03-30-2005, 12:07 AM
With all the new goodies being added into the game, there are now more choices than ever for a Warlock at the end game on which items to use. For the longest time, the choice Warlocks had was +int, +sta gear and slowly the +shadow damage and +fire damage items started to creep in. Now we have a full range of items to choose from ranging from simple improved stats items, like the Dreadmist Rainments, to the +x mana every 5 seconds, to the +shadow or fire damage, or the strictly generic +healing/damage items.
Lately, this has been a hotly debated topic on the Warlock forums at Blizzard. People have said to go one way or another, but after much banter, people have finally started to look at the math.
At present, your choices on items means you sacrifice in some way (with a couple notiable exceptions). If you decide to go +stats, you will miss out on increased mana regen whlie casting or lose out on increased damage, the coverse can be said for the other two options as you will only gain one of the three in the end.
So, let's take a sample Warlock. Let's put this Warlock at level 60. Let's also give this Warlock maxed out First Aid with Heavy Rune Cloth bandages. Let's also throw in Life Tap for good measure and use the Improved Life Tap talent (costing 7 Talent Points to truly get because it is second tier). Let's say that said Warlock, once every minute, Life Taps down 2000 health and then immediately bandages (this is about 5 casts of Life Tap). This means that over the course of 13 seconds, they will effectively get back 2500 mana. Now, let's have the Warlock spam their most damaging spell barring crits, Shadowbolt. The final Shadowbolt spell, Shadowbolt 9, requires 370 mana to cast every 3 seconds (2.5 seconds with the Bane talent) and does on average 481 damage (457 to 505). This means that a Warlock can spam 6.8 Shadowbolts with the mana given from out Lifetap/Bandage combo.
This means that without +damage or +x mana every 5 seconds, a Warlock would do 3270.8 damage every minute if they do not regain mana or health through any other means than the Lifetap and Bandage method.
Now, let's look at what +x mana every 5 seconds would give a Warlock in improved damage. If a Warlock were to attain every +x mana every 5 seconds item in the game, they would gain 504 mana every minute no matter if they were casting or not. This means that they could cast a total of 1.4 more Shadowbolts than our above Warlock, giving them a damage of 3944.2 every minute. So we see a healthy increase in damage without losing much in the way of mana.
Let's now take a look at a Warlock that decided to get generic +damage items. A Warlock that decided to go this route can attain +149 minimum if they get every item that can be worn by a Warlock (you can get higher if you go for certain items over others). Now, the beauty of Shadowbolt is that it gets full damage bonus because it is the the longest cast Shadow damage spell the Warlock has. So, instead of each Shadowbolt doing on average of 481 damage, a Warlock equipped with the appropriate equipment can achieve 630 damage on average for a Shadowbolt. This means that with the Lifetap/Bandage combo, they can achieve 4284 damage every minute.
So, in the end, if you are willing to sacrifice stats, going with +damage items is the route to head. For the most part, end game Warlocks would probably be best to setup 3 suits, a +damage suit, a +stats suit, and +resist suit for places like Molten Core and Onyxia. For the Warlock, +x mana every 5 seconds leaves too much of a void that can be filled by other item choices.
Lately, this has been a hotly debated topic on the Warlock forums at Blizzard. People have said to go one way or another, but after much banter, people have finally started to look at the math.
At present, your choices on items means you sacrifice in some way (with a couple notiable exceptions). If you decide to go +stats, you will miss out on increased mana regen whlie casting or lose out on increased damage, the coverse can be said for the other two options as you will only gain one of the three in the end.
So, let's take a sample Warlock. Let's put this Warlock at level 60. Let's also give this Warlock maxed out First Aid with Heavy Rune Cloth bandages. Let's also throw in Life Tap for good measure and use the Improved Life Tap talent (costing 7 Talent Points to truly get because it is second tier). Let's say that said Warlock, once every minute, Life Taps down 2000 health and then immediately bandages (this is about 5 casts of Life Tap). This means that over the course of 13 seconds, they will effectively get back 2500 mana. Now, let's have the Warlock spam their most damaging spell barring crits, Shadowbolt. The final Shadowbolt spell, Shadowbolt 9, requires 370 mana to cast every 3 seconds (2.5 seconds with the Bane talent) and does on average 481 damage (457 to 505). This means that a Warlock can spam 6.8 Shadowbolts with the mana given from out Lifetap/Bandage combo.
This means that without +damage or +x mana every 5 seconds, a Warlock would do 3270.8 damage every minute if they do not regain mana or health through any other means than the Lifetap and Bandage method.
Now, let's look at what +x mana every 5 seconds would give a Warlock in improved damage. If a Warlock were to attain every +x mana every 5 seconds item in the game, they would gain 504 mana every minute no matter if they were casting or not. This means that they could cast a total of 1.4 more Shadowbolts than our above Warlock, giving them a damage of 3944.2 every minute. So we see a healthy increase in damage without losing much in the way of mana.
Let's now take a look at a Warlock that decided to get generic +damage items. A Warlock that decided to go this route can attain +149 minimum if they get every item that can be worn by a Warlock (you can get higher if you go for certain items over others). Now, the beauty of Shadowbolt is that it gets full damage bonus because it is the the longest cast Shadow damage spell the Warlock has. So, instead of each Shadowbolt doing on average of 481 damage, a Warlock equipped with the appropriate equipment can achieve 630 damage on average for a Shadowbolt. This means that with the Lifetap/Bandage combo, they can achieve 4284 damage every minute.
So, in the end, if you are willing to sacrifice stats, going with +damage items is the route to head. For the most part, end game Warlocks would probably be best to setup 3 suits, a +damage suit, a +stats suit, and +resist suit for places like Molten Core and Onyxia. For the Warlock, +x mana every 5 seconds leaves too much of a void that can be filled by other item choices.
Sith Warriors - They only class that gets a new room added to their ship after leaving Hoth, they get a Brooncloset
Einstein said Everything is Relative.
Heisenberg said Everything is Uncertain.
Therefore, everything is relatively uncertain.
Einstein said Everything is Relative.
Heisenberg said Everything is Uncertain.
Therefore, everything is relatively uncertain.
