Why You Shouldn't Use Fracture

[Kitru]

So I've been doing some math and thinking while I was on suspension (I think they tagged a whole slew of us from the various tank discussion threads all at once, lol) and came to a pretty interesting conclusion: on any fight that lasts a decent period of time, using Fracture ends up being a net loss in total DPS.

The reason for this is pretty simple: Fracture is pretty expensive for a single target attacks given the damage it deals. It cost 80 TP, which is a net loss of 30 TP/GCD; at 300 potency per use, that's 10 potency per net TP cost. The BB combo (150 + 200 + 280; 70 + 60 + 60) is 15.75 (630 / (70 + 60 + 60 - 50 * 3)). On top of this, the value of that higher potency per GCD is diluted *very* heavily by the fact that, in order for it to actually provide that massive potency benefit, it can only be used once every 12 GCDs.

Here's some more math to chew on that gets a bit more involved.

The basic optimal rotation for a WAR is BB>BB>SE, which is 325.30 potency per GCD (math is in the DPS/enmity post in my sig) at a net cost of 14.44 TP/GCD ((580 - 50 * 9) / 9).

Adding in Fracture (one out of every 12 GCDs, which means that the rotation gets pretty long since that's once every 4 combos even though it's pretty simple) gets you an average potency per GCD formula that looks like this:

(((((8 * 630 + 3 * 300) / .9) + 4 * 610) / 39) * 1.0556 + 83.33 * 1.11) * 1.2 * 1.0476 * 1.0272 * .75 = 326.55 potency per GCD

The average net cost of this rotation is 15.64 TP/GCD ((70 * 12 + 60 * 12 + 60 * 8 + 70 * 4 + 80 * 3) / 39 - 50).

To get the Fracture rotation to reach resource parity with the non-Fracture rotation, you're going to have to include 1 empty GCD out of every 54, which means that you'd be dropping your DPS by ~1.8%.

So, all in all, you'd be dropping your DPS by nearly 2% to increase it by less than half of a percent. Fracture just really doesn't pull its own weight.

Considering that Fracture is stronger on WAR than on any other class, I'm reasonably confident that *no one* should be using Fracture at all. It's just not worth the cost over any fight of non-trivial duration (which, considering that it's a *DoT* and only effectively operates over non-trivial durations, it's kind of shooting itself in the foot).

[Phreak]

Correct me if I'm wrong fracture is even worse than in your proposed case because the damage over time cannot crit, so it's even less damage per TP.

[Viridiana]

Correct me if I'm wrong fracture is even worse than in your proposed case because the damage over time cannot crit, so it's even less damage per TP.

I don't know where people get the idea that damage over time in this game can't crit. They definitely can.

[Phreak]

I don't know where people get the idea that damage over time in this game can't crit. They definitely can.

Maybe because I've played 3 different MMOs where DoTs couldn't crit? One being quite successful and it took them 5 YEARS before they introduced the ability for DoT mechanics to crit.

[Viridiana]

Maybe because I've played 3 different MMOs where DoTs couldn't crit? One being quite successful and it took them 5 YEARS before they introduced the ability for DoT mechanics to crit.

But if dots couldn't crit, River of Blood would be quite useless.

[GinTama]

Correct me if I'm wrong fracture is even worse than in your proposed case because the damage over time cannot crit, so it's even less damage per TP.

Why can't it? For smn it does, so do heals.

[chococo]

Correct me if I'm wrong fracture is even worse than in your proposed case because the damage over time cannot crit, so it's even less damage per TP.

Wait, I think DOT can crit? that's how the BRD's DOT + bloodletter cooldown works no?

[Sapphidia]

Interesting math. I posted a "why fracture sucks for paladins" post in a crossclass thread with similar findings, mostly based around the relatively low potency compared to halone comboing, and the high TP cost making it a loss in situations where you bottom out your TP (which admittedly is rarer for paladins).

The only thing to consider with Warrior though is that you've modelled your rotation based on a constant use of Fracture within the rotation... but that's not really the optimal way to use it. I agree with your findings, but for DoTs in this game you have to take into account Cooldowns.

When a DOT is applied it takes a snapshot of your damage stats and maintains that stat throughout the duration of the DoT. Fracture is a 300 potency attack for 80 TP for warriors, yes, which over sustained use is rather negligible... but what you need to factor in is using Fracture ONLY when you have dps cooldowns up. Pop it when Berserk, Unchained and Internal Release are up (we're assuming Maim will always be up for these tests). In these situations you'll get a relatively higher contribution to DPS for using Fracture at this point, and it SHOULD equate to a DPS gain. Suddenly it becomes a 360 or 420 potency attack with possibly boosted crit, and whilst the other attacks are also boosted, the larger difference should make the 10-20 extra TP worth it.

This is just napkinning of course. Fracture shouldn't be used without cooldowns up according to your maths, which I agree with. Add in a period of Berserk and Internal Release on cooldown and it -should- be a DPS gain. I hope.

[Sentinel]

Interesting math. I posted a "why fracture sucks for paladins" post in a crossclass thread with similar findings, mostly based around the relatively low potency compared to halone comboing, and the high TP cost making it a loss in situations where you bottom out your TP (which admittedly is rarer for paladins).

The only thing to consider with Warrior though is that you've modelled your rotation based on a constant use of Fracture within the rotation... but that's not really the optimal way to use it. I agree with your findings, but for DoTs in this game you have to take into account Cooldowns.

When a DOT is applied it takes a snapshot of your damage stats and maintains that stat throughout the duration of the DoT. Fracture is a 300 potency attack for 80 TP for warriors, yes, which over sustained use is rather negligible... but what you need to factor in is using Fracture ONLY when you have dps cooldowns up. Pop it when Berserk, Unchained and Internal Release are up (we're assuming Maim will always be up for these tests). In these situations you'll get a relatively higher contribution to DPS for using Fracture at this point, and it SHOULD equate to a DPS gain. Suddenly it becomes a 360 or 420 potency attack with possibly boosted crit, and whilst the other attacks are also boosted, the larger difference should make the 10-20 extra TP worth it.

This is just napkinning of course. Fracture shouldn't be used without cooldowns up according to your maths, which I agree with. Add in a period of Berserk and Internal Release on cooldown and it -should- be a DPS gain. I hope.

You are thinking of WoW. DoTs do not snapshot in this game, they are also on a universal clock for "ticking" which means that if you are not refreshing this all the time, it will likely tick less than what is described in the tooltip.

[Viridiana]

You are thinking of WoW. DoTs do not snapshot in this game

They actually do snapshot. Pop a buff, apply a dot, then cancel the buff. Your damage numbers will stay the same even after the buff drops.