And so I rant.
#1
Rant on:

------------- Windfury Proc Rate --------------

Somewhere along the line I picked up WindFuryFu for Faul my Enhancement Shaman. It handles statistic tracking while using Windfury. Average DPS, total procs, highest damage, that sort of thing. And noticed that with the 1.40 speed dagger I was using, I was getting a solid 12% proc rate. So I set out to test that more thoroughly.

With an attack speed of...

...1.50 I got 12% over 5000 hits.
...2.10 I got 15% over 5000 hits.
...2.80 I got 18% over 5000 hits.

Now, I rather enjoyed my stats class back in the day, so I wasn't expecting a perfect 20% especially since there is a 4% chance that with a weapon faster than 3.00s for a proc to occur during that invisible cooldown- but over 5000 hits it should have been approaching 20% with any weapon. And even failing to approach 20%, as all the weapons tested are both slower than 1.49s and faster than 3.00s- they should all suffer the exact same penalty from missed procs due to the cooldown. So I threw together some fake numbers and I have a theory.

I believe that the proc rate is scaling to attack speed in a bit of leftover code from when the windfury bonus was +dam and not +AP.



Lets assume for a moment that all three of those weapons are 30DPS and that my current level of Windfury was adding a flat 100 damage to my procs. We'll ignore chance to hit, gear/stats increases to damage, and crits in this math.

30DPS * 1.50s = 45DPH (Damage Per Hit)
(45DPH + 100 * 12% Proc Rate) / 1.50s * 2 Hits = 23.2 Average DPS Gain

30DPS * 2.10s = 63DPH
(63DPH + 100 * 15%) / 2.10s * 2 = 23.29 Average DPS Gain

30DPS * 2.80s = 84DPH
(84DPH + 100 * 18%) / 2.80 * 2 = 23.88 Average DPS Gain

So all three weapon speeds would yield essentially the same damage bonus.



Now, lets say instead of a flat 100 damage gain it adds attack power that translates into 25DPS extra.

(30DPS + 25DPS) * 1.50s = 82.5DPH
(82.5DPH * 12%) / 1.50s * 2 = 13.2 Average DPS Gain

(30DPS + 25DPS) * 2.10s = 115.5DPH
(115.5DPH * 12%) / 2.10s * 2 = 16.5 Average DPS Gain

(30DPS + 25DPS) * 2.80s = 154DPH
(154DPH * 12%) / 2.80s * 2 = 19.8 Average DPS Gain


If Windfury was using a flat damage increase still, from my data I would have been getting the same DPS across the board. However, they scaled the bonus to attack speed by making it attack power instead of damage. It looks like they left the scaling of the proc rate as well though, which essentially doubles the compensation for attack speed differences.

So, I've heard Enhancement shamans passing about ideas for combinations of weapon buffs and I say find the slowest hitting weapons you can until they remove the proc rate scaling (I haven't tested it yet this patch, but I will). And use Windfury on both, because the closer your weapon speeds get to that invisible three second cooldown, the less chances to proc you will miss. With the ability for Windfury crits to trigger Flurry and Unleashed Rage, it will be that much easier to sustain them both.

------------ Rockbiter vs Windfury ---------------

Now, assuming you've picked out a shiny 3.00s 50DPS weapon- lets compare Rockbiter to Windfury using a level 68 that just picked up the newest level of Windfury. This shaman also has the elemental weapons talent, which as some folk have noticed heavily favors Windfury. He gains a 15% boost to his rockbiter, pushing it from 49DPS gain to 57DPS (it seems to round this up to a round number). However, the Windfury gain cannot be calculated without the weapon involved as it is a 40% increased to the ENTIRE Windfury effect, not just the bonus damage. So you get a 40% increase to each Windfury 'hit'.

Alright. Lets assume this shaman say... has... 1059 base attack power or 75DPS bonus on his weapon... and... oh, I don't know... 22.38% crit. Now we're going to ignore chance to hit, because in theory it effects the weapon buffs the same- but really, I just hate working with that math. I'll also ignore the Flurry and Unleashed Rage, because that gets really complicated and with a high enough crit you should almost be sustaining them all the time anyway.

- Rockbiter -

(50DPS + 75DPS + 57DPS) * 3.00s = 546DPH

77.62% No Crit * (546DPH) + 22.38% Crit * (546DPH * 2) = 668.19DPH
668.19DPH / 3.00s = 222.73DPS

- Windfury -
Base: (50DPS + 75DPS) * 3.00s = 375DPH
Windfury: (50DPS + 75DPS + 445AP/14) * 3.00s * 140% = 658.5DPH

[77.62% * (375DPH) + 22.38% * (375DPH * 2)]
+ 20% Windfury * [ 77.62% * (658.5DPH) + 22.38% (658.5DPH *2)] * 2 = 679.05DPH
679.05DPH / 3.00s = 226.35DPS

So the actual DPS gain for the two weapon buffs is very similar. So I guess it's really a matter of what you like. That 222.73DPS on Rockbiter will be a constant thing throughout every fight. But that 226.35DPS windfury has the chance of the legendary triple crit and everything inbetween.

So the damage ranges are...

Rockbiter: 546 to 1092
Windfury: 375 to 3009


So it's a wider range on Windfury, with a lower minimum, but theoretically with Kre- err... this shaman's crit and attack power the actual Average DPS is very similar. I guess it's really a matter of taste. Do you prefer the steady reliable damage of Rockbiter or the flashy burst damage of Windfury.



I prefer Windfury myself, though that is influenced by Faul's first trip through RFD. There is something interesting about hitting elites 10 levels over you for 1 damage and then having windfury proc for 300.




Thus ends my rant about weapon skills.

You silly elementals and your flametongue/frostbrand are on your own- I don't know anything about those.
Reply
#2
A far less refined empirical note:

I got to Outland, and I was getting beat down with double Windfury. Switched to Rockbiter and my survivability went up. A lot.

I got to Karazhan, still using Rockbiter, and got some weird looks. Also, I was staring at the difference between Kret's and my damage on Damage Meters, trying to decide what the heck was going on. Switched both back to Windfury and I started closing that gap.

Durrrrr, I have no idea, but one versus the other seems to have made a huge difference, in alternating directions, at different times. It could also be dumb luck.
Reply
#3
As it stands right now, Rockbiter will be be better on faster weapons with a lower crit rate.

The slower the weapons get and the higher the crit rate, the more benefit you get from Windfury.
Reply
#4
I know this is an old weapons tirade, but figured I would just drop my 2cents into it on behalf of the non-enhancy weapon imbues. I of course won't go that deep into theorycraft for it because I am just to simple of a person to go through all that bloody math.

Flametongue

Basically the same as a permanent Seal of Righteousness if someone plays a pally. It will benefint more from faster weapons, and guess what we get daggers Smile But unlike righteousness, it scale much more effectively with spell damage. Not that righteousness doesn't, but I see a much larger variation in damage with the addition of say 100 spell damage then I do with righteousness. Basically if you have stacked spell damage, this will definetly be more useful to you. Will it out perform Rockbiter or Windfury. Probably not because those with so much spell damage will also probably not have the melee stats to back it up.

Frostbrand

Zee's imbue of choice, mostly because it also scales with spell damage but you get obvious benefit with less. Generally speaking, if you don't have melee stats or an mft of spell damage, use this one just so you can get that little burst proc. And heck, it helps with kiting as well if you do that. Mind you, dont rely entirely on that for kiting cause it is kinda random. Besides thats what frost shock and earthbind totems are for.
Reply
#5
Yeah, from what I've read the flametongue does not scale spell power to attack rate- so if you are elemental and have a grip of spell power it will add the same bonus to a 1.4 dagger as a 2.7 mace. And with the tendency of good caster gear to be daggers, this works out nice. If Faul was elemental or restoration, that is how he would roll.
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)