Noblebeastx
07-03-10, 03:08 AM
Agi - Agility
AP - Attack Power
ArPen - Armorpenetrationrating
BiS - Best in Slot
CP - Combo Point
iLotP - Improved Leader of the Pack
FB - Ferocious Bite
SR - Savage Roar
Str - Strength
TF - Tiger's Fury
1. Speccing your Cat
Maximum Single-Target DPS:
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft (http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0ZEMMsfrz0eo0huAkbAczb:VpmVzc)
This spec takes every talent, that increases single target DPS. You've got one point left, possibilities could be: 4/5 Furor, 1/2 iLotP or 1/3 Feral Instinct
Maximum AoE-DPS
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft (http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0ZxGMsfrz0eR0huAkbAczb:mpVczV)
This spec only has 5 different points. You've got 3/3 Feral Instinct here and 2/2 iLotP. You could aswell take the two points out of iLotP and together with the last left point skill 3/5 Feral Aggression.
2. DPS Rotation
As there is no real rotation, we speak of a "priority list" for cat DPS. Try to follow the following instructions in the given order.
1. Keep up Savage Roar
2. Keep up Mangle
3. Keep up Rake
4. Use shred for CP regeneration (remember, that points 2 and 3 are more important)
5. When at 5 CP and Rip is not up, use Rip
6. When below 30 Energy, use TF
7. Use Clearcast Proccs for Shred
8. When at 5 CP and Rip and SR are running with 8 seconds (might be longer, depending on your gear) or longer each, use FB
9. When Rip and SR will drop at nearly the same time (with less than 3 seconds difference), try to recognize it early. Then use SR with a small amount of CP to desynchronize both timers.
10. Use Berserk only at high energy, (but not higher than 85) not directly after TF and as often as possible. If you will get Hysteria or some boss mechanics will enhance your damage, save it for these situations.
This priority list is quite hard to maintain. Cat DPS is one of the most complicated ones in PvE WoW. Try to remember these rules:
1. Remember: Savage Roar buffs everything; Mangle buffs bleeds and shred; Bleeds buff shred. That means, never shred without applying mangle and at least one bleeding.
2. It doesn't matter how many CP you use for SR. Just make sure it never drops!
3. Use Rip and FB only with 5 CP
4. It is very tricky to squeeze in FB's in your rotation. At first you should try to maximize SR, Mangle, Rip and Rake uptime (in this order). When you get more experienced, try to FB more. You need to guess how much time is needed for building up 5 CP's - this depends on your crit chance. Usually, a FB is worth dropping Rip for 4 Ticks approx (8 seconds). Remember that after using Rip, you need energy for building at least one more CP to refresh SR if necessary.
5. FB is most efficient when used at 35 energy. It gets worse when you spend more, thus making it least efficient when using with 65 energy.
6. A 5 CP FB is always more efficient than a shred, even when used at 65 energy.
7. When using the shred glyph: When rake and rip are about to expire and you could shred to extend the rip duration for 2 more seconds at the cost of letting rake drop for 1-2 seconds - do it.
3. Facts, Stats and Numbers
Assuming all important feral talents and cat form . Numbers in brackets include Blessing of Kings.
Strength
1 Str = 2.37864 AP (2.616504 AP)
Agility
1 Agi = 1.18932 AP (1.308252 AP)
1 Agi = 0.0129744% Crit (0.01427184%)
77.05 (70.07) Agi = 1% Crit
Stamina
1 Sta = 10.812 (11.8932) Health
Critical Strike Rating
1 CritRating = 0.022% Crit
45.91 CritRating = 1% Crit
Crit Caps
4.8% of our white Crits will always be converted into white hits against bosses. We can't reduce our chance to normally hit with white attacks below 4.8%.
Our Critchance with Yellow Attacks is reduced by 4.8% against bosses. But we actually CAN convert all our hits into crits.
76% - White crit cap (+ 24% Glancing Blows = 100%)
79.8% - Ferocious Bite Crit Cap (+ 25% Crit from Talent - 4.8% Crit Suppression = 100%)
104.8% - Yellow Crit Cap (- 4.8% Crit Suppression = 100%)
You have to subtract any avoided attacks from these caps. For example: If 4% of your attacks are avoided due to not reaching the Hit- and/or Expertisecap, then your white crit cap would be 72%.
Haste Rating
1 HasteRating = 0.030% Haste
32.79 HasteRating = 1% Haste
Hit Rating
1 HitRating = 0.030% Hit
32.79 HitRating = 1% Hit
Hit Cap vs lvl 80 targets: 5% Hit = 163.95 HitRating
Hit Cap vs lvl 83 targets: 8% Hit = 262.32 HitRating
Expertise Rating
1 ExpertiseRating = 0.030% less Chance of getting parried or dodged
32.79 ExpertiseRating = 1% less Chance of getting parried or dodged
8.2 ExpertiseRating = 1 Expertise
1 Expertise = 0.25% less Chance of getting parried or dodged
Expertise Cap vs lvl 80 targets: 5% (Dodge) / 5% (Parry) = 20 Expertise = 163.9 Expertise Rating
Expertise Cap vs lvl 83 targets: 6.5% (Dodge) / 14% (Parry) = 26 / 56 Expertise = 213.13 / 459.1 Expertise Rating
Since you should always attack from behind, your target can't parry. Therefore you only need 26 expertise or 213.13 Expertise Rating.
But every serious Cat skills Primal Precision, which gives 10 Expertise or 81.97 Expertise Rating. So if you skill this talent, your cap will be:
Expertise Dodge-Cap vs lvl 83 targets and with Primal Precision: 16 Expertise = 131.16 Expertise Rating
Armorpenetration Rating
1 ArPenRating = 0.07145% ArmorPenetration
13.9957272 ArPenRating = 1% Armor Penetration
Hard Cap 1399.57272 ArP = 100% of the target's armor are ignored
So, what stats are important? Generally I strongly advice you to use RAWR (http://www.codeplex.com/Rawr) or Toskk's DPSGearMethod (http://druid.wikispaces.com/ToskksDPSGearMethod). The value of every stat depends on the rest of your gear.
The Value of Hit / Expertise
A question very often asked is, whether we need to be hit or expertise capped. The answer is: It depends on your DPS. Hit and expertise scale directly with your DPS. The better your gear gets, the higher the value of Hit/Expertise gets. When in blue gear, both contribute very little to your DPS. With Ulduar BiS, they are quite important, but still not the best stats. The same holds true for T9, although both are more important when you have really good T9 lvl Gear. When you have a lot of iLvl 264 Gear or higher from ICC, they turn out to be extremely good. Try to reach the caps then. Only ArP will be better (and only if you're near the hard cap). Also, there is no such 'magic threshold'. Both stats always have the same value (as long as below the hard cap), no matter if you have 0% hit, 3% hit or 5% hit. That means the two stats scale linear.
BUT - for a beginner it could be quite confusing missing a lot. Our DPS priority is already hard enough even without our attacks being dodged. It could mess up the DPS of a beginner, if his hit and/or expertise is too low. If you consider yourself weak at maintain a stable cycle, then more hit/expertise could help to stabilize it.
Topic: Armor penetration rating
Armor is a stat with diminishing returns. Meaning: the more Armor you have, the worse it gets in terms of damage reduction percentage. The first 1000 armor are far more valuable, than the last 1000 armor. That is the reason, that ArPen scales better than linear. When you have only a little bit ArPen, you reduce your target's armor only a little bit - but we know that the last 1000 armor are not that important. But if you manage to gather more ArPen, you will reduce your target's armor more and more, which gets more and more valuable.
Short story: ArPen scales better than linear - the more you have, the better each point of it becomes.
At about 400 - 500 ArPen, ArPen becomes the best stat
The exact amount depends on your gear (especially the trinkets). Use RAWR or Toskk to find out, when exactly ArP overtakes Agility. Also remember, that the value of both is very similar at that low lvl of ArP. The difference is extremely small and only gets bigger, when you gather more ArP.
As soon as you can reach these numbers, regemming all Agility gems for ArP gems would improve your DPS.
Our goal is to come as close to the ArP Hard Cap as possible.
And now it's time for mentioning the three ArP trinkets currently ingame:
[Grim Toll] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40256)
[Mjolnir Runestone] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45931)
[Needle-Encrusted Scorpion] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50198)
Wearing two of these trinkets is quite useless since they have a significant shared uptime and then there would be ArP wasted (assuming you've got some ArP on your gear). The goal is, to reach the ArP soft-cap. Soft Cap means: you have exactly 100% Armor Ignore when your trinket proccs.
ArP Soft-Cap: 722 ArPen, if wearing [Needle-Encrusted Scorpion] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50198)
ArP Soft-Cap: 735 ArPen, if wearing [Mjolnir Runestone] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45931)
ArP Soft-Cap: 788 ArPen, if wearing [Grim Toll] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40256)
For clarification, I will try to explain this. Let's say you don't have one of the two trinkets and x is the ArP on your gear (and with Hearty Rhino, the +40 ArP food buff):
x < 400 -> Agility is the best stat, gem for it
400 < x < 1400 -> ArPen is the best stat, gem for it
1400 < x -> Agility is the best stat, gem for it
Now finally Grim Toll drops off Gothik the Harvester and you are lucky enough to get it!
x < 400 -> Agility is the best stat, gem for it
400 < x < 788 -> ArPen is the best stat, gem for it
788 < x -> Agility is the best stat, gem for it
Just replace your soft-cap with 735, when wearing Mjolnir Runestone instead of Grim Toll and with 722, if wearing the Scorpion.
If you are wearing a lot of ICC items and manage to get about 1000 Passive ArP, it's better not to wear one of the 3 ArP Trinkets and instead going for the Passive HardCap!
4. Gear
Again, please use RAWR or Toskk. Although neither of both are 100% accurate, it's probably the best way to determine gear upgrades for you.
Some questions often asked:
Which idol should I wear?
The best Cat Idol for single-Target DPS is [Idol of the Crying Moon] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50456). But it takes 15 seconds after applying rake to reach its full effect. This is bad for encounters with DPS interruptions, like Anub'Arak or Lady Deathwisper. Additionally you normally don't use rake on AoE situations.
The next best Cat Idol is [Idol of Mutilation] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47668). This is only 20 Agi worse and there are many situations where it's the better idol (like AoE or Trash).
After that, it depends.
If you have to mangle yourself, [Idol of the Corruptor] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45509) is BiS for you. If not, then it depends on your ArP. If you are below approx 250 ArP, [Idol of Worship] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=39757) would be your choice, above that the [Idol of the Ravenous Beast] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40713) becomes better. But actually the Rip and Shred idol both grant very similar DPS - the difference is really low.
Which trinkets should I wear?
The [Darkmoon Card: Greatness] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44253) is in most gear setups one of the best trinkets. This will not be a useless investment, as it is an extremely good tanking trinket aswell. Although it's quite old and has only iLvl200 it's still really good and easily obtainable.
Some upgrades to the Card are [Herkuml War Token] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50355), [Death's Choice] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47303) (or [Death's Choice] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47464)), [Whispering Fanged Skull] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50342) (or [Whispering Fanged Skull] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50343))
The 2nd best Cat Trinket is [Deathbringer's Will] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50362) and of course the best one is [Deathbringer's Will] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50363)
In the second slot you should wear one of the three ArP trinkets mentioned above ([Grim Toll] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40256), [Mjolnir Runestone] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45931) or [Needle-Encrusted Scorpion] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50198)).
If you can reach high ArP numbers (About 1000 or above), try to swap your ArP trinket for one of the above mentioned (even the darkmoon card).
How good are our set bonuses?
The 2T7 bonus is very good. Although there are better items in every slot, the bonus outweighs this by far.
The 4T7 bonus is very bad.
The 2T8 bonus is extremely good. You really need to have this.
The 4T8 bonus is about as good as 2T7.
The 2T9 bonus is very good.
The 4T9 bonus is mediocre.
The 2T10 bonus is good.
The 4T10 bonus is extremely good.
Try to collect 2 T7 items first. Head and shoulder would be the best choice.
If you're entering Ulduar, your first aim should be to get 2T7 + 2T8, which is VERY good.
If you can choose between 2T7 + 2T8 and 4T8, choose 4T8. You should notice a very small DPS increased, based on the higher iLvl of T8 (the 4T8 bonus is actually of the same value as 2T7).
Similar holds true if you enter Coliseum. 2T8 + 2T9 will be an upgrade to 4T8. And although the 4T9 bonus is worse than the 4T8 one, the higher item level of two more T9 items outweighs this.
But because the 4T9 itself isn't that good, it's probably better to wear 2T9 and some offsetpieces instead of 4T9.
The T10 bonuses are both really good, especially the 4pc. Combined with the high iLvl it means you really should wear 4T10.
BiS set without ICC Hardmodes
Head[Sanctified Lasherweave Headguard] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51143)Neck[Sindragosa's Cruel Claw] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50421)Shoulders[Sanctified Lasherweave Shoulderpads] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51140)Back[Sylvanas' Cunning] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47546) or [Vereesa's Dexterity] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47545)Chest[Sanctified Lasherweave Raiment] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51141)Wrist[Toskk's Maximized Wristguards] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50333)Hands[Aldriana's Gloves of Secrecy] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50021)Waist[Vengeful Noose] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50995)Legs[Sanctified Lasherweave Legguards] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51142)Feet[Icewalker Treads] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47445)Ring 1[Ashen Band of Endless Vengeance] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50402)Ring 2[Frostbrood Sapphire Ring] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50186)Trinket 1[Death's Choice] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47464)Trinket 2[Deathbringer's Will] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50362)Weapon[Oathbinder, Charge of the Ranger-General] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50425)
[Idol of the Crying Moon] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50456)
ArP Food Hearty Rhino. Gems used: 13x [Fractured Cardinal Ruby] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40117), 4x [Accurate Ametrine] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40162), 2x [Glinting Ametrine] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40148), 1x [Nightmare Tear] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49110).
227 / 263 Hit Rating
132 / 132 Expertise Rating
1284 / 1400 ArP
180 Haste Rating
Feel free to use more [Fractured Cardinal Ruby] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40117) instead of the orange gems to come closer to the ArP Hardcap. On such a high ArP level, ArP is worth more than any other stat. The downside is, that your rotation will get more complicated because you will miss more often.
Theoretically, it should be a DPS increase to use 5 more ArP gems to reach 1384 / 1400 ArP.
BiS Set with ICC Hardmode Loot
SlotItemHead[Sanctified Lasherweave Headguard] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51296)Neck[Sindragosa's Cruel Claw] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50633)Shoulders[Sanctified Lasherweave Shoulderpads] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51299)Back[Sylvanas' Cunning] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47546) or [Vereesa's Dexterity] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47545)Chest[Sanctified Lasherweave Raiment] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51298)Wrist[Toskk's Maximized Wristguards] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50670)Hands[Aldriana's Gloves of Secrecy] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50675)Waist[Astrylian's Sutured Cinch] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50707)Legs[Sanctified Lasherweave Legguards] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51297)Feet[Frostbitten Fur Boots] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50607)Ring 1[Frostbrood Sapphire Ring] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50618)Ring 2[Ashen Band of Endless Vengeance] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50402)Trinket 1[Deathbringer's Will] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50363)Trinket 2[Herkuml War Token] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50355)Weapon[Oathbinder, Charge of the Ranger-General] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50735)Relic[Idol of the Crying Moon] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50456)
AP - Attack Power
ArPen - Armorpenetrationrating
BiS - Best in Slot
CP - Combo Point
iLotP - Improved Leader of the Pack
FB - Ferocious Bite
SR - Savage Roar
Str - Strength
TF - Tiger's Fury
1. Speccing your Cat
Maximum Single-Target DPS:
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft (http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0ZEMMsfrz0eo0huAkbAczb:VpmVzc)
This spec takes every talent, that increases single target DPS. You've got one point left, possibilities could be: 4/5 Furor, 1/2 iLotP or 1/3 Feral Instinct
Maximum AoE-DPS
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft (http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0ZxGMsfrz0eR0huAkbAczb:mpVczV)
This spec only has 5 different points. You've got 3/3 Feral Instinct here and 2/2 iLotP. You could aswell take the two points out of iLotP and together with the last left point skill 3/5 Feral Aggression.
2. DPS Rotation
As there is no real rotation, we speak of a "priority list" for cat DPS. Try to follow the following instructions in the given order.
1. Keep up Savage Roar
2. Keep up Mangle
3. Keep up Rake
4. Use shred for CP regeneration (remember, that points 2 and 3 are more important)
5. When at 5 CP and Rip is not up, use Rip
6. When below 30 Energy, use TF
7. Use Clearcast Proccs for Shred
8. When at 5 CP and Rip and SR are running with 8 seconds (might be longer, depending on your gear) or longer each, use FB
9. When Rip and SR will drop at nearly the same time (with less than 3 seconds difference), try to recognize it early. Then use SR with a small amount of CP to desynchronize both timers.
10. Use Berserk only at high energy, (but not higher than 85) not directly after TF and as often as possible. If you will get Hysteria or some boss mechanics will enhance your damage, save it for these situations.
This priority list is quite hard to maintain. Cat DPS is one of the most complicated ones in PvE WoW. Try to remember these rules:
1. Remember: Savage Roar buffs everything; Mangle buffs bleeds and shred; Bleeds buff shred. That means, never shred without applying mangle and at least one bleeding.
2. It doesn't matter how many CP you use for SR. Just make sure it never drops!
3. Use Rip and FB only with 5 CP
4. It is very tricky to squeeze in FB's in your rotation. At first you should try to maximize SR, Mangle, Rip and Rake uptime (in this order). When you get more experienced, try to FB more. You need to guess how much time is needed for building up 5 CP's - this depends on your crit chance. Usually, a FB is worth dropping Rip for 4 Ticks approx (8 seconds). Remember that after using Rip, you need energy for building at least one more CP to refresh SR if necessary.
5. FB is most efficient when used at 35 energy. It gets worse when you spend more, thus making it least efficient when using with 65 energy.
6. A 5 CP FB is always more efficient than a shred, even when used at 65 energy.
7. When using the shred glyph: When rake and rip are about to expire and you could shred to extend the rip duration for 2 more seconds at the cost of letting rake drop for 1-2 seconds - do it.
3. Facts, Stats and Numbers
Assuming all important feral talents and cat form . Numbers in brackets include Blessing of Kings.
Strength
1 Str = 2.37864 AP (2.616504 AP)
Agility
1 Agi = 1.18932 AP (1.308252 AP)
1 Agi = 0.0129744% Crit (0.01427184%)
77.05 (70.07) Agi = 1% Crit
Stamina
1 Sta = 10.812 (11.8932) Health
Critical Strike Rating
1 CritRating = 0.022% Crit
45.91 CritRating = 1% Crit
Crit Caps
4.8% of our white Crits will always be converted into white hits against bosses. We can't reduce our chance to normally hit with white attacks below 4.8%.
Our Critchance with Yellow Attacks is reduced by 4.8% against bosses. But we actually CAN convert all our hits into crits.
76% - White crit cap (+ 24% Glancing Blows = 100%)
79.8% - Ferocious Bite Crit Cap (+ 25% Crit from Talent - 4.8% Crit Suppression = 100%)
104.8% - Yellow Crit Cap (- 4.8% Crit Suppression = 100%)
You have to subtract any avoided attacks from these caps. For example: If 4% of your attacks are avoided due to not reaching the Hit- and/or Expertisecap, then your white crit cap would be 72%.
Haste Rating
1 HasteRating = 0.030% Haste
32.79 HasteRating = 1% Haste
Hit Rating
1 HitRating = 0.030% Hit
32.79 HitRating = 1% Hit
Hit Cap vs lvl 80 targets: 5% Hit = 163.95 HitRating
Hit Cap vs lvl 83 targets: 8% Hit = 262.32 HitRating
Expertise Rating
1 ExpertiseRating = 0.030% less Chance of getting parried or dodged
32.79 ExpertiseRating = 1% less Chance of getting parried or dodged
8.2 ExpertiseRating = 1 Expertise
1 Expertise = 0.25% less Chance of getting parried or dodged
Expertise Cap vs lvl 80 targets: 5% (Dodge) / 5% (Parry) = 20 Expertise = 163.9 Expertise Rating
Expertise Cap vs lvl 83 targets: 6.5% (Dodge) / 14% (Parry) = 26 / 56 Expertise = 213.13 / 459.1 Expertise Rating
Since you should always attack from behind, your target can't parry. Therefore you only need 26 expertise or 213.13 Expertise Rating.
But every serious Cat skills Primal Precision, which gives 10 Expertise or 81.97 Expertise Rating. So if you skill this talent, your cap will be:
Expertise Dodge-Cap vs lvl 83 targets and with Primal Precision: 16 Expertise = 131.16 Expertise Rating
Armorpenetration Rating
1 ArPenRating = 0.07145% ArmorPenetration
13.9957272 ArPenRating = 1% Armor Penetration
Hard Cap 1399.57272 ArP = 100% of the target's armor are ignored
So, what stats are important? Generally I strongly advice you to use RAWR (http://www.codeplex.com/Rawr) or Toskk's DPSGearMethod (http://druid.wikispaces.com/ToskksDPSGearMethod). The value of every stat depends on the rest of your gear.
The Value of Hit / Expertise
A question very often asked is, whether we need to be hit or expertise capped. The answer is: It depends on your DPS. Hit and expertise scale directly with your DPS. The better your gear gets, the higher the value of Hit/Expertise gets. When in blue gear, both contribute very little to your DPS. With Ulduar BiS, they are quite important, but still not the best stats. The same holds true for T9, although both are more important when you have really good T9 lvl Gear. When you have a lot of iLvl 264 Gear or higher from ICC, they turn out to be extremely good. Try to reach the caps then. Only ArP will be better (and only if you're near the hard cap). Also, there is no such 'magic threshold'. Both stats always have the same value (as long as below the hard cap), no matter if you have 0% hit, 3% hit or 5% hit. That means the two stats scale linear.
BUT - for a beginner it could be quite confusing missing a lot. Our DPS priority is already hard enough even without our attacks being dodged. It could mess up the DPS of a beginner, if his hit and/or expertise is too low. If you consider yourself weak at maintain a stable cycle, then more hit/expertise could help to stabilize it.
Topic: Armor penetration rating
Armor is a stat with diminishing returns. Meaning: the more Armor you have, the worse it gets in terms of damage reduction percentage. The first 1000 armor are far more valuable, than the last 1000 armor. That is the reason, that ArPen scales better than linear. When you have only a little bit ArPen, you reduce your target's armor only a little bit - but we know that the last 1000 armor are not that important. But if you manage to gather more ArPen, you will reduce your target's armor more and more, which gets more and more valuable.
Short story: ArPen scales better than linear - the more you have, the better each point of it becomes.
At about 400 - 500 ArPen, ArPen becomes the best stat
The exact amount depends on your gear (especially the trinkets). Use RAWR or Toskk to find out, when exactly ArP overtakes Agility. Also remember, that the value of both is very similar at that low lvl of ArP. The difference is extremely small and only gets bigger, when you gather more ArP.
As soon as you can reach these numbers, regemming all Agility gems for ArP gems would improve your DPS.
Our goal is to come as close to the ArP Hard Cap as possible.
And now it's time for mentioning the three ArP trinkets currently ingame:
[Grim Toll] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40256)
[Mjolnir Runestone] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45931)
[Needle-Encrusted Scorpion] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50198)
Wearing two of these trinkets is quite useless since they have a significant shared uptime and then there would be ArP wasted (assuming you've got some ArP on your gear). The goal is, to reach the ArP soft-cap. Soft Cap means: you have exactly 100% Armor Ignore when your trinket proccs.
ArP Soft-Cap: 722 ArPen, if wearing [Needle-Encrusted Scorpion] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50198)
ArP Soft-Cap: 735 ArPen, if wearing [Mjolnir Runestone] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45931)
ArP Soft-Cap: 788 ArPen, if wearing [Grim Toll] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40256)
For clarification, I will try to explain this. Let's say you don't have one of the two trinkets and x is the ArP on your gear (and with Hearty Rhino, the +40 ArP food buff):
x < 400 -> Agility is the best stat, gem for it
400 < x < 1400 -> ArPen is the best stat, gem for it
1400 < x -> Agility is the best stat, gem for it
Now finally Grim Toll drops off Gothik the Harvester and you are lucky enough to get it!
x < 400 -> Agility is the best stat, gem for it
400 < x < 788 -> ArPen is the best stat, gem for it
788 < x -> Agility is the best stat, gem for it
Just replace your soft-cap with 735, when wearing Mjolnir Runestone instead of Grim Toll and with 722, if wearing the Scorpion.
If you are wearing a lot of ICC items and manage to get about 1000 Passive ArP, it's better not to wear one of the 3 ArP Trinkets and instead going for the Passive HardCap!
4. Gear
Again, please use RAWR or Toskk. Although neither of both are 100% accurate, it's probably the best way to determine gear upgrades for you.
Some questions often asked:
Which idol should I wear?
The best Cat Idol for single-Target DPS is [Idol of the Crying Moon] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50456). But it takes 15 seconds after applying rake to reach its full effect. This is bad for encounters with DPS interruptions, like Anub'Arak or Lady Deathwisper. Additionally you normally don't use rake on AoE situations.
The next best Cat Idol is [Idol of Mutilation] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47668). This is only 20 Agi worse and there are many situations where it's the better idol (like AoE or Trash).
After that, it depends.
If you have to mangle yourself, [Idol of the Corruptor] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45509) is BiS for you. If not, then it depends on your ArP. If you are below approx 250 ArP, [Idol of Worship] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=39757) would be your choice, above that the [Idol of the Ravenous Beast] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40713) becomes better. But actually the Rip and Shred idol both grant very similar DPS - the difference is really low.
Which trinkets should I wear?
The [Darkmoon Card: Greatness] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44253) is in most gear setups one of the best trinkets. This will not be a useless investment, as it is an extremely good tanking trinket aswell. Although it's quite old and has only iLvl200 it's still really good and easily obtainable.
Some upgrades to the Card are [Herkuml War Token] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50355), [Death's Choice] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47303) (or [Death's Choice] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47464)), [Whispering Fanged Skull] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50342) (or [Whispering Fanged Skull] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50343))
The 2nd best Cat Trinket is [Deathbringer's Will] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50362) and of course the best one is [Deathbringer's Will] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50363)
In the second slot you should wear one of the three ArP trinkets mentioned above ([Grim Toll] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40256), [Mjolnir Runestone] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45931) or [Needle-Encrusted Scorpion] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50198)).
If you can reach high ArP numbers (About 1000 or above), try to swap your ArP trinket for one of the above mentioned (even the darkmoon card).
How good are our set bonuses?
The 2T7 bonus is very good. Although there are better items in every slot, the bonus outweighs this by far.
The 4T7 bonus is very bad.
The 2T8 bonus is extremely good. You really need to have this.
The 4T8 bonus is about as good as 2T7.
The 2T9 bonus is very good.
The 4T9 bonus is mediocre.
The 2T10 bonus is good.
The 4T10 bonus is extremely good.
Try to collect 2 T7 items first. Head and shoulder would be the best choice.
If you're entering Ulduar, your first aim should be to get 2T7 + 2T8, which is VERY good.
If you can choose between 2T7 + 2T8 and 4T8, choose 4T8. You should notice a very small DPS increased, based on the higher iLvl of T8 (the 4T8 bonus is actually of the same value as 2T7).
Similar holds true if you enter Coliseum. 2T8 + 2T9 will be an upgrade to 4T8. And although the 4T9 bonus is worse than the 4T8 one, the higher item level of two more T9 items outweighs this.
But because the 4T9 itself isn't that good, it's probably better to wear 2T9 and some offsetpieces instead of 4T9.
The T10 bonuses are both really good, especially the 4pc. Combined with the high iLvl it means you really should wear 4T10.
BiS set without ICC Hardmodes
Head[Sanctified Lasherweave Headguard] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51143)Neck[Sindragosa's Cruel Claw] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50421)Shoulders[Sanctified Lasherweave Shoulderpads] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51140)Back[Sylvanas' Cunning] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47546) or [Vereesa's Dexterity] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47545)Chest[Sanctified Lasherweave Raiment] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51141)Wrist[Toskk's Maximized Wristguards] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50333)Hands[Aldriana's Gloves of Secrecy] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50021)Waist[Vengeful Noose] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50995)Legs[Sanctified Lasherweave Legguards] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51142)Feet[Icewalker Treads] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47445)Ring 1[Ashen Band of Endless Vengeance] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50402)Ring 2[Frostbrood Sapphire Ring] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50186)Trinket 1[Death's Choice] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47464)Trinket 2[Deathbringer's Will] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50362)Weapon[Oathbinder, Charge of the Ranger-General] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50425)
[Idol of the Crying Moon] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50456)
ArP Food Hearty Rhino. Gems used: 13x [Fractured Cardinal Ruby] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40117), 4x [Accurate Ametrine] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40162), 2x [Glinting Ametrine] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40148), 1x [Nightmare Tear] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49110).
227 / 263 Hit Rating
132 / 132 Expertise Rating
1284 / 1400 ArP
180 Haste Rating
Feel free to use more [Fractured Cardinal Ruby] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40117) instead of the orange gems to come closer to the ArP Hardcap. On such a high ArP level, ArP is worth more than any other stat. The downside is, that your rotation will get more complicated because you will miss more often.
Theoretically, it should be a DPS increase to use 5 more ArP gems to reach 1384 / 1400 ArP.
BiS Set with ICC Hardmode Loot
SlotItemHead[Sanctified Lasherweave Headguard] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51296)Neck[Sindragosa's Cruel Claw] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50633)Shoulders[Sanctified Lasherweave Shoulderpads] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51299)Back[Sylvanas' Cunning] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47546) or [Vereesa's Dexterity] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47545)Chest[Sanctified Lasherweave Raiment] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51298)Wrist[Toskk's Maximized Wristguards] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50670)Hands[Aldriana's Gloves of Secrecy] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50675)Waist[Astrylian's Sutured Cinch] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50707)Legs[Sanctified Lasherweave Legguards] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=51297)Feet[Frostbitten Fur Boots] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50607)Ring 1[Frostbrood Sapphire Ring] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50618)Ring 2[Ashen Band of Endless Vengeance] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50402)Trinket 1[Deathbringer's Will] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50363)Trinket 2[Herkuml War Token] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50355)Weapon[Oathbinder, Charge of the Ranger-General] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50735)Relic[Idol of the Crying Moon] (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50456)