SW or HA?

[Burgerberg]

Hi guys. I have an alt ret pally who I might consider raiding with. I've read that DP is unreliable due to the RNG nature of it, but was wondering which talent to take for the best DPS - HA or SW?

[Nairobi]

NB4 lock.

Read sticky.

TL;DR - SW sims highest. HA is good for on-demand burst and PVP.

[Burgerberg]

NB4 lock.

Read sticky.

TL;DR - SW sims highest. HA is good for on-demand burst and PVP.

I did and there didn't seem to be any definite answer, at least for this tier. That's why I made the thread, because it's a very specific question.

What sims and by how much?

[Nairobi]

Consensus by most (nearly all) raiding rets is that SW > HA >>> DP.

This was reached due to each of them personally simming their own gearsets to find their haste:Str inflection points, and playing with the t60 talents at that time. As these sims will be personal, there is no compendium of them (that I am aware of anyway) to link you for proof. You can either believe me or not, /shrug.

At 522-535 levels of gear, the extra uptime on AW via SW contributes more to overall damage than the additional damage modifier on HoPo-builders. At this point, the difference is relatively slight for most raiders, but with increasing disparity as you reach 535 levels. The difference is further exacerbated with 2/4pc. But the difference is there.

Being that you have an alt that is likely undergeared, YMMV. HA is still great for on-demand burst when something just HAS TO DIE, but SW was slightly ahead even in t14 (both before AND after the 4pc changes) and continues to be now in t15.

Me personally? I still play with HA, as I like the style more. But I raid MS Prot, and use ret for dailies, PVP, etc.

[Kurzior]

Generally speaking, SW is better. But it really depends on the fight. HA is another tool in our already powerful burst damage arsenal. It will allow you to do a ton of damage over a short period of time. SW allows you to increase your damage by a smaller amount, but over a longer period of time by extending your avenging wrath.

For a fight like Ji-kun (assuming you're on the main platform), you're going to want SW because your single-target sustained damage will be higher.

For a fight like Tortos, which has a very short buffed-damage phases every time you kick a shell at him, HA wins because you'll be able to stack your burst damage on top of the bonus damage debuff to get the maximum benefit.