3.2 Unholy DPS = No Scourge Strike?

Aug 01, 2009 I specs, theorycrafting.

For anyone who has played an Unholy DPS DK since Wrath came out, the concept of an Unholy build that didn’t include Scourge Strike, seems like insanity. SS is supposed to be our bread and butter, the attack that the bulk of our rotations are based around.

But in 3.2, the best Unholy DPS specs may not include Scourge Strike at all.

Chew on that for a moment.

Research and number crunching on EJ suggests that the best builds in 3.2 will look something like this, where the main attack is Obliterate – a talent that the average Unholy DK rarely if ever uses due to its stripping of diseases from targets.

I haven’t had the opportunity to test this myself (having a character on the PTR that lacks DPS gear makes this difficult), but I do know that they theorycraft far better then I could ever hope to.

Still, I have to wonder – will Blizz really let 3.2 come to pass knowing that Unholy DKs will in all likelihood turn their backs on Scourge Strike? I guess time will tell…

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8 responses so far, say something?

  1. [S]eraphNo Gravatar Says:

    *wow*
    Link to the EJ thread? This sounds like blashpemy, but its got my attention.
    I mean, the reason why SS is better for UH DKs is that it deals shadow dmg instead of physical dmg, which is better for Blood or Frost builds w/ ArmPen. So although SS is nerfed slightly (5% ?) in 3.2, why is OB suddenly better?

    Aug 01, 2009, 10:21:20 pm
  2. GrimtornNo Gravatar Says:

    Here's a link to the post in that thread – many of the subsequent posts deal with it, including at least one person who tested it and found it to be true.

    Aug 01, 2009, 6:29:55 am
  3. [S]eraphNo Gravatar Says:

    Skeleton Jack has an interesting post mentioning an OB Unholy build, check it out:
    http://www.skeletonjack.com/2009/08/01/ptr-3-2-un...

    Aug 01, 2009, 11:44:49 pm
  4. GrimtornNo Gravatar Says:

    His post pretty much echos the EJ thread. Anyone raiding Ulduar probably has a a lot of ArPen gear (lord knows Grim does) … that 20% shouldn't be too hard to reach – even without trying to reach for it.

    Aug 01, 2009, 12:34:28 am
  5. L0ckyNo Gravatar Says:

    scourge strike hit like crap now , my highest crit is 3900 atm before patch i had double the numbers

    Aug 01, 2009, 2:13:50 pm
  6. AkiosamaNo Gravatar Says:

    I'll have to keep an eye on this – I'm raiding with a bunch of DKs most of whom run Unholy, even after 3.2, and their damage is still pretty high – roughly 4500 DPS in Naxx25 with mostly Conquest gear. I'll have to see what they're getting from Scourge Strike these days…

    Personally, I'd hate to see that, since I remember how important SS was from my Unholy days (when I thought I'd never try the other specs…), but my current Blood spec is running occasional 10K Death Strike crits and I'm only moderately Naxx25 geared with only a little Conquest/Ulduar25 gear…

    That shouldn't be.

    Good luck to the Unholy DKs out there. One of these days I'll have to try the spec again.

    My 2 yen,

    Akiosama

    Aug 01, 2009, 8:36:39 pm
  7. GrimtornNo Gravatar Says:

    Well, I can tell you that I'm one of those using the Obliterate spec…and my DPS is up. Granted, my ArPen is around 25%, so I'm geared enough to make it work. That being said, I can't see Blizz allowing it to stay this way for long. Unholy DKs not using SS goes against their protocol for the class.

    Aug 01, 2009, 2:51:06 am
  8. AkiosamaNo Gravatar Says:

    Still haven't gotten a chance to look (I've just been distracted, as I'm being promoted to undergeared off-tank [Frost[), but I've really been able to compete with the Unholy DKs on Total Damage, and mostly ok on DPS - all but the top two DPS DKs are running about 3600-3800 DPS, and I'm running around 3500. I'm assuming many of those are Unholy (as before) and many are moderately Conquest geared (I'm not - both of my Conquest gear pickups have been for my severely lacking Tanking gear). Again, I'll have to remember to check on the whole SS issue to see.

    One thing that this does bring up for me as a Blood DK that makes me sad is that if Unholy DKs are using Oblit as their main damage, then even my own DPS will be affected by that, as their Oblits eat up the diseases. I've been relying on the Unholy DKs to set and renew the diseases, since the Glyph of SS was pretty efficient at doing so, but now I think my DPS will fluctuate some based on whether the diseases are up at the moment of my attacks. It was very consistent before, as the Unholy DKs were always able to keep the diseases up on my targets previously. (I've got Power Auras showing me whether diseases are up on the target or not, I'll have to keep a closer eye on that to see if it's going to be an issue or not.)

    In any case, I hope Blizzard fixes this soon, as having a spec relying on destroying diseases to create maximum damage affects all DKs' DPS, not just the DPS for the one destroying the diseases.

    [The idea sucks, to me, but then again, I've been leeching off the Unholy diseases for a while now... Heh.]

    My 2 yen,

    Akiosama

    Aug 01, 2009, 5:04:08 pm

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