Resto shaman and T6 talents in CMs

[Pandacho 286]

Hi, guys :)

 

I have a little odd question: whether anyone of you did some theorycraft for resto shamans in Challenge Modes?

 

I like to test different talents in CMs and Proving Grounds and recently stopped on Elemental Blast as a Tier 6 talent for my resto shaman CMs.
I tried UF and PE at first. UF was useless for me - too long cast with HS or GH. PE gives me a 10% healing buff that I don't need in CMs or some more dps, which is okay, but not hysterical good.

Before two weeks I was hanging on Proving Grounds and got a thought to try EB as a healing modifier. It was awesome. I got the feeling of flexibility and better healing. Every one of +3500 modifiers to the secondary skills were good.

After Proving Grounds I did a couple of CM gold runs and it felt better than with UF or PE.

 

I never saw anybody else using EB in CM (I'm speaking about CMs and PG only, not about the raids) and it makes me wonder, whether EB modifier is really better for CMs or it just suites my healing style in some odd way.

Any theorycrafting here? 

 

Here is a link to my CM gear (I reforge for crit with first haste cap and 7K Spirit -  it's enough for me, never stop for drinking):

http://www.askmrrobo...ca-f1015b3db484

[Stoove 347]

So I have almost no experience in CM's at all, but here's what I think.

 

The benefit of each talent depends entirely on your ability to predict when it's best to use.

 

With Unleashed Fury, it relies on identifying several points in the fight where there is no immediate need for healing but soon™ there will be a bit single-target spike which you need to heal up in one cast.

 

With Primal Elementalist, it relies on you being able to point to several places where you need a boost in throughput for an extended time. This is what makes it popular in raid settings, because such points are common and easy to spot.

 

With Elemental Blast, it relies on a much more regular pattern of lull followed by burst. As long as you can continually make the decision as to whether or not the next cast is worth it.

 

The question then becomes; which is best suited to the damage/lull patterns inherent in CM's and PG's? I'll talk about PG's from my own experience, and you can agree or disagree whether that matches CM's.

 

In PG's I feel like the damage is fairly consistent overall with no major lulls where there's no healing to do. That seems to push Unleashed Fury out of the window. On the other hand, I would be happy to say that I could find plenty of beneficial times to get a small consistent boost to my healing in PG's. It's all about being efficient and clever, and using your PE at a good time will clinch you the deal. However, it's not exactly super significant - you will rarely save an NPC simply because of that 5-10% boost. It's probably most useful for the utility your elementals bring to the table, rather than the healing itself.

 

In contrast, the gameplay of PG's is highly focused around making the right decisions at the right time - including the decision not to heal. In this case, it's frequently possible to get yourself an EB in at a convenient time and benefit from the boost for quite a long time.

 

So I'd say that in the context of PG's, taking EB might make sense.

[Pandacho 286]

Yeah, differently from the raids, CMs are all about 'Riptide & totem / no heal needed / OMG, HS spamming in tank.

They are very predictable patterns with 'no healing need' breaks. I can cast EB before every pack (I would say that CMs are about packs, not bosses ) and all my casts will benefit for the next 8 sec. from modifier, while with UF only one cast benefits.

It's even easier on bosses, where EB both dps and helps to heal.

It seems to me that the possibility to have some procs exactly when you need them, is better for CMs and PG than EM, which gives a nice buff, but most of it is wasted due to short hard fights (10-15 sec.), when you have to cast big direct heals, times between with no damage at all and many situations when you have to dismiss the pet.

Actually, we did a face-rolling SoO farm yesterday and I allowed to myself reforging to 10K Spirit and using EB in talents for testing. So now I have logs, but don't know how to find the EB influence there.

Logs: http://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/LbxhgfX8Jk1VDCKd#

Edited May 14, 2014 by Pandacho

[kitsu 55]

EB is a flat boost, in CMs when your gear has super low secondaries EB is amazing. in SOO heroic gear, it's only really noticeable because the animation is cool.

 

like in a CM as ele i can tell what buff i get just by casting, but in my raid gear i dont know or care what buff i get.