Handle FVEDS proc during AW and FV

how to handle FVEDS proc during Avenging Wrath and maintaining 3 stacks of Libram of Vindication? this is a situation you will face very often whenever you use Final Verdict together with our class trinket.

our class trinket only give us a short amount of time, 10 seconds, where we must use a crusader strike to renew the buff duration or the 3 stacks will be gone. normally, 10 seconds is more than enough because crusader strike is 1 of our most used abilities in our dps rotation.

however, things changed when we are using AW (in Sanctified Wrath spec) , because we focus on using Hammer of Wrath as much as possible during this period and it became worse when FVEDS proc, making us unable to refresh the 3 stacks of LOV on time.

FVEDS may screw up your LOV stacks

during AW-SW, our dps rotation = hammer > FVEDS / crusader > hammer > verdict

when i don't have bloodlust, i only have around 16.11% after raid buff.

for example, you are at 2 holy-power now, with 3 LOV stacks, and decided to use AW.

dps rotation = hammer, crusader, hammer, verdict (proc), hammer, FVEDS, hammer, verdict, hammer, crusader (TOO LATE !!!)

look at this table below and you can see that we will be too slow to refresh the LOV stacks if we are using the standard priority dps rotation.

there are 4 different ways which i can think of what we can do to handle FVEDS proc:

choice 1 - stick to our dps priority standard rotation and accept that LOV will reset

choice 2 - replace a hammer with a crusader to refresh the LOV before it expire

choice 3 - don't use the FVEDS and stick to HoW > C > HoW > FV throughout

choice 4 - refresh the LOV and go beyond 5 holy power

choice 5 - get more than 20% haste !! but this is unrealistic at the moment, haha.

so for choice 1 to 4, which is the better choice? let's do the maths

Character Stats

a mythic BiS geared and 2/2 upgraded paladin have around 8500 strength buffed

8500 strength

3% versatility

and the archimonde weapon

3.6 weapon speed

875.83 weapon dps

Ability Damage

we are only interested with the damage of these 4 abilities:-

Hammer of Wrath = 27315.60

Final Verdict = average 38759.90

Crusader Strike = average 12926.43

FVEDS = same damage as final verdict, average 38759.90

LOV 3 stacks = 6.37% x 3 = 19.11%

WOL = wings of liberty, our tier set buff for the initial 10 seconds of AW

if you like to know how i calculate the damage of these abilities, kindly refer to my earlier blog post here: 6.2.3 Ability Damage Formula

Choice 1 - Stick to DPS rotation and LOV reset

ok, so we accept the fact that our normal rotation causes LOV stacks to reset.

let's take a look at 1 FVEDS proc vs 2 FVEDS proc during the wings of liberty.

let's take a look at 1 FVEDS proc vs 2 FVEDS proc after the wings of liberty.

choice 1 result = 955365, 977136, 940595, 967418

Choice 2 - Replace HoW with Crusader Strike

ok for this choice, we are forced to use a crusader strike earlier than we wanted, because we don't want to lose the 3 LOV stacks.

let's take a look at 1 FVEDS proc vs 2 FVEDS proc during the wings of liberty.

let's take a look at 1 FVEDS proc vs 2 FVEDS proc during the wings of liberty.

choice 1 result = 955365, 977136, 940595, 967418

choice 2 result = 996103, 996103, 981333, 981333

Choice 3 - Ignore FVEDS and stick to H>C>H>V rotation

ok, so we decided not to deal with the annoying FVEDS proc and stick to a simple rotation.

choice 1 result = 955365, 977136, 940595, 967418

choice 2 result = 996103, 996103, 981333, 981333

choice 3 result = 928051 throughout

Choice 4 - Refresh LOV and go beyond 5 Holy Power

choice 4 is definitely an interesting choice, let's see how it fares!

1 FVEDS vs 2 FVEDS during the wings of liberty:

1 FVEDS vs 2 FVEDS after the wings of liberty:

all right, we have the answer for all the 4 choices now.

The Best Choice is ...

putting the result together,

choice 1 result = 955365, 977136, 940595, 967418

choice 2 result = 996103, 996103, 981333, 981333

choice 3 result = 928051 throughout

choice 4 result = 979745, 979745, 964976, 964976

seems like choice 2 is the winner. but, if you look carefully, different choices ends with different amount of holy-power.

choice 1 holy power ends at 4, 3, 4, 3
choice 2 holy power ends at 0, 3, 0, 3
choice 3 holy power ends at 5, 5, 5, 5
choice 4 holy power ends at 3, 5, 3, 5

3 holy-power can give us a FV, which is an extra damage average 46167, outside of AW.
so each holy-power can potentially means 15389 damage

choice 1 modified result = 1007044, 1015896, 992275, 1006177
choice 2 modified result = 996103, 1034863, 981333, 1020093
choice 3 modified result = 992651, 992651, 992651, 992651
choice 4 modified result = 1018505, 1044345, 1003736, 1029575

after the consideration of holy-power, it looks like the difference between all 4 choices are actually quite small although the winner is choice 4... haha, have you ever think about going beyond 5 holy power? it used to be frown upon, because it is generally understandable that going above 5 holy power is a waste, and only bad ret pally does that, right?

when i label this as a choice 4 initially, i thought it was just a silly idea. perhaps i am the only one who even think of going beyond 5 holy power, but, as it stands, may be the best solution to the problem of LOV and FV during AW.

Choice 5 - The Unrealistic 20% Haste?

yeah, choice 5 is the most ideal choice, but it won't happen unless you have bloodlust.

choice 2 result = 996103, 996103, 981333, 981333

choice 5 result = 1095048, 1095048, 1043354, 1043354

yup, this means for the duration of bloodlust, we don't have to worry about LOV stacks falling off even when we perform the dps priority rotation and using the FVEDS proc.