choosing Blink Strikes on this fight for the pet on target uptime will outweigh the loss of Bestial Fury. Think I will stick to Bestial Fury on this one.