01-07-2009, 06:28 PM
When my rogue partner from TBC finally hits 80, we're planning on taking the 2 player bracket by storm. (A guy can dream, can't he?)
From my understanding of the current metagame, the team to beat is Holy/Ret-Paladin and Unholy-DK. Paladins are in 7 of the top 10 2s teams, and DKs are in 6 (As of January 7th) Mages and Rogues are also considered quite strong, with healers being more dead weight than anything else, due to the complete disconnect between burst damage and healing.
My current spec is a Feral leveling/tanking build, completely unsuitable for PvP, so I'll be respeccing in any case. At level 78, I had a guild-mate craft the entire Overcast PvP set for peanuts. I'll be running Vault of Archavon, Battlegrounds, and Heroics to obtain better gear as soon as I can.
Despite healers being weak in Arena, I'll be allotting talent points something like this. My reasoning behind not staying Feral for Arena is that I'm absolutely terrible at CC-ing when I'm trying to kill something, and I play terribly. When I'm healing, I find the decision making much more intuitive and I perform better. I'm not going straight Restoration so that I can contribute to damage dealing duties. Besides which, my rogue doesn't like me to get uppity in Cat Form.
I'm unsure where to put the final point, or even whether this is a good Arena Resto-kin build. I could take Moonkin Form, as the armour boost while still being able to Cyclone/DPS is attractive. I decided against Dreamstate, because I don't think mana issues will be a problem in the current bursty environment. Since DKs are so prevalent currently, it might be a good idea to dump Improved Mark of the Wild and a single point from Natural Shapeshifter into Subtlety for the additional 30% HoT dispel-resist.
Any and all thoughts on my spec are of course welcome.
Now, on to the CC rotation:
0.0 Pounce from stealth [untalented] <50 energy>
1.0 Rake <20 energy>
2.0 -- Cat Form abilities, similar to Rogues, have a 1.0 GCD, meaning that another ability could be used at this point, though this is unadvisable as it will leave insufficient energy for a Maim when Pouce wears off. However, if Omen of Clarity procs off of Pounce, Rake, or an auto-attack (of which there will have been two by now), a Shred is recommended.
3.0 Pounce wears off <40 energy>
3.0 Maim (2-points) <5 energy>
4.5 Cyclone started (shifting out of Cat Form does not trigger the GCD)
6.0 Maim wears off
6.0 Cyclone hits (1st)
6.0 First non-CC spell:
(Listed: 1.5 second cast or instant cast spells. Note: Nature's Swiftness does not trigger the GCD, and can be used as a freebie at this point, after which most any spell can be cast instantly, thus fitting into this timeframe)
HoTs: Rejuvenation, Lifebloom
Heal: Nourish
Debuff removal: Abolish Poison, Remove Curse
Damage: Wrath [talented]
DoTs: Moonfire, Insect Swarm
Snare: Entangling Roots
In TBC, I would have used Lifebloom, Rejuvenation, Lifebloom. If the enemy not being tossed up into the air by Cyclone was being difficult, however, I might use Entangling Roots, or Abolish Poison if my partner were facing another Rogue. I'll have to figure out what my priorities in WotLK are. Thoughts?
7.5 Second non-CC spell
9.0 Third non-CC spell
10.5 Cyclone started
12.0 Cyclone wears off
12.0 Cyclone hits (2nd)
12.0 Maim CD finished 95 energy
13.5 Cyclone started
15.0 Cyclone wears off
15.0 Cyclone hits (3rd)
15.0 Bear Form
16.5 Cyclone wears off
16.5 Bash [untalented]
18.0 Fourth non-CC spell
19.5 Fifth non-CC spell
20.5 Bash wears off
Nothing ever goes this well, of course. At some point, the enemy will trinket out of something early, and likely as not hit me with a Fear, a Stun, or some other such nonsense. I try to pick up the CC as soon as possible, and if I can't, I'll get mobile and start healing, or remove myself from combat to reset the fight and begin the CC chain anew, or if things are looking up, burst down the target.
Diminishing returns are reset fifteen seconds after the final Cyclone finishes, Bash's cooldown is a minute, untalented, and it take 5 seconds to get out of combat.
Questions:
Is Pounce affected by diminishing returns?
Whom should we be CCing, and whom should we be killing first?
From my understanding of the current metagame, the team to beat is Holy/Ret-Paladin and Unholy-DK. Paladins are in 7 of the top 10 2s teams, and DKs are in 6 (As of January 7th) Mages and Rogues are also considered quite strong, with healers being more dead weight than anything else, due to the complete disconnect between burst damage and healing.
My current spec is a Feral leveling/tanking build, completely unsuitable for PvP, so I'll be respeccing in any case. At level 78, I had a guild-mate craft the entire Overcast PvP set for peanuts. I'll be running Vault of Archavon, Battlegrounds, and Heroics to obtain better gear as soon as I can.
Despite healers being weak in Arena, I'll be allotting talent points something like this. My reasoning behind not staying Feral for Arena is that I'm absolutely terrible at CC-ing when I'm trying to kill something, and I play terribly. When I'm healing, I find the decision making much more intuitive and I perform better. I'm not going straight Restoration so that I can contribute to damage dealing duties. Besides which, my rogue doesn't like me to get uppity in Cat Form.
I'm unsure where to put the final point, or even whether this is a good Arena Resto-kin build. I could take Moonkin Form, as the armour boost while still being able to Cyclone/DPS is attractive. I decided against Dreamstate, because I don't think mana issues will be a problem in the current bursty environment. Since DKs are so prevalent currently, it might be a good idea to dump Improved Mark of the Wild and a single point from Natural Shapeshifter into Subtlety for the additional 30% HoT dispel-resist.
Any and all thoughts on my spec are of course welcome.
Now, on to the CC rotation:
0.0 Pounce from stealth [untalented] <50 energy>
1.0 Rake <20 energy>
2.0 -- Cat Form abilities, similar to Rogues, have a 1.0 GCD, meaning that another ability could be used at this point, though this is unadvisable as it will leave insufficient energy for a Maim when Pouce wears off. However, if Omen of Clarity procs off of Pounce, Rake, or an auto-attack (of which there will have been two by now), a Shred is recommended.
3.0 Pounce wears off <40 energy>
3.0 Maim (2-points) <5 energy>
4.5 Cyclone started (shifting out of Cat Form does not trigger the GCD)
6.0 Maim wears off
6.0 Cyclone hits (1st)
6.0 First non-CC spell:
(Listed: 1.5 second cast or instant cast spells. Note: Nature's Swiftness does not trigger the GCD, and can be used as a freebie at this point, after which most any spell can be cast instantly, thus fitting into this timeframe)
HoTs: Rejuvenation, Lifebloom
Heal: Nourish
Debuff removal: Abolish Poison, Remove Curse
Damage: Wrath [talented]
DoTs: Moonfire, Insect Swarm
Snare: Entangling Roots
In TBC, I would have used Lifebloom, Rejuvenation, Lifebloom. If the enemy not being tossed up into the air by Cyclone was being difficult, however, I might use Entangling Roots, or Abolish Poison if my partner were facing another Rogue. I'll have to figure out what my priorities in WotLK are. Thoughts?
7.5 Second non-CC spell
9.0 Third non-CC spell
10.5 Cyclone started
12.0 Cyclone wears off
12.0 Cyclone hits (2nd)
12.0 Maim CD finished 95 energy
13.5 Cyclone started
15.0 Cyclone wears off
15.0 Cyclone hits (3rd)
15.0 Bear Form
16.5 Cyclone wears off
16.5 Bash [untalented]
18.0 Fourth non-CC spell
19.5 Fifth non-CC spell
20.5 Bash wears off
Nothing ever goes this well, of course. At some point, the enemy will trinket out of something early, and likely as not hit me with a Fear, a Stun, or some other such nonsense. I try to pick up the CC as soon as possible, and if I can't, I'll get mobile and start healing, or remove myself from combat to reset the fight and begin the CC chain anew, or if things are looking up, burst down the target.
Diminishing returns are reset fifteen seconds after the final Cyclone finishes, Bash's cooldown is a minute, untalented, and it take 5 seconds to get out of combat.
Questions:
Is Pounce affected by diminishing returns?
Whom should we be CCing, and whom should we be killing first?
A plague of exploding high-fives.
