help to manage maelstrom weapon proc

[bandre 1]

Hello, 

 

I'm trying to manage my maelstrom procs with stormstrike, but I don't know if I'm gaining or losing dps. I know that stormstrike doesn't guarantee a maelstrom stack, but I'll explain what I usually do.

 

If I have 3 or 4 maelstrom stacks right before stormstrike comes off cd, I hard cast lightning bolt or chain lightning, then I use stormstrike. I do the same when with elemental blast. I do that regardless if lava lash or any shock is off cd. The whole idea is try not to waste maelstrom weapon procs, especially since I don't know when windfury weapon will proc (which will probably grant me one or two maelstrom stacks).

 

Should I wait for the 5 maelstrom weapon stack to cast an instant lightning bolt? 

 

Thanks

Edited November 25, 2013 by bandre

[Stoove 347]

I think that since Stormstrike does a fair bit more damage than LB, it's probably higher DPS to not delay it. If you waste a MW proc, oh well. If you get your entire rotation screwy because you delayed a Stormstrike, not so ok.

 

Have you actually tried both rotations on target dummies and compared the numbers?

[bandre 1]

I haven't tested yet. Wanted to do it yesterday, but I wasn't in the game long enough to do it properly. I'll do it tonight and I'll put the results here.

 

I think that the delay on stormstrike is really not a big deal. If I have 4 stacks of MW, the cast will be much less than a second, I would pretty much delaying stormstrike for a GCD. Of course, in 8 - 10 minute fights this may add up, but I'm not in the high end level to really notice this change. But, the stormstrike gives me 1 or 2 MW procs, and in some occasions, I get 5 MW because windfury weapon procs simultaneously with it. And in a very short time, I'll have casted a LB, stormstrike and another LB right after it.

 

Anyway, I'll test it tonight. 

[Stoove 347]

I think that the delay on stormstrike is really not a big deal. If I have 4 stacks of MW, the cast will be much less than a second, I would pretty much delaying stormstrike for a GCD.

 

But my point is that if you delay SS, you will probably have to delay something else as well (e.g. Lava Lash), and that will eat up more and more things as the fight goes on.

 

Yes, testing will settle this.

[bandre 1]

Hello, I've finished my testing. However, since I don't know how to record my log, I've based my results on what recount final data gave to me.

 

To reduce RNG, my talent choice was AS and PE, but the only cd I used was Ascendance (for timing purposes). Each fight took about six minutes and I did 4 tests with each rotation. I'll separate them in: Hard cast LB and Instant cast LB.

 

The average results were:

Instant cast LB:

 

DPS: 60148

Spell count:

SS: 42

LL: 33

LB: 45

Earth shock: 33

 

Hard cast LB

 

DPS: 61358

Spell count:

SS: 41

LL: 34

LB: 54

Earth Shock: 34

 

Indeed, as Stoove mentioned, the slight delay on SS was there, but, on average, I had only 1 SS less with hard casting LB. And, while it did delay other abilities, it was very slightly in a way that it was not notable in a six minute fight, and it didn't gimped my rotation. It does gives us yet another thing to manage or keep in check, which may not be welcome. 

 

Unfortunatelly, I forgot to register the total damage data. Notice that there is a DPS increase but the overall gain is really minor, however, the LB count is quite higher. For those who use a EotE/UF build, this rotation may give a much better boost to dps than my test build, because of the 30% damage increase on LB and the duplicate effect given by EotE (testing this would require a lot of atempts due to the RNG of EotE and UF static shock spell).

 

I welcome everyone to try it, it could be fun. But it may require some time to get used with the rotation.

Edited November 27, 2013 by bandre

[Stoove 347]

That's a wonderful piece of Experimentalcraft there! Well reported.

[bandre 1]

Thanks Stoove!

 

I might do another test comparing the rotations using EotE/UF build, but that will be something for the weekend. 

I'll post the results here.

[Stoove 347]

Fantastic, well I'm interested to see them. I might even resurrect my Enhance offspec and see what works for me.

[Krakir 28]

In my experience it is a dps gain to hardcast at MW4 when SS is coming up. DPS loss at MW3. Its a minor gain though but a cool way to improve those minor things, if that's something you're into. 

By hardcasting at MWx  and then using Stormstrike you can get lucky and gain another MW5  in 1-2 sec and basically get a free LB. As your data showed you only lost 1 SS but gained 9 LB.

If a player feels it complicates his rotation and makes him overthink and loose sight of the fight/tactics it is not worth it. It's just a nice way to squeeze that extra out of your enhancement.
 

[Stoove 347]

I'm personally of the opinion that finding and using these little improvements is what separates solid Normal raiders from solid Heroic raiders. It's a really useful thing to know :)