MMO Champion Prot discussion forum: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...WoD-Discussion
TL;DR -
Sacred Shield is the most efficient talent in its tier based on both numbers and the fact that it is an absorb shield instead of a heal, so it less likely to go to waste.
When a full rotation is possible and magic damage is not an issue, Seraphim is a great choice for mitigation.
I'm starting to lean towards Divine Purpose over Holy Avenger after some play testing. Free SotR attacks off the GCD (sometimes with upwards of 4 procs in a row) is incredibly complementary to both Seraphim and Holy Shield builds. Holy Avenger is obviously still a fine choice.
Using Seraphim correctly - A Rotation of Mitigation
Here is *a* video on the Seraphim rotation. It covers most of the basics of the rotation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAPl78fMsZc
Seraphim is a great skill that comes with both a large damage increase as well as large damage reduction effects.
Benefits of Seraphim? 15 of every 30 seconds we get:
1000 Bonus Armor
1000 Crit (Parry)
1000 Mastery (Increased Damage Reduction from SotR)
1000 Versatility
What does this add up to?
This is how the numbers ended up impacting the stats on my character unbuffed with an avg 655 ilvl
Stat Before After Difference Parry (from crit) 6.60% 15.69% +9.09% SotR Damage Reduction (From Mastery) 11% 18% +7% Damage Reduced by Armor 48.71% 55.09% +6.38% Damage Reduced by Versatility 2.09% 5.94% +3.85%
The obvious drawback is we have to dump 5 Holy Power into the ability every 15 seconds and for the other 15 seconds we do not have the passive 15% block from Holy Shield to help with mitigation.
To solve this problem, we have to fill in the other 15 seconds with damage reduction greater than or equal to what 15% block would give us. To do this, we will need to utilize well timed Shield of the Righteous casts, Holy Power Management, and Glyph of Divine Protection.
Rotation of Defensive Skills
1: Sacred Shield (30 second buff)
2: Divine Protection (8 seconds of 20% reduced damage)
**Build to 5 holy power during these 8 seconds
3: Seraphim (15 seconds of *see above*)
4: SotR at 3 Holy Power for extra reduction
**should be able to build to 5 holy power before Sera runs off
5: SotR, any Holy Power gain, SotR (The first SotR cast should happen while Sera is still on to make use of the bonus mastery)
Repeat
The basic idea here is we can have an up time of 29 out of every 30 seconds where we are mitigating more than what we would passively
Comparing Numbers
The number comparison issue is that we need to add both the 15% block chance and the increased number of SotR casts when comparing Holy Shield against the Rotation of Mitigation.
To try to shorten this up, we are comparing buffs over a 30 second period of time. Because Divine Protection could be used on cooldown for either Holy Shield or Seraphim, we should not calculate it for either skill.
Seraphim:
15 Seconds of +9.09% parry ~ 4.55% Avoidance
15 Seconds of +7% Block Rating ~ 2.8% Damage Reduction
15 SEconds of +10.23% damage reduction (from Armor and Vers) ~ 5.12% Damage Reduction
3 SotR casts * 3 sec = 9 seconds of 18.09% damage reduction (from SotR) ~ 5.43% Damage Reduction
Holy Shield:
30 Seconds of 15% block (40% reduction) ~ 6% Damage Reduction
6 SotR casts * 3 sec = 18 seconds of 11% damage reduction (from SotR) ~ 6.6% Damage Reduction
8 SotR casts * 3 sec = 24 Seconds of 11% damage reduction (from SotR) ~ 8.8% Damage Reduction
***6 SotR casts was based on the bare minimum number of SotR you can cast without any procs from Avenger's Shield or Divine Purpose. After a few tests using Avenger's Shield procs, I averaged closer to 8 casts over 30 seconds.
Totals:
4.55% Avoidance and 13.35% Damage Reduction
VS
12.6% ~ 14.8% Damage Reduction
How will stat scaling impact these results?
With raid buffs or as our Crit stat gets higher, we are going to start seeing Diminishing Returns from parry rating, meaning that 4.55% avoidance is going to start getting smaller. None of the other stats should be impacted by Diminishing Returns.
Another issue is the % uptime of Damage Reduction from SotR casts. Because one works on 9 out of 30 seconds and the other on 18 to 24 out of 30 seconds, mastery will scale better with Holy Shield as well.
i.e. if my mastery were a base 20% and jumped to 27% with Seraphim the numbers look different:
Seraphim:
15 Seconds of +9.09% parry ~ 4.55% Avoidance
15 Seconds of +7% Block Rating ~ 2.8% Damage Reduction
15 Seconds of +10.23% damage reduction (from Armor and Vers) ~ 5.12% Damage Reduction
3 SotR casts * 3 sec = 9 seconds of 27% damage reduction (from SotR) ~8.1% Damage Reduction
Holy Shield:
30 Seconds of 15% block (40% reduction) ~ 6% Damage Reduction
6 SotR casts * 3 sec = 18 seconds of 20% damage reduction (from SotR) ~ 12% Damage Reduction
8 SotR casts * 3 sec = 24 Seconds of 20% damage reduction (from SotR) ~ 16% Damage Reduction
Totals (with 20% based DR from mastery)
Seraphim: 4.55% avoidance, 16.02% Damage Reduction
VS
Holy Shield: 18% ~ 22% Damage Reduction.
Conclusion
In conclusion as our gear gets better and our Crit and Mastery Ratings rise, Holy Shield starts even the playing field. With my current gear however, I can determine that the increased Parry from Seraphim outweighs the Damage Reduction from Holy Shield. I will be doing further research on where the Crit/Mastery plateaus are that will start to make Holy Shield the better talent.
I'm looking for some help with numbers. Specifically in comparing Damage Reduction vs Avoidance. What % Damage Reduction = 1% avoidance? Also, does anyone have a calculation for the Diminishing Returns on Parry rating?