#0 - March 3, 2009, 5:56 a.m.
Windfury/Frost Brand is outperforming Windfury/Windfury, which is outperforming Windfury/Flametongue
At least as dummy testing goes, that is.
Testing Specifics:
- All tests were 5 minutes in length on the level 80 dummies.
The test data below is the AVERAGE damage done over several sets of testing.
10sec SS "Standard" Rotation: SS - ES - LL - ES - SS - LL - ES - LL
Talent spec: http://ptr.wowhead.com/?talent=hVhhVZhbxIoxdIhusRuVo
Glyphs used: Stormstrike, Windfury, Improved Shields
Weapons used: Calamity's Grasp, Angry Dread
Melee Stats: 3769 AP, 405 hit rating, 202 haste, 32.28% melee crit, 26 expertise
Spell Stats: 1130 base Spell Power, 24.49% spell crit
Windfury/Flametongue:
- Total Damage: 999322
Damage Per Sec: 3,331
Melee Attack: ----- 373608 - 40.0%
Windfury Attack: --138713 - 14.9%
Lightning Bolt: --- 115606 - 12.4%
Earth Shock: ------105230 - 11.3%
Flametongue: ----- 60010 - 6.4%
Stormstrike: -------- 52665 - 5.6%
Lava Lash: --------- 50440 - 5.4%
Lightning Shield: - 37313 - 4.0%
Searing Totem: --- 65737
Windfury/Windfury:
- Total Damage: 1016974
Damage Per Sec: 3390
Melee Attack: ----- 376403 - 39.3%
Windfury Attack: -- 230378 - 24.0%
Lightning Bolt: --- 120489 - 12.6%
Earth Shock -------- 96645 - 10.1%
Stormstrike: -------- 56602 - 5.9%
Lightning Shield: -- 40821 - 4.3%
Lava Lash: ---------- 37440 - 3.9%
Searing Totem: ---- 58196
Windfury/Frostbrand:
- Total Damage: 1024916
Damage Per Sec: 3416
Melee Attack: ----- 390417 - 40.5%
Windfury Attack: - 145350 - 15.1%
Lightning Bolt: --- 116213 - 12.1%
Earth Shock: ------- 97958 - 10.2%
Frostbrand: --------- 73479 - 7.6%
Stormstrike: -------- 55503 - 5.8%
Lava Lash: ---------- 43602 - 4.5%
Lightning Shield: -- 41091 - 4.3%
Searing Totem: ---- 61303
Conclusions:
Because Flametongue no longer scales from our own Mental Quickness spell power, our melee damage will scale much better when fully raid buffed. The loss of FT spell damage bonus did not have a detrimental effect on Lightning Bolt OR Lightning Shield damage thanks to the increased MW and Static Shock charges that dual WF awards us. Not using the FT glyph has no bearing in this comparison, as SS/WF/LS glyph combination has proven to be a superior glyph combination in all prior situations and simulations. And while Stormstrike could only take place once every 10 seconds - presumably to a bug with the new combined talents - an 8 second cooldown would not change the overall damage makeup in any meaningful way that I could discern, only my rotation, affording it more flexibility. It is my sincere hope that the FT not gaining MQ spell power bug is just that - a bug that will be fixed.
Interestingly enough, Windfury/Frostbrand actually seems to outperform WF/WF now...leading to an even heightened curiosity on what the Developers make of this issue.
However, due to the above mentioned melee scaling, I still see no reason why shamans wont switch to WF/WF - but further simulation will be required to accurately predict player trends.
I hope you find this information useful, and thanks for reading it!
Edit: Added talent spec. For some reason, i failed to copy the ES damage over, even though it was clearly listed on recount. I have updated the damage breakdown, subtracting the ES damage from the unusually high Searing Totem Damage.