This guide is out of date and mostly useless! Follow it at your own risk! See the latest responses here:
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...1#post22303902
This guide will be continually updated when necessary! Feedback is appreciated!
Introduction
Welcome to the Festerblight discussion thread, FAQ, and guide for patch 5.3! Festerblight is an advanced unholy playstyle that has proven potential for a significant gain. The information contained in this post is intended for both new and seasoned death knights. This patch has brought quite a few changes to unholy and has sparked a greater interest in the community so it is worth discussing some basics for those who have never touched the spec!
Festerblight is the logical expansion on a time tested way of improving unholy's dps. Since the early days of unholy it been a benefit to apply diseases with temporary buffs for that extra punch. This guide is an explanation on a great way to increase dps further than "traditional" unholy would allow.
When you dot is cast on a target, the game takes a snapshot of your attack power, crit raiting, mastery raiting, and some buffs. If one of these stats were inflated temporarily, the dot will retain the damage provided by the buff even after the buff itself has faded. If one was to overwrite their dot by recasting it, the game would snapshot again and replace the old dot with the new one and reset the duration to its max. This can be good or bad; it allows for reapplying dots that do more damage and can also lead to applying weaker dots by accident.
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Festering Strike and You
Festering Strike is an unholy ability that extends the duration of our dots by 6 seconds every time it is used. Festering Strike does not count as recasting and is an entirely new mechanic from the one we discussed. Festering Strike, when cast, adds 6 seconds to existing diseases on the target and keeps their attack power, crit raiting, mastery raiting, and some buff values unlike normal refresh mechanics.
This Festering Strike mechanic is key to Festerblight. By stacking temporary buffs at the beginning of the fight and casting outbreak or plague strike with temporary buffs we can get extremely powerful diseases on a target and maintain them for the duration of the fight.
The Festerblight Phases
Festerblight is best described in 3 phases.
- The Setup
- The Festerblight
- The Finish
Each phase is distinctly different from each other and they each last different periods of time. There is no set in stone time period for how long they last, nor is there a period for when they can occur. "The Setup" may occur as late as last phase in a given boss encounter. However it is worth noting that festerblight is at its highest potential when started at the beginning of the fight so this guide will cover that.
The Setup
This is the most vital part of Festerblight. You should begin a festerblight priority with a set of diseases applied by either Plague Strike or Unholy Blight. (Save your Outbreak!). Once you have all your temporary buffs up, reapply diseases with outbreak. The temporary buffs you should be looking for are found under the section Your Optimal Opener Now move on to "The Festerblight".
The Festerblight
This part of the fight is the main distinction between a "traditional" unholy priority and a Festerblight priority is this part of the fight. The main difference is spending all death runes on festering strike to increase the duration of your diseases beyond what would traditionally happen. The great part about festerblight is that it is flexible. As long as your diseases aren't in danger of falling off in the near future, you can revert back to a traditional priority and use death runes on scourge strike. It is very flexible. Personally, during the middle phase, I spend death runes on scourge strike when I have trinkets or other cooldowns up.
The Finish
The Finish phase comes at a time that is very dependent on the fight itself. It begins when your diseases will remain on the target until it is dead. The goal of this phase is to use scourge strike as much as possible and keeping to the "traditional" unholy priority. Spamming festering strike is a waste of dps in this phase because the fight would end with diseases lasting absurd amounts of time.
Your Optimal Opener
There are 6 buffs you can easily acquire to give your diseases the biggest punch.
Rune of the Fallen Crusader
Should proc fairly quickly on the pull. 15% strength is huge for your diseasesPotion of Mogu Power
Should still be active from your prepot and 4000 strength is another huge boost.Synapse Springs
This engineering tinker is essential for someone wishing to min max. 1920 strength is another huge boost.Blood Fury
This orc racial gives 4514 attack power further buffing your diseases.
- Trinket Proc 1- haste proc trinkets are the only trinkets that are not beneficial to our diseases. If you have another you should use it.
- Trinket Proc 2
Festerblight Noteworthies
Here are some things that make festerblight amazing.
Fabled Feather of Ji-Kun
This trinket is a massive upgrade for festerblight. Giving between two and two and a half times as much strength as trinkets with equal item level, this trinket can give supercharged diseases that extra punch. Recommended but certainly not required.Tricks of the Trade
As of patch 5.2, unholy death knights using festerblight are the single best target for tricks of the trade when called for. A single application of tricks of the trade can grant massive dps boosts. Request it of a rogue in your raid team just before you apply your diseases but make sure to emphasize that you only need it once per fight! Recommended but certainly not required.
As of 5.3, Tricks of the Trade no longer increases the damage done by our diseases. As such we are quite possibly the worst targets for tricks.Fight Specific Buffs
Some fights have damage buffs that can be stacked with our normal buffs for added benefit. Refer to the fight mechanic section for detailed descriptions. Keep in mind that boss debuffs update with your diseases dynamically, meaning you don't need to refresh in order to get the benefit. This also includes raid debuffs like Curse of the Elements or, for physical dots, Physical Vulnerability.
Simulating Festerblight with Simcraft
-Courtesy of Mendenbarr
Festerblight in Throne of Thunder
Here's the boss rundown for the question: Can I use Festerblight in ToT?
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Yes, it can be an increase to reapply with the pool buff but this depends on your trinket setup. For instance Feather should be easier to proc inside the first pool than other trinkets. Use an addon to monitor your procs and decide for yourself if it is worth it to apply inside the pool or on the pull.emptyline nothing to see
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Yes, depending on your job and the speed at which you can kill the adds. The debuff updates dynamically so if you can keep the diseases up, go for it! Keep in mind that you can accidentally overwrite diseases if you switch to adds.emptyline nothing to see
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Yes, don't use rolling blood. Start festerblight on your main target and maintain it until you have to switch. Spread diseases to all the other targets with procs up as well. With feather this would be during the end of the proc. While your diseases may fall off, the damage from the dots is worth it! I would call this partial festerblight because you cannot stay on the "main" target the entire fight.emptyline nothing to see
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Yes, be weary of pestilence overwriting diseases on the boss if you are killing the adds.emptyline nothing to see
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No, too often do you target switch. However when you apply your diseases, attempt to do it with procs up!emptyline nothing to see
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Yes, stack with Primal Nutriment. The initial application at 100% buff is large but it may be an increase to apply again at 150%+. This is probably a very technical discussion but you will still get great results just stacking with the 100% buff.emptyline nothing to see
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Yes, however there is a bug that can cause your diseases to be reapplied with lower ap. Use an addon to track when this happens. Also rolling blood is not advised because its possible to overwrite your diseases on heroic from ice wall aoe.emptyline nothing to see
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Yes, though different claims exist of whether or not the buffs apply dynamically or not. ( When in doubt, reapply after you get your buffs and maintain for the rest of the fight.) There is a reasonable amount of evidence that fully mutated updates with dots dynamically however i've yet to see some that indicate the other buffs do. Apply diseases at the start and maintain unless you feel lucky enough to get procs up with the encounter buffs.emptyline nothing to see
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On normal it may not be worth it. On heroic melee should have high uptime on the boss so it is quite good.emptyline nothing to see
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Not on normal because the dogs die and waste alot of disease duration. On heroic, the dogs fly away just to come back at the end of the fight. Dots keep ticking so it is extremely potent. Would call this partial festerblight because your target leaves for a bit even though the disease damage is still occurring.emptyline nothing to see
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Yes, dots keep ticking when one of them goes inactive so you can get quite a bit of good damage.emptyline nothing to see
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Dots are not removed during the transition however they do reduced damage but is worthwhile overall. Don't use roiling blood for the ball lighting or you may overwrite by accident!
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is my armory...is festerblight right for me?
The best way to find out would be to sim it yourself and compare it to normal unholy.
That being said, unless your weapon is much better than your trinkets (we're talking 35 ilvl +) it is likely it will be an increase.
I don't have Feather! Should I wait?
Festerblight was a dps increase before Feather was ingame! As long as your trinkets proc something other than haste and your weapon isn't insane, it is likely better!
If I accidently recast diseases, what do I do?
You should transition back into a "traditional" unholy playstyle. If the fight is long enough you can start setting up your diseases again.
If I pestilence with super-diseases on the target, will my aoe be supercharged?
It depends, pestilence snapshots your current stats and applies diseases based on those values. If you pestilence right after your initial application then your diseases could be as strong but in most cases it will not.
Roiling Blood was refreshing my diseases! Could I use this instead of Festering Strike?
No, roiling blood causes a pestilence from the closest target to you when you cast blood boil. If your main target is not the closest, you may overwrite more powerful diseases with weaker ones. Outbreak and Plague Strike snapshot your stats when cast and will maintain them for the duration. Unholy Blight and Wild Mushroom: Plague snapshot with each application.
Are there any addons to help me with this?
DKDiseases will show you the strength of dots that could be applied compared to your dots you have on target. Since you should apply your diseases when they are at their most powerful it isn't the most useful thing but it can help, especially at times when you screw up and need to reapply diseases.
What are festerblight's stat priorities?
Sim it yourself for specific weights. Here are BIS weights courtesy of Mendenbarr.
Normal unholy stat weights
Str Haste Crit Mastery 4.90 2.66 2.65 2.27
Festerblight stat weights
Str Haste Crit Mastery 4.86 2.95 2.78 2.46
And realism sims! (Realism contains light movement and AMS soaking every minute or so)
Normal unholy stat weights
Str Haste Crit Mastery 4.77 2.94 2.78 2.59
Festerblight stat weights
Str Haste Crit Mastery 4.93 2.46 2.78 2.59
Why is it called Festerblight?
This is why
Additional Resources
Advanced Death Knight Tactics at Elitist Jerks by MendenbarrA great advanced unholy and frost guide.
Unholy Death Knight Guide at Elitist Jerks by Heartless- A great unholy dk guide.
Simulationcraft- Simulation tool for min maxing dps.
#Acherus (IRC)- Chatting irc channel for death knights!
Additional Thanks
Thanks to #Acherus for their valuable support in all this theorycrafting.
Special thanks to Mendenbarr for the awesome guide this shamelessly poached off of.
Thanks to Fnx and Nyanmaru, my fellow mods, for editing and providing feedback as well as making amazing art for this.