Gearing for Optimal DPS - Death Knights and Hunters

Okay so I was going to go into a fairly detailed post about Death Knight Pawn values like I did with Shamans, but I opted against it. I didn't come up with these numbers. I originally found this information on Skeleton Jack's website from a post he did a month or so ago. Rather than reiterate what he already wrote, in much poorer quality with worse explanation, I figure it'd be better to just link directly to his post on the subject. So here it is. All credit goes to Skeleton Jack on his post as well as the inspiration for posting this to begin with.

A little disclaimer, however. His post was was done December 3rd. There have been a number of DK changes since then, particularly in 3.08. I don't think that the changes would have a significant effect on the numbers; specific skills were changed mostly, as opposed to the core mechanics of each tree, but I am not sure. Additionally, the Frost numbers are done with 2h in mind, a dual wield spec may vary somewhat. Again, I am in no way qualified to say one way or the other, rather I'm just trying to pass more information out there to those who may not already have it.

Next onto Hunters...

I unfortunately have been unable to find accurate and recent numbers for Pawn for Hunters. If anyone knows of any, I'd gladly appreciate being informed.

All is not lost, however. Hunters have access to a nifty spreadsheet that is very helpful in calculating DPS and comparing changes in equipment, talents, shot rotations, pets, all the shebangabang. Formerly created and maintained by Cheeky until late BC, Shandara has since picked up the project and gives us an iteration for WotLK.

It's fairly simple to use, just plugging in numbers.

Start with the Input tab. The light yellow cells are those to be modified, the rest are locked. You input any pertinent information, your race, class, glyphs, etc. You can also modify things like the target's level, armor, and resilience on this tab if you want to think about a specific fight.

Talents is straightforward enough, you put in your talent spec. You can even have different profiles. The same goes with the Pet Talents tab. Pick your pet of choice and plug in the talents and check off the skills it would use.

Gear is where most of your focus will be after the preliminary inputs. What you have here is a very changeable spreadsheet of each equipment slot with choices of various gear for each, as well as enchants, sockets, and socket bonuses where applicable. The only issue is this: Cheeky did this spreadsheet during BC so most of 70 (and not quite) BC gear is available to choose. There are pretty much all WotLK level 80 equipment as well as many if not all blues from 70 to 80. If you are already 80 that's fine, but it does put the leveler at a bit of a disadvantage, as it doesn't have all the random gear you may find, green quest rewards and whatnot. However, there is a choice for each slot: Custom.

The CustomGear tab (I'm skipping a few) lets you, surprise surprise, customize each slot. You plug in its stats and sockets if applicable and then that is what's used in calculation if you chose a "Custom" slot in any of your gear choices. If you're using the spreadsheet when leveling, it is likely that a number of your slots will be custom.

The Buffs tab shows just that, what buffs you are expected to be packing. If you are a raider, many of those will be enabled. If you're a soloist, only a few self things like food, elixirs, and mana oils will be enabled.

Shot Rotation is a bit more complicated. As I level Beast Mastery, it's fairly simple. I check off what I use: auto shot, arcane shot, serpent sting, steady shot, kill shot, the beast within, and my two trinkets. Depending on your spec and personal situation (like if you only save rapid fire for mana regen, for instance) you will obviously change it to your flavor.

Results, Game Data, Calcs, and PetCalcs are just information. I don't believe there are any cells you can alter. It shows various statistics, such as the stats of various races by level, information on pets and their skills, etc. These are there to look up any various info you may need.

And that, as they say, is that. The spreadsheet is very useful in calculating your estimated DPS as well as comparing gear. Granted, having Pawn values would simplify comparison since you don't need to open up and alter a spreadsheet, but I don't mind it.

One disclaimer for the spreadsheet however. With 3.08, it has been seen now that Survival tops DPS specs, and the best way to play Survival is by trap dancing. The spreadsheet is only concerned with shot rotations, there are currently no options to enable traps or any kind of trap dancing rotation. So I can't say how accurate its use will be if you are a trap dancer.