[Trial] Agathys (death knight) X-realm

Name: Jens
Nationality: Danish
Age: 32

Character: Agathys (on shadowsong)
Class: Death knight
Spec: Unholy
Armory: http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Shadowsong&cn=Agathys

I am the original owner of my account, and i never let anyone borrow it. I started playing this game when it was called beta4, that more than 5 years ago.

My computer:
Intel core2 quad cpu/ 4gb ram / 64 bit windows 7/ ATI radeon HD 4800/ connection(20/1)
Raid connection: stable and with ping at 40ms and fps at 40-60

Raid experience:
First raid char was a warrior tank, after ulduar i changed to Dk (the char im applying with).
Classic: all content cleared except Frost wyrm and KT in naxx 40
TBC: all content cleared including sunwell
Wrath: all content cleared including most HM (miss yogg 1 light and 50 attempts left togc) up to ICC 11/12 normal

Guilds:
Danes of honor: my first guild where i started as a total nub, i left with some friends to pursue hardcore raiding.
Original: Was in this guild 4years, left cos of older members just was willing to hardcore raid anymore.

When i left what had been my home for 4 years, i decided i was time for a change. So i transfered to horde side and started lookin for a new guild. I have been guild less like 3 weeks now it been harder than expected to find a hardcore guild.

Playtime: I can play from mid afternoon till midnight all days (15.00- 24.00), i sometimes visit my family during weekend which will cause me to miss a friday raid. I can transfer at anytime, preferably as soon as possible.

UI and Addons:
Bigwigs
Grid + Boss debuffs
Skada
Bartender
pitbull
Sexymap
Gladius

UI pic: https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img12/3632/17853759.jpg (picture is from AV)

Twinks: (all my twink are for farming or helping my main)
Leli an Ele-speced shaman (on shadowsong). This is my main twink, quite well geared allso.
I have a few other twinks but not sure i will transfer those.

Dual-spec: I like to pvp but its more of a side thing, current dual-spec Blood tank (spec is on armory).
My tank gear is a bit below my dps set (ilvl 245 to 264 with 2 set t10,5).

WOL: http://www.worldoflogs.com/guilds/331/ (go back a month and u can find log of most fights)

Raiding for me requires:
-willingness to sit if needed
-preperation (reading tactic and watching movies)
-using pots/flask to give the extra push to get a boss down
-research about ur class (i personaly like elitistjerks forums)
-attendance

Raid-spec:
I use a fairly standart unholy reaping build.
Rotaion: IT-PS-BS-BS-SS and rp-dump SS-SS-SS and rp-dump.

Professions:
Jewelcrafting 450 (have most recepies)
Blacksmith 415 (recently changed from mining to have 2 bedst profession for me)

End comments:
I hope my english is readable, since it not my native langue. Pls feel free to ask questions if there is anything that needs to be clarified.

/agathys

PS. I have TS/vent installed and a workin mic.

Underwhelming app is underwhelming

Thanks for the application, it is indeed a little bare in details though. Of course if English isn't your native language it's tough to talk at length about things, but for example, what are your thoughts about the changes in the latest patch to DKs? You're still going with a blood subspec, and yes, the opening post of the EJ unholy thread suggests that that is better at t10 gear levels than the new frost subspec build, but on the other hand a lot of people are reporting at least a simmed DPS increase from the frost subspec, and a lot of DKS from top guilds have switched this reset to at least try it out. Have you considered it at all?

From what I remember of your gear setup (currently you're logged in tank gear) you were running 44 ap on gloves rather than 15 strength, which is slightly sub optimal for unholy if I remember correctly.

Anyway, you did answer pretty much every question, just very briefly, which doesn't really convey your depth of knowledge or passion for playing the class. I'm inclined to offer you a trial, but I'd like to leave this a day or so first and see if guild members who know more about deathknights than I could ask you a few questions, to see if we can get a bit of dialogue going.

First of all pls feel free to ask questions, tbh when i was writing the app it felt like a wall of text.

My reason for blood sub spec atm is that with my current weapon it seems to be the bedst choise (shadowsedge and ilvl 264 gear). It is something that will change with an other weapon exspecialy a proc weapon (bonetryll), since haste scales well with procs.

Allso frost sub-spec is better for aoe, and is estimated to scale better at HM gear lvl ie. ilvl277 (not sure about this one yet).

Personaly i havent had a chance to test spec in a raid, its allways tank ppl need . I logged in dps gear last night and this morning armory seems to have updated correct.

Glove enchant: This seems to be a topic of some controversy, but i did a test my self a while back and 44 att came out slightly a head as glove enchant. Allso all info i can find says 1 str=2.7 att, which bring 15 str enchant to 40,5 att which is less than the 44 u can enchant on gloves.

Ill check forums like hourly today, and during weekend so ask away and i shall answer as fast as possible.

/agathys

PS. i just wanted to mention that i can log on ur server for an ingame chat too or on VT / TS if u use that.

Even though the 44 AP enchant pulls ahead in terms of actual AP - Your ghoul benefits from your strength, not from your AP. A 15 strength enchant doesn't only benefit you - but your pet as well.

I can somewhat see why a weapon like heroic Bryntroll would be better for sub-frost, however, Shadow's Edge is a good enough weapon for sub-Frost as well. Yes, sub-Frost is pretty decent for AoE, but it doesn't lose it's merits in single target either. Instead of relying on Scourge Strike to bring the bulk of your damage, it'll be your melee swings, combined with Necrosis and Blood Caked Blade which do scale with Black Ice, and your diseases combined with your Wandering Plague, which once again - scale with Black Ice. On top of that you gain 4% strength which overall increases your damage far better than 4% more damage with weapon strikes (aka, white swings and it's associated talents, blood strike and scourge strike). Adding to that, Black Ice still increases Scourge Strike's byproduct of Shadow damage, as well as give your ghoul an extra boost to it's own dps.

In terms of Bladed Armor, the talent just doesn't scale as well as Black Ice does, simply because of the small increase in armor on plate gear, at BiS level, compared to any previous, lower level plate gear.

As far as your off spec is concerned - Why, oh why, don't you have Vampiric Blood? You've spent 4 talent points on Rune Tap, which is nice I guess, but it's not an "oh shit" button that gives the healers a chance to save you and the raid in the process. You don't have Hysteria - Why? Hysteria boosts raid DPS, the odd occasion you don't have any physical DPS in the raid doesn't make this talent pointless, it makes it pointless once in a blue moon.

If I may suggest - replace one of your strength-crit gems with a strength-hit gem to sum your Hit rating to 285.

What do you do in AoE fights? Do you replace your glyphs to match the requirements? Do you do anything different? Yes, I know it sounds like a very silly question, but I still want to know how you deal with AoE fights, considering a single target standard Unholy rotation is broken by optimizing DPS on multiple adds. Let's take previous tier Anub'arak as a common example, seeing you've got a Tribute under your achievement panel.

A lot of Death Knights seem to neglect Army of the Dead, what do you do with it? Also - when do you use your Gargoyle, a lot of Death Knights don't seem to pop them at the right time which decreases it's potential by quite a bit.

One question - Why Bloodpack?

Whilst for blood a str/ap equivalence of around 2.6-2.7 is about right, with the much higher pet contribution I believe a str EP of closer to 3 is usually used for unholy. Edit: though now that I think about it, blood dps specs have a much higher str multiplier from talents that ought to cancel out the higher pet contribution of unholy, so if it's 2.7 for blood it ought to be similar for unholy. I'm not invested enough in the subject to run it through simcraft or one of the other dk sims to see what they suggest for EP value of strength for your gearset though :p.

As i wrote havent had oportunity to test sub frost-spec, but yes i think it will be bedst spec as gear increases.

About the glove enchant: nm what i wrote in previus post i made a misscalc due to pet scaling, which will increase again with sub frost-spec, makin 15 str by a fair bit.

Army usage: I only use army at start of fights just before pull if possible, and only on certaion fights. An example is saurfang, where if u use army at pull i will be gone at first blood beasts.

Gargoyle: I use gargoyle after first rotaion, this gives time for trinkets and other stuff to proc, to get strongest gargoyle. After that when its off CD, unless the is a specific part of fight that requires extra nuke or i know when heroism comes. An example is sindragosa P2, i know heroism will be at start of P2 so i have gargoyle up there.

Aoe: For aoe fights i dont shift glyphs simply cos most aoe fight r trash. For aoe i use following rotaion IT-PS-Pes-DnD rp-dump or gargoyle then SS-BS (note 9 rune starter) then 1 round of normal rotaion with 1 Pes and repeat if needed. Anub HM was slightly diffrent, at the first kills i was using AOE-spec and glyphs, im not doing that anymore since there is a fight that needs it tbh.

About my tank spec dont worry, current spec was test pvp/tank spec, real tank spec will have Wampiric blood and hysteria.

Hit rating: The ever returning issue, well here is my take on it.
Melee hit cap: 264 (this is a must to get use gems or enchants to get here!!)
Dks use spells too (death coil as an example), therefor more hit to reach spell cap is still somewhat usefull but u shouldnt use gems to reach it.
Spell hit for DK (with raid buff): 289 (if ur gear gets u betweem melee hit and spell hit leave it there).
Lastly any hit rating above 289 is wasted and serves no purpose at all.

pls keep askin if u have questions

/agathys

Did a test on a training dummy:
Test was 3 mins with only self buff and 1 gargoyle.

Sub blood-spec: 5.4k
Sub frost-spec: 5.0k (im not used to this rotation yet so maby can be a little higher)

With the better gear and buff scaling from sub frost-spec, when will it out perform sub blood-spec. With my current gear it seems fairly close.

Will keep this sub frost-spec for a bit to try it in a heroic and maby pug raid.

/agathys

The difference between the sub specs is really, not that big. And yes, raid buffs and debuffs help. Target dummies are far from being a favorite testing as far as I'm concerned, not only because of lack of raid buffs and debuffs but the fact some of our talents can't overkill which means a dummy with less than 1mil hp is going to suck for testing in general. As for testing builds in pugs, that's probably also going to give you inaccurate results because of synergy and random conditions.

I'm assuming sub-Frost can and will pull slightly ahead with a heroic Bryntroll and (obviously) Shadowmourne, due to the proc scaling with stuff like EP and BI, unless they nerfed it sometime and I didn't read about it. Also, possibly at the highest level of gear - being 277 armor set, with a 272 cloak, 258 trinket (DC) and a Sigil of your choice (I carry both 245 and 264) and 284 weapon sub frost will pull much more towards it's direction than sub blood.

As for the gem - it was merely a suggestion, the DPS gain will not go one way or the other, I just like my DPS to be RNG free as much as I can afford to. The same goes for the Strength enchant, it won't really prove a MASSIVE, easy to notice buff to your DPS, but it helps.

And yes, clearly Anub'arak is outdated content. I just wanted to know what you actually do in AoE situations, Anub'arak being a good example of a fight with adds that requires a fair amount of AoE. With today's gear, Death and Decay is most likely a DPS loss in quite a few raid setups.

Those questions are simply out of curiosity. None of which to challenge your knowledge of the class.

Aye training dummy isnt really realiable data, was more of guide line to see how close it looked.

Pug raid and heroics r more for getting familier with the sub frost-spec, since i think it will be the main unholy raid spec.

I noticed after reading the replys again that i missed a question. Why Bloodpack ?

Well after browsing forums for guild that was recruiting, i was checkin out an other guild on ur server. Cant remember name but turned out to be a bit too casual for me. I noticed ur guild on in some note on ur server forum and looked up ur guild site, to find the u where lookin for a Dk dps. So i checked ur raid times and and guild info and u seemed to be the kind of guild that would suit me.

I dont know anyone in ur guild or on ur server, so this will be a fresh start for me.

/agathys

We're going to go ahead and give you a trial, let me know when you're on the server.

ok will start transfer now talk to ya all in game soon.

/agathys