The truth about WOTLK Totem of Wrath
So maybe you've seen me talking about how the new ToW is not a nerf, but in most cases actually a buff for multiboxing shaman. I assert that ToW, on its own, is much better in WOTLK, and even good enough to equal or exceed multiple live ToWs. Here's proof.
Understand that there are tons of variables in this situation. I am just going to choose some "reasonable" baselines to give some feel for the change. Just know that these numbers aren't absolutes.
Assume:
- level 80 shaman
- 1500 spell damage
- 25% chance to crit.
- Using level 79 lightning bolt "Casts a bolt of lightning at the target for 715 to 815 Nature damage." This spell has a 79.4% spell damage coefficient due to its cast time of 2.5s and modified up after the infamous "LB/CL elemental nerf" of 2007. See wowwiki.
To compare crit to damage, we first need to come up with some sort of equivalency between the two metrics. Let's consider the case of 100 casts.
ncrits = number of casts that are crits
crit_multiplier = how much a crit multiplies your damage = 2.0 for shaman assuming presence of lightning fury talent.
spell_dmg = amount of spell damage.
spell_coeff = spell damage coefficient - given as 79.4% above.
avg_dmg = average spell damage = ((715+815)/2) from above.
So, the formula to calculate the damage done by 100 casts would be:
(((avg_dmg + (spell_dmg * spell_coeff)) * ncrits) * crit_multiplier) + ((avg_dmg + (spell_dmg * spell_coeff)) * (100 - ncrits)) = dmg.
(((765 + (1500 * 0.794)) * 25) * 2) + ((765 + (1500 * 0.794)) * (100 - 25)) = 97800 + 146700 = 244500 damage done over 100 casts.
Now, consider another 100 casts, but with 1% more crit chance:
(((765 + (1500 * 0.794)) * 26) * 2) + ((765 + (1500 * 0.794)) * (100 - 26)) =
(1956 * 26 * 2) + (1956 * 74) = 101712 + 144744 = 246456 damage done over 100 casts.
Raising 1% crit gave us an extra 1956 damage over 100 casts (which sounds right intuitively since making one more cast a crit, and a crit is double damage, is something like just adding one more cast - which are each 1956 damage).
So how do we relate that to spell damage? Well, we need to figure out how much we'd need to raise our spell damage in the above equation to put us at the same net damage as the case where we raised the crit 1%. The easiest way to do that is solve for spell dmg and just plug in the numbers.
First, let: castdmg = avg_damage + (spell_dmg * spell_coeff)
Insert into our eq:
dmg = (castdmg * ncrits * crit_multiplier) + (castdmg * (100 - ncrits))
distribute castdmg:
dmg = (castdmg * ncrits * crit_multiplier) + (100 * castdmg) - (castdmg * ncrits)
factor out castdmg:
dmg = castdmg ((ncrits * crit_multiplier) + 100 - ncrits)
solve for castdmg:
castdmg = dmg / ((ncrits * crit_multiplier) + 100 - ncrits)
To check our math, plug the original back in:
castdmg = 244500 / ((25 * 2.0) + 100 - 25) = 1956
castdmg = 1956
Which we can tell is right, but for completness, plug it in to our substitution:
castdmg = avg_damage + (spell_dmg * spell_coeff)
solve for spell_dmg:
spell_dmg = (castdmg-avg_damage) / spell_coeff
spell_dmg = (1956 - 765) / .794 = 1500. Which is exactly right, so we have some confidence in my math.
OK, now what I want to do is solve this same equation, but rather than using the baseline "dmg", I use the "dmg" from the crit example. This will tell us how much spell damage I would need to see exactly the same damage as I saw from the crit increase, which is what we are after. So:
castdmg = dmg / ((ncrits * crit_multiplier) + 100 - ncrits)
castdmg = 246456 / ((25 * 2.0) + 100 - 25) = 246456 / 125 = 1971 damage.
solve for spell_dmg again:
spell_dmg = (1971 - 756) / .794 = 1530
So adding 1% crit is roughly the same as adding 30 spell damage in the above scenario.
Now, given this knowledge, let's make some comparisons (I am assuming you can get your enemy with 40 yards. If you can't, you can't cast on them anyway):
WOTLK totem = 280 spell dmg and 3% crit (or 90 dmg) = 370 dmg.
Live totem = 3% crit (or 90 dmg) = 90 dmg.
Not much of a comparison, huh?
In fact, four live totems will be 12% increase crit chance. 12*30 (30 dmg per crit) = 360 dmg.
Too Long: Hate Math version:
It would take 4 live totems to equal the one new ToW.
For those running 5 shaman teams, you might lose a little damage, but you do have one other totem slot for other use.
Four live ToWs are approximately equal to one post-wotlk totem, so those of us with the 1 paly 4 shaman team are going to be about equal.
Anything less than 4 shaman in a group will see a pretty substancial buff.
