[Request] We should analyze and discuss the T17-Sets and BrF

[ChaiNspliT 5]

Hey guys.

 

As the title already suggests, I was wondering why we didn't lost any words over our T17-Set, yet? In fact, I think it's useful to open a new sticky post, dedicated to it.

I'm not really interested in opening one myself, though. Can't say I'm talented in that aspect.

 

What would the post contain? Some ideas:

 

- How "good" is the T17-Set?

-> Blood

-> Frost (DW and 2H)

-> Unholy

 

- Simulations

-> DPS gain/difference between 2pc and 4pc for Frost and Unholy

-> Which DPS class does benefit more from its set?

 

- BrF Gear? How does each spec fare.

-> Blood

-> Frost (DW and 2H)

-> Unholy

 

- How does each spec perform in BrF (speculation)

-> Blood

-> Frost (DW and 2H)

-> Unholy

 

Hopefully I'm not alone with these questions and until then, have a nice evening.

 

 

 

Regards, ChaiN.

 

 

 

[Anfauglith 6]

This is a spreadsheet i found comparing the DPS increase from the set bonuses per class: 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1abTQSCyw7_psGtUruGwbjnKbt_wXmdDx627SdXebru4/htmlview?pli=1&sle=true#gid=0

 

I pretty much expected Unholy to have the lowest DPS increase because the set bonuses are very weak compared to other classes/specs. I'm not sure which numbers are used in this spreasheet (because I've seen different versions of the set bonuses on different sites). These were posted on the US forums :

 

Item - Death Knight T17 Unholy 2P Bonus - When Soul Reaper deals its bonus damage to a target, you gain 5 stacks of Shadow Infusion.
Item - Death Knight T17 Unholy 4P Bonus - When you activate Dark Transformation, 1 of your runes are automatically refreshed as Death Runes.

 

Now, about the reason why the bonuses for Unholy are weak. The two piece bonus can, obviously, only be used when the boss is at ~45% and lower. In addition, you will only benefit from it once every 30 seconds. And the benefit is that you won't need to pool RP before Dark Transformation runs out. This means a couple of things :
1) Ensures roughly 100% Dark Transformation uptime during our execute phase
2) More careless usage of Death Coil, possibly resulting in more Blood Charges/Runic Corruption procs (depending on your talent choice).

These benefits may seem good, but they are not that big of a DPS increase. First of all, you can get close to 100% Timmy uptime by simply pooling RP just before it runs out, so the benefit from 1) is not too big of a deal. Secondly, after you have DT up, you'll be casting pretty much the same amount of Death Coils, regardless of the set bonuses, which means the benefit from 2) is also not that great (it mainly benefits Runic Corruption users, because when you start spamming DC once DT runs out, you run the risk of multiple RC procs overlapping)

Onwards to the 4P bonus. This one is pretty straightforward, you get one death rune per 30 sec. The way you'll use this rune depends on the boss % HP, so either SS or SR. It is underwhelming, to say the least. 

I don't know about the Blood Set bonuses, because I have never tanked on a DK before, so I'll jump on Frost. 

Set bonuses:

Item - Death Knight T17 Frost 2P Bonus - Activating Pillar of Frost generates 30 Runic Power.

Item - Death Knight T17 Frost 4P Bonus - While Pillar of Frost is active, your special attacks trap a soul in your rune weapon. When Pillar of Frost fades, your rune weapon discharges the souls at your current target, dealing (30% of weapon damage) damage per soul.

 

The 2P bonus equates to 30 Runic Power every minute, so it will probably benefit DW Frost more. It doesn't seem to make much of a difference for 2H, especially during the pull (from my personal experience, i get RP capped during pull as it is). It might make BoS more viable. 

The 4P bonus is very interesting. It introduces a new 'mechanic' to,what feels like to me, a dull spec. The only limit to the amount of damage it can deal depends on how many special attacks you can deal during 20 sec. During the pull, this can be amazing, especially if you use Heroism/ ERW during that time. I feel like it will benefit DW slightly more than 2H, because DW can cast FS more freely than 2H (this is somewhat equalized by the 30% of weapon damage, since 2H will hit harder)

 

Sorry for the long post, and I hope what I wrote made some sense.

[demonardvark 556]

Sup chain, here's my 2 cents

 

Death Knight T17 Blood 2P Bonus: Each stack of Scent of Blood consumed reduces the cooldown of Vampiric Blood by 1 sec.

Death Knight T17 Blood 4P Bonus: While Vampiric Blood is active, your Blood Shield cannot be reduced below 5% of your maximum health.

 

In general I like the blood set pretty good. 2 piece you basically reduce the cd of vampiric everytime you smash death strike. The 4 piece is interesting. It basically gives you a semi perm 5% health shield while vampiric is active. In general its sort of a nice set. I don't see it being game changing. 7/10

 

Death Knight T17 Frost 2P Bonus: Activating Pillar of Frost generates 30 Runic Power.

Death Knight T17 Frost 4P Bonus: While Pillar of Frost is active your special attacks trap a soul in your rune weapon. When Pillar of Frost fades, your rune weapon discharges the souls at your current target, dealing 30% of weapon damage per soul.

 

I really like the frost bonus a lot. Pop pillar of frost for 30 runic power is nice. You big damage CD also gives you free rune power for nothing.  Amazing. Then the 4 piece set interacts beautifully with the 2. You basically are getting free bonus damage. this will sort of change the frost play style a bit. You'll want to burn everything as quick as possible during pillar. I think this is a nice change since frost has been slowed down a lot. With pillar lasting 20 seconds and you firing off something every GCD that's some nice free bonus damage. 9/10

 

Death Knight T17 Unholy 2P Bonus: When Soul Reaper deals its bonus damage to a target, you gain 5 stacks of Shadow Infusion.

Death Knight T17 Unholy 4P Bonus: When you activate Dark Transformation, 1 of your runes are automatically refreshed as Death Runes.

 

I'm a big fan of the unholy set. Basically in your execute phase you will have 100% uptime on timmy and extra runes for it. It may not seem like a huge amount of return but you want to maximize your soul reaper usage, grant you another defile, or help with necrotic refresh expense. The damage gain isn't huge to me but more the extra resources help out the kill phase where runic expenses can sorta muck up the rotation. 8/10

Edited January 29, 2015 by demonardvark