Post by brrobid
A couple people have posted portions of this information; but no one's put it all together. So, here I am, stealing from them, and doing my own homework to fill in the gaps.
My focus is PvE PRE-RAID, Gearing, Gemming and Enchants.
Pre-raid, your gear is going to be mainly i346. You may have a piece or two of i333. Also, through crafting, and valor points (neither of which I'm covering), you may have better stuff. Neither am I covering Profession Unique gear, gems, and enchants.
First, a quick overview (mostly stolen from Masanbol's stuff over on EJ).
Our stat priority is as follows:
Hit/Spirit > Int > Haste > Mastery > Crit > Other
1) You must be hit capped. For us, this is 1742 rating (except space goats, who only need 1640). This can be achieved through either hit or spirit (via our talent).
2) Int is the most valuable stat after being hit capped. It provides a larger mana pool, spell power and a slight boost to our crit.
3) Haste and Mastery are nearly equal in value, with a slight edge going to haste. There is still some modeling going on in this area, so things may change. Also, I haven't seen the exact stat ratios, but I'm assuming that these two are fairly close to Int, meaning it's nearly always better to get the socket bonus on the gear.
4) Crit is still the lost step-child stat.
This means your gems are (almost without exception):
Brilliant <Red> (red)
Reckless <Orange> (yellow)
Purified <Purple> ( blue)
You must still have 2 blues to activate your meta (Chaotic X). Yes, I know what it says to activate the meta, but Blizzard realized they screwed up and will be fixing in the next patch (that's a client side patch, not the multiple hot fixes we've already been through). The requirement once again is two "blue" (or purple or green) gems.
Yes,
Chaotic Shadowspirit is the latest greatest meta for us. However, we're not picking that meta for it's 54 crit rating. We're picking it because the 3% crit damage bonus is so overwhelming. Because
Chaotic Skyflare and
Chaotic Skyfire have the same 3% modifier (with lower +crit rating number), they can be considered green quality replacements until you can afford the shadowspirit.
Unlike the WotLK world, it's acceptable to have more than 2 blue gems, as the purified allow us to fine tune our hit rating. Between this and reforging, it's quite possible to get exactly 1742 (1640) hit rating (or slightly above) thus minimizing the wasted stats. Also socket bonuses are getting rather large compared to the value of the gems (in some cases a free gem). So socketing a third purified to pick up 30 crit or 10 int isn't the catastrophe that socket bonuses used to be.
Because every gear set is different, I can't tell you exactly what to do. Only you can sit down and work it out.
The rules are straight forward, and I stole them (and rewrote them) from Masanbol over at EJ.
Excess hit/spirit (if any) gets reforged.
All crit gets reforged (spirit until you're hit capped, then either haste or mastery).
Once hit capped, all reforging is to either haste or mastery.
Masabol's recommendation is to reforge to whichever (haste or mastery) the item does NOT have.
For example, an item with crit and haste, reforge crit to mastery. So, every item has both haste and mastery on it. He also recommends any item with only haste and mastery NOT be reforged.
Since I've covered gems above, I'll only show gear and enchants below. Take special notice. We are not avoiding spirit any longer. We need a certain amount to supplement our hit rating (via talents). So while, in pure stat terms, we'd like to take pure haste/mastery gear, that's not possible, because we'll find ourselves under the hit rating.
I've added 2 pieces above i346, one is a Leatherworking product (BoE), the other is a rep item. I figured there'd be more. I did not include any of the Valor point items. Even "inexpensive" items, at 1,650 valor points require 23 days of doing the daily random .. or actual raiding. Which is beyond the scope of this article.
Also, understand, there's no real "BiS" list, as there's no real wrong answer, so long as you meet the sole criteria: hit cap. You want to be at (or slightly above) 1742 (1640) hit rating, and you can use any combination of gear, reforging and even gemming to get there.
Head
Helm of the Inward Eye -- 2,200 Justice Points
Cowl of the Unseen World -- High Priestest Azil,,Heroic Stonecore
Arcanum of Hyjal -- Revered, Guardians of Hyjal
Neck
There are manyShoulder
Burden of Lost Humanity -- Lord Walden, Heroic Shadowfang Keep
Fallen Snow Shoulderguards -- Grand Vizier Ertan, Heroic Vortex Pinnacle
Seafoam Mantle -- 1,650 Justice Points
Lesser Inscription of Charged Lodestone -- Therazane, Honored
Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone -- Therazane, Exalted
** Note, you must complete the Deepholm quest chains to open up Therazane rep, then a series of dailies and/or wearing their tabard in level 80 dungeons to adequately level your reputation with Therazane.
Chest
Breastplate of the Stilled Heart -- Commander Springvale, Heroic Shadowfang Keep
Chromis Chestpiece -- Commander Ulthrok, Heroic Throne of TIdes
Vest of the Waking Dream -- 2,200 Justice Points
Enchant Chest - Peerless Stats -- Enchanting
Wrist
Manacles of Pain -- Romm'ogg Bonecrusher, Heroic Blackrock Caverns
Shackles of the Betrayed -- Vanessa VanCleef, Heroic Deadmines
Enchant Bracer - Greater Speed -- Enchanting
Hand
Gleaning Gloves -- 1,650 Justice Points
Ionic Gloves -- General Husam, Heroic Lost City of the Tol'Vir
Old Friend's Gloves -- Helix Gearbreaker, Heroic Deadmines
Enchant Gloves - Greater Mastery -- Enchanting
Waist
Stormleather Sash -- Leatherworking
Belt of Petrified Tears -- Temple Guardian Anhuur, Heroic Halls of Origination
Belt of the Still Stream -- 1650 Justice Points
Sash of Prophecy -- Ramkahen, Revered
Ebonsteel Belt Buckle -- Blacksmithing
Legs
Chaotic Wrappings -- Setesh, Heroic Halls of Origination
Heat Wave Leggings -- Karsh Steelbender, Heroic Blackrock Caverns
Leggings of Soothing Silence -- 2,200 Justice Points
Wilderness Legguards -- Guardians of Hyjal, Revered
Powerful Ghostly Spellthread -- Tailoring
Feet
Dark Iron Chain BootsEarthmender's Boots -- Earthen Ring, Exalted
Enchant Boots - Haste -- Enchanting
Enchant Boots - Mastery -- Enchanting
Weapon
Elementium Hammer -- Blacksmithing
Scepter of Power -- Setesh, Heroic Halls of Origination
Shimmering Morningstar -- Hellscream's Reach/Baradin's Warden, Revered
Torturer's Mercy -- Romm'ogg Bonecrusher, Heroic Blackrock Caverns
*The Morningstars require PvP
Beak of Julak-Doom -- Julak-Doom, Rare/Elite, TWilight Highlands (bring friends)
Biting Wind -- Grand Vizier Ertan, Heroic Vortex Pinnacle
Elementium Spellblade -- Blacksmithing
Modgud's Blade -- General Umbriss, Heroic Grim Batol
Enchant Weapon - Power Torrent -- Enchanting
Off Hand
Elementium Stormshield -- Blacksmithing
Crepuscular Shield -- Ascendant Lord Obsidius
Shield of the Mists -- 950 Justice Points
Zora's Ward -- Siamat, Heroic Lost City of the Tol'Vir
Enchant Off-Hand - Superior Intellect -- Enchanting
Relic
Book of Dark Prophecies -- High Priestess Azil, Heroic Stonecore
Book of the Well Sung Song -- Vanessa VanCleef, Heroic Deadmines
Captured Lightning -- Asaad, Heroic Vortex Pinnacle
Tattooed Eyeball -- Inscription
Ring (x2)
There are manyTrinket (x2)
Anhuur's Hymnal -- Temple Guardian Anhuur, Heroic Halls of Origination
Witching Hourglass -- Ascendant Lord Obsidius, Heroic Blackrock Caverns
Tendrils of Burrowing Dark -- Ozruk, Heroic Stonecore
Gale of Shadows -- Erudax, Heroic Grim Batol
Sorrowsong -- Siamat, Heroic Lost City of the Tol'Vir
Post by brrobid
Chaotic Shadowspirit is better than
Ember ?
We're discussing Elemental here. A little napkin math:
2% max mana does nothing for our dps, just increases our mana pool. Our talents, some raid buffs and a proper "rotation" make our mana pool adequate in most situations. And in situations where our pool isn't adequate (e.g. some funky fight mechanic), 2% more isn't really going to make a difference. Suffice it to say that my opening sentence is correct: it does nothing for our dps.
So, the only value we get from that meta is 54 Int, which is another small boost to our mana pool (similarly useless, for the same reasons), 54 spell power and a very small boost to our crit % (it rounds down to 0, if you're doing the math).
Compare that to a slight larger (yet still a rounding error) increase to our crit rating and 3% more crit damage.
Let's just consider Lava Burst. It always crits (right? you always have flame shock ticking, so it always crits .. right?). Currently, in straight blue gear, mostly i333 and i346 I'm pushing over 9K NON-crit lava bursts (oops, FS fell off). Let's see what that means.
With the Ember, 54 additional spell power means more damage. Let's say the coefficient is nearly 1 (it's not, last time I looked it was 92% glyphed and talented with a currently non-existent talent), so 50 extra damage.
So, 9050 x 1.00 = 9050 crit damage. Added to the base damage = 18100 damage for a crit.
With Chaotic, we don't get the extra base damage, but we get 103% crit damage instead of 100%.
So, 9000 * 1.03 = 9270, plus the base 9000 damage is 18270. As you can see, we gain 170 damage every time we cast Lavaburst.
And that scales. As our base lava burst damage increases, the amount of crit damage increases accordingly (with the chaotic). It stays the same with the Ember.
Same is true for all of our spells. Although we have to take crit rates into account with them, we find the same thing happening. The chaotic is better, and will continue to get better. While the Ember stays the same (and actually loses relative value as damage inflation occurs on our gear).
Post by brrobid
I bow to your superior knowledge :)
However, currently, the CSD is worthless, as has been stated, so until they patch it, its second to the Ember as far as I can see.
No need for bowing, it's good to learn how stuff works (even outside of WoW *grin*). And, to your point, it's not an entirely valid argument .. yet.
I say "not entirely". As for the relative value, that's still an interesting discussion. Because of reforging, and our (Elemental Shaman) ability/desire to use spirit as hit rating, we're not quite as gimped as other classes that also prefer the Chaotic, with it's current incarnation.
I haven't seen the math (and my napkin math skills are hardly up to the challenge), but I would suspect that the Chaotic is still a better choice. As I've said, I can't argue that. But we can make good use of Purified <purple> gems, where many other classes cannot. Assuming those count as blue (and not 1 blue + 1 red, which would totally suck) .. which is something else I haven't looked up (should do that, I guess).
