Maximizing Disc DPS

[tinef]

Our guild is now on super-farm mode and our other healers want to rank, so I thought I'd try for disc DPS rankings (because why not at this point)... I've never played a DPS class, for good reason, because I'm awful at DPS.

My question is.. what would be a good rotation? How do I know when to SW:Pain (at how many targets?) Is mind sear ever worth it?

Here's what I'm currently doing..

1) Penance absolutely on CD
2) Mindbender
3) Holy Fire
4) SW:Pain all targets if <3
5) Smite

I'd appreciate any advice, thanks!

(Please don't say "just go Shadow", I've tried Shadow and the playstyle is reallly not for me).

[Overdispersion]

My current plan is:
Doom nova trinket
Iskar dps trinket

Stack haste>ms>crit. (there probably is a haste cap im not thinking of).

Mindbender

Smite damage glyph and Reflective shield does a ton of damage if used correctly as disc.

[Grumpy Old Man]

Also be sure to take damage from time to time to activate Enhanced Focused Will (as well as the damage from glyph of Reflective Shield).

[Deja Thoris]

Get the mannoroth and iskar dps trinkets. Job done!

(Well learn how to abuse them)
1) Spam penance and SW:P into the target that doom nova procs on
2) Hit stuff furthest back so the darklight ray thingy from iskars trink travels through all targets.

[Deleted]

Have you tried holy DPS? I think it's something not many people really give a chance but it can push higher DPS than disc (about the same as a tank) although you do 0 healing since no atonement.

In any case you'd obviously want to focus on damage stats, that means 0 mastery. crit should be your #1 stat with the others being fairly balanced below that.
Now for holy I'd 100% suggest gaze of sethe and prophecy of fear, both trinkets have their procs increased by 50% when using the chastise chakra which actually make them extremely powerful. For disc you may be better off with iron reaver piston but I haven't done any maths on that.

Glyph smite and reflective shield obviously ^^

I wonder if the extra tick on penance from t17 bonus is worth picking up...

[PosPosPos]

I wonder if the extra tick on penance from t17 bonus is worth picking up...

As long as the two offsets don't contain Mastery.

Helm Chest T18 and Shoulders Gloves T17 is the best combination, with Leggings from Mannoroth.

Glyphs should be Reflective Shield, Inquisitor and Smite. Don't underestimate Inquisitor, between weaving Reflective Shield for the haste buff and (ultimately) breaking it to take damage, you can use it to refresh Focused Will if it's about to run out due to the absorb.

[anon5123]

Holy does more DPS than Disc, IIRC. Mostly due to red chakra.

[tinef]

A lot of points that I didn't even think about. Thanks so much, I'll make sure to keep everything in mind!

[Tehterokkar]

My current plan is:
Doom nova trinket
Iskar dps trinket

Stack haste>ms>crit. (there probably is a haste cap im not thinking of).

Mindbender

Smite damage glyph and Reflective shield does a ton of damage if used correctly as disc.

Why would you want ms over crit? Crit is Disc's attunement, making it more value per point.

[Myllior]

Why would you want ms over crit? Crit is Disc's attunement, making it more value per point.

Optimisation. If we're just looking at damage then, due to the greater effect of baseline Critical Strike chance and that due to the raid buff, you'll get more out of Multistrike than Critical Strike, but only by a bit; you'd ideally want both with ~200 more Multistrike rating than Critical Strike rating (the difference is a bit larger for Worgen). If you're a Dwarf or Tauren, the situation is reversed, with you wanting ~200 more Critical Strike rating than Multistrike rating. Either way, having practically equal amounts of each is probably close enough.

[Deleted]

Get the mannoroth and iskar dps trinkets. Job done!

(Well learn how to abuse them)
1) Spam penance and SW:P into the target that doom nova procs on

I've tested it and it seems that penance is bugged, that mean you won't get doom nova procs from it. I've reported this bug, because penance should interact with the trinket the same way arcane missiles do. But even the initial tick of penance doesn't trigger a doom nova for me (I've got the mythic version of the trinket).

Spamming SW:P works, but Smite should be more dps if the target already has SW:P up and running. Casting SW:P or Holy Fire just before the doom nova debuff runs out will result in one additional proc, however.

[Dorfie]

I've tested it and it seems that penance is bugged, that mean you won't get doom nova procs from it. I've reported this bug, because penance should interact with the trinket the same way arcane missiles do. But even the initial tick of penance doesn't trigger a doom nova for me (I've got the mythic version of the trinket).

Spamming SW:P works, but Smite should be more dps if the target already has SW:P up and running. Casting SW:P or Holy Fire just before the doom nova debuff runs out will result in one additional proc, however.

I assume penance doesn't proc it because it's coded like any other channel spell, like Mind Flay or Drain Life. Doesn't seem like something they'll change.

[Deleted]

I assume penance doesn't proc it because it's coded like any other channel spell, like Mind Flay or Drain Life.

There was a tweet on @WarcraftDevs why Mind Flay doesn't proc Prophecy of Fear some time ago, because it's a damage-over-time ability. Both Arcane Missiles and Penance fire a number of projectiles, as you can see from their animation and read in their tooltips. Penance is probably coded like Mind Flay or Drain Life, but that doesn't mean it should be that way.

Doesn't seem like something they'll change.

I think you are right on that one, too. Only a small number of players know or care about that bug. It's most likely very low on Blizzards priority list.

[Dorfie]

that was easy

[AlivEvil]

Have you tried holy DPS? I think it's something not many people really give a chance but it can push higher DPS than disc (about the same as a tank) although you do 0 healing since no atonement.

In any case you'd obviously want to focus on damage stats, that means 0 mastery. crit should be your #1 stat with the others being fairly balanced below that.
Now for holy I'd 100% suggest gaze of sethe and prophecy of fear, both trinkets have their procs increased by 50% when using the chastise chakra which actually make them extremely powerful. For disc you may be better off with iron reaver piston but I haven't done any maths on that.

Glyph smite and reflective shield obviously ^^

I wonder if the extra tick on penance from t17 bonus is worth picking up...

The whole idea of disc dps is pulling more dps while healing, if all you wanted was a bit of healing and more dps then shadow would be the go to spec.
So really there is no reason to go holy dps.

[Djriff]

I thought reflective shield only worked if you were the target. It's still a DPS gain, just curious.

4) SW:Pain all targets if <3

I seriously read that as a heart at first and it didn't make sense.

[Deleted]

Maybe try twist of fate for the atonement damage buff

[PosPosPos]

I thought reflective shield only worked if you were the target. It's still a DPS gain, just curious.

Correct.

I briefly touched on the calculations for Reflective Shield's value(when compared to Inquisitor and Smite) in one of my earlier posts in some CM thread, but here's the version for current gear levels:

In raids my Smite hits for about 11k unglyphed, no crit no ms. PW:S shields for about 150k, no crit no ms.

Glyph of Smite will contribute 2.2k damage per cast, while Glyph of Reflective Shield will contribute 105k damage per complete shield break.

So for Glyph of Reflective Shield to compete with Glyph of Smite, it will take 1 completely consumed shield per 47.7 casts of Smite.

[Deleted]

^ may only work for some fights however

- - - Updated - - -

However, in most fights this will be the correct choice

[PosPosPos]

^ may only work for some fights however

Like? Which fight does not feature damage to disc priests in the first place?