Dark Simulacrum

[Ualaa]

Looking for information for Dark Simulacrum.
So far, compiling information taken from Wowhead and Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flmC1bBd0nI

Not sure if all of these are current, or what has been added or removed.
Mostly interested in the PvP aspects, of course.

1. You do not interrupt the target's spell, you copy the spell after it's cast. This isn't like spellsteal or spell reflect -- if they cast it, it will still go off (in case some of you DKs are hoping to interrupt that Lava Burst or big heal).
2. You can only use the attack once (hence the minute cooldown). It has no cast time.
3. They must be mana-based spells. Spells that don't use mana (i.e. Word of Glory, Lay on Hands) can not be copied.
4. This is an ability aimed towards PvP. At the moment, it cannot be dispelled, but it can be removed via Pally bubble of Mage iceblock.
5. It keeps spell requirements. (Lava Burst will not crit unless there's a Flame Shock on the opponent, etc.)
6. It scales based on your AP (if it's a spell that scales).
7. You have 20 seconds to use the spell before it wears off.



Druid:
- Healing Spells: Healing Touch, Lifebloom, Rejuvenation, Remove Curse, Tranquility
- Offense: Entangling Roots, Hurricane, Moonfire, Starfall, Starfire, Typhoon, Wrath
- Buffs: Thorns
- CC's: Cyclone, Solar Beam
- Other: Rebirth (Requires Reagent)


Mage:
- Offense: Fireball, Flame Orb, Pyroblast
- Buff: Frost Armor, Mirror Image, Time Warp
- CC: Frost Nova, Polymorph
- Other: Blink, Conjure Food


Paladin:
- Healing Spells: Cleanse, Divine Light, Flash of Light, Holy Radiance, Holy Shock, Light of Dawn
- Offense: Avenging Wrath, Consecration, Exorcism, Hammer of Justice
- Buff: Hand of Freedom, Seal of Insight, Seal of Justice, Seal of Light, Seal of Righteousness (Seals last 1 minute)
- CC: Repentance


Priest:
- Healing Spells: Circle of Healing, Flash Heal, Penance, Renew,
- Offense: Dispel Magic, Holy Fire, Mindblast, Smite
- Buffs: Divine Hymn, Guardian Spirit, Inner Fire, Inner Will, Pain Suppression, PW: Shield, Shadowform
- CC: Psychic Scream, Silence
- Other: Lifegrip, PW: Barrier


Shaman:
- Healing Spells: Chain Heal, Healing Rain, Riptide
- Offense: Earth Shock, Fire Elemental, Flame Shock, Frost Shock, Lava Burst, Lightning Bolt, Purge, Thunderstorm
- Buffs: Bloodlust/Heroism
- CC: Hex, Windshear
- Other: All single totems, but none of the Call of (Multiple totem drops), Far Sight
- 4.0.3 Removed: Ghostwolf, Feral Spirit, Shamanistic Rage, Windfury


Warlock:
- Offense: Chaos Bolt, Immolate, Incinerate, Shadow Bolt
- Buffs: Demon Armor, Soul Link
- CC: Death Coil, Fear, Howl of Terror
- Other: Healthstone, Soulstone
- 4.0.6 Removed: Pets

[Vociferate]

I have been toying with it. But I just can't seem to get it to work properly. Any suggestions for macros?

[Ualaa]

Aside from wanting to add it, haven't really progressed from there.

Probably be something like...
DK's assist master, cast at a priority target.

Then have a macro per DK.
/target [@arena1]
/cast Polymorph
/cast Hex
/cast Entangling Roots
/cast Hammer of Justice
.....

[ghonosyph]

make a GIANT button with a repeater region over it, then just slap dark sim in with your strangulate/single target spam button... also put it on the big giant button, this will allow you to see the spell you steal relatively easily and click the button if its one you want to use. :) this is how i do it, and tho i'm no super pro its worked rather well for me ^.^

[Ualaa]

See if I understand this...

We have Dark Sim as a giant button.

In addition, it is added to a macro for something we spam a lot.
That way, we use Dark Sim automatically.

The giant button is then pushed, and via Repeater they all push it...
Anytime it is a spell we want to use.

[Toned]

I just have DS in my dps rotation and send that key press over and over... so the DK's cast whatever they steal on their target. I haven't taken the time to make @arena1-4 macros with specific CC's,but it has been on my list of things to do.

[daanji]

Currently, I have Dark Sim as a separate button.

I attack priority target first to force them to use a big heal, CC, or immunity.

Right before I think they are going to use something, I cast dark sim on them.

Once I got something, I just spam it back at my priority target.

I tend to use it as more of a psychological weapon. When you are killing someone and you place Dark Sim on them, they second guess themselves. Sometimes they will delay stop doing anything until its off.

Of course these are the bad players...

[ghonosyph]

See if I understand this...

We have Dark Sim as a giant button.

In addition, it is added to a macro for something we spam a lot.
That way, we use Dark Sim automatically.

The giant button is then pushed, and via Repeater they all push it...
Anytime it is a spell we want to use.


pretty much, I have two keys i can hit, one is a dark sim on focus target, the other is just an actionbar switch that changes up the action bar for my single target to one with the ccs /dark sim + single target.

what usually happens in 2 healer matches is that i focus one healer first, then attack the other, swapping back and forth. after getting one VERY low, they usually blow stuff to stay alive, i try and time it to right when either healer is at 50 %ish, and then blow dark sim and empower rune weapon then go to town on them... if it works out right they go down really fast and bubble or such, and i end up with a big heal, or a bubble, or pain supression or something of the sort. Lol i stole 4 iceblocks one time... that was embarassing as i didnt have a cancel aura macro to get rid of it... lol i still won that match tho!haha

[Vociferate]

So you simply have:

/cast[@target] Dark Simulacrum

And it works well?

I can't seem to get it to fire regularly with all the Frost Strike spam

[Toned]

I just have The ability Dark Simulacrum on a slot that get spammed in my rotation. Being as the icon changes to whatever you steal just by spamming it will always cast on your target.

[ghonosyph]

i find that stopping dps for asplit second and then hitting it usually works... its just a quick pause click proceed thing. Timing is everything tho :) sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt. i like to blow up pallys and steal their buffs... :) i stole wings once, it was pretty epic watching that pally melt before he could even bubble lol

[daanji]

I've been researching a better solution for Dark Simulacrum and this is what I've come up with.


First we need 3 key bindings

1. Dark Simulacrum Ability on one of your bars

This is the raw ability placed on your bar, not a macro.
When you copy a spell, the icon should change to that spell.

Let's say we are using Bartender and placed it on BT4Button4

2. Acquisition Macro

Acquisition does not consume a global cooldown.

This macro is used to copy a spell. It uses a priority target list.
If a focus is set, it will copy the focus. If a focus is not set, it will copy arena1-4.

If neither exist, it will cast copy on your current target.


#showtooltip
/cast [@arena1,exists,nodead,harm][@focus,exists,nodead,harm] Dark Simulacrum; Dark Simulacrum


3. Release Macro

Once a spell is copied, it is time to release it. This does consume a global cooldown.



/target [target=arena1, exists, nodead, harm] arena1
/target [target=focus, exists, nodead] focus
/click BT4Button4
/targetlasttarget


First, the macro will has a priority conditional target. If arena1 exists and is not dead, it will be targeted.
If our focus exists and is no dead, then the focus will be targeted.

The second part is the actual release.
What this does is "clicks" the raw ability Dark Simulacrum on the button we setup earlier. In this case BT4Button4.

Lastly, it will target our last target so we don't lose it.

4. Cancel Aura's

If a copied ability is undesirable, then you may want to ingrate this macro into #3 or on a separate keybind.

/cancelaura Divine Shield
/cancelaura Ice Block
/cancelaura Hand of Protection



Example #1:

Lets say our focus is set to other teams healer. We can push #2 and hopefully steal a nice heal.

Once a heal has been stolen, we can set our focus to the lowest health DK in the party and release the heal using #3. That DK should now get a nice bump in health.

Example #2:

Let says we are doing an arena match. Our focus is not set and arena1-4 exists. We smash the #2 and copy a variety of spells. If we hit the release #3, it will attempt to cast it back to that arena target. If the spell we stole is friendly, such as a heal, it should heal ourselves.


Future Work #1:

An alternative is to use


/target targettarget

This will release the stolen ability on which ever DK is being focused.
If it is a heal, it will heal the DK that probably has the least health.

Future Work #2:

Another nice solution is to use repeater regions with separate focus keybinds for each DK.

That way instead of blindly casting Dark Sim on arena1-2, it will cast it on the DKs focus.
Using repeater regions and different key-binds for each DKs, we can intelligently focus target that have mana and split up the DKs.

For example, DK1 and DK2 focuses HealerA, DK3 and DK4 focus on DPS1.

Then we can use separate keybinds to release the copied ability back on arena1-4 or heal the lowest DK.

Future Work #3:

Let's say we use repeater regions and set the focus on all DKs to a Restoration Shaman.

Now, lets say we copied Hex, a very nice CC ability. We could simply spam that back on arena1-4, or we can use a round-robin release on our focus to keep him locked down (preferably a healer)

[Shodokan]

Good post daan, but it requires great reaction time to steal spells you want :)

[daanji]

Good post daan, but it requires great reaction time to steal spells you want :)

This is true and requires quite a bit of micro-management, which is the major down fall of this method.


I typically try to at least Dark Sim opponents that have mana so it is not a waste.

I tend to use this when I'm going for the kill with the hungering cold macro.

That way if I don't get a kill, then at least I got a tasty OHSHIT! ability from the other team.

[Shodokan]

This is true and requires quite a bit of micro-management, which is the major down fall of this method.


I typically try to at least Dark Sim opponents that have mana so it is not a waste.

I tend to use this when I'm going for the kill with the hungering cold macro.

That way if I don't get a kill, then at least I got a tasty OHSHIT! ability from the other team.

Thats how i've started using it too lol

[daanji]

Currently, I am experimenting with a split dps macro.

What this will do is have each DK target a different arena member.

For example,
DK1 targets arena1
DK2 targets arena2
....etc


Each DK will IWT with his target, rather than assisting. I've found this to be very useful against double healer teams are they can't keep up with the damage and causes mass choas.

After you've done this for a bit, immediately switch targets and smash a low one.

[Ualaa]

You can set up any number of attack options.

Target your focus, IWT that target and DPS your focus.
FTL Assist the main window, IWT that target, and DPS that target.
Target by arena frame, IWT that target, and DPS that target.

Lots of possibilities...
And not really all that hard to set them up.
Not sure how practical it would be in all situations, but easy enough to experiment or switch between methods.

[daanji]

I mainly find it useful for the teams that are going to lose, but decide to waste your time by playing keep away.

By splitting the targets and IWT they can't run away.

[lokka's]

I've been playing around with putting DS on a round robin going off every 1 sec and focusing one of the healers so when your target is under 50% I start putting DS up to lock out big heals, bop's ect. I really like the way turning out but the system needs some work let me know what you think

[Ualaa]

You're not exactly going to lock out big spells.
You'll instead have the ability to cast that same big spell yourself.

I like to use it on Paladins in particular, when they get really low.
With the idea of stealing the bubble, which my DK's then get.

Honestly, most arena battles are over fairly fast.
Either I can kill one of their toons, which means I win.
Or I cannot kill one of them fairly quickly, which means I don't win too often.
Good teams CC and/or chain fear me (after the initial immunity), and I don't beat them often.
While poor teams don't do that, and I don't need DS to beat them.

[Shodokan]

Any 3's or 5's game over 2 mins is almost always a loss.

[Toned]

In 3s stealing 2x hex/poly = amazing

Hex healer HC healer strang hex HC hoj strang