With this week’s maintenance, Beast Mastery is getting a “6%” buff. Cool, right? Well, don’t get too excited. For one, it’s not a true 6% buff since it leaves out some important things like Beast Cleave or any pet auto attacks — it just buffs primary abilities and most of the talents. Secondly, all this buff does is let us keep the status quo. Everyone is getting 15 ilevels on their weapon this week from the Netherlight Crucible, and Beast Mastery scales like crap with weapon damage while other classes and specs get tons of value from the weapon increase.
So this buff really just puts us back where we were, with maybe a tiny 1-2% extra. On top of that, we’re going to fall even more behind in AoE/cleave since that isn’t getting any benefit at all from the Crucible or this buff (except for Stomp, which is included in the buff). We need more than 1-2% relative to other classes!
Anyway, let’s get to the Netherlight Crucible. I updated my Wowhead guide with basic information on how to use the Crucible and determine upgrades and what traits to take. I’ll reproduce some of that here.
Updated Jan 2, 2018:
Modified values of the traits. The damage proc traits from Crucible tier 2 lose some value as our ilevel goes up in Antorus, so they are now more in line with the stat traits. I also removed the Dire Frenzy specific trait list since it’s proven to be an unpopular build, and the trait values are almost identical.
If your overall ilevel is still low (below 940), it’s likely that the damage proc traits are still highest on your list. But if your ilevel is high (approaching 960 equipped), you may find that traits are valued even lower than what’s listed here. As always with BM, you really need to sim yourself.
The general trend is moving towards getting the tier 2 stat traits (they’re all pretty good) instead of the damage proc traits, if you have that option. They’re just more useful at higher ilevels, and they also blow away the damage procs in any kind of multi-target scenario.
First up is the trait values. This lets you quickly and easily compare relics in the Crucible by simply adding up all of the ilevel values in a given path.
I just want to start with the standard disclaimer: This stuff can all change slightly based on your gear, legendaries, overall ilevel, chosen talents, etc. These numbers are going to be reasonably accurate for most BM hunters, but if you have the knowledge to sim your own stuff, I’d always recommend that over using these numbers.
Single Target Trait Values
Based on this build. If you are using 
Aspect of the Beast, the Kill Command traits will lose a little value and the Cobra Shot traits may gain some value. If you are using a Dire Frenzy build, the trait values are very similar.
| Weapon Traits | Approx. ilevel value |
 Jaws of Thunder |
+7 |
 Pack Leader |
+5 |
 Unleash the Beast |
+5 |
 Slithering Serpents |
+4 |
 Spitting Cobras |
+3 |
 Wilderness Expert |
+2 |
 Furious Swipes |
+0 |
 Natural Reflexes |
+0 |
 Mimiron’s Shell |
+0 |
 Focus of the Titans |
+0 |
| Crucible Traits | Approx. ilevel value |
 Shocklight |
+7 |
 Master of Shadows |
+7 |
 Light Speed |
+7 |
 Torment the Weak |
+7 |
 Murderous Intent |
+6 |
 Secure in the Light |
+6 |
 Infusion of Light |
+6 |
 Shadowbind |
+6 |
 Chaotic Darkness |
+5 |
 Dark Sorrows |
+3 |
 Refractive Shell |
+0 |
 Light’s Embrace |
+0 |
AoE Damage Value of Traits
Furious Swipes and Dark Sorrows are trickier to put a number on since most of their value comes in pure AoE situations and their value also fluctuates with the number of targets. If you spend a good deal of your time in Mythic+ it can be worthwhile to have these traits on your BM Hunter Artifact, but not at major sacrifice to single target potential. It might be worth using a slightly less valuable single target relic if you get the added bonus of one of these AoE traits.
Another thing to consider is that the stat traits in Crucible tier 2, such as Shocklight or Master of Shadows have quite a bit more value than the the damage proc traits in cleave/AoE situations, despite them being relatively close on the single target lists. You should aim for these stat traits whenever possible.
So, as usual for BM, traits make a big difference. Don’t throw away any of your relics without trying them out in the Crucible first. You also might want to consider spending all that Veiled Argunite on relics to try to roll the dream combos. Let’s be honest, you’re probably never going to get that Arcanocrystal anyway.
Simming the Crucible traits
Update: You can ignore most of the instructions below for simming and instead get the SimPermut addon, which generates Netherlight Crucible options for simming, which you can then copy and paste into a Raidbots advanced sim.
If you’re familiar with Simulation Craft/Raidbots, here is how you can sim the new light and shadow traits
This requires that your main sim is called “baseline” — it’s the text at the top of your input that should say hunter=”baseline” and then just copy/paste all of this below the rest of your sim input — alternatively, you can just copy and paste the various crucible lines to see those individually. You can change the “1” to a “2” or “3” to simulate having 2 or 3 relics with that same trait.
copy=Shadow_TormentTheWeak,baseline
crucible=1780:1
copy=Shadow_Shadowbind,baseline
crucible=1778:1
copy=Shadow_ChaoticDarkness,baseline
crucible=1779:1
copy=Shadow_DarkSorrows,baseline
crucible=1781:1
copy=Shadow_MasterOfShadows,baseline
crucible=1771:1
copy=Shadow_MurderousIntent,baseline
crucible=1774:1
copy=Light_Shocklight,baseline
crucible=1777:1
copy=Light_LightSpeed,baseline
crucible=1770:1
copy=Light_SecureInTheLight,baseline
crucible=1782:1
copy=Light_InfusionOfLight,baseline
crucible=1783:1
If you have any questions about the Crucible, feel free to comment. And good luck on your relic rolls.
P.S. If you’re seeing a notification for this post twice, sorry about that. Blizzard released Crucible trait changes literally minutes after I first published this, so I had to take it down and re-run all the numbers. 🙄
Hey Bendak,
first thank’s a lot for this post and the trait values, I will sim it on my own later, but this “first look” is a very nice info!
I have another question for the topic of light and shadow powers from “tier2”. Will it be possible to change them? For example: my weapon is at 63 points, so I won’t get all of the “tier3” trait tommorow. Can I use the better ones from tier2 even if the alined tier3 isn’t the best one, so I can change the tier2 when I reach the needed value of points in my weapon? Or am I forced to take the worse tier2 because of wanting the better tier3 in a week?
Once you pick a trait for a particular relic it is permanent. You can only choose a new option by socketing a new relic into your weapon.
I honestly think we are in a good place right now, so “keeping the status quo” is not a bad thing. For the past several weeks I’ve been able to consistently place among the top damage dealers while raiding (LFR, normal and heroic), and I haven’t been doing bad at all in M+ as well.
Also, I should point out that I’ve been trying both Mastery and crit builds, and to be honest Mastery is not that hot, right now as a crit focused gear seems to enable a larger damage output, mostly because of the Dire Beast related procs enabling Bestial Wrath to be up most of the time.
Mythic ToS is the main place we’re suffering: https://www.warcraftlogs.com/statistics/13
Yes, we’re still viable and can do well (at least on some fights), but IMO the gap — especially on cleave/AoE — is too large. We still need some help there. If Blizzard wanted to make us a single target focused spec, that’s fine I guess, but if you’re going to be weak in one area you’d expect to be strong in the other. But the fact is we’re weak in one area and slightly below average in the other.
I honestly thought the stat boosts would be worth more overall? Are the damage traits really that good?
That used to be the case up until yesterday when they tuned the traits. Stat ones got reduced, and the damage procs got scaling bonuses. For example, the proc rate now increases with haste and they are affected by Bestial Wrath. They were static before.
“and they are affected by Bestial Wrath. ”
Oh wow, yeah that changes a shit ton of choices.
Wonder how much stat weights are going to change because of that.
Mastery gets devauled fairly badly it seems, which also probably makes Stomp >>> Frenzy. Especially so if those damage procs are indeed affected by BW, as Stomps BW uptime is quite a bit higher than Frenzy’s.
“Let’s be honest, you’re probably never going to get that Arcanocrystal anyway.”
I have opened 15 trinket tokens so far… If I get another pvp trinket I’m gonna punch something…
I’ve lost track of how many I’ve opened — somewhere in the vicinity of 25 though. I did get a pair of socketed 915 stat sticks (crit and haste) but they’re very slightly worse than my 930 ToS trinkets. Though I guess there is something to be said about the reliability of stat sticks over random procs. Once I see what my initial crucible rolls are I’ll see if I should be spending the Veiled Argunite on relics instead.
Keep trying!
I finally replaced both of my old ones (an 860 Arcano and 880 BTI) – I got a 925 AGL/Vers stat stick (drat the vers, but it’s still better than the old ones), and an absolutely dream 925 Chrono Shard.
(One other thing that I mentioned in the other thread – the ToS trinkets are pretty much all ST-only. They (esp something like the Owl) lose a ton of value as soon as you get a second target, nevermind Mistress/Harj.)
Awesome guide as usual. Pretty sure I messed up my crucible choices. lol, I checked icy-veins before I got the notification in my e-mail about your post.
Throwing this in for amusement:
Here I thought I got rid of my damn Emerald Nightmare trinkets. Rolled a 925 AGL/Vers stat stick and a 925 Chronoshard a few weeks ago.
Just rolled got a 910 BTI. Thanks, Blizz. *laugh*
(It’s actually not all that much higher than the stat stick, but still…)
Waitaminute.
The area we needed the most help on was cleave.
The buff doesn’t include cleave?
The heck is going on? And they’d better not say it’s because we “can’t have it all.” “Cleave” specs like UH DK and Fire mage are also really good ST specs right now.
At my gear range, MM is getting about 55K in weapons buffs, compared to about 25k for BM. Given that MM was ahead already, a 6% *total* BM buff would have been just about equitable, but a 6% *partial* buff isn’t. Especially when that buff doesn’t touch the weakest part of the spec.
I r frustrate. I’m not sure how to address this productively, or if I even have the power to do so.
The 6% buff applies to the following:
“Affected Spells: Multi-Shot (2643), Kill Command (34026), Chimaera Shot (53209), Barrage (120360), Barrage (120361), A Murder of Crows (131900), Chimaera Shot (171454), Chimaera Shot (171457), Cobra Shot (193455), Volley (194392), Stomp (199530), Stampede (201594)”
No increase to pet auto attacks/basic attacks, or Hati’s attacks. So no buff to beast cleave.
So, is Dire Frenzy back in the game with crucible?
Dire Frenzy is fine. Problem is if you have some decently high level T19 pieces, you’re usually better off sticking with Stomp using 2p T19 and 4p T20. Without T19, Dire Frenzy and Stomp are pretty damn close.
Is this going to affect PVP in any matter ?
Tier 2 and tier 3 traits dont work in PVP.
Sorry for double post, posted in the wrong place. Awesome guide as usual. Pretty sure I messed up my crucible choices. lol, I checked icy-veins before I got the notification in my e-mail about your post. My mistake for listening to a marks hunter in the first place.
Quick feedback: simming both in AotB with Qa’pla and KC with Roar/Pry lines up nearly exactly with Bendak’s chart, and my gear isn’t as good as his, so the table seems pretty applicable across gear ranges and talent choices. One key caveat: AoE situations increase the relative effectiveness of the tier 2 stat traits and decreases the relative ranking of the straight damage choices. Overall, I was somewhat surprised at how little the difference there was in trait value between AoTB and KC setups, but the chart seems pretty spot on for both.
One other interesting thing I noticed was a slight decrease in the power of furious swipes relics relative to unleash the beast and focus of the titans for AoE situations. Don’t know if that’s the lack of buff to beast cleave, the increase in weapon ilvl starting to make multishot a little more effective, or what. It was a small change, but noticeable given furious swipes’ former dominance. Right now unleash the beast seems like a great “jack of all trades” trait with good value in most fight situations in ToS, so I’m tending to favor it when available.
Thanks for always posting such great guides, Bendak! I have a question, do you know which nether crucible traits are good for AOTB build? I know the traits for that one are little weird compared to normal Stomp or DF builds. Thanks! 🙂
Almost the same, except the two Kill Command traits would go down about 2 ilevels, and Cobra Shot traits may go up 1-2 each. But if using legendary boots+AOTB it doesn’t change much since you still get a lot of Kill Commands.
Oh awesome! Thanks so much. Yeah I use boots + belt except on DI, which I use boots + sephuz. Ever since I switched over to AOTB my damage has gone up exponentially! Still cannot believe that talent that I overlooked so hard is this good lol.
At what point will you be dropping 2 pce T19 Bendak?
Whenever I get replacement pieces that perform better due to sheer stats. So far any combination without T19 I’ve tried has been lower DPS. I’m kinda worried about Antorus as well, because as it stands now the T21 bonuses are tremendously awful. I sometimes wonder if T19 could survive even though the next tier — I’m using gloves and cloak, which aren’t huge stat pieces, so it’s a possibility.
For example, my t19 cloak is 905 + socket — a 930 cloak with a socket is only a 9k dps upgrade in pure stats. My t19 gloves are 910 and a pair of 935 gloves I have is an 18k dps upgrade. The T19 bonus is worth a lot more than that.
Thank you for adding that info. I kept the t19 bonus as well (But I only have 890), but the 2p seemed to be such a useful need for my Stomp build. Even when i simmed gear that said it would be an upgrade (random 930 pieces), sheen I actually tested it out in gameplay, my DPS showed a drop from lack of t19 2p even if they were 890.
Also ty for the NC post. You made it make a lot more sense them all the other posts I’ve read about it lol
Thanks for the reply Bendak. This helps me out a lot. I am currently running my two highest pieces of T19 (905 shoulders and 910 legs). I was thinking maybe replacing with 930 + random pieces, but it looks like that would be a bad idea. I really hope Blizz review our T21 because hanging onto T19 in Antorus just seems so bad on their part with design.
I am STILL running with Tier 9, i900 shoulders and i890 gloves. I simmed with i935 shoulders and i925 gloves (both +35 ilvls upgrade each) and result was about 150k less dps, thats like 12% which is huge.
I might have to start puging heroic or even mythic NH to have at least 2 high ilvl tier gear for upcoming raid and it just seems super wrong to must have set bonus from 2 tiers older raid.
Was havinga look at icyveins there i still like to refer to it back and forth as i think most of us would agree azorthorian is a hunter that is pretty good, anyways was surprised that convergence of fates according to his trinket sheet is basically the best trinket n the game atm, thought it would have been defunct by now, also some of his cruicible trits he values slightly different even segregating them into stomp buil dire frenzy build aspect of the beast etc, as for this crucible are we at a point were equipping a lower level relic with better traits is going to be better or is relic ilevel still best if its higher?
As far as I understand it, traits are way more important than ilvl for our relics as BM Hunters. I personally dropped a 925 for a 910 and a 915 for a 900 purely because the traits through the relics to tier 3 are so good (referenced Bendaks chart for relic bonuses before I did anything).
These are just an average set of numbers, as I said in the disclaimer simming your own (with something like raidbots) is always preferable. I suppose I could break them down into various builds but they don’t change too much except for AotB where Kill Command traits drop a little bit.
The other thing is “ilevel” is not a precise measurement. For example, all the traits I have listed at +10 at not identical DPS, they’re all just very close to a +10 ilevel value (single target). There could be a 2-3k dps spread between them, but that’s small enough that it’s not worth listing one as +11 and one as +9, for example. When you’re talking 1 million+ total DPS this is not very much.
As for Convergence, all you can do is sim it. My 915 crit stick sims ~15k higher than my 905 Convergence. I’m sure that would change if I was using the legendary bracers.
> The other thing is “ilevel” is not a precise measurement.
Right, but it’s a hell of a lot easier to understand and use than some other theory sites that just post a massive list of simmed numbers. So thanks for that. 🙂
As long as it’s somewhere near accurate general case (and it seems to be), that pair of tables is awesome and most appreciated!
Nice post, btw i got Arcanocrystal 910ilvl 😜
So after one week of stats, BM’s relative status appears to have not changed. Still substantially below average in the mid rankings, and bottom 3 (along with two barely-played specs, survival and outlaw) at higher rankings. Still passable at tunneling fights like Gorath, and horrible at anything else.
It seems odd that a spec that can throw down over 130,000 heroic raid parses in a week can continue to have such a low ceiling for throughput… and that there’s really not that many people upset about it, as near as I can tell. I wonder if any changes are planned for 7.3.5, or if the Antorus fight formats will cater to BM enough that we’ll be able to limp along. Hard to say, though the t21 bonuses certainly aren’t giving me a lot of cause for optimism.
I don’t know. I’m relatively ok with my personal position within my raid so I can understand the lack of outcry, but I can *feel* the spec’s ceiling limitations on some fights. It’s not a pleasant feeling. 🙁
Also, I’m really getting tired of having to head back to the crucible to do math every time I get a relic. That took all of about 3 days to get old. =/ Though on the other hand the crucible’s a brilliant idea to keep you doing content- got to unlock those slots! BM’s crucible power would seem relatively backloaded, since we’re so into the traits as opposed to the up front ilvl boost. Time will tell if that pans out.
Yep. I’m also hoping Antorus gives us more options to shine because it seems like Tomb of Sargeras is the anti-BM raid. We’re now decent at single target (but still only average in the best case), and absolutely terrible at pretty much everything else in that raid. No spread cleave to speak of, and poor 2-3 target numbers. I’m all for strengths and weaknesses — I don’t really care if I’m strong at single target or multi-target, I’d just like to be strong in one of them.
We’re in a better place in dungeons, but I really want ToS to just be over with at this point.
Speaking as a guy who has received not one, not two, but FOUR elementium bomb squirrel generators (including one at 945 that was STILL a major dps downgrade)…
….congrats. Pardon me, but I’ll be over in the corner, with my metal squirrel family.
Icon of Rot is my squirrel generator. I’ve gotten no less than 13 of them when you combine bonus rolls, caches, nethershards, and argunite. Wish I was kidding.
Holy Schnikeys. You sir have my honest and sincere sympathy. (Also, hitting “reply” vs “comment on this post” is apparently hard, sorry for the odd orphan above.)
First world problem here… I got a 910 Arcano Crystal on my demon hunter alt… I got so annoyed XD
Am I reading the patch notes correctly? Our 6% adjustment is becoming a 12% adjustment on PTR?
No, that is just the existing hotfix being datamined.
Well, damn. That sucks.
I seem to have reached a point (approaching 960 wpn ilvl, which isn’t all that high these days) where AoTB *without* qa’pla is simming well higher than more-frequent KC specs like killer cobra and qa’pla AOTB. This is even with 2 piece tier 19 and 3 jaws of thunder relics, all of which should be helping to keep high-KC specs relevant- every sim permutation I run tells me to shed mastery like mad and stack crit and haste. My mastery wasn’t particularly high to begin with (mid 60’s) and now it’s in the low 50’s, but the sims are actually weighting crit *more* heavily as I stack it past 40%. I’m now sitting at mid 30’s haste, 40% crit, almost no versa and rapidly declining mastery, but my sim dps just keeps going up.
I’ve seen an objective increase in my dps using AoTB with qa’pla over killer cobra, but I’m not sold on non-qa’pla AoTB, especially with my relic setup. I also note that qa’pla is universally the 2nd highest rated legendary in heroic logs, after sephuz. It feels really strange KC’ing only on regular cooldown when it’s supposed to be the signature move. Is the combination of traits not favoring mastery and higher weapon ilvl really driving us toward cobra shot as our primary damage dealer, or did I just pass some kind of break point with my low mastery where weapon damage and haste has taken over? Either way, I’m concerned- in this setup, I’m pretty sure I should be using cobra shot relics, and I frankly dislike doing so because of their monodimensional nature. It’s hard enough to get good cleave dps already; cobra shot relics feel like I’m just giving up. (You at least keep KC going, even during multishot spam…)The problem is probably more complex than I’m giving it credit for, given haste-based CD reduction, but in any event, I’m confused and concerned.
I’m a lot lower than you, but my general feeling is that one of the main reasons AotB is doing better than KC, and boots going down in value some, is that crit levels are reaching such high numbers now that DB procs are eating every GCD in sight. I mean, my gear isn’t that good (about 930 equipped) and I’m at 45% crit right now. 5 DBs out at once isn’t unheard of at all, which also makes Cobra just ridiculous (because of the level 15 talent).
I bet if you messed around with non-OwtP builds the value of Killer Cobra and boots would start to rise again.
I run Prydaz/Sephuz, and AotB – I think boots sim either the same or slightly higher than Prydaz for me, but that shield is totally OP for raids.
It’s a fair point. I think I’ve seen cobra shot crit for over 1.5M, which is ridiculous given that unbuffed it crits for just over half that. Dire Beast buffed cobra + late BW t20 bonus = just bloody silly.
Given how poorly we scale with weapon damage, though, this feels like a box canyon in terms of potential ceiling.
Patch 7.3 should be called “Eve online”…
Cheers, man! I’ve been looking for that string.
Hi Bendak,
I am little “confused” with crucible traits valued 10 in your table above. I have been lucky (i guess) to get https://www.wowhead.com/spell=252906 on all 3 relics and 2 of those have jaw / KC trait option in tier 3 as well. The 3rd one has one of the cobra shot buff trait.
I will be hitting rank 66 soon(ish) and get my 3rd relic’s tier 2 trait unlocked. Should I chose https://www.wowhead.com/spell=252906 on 3rd relic as well or should I go for one of the other traits?
I have not seen Torment applied twice on same target, so I guess the benefit of having all 3 relics with same trait is higher chance to apply Torment and then get to 3 stacks. Do you think its the best way to go or is it better to chose a different trait since its still a “chance” and even with 3 its not guaranteed to be up 100% all 3 stacks.
Thanks!
If you have 3 Torment the Weak traits then it does 3x the damage with the same proc rate. So it’s fine to have 3 of them, it should actually be pretty nice for single target dps.
Thanks!
Now back to grinding that AP for 66 and then some more …..
Interesting to see Torment https://www.wowhead.com/spell=252906 doing pretty good damage with all 3 relics. I got my 3rd relic slot unlocked and I have all 3 relics with Torment.
Today in raid it was doing anywhere between 4% to over 7% of total damage. Single target fights were in higher numbers.
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/jyt2dHm46ZxwaM3R#comparesearchplayer=5&view=analytical&type=damage-done&source=5&fight=2
In the above log, it actually did more than A Murder of Crow and its been pretty much neck to neck (usually slightly above) on all the fights with AMoC.
Is there a minimum ilvl for T19 for the 2 pce bonus where it is not worth using? I currently can only get 2 x 905 going for T19 and wonder if its good enough?
Eventually there will be, but it’s a pretty big number. I have 905 T19 cloak and 910 T19 gloves. The 940 gloves and 930 cloak with socket I have in the bank is not even close to being enough. However, using those does allow me to use other pieces like the legendary chestpiece. Though even with that, it still falls behind the T19.
Looking at how bad the T21 bonuses are, I’m starting to get a bit concerned that we’ll be forced into some silly 2p+2p+2p setup or something like that.
Yeah, I got some pretty nice TF T20 pieces, so probably going to stick with those for much of T21.
I assume you will be doing a column when raid is near release to weigh the trinkets and such, but they all honestly look pretty lackluster.
yes it is i have 2 x 895 and would loss over 50k dps even with 925 replacements
i am 933 with the 2 895s
and sim at 1,338,555
wow that’s mad…nice design Blizz lol… thanks for the info 🙂
Hi all, looking for some macro help if anyone can assist basically got this trinket
http://www.wowhead.com/item=147019/tome-of-unraveling-sanity&bonus=3561:1492 as it has a 1 min cooldown id like to be able to macro it directly with a murder of crows which also has a 1 minute cooldown, anyone any good at these macros? 🙂 thanks in advance 🙂
Top trinket is equipment slot #13, bottom is #14.
Just do your macro with the slot number, as follows:
#showtooltip A Murder of Crows
/cast A Murder of Crows
/use 14
(I have mine in the bottom slot, so #14 for me.)
@Bendak: I just got one of these at ilvl 930 as well, looks decent. You think it’s better to macro it to MoC or BW? (I’m pretty awful at knowing when to use/hold MoC, so I just have it in my BW macro right now… *laugh*)
You can just shift-right-click the trinket in your character screen and will paste directly into a macro.
/cast Murder of Crows
/use (shift right click the trinket to place it here)
Done.
In other news… credit to Jabari (and Bendak, for raising my awareness of the spec in general). High haste/crit no-Qa’pla AoTB is really, REALLY good. As Jabari pointed out, the sheer frequency of DB procs kind of overwhelms the Qa’pla rotation, so going with a roar/sephuz setup instead really “takes the lid off” the potential DB spam and lets you fully utilize the level 15 talent. It’s too bad that it kind of works against the tier-20 stacking cast bonus, though during AotW or a Sephuz proc you can reliably trigger high-DB cobra AND stack the tier-20, leading to some truly insane (2M damage) cobra shots.
Weirdly, I’m still using 3 Jaws relics, which probably only works because roar and high BW uptime cuts into the benefit of slithering serpents. I’m betting in a non-roar setup or at lower crit slithering would be a lot better, but as-is I never really hit focus starvation so the potential value isn’t doesn’t seem as high as might otherwise be the case. Can’t argue with the results, though, as the percentile-against-population has become a nice solid orange with occasional gear-range golds. (Disclaimer: this says nothing about my personal ability, which hasn’t changed a bit. Roar/sephuz AotB with 2t19/4t20 is just a spectacularly solid gear and talent setup.)
The only down side to all this is that I basically can no longer transition effectively to marksman. I have an extremely low level of mastery, and far, far too much haste for even an optimal 2-arcane-2-aimed shot rotation, let alone the more effective one-arcane-two-aimed shot rota. 40% crit and 35% haste for BM is great, but it really commits you to the spec.
Anyway, kind of a long and rambly post. TLDR: high haste/crit AoTB with no Qa’pla is yielding great results, and I intend to enjoy it while t19 can still prop up the stomp spam. (Worried as heck about what happens when we get to t21, mind you, but that’s another story…)
Thanks for the info Urgrel i think i knew how to do it at one point but basically forgot, i found your post interesting in general aswell as i have been using stomp/2xt19/4xt20, boots,sephuz and aspect unfortunately the belt is one of the very few bm legenderies im actually missing, still ill play about with sephuz and another lego instead then 🙂
Just use Prydaz if you have it – the stats are great and the shield only has to save you once to contribute more DPS than anything else in existence. Plus, you get to be MemeHunter wearing the awful Prydaz/Sephuz combo. *laugh*
I think the belt sims like 0.2% higher than prydaz for me, the shield way more than makes up for that. Just have to be careful to pool focus going in to BW or you really notice not having it.
To pile on what Jabari said: non-belt setups are fine, especially if you’re using cobra-cost relics. It does mean you can’t “make back” focus during BW though, so you have to float more focus in between wraths to compensate. It can be a hard transition to make if you’re used to spamming like a maniac, but since you’ve never had the belt you should be ahead of the game.
Thanks for the great update, much appreciated.
Thanks for the suggestions guys and some may laugh at this, but after sims and ingame testing ie via the guilds raid nights the best results i have is with using both rings ‘sephuz and Apex’ with the aspect/stomp build and its very noticable ive gained 200-300k dps depending on the bosses and fights, by replacing boots with apex.
What i do have is 3 variations of pure stat neck pieces, either pure crit, pure haste or pure mastery, initially using both rings placed me at 51% crit so i swapped out a pure crit neck with a pure haste neck and overall weather its a combination of my stats being in a somewhat ideal place im more than happy with the gains in dps.
Have any of you tried to get rid of new BM ring if you got it? https://www.wowhead.com/item=151641/soul-of-the-huntmaster&bonus=3570
I am having hard time to replace it. For 2nd legendary, I keep switching between bubble neck and boots. Boots and huntmaster always give me better sims results than anything I switch boots with but I use neck sometimes depends on the encounter and if healers are bit struggling.
Hi All, been looking at the next raids tier bonus its 4 set in particular and kill command reducing aspects cooldown by 2 seconds each cast, can we assume then that with the next raids tier bonus were looking at ‘Boots,Bracers and convergence’ being the best set up overall i cant think of any reason i wouldnt do that as the uptime on aspect of the wild is going to be like pretty much constant lol
Just a few observations with 7.3.5….
Stomp build w/ the new t21 4 piece: Jaws/Pack might again start to pull ahead. As chance/rng would have it, all my current relics are jaws/pack combo, have not had any luck whatsoever at getting any decent Slithering Serpents relics. If I do, will likely hold on to them until I can see what is best (in general, holding on to any relic at this point that could have value, instead of swapping, until I see best build / relic combo for 7.2.5).
Also, looks like wrists+ CoF (even with nerf) + t21 might be the go-to combo. If you don’t have a decent CoF, might want to look into trying to get one from Nighthold.