Fury Warrior Spec For Max DPS Patch 4 Cataclysm

Warrior builds don’t seem to be as normalized as most classes. This build currently does a full 500 DPS more than the arms build. While that seems like a lot the difference between 19,700 dps and 20,200 may not be that big after all. Every little bit counts, however, and fury is at the top of the charts at this point.

Talents

Max DPS Warrior Fury Build

Glyphs Required

• Bloodthirst
• Slam
• Raging Blow
• Cleaving
• Berserker Rage

The changes to the glyph system in 4.0 give you nine glyph spots and a whole new class of glyphs. Instead of just major and minor you now also have slots for Prime glyphs. We only list the glyphs that add directly to DPS, tanking abilities or healing power. The other slots are up to your personal choice and play style. Choose whatever makes the game more fun and fits your preferences will work fine, since none of them will have a direct correlation to damage per second.

Priorities

• flask,type=titanic_strength
• food,type=beer_basted_crocolisk
• stance,choose=berserker,if=!in_combat
• golemblood_potion,if=buff.bloodlust.react|!in_combat
• recklessness
• death_wish
• heroic_strike,if=target.adds=0&(rage>50|buff.battle_trance.up|buff.incite.up)
• cleave,if=target.adds>0
• whirlwind,if=target.adds>0
• colossus_smash
• execute
• berserker_rage,if=!(buff.death_wish.up|buff.enrage.up|buff.unholy_frenzy.up)&rage>15&cooldown.raging_blow.remains<1
• raging_blow
• bloodthirst
• slam,if=buff.bloodsurge.react
• battle_shout,if=rage<30

Remember that this is a priority list, not a rotation. Read our full article on how to read a priority list here: Priorities, Not Rotations. Basically you want to use things nearer the top of the list as often as possible, based on certain conditions. This may very well mean that you never get to the end of the list and “finish” the rotation. That’s because the order you do things will change depending on the conditions of the fight.

Damage Sources

Pawn Scales

Use the first scale above if you are not hit capped yet. Use the bottom scale if you are. Or, you can just remember to zero out hit rating once you reach the cap. You can get pawn from both Wowmatrix and Curse addon updating engines.

( Pawn: v1: “Warrior_Cata_Fury2h”: MeleeDps=3.8694, Strength=2.2965, CritRating=1.6049, HitRating=1.5508, ExpertiseRating=1.4171, Agility=1.2459, HasteRating=1.0933, Ap=1.0575, MasteryRating=0.6153 )

( Pawn: v1: “Warrior_Cata_Fury2h”: MeleeDps=3.8694, Strength=2.2965, CritRating=1.6049, HitRating=0.0000, ExpertiseRating=0.0000, Agility=1.2459, HasteRating=1.0933, Ap=1.0575, MasteryRating=0.6153 )

Max DPS Warlock Spec Cataclysm Patch 4

While Demonology topped dps during the pre expansion patches, affliction now rules the roost. However, this demonology build will get you all the way through T11, assuming there are no further major balancing patches for the warlock class. Those of you looking for the build update from the armory are going to have to wait for a bit, the new armory functionality is messing with the links we get from Simcraft. We’ll catch up as soon as humanly possible.

Talents

Warlock Talents Build For Demonology – Cataclysm Expansion

Glyphs Required

• Life Tap
• Shadow Bolt
• Immolate
• Incinerate
• Metamorphosis

The changes to the glyph system in 4.0 give you nine glyph spots and a whole new class of glyphs. Instead of just major and minor you now also have slots for Prime glyphs. We only list the glyphs that add directly to DPS, tanking abilities or healing power. The other slots are up to your personal choice and play style. Choose whatever makes the game more fun and fits your preferences will work fine, since none of them will have a direct correlation to damage per second.

Priorities

• flask,type=draconic_mind
• food,type=fish_feast
• fel_armor
• summon_felguard
• dark_intent
• volcanic_potion,if=buff.bloodlust.react|!in_combat
• demon_soul
• hand_of_guldan,if=dot.immolate.remains>0
• soulburn,if=buff.metamorphosis.react
• soul_fire,if=buff.improved_soul_fire.cooldown_remains<(cast_time+travel_time)&buff.bloodlust.down
• summon_infernal,if=buff.metamorphosis.react
• metamorphosis
• immolate,time_to_die>=4,if=dot.immolate.remains<cast_time|!ticking
• bane_of_doom,time_to_die>=20,if=!ticking
• immolation,if=buff.metamorphosis.remains>10
• corruption,if=!ticking|dot.corruption.remains<tick_time
• shadowflame
• hand_of_guldan
• incinerate,if=buff.molten_core.react
• soul_fire,if=buff.decimation.react
• life_tap,trigger=20000
• shadow_bolt
• life_tap

This isn’t the cleanest looking list we’ve seen. Lots of variables in there to consider. Lawbringer isn’t a warlock expert (it’s the only class I’ve never raided with) so you lock gurus will need to help us sort it all out in the thread below.

Remember that this is a priority list, not a rotation. Read our full article on how to read a priority list here: Priorities, Not Rotations. Basically you want to use things nearer the top of the list as often as possible, based on certain conditions. This may very well mean that you never get to the end of the list and “finish” the rotation. That’s because the order you do things will change depending on the conditions of the fight.

Damage Sources

Pawn Scales

Use the first scale above if you are not hit capped yet. Use the bottom scale if you are. Or, you can just remember to zero out hit rating once you reach the cap.

( Pawn: v1: “Warlock_403_Demonology”: Intellect=2.4066, SpellDamage=1.8061, HitRating=1.5816, CritRating=1.0419, HasteRating=0.9753, MasteryRating=0.7690, Stamina=0.0552 )

( Pawn: v1: “Warlock_403_Demonology”: Intellect=2.4066, SpellDamage=1.8061, HitRating=0.0000, CritRating=1.0419, HasteRating=0.9753, MasteryRating=0.7690, Stamina=0.0552 )

Unholy DK Build For Patch 4 Cataclysm

Death Knight DPS got a boost in patch 4.0, but so did every other class. The priorities list hasn’t gotten a lot simpler, however, so you’re still going to have to face roll pretty hard to get max dps.

Talents

• DK Unholy DPS Build patch 4.0 Cataclysm Spec

You’ll notice there are 5 points leftover not yet allocated. We’ll update this build as soon as Cataclysm goes into full effect and the geekazoids at Simulationcraft update the spec to a final build.

Glyphs Required

• Raise Dead
• Scourge Strike
• Death Coil

The changes to the glyph system in 4.0 give you nine glyph spots and a whole new class of glyphs. Instead of just major and minor you now also have slots for Prime glyphs. We only list the glyphs that add directly to DPS, tanking abilities or healing power. The other slots are up to your personal choice and play style. Choose whatever makes the game more fun and fits your preferences will work fine, since none of them will have a direct correlation to damage per second.

Priorities

• Flask = endless rage
• Food = dragonfin filet
• Presence = unholy
• Army of the Dead
• Raise Dead
• Speed Potion – IF: NOT buffed by bloodlust and target time to die <=60 seconds
• Unholy Frenzy – IF: NOT buffed by bloodlust and target time to die <=45 seconds
• icy touch – IF: frost fever dot <=3 seconds
• plague strike – IF: blood plague dot <=3 seconds
• Dark Transformation
• Summon Gargoyle – IF: buffed by Bloodlust
• Summon Gargoyle
• Scourge Strike
• Festering Strike – IF: blood runes=2 & frost runes=2
• Death Coil – IF: runic power >90
• Death Coil – IF: buffed by Sudden Doom
• Scourge Strike
• Festering Strike
• Death Coil
• Blood Tap – IF: unholy runes=0
• Empower Rune Weapon – IF: unholy runes=0
• horn of winter

Remember that this is a priority list, not a rotation. Read our full article on how to read a priority list here: Priorities, Not Rotations. Basically you want to use things nearer the top of the list as often as possible, based on certain conditions. This may very well mean that you never get to the end of the list and “finish” the rotation. That’s because the order you do things will change depending on the conditions of the fight.

Damage Sources

Pawn Scales

Use the first scale above if you are not hit or expertise capped yet. Use the bottom scale if you are. Or, you can just remember to zero out each one once you hit the cap.

( Pawn: v1: “Death_Knight_401_Unholy”: HitRating=5.6548, MeleeDps=5.5636, Strength=3.2761, ExpertiseRating=2.4776, CritRating=1.6511, HasteRating=1.0438, Agility=0.8458, Ap=0.8244, MasteryRating=0.7386, Armor=0.0275 )

( Pawn: v1: “Death_Knight_401_Unholy”: HitRating=0.0000, MeleeDps=5.5636, Strength=3.2761, ExpertiseRating=0.0000, CritRating=1.6511, HasteRating=1.0438, Agility=0.8458, Ap=0.8244, MasteryRating=0.7386, Armor=0.0275 )

Rotations Out, Time To Get Your Priorities Straight

The days of set rotations are pretty much gone. That doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to get in a “groove” and know what buttons to push and when. But it does mean you’re going to need to adjust the way you look at using your spells and abilities. And your priorities will change based on spec and the natural progression of any given fight. Let’s look at the difference with a mutilation rogue rotation vs. priority list.

Rotations Look Like This:

• Stealth > Garrote > Mutilate once > Slice n Dice > Mutilate twice > Rupture > Envenom

Priorities Work Differently:

• flask,type=endless_rage
• food,type=mega_mammoth_meal
• apply_poison,main_hand=instant,off_hand=deadly
• speed_potion,if=!in_combat|buff.bloodlust.react|target.time_to_die<20
• stealth
• kick
• pool_energy,for_next=1
• hunger_for_blood,if=buff.hunger_for_blood.remains<2
• slice_and_dice,if=buff.slice_and_dice.remains<1
• rupture,if=buff.combo_points.stack>=4&target.time_to_die>15&time>10&buff.slice_and_dice.remains>11
• cold_blood,sync=envenom
• envenom,if=buff.combo_points.stack>=4&buff.envenom.down
• envenom,if=buff.combo_points.stack>=4&energy>90
• envenom,if=buff.combo_points.stack>=2&buff.slice_and_dice.remains<2
• tricks_of_the_trade
• mutilate,if=buff.combo_points.stack<4
• vanish,if=time>30&energy>50

There’s a LOT more information in the priority list. And even though it may look like greek at first, anyone can learn to decipher all those conditionals; so let’s do that.

Lets’ start with line 4:

• speed_potion,if=!in_combat|buff.bloodlust.react|target.time_to_die<20

The “!” means “not.” So you want to use your speed potion only when not under bloodlust and you don’t want to waste it when there is less than 20 seconds before the mob dies. The first bit is a bit of a double negative. You might think it means “NOT”"in combat.” But really it means don’t use it unless you are in combat. The pipes, the vertical lines in the formula (looks like this, | ) mean that the ! applies to all of the variables in the string.

react is another thing you’ll want to look for in these lists. Many times you’ll actually want to save a buff until you’re also under the Bloodlust/heroism buff to get max effect, other times, such as with speed buffs, you’ll want to take advantage of that buff all by itself and then get another boost from B-lust later. SO what this line tells you is that you want to use your speed potion as soon as you can – before anything else, in fact – but only if you are already in combat, not under heroism buff and not unless there are more than 20 seconds left before the mob/boss dies.

Next let’s look at line 8:

• hunger_for_blood,if=buff.hunger_for_blood.remains<2

Command lines like this will tell you precisely when to use certain abilities and buffs. In this case it tells you to wait to refresh Hunger for Blood when you see that you have 2 seconds or less on the buff.

Sometimes you’ll get multiple variables such as line 10:

• rupture,if=buff.combo_points.stack>=4&target.time_to_die>15&time>10&buff.slice_and_dice.remains>11

Which means you only want to use rupture if you have at least 4 combo points, there are more than 15 seconds before the mob dies, you’ve been in combat more than 10 seconds and your slice and dice has more than 11 seconds remaining.

Finally, we have the Sync variable as in line 11:

• cold_blood,sync=envenom

This tells you to use Cold Blood just before envenom when possible.

Once you’ve sorted all that out you can read it to mean that you open with stealth >Hunger for Blood > mutilate > mutilate to get your 4 combo points. Notice that we’re already way different than the rotation we showed first. Then you’ll Slice and Dice to get the buff up and follow with stacking combo points to 4+. Then it’s Rupture > Cold Blood > Envenom (only with 4 combo points).

After that it’s just back to stacking 4 points and timing rupture when your Slice and Dice falls to 12 seconds left and more points from Mutilate and the conditionals on envenom, which may mean pooling energy from time to time to make sure you are above 90 energy. Of course, you’ll notice that you also will go ahead and use envenom even if you DON’T have 90 energy if the debuff isn’t there since that command takes priority over the energy requirement of the next line.

Plus, if you follow these priorities you never have to worry about losing the SnD buff because you’ll be refreshing it more often with envenom. However, you want to use envenom if your SnD buff drops to 2 seconds or below.

All this means that it’s virtually impossible to build a standard “rotation” any more when you take into account all the variables that go into generating maximum DPS. The great thing is that you can use the Simulationcraft engine to get a priority list built for you along with about a hundred other good bits of info. We talk about using the engine in the post Making Gear Choices For Your Character. We don’t talk about priorities there, but how the engine can help you make gear choices. Every time you get a new piece of gear you can just rerun the engine to generate new Pawn scales.

Of course, you can just get all that information from our class build pages as well. We’re in the process of updating all of the builds for each spec and class for patch 4.0 and cataclysm, so if you’re not an uber theorycrafting geek you can just get the distilled Simulationcraft engine from DYS. We also try to take some of the technical goop out of the lists and put it in a little plainer verbiage.

Oh, and keep in mind that Lawbringer is not a rogue expert by any means. I know you Rogues are super picky, and I do have to admit that the priority list above is going to get some flaming and it’s actually based on a T10 simulation since there aren’t any new ones for 4.0 as of yet. But I do know this: every time I’ve used the priorities from Simcraft to help me figure out how to squeeze more DPS out of my toons – it always works.

So no matter what you’ve been doing, or what you’ve read at elitist jerks, give the priority lists a shot. We can virtually guarantee you’ll learn more about where your DPS really comes from and when to pop your abilities to get the absolute maximum DPS out of any toon or build you ever play.

How To Not Be A Nub, No Matter What Class You Play

You already know this, although it may not be on a conscious level, but WoW is actually several games rolled into one platform of graphics and interface. No matter what you like best, WoW gives you ways to do it. Achievements, the Auction House, PvP, Battlegrounds, Raids, gathering, dailies – there’s always something you can be doing no matter what part of the game you enjoy most. But one thing is certain: each of these aspects of the game is very different.

Although I fought the concept for quite a while, if you are good at PvP you are probably also good at anything else in the game that requires killing something. PvP requires such a high degree of awareness and quick response times that PvE in raids is pretty boring and tame in comparison. The real difference is that in PvP you’re only trying to coordinate the actions of up to five people, while in a raid you have at least twice that many and up to 25. If you think it’s tough to find just one other good PvPer to do 2′s with, it’s also harder to find 24 other excellent players to raid with.

And no matter how good you are at killing bosses and toons, that still doesn’t mean you know jack about making gold. We’re still shocked when we see otherwise excellent players relying on dailies and farming to make their gold. But to each – their own. Making gold on the AH is something that’s fun for me, while PvP = not so much. The truth is that very, very few players are good at EVERYTHING in the game. We all have a hole or two, and that’s because there are only so many hours in the day.

But one thing is for certain, there is a rather large divide between those who are ready to raid or begin serious PvP, and those who are not.

Typically the “not” class gets lumped into the “nub” category and they either give up on raiding or get better. Although I know a few who just have naturally thick skins and raid even though everyone knows they are a nub and will always be a nub, the vast majority of nubs just tend to stay that way and never get measurably better without a lot of intervention.

One of the keys to not being a nub is to make up your mind that you want to play well. Do what everyone else did to get better – research, adjust, take advice, ask questions. The difference between those who can and those who can’t can be boiled down to one thing: internal analysis. Constantly looking at what you are doing and wondering if there is a better way of doing it.

There is always room for improvement – even if you are the Fonze. As a matter of fact, the Fonze himself spends several hours each week trying to find out if anyone else is doing it better than he is, just so he never falls behind by even a step or two. It’s that constant improvement and struggle to win even more that separates the very best players from everyone else.

Which brings me, finally, to the point. We find ourselves at DYS in a situation where someone has done something a little better than we have, and in that something is a way for you to ensure that you reach a far greater level of mastery of killing things than ever before. We’re not going to let the cat out of the bag on the first bit until tomorrow, but today you need to know one thing that can make all the difference for both the nub and the pro.

Auction house aside (and don’t ask for farming routess either – you’re on your own there) there are two major things you can do once you get to level 80:

• dungeons and raids
• PvP.

That’s it – sure you can do a whole bunch of the solo achievements, but I don’t see a lot of that going on. Raids and PvP is where the vast bulk of the game lies. The endgame, and getting there is less than half the battle.

I used to tell my mom that when she first began to play. There is more game PAST 80 than there is before 80. She didn’t believe me until she got there. After that she was pretty boggled by the complexity and competition. So today we’re going to give all of you some advice that will help you hit 80 ready to go into almost any dungeon or raid environment and do well, even if you’ve never raided a lick in your life.

The key is leveling to 80 using instances. The benefits are too numerous to mention here, so check back tomorrow for a more complete accounting, but the one thing you need to know right now is that it will absolutely force you to play well or perish.

This is especially true for tanks and healers. Probably the worst thing you can do when you get the itch to try tanking or healing is to level that toon as DPS and then try to start tanking and healing after you hit 80. You’ll have 15 new spells to use and no idea what the heck to do with them, and four people yelling at you to do it right.

But, if you tank and heal from level 16 on, you’ll get the chance to use each new spell fifteen or twenty times in live fire situations before you get a new one. By the time you get to 80 you will have mastered all of them and the only thing left will be better gear. Now, you’ll still need to work on refining your style and spec (if I see another tree spamming Nourish I’m going to tear my face off), since some of the things you might have to rely on as you level up just aren’t as good at level 80 and in raids, but at least you’ll know where they all are and how they work.

It won’t make you a pro by any means, but you will be a much better tank or healer if you level up using instances primarily. Oh, and it’s faster too. That’s right, you can do only instances and the related quests and get to 80 faster than leveling solo. For the casual player it’s even better, since your toon will more than likely be in rest the whole way.

And this whole thing makes sense for DPS toons as well.

By using your spells just a few at a time and against bosses in real fight situations, you will have a better grasp at just where your DPS comes from than you ever could killing non elite mobs. Elites and bosses will give you a much better picture of how to actually kill something and work with other team members.

Which brings me to my last point. Leveling solo develops a LOT of bad habits that are just not kosher in instances and raids. Such as DPS pulling mobs. Such as tanks pulling entire rooms like they do on their level 80 with ICC gear. Being a low level toon in the right instances means you have to play properly most of the time. It’s actually a challenge. Steamvaults is still no joke at level 68. You might just learn to CC a bit here and there along the way.

So in the end what we’re saying is that if you really want to play the game as it is at level 80, you might as well get to 80 doing the same sorts of things you’ll be doing at 80. I’ve seen far too many people level their first toon solo and never do a single instance – they have no clue what in the heck to do when they attempt their first heroic.

So figure out how to heal, learn to tank and get a grip on how to do some real DPS in instances so that you can dominate once you hit 80. Oh, and you’ll get to 80 faster, with more gold and a lot better gear along the way as well. And check back tomorrow when we will reveal exactly how to take maximum advantage of instance leveling.