I’d like to start a discussion about the lvl 90 tier of talents, from the standpoint of a dps-warrior (prot will take Avatar in the majority of cases). From the discussions I’ve found here at MMO-champion regarding these talents, I don’t feel everything has been said about them. Avatar and Storm Bolt have been discussed extensively, but I feel that the value of Bloodbath has been underrated thus far. Here's my line of thought, please correct me if / where I'm wrong:
So far, the discussion of this tier of talents has been based on the following post by Siguror, a while ago on the official forums:
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The rage generation change breaks the level 90 talent tier. Now that Storm Bolt isn't displacing anything, it becomes a pure 400% weapon per 30 seconds.This means it does 800% weapon damage every minute. In order for Bloodbath to match that, you need to do 2666.7% weapon damage over 12 seconds, or ~333% weapon damage per GCD (assuming full GCDs). Considering that not all GCDs will be filled, and attacks do between 150%-200% weapon damage, Storm Bolt is some 50% better than Bloodbath.Storm Bolt does 2400% weapon damage every 3 minutes. With 60% Enrage uptime, Windfury Totem, and 12% Haste, Arms will generate 4 RPS from auto-attacks. Avatar will give 2 RPS for it's duration, which means 40 rage (i.e. 1.3 Slams). This means Avatar needs to do 2140% weapon damage from it's bonus damage modifier, or 10700% weapon damage over 20 seconds. Assuming 7 auto-attacks and 14 special attacks, that's an average of ~714.29% weapon damage per GCD to match Storm Bolt.
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There are a few things in the above reasoning that are inconsistent with today’s situation, mainly regarding the power of Storm Bolt.
Storm Bolt: 400% weapon damage, 30 sec cooldown, on the gcd.
Due to the fact that Stormbolt is on the general cooldown, it isn’t the flat-out 400% weapondamage per 30 seconds that it’s made out to be. Due to its high damage it will take priority over pretty much any other ability in the rotation (perhaps save for the rage generators), where it will take the place of another ability which in the majority of cases will be a damaging ability.
The increase in damage won’t be 400%, but 400% minus the damage of the ability it replaces (which is anything between 0% for an empty gcd to 215%+ 2679 for a slam.
Advantages:
Able to be used at range, to get a good opener on ranged target switches / the start of the fight.
Damage can be enhanced by Colossus Smash, although cooldowns don’t line up properly (less of an issue for arms, more painful for fury).
Also usable as a stun on adds, if required.
Disadvantages:
On the GCD, as described above.
Cannot be used as a burst ability on many types of adds, due to many of such mobs being susceptible to stuns.
When choosing Storm Bolt you give up a traditional damage increasing cooldown, which for many (myself included) takes an aspect of fun out of the gameplay.
Avatar: 20% increase in damage, 30% increase to rage generation (especially valuable during the execute phase, where the added rage won’t be converted into extra slams or heroic strikes, but into additional executes), 20 sec duration, 3 minute cooldown. Off the gcd.
Advantages:
Lines up nicely with the cooldowns of Skull Banner and Execute (considering 4p T14, reduces CD of Execute to 3 min).
Longer duration in execute phase compared to Bloodbath (assuming the phase is longer then 12 seconds).
Disadvantages:
due to the long cooldown on Avatar, you'll often have to hold back on usage, in order to have it available for the execute phase, where it is absolutely mandatory. There are many fights, at least in the current tier, that last between 3 and 6 minutes. This reduces the uptime of Avatar in practical situations.
A calculation of the amount of rage generated by Avatar under a normal rotation would have to be done to be able to pinpoint its exact value, whether above or under 20% of the fight. Every 30 rage translates into an additional Slam/Heroic Strike/Execute. Does anyone have any good numbers on rage per swing / average rage per second?
Bloodbath: 30% extra damage flat-out on specials. Given that auto-attacks are 10-15% of our damage, it cannot be considered a full 30% dmg boost, in practice it'll be closer to a 25-27% damage boost. Duration: 12 seconds. Cooldown: 1 minute. Off the gcd.
Advantages:
Due to its relatively short cooldown, it can pretty much be used on cooldown without much consideration for not having it available during our main burst of damage, the execute phase. Practical uptime will be very high.
Duration (12 sec) is identical to Recklessness duration (12 sec). Avatar would favor glyphing Execute for better synergy.
Very high synergy with the glove tinker for Engineers (Synapse Springs, 1 min cooldown, 10 sec duration, 1920 strength increase).
Very high synergy with Dragon Roar, practically adding 30% to the value of Dragon Roar if always used in pair.
Historically on-use trinkets haven’t often been preferred, proc-based trinkets have often been the more powerful choice. When the warrior has Engineering, this would boost Bloodbath considerably more then it would boost Avatar or Storm Bolt.
The uptime of Colossus Smash would be higher, percentually, in a bloodbath opposed to an Avatar. Both are pretty much guaranteed one full Colossus Smash in their duration, with a chance of proccing a second for Arms.
Can situationally be used as a slow for adds
Disadvantages:
If the target dies before the bleed wears off, you lose damage.
Per 3 minute cycle (the cd of Avatar) it would have a 36 second uptime, opposed to the 20 seconds of Avatar. It does 25-27% more damage, opposed to 20% of Avatar. Does the added rage generation of Avatar, keeping all the above factors of practical uptime and extra rage for executes, still make Avatar the superior choice?
Off course all the above is still easily countered by 'depends on the fight', which is 100% correct. Still, I think the discussion is an interesting one.
What are your thoughts regarding this tier?