Eternal Earthsiege Diamond

[Modal]

In 4.0.1, this item adds dodge rating and "1% Shield Block Value." I haven't been able to find any information about how good this is. Has anyone done any testing to figure out exactly what 1% SBV means, now? Does it make us block for 31% damage reduction? 30.3%?

If block capped, how does this stack up to 2% armor from Austere gem for EH?

[Awyndel]

I guess there are some leftover they didn't fix yet. Would be nice to see if these items do anything at all, but my bet is they don't.

Edit:

Just read this blue post:

"Shield Block Value - There are some effects that increase the Block value by a percentage, but this does not exist as a stat."

So maybe the gem does work. Not sure if there are other items/augments with a % out there. In this case you raise some very good questions.

[polonadis]

If block capped, how does this stack up to 2% armor from Austere gem for EH?

... AND 21 dodge vs 32 stam

[steadypal]

i put it on, moused over block, said 31%

[Modal]

That seems quite good then! Let's see how it might compare to 2% armor. Somebody check this napkin math? I have 27833 armor w/ devo aura. Of that, 1375 comes from devo aura + bonus armor, which I assume is not multiplied by austere. So factoring out the Austere bonus, I think I'd have 27363 armor w/ devo aura.

Then without austere, a 100 damage hit from a boss would be reduced to 34.0276831 damage by armor. That is, to 100*.9*(1-(27363 / (27363 + (467.5 * 83 - 22167.5)))

With austere, that would be further reduced to 33.6680309 damage, or 100*.9*(1-(27833 / (27833 + (467.5 * 83 - 22167.5))).

Now, if both of those hits are blocked (IIRC, block should be applied after armor), then that will be further reduced:

31% BV, no austere
34.0276831 * .69 = 23.4791013

30% BV, austere
33.6680309 * .7 = 23.5676216

Looks to me like, for my gear, Eternal wins out by a small margin! Perhaps too small a margin to offset the dodge/stamina trade-off. Seems close enough to look into further, however.

I may have missed a source of damage reduction that affects the calculation. MotW and BoK don't give armor now, and neither do agility buffs--is there another source of % DR that needs to get factored in? Have I made the right assumptions about what gets multiplied by Austere bonus and what doesn't? Anything else I'm overlooking?

Caveat: this assumes block cap. Without block cap, Austere should be superior.

[Modal]

Wait, also: Austere Shadowspirit Diamond is 81 stam, 2% armor, but Eternal Shadowspirit Diamond is 81 stamina, 5% BV!!?

Actually, in comments on WoWhead, somebody is saying that this one works like:

30 * 1.05 = 31.5% total BV. So, perhaps they just need to do some tooltip standardization, but also likely it will get nerfed to work like the Earthsiege version.

If it remains at 31.5%, though, rather than 31%, with the 81 stamina it seems like it will quite possibly be our best EH gem at 85. I'd do so more napkin math if I knew for sure (a) what the formula for armor DR% is at 85 and (b) what a plausible armor was for a beginning 85 raider.

[Digren]

I think IF we can stay at the block cap at 85 then the eternal shadowspirit is best. The recent change to boost our mastery makes that more likely, but I'm hesitant to say for sure as I haven't tested it myself on beta or seen any posts about it. (And beta stuff is still subject to change.)

[Awyndel]

Other sources wich multiply should not matter. Sources that are static should only make it stronger.

So basicly 0.08% damage reduction and 31 dodgeparry, for the price of 38 stamina. This is including the second parry/stamina gem and asuming a 9 stamina socket bonus.

Not sure if that's worth it. For physical fights and slow death I'm inclined to say yes. If we get magic or spikes it's gonna be tricky, but we get less of those statistically.

Tough call but either way not a big difference. I'm putting it in btw.

[Modal]

Other sources wich multiply should not matter. Sources that are static should only make it stronger.

Well, I'm not sure I follow you exactly, but if you assume 30000 base armor and the same amount of bonus armor that doesn't get multiplied, then the Eternal Earthsiege gets weaker, amounting to only a .05% damage reduction over Austere.

Similarly, a higher ratio of bonus to base armor would make Eternal a relatively better choice.

[Awyndel]

I was talking damage reducing buffs. Obviously you need to calculate this using your own armor+aura .

[Modal]

Apparently the armor formula for levels 81+ is different; I'm not feeling like running the numbers for 85 yet. Anyone know what a reasonable level 85 starter raider armor number might be? I'm guessing ~40k