Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Shadow Priests: Assessing Upgrades

 When I first began to play my priest, I knew nothing. Slowly, over time, I started to learn. One thing I learned is that gear selection involves a lot of numbers. Anyone who knows me knows that I dislike math. I heartily dislike math. Yet, oddly, when it comes to assessing shadow priest upgrades, I'm enthusiastic. I almost love the math. I'm not one to go off and discover and formulate, but I do know how to use the formulas that others have discovered and made, so that's what this post is about.

Simply put, I'll be explaining the process I personally use to assess my shadow priest's upgrades and gear choices. I imagine others use the same methods, but for people who's eyes cross as much as mine do when they encounter numbers, I'm hoping this post will prove useful. Many sites for spriests implement mathematics to show the value of a piece of gear. I'm writing to show folks how to understand this, and, furthermore, how to use it to their advantage.

According to shadowpriest.com (which is where ElitistJerks seems to get a bit of their spriest info) the following values are true:

Int = .22
Spir = .59
SP = 1
Hit = 1.88 (to cap)
Crit = .76
Haste = .98
Lightweave = 73
Black Magic = 66.64

You will notice that the numbers quoted on EJ do not perfectly match SP, but they're close.

Furthermore, again from shadowpriest.com, the hit cap is as follows:
* 289 hit is the cap with 6 points between Shadow Focus and Misery
* 315 hit before you can go to 5 points between Shadow Focus and Misery
* 341 hit before you can go to 4 points between Shadow Focus and Misery
* 368 hit before you can go to 3 points between Shadow Focus and Misery
* 394 hit before you can go to 2 points between Shadow Focus and Misery
* 420 hit before you can go to 1 point between Shadow Focus and Misery
* 446 hit before you can go to 0 points between Shadow Focus and Misery

And also, gem information from shadowpriest.com
Red gem slots:
Runed Cardinal Ruby - 23
Yellow gem slots:
Reckless Ametrine - 21.8
Blue gem slots: (if used for Metagem or using at least 6sp socketbonus)
Purified Dreadstone - 17.9 (needed to activate
Metagem:
Chaotic Skyflare Diamond:

9000*0.35*(209%/200%-100%) = 11000*0.35*0.045 = 173.25 dps = 83.25 PP
10.2 PP penalty for using two blue gems instead of red gems -> 70 + 21*0.76 = 85.96
Detailed math in old BRGA thread, look for "Math of CSD".

What does this mean?

Until a shadow priest achieves 289 (usually rounded to 290, as, if I recall correctly, it's more like 289.something), then hit rating is granted a total value of 1.88 vs spellpower.

To figure out the total value of an item, the multipliers quoted above are used.

How To Assess An Upgrade for a Shadow Priest

You have two options.
One: you can simply refer to the Best Raiding Gear for 3.3 thread on Shadowpriest.com, or, a more personal approach, you can weigh the value of the items yourself, taking your gem, enchant, and need of hit rating into account.

As an example:

To decide which piece of gear is better, we will be using Strip of Remorse and Sash of Ancient Power. We will assume that each belt will be altered with an Eternal Belt Buckle and Runed Cardinal Ruby.

First, we can assess the value of the socket bonus available on Sash of Ancient Power. In this piece, we have two sockets. These sockets are Red and Blue. The socket bonus is +7 sp. The value for a red epic gem is 23 sp. The value for an epic sp/spir gem is 17.9. Therefore, 23 + 17.9 + 7 = 47.9. If we were to gem straight sp, we would have, instead: 23 + 23 = 46. As we see, it is slightly beneficial to meet the socket bonus.

This means that we will assume that Sash of Ancient Power will be socketed with 1x Purified Dreadstone and 2x Runed Cardinal Rubies

Strip of Remose will be socketed with 1x Runed Cardinal Rubies.

Now that we have decided the sockets, we can begin to truly assess each piece.

The stats we need to pay attention to are as follows:

Sash of Ancient Power:
+64 Intellect
3x Sockets (w/ Eternal Belt Buckle)
Socket Bonus: +7 Spell Power
Equip: Improves hit rating by 43
Equip: Improves haste rating by 49
Equip: Increases spell power by 81.

Strip of Remorse:
+68 Intellect
1x Sockets (w/ Eternal Belt Buckle)
Equip: Improves critical strike rating by 55
Equip: Improves haste rating by 62
Equip: Increases spell power by 105.


As many shadow priests know, once hit capped, spell power is the most valuable stat. However, there is a certain logical fallacy. If we were to compare the raw spell power of both belts, it would look like this:

Sash: 23 + 23 + 12 + + 7 + 81 =  146
Strip: 23 + 105 = 128

It appears that the Sash has an 18 sp advantage over the Strip.

But, assuming you're over hit cap, do you really need that 43 hit on the sash? How can you tell which stat it better when?

Let's figure it out.

Returning to the values and stats listed above, let's set up some simple math to answer our question.

First, we take the stats that we have values for, and put them together as an addition problem:

Sash:
64 int  + 23sp Runed Cardinal Ruby + 23sp Runed Cardinal Ruby + 12sp Purified Dreadstone + 10 spir Purified Dreadstone + 7 sp socket bonus + 81 sp + 49 haste [+ 43 hit]

We keep the hit separated in [brackets] because we want to be able to easily see the value with and without +hit, as, after hit cap, hit is a 0 value stat.

Strip:
68 int + 23 sp Runed Cardinal Ruby + 55 Crit + 62 Haste + 105 sp

Now let's go and add the multipliers in:

Sash:
64(.22) int + 23sp Runed Cardinal Ruby + 23sp Runed Cardinal Ruby + 12sp Purified Dreadstone + 10(.59) spir Purified Dreadstone + 7 sp socket bonus + 81 sp + 49(.98) haste [+ 43(1.88) hit]

Strip:
68(.22) int + 23 sp Runed Cardinal Ruby + 55(.76) Crit + 62(.98) Haste + 105 sp

Now, remove the labels to simplify our math:


Sash: 64(.22) + 23 + 23 + 12 + 10(.59) + 7 + 81 + 49(.98) [+ 43(1.88) hit]

Strip: 68(.22) + 23 + 55(.76) + 62(.98) + 105

Now that we're down to the numbers of it, some people's eyes might start crossing, but stick with me!  Let's work through each set and simplify the multiplication.

Sash: 14.08 + 23 + 23 + 12 + 5.9 + 7 + 81 + 48.2 [+80.84 hit]

Strip: 14.96 + 23 + 41.8 + 60.76 + 105

Now, we add all of that together to get our total values based on stat weight.

Sash:
14.08 + 23 + 23 + 12 + 5.9 + 7 + 81 + 48.2 [+80.84 hit]
37.08 + 23 + 12 + 5.9 + 7 + 81 + 48.2
60.08 + 12 + 5.9 + 7 + 81 + 48.2
72.08 + 5.9 + 7 + 81 + 48.2
77.98 + 7 + 81 + 48.2
84.98 + 81 + 48.2
165.98 + 48.2
213.98 [ + 80.84 hit]
213.98 OR [294.82 w/hit]

Strip:
14.96 + 23 + 41.8 + 60.76 + 105
37.96 + 41.8 + 60.76 + 105
79.76 + 60.76 + 105
140.52 + 105
245.52

From the math, we see that the overall value of Sash, without counting its hit, is 213.98. The value of Strip is 245.52. From this simple math, we have learned that the stats on the Strip are more valuable than the stats on the Sash.

However! If you are below hit cap, remember that hit is still valued at 1.88 vs sp. That means, if you are below hit cap to the point that you will need all of the hit off of the Sash, the sash is worth up to 294.82.

How to judge your hit needs!

Remember the hit cap numbers quoted above. To properly assess the value of an item you need hit from, be sure to calculate only for the +hit you will be using from the item. For example, if an item gives you 43 hit, but you only need 12 hit to be capped, only calculate the value of +12 hit. This will help you choose between multiple +hit pieces to find the best upgrade for you.

I hope that this post has proven useful to someone out there. :)

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