Gear II: Gear Harder.

I wish I could drop this. I just can't. (Just as Paletress refuses to drop her trinket.)

I've already mentioned gear once, from a top-down approach. Now I need to return to the root and work upwards, because this is the position in which I find myself.

A certain website with a gear-score-based system (Whose name I am not going to mention ... But let's call them "Iamamazed-Champions") gives the gear score of my recently-80 Death Knight is a mere 1.8k. The reason I am linking you a screenshot to my page, rather than linking the page itself, is because I want to deny Iamamazed-Champions as much web traffic as I can. Now, I don't particularly care for the number itself. I more want to draw your attention to the "Progress bar" that they have. They insist that I should focus on Naxx25.

I'll back up a bit: My Death Knight dinged 80 three days ago. I have geared her up like a hardcore raider on steroids, Powerthirst and chocolate, inasmuch as luck would allow me to deck her out in free epics. I've never played a Death Knight before -- or, rather, I've never played one since 3.0.8, and they've changed a lot since then. As a result, I'm pretty much re-learning the class, and I will write later on about what it has taught me of the situation regarding melee DPS.

But, because I have a brain, I am capable of pulling between 3,498 and 4,124 DPS with that character, on a boss, depending on my raid composition. In a VoA 10-man Class Run with bad raid composition (No Feral Druid, no Enhancement Shaman, no Retribution Paladin ... pretty much all I had for physical damage was the Rogue), I was able to pull 3,750.2 DPS on Koralon. I topped that meter, and it was a one-shot. It was slower than if we had all been 5,000 DPS, but we cleared the required threshold.

Now, Koralon is not a benchmark for PvE DPS. He's designed as a PvP boss: with the exclusion of tanks requiring defence-based gear, competent PvPers working around hit caps and the like are supposed to be able to kill him. But, let's go through some DPS thresholds for a moment.

The following is on key, non-optional bosses for various raids, who have enrage or berserk timers and the fewest gimmicks I could find. Where there are gimmicks, I explain reasonable allowances in-depth.
I always assume the following:

• Tanks do 50% of the damage of DPS classes when tanking; and 75% of the damage when they have nothing else to do but DPS, making the further assumption (which will be very false in a great many cases, but I will nevertheless make the assumption) that they also have no Dual PvE DPS Spec.
• Raid composition is always 2 tanks, 3 healers, 5 DPS for a 10-man; 2 tanks, 5 healers, 18 DPS for a 25-man.

So, let's dive in, shall we?

Naxxramas 10-man:

Faerlina: 2,231,200 health, plus four adds of 83,408 health, for a total of 2,564,832 health. 60*4 + 60 = 300-second soft Enrage timer. RDPS requirement: 8549.44. Individual DPS requirement (One tank. Other tank on adds, so not added): 1554.44
Patchwerk: 4,322,950 health; 360-second hard Enrage timer. RDPS requirement: 12008.194. Individual DPS requirement (Two tanks): 2001.36.
Thaddius: 3,834,875 health; 360-second hard Enrage timer. RDPS requirement: 10652.43. Individual DPS requirement (One tank, other DPSing): 1704.38....
Loatheb: 6,693,600 health; 420-second Inevitable Doom Enrage timer. RDPS requirement: 15937.14. RDPS requirement (One tank, other DPSing): 2549.94.

None of these factor in mechanics such as damage boosts (Thaddius and Loatheb) or movement (Thaddius). At a guess, the +50% crit bonus on Loatheb would increase DPS by about 20%. So, the DPS requirement for Naxxramas 10-man is about 2.1k, give or take.

Naxxramas 25-man:

Faerlina: 6,763,325 health, plus two adds of 521,320 health, for a total of 7,805,965. 60*4 + 60 = 300-second soft Enrage timer. RDPS requirement: 26019.88. Individual DPS requirement (One tank. Other tank on adds, so not added): 1406.48.
Patchwerk: 13,038,575 health; 360-second hard Enrage timer. RDPS requirement: 36218.26. Individual DPS requirement (Three tanks): 1957.74.
Thaddius: 30,400,100 health; 360-second hard Enrage timer. RDPS requirement: 84444.72... Individual DPS requirement (One tank, other DPSing): 4386.73.... Actual Individual DPS requirement, given a 100% damage boost all of the time by Charges: 2193.36.
Loatheb: 20,220,250 health; 420-second Inevitable Doom Enrage timer. RDPS requirement: 48143.45. RDPS requirement (One tank, other DPSing): 2500.95. (Before crit bonus accommodation.)

Well, this is amusing. In the case of Patchwerk, the DPS requirement goes down on 25-man. But, again, we're left with roughly the same value: 2.1k DPS required for Naxxramas 25-man. This means you can do Naxxramas 25 in the same gear that you would be able to do Naxxramas 10: If you pull the requirement for Naxxramas 10, you pull the requirement for Naxxramas 25.

Malygos 10-man:

Malygos is a hard fight to gauge accurately, because of the strange way in which it works. However, we will model it thus: We will devote equal time between the three phases. This means you have 200 seconds in phase 1 to take him to 50%, then 200 seconds to kill adds, then 200 seconds to burn him down. The last of these cannot be modelled, because the drakes don't work that way. However, we will assume that if you have the DPS to take him down to 50% in three minutes you will have the gear required for your Drakes to be scaled far enough to burn him in phase 3, shall we? That sounds reasonable to me. We will also assume, from the nature of Sparks and Vortices, that Sparks contribute a 20% DPS increase. We will even do Iamamazed-Champions a favour here and assume that you are forbidden from taking Malygos below 50% health after phase 2 initiates.

Phase 1: 6,972,500 / 2 = 3,486,250 health. RDPS requirement: 17431.25. Individual DPS requirement (One tank. Six DPS): 2681.73. Factoring in the 20% DPS boost, Actual Individual DPS requirement: 2145.38.

The DPS requirement for Malygos-10 is 2145.38 DPS.

Malygos 25-man:

Phase 1: 19,523,000 / 2 = 9,761,500 health. RDPS requirement: 48807.5. Individual DPS requirement (One tank. 19 DPS.): 2502.94. Actual Individual DPS: 2002.35

The DPS requirement for Malygos-25 is less than 10-man.

Sartharion 10-man:

Drakes! We will include drakes here for your pleasure. Sartharion+0 and +1 have no Enrage timers. So, technically, there isn't a DPS requirement. It's very safe to put them with Naxx etc.

Sartharion+2: Two tanks are assumed here. Shadron will land 45 seconds after Tenebron does. Ideally, then, you want to kill Tenebron after 50 seconds maximum. 976,150*1.25 = 1,220,188 health. RDPS requirement: 24403.76. Individual DPS requirement for 50 seconds: 4437.04. Assuming you have a Shaman, this is reduced by 30% to 3105.93. Very hefty stuff compared to Naxx.

Sartharion+3: Two tanks with a DPS indisposed after 25 seconds on Tenebron to tank adds. Vesperon will land 95 seconds after Tenebron -- 50 seconds after Shadron. Ideally, the raid will have killed Tenebron and taken Shadron down to about 50% by the time Vesperon lands. 1,830,282 health. RDPS requirement: 19266.12. Remember, one DPS is out of the action after about 25% of the time, so he only counts as 0.25 of a DPS. Individual requirement is then: 4056.02.

There is a reason Sartharion10+3 was considered the hardest boss before Ulduar. The setup requirements are so tight with only 10 people that the DPS needed is very much inflated -- either you have three tanks, or you are under-tanked. If you are under-tanked, you can now do the Zerg method:

Sartharion+3Z: One tank, with a DPS (Feral druid, usually) indisposed from 35% onwards, kiting Tenebron away. This is not reflected, since it is pretty much balanced by Heroism, which you will have if you're trying this. 3,137,625 health. Time allowed: between 76 and 100 seconds, give or take. We'll say 85. RDPS: 36913.23. Split between 8(.5 for the tank): 4614.15 Individual DPS.

Sartharion-25:

Sartharion+2: Three tanks assumed, so there is no DPS requirement here. Lumped with Naxx.

Sartharion+3: Three tanks assumed, but this time you really do need to burn down Tenebron and Shadron pretty hard. We will say that they must both die by the time Vesperon lands. 5,578,000 health in 95 seconds. RDPS requirement: 58715.78. Individual DPS requirement (17 DPS): 3355.18 DPS.

Ulduar-10 Normal:

XT-002 is the obvious one here, but I'll also do others. Freya and Hodir are nice.

XT-002-N: 5,000,008 health, but with additional damage taken in Heart phases. Effective health is roughly 3,000,000. 600-second hard Enrage. Oh yes. You know where this is going, don't you? RDPS requirement: 5000. Individual DPS requ... Oh I can't even do it. Work it out for yourselves. What a joke.

Freyaaaaaaaa: One tank. Over 6 minutes, you must down different sets of adds -- one per minute. The highest health of these is the Children, with a combined health of 735,054.
Add phase RDPS requirement : 12250.9. Individual: 1884.75
Freya herself has 1,394,500 health, and you must kill her in 4 minutes before the Berserk occurs. She will negate 6,000 DPS. RDPS requirement: 6000 + 5810.41 = 11810.41. Individual: 1816.98.

Hodir: 8,115,990 health. 480-second Enrage timer. RDPS requirement: 16908.3125. Individual (1 tank): 2601.27. Assuming poor use of buffs, leading to a 30% increase in DPS, this means 1820.89 base individual DPS. This allows for a couple of pieces of Frost Res gear!

Thorim: 3,346,800 health on Normal mode. His stacking buff is gained approximately once every fifteen seconds, and it becomes impossible to tank and heal through once cooldowns have been blown around stack 14 on Normal. 15 * 14 = 210. RDPS: 15937.14; Individual DPS: 2656.19

Ulduar-10N DPS requirement: 2.7k. Now that you've seen my formula for Ulduar, I'm going to be brief with the rest of my analysis of this raid.

Ulduar-25N:

XT-002. Let's see if he's still a joke, shall we? 22,499,978 health, minus 40% again for the Heart. 13,499,987 health. RDPS: 22499.978. The Berserk timer makes this such a joke.

Freya:
Adds: 2,280,755 health in 60 seconds = 38012.58 RDPS = 2000.66 individual
Freya: 4,183,500 over 240 seconds. RDPS: 8000 + 17431.25 = 25431.25. Individual DPS: 1338.48.

Hodir: 32,477,904 health in 480 seconds. RDPS: 67662.3. Individual DPS: 3561.17. Account for poor use of buffs: 2492.82 DPS.

Thorim: 11,713,800 health over 210 seconds. RDPS: 55780. Individual DPS: 2935.78

DPS requirement for 25-man Ulduar: about 3k.

Ulduar-10H:

XT-002: He's no longer such a joke. Hopefully ... 5,000,008 health. 25% of that to enter the Heart phase, then kill the heart (900,000 health), then burn down another 7,500,012 health. A total of 13,400,020 health in 600 seconds. That sounds more like it! Let's try running those numbers. Raid DPS requirement: 22333.36. Individual DPS: 3435.90

Freya: I might be working with out-dated information. Tankspot claims that the adds and Freya gain a 72% health bonus with all three Elders up, but this could be wrong. But hey, I'll run with it.
Adds: 1,264,292 health in 60 seconds: 21071.548 RDPS. 3511.92 individual DPS.
Freya: 2,398,540 in 240 seconds. 6000 + 9993.91 = 15993.91 RDPS. 2665.65 individual DPS.

Hodir: 8,115,990 health in 180 seconds. 45088.83 RDPS. Seven DPS for this one with a couple of Frost Res pieces. 6441.26 individual DPS. Roughly a 70% increase in damage from good use of buffs. 3788.97 base DPS.

Thorim: 4,183,500 health in 210 seconds. RDPS: 19921.42. Individual DPS: 3320.23

DPS requirement for Glory of the Ulduar Raider (10 Player): 3.8k

Ulduar-25H:

XT-002: 43,124,962 health over 600 seconds. RDPS: 71874.93. Individual DPS: 3782.89.

Freya:
Adds: 3,922,899 health over 60 seconds. RDPS: 65381.64. Individual DPS: 3441.13
Freya: 7,195,620 health over 240 seconds. RDPS: 8000 + 29981.75 = 37981.75. Individual DPS: 1999.03

Hodir: 32,477,904 over 180 seconds. RDPS: 180432.8. Individual DPS: 9496.46. With good use of buffs, there's about a 100% multiplier here, so 4748.23 base Individual DPS.

Thorim: 14,642,250 over 210 seconds. RDPS: 69725. Individual DPS: 3669.73.

DPS requirement for Glory of the Ulduar Raider (25-player): 4.8k.

Trial of the Crusader-10:

Twin Val'kyr: 5,790,000 damage over 360 seconds. I'm not 100% certain on the DPS increase of the Light/Dark Attunement, but it feels like 25%, so I'll go with that. RDPS requirement: 16083.33. Individual DPS requirement: 2680.55; 2144.44 with DPS increase.

Anub'arak: 4,180,000. This is a little tricky to work out, but let's have a go. Berserk is 10 minutes. After three burrow phases, which adds up to 7 minutes and 30 seconds altogether, you'll need to be taking him into phase 3 and killing him.
100%-30%: 2,926,000 health over about 260 seconds. 11253.84 RDPS.
30%-0%. This is trickier. Anub'arak will drain 10% of your raid's health -- a minimum of 2,500 HPS. We'll assume, though, that you keep everyone at about 7,000 health (Offsetting tank health). That's 7,000 HPS for Anub'arak. 1,254,000 health over the remaining 150 seconds. 8360 + 7000 = 15360 RDPS. Individual DPS: 2560.

Depressing how low the threshold is, no? Only 2.6k Oh well.

Trial of the Crusader-25:

Twin Val'kyr: 27,890,000 over 360 seconds. RDPS: 77472.22. Individual DPS: 4077.48; 3261.98 with Attunement bonus.

Anub'arak: 20,917,500 health.
Phase 1: 14,642,250 over 260 seconds. RDPS: 56316.34. Individual DPS: 2964.01
Phase 3: 6,275,250 over 150 seconds. RDPS: 41835 + 17500 = 59335. Individual DPS: 3122.89

DPS requirement for ToC25: 3.3k

Trial of the Grand Crusader-10:

Beasts of Northrend:
Gormok: 2,789.000 health over 180 seconds, plus ~135,000 health by four snobolds: a total of 3,329,000. RDPS: 18494.44. Individual DPS: 3082.40. A DPS penalty applied for anyone Snobolled, resulting in roughly a 25% decrease in DPS. Actual Individual DPS requirement: 3853
Acidmaw & Dreadscale: 3,137,625 health over approximately 165 seconds. 19015.90 RDPS. 3169.31 Individual DPS
Icehowl: ~4,100,000 health over 195 seconds. 21025.64 RDPS; 3504.27 Individual DPS.

Twin Val'kyr: ~8,000,000 health over 360 seconds. 22222.22 RDPS; 3703.70 Individual DPS.

Anub'arak: The general idea here is to take two healers and go for a single Burrow phase. 5,440,000 health, with 2*235,000 adds every 45 seconds.
100%-30%: 38651.85 RDPS. 5521.69 Individual DPS: You would ideally have Heroism for this, bringing the requirement down to around 4693.43 DPS. After that, it's not so much a burn as a survival test and an intelligent, reactive healing test.

DPS requirement for ToGC10: 4.7k

Trial of the Grand Crusader 25-player:

Northrend Beasts:
Gormok: 11,853,250 plus 808,860*6 = 16,706,410 over 180 seconds. 92813.38 RDPS; 4884.91 individual DPS. The DPS penalty for being snobolled isn't quite so severe here, because of the increased abundance in general. 10%-ish. 5373.40 DPS
Acidmaw & Dreadscale: 13,387,200 over approximately 165 seconds. Individual DPS: 4270.24
Icehowl: 18,128,500 over 195 seconds. 4892.98 individual DPS.

Twin Val'kyr: 39,046,000 over 360 seconds. 5708.47 individual DPS. 4757.06 base individual DPS

Anub'arak:
27,192,750 health, plus at least 727,974*8 =

100%-30%: 24,858,717 damage in 180 seconds. 7268.63 individual DPS requirement.

Requirement for ToGC25: About 5.5k, with incidental AoE pushing up to 7.3k

Onyxia:

She doesn't have an Enrage timer, but 3.5k is more than acceptable. It all gets skewed by AoE anyway.

To recap, in order of increasing DPS:
Naxx10, Naxx25, Malygos 10, Malygos 25, Sartharion 10+0/1; Sartharion 25 +0-2: 2.1k DPS
Trial of the Champion 10: 2.6k
Ulduar 10: 2.7k
Ulduar 25: 3k
Trial of the Champion 25: 3.3k
Sartharion25+3: 3.3k
Onyxia10: 3.5k
Onyxia25: 3.5k
Ulduar 10H: 3.8k
Sarthation10+3: 4.1k
Sartharion10+3Z: 4.6k
ToGC 10: 4.7k
Ulduar 25H: 4.8k
ToGC 25: 5.5k

Before this analysis, I showed you a screenshot from Iamamazed-Champions. I've zoomed in on what I want to show (I'm sorry that it breaks my blog's template):



Now, let's look at the same image, with those actual, real DPS values taken into account. Remember, "Yellow" indicates what I should be focusing on -- i.e., what I am geared to complete, and where I am likely to get the most upgrades.





What's out of my reach in my current gear? Trial of the Grand Crusader 10, OS10+3Z, Ulduar 25H, Trial of the Grand Crusader 25.

So, to Iamamazed-Champions, I have only this to say: You have been measured, and found wanting.