Anti-Magic Zone, worth speccing into on Madness for UH?

[Darsithis]

Are you 100% certain of all of the above? I was under the impression that, up to the damage cap (appromixately 50,000-60,000 magic damage in current gear), it absorbs 75% of magic damage. Example:

Majordomo's Flamescythe hits each person for 100,000 damage (after resists and other damage mitigation effects) and since 100,000>60,000, AMZ will absorb 60,000 damage on everyone, and not 75,000, because its damage cap is 60,000.

Please do prove me wrong.

It will absorb the 60k, not the 75%. It absorbs UP to 75% but NO MORE than the max it can absorb. You can test this by:

Doing an absorb with the min possible AP

Doing a second one by increasing your AP through on-use trinkets & strength potions.

You will see a big difference in the damage absorbed despite the incoming damage remaining the same. I used to do it all the time on Domo. I'd time my second potion (pre-pot first) to coincide with my AMZ to absorb more damage.

[Vereesa]

It will absorb the 60k, not the 75%. It absorbs UP to 75% but NO MORE than the max it can absorb. You can test this by:

Doing an absorb with the min possible AP

Doing a second one by increasing your AP through on-use trinkets & strength potions.

You will see a big difference in the damage absorbed despite the incoming damage remaining the same. I used to do it all the time on Domo. I'd time my second potion (pre-pot first) to coincide with my AMZ to absorb more damage.

Thanks for the clarification. Avatar Killer's post made it seem like AMZ would blatantly absorb 75% of all spell damage. (assuming the damage occurs at the same time)

[bals]

Thanks for the clarification. Avatar Killer's post made it seem like AMZ would blatantly absorb 75% of all spell damage. (assuming the damage occurs at the same time)

that is in fact how it works.

from ej:

Anti-Magic Zone:
AMZ is the best utility an Unholy DK brings to a raid, and is alone a good enough reason not spec Frost. When used correctly, this will be your raid's strongest defensive CD. Do not be fooled by the tooltip to think it will only absorb the stated amount of damage. In reality, it will first absorb 75% of the next magical attack, and only THEN, if the amount absorbed exceeded the stated amount, it will vanish. Therefore, it works best when soaking single high-dmg attacks, and fails miserably soaking multiple low-dmg attacks. For example, total damage absorbed by an AMZ covering 25 raid members can easily exceed 1,000,000 (vs Majordomo's Flame Scythe, Rhyolith's Concussive Stomp). Fortunately, there are many useful chances to use it in Firelands, when timed correctly. Some were already mentioned, and others will be mentioned below. Precise timing is an issue when other low dmg magic attacks risk breaking the AMZ before the big dmg hits. Note also that dmg taken from a shaman's "Spirit Link Totem" is absorbed by the AMZ and can break it, and so the two should not be used together. Personally, i keep Blood Tap ready for fights requiring precise timing for AMZ. It's worth it. Also, try to use AMS separately from AMZ, for maximum total dmg reduction.

[Vereesa]

<snip>

So basically in an ideal situation (where big raid damage comes in during AMZ) AMZ is fully independent of the caster's AP?

[Darsithis]

that is in fact how it works.

Anti-Magic Zone:
AMZ is the best utility an Unholy DK brings to a raid, and is alone a good enough reason not spec Frost. When used correctly, this will be your raid's strongest defensive CD. Do not be fooled by the tooltip to think it will only absorb the stated amount of damage. In reality, it will first absorb 75% of the next magical attack, and only THEN, if the amount absorbed exceeded the stated amount, it will vanish. Therefore, it works best when soaking single high-dmg attacks, and fails miserably soaking multiple low-dmg attacks. For example, total damage absorbed by an AMZ covering 25 raid members can easily exceed 1,000,000 (vs Majordomo's Flame Scythe, Rhyolith's Concussive Stomp). Fortunately, there are many useful chances to use it in Firelands, when timed correctly. Some were already mentioned, and others will be mentioned below. Precise timing is an issue when other low dmg magic attacks risk breaking the AMZ before the big dmg hits. Note also that dmg taken from a shaman's "Spirit Link Totem" is absorbed by the AMZ and can break it, and so the two should not be used together. Personally, i keep Blood Tap ready for fights requiring precise timing for AMZ. It's worth it. Also, try to use AMS separately from AMZ, for maximum total dmg reduction.

I can't imagine then how changing my AP does make a big difference in the damage absorbed by AMZ if it will break at 75% anyway of a high damage attack...? Yet I see it doing just that.

[SurrealNight]

On Domo I would see my first AMZ was WAY lower than it should be (like by 30k), this happening to anyone in DS?

Been Frost for a while and everyone stopped taking scythes when they moved on to heroic anyways.

[Affectionate]

Im still surprised blizz hasnt "fixed" amz to not work like it does on domo (and as Ive seen in the heroic Ultraxion vid on Hour of Twilight) cause I dont think they ever intended it to work so strongly against high damage single strike AoE hits.


That being said, its a bit of a joke in my guild about how short it lasts on things like Zon'Ozz' during the AoE phase, since that damage all comes in individual spikes on players and not one big AoE hit.

Im not sure which I prefer, if they 'fix' it, it'll become pretty useless as a raid CD, unless they give it a duration instead of a max absorb amount. (I'd say like nerf it to 50% reduced magic dmg, for 5-6 seconds or something instead of the absorb cap / 75% rule)

[Avatar Killer]

It will absorb the 60k, not the 75%. It absorbs UP to 75% but NO MORE than the max it can absorb.

This is incorrect

AMZ absorbs 75% of incoming spell damage to all targets inside of it period. End of that

Then it does a second check. Was that total damage adding all targets more than i can absorb. If answer is yes then bubble is gone. If no then the bubble stays.

Unless they have modified this, it has been this way since it was made UP TO that change. I haven't read anything on it changing.

I have tested it. In fact i said the same thing YOU did in a different post.. i was proven wrong. If i could find it i will show you but it does absorb WAY more than the bubble total but that is because it was designed to.

Think about this... if the spell absorbed say 50k damage between say 10 targets that is only 5000 damage. why would anyone waste a talent point, a global cooldown and a rune to absorb 5k damage to those players?

Blizzard did the same thinking and said lets split the checks and do one first and then if TD > x then bubble = 0.

Do it again and check your numbers. If you can prove one way or the other post it like i did at the bottom of this post.

Thanks for the clarification. Avatar Killer's post made it seem like AMZ would blatantly absorb 75% of all spell damage. (assuming the damage occurs at the same time)

because that IS how it works. Darsithis is mistaken.

So basically in an ideal situation (where big raid damage comes in during AMZ) AMZ is fully independent of the caster's AP?

No. IT will ALWAYS reduce the First spell that hits it's damage by 75%. If that damage is less than the AP total then it remains. if Not then it goes away.

Are you 100% certain of all of the above? I was under the impression that, up to the damage cap (appromixately 50,000-60,000 magic damage in current gear), it absorbs 75% of magic damage. Example:

Majordomo's Flamescythe hits each person for 100,000 damage (after resists and other damage mitigation effects) and since 100,000>60,000, AMZ will absorb 60,000 damage on everyone, and not 75,000, because its damage cap is 60,000.

Please do prove me wrong.

Yes i am 100% certain it works that way. Your impression was my first thought too but i was proven wrong. It in fact will absorb an incredibly large amount of spell damage. WAY past the cap. There in fact is no limit to how much damage it will absorb from the first hit. The only cap is how long it will last. Since the damage is so small that it absorbs it usually breaks on the first hit but that hit can literally absorb any number you can create, then reduce that by 75% for that hit.

Here you go:

Please do prove me wrong.

It will absorb the 60k, not the 75%. It absorbs UP to 75% but NO MORE than the max it can absorb.

I used to do it all the time on Domo.

Then look at this -
Click this and read the total damage on This DOMO fight. It absorbed 352,443 total damage. have you ever had 171,221 attack power?

Recent:
EJ post stating just this occurrence.

<Elementium Bolt>
For any platform you don't have Nozdormu alive (and have to deal with elementium bolt), AMZ will block 75% of the brunt of the initial impact. So instead of blocking its normal ~40,000 damage it will block a lot more. Other, than elementium bolt, AMZ will get eaten up pretty quickly when the claw/wing tentacles are low on hp so it won't block as much damage.
- Submitted by Meygaera of Dalaran-US

Furthermore look down the above EJ page at post #21. It states all the super awesome times to use AMZ with this very object in mind.

-snipit -

Anti-Magic Zone:
AMZ is the best utility an Unholy DK brings to a raid, and is alone a good enough reason not spec Frost. When used correctly, this will be your raid's strongest defensive CD. Do not be fooled by the tooltip to think it will only absorb the stated amount of damage. In reality, it will first absorb 75% of the next magical attack, and only THEN, if the amount absorbed exceeded the stated amount, it will vanish. Therefore, it works best when soaking single high-dmg attacks, and fails miserably soaking multiple low-dmg attacks.
- written by boo-boo

It has always been this way.