2H DPS Build

[Zathe]

Alright so today I was in a Heroic with another DK that was using lower quality gear yet doing far more DPS than I was. As far as I know he was close to full Blood spec putting out just over 2000dps with some 78+ gear and two epics. I was in Unholy with a fair amount of epcis (armory link - http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...=Velen&n=Zathe ) doing around 1500 to 1600dps. I went and swapped out for this Blood spec I found on a site and that actually dropped me down to 1300dps.

Can someone please explain to me where I am going wrong? What is a good 2H DPS build with a good rotation?

Please help!

[Daez]

My guess from just the information given is that your hit rating is abysmal. In order to maximize your damage with dw you need to worry about hit rating much more than you do as a 2h. If your hit rating is crap then your dps is going to suffer even in heroics unless you completely out gear another player.

[Zathe]

Alright so would I be best to go back to Unholy and try to raise my hit? I mean 1600dps wasn't so bad, I could get up to 2000dps on a boss. But it was just sad to see a Blood spec with half the gear I had doing far more damage overall.

[Bullshifter]

Your hit rating is fine. What does your rotation look like as Unholy? What glyphs are you using? With the gear you have, you should be doing far more than 1600 dps.

So tell us what your single target and aoe rotations look like and your glyphs. You could also benefit from some enchants and gems.

Please take a read through the first post of http://elitistjerks.com/f72/t37087-u...ps_discussion/

The first post is continually updated as the discussion evolves. It includes everything from proper talent spec to ability priorities (rotations really aren't the right way to think about doing dps as Unholy), to stat weights and everything. Give at least the first post in the thread a read.

[Daez]

Ok, I missed the armory. I don't know specs all that well, but I can tell you from gear that you have missed the boat a decent amount.

For any melee attack power is what you want to maximize. Critical strike rating comes secondary to attack power after you are hit capped. Your hit rating is fine for 2h. Its decent enough for 1h.

Gear wise...

Gem your helm: You want the (chaotic skyflare diamond) 21 critical strike rating and 3% increased critical strike damage meta. This meta requires two blue gems so you will want to use 8 str 12 stam gems in sockets where you can keep the socket bonus and it is worth keeping (in your helm and waist).

Every other socket you have should have a +16 str gem in it. The socket bonuses on the rest of your gear sucks so don't worry about keeping them (9 stam and 4 critical strike rating are not bonuses you should bother yourself with at the expense of 16 strength gems unless you have to for the meta).

Get your helm, shoulders, back, chest, wrist, hands and feet the appropriate enchants (focus on attack power wherever available and hit/crit/haste where not). Get a belt buckle for your belt and put a 16 str gem in it. I'm going to assume that because you could come to mmo-champion and post that you are capable of looking up enchants on wowhead.

Socket your helm with 21 crit 3% crit damage and 8 str 12 stam.

Replace your cloak with cloak of bloodied water (trash drop in gundrak heroic and easily gotten on most AHs for around 200g). The cloak you have is trash for everything short of druid tanking.

Replace your bracers with vengeance bindings (crafted and the best in slot until you start 10/25 man).

Change the gem in your hands to 16 strength.

Socket your belt with 8 str 12 stam (for the meta to work). Belt buckle it and put in a 16 str gem.

Keep the 16 str gem in your pants but replace the yellow gem with another 16 str.

Replace your family signet with band of frosted thorns from heroic nexus.

Replace your trinkets with mirror of truth (badges) and either Metorite Whetstone (heroic UP) or Anvil of Titans (WG PvP). I will try not to be that critical on you cause you asked for help. I'm assuming you got the Canoneer's Fuselighter for the critical strike rating, but the spell power on use bonus sucks so badly that you could get a level 70 trinket in the slot that is better.

That pretty much sums up the gear. You aren't going to do really decent dps until you change your gear. A person that is min/maxxing stats correctly and is using all green/blue gear will beat you if they have better stats. In WoW, its very possible to get crappy rare/epic gear for your class that was never designed for your class and really good green/blue gear that was designed for your class and the person that did the second will always top the dps charts.

[tvveeder]

Yeah and for 2h dps your hit may even be a little higher than needed. Really you should only get/need about 6-7% hit. Buff up your crit a little bit to where with horn of winter you will have around 25% or better crit (without gimping your other dps stats). The other guy was much more detailed giving specific items but there are other items out there. There are a pair of blue boe bracers our of Heroic VH that would do just as well. Yeah but the areas I will most certainly agree with him are cloak, trinkets, and rings. Update those because that will help out a lot actually. Having that tank ring doesn't help you that much and really that cloak is not a warrior/dk/pally cloak due to it having agi and AP instead of str and crit. Str and crit beat out ap and agi any day especially with particular talents.

[Bullshifter]

Listen to Daez, that's all correct advice, the only thing I might add, is when you're trying to use two purple gems (str/stam) to activate the meta, if you have the option, put them into blue slots that will get you some sort of offensive socket bonus, preferrably strength. And I think he indicated that with his gear appraisal as well. For all else, gem for strength above anything else, screw socket bonuses. The str/stam gem in your belt was a beautiful example of the proper way to maximize.

And read the link I posted too. =)

[Bullshifter]

There are a pair of blue boe bracers our of Heroic VH that would do just as well.

Please don't use those, the Vengeance Bindings that Daez suggested are the best pre-raid bracers in game for us and they don't cost very much to have crafted or buy off the AH. They easily stomp any other bracers out there short of Naxx gear. The only bracers in Naxx 10 that are better are the ones off Grand Widow, and ones that drop off of Rasuvious in Naxx 25 are even a sidegrade to those crafted bracers. Please get those if you're serious about maximizing your potential.

[tvveeder]

Please don't use those, the Vengeance Bindings that Daez suggested are the best pre-raid bracers in game for us and they don't cost very much to have crafted or buy off the AH. They easily stomp any other bracers out there short of Naxx gear. The only bracers in Naxx 10 that are better are the ones off Grand Widow, and ones that drop off of Rasuvious in Naxx 25 are even a sidegrade to those crafted bracers. Please get those if you're serious about maximizing your potential.

Which bracers are the Vengeance Bindings? Do I have them backwards for what I'm thinking? Are vengeance the Str, Agi, Stam, and hit? Or are they the Str, Hit, and Crit? The Str hit and crit ones are better for sure. If I was wrong then my bad.

[Bullshifter]

Yep, Vengeance are the str, hit, crit ones. The ones from VH are a decent choice I suppose, if you don't want to spend any money, but the Vengeance are better, definitely.