Weapon choice for prot wannabe dps

Scargoth · #1 09-28-2008, 03:39 PM

I am a tank (2/6 SW) and I have tons of tank gear that is great for my progression level. We've been at this for so long that I've also got a lot of stray DPS weapons.

I am HUMAN, therefore I usually stick with maces and swords when I can. I have roughly 1950 AP, 29% crit (in zerker), 180ish hit rating, and about 17 exp for both MH and OH. I have no 2h weapons, so if I ever respec away from prot, it's just to fury.

Below is a list of all the item level 141+ weapons I have and which enchant is currently on them.

From this list, which MH / OH combo do you think would be best?

* [item]Dragonscale-Encrusted Longblade[/item] (Executioner, my main threat tanking weapon)
** [item]Rod of the Sun King[/item] (Mongoose)
[item]Swiftsteel Bludgeon[/item] (no enchant yet)
[item]Syphon of the Nathrezim[/item] (no enchant yet)
[item]Fang of Vashj[/item] (Mongoose)
[item]The Unbreakable Will[/item] (Mongoose, my main survival tanking weapon)

* my current OH
** my current MH

The reason I ask this is because I just picked up the [item]Syphon of the Nathrezim[/item] and was curious to see if that should be my new MH choice, and if so, what enchant I should go with.

Arrivan · #2 09-28-2008, 07:50 PM

I'd put the Syphon in your main hand, stick Executioner on it and put the Rod in your off hand. The 0.1 higher speed on the Syphon and the fact that your Rod already has Mongoose on it are the only factors in my choice there.

Scargoth · #3 09-29-2008, 08:55 AM

Hmmmmm, interesting.

So you're saying that having the correct MH/OH combo of slow/slow and also having exec/goose overrides the fact that my [item]Dragonscale-Encrusted Longblade[/item] is 8 DPS higher and has (perhaps) better stats?

Kaioken · #4 09-29-2008, 09:50 AM

The DPS on the [item]Dragonscale-Encrusted Longblade[/item] indeed has a higher DPS, but you are ignoring the top-end damage.

[item]Rod of the Sun King[/item] 189-352 top end damage
[item]Syphon of the Nathrezim[/item] 196-365 top end damage
[item]Dragonscale-Encrusted Longblade[/item] 113-211 top end damage

In some cases between weapons of very similar speed and DPS, stats on the weapon will make the difference between which weapon is better. For example, [item]Vanir's Right Fist of Brutality[/item] and [item]Dragonstrike[/item]. For all other races except Humans, the right fist will put out slightly more DPS; however, if you are a human, you gain +5 expertise just by wielding the mace, so it could be better for a human over the right fist.

The top end damage is also a reason why Fury warriors choose to have both weapons slow because of the higher Whirlwind damage, and since we already have haste modifiers in Flurry and items like [item]Dragonstrike[/item] and perhaps [item]Dragonspine Trophy[/item], slow weapons don't seem so sluggish all the time

Arrivan · #5 09-29-2008, 06:49 PM

The guideline I go by when selecting weapons is:

1. top end damage (speed is usually a factor in this too)
2. DPS
3. stats

I always go for the slowest, highest DPS main hand weapon possible because it will hit harder with Heroic Strike and Whirlwind. Your Dragonscale-Encrusted Longblade would be a good off hand if it had Mongoose on it which is why I suggested the Rod instead (also because you use the Longblade for tanking and I wasn't about to suggest you replace the enchant on it). Executioner main hand/Mongoose off hand is preferable to Mongoose/Executioner because Executioner will have higher uptime in the main hand due to it procing off specials too. I will make it very clear though that a fast off hand is not a bad thing. Weapon choice is fairly subjective so this is just a guideline.

**Corbusier** · #6 09-30-2008, 08:01 AM

Top end is not a DPS stat.

Archangelneun · #7 09-30-2008, 02:39 PM

Source: Arrivan
The guideline I go by when selecting weapons is:

1. top end damage (speed is usually a factor in this too)
2. DPS
3. stats

I always go for the slowest, highest DPS main hand weapon possible because it will hit harder with Heroic Strike and Whirlwind. Your Dragonscale-Encrusted Longblade would be a good off hand if it had Mongoose on it which is why I suggested the Rod instead (also because you use the Longblade for tanking and I wasn't about to suggest you replace the enchant on it). Executioner main hand/Mongoose off hand is preferable to Mongoose/Executioner because Executioner will have higher uptime in the main hand due to it procing off specials too. I will make it very clear though that a fast off hand is not a bad thing. Weapon choice is fairly subjective so this is just a guideline.

look for the dps over top end dmg.... top end dmg is only an indication of the dmg output/speed of the weapon ; scale encrusted has lower top end dmg because of the speed that is 1.50, so obv it cant put as much top end dmg as rod of the sun king hitting every 2.7... whatsoever though, it will still produce more dps ,saying u dont use any abilities and only white dmg, therefore, to have more dmg output on WW def go for syphon with exe and mongoose OH sun king, slower ur wep is, harder ur ww will hit...

Arrivan · #8 09-30-2008, 05:37 PM

You're both right, I stand corrected. I still stand by my recommendation of weapons unless he re-enchants his Longblade though.

Korlong · #9 09-30-2008, 09:13 PM

Source: Corbusier
Top end is not a DPS stat.

Well, to a certain extent it is.

When most people say "top end damage" what they should be looking for is "average damage", but weapons with higher top end damage almost invariably have higher average damage.

Malkieri · #10 09-30-2008, 09:58 PM

if i remember right from everything i've read for prot dps (and from my experiences with it), i would use rod in MH, dragonscale in OH. reason being, that you should just be spamming devastate, HS, WW when it's up. having the rod will help proc the rage to keep hitting them while still doing a good amount of it's own dmg, and the longblade will help you keep the rage while also proc'ing exec. i know the chants are a bit off in order (exec on MH, mongoose OH in a optimal setting) but the fact that they're both chanted at all makes it a much better choice instead of shelling out the gold to chant the other, lesser weapons.

**Corbusier** · #11 09-30-2008, 10:41 PM

Source: Korlong
Well, to a certain extent it is.

When most people say "top end damage" what they should be looking for is "average damage", but weapons with higher top end damage almost invariably have higher average damage.

It is in no way relevant to sustained dps, therefore it is not a dps stat. However, you are correct in pointing out that average damage is the important stat. Also worth mentioning is that weapons of identical speed and dps can have different damage ranges, illustrated by the pvp mace/axe/sword.

**Tatt** · #12 10-01-2008, 07:00 AM

Corb sighting

Scargoth · #13 10-01-2008, 03:10 PM

Thanks for the feedback. I went ahead and put exec on the Syphon and will try that in MH and rod in OH, and also try the DEL in OH. I was never considering the DEL for MH by the way -- that much was obvious to me.

The ironic thing is a DEL dropped again this week after I had posted this thread and I ended up passing to a ret pally who wanted it for his tank set, no one needed it for main spec.