Absorb Stamina and Weapon dmg enchant for the weapons?!?!

ThePlayer · December 2018

I did some tests with my DK stamina and i tried to change some enchants, i noticed but i could be wrong that the weapon dmg enchant works better on the second weapon than on the bow. Could i have good results with the absorb stamina enchant in the bow and leave the weapon dmg in the second weapon and the poison in the first weapon? Someone did some tests?

Lately many of the online builds look all the same, in many cases do not consider the possible variations that can be adopted in the various rotation (not always possible for any class of course), for example using 1/2 heavy attack.

John_Falstaff · December 2018

I did similar test recently with various layout of enchantments. Assuming you're not using Cloak, your DW enchantments will only proc on the front bar, so you will have fewer procs on them; if you run infused absorb/poison, then in 12-second rotation with three skills on back bar and 8 weaves on front, you will get 4 procs out of possible 6.

Now, what I found is, placing weapon damage on off hand will let me keep the glyph uptime of around 80-81%, placing it on bow bar will yield around 99% uptime. But even so, the added ~80 weapon damage (unbuffed) is not enough to trump poison/absorb glyph placed on the bow. From the pure damage standpoint, it turned out most rewarding to place absorb on main hand and the (hardest-hitting) poison on bow bar where Hail would consistently proc it. That way, damage is the highest. But sustain suffers - with absorb on either main or off hand, I get ~150 stamina/s return from the glyph.

Placing absorb on the back bar gives 200 stamina/s return and middle-ground damage between the cases with poison (most damage) and weapon damage (least damage) placed on back bar. So you have those three cases for bow bar glyph: poison for most damage and average stamina return, absorb for middle-ground damage but good return from the glyph, and weapon damage.

Now, that last layout, I found the least rewarding in my personal case (I'm also stamina DK), even though published builds have it there. But for one, it may still yield comparable results when you use Cloak or have any sort of rotation that gives you more DW procs. For another, with such scheme, you also gain in control of where your damage goes, because back bar poison/absorb enchant, when landed on a group of targets, will proc only on one and it's difficult to control which exactly (yet to confirm it, but tentatively, it will be closest target to you at the moment of Hail cast, and enchantment will 'stick' to that target even if you move, until you recast the Hail). With poison and absorb on front bar, you get more control and probably more upfront burst with rending slashes.

John_Falstaff · December 2018

Oh, and rotation, just as a point of reference - since many here will probably suggest something better. Everything is with LA weaves, except weave between swap-cancelled Trap and Endless Hail:

Prebuff with FoO -> Rearming Trap -> swap
(1) Endless Hail -> Poison Injection -> Caltrops -> swap -> (2)
(2) Rending Slashes -> FoO -> Noxious Breath -> 4 x Venomous Claw -> Rearming Trap -> swap -> (1)

On second rotation, I'm dropping Standard, on subsequent ones Dawnbreaker when ready, and then use only three Venomous Claw casts. So, all of the above only applies to that rotation; if someone wants to test with different (likely better one) and share the results, feel welcome.

jrgray93 · December 2018

I have only the vaguest idea what you're asking for.

Enchants should be fine on any weapon? Infused or torugs should be the only difference, depending on what you use to proc them. Bows won't proc from poison injection anymore. Volley will do it, iirc. So if you keep volley up with no more than five second gaps, your back bar damage enchant should be at virtually 100% uptime with infused.

John_Falstaff · December 2018

@jrgray93 , I think the question is less generic here since talk is about builds published online, most of the time it'll be same setup (I'm assuming PvE here) - all infused DW/Bow, no Torug's. There were questions about the optimal layout of poison, absorb and weapon damage glyphs, but I haven't heard from anyone else doing side by side comparison.

Bladerunner1 · December 2018

Yeah you get a couple % more DPS placing the weapon damage glyph on the front bar. The only reasonable explanation I've heard for placing it on back is you can focus all your single target glyphs, like poison and absorb stamina, directly on your target if they're placed on the front bar. Endless hail on the bow bar tends to cause a single target damage glyph to land on an enemy closest to you, which may not be the target boss during an AOE fight.

Regardless I still prefer placing poison on the back bar because it truly maximizes DPS on all the fights that have just one target, or absorb stamina for characters that need the max amount of Regen.