Noob question about Hailstorm

[Deleted]

Heya!

Quick question about Hailstorm - does it apply the +frost damage buff to main and off hand autoattacks, or only to special attacks (Rockbitter, SS, etc.)?

And

following question - if it does apply to autoattacks, then does it better scales with Haste, or Mastery?

Thank you!

[Deleted]

I don't have a conclusive proof, but it seems to proc off everything, autoattacks, Stormstrike etc. Just like Flametongue. As for the stat priority, it's probably slightly skewed in favor Mastery, but haste works great as well.

[smuttoN]

Heya!

Quick question about Hailstorm - does it apply the +frost damage buff to main and off hand autoattacks, or only to special attacks (Rockbitter, SS, etc.)?

And

following question - if it does apply to autoattacks, then does it better scales with Haste, or Mastery?

Thank you!

Enhancement's stats are Mastery > Haste, always - you'll read that just from these boards alone. Furthermore, Hailstorm vs. Ancestral Swiftness is an opinion-based debate for either's use in general (e.g. World Questing, farming, etc.). However, I tend to think (and learn from trials via Simcraft) that Hailstorm gives me more DPS when dealing with trash, and Ancestral Swiftness is better for bosses.

As far as Hailstorm's buff applying to autoattacks, yes it does - it applies to every attack. That's why when you run sims, you'll see Frostband being the highest ability dealing DPS versus any others. Side note: If I have Hailstorm, I also be sure to use the Artifact's ability after I use Frostband/Flametongue.

As far as this buff scaling better with Haste versus Mastery, it'd definitely be Mastery. Why Mastery? I questioned this, too since I'm relatively new to Enhancement (and Shaman in general, so take everything I say with a grain [or bin] of salt) Let's read what Mastery does for us:

Increases your chance to trigger Stormbringer and Windfury by X%, and increases all Fire, Frost, and Nature damage you deal by Y%.

So then I thought, "Okay ... I know what Stormbringer does - that's the thing that never procs when I need it to, so what's Windfury?"

Each of your main hand attacks has a 5% chance to trigger two extra attacks, dealing 80% Physical damage each.

Booyah. Mastery also increases Windfury's proc chance. With each of these attacks and if Hailstorm is talented and the Frostband buff is up, it'll hit.

TL;DR: Mastery > Haste with Hailstorm (in my opinion).

[Kranxie]

Basically what smuttoN said. Hailstorm seems to proc off everything -- the only two abilities I'm unsure about are Crash Lightning and it's buff effect (i.e. SS/LL-based lightning). From what I've noticed, those two don't appear to actually involve hitting the target with your weapon, and Hailstorm specifies that it procs off "weapon attacks." It for-sure does not proc off lightning bolt; that generally doesn't make a difference, though, since you only really use it if you're too far away to do anything else.

Also, yes, mastery > haste with Hailstorm, at least generally speaking. I seem to remember seeing haste slightly above mastery when I simmed my character yesterday, but it's entirely possible I'm remembering wrong, since I ran quite a few sims on different gear/talent combinations.