Arms : Gurthalak 403 or Slicer 410 ?

[Deleted]

I'm having trouble deciding which one to use for my arms spec.

Gurthalak, Voice of the Deeps

or

Experimental Specimen Slicer
Heroic

Thanks for your comments.

[Deleted]

From what I've read in other posts,gurth'alak hands down.

[Deleted]

The thing is right now I'm doing between 23 K - 28 K DPS with Gurthalak on a dummy (after 6M damage), depending on procs. This is on average 25.5 K DPS.

With Slicer I'm doing 24K - 27K DPS, depending on how many crit I get. This is on average 25.5 K DPS.

See my problem ? ; )

So I'm lost here... it seems they are pretty much leveled, so I really can't decide which one to chose.

Anyone have any conclusive argument ? Thanks.

[floater6]

That sounds about correct. The sword can provide better overall DPS if you get lucky; however the axe is more consistent. It really comes down to your priorities.
If you like going for WOL records then use the sword or if you are a progression guild that will do many attempts in one night you will be better off with the axe to provide strong dps on each attempt.

[Damosapien]

That sounds about correct. The sword can provide better overall DPS if you get lucky; however the axe is more consistent. It really comes down to your priorities.
If you like going for WOL records then use the sword or if you are a progression guild that will do many attempts in one night you will be better off with the axe to provide strong dps on each attempt.

not at all... fully raid buffed the sword will proc significantly more.
if you altered his numbers given to 40k-55k for gurth and 42k-45k for slicer hc you would be more correct... and to get 40k the sword would have to not proc once

[Siri]

Use Gurth on everything except Spine, the tentacles are buggy there and you most likely want the more consistent choice anyway.

[Deleted]

Thanks for your responses. I think I should try it out on real encounters to have a better view of this. Dummies won't show every aspect of the problem.

The sword seems to give more burst when you get lucky, and the axe tend to balance your overall DPS much more.
And since I like balanced DPS, but also as much huge burst... well in some way I'm still stuck.

I'll probably end up doing what Floater is suggesting : using the axe for progression where consistency really matters and the sword every other time.

[Siri]

I wouldn't discount Gurthalak in a longer fight because of rng, it basically only comes into play in short burst windows.
The reason for this is that you're part of a larger raid. RNG matters a lot for one player in a 20 second burst window, it matters quite a lot for 10 players but not as much. 6 minute fight with 10 players? It matters even less because the RNG evens out, some players will be lucky and some players won't. It is the same principle as running many iterations of a simulation, the rng evens out.

[Serithyn]

I haven't received the heroic Slicer yet but from using Gurthalak since the first week I've noticed some fights where odd things happen with tentacles

On warlord I've seen them deflect the orb backwards after the melee have cleared out of the way, putting a strain on healers. On spine I don't want them hitting a corruption off target. Those are the two fights where I would prefer the axe over my sword, especially on heroic where things actually matter.

[MorphexEU]

It's situational. Take ultraxion, you want to use slicer there. The reason(s) is;
1 - Gurthalaks tentacles tend to bug (not procc / not attacking when first procced).
2 - Slicer gives a more constant stream of damage.

Now take Yor'sahj, on this fight you want to use gurthalak. The reasoning is simple, you get to cleave / AoE, increasing the chance to procc the weapon, and therefore getting more tentacles.

So the weapons are very situational, and have to be used depending on the fights (gurthalak will overall come better out though).

[Requital]

It's situational. Take ultraxion, you want to use slicer there. The reason(s) is;
1 - Gurthalaks tentacles tend to bug (not procc / not attacking when first procced).
2 - Slicer gives a more constant stream of damage.

Now take Yor'sahj, on this fight you want to use gurthalak. The reasoning is simple, you get to cleave / AoE, increasing the chance to procc the weapon, and therefore getting more tentacles.

So the weapons are very situational, and have to be used depending on the fights (gurthalak will overall come better out though).

Tentacles don't bug if you stand between line 1 and 2.

[Valdemar]

I'm having trouble deciding which one to use for my arms spec.

Gurthalak, Voice of the Deeps

or

Experimental Specimen Slicer
Heroic

Thanks for your comments.

Always use what has higher top-end damage.

Equip Gurg. when AoEing BIG mob packs w/ Bladestorm/SS (like the adds on Yor.)