What does it take to beat out a Thrash Blade?

[Concillian]

Conc has had Thrash for quite some time. I got it when I could on the rogue and it was good to me, but it had an unexpected positive side effect on the Warrior that it didn't have on the rogue... the proc adds significantly more to my damage due not only to the proc, but to the extra rage it generates.

Last night I was killing a bunch of Firegut Ogres in Blasted lands and it seems like Thrash blade is just tailor made for a 1H warrior because of the rage generation.

I'm beginning to think that unless Ironfoe or felstriker drop there isn't going to be much upgrading for a LONG time.

Thrash seems to feed itself, it procs for extra damage and rage, which allows more instant attacks that have a chance to proc and give even more rage. Also, a proc can crit, meaning that 1 swing does triple instead of double damage, which gives almost enough rage for shield slam in one swing. I think I'm going to have a difficult time replacing this sword.

Most warrior instant attacks seem to be able to proc it, including Sheild Slam and Sheild Bash :wacko:

Unfortunately, sunder doesn't seem to be able to proc it (even though sunder definitely uses the weapon skill as a basis of determining hit/miss chances, as do shield slam and shield bash)

I tried using a hammer of expertise from the blacksmithing quests, which has slightly more DPS, but no proc, and it's quite a large difference for a warrior. Fights only take slightly longer, but you take that much more damage. Since time between fights is roughly the same when soloing, regen is fixed. So I found with thrash I would have to break for a bandage or food about every 5-10 minutes (fights were more spotty, so there was more variation), but with expertise I'd have to break almost every 2-3 minutes. It was really night and day.

So I'd like to do some calcs to try and figure what it will take to replace thrash. I don't know the proc rate, has anyone done any figuring of this? I can do some testing, but thought maybe someone else might have done some already.

[Olon97]

A useful took for answering these questions yourself: ProcWatch.

I'll just say that there are plenty of ~40 DPS weapons out there that I would use over thrash blade, but much under that it certainly holds its own.

If you enjoy the extra attack on proc phenomenon, I would reccoment messing around with sword spec sometime, as well as doing quite a few BRD runs to get yourself a Hand of Justice. I see a lot of rank 14 warriors with mostly epics still using that trinket, and there's good reason for it.

[ima_nerd]

Bone Slicing Hatchet and Dal'Rend's Sacred Charge are both good end game 1h weapons. They're not the easiest weapons to get but there's probably 10+ 1h 40ish DPS weapons out there that could beat Thrash.

[bonemage]

I've noticed the difference that Thrash makes in offensive power. Durambar and Conc are same level, similarly equipped warriors, and Conc does have greater offensive power while tanking than Durambar, though I have more points in Arms. I knew that Thrash was the main reason, as I use the Viking Warhammer as my one handed weapon. Same DPS as the Thrash, but the warhammer has 11 stamina and no proc. I was making the trade of more stamina for less damage when using that over my Thrash, which I wisely tucked in the bank, though it's still in the box, so to speak, as I've never used it. The proc on instant attacks such as Shield Slam was unknown to me and likely could have changed my stance on the Thrash vs. Viking Warhammer debate. As I lack an instant attack such as Shield Slam, Mortal Strike, or Bloodthirst, it will be less useful to me than to you, but it is interesting, and makes me tempted to stack sword specialization with it as suggested by Olon97. I'll at least need to take it out of the box...

Here's to hoping that the Hand of Justice drops in BRD this Friday!

[Concillian]

Here's to hoping that the Ironfoe drops in BRD this Friday!
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If we're hoping, why aim low?

Angerforge is on the way to the bar. 2 stops on one run for low drop rate good items.

[Concillian]

A useful tool for answering these questions yourself: ProcWatch.

I'll just say that there are plenty of ~40 DPS weapons out there that I would use over thrash blade, but much under that it certainly holds its own.

If you enjoy the extra attack on proc phenomenon, I would reccoment messing around with sword spec sometime, as well as doing quite a few BRD runs to get yourself a Hand of Justice. I see a lot of rank 14 warriors with mostly epics still using that trinket, and there's good reason for it.
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Sword spec is impossible to use with protection spec, but if thrash could proc on the sword spec proc, I can see how that would be a rather large benefit. Still I'm not sure it would beat out the 1H spec bonus of +10% overall damage on 1H weapons (though the other arms talents probably would be a larger total benefit)

weapon DPS is only a small part of my total DPS. Thrash is adding at least 5% to my total damage, I think it will take more than a 5 DPS increase on weapon, given that the majority of warrior DPS comes from STR and Battle Shout in the form of AR. But I'll download procwatch and check it out (hopefully I won't have to increase memory for add-ons again.)

I can also document what abilities it works on. I know shield slam and bash can activate it and I know I've never seen sunder proc it (and I sunder quite a bit when solo). Cleave can proc it on either hit. I don't use whirlwind enough to know, but assume that can proc it on any hit. Retaliation is another I'm unsure of.

[RTM]

Hmm, I just respecced Arms/Fury with sword spec on Hit. I'll have to try my Thrash blade out to see how it works.

[Taeme]

The general rule is that extra attack abilities can be activated on any ability that can crit. This includes the proc on Drake Talon Cleaver and Hamstring. As I said, it's general, and I'm not entirely sure.

I've been seriously considering the epic PvP warrior gloves as the best PvE dps gloves in the game for Horde warriors - super cheap hamstrings will allow you to proc windfury repeatedly.

edit : There's lots of better weapons. Personally, I swapped to Skullforge Reaver when I got it, but that was probably a mistake. (It does, after all, have the single worst tanking proc in the game) Anything over 44 dps is probably better.

[Rinnhart]

(It does, after all, have the single worst tanking proc in the game)
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Could you elaborate on that?

[hiryuu1115]

Skullforge procs a lifedrain effect, 2 health every second that lasts 30 seconds. If it happens on the wrong target, it's not getting CC for a long time :P

I don't know if I would call it the worst tanking proc evah (Masterwork Stormhammer and the variety of epic shields that proc AOE damage are probably worse), but it's definitely not helpful.

[Taeme]

Skullforge procs a lifedrain effect, 2 health every second that lasts 30 seconds. If it happens on the wrong target, it's not getting CC for a long time :P

It's a combination of things, really. There are worse overall procs for the immediate effect, but skullforge doesn't proc that often and simply doesn't do much. I mean, how long do most targets last under a properly assist trained mob? Not long! Since the duration is so long and the individual ticks so pathetic, you're probably getting at best 66% of the proc usually - Unless it hits on a mob you're peeling off a healer, which means it's going to be a full duration of no CC. Which is bad as well.

It also spams your combatlog (or did when I had it) and spams SCT. Ugh. Horrible tank weapon. Also makes it looks like you have bad gas.

On the other hand, it's one of the nicest looking swords I've seen. It's no Nightmare Blade, but it's pretty.