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Shock and Awe: The Art of Dual Shockadins in Arena

Given the interest shown for my previous two posts regarding Shockadins, I have decided to keep the proverbial wheels turning and offer up yet another perspective on the potential of this spec come WotLK.  As always, please feel free to post comments and ask questions.

If you’ll recall, J referred us to a rather entertaining video of dual Shockadins breaking into the 2000s during Season 3.  It would be inaccurate to claim this video as the first instance of entertainment regarding the spec but I certainly would go as far as to say it acted as forum-wide eye-opener for those having never experienced or even seen this particular build.  I can say, with the utmost of certainty, that I’ll never be able to part with the lingering vision of watching an MS Warrior, in perfect line of sight of his Druid partner, fall to the ground within 3 seconds of witnessing the wings of Avenging Wrath suddenly extending from the backs of his Shockadin enemies.  The Druid, with Nature’s Swiftness still sitting idly on his buff bar, stood in disbelief 20 yards away.

Shock and awe indeed…

Today, let’s evaluate the future of this combination and gauge whether or not its potential will remain in tact upon the arrival of November 13, 2008.

Upon achieving level 80, the Shockadin will essentially have four sources of instant damage at their disposal:

  • Judgement
  • Holy Shock
  • Hammer of Wrath
  • Shield of the Righteous

Although the first three are certainly applicable, we can rule out Shield of the Righteous as its damage is directly tied to the Paladin’s block value – a statistic which will be largely if not entirely absent from a Shockadin.  The remainder of this post will then evaluate both Judgement and Holy Shock from both Shockadins and gauge the potential for a swift kill on an opponent.  I am purposely omitting Hammer of Wrath as it can be used only as a “finisher” and, although it can inflict significant damage, will not be part of initial burst of a Shockadin (I have always defined burst as the amount of damage one can cause within the span of no more than 3 seconds).

First, let’s take the build from my previous post:

http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=sVAzxbzhVzZZVfMtbIzfMox

Evaluating Holy Shock first, we have the following modifiers for the spell:

  1. Healing Light (12%)
  2. Crusade (6%)
  3. Sanctified Retribution (2%)
  4. Vengeance (9%)

In total then, we will see a 29% increase in damage for Holy Shock after spell power has attributed its own effect to the spell.  To demonstrate this, I’ve done some research and come across the level 80 Arena set for Paladins:  http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?itemset=767.  To begin, let’s take a look at this full gearset including the honor pieces (note:  at the time of this post, I am unable to get the wowhead tooltips working properly so you’ll just have to follow the links):

For the two trinket slots, let’s assume 200 spell power in total and for a weapon and shield let’s assume 500 spell power in total.  Both of these assumptions are based off of items I found in the WotLK database at WoWhead situated around an item level of 200 (the item level which seems to be the base for epics at level 80).  In addition to these two assumptions, I am going to neglect enchants, inscriptions, glyphs and any other sort of enhancements to spell power either directly or indirectly with the lone exception of gems.  As far as gems are concerned, I will omit the meta socket of the helm but will gem entirely for spell damage otherwise.  Allowing for these statements, we then arrive at the following spell power total based upon the gear above:

  • 1528 spell power – from gear alone
  • 207 spell power– from 9 gem slots at 23 spell power each (Runed Cardinal Ruby)

So in total, we will have 1735 spell power.  Knowing this, let’s take a look at what this means for Holy Shock and Judgement when combined with the aforementioned modifications:

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, Holy Shock has a maximum base of 1047 damage at level 80.  Since it is instant cast, it utilizes the 42.86% coefficient for spell power.  Running those numbers, we arrive at the following:

  • 1047 + (1745 * .4286) = 1795 maximum base damage after spell power

Now let’s add in the modifications:

  • 1795 * 1.12 (Healing Light) ==> 2010
  • 2010 * 1.06 (Crusade) ==> 2131
  • 2131 * 1.02 (Sanctified Retribution) ==> 2174
  • 2174 * 1.09 (Vengeance) ==> 2370

With that done let’s factor in Avenging Wrath:

  • 2370 * 1.20 ==> 2844

Lastly, let’s take into account the user of Divine Favor to force a critical strike:

  • 2844 * 1.50 ==> 4266

What this shows us is that, omitting any mitigation by resilience, we have a maximum potential for 4266 on a Holy Shock critical strike.  With this proven, let’s move on to Judgement.

Although the Judgement system has undergone extensive change when contrasted with its existence currently, we still need only consider the damage caused as a result of having Seal of Righteousness active when one of the three Judgements is cast.  For this type of Judgement, we have the following modifications to make:

  1. Seals of the Pure (15%)
  2. Crusade (6%)
  3. Sanctified Retribution (2%)
  4. Vengeance (9%)
  5. The Art of War (20% critical strike bonus)

Take straight from the description of Seal of Righteousness on wowhead, the formula used for its Judgement effect is as follows:

  • 1 + 0.25 * AP + 0.4 * SPH

where AP = Attack Power and SPH = Holy Spell Power.  Granted a Shockadin’s attack power will be very low, let’s at least assume 400.  For spell power, we can use the calculated value from above of 1745.  Now that we’ve got our initial values, let’s crunch the numbers:

  • 1 + 0.25 * 400 + 0.4 * 1745 = 799 maximum base damage after attack and spell power

With a base of 799 to work with, let’s now consider our first four modifications:

  • 799 * 1.15 (Seals of the Pure) ==> 919
  • 919 * 1.06 (Crusade) ==> 974
  • 974 * 1.02 (Sanctified Retribution) ==> 993
  • 993 * 1.09 (Vengeance) ==> 1084Throwing Avenging Wrath into the mix we have:
    • 1084 * 1.20 = 1301

    Lastly, let’s consider a critical strike.  For this consideration, however, there are two points of interest.  The first is that Judgement of Righteousness is considered a spell thus it is does 150% damage upon achieving a critical hit.  The second is that we are receiving a 20% bonus to this 150% to bring it to 170%.  This leaves us with the following upon critically striking:

    • 1301 * 1.7 = 2212

    Now that we are finished with the calculations for Judgement of Righteousness, let’s put it and Holy Shock together for a traditional Shockadin burst combo:

    • [0.0] Pop Avenging Wrath, Divine Favor and cast Holy Shock (4266 damage)
    • [0.5] GCD from Holy Shock
    • [1.0] GCD from Holy Shock
    • [1.5]Judge Righteousness (2212 damage)

    Now, we must consider mitigation.  Since both Judgement of Righteousness and Holy Shock are consider as Holy spell damage, neither can be mitigated by armor or resistances.  As a result, the only form of mitigation possible, other than through class-specific talents or possibly certain glyphs, is through resilience.  Obviously, this form of mitigation only applies to critical strikes in our case thus we can run the math from that point.  Although the amount of rating required to reach the resilience cap will be a great deal higher at level 80 due to statistic scaling, it is currently assumed that resilience will still max out at 25% critical strike damage reduction as it is on live servers today.  Running with this assumption, we can simply subtract out 25% worth of the critical strike calculations for both Holy Shock and Judgement of Righteousness as follows:

    • 2844 * 1.25 (instead of 1.5) ==> 3555 damage from Holy Shock
    • 1301 * 1.45 (instead of 1.7) ==> 1886 damage from Judgement of Righteousness

    What we have now shown is that, against a target of capped resilience at level 80, one Shockadin will be able to unload a maximum of 5441(3555 + 1886) damage within 1.5 seconds.  It then follows that two, equally-geared Shockadins will be able to unload 10882 (5441 * 2) damage within that same 1.5 second interval.  As a reminder, this value does not include any enchants, inscriptions, glyphs, buffs, popped trinkets or even a meta gem.  Additionally, it does nottake into account any debuffs that may be associated with the target such as a Warrior sitting in Berserker stance (10% more damage taken).  As a result, one can easily expect damage output superior to that which we have calculated.

    To close out this post, I leave you with the following story:

    Two Paladins walk into the Ruins of Lordaeron, both bearing a mace and a shield.  Across the way, a Warrior appears but stops shy of the central tomb.  Hesitantly, he reaches back and wiggles his nails against the far side of his scalp in utter confusion.  Now standing aside the tomb themselves, the Paladins stand shoulder to shoulder and, in complete unison, motion for the Warrior to approach them.  Licking his lips, the Warrior unsheathes the most devastating weapon of war seen to date and charges abruptly over top of the tomb.  In an instant, wings emerge from the back of each Paladin and runic symbols flutter defiantly above their heads.  The Warrior falls to his knees in debilitating pain as a Druid appears from the shadows.  Just as the Druid’s hands begin to emit a translucent green hue, two crystalline hammers materialize out of nothingness and strike downward in a resonating symphony upon the Warrior’s kneeling form.  He falls lifeless to the cobbled floor only a a second and half following his initial engagement. 

    The Druid, out of sheer awe and wonderment at what has been displayed, implodes within himself and emerges a wisp defiantly exhibiting a clouded and transparent middle finger aimed in the Paladins’ direction.

    • November 3, 2008 Posted by | Uncategorized | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment