Statue Guards

[Caeth]

Hey I haven't seen a thread discussing this awesome mechanic and how to simulate/increase its frequency. I believe in 5.2 they are making it easier to proc: 1600% of AP down to 800% of AP. I understand its prob based on AP b/c of vengeance.

So in other words we have to hit X (relatively high) amount of damage for it to proc. It looks like that's generally a crit? But it has to be an ability that crits AND originally hits for a lot. For example: keg smash. White crits probably wouldn't cut it. What about jab? Tiger palm? I also think this means that it's *really* important to upgrade weapon ASAP....if too much other gear goes then the extra AP will make it harder to proc compared to the weapon damage.

How much does patch 5.2 help?

Those shields are crazy especially when tanking....250k+ absorbs.

[TheTrueM4gg0t]

it summes up your damage, you don't need a single hit to do the X damage.
(otherwise we wouldn't have much chance to do that much damage, probably only Keg Smash and Touch of Death^^)

[Caeth]

ohhhh the wording is misleading. so there isn't really a way to increase the frequency? oh well

[Kheirn]

ohhhh the wording is misleading. so there isn't really a way to increase the frequency? oh well

Do more deeps!

[Nikkaszal]

Do note that as a static value of your AP, the amount of damage required to trigger a shield goes up as your Vengeance rises. Thus, if you're just going about your regular single-target damage dealing pattern, the rate of Guards applied should be rather smooth no matter how high your AP gets.

When AoE'ing, however, is a different matter. Guards go flying out thick and fast. Makes us amazing on fights like Windlord =D

-------

I'm going to hijack this thread with a question of my own. Two, actually:

1) Does the damage from Xuen, as a guardian rather than a pet, count towards the total required for Guards?

2) can the Guards be applied to NPCs? For instance, my own Xuen while otherwise solo? In other words, would placing the statue be of any benefit at all in a solo setting like Brawlers Guild?

[Biggety]

I can't really speak to whether xuen's damage counts toward the total (should be easy enough to test with a party member and a target dummy,) but the statue can work as an off-tank for certain abilities that look for random targets. It's very nice when soloing old content as a way to avoid some abilities.

[Alucin]

Is it random in who it selects to guard as well? I had assumed so, and that it's not impacted by proximity other than to be in range? I also assume it doesn't prioritise people with low health?

[TheTrueM4gg0t]

ohhhh the wording is misleading. so there isn't really a way to increase the frequency? oh well

moar weapon DPS! but not from agi on gear :-( but from crit+haste! :-)
it does of course profit from dmg debuffs on boss, or when you can cleave/AoE,
but theres not much you can do. (in sense of: having a choice) it's just a bonus you get anyways, lets just be happy about it ^^

[Shinchib]

Is it random in who it selects to guard as well? I had assumed so, and that it's not impacted by proximity other than to be in range? I also assume it doesn't prioritise people with low health?

Within range of the statue of course, it does prioritize lower HP players otherwise RNG if everyone is healthy (from what I've noticed)

[SurrealNight]

1) Does the damage from Xuen, as a guardian rather than a pet, count towards the total required for Guards?

2) can the Guards be applied to NPCs? For instance, my own Xuen while otherwise solo? In other words, would placing the statue be of any benefit at all in a solo setting like Brawlers Guild?

1) I can't seem to find Xuen's damage counted by us in WoL so I'm going to guess at no but probably impossible to tell without a dev blue post on how the mechanics work under the hood.
2) No, I'm basing this as showing 0% Guard's on any Tsulong kill I've looked at. So the statue has no real solo value unless you glyph it to taunt.

[Deleted]

1600% of AP down to 800% of AP.

This is juste a tooltip update, it already takes 800% of AP in 5.1.

moar weapon DPS! but not from agi on gear :-( but from crit+haste! :-)

An increase in damage from Agi outweights the increase in damage required to produce a shield resulting from the additional AP from Agi, therefore Agi is contributing to the increase in Statue shields. Besides, given that they scale on AP, Agi also increase the amount absorbed. Overall, while crit would be better to increase the frequency of procs, Agi is better than crit to increase the efficiency of the statue when you combine frequency and amount absorbed. But you must remember that you gain twice more crit from a gem, making agi gems and crit gems roughly equal considering the Statue (very roughly, the exact ratio depends on current values of crit, agi, weapon dps and Vengeance).

[Caeth]

Ah I wish they would add a range indicator when you click on the statue. I place it in the middle as much as it looks....but I never really understand what 40 yds really means.

[Shanseala]

You can kinda gauge the distance by seeing where the buff "Sanctuary of the Ox" falls off. If you've got that on, you are within range

[Caeth]

Ohhh question:

If you glyph Guard, does the Guard thrown out by the statue also only absorb magic damage?

[SurrealNight]

Ohhh question:

If you glyph Guard, does the Guard thrown out by the statue also only absorb magic damage?

I'm going to take a tentative guess at yes. This is based on Personal Guard and Raid Guard almost always being side by side in WoL. In my Lei Shi attempts and kills the raid guard is always trumped by Expel Harm which would make sense since the raid magic damage is low.

[TheTrueM4gg0t]

An increase in damage from Agi outweights the increase in damage required to produce a shield resulting from the additional AP from Agi, therefore Agi is contributing to the increase in Statue shields. Besides, given that they scale on AP, Agi also increase the amount absorbed. Overall, while crit would be better to increase the frequency of procs, Agi is better than crit to increase the efficiency of the statue when you combine frequency and amount absorbed. But you must remember that you gain twice more crit from a gem, making agi gems and crit gems roughly equal considering the Statue (very roughly, the exact ratio depends on current values of crit, agi, weapon dps and Vengeance).

I thought about the AP part of agi, but Nikkaszal mentioned that the cap and your damage increase linearly, thus it wouldn't make much of a difference. but I never tested that explicitly, so I don't know...

[Zymn]

the statue can work as an off-tank for certain abilities that look for random targets. It's very nice when soloing old content as a way to avoid some abilities.

Correct me if i'm wrong but mechanically the statue is a totem, thus unable to be targeted but such ability's. Exception being if you use Leer glyph and the mob is specifically targeting statue.

[Biggety]

Correct me if i'm wrong but mechanically the statue is a totem, thus unable to be targeted but such ability's. Exception being if you use Leer glyph and the mob is specifically targeting statue.

The statue is a separate npc, as far as the game is concerned. When I solo Kael'thas, the statue ends up eating a fair share of the crowd control abilities and some of Kael's fireballs.