This article focuses on fundamental stats distribution. If you are interested in alternative methods of gearing and advanced tweaks, see Gear Tuning.
Generally,
we are looking at two types of stats; a) stats we get
and b) stats we can play
with.
A) Stats we get
These
are the stats we get from gear but we don't really want to focus on.
It includes Mastery, Endurance and Power. Don't get me wrong, we
still need all of them but we get more than enough from gear by
default that it isn't worth adding more by any other means. The only
exception is the Stim (see Consumables).
Endurance
Since
when is our total health pool not important? You need to be around
78k health at least to not get kicked right after you joined by the
majority of Hard Mode PuGs – it's not cool, but true unfortunately.
But that doesn't mean we want to go all out on Endurance. It comes
with gear and it is enough.
A lot of it also comes from augments where it's again more of a
by-product. For reference, our health pool reaches 80k at ~224 gear
rating (fully augmented ofc).
Mastery
Same
as Endurance, we get enough Mastery from gear by default, there is no
good reason to try and get some more from other sources apart from
the Stim (see Consumables).
Power
Same
as Endurance and Mastery, we get enough Power from gear by default,
there is no good reason to try and get some more from other sources
apart from the Stim (see Consumables).
B) Stats we can play with
Now here's the part that explains why some people pull out bigger
numbers than others while roughly at the same skill level. It is with
Augments, an Earpiece and Implants that we play around with these
stats and determine their final value. This is where we, as a player,
can make the choice.
Accuracy
Accuracy
is the first thing we should focus on once we reach level 65 and
start gearing up towards hard mode flashpoints and operations. Here
it is crystal clear. If you don't have at least 100% Accuracy, you
risk some of your abilities missing the boss which means losing dps,
no matter your gear rating. Our aim is the get above 100% as little
as possible, it's that simple. If you had for instance 99.50%, you
might only miss once throughout a 6-minute fight but you still don't
want to risk that. It could be your procced Overhead Slash! The cap
that gets you to 100% is 685.
The best way to get as close to the cap as possible:
~216
gear rating: 742
(2x
Initiative Enhancement/Earpiece/Implant + 6x Accuracy Augment)
~220
gear rating: 685
(2x
Initiative Enhancement/Earpiece/Implant + 5x Accuracy Augment)
~224
gear rating: 701
(2x
Initiative Enhancement/Earpiece/Implant + 5x Accuracy Augment)
Basically, Accuracy is the first thing we should work on before we
start worrying ourselves about Alacrity and Critical.
Alacrity
Alacrity has been made important with 4.0 and all dps classes need it
for PvE. It makes our channelled abilities execute faster, it lowers
the Global Cooldown and it also reduces the cooldown on most of our
abilities. What it generally does is that we can execute our rotation
quicker which increases our dps. That's why I recommend focusing on
getting Alacrity to our sweet spot before we start working on Critical.
It helps us get used to the speed of our rotation at which it'll stay
forever (read “until the next big patch that shuffles things
around”). No cap here, but diminishing returns strikes too hard
around ~900 so there's no benefit in getting any higher.
The optimal value to get:
~216
gear rating: 894
(3x
Quick Savant Enhancement/Earpiece/Implant + 6x Alacrity Augment)
~220
gear rating: 845
(3x
Quick Savant Enhancement/Earpiece/Implant + 5x Alacrity Augment)
~224
gear rating: 869
(3x
Quick Savant Enhancement/Earpiece/Implant + 5x Alacrity Augment)
Critical
Critical has been revamped and what used to be Surge is now an
inherent part of the Critical stat, therefore making it more
important than ever before. Critical now increases both the chance to
score a Critical hit and the Critical damage. As you can see, this
does nothing to the flow of our rotation, it is a pure damage boost
*only*. Again, no cap here, but diminishing returns strikes too hard
around ~1150 so there's no benefit in getting any higher.
The optimal value to get:
~216
gear rating: 902
(5x
Adept Enhancement/Earpiece/Implant + 2x Critical Augment)
~220
gear rating: 1092
(5x
Adept Enhancement/Earpiece/Implant + 4x Critical Augment)
~224
gear rating: 1132
(5x
Adept Enhancement/Earpiece/Implant + 4x Critical Augment)
In summary, you should always focus on getting to 100% Accuracy first
before anything else. When you achieve that, get your Alacrity higher
to get used to executing your rotation faster and lastly, build up
your Critical with the remaining Augment slots to give your dps the
final boost. You can of course build Alacrity and Critical
simultaneously, but that might prolong the period of getting used to
your rotation at a certain pace as it will get faster with additional
Alacrity later on – but some might prefer it that way.
Feel free to add your comments, I'm always open to discussion and new
ideas!
Remain
Vigilant!
