Analysis of Improved Devo Aura versus Shield Spec

Just wanted to lay all this out in a central location. This is a comparison of how they perform on a single target level

Imp. Devo Aura:
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5 talent points
Scales upward with increasing damage
Scales downward with gear
Can be provided by another paladin

Shield Spec:
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Effectively 8 talent points
Scales downward with increasing damage
Scales upward with gear

Obviously, Shield Spec starts out better at lower incoming damage, and as the incoming damage increases, improved Devo Aura catches up and eventually passes Shield Spec. However, the point at which that happens can be surprising sometimes. Depending on how much BV you stack, it can actually be pretty high, such that SS is on par or even sometimes better than IDA for your current content (and sometimes not).

That point is some amount of damage that a mob does. Lower than that value, and Shield Spec does better. Higher than that value, and Improved Devo Aura does better.

The following table shows the crossover point given a particular Block Value and a particular AC. The crossover damage is given as untalented (no SS or IDA), mitigated incoming damage.

i'm considering making a calculator for this because i'm too lazy to fill in the blanks every time i want to change something... maybe i wont be lazy tomorrow
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I don't see any mistakes and I don't disagree but isn't it a bit beyond the point since holy paladins 9/10 have imp devo on their way to bok anyways? you should really end up with both by proxy
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Thanks for this post, I had a warrior buddy tell me the EH of Imp DA the other day, and then when I started think how little SS actually mitigated I as starting to wonder which was actually better for single target scenarios.
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One thing to note, this specifically addresses damage reduction. For EH you would need to look at health as well, and both AC and BV scale differently with EH.

The EH equation is:

EH = HP(AC+11960)/(11960*.94)

If you want to look at how block *may* affect EH, then if you hold AC constant it is:

EH_blocking = [d/(d-b)] * EH
EH_blocking = [d/(d-b)] * HP(AC+11960)/(11960*.94)

What you would need to do is make 3 calculations using this equation (picking a value for d that makes sense for your content):

1. Use your AC and BV before IDA and SS
2. Use your AC before IDA and your BV after SS
3. Use your AC after IDA and your BV before SS

Then you can see how they each would affect your effective health

Note that this equation is an approximation as it holds AC constant, but if you are using IDA, then your AC actually goes up, so the [d/(d-b)] term isn't fully correct (d changes once you have IDA). If you want to be more correct, then take the [d/(d-b)] term and make it:

[D/(D-b*alpha)]

where D is the unmitigated damage and alpha is simply (AC+11960)/(11960*0.94)

That would be a more exact representation of the equation:

[D/(D-b*alpha)] * HP * alpha
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Excellent work. Thank you.
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Lore, it sort of does scale:

The armor reduction calculation is such that a fixed amount of armor will give you a fixed amount of effective health no matter what your current armor is (but in proportion to your health).

So the more health you have, the more EH IDA gives you.
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No really, I'm not addicted.

"The skill-gear curve is steep for small values of skill."

http://armorylite.com/us/Silvermoon/Spectrum

Ah so.
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I can keep rhythm with no metronome.

Yeah, I was thinking of toughness for some reason. It was late when I posted this.

I updated it.

It can scale upward with gear if you include HP's for EH theory, but I wasn't talking about EH theory anyways, so I tossed that out and kept it in context of damage reduction % instead.
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So what are our realistic conclusions?
The way I'm reading this, when buffed and wearing high end gear you'd need single hits of over ~ 10 to 11k to make IDA the better option. Is that a correct interpretation?
(I really was hoping IDA would win so I could spend the extra talent points elsewhere. They really should make Devo Aura scaling instead of fixed, decouple redoubt and shield spec, and make BoSanc actually worthwhile in some fashion.)
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Mavrix
BE Tankadin
Dalaran

vicis pro factum

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Dalaran&n=Mavrix

It's worth noting that regardless of which is better, you can have both with a Holy Paladin in your group (normally).
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Stormreaver US

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