Thunderclap Buff

[Terrax of the Wind]

I'm sure Mr. Booboil won't post til later this morning (I'm EST), but the patch notes have been updated slightly again.
For Warriors:

Warrior

◦Thunderclap: This ability now counts as a ranged attack, granting it double damage on critical strikes instead of 150% and ranged miss chance, and still cannot be dodged or parried.

There was a blue response about this yesterday, I didn't think they'd change this right away.
Nothing drastic, but a buff nonetheless.

[Terrax of the Wind]

And as someone mentioned, Warriors can now be Disarmed during Bladestorm.

[Dhurn]

More aoe threat? Higher deep wounds ticks? We'll take it

[omglazor]

Incite build has just become that much more attractive on AOE pulls.

[PIEdone]

Guess this also makes it usable while you're silenced by some crap.

[CAMongrel]

Guess this also makes it usable while you're silenced by some crap.

That would be great, but I somehow doubt it.

[Battousai]

That would be great, but I somehow doubt it.

Actually he makes a good point, as its a ranged attack now...it should be free from spell lockout.

[Unholyground]

So it is directly both an arms and prot buff, me likes

[Shoryu]

If its going to be considered a ranged attack will it scale with our melee attack power or with our ranged attack power?

[LinkMonk]

Should still be melee AP.

[Shoryu]

Should still be melee AP.

You never know with blizz.

Im thinking the big ass Pustulating Horrors + Leapers pulls are going to be a lot more fun

[albuli77]

Excuse my ignorance, but did TC always give a stack of Deep Wounds on crits? Or does this change give it the ability to give us a stack of Deep Wounds on crits?

[Shoryu]

Excuse my ignorance, but did TC always give a stack of Deep Wounds on crits? Or does this change give it the ability to give us a stack of Deep Wounds on crits?

always gave DW

[lilbandit]

it's a direct buff to warrior aoe threat. I'd estimate with an incite build, warrior tanks would be looking at 20-30% crit on thunderclap, depending on buffs, maybe higher?

if it's a 50% damage buff on crits, and a 25% crit rate (just for argument's sake):

that's an average of 12.5% increase in damage per thunderclap.

of course, doesn't quite work out like that, but it's a crude example to show what the gains might be...still won't beat out pally aoe threat, but might make warriors a bit more competitive.

[Thaladread]

So it's no longer an AoE?
Or is it now cone-like, like Shockwave?

[Jaese]

So it's no longer an AoE?
Or is it now cone-like, like Shockwave?

TC is counted as a spell effect.

After patch it will be a ranged effect.

Nothing else changes.

[maxiedaxie]

honestly this doesnt really do much a buff none the less i suppose lol

[Kysimir]

honestly this doesnt really do much a buff none the less i suppose lol

...

Really?

Now, not only is this now a more-or-less guaranteed hit, it now increased the damage done on crits to 220% for Prot and 223% for Arms. Which, given the Imp Thunderclap that most Arms and all Prot Warriors take, will result in a pretty substantial AOE DPS buff, as +70% or +73% at 30% or 65% (roughly) crit chances respectively will be noticed. Maybe not in the whole percentile marks, but noticed none-the-less. Since Thunderclap is based on Attack Power, and crits are based on percent increase, it will scale nicely with the acquisition of gear until it IS whole percentile.

In addition, it will be a pretty significant buff for AOE packs for Prot TPS due to the scaling of Thunderclap Threat (1.85 x damage), and with the increased chance to hit, Prot TPS will notice it in the whole percentile marks.

Just because the patch notes are only one or two lines in length, does not mean the buffs are not needed/felt.

[lilbandit]

So it's no longer an AoE?
Or is it now cone-like, like Shockwave?

not sure where on earth you got this from. it's the same as it is now, just a ranged attack not a spell, but in essence entirely the same, just more crit damage (and hopefully useable while silenced)

[Nithara]

I might be wrong on this, but won't this boost thunderclap's crit % as well? I just peeked at my numbers from an ICC run, and over the total run I'd 18% crit on thunderclap. I get 15% from talents, + feral druid, horn of winter and ~5% base crit. 18% is the 15% I get from talents + the 3% crit I get from retri paladin judgement, I suspect thunderclap in it's current version isn't benefiting from melee crit boosts, but rather from spellcrit.

As we all know, a naked warrior's paper doll spell crit is 0%. The sample I took is to small to actually put any weight on, it's just a suspicion. Gear that comes with +crit does of course affect spellcrit chance as well as melee crit chance, so these numbers would get affected if you're wearing dps gear, but not if you're wearing tank gear.
As a comparsion; shockwave, which doesn't have any crit modifier at all, ended up at 15% crit during this run.

If it is as I suspect, this might very well boost thunderclap's crit by a very healthy amount! Not to mention the crit damage. Or the lower hit chance needed. Yumyum.