Weapons Workout

Over the course of the last week, Svenn has been working out some theories on fast and slow weapons for tanking. While this is a much developed topic for dual-wield classes, little heed has been paid to it for one-hand weapon wielding tanks. The following results were formulated using Ghoulslicer (slow 2.6 speed, ilvl 219 “DPS weapon”) and Falric’s Wrist-Chopper (fast 1.6 speed, ilvl 232 “tanking weapon”) in 2 separate settings: IF Target dummies and ICC full trash rep runs (no bosses).

IF Target Dummy (Boss) self buff only, rotation 1*, duration 5mins:
Ghoulslicer- 800 DPS
Falric’s Wrist-Chopper- 1.2k DPS

IF Target Dummies (Heroic x2) self buff only, rotation 2*, duration 3mins:
Ghoulslicer- 2.1k DPS
Falric’s Wrist-Chopper- 1.6k DPS

ICC Rep Run (Trash only) raid buffed*, rotation 2, duration variable:
Ghoulslicer- 6.2k DPS
Falric’s Wrist-Chopper- 4.1k DPS

Aside from the duration of the test run on the AoE target dummies being shorter than desired (due to mana considerations while spamming high cost AoE abilities with no replenishment from BoS/Spiritual Attunement/class abilities), the weapon is isolated as the “only” variable…understanding Svenn may not have activated every ability perfectly after each global cooldown.

As we can see, slow outperforms fast by a huge margin when dealing with groups of 2 or more. This is based on the damage range of the weapons, NOT the DPS of each weapon. Slower weapons get swung less often and so hit harder to average out the DPS of faster weapons which get swung more often, but hit for less damage. Since abilities like Seal of Command and Hammer of the Righteous do damage based on maximum weapon damage in the “damage range” rather than the DPS of the weapon, slower weapons make for better returns when tanking groups of mobs.

Additional conditions to consider:
Hit Rating. Being at hit cap is essential to slow weapon wielding. A tank cannot afford to wait 3 seconds after a miss for another weapon swing, thus the popularity of fast weapons for tanking. While hit is not a stat worth going out of your way for as a Pally tank, the higher ilvl tanking gear usually has enough +Hit on it to get you where you need to be.

Defense Rating. It should go without saying that maintaining the 450 defense cap is a must. Slower weapons normally assigned to the DPS arena don’t come with +Defense stats, again contributing to the fast weapon popularity among tanks. As with the +Hit, heaps of defense on higher ilvl tanking gear make obtaining the cap without any defense on your weapon easily attainable at higher gear levels.

For optimal performance, one of each type (fast and slow) weapon should be carried, with the slow weapon equipped for AoE pulls, and the fast weapon equipped for single target fights. While customization of this level usually will result in a defense cap overage when the traditional fast “tanking weapon” is equipped (if it has +defense on it), the resultant DPS gains will more than make up for it, appeasing even the most ardent of the MIN/MAX crowd.

Above: Screenshot with slow main hand weapon. Below: Screenshot with fast main hand weapon.

Rotations: Seal of Command, Retribution Aura, and Sanctuary are up for all test incidences.
Rotation 1: Judgment of Wisdom, Hammer of the Righteous
Rotation 2: Consecration, Judgment of Wisdom, Hammer of the Righteous, Holy Wrath, Avenger’s Shield, Shield of Righteousness

Raid Buffs: Blessing of Sanctuary, Blessing of Might, Ret/Devo Aura, 8% Kings from LW Drums, Mark of the Wild, +STA Inscription Raid Wide Fortitude Scroll, Trueshot Aura, and some Shammy Totems (no idea what they all were, but they were the same through both iterations of trash clearing. Any shammies out there that can ID them from the above screenshots?).