Chains of Devastation Ideas

Classes Shaman
1

This is an idea that I’d like to peddle to Blizzard for this real cool and fun legendary that ends up being kinda bad in practice. The heal isn’t great, but the DPS loss from the weird rotation it forces you into is too large to ignore.

Before I start this, let’s lay down some math here:

  • Lightning Bolt: 95% spell power, 8 Maelstrom per cast, 2 second cast
  • Chain Lightning: 63.5% spell power, jumps to 5 targets (317% on 5 targets). 4 Maelstrom per target per cast, Elemental overload grants 3 Maelstrom per target (20 max, 15 max per overload), 2 second cast
  • Chain Lightning w/ Chains of Devastation 50% increase: 95.25% spell power (476.25%), jumps to 5 targets. 4 Maelstrom per target per cast, Elemental overload grants 3 Maelstrom per target (20 max, 15 max per overload), 2 GCDs cast time (1 instant cast Chain Heal, 1 Instant cast Chain lightning), 3 second cast total per chain lightning
  • Chain Heal: Heals for 210% spell power, jumps twice, 30% reduced each time (1st jump is 70% heal and 2nd jump is 40% heal, 441% spell power total). Does not interact with Elemental Overload, does not generate Maelstrom

Let me just start by saying the following: yes, this does interact with Stormkeeper, meaning you can do about 3 Stormkeeper’s Chain lightning damage with the 2 spell cast. This is very very strong for AOE, but mediocre for single target (which I think is this legendary’s biggest weakness by far).

Note the cast time: 2 GCDs per Chain Lightnings that are 50% stronger than normal, meaning a total of 3 second cast time. That means that in a 6 seconds windows, you are only getting 2 Chain lightnings, each at 150% normal damage (300% total damage), whereas someone casting 3 Chain lightnings is getting the same damage (3 *100% damage = 300%). So everything is balanced right? You get to heal a little and it’s a cool lego.

Wrong.

In this AOE scenario, you only build up 40 Maelstrom (assuming no overloads), while someone cast the 3 chain lightnings will build up 60 Maelstrom, allowing him to cast Earthquake for more AOE damage. Personally, I think this is fine considering the boost it gives to Stormbringer, but I want to make sure you’re aware of this. It’s no just a “superior” AoE situation.

Then comes the single target. This lego is god damn awful for single target. Let take a look:

  • Single target chain lightning with 50% increased damage: 95.25% spell power, 3 second cast time (due to 2 GCDs)
  • Casting a normal lightning bolt over and over (which you absolutely shouldn’t do, but just look at this for comparison): 95% spell power, 2 second cast time
  • Over a 6 second duration:
    • Chain lightning: 2 casts, 190.5% spell power total, 8 Maelstrom built total
    • Lightning bolt: 3 casts, 285% spell power total (50% more damage), 24 Maelstrom built total

This means that in a single target rotation, you literally do 33% less damage and generate 66% less Maelstrom than just sitting there like a brainlet and casting lightning bolt. And I haven’t even compared it to Lava burst (because that would completely blow it out of the water).

In short, unlike other AOE legendaries like Echoes of Great Sundering, which are mainly for AOE, and yet do the following in single target:

  • 1 Earth Shock + 1 Great Sundering powered Earthquake: 273% spell power (Earth Shock + 516.1% spell power (Great sundering earthquake), 789% spell power
  • 2 Earth shocks (same Maelstrom cost): 2*273% spell power, 546% spell power total, 31% less damage than the above

As such, I propose the following additions / changes to make this legendary stronger in single target:

  • Idea #1: Chain heal makes your next chain lightning instant cast and deal 50% more damage. Casting Chain lightning makes your next chain heal instant cast (and cost no mana if Elemental spec, no changes thus far). When Chain lightning is cast on a single target, deal 125% increased damage instead of 50%. (142.9% spell power total, around 50% more than lightning bolt).
    • Cast time remains 2 GCDs (3 seconds) while Lightning bolt’s cast time is 2 seconds, meaning this change would make it do the same damage as lightning bolt over 6 seconds.
      • 3 lightning bolts in 6 seconds: 3*95% spell power = 285% spell power
      • 2 chain lightning in 6 seconds with 125% damage increase (single target) = 2 * 142.9% = 285.8% spell power
    • Note: this is still weaker than casting lightning bolt because this still only generates 8 Maelstrom with those 2 casts vs. the 24 Maelstrom generated with those 3 lightning bolts. You may also want to add that this generates double Maelstrom if cast on 1 target. This would effectively replace lightning bolt in all but for Stormkeeper single target.
  • Idea #2: After casting Chain Lightning, you instantly cast Chain Heal at 50% reduced effectiveness at the lowest health member in your party (105% spell ratio on the first target)
    • This could turn Storm Elemental into an AMAZING healing cooldown. Obviously the chain heal shouldn’t be at 100% effectiveness since you can literally get 1 chain lightning off every 0.5 seconds when you reach 20 stacks (note: chain lightning and lightning bolt cast during the storm elemental ignores GCD, so you can actually cast more often than every 0.75 seconds). This could be useful in boss fights where you need a LOT of healing to go down for prolonged periods (i.e. Mythic Huntsman). This would also be good for resto shamans, could conserve mana while healing by doing some minor damage.
  • Idea #3: Chain Heal makes your next chain lightning instant cast and cast twice. This deals 25% increased damage if cast on a single target. Chain lightning makes your next chain heal instant cast (and cost no mana, Ele only for the mana part)
    • This would actually be my favorite version of this lego since it would partly make up for the Maelstrom loss in single target compared to lightning bolt (not completely, 16 Maelstrom for Chain Lightning) vs. 24 Maelstrom (for Lightning bolt). In terms of damage in single target, this would indeed be stronger than lightning bolt, though only by 11%. In addition, it would generate 33% less Maelstrom in Single target, meaning less Earth Shocks overall for the Single target (which may actually still make this weaker in single target, but nowhere near as bad). In AoE,
      • Single target: over 6 seconds, 4 chain lightnings at 25% increased damage = 63.5% * 4 * 1.25 = 317.5 % spell power, 11% more damage than 3 lightning bolts (285% spell power, 3 casts in 6 seconds). 4 * 4 Maelstrom during these 6 seconds for the chain lightning (16 Maelstrom total), 3 * 8 Maelstrom for the lightning bolt (24 Maelstrom total)
      • AoE (5 targets): over 6 seconds, 4 chain lightnings = 317.5% * 4 = 1270% spell power vs. 3 chain lightnings (hard cast during the 6 seconds) = 317.5 * 3 = 952.5% (33% more damage, 33% more Maelstrom, basically 1 more chain lightning during this window). NOTE: this sound GIGANTIC, but remember: the biggest source of AoE damage for shamans remains Earthquake, which is completely unaffected here, even if the Maelstrom gain is higher for the following reasons: you will still have to cast for a whole 6 seconds to get your 60 Maelstrom (hardcast 3 CL) or 80 Maelstrom (this lego) BEFORE putting down an Earthquake, so you’ll be putting down the same number of Earthquakes. Instead, this will increase your Chain lightning damage, which isn’t the biggest portion of your AoE to begin with.
      • Lastly: this will help the Blizzard balance team prevent Stormkeeper from being too strong with this legendary. If you pair this with Stormkeeper, you will not get the benefit the 50% damage boost it currently has. I know this is an issue for balance because if you increase the 50% damage boost which it’s currently at to, say, 75% or 100%, Stormkeeper’s interaction with this legendary will actually become a balancing problem (currently, Stormkeeper’s total spell power damage on 5 targets goes from 1666.9% Spell power to 2500.3% Spell Power per cast (so twice, 5000.6% total, instantly, up from ~3332% spell power). For reference, Frozen Orb’s FULL DAMAGE on 8 targets (it’s target cap) does a total of 2724% spell power (2999% spell power *0.91, the frost mage spec modifier)
  • Idea #4: Casting Lightning bolt makes your next Chain Lightning instant cast and deal 50% more damage. Casting Chain lightning makes your next lightning bolt instant cast.
    • Turn this item from a healer hybrid to a full-damage lego, with both single and multi target use. This would give it a nice boost in dps and really get the “storm shaman” RPing going. This would also get some great interaction with our Storm Elemental!
      • Single target: Over 6 seconds: 2 Chain Lightnings at 50% increased damage + 2 Lightning Bolts = 63.5% * 1.5 * 2 + 95% * 2 = 380.5% spell power, 24 Maelstrom vs. 3 Lightning bolts = 95% spell power * 3 = 285% spell power, 24 Maelstrom, same Maelstrom builtup, 33% increased single target damage (still probably not great since Lava Burst literally crits for 243% spell power with a cast time of 2 seconds, but we’re at least getting there!)
      • Multi-target: over 6 seconds: 2 Chain Lightnings at 50% increased damage + 2 Lightning Bolts = 317.5% * 1.5 * 2 + 95% * 2 = 1142.5% spell power, 56 Maelstrom vs 3 hard-cast Chain lightning = 317.5% * 3 = 952.5% spell power, 60 Maelstrom. 20% increased damage, 9% less Maelstrom
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You need to stop

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Something like Chains is never going to stand up to simcraft, if it did it would be nerfed into the floor.

That said, I still think it’s somewhat slept on outside of raiding as you give up fairly little as Elemental to create an amazing buffer for a group and Resto’s Legendary’s are, at best, merely icing flexibility and mobility tool if you aren’t a dummy who TREATS IT AS LICENSE SPAM CHAIN HEAL. IT IS A LEGENDARY, NOT DR. WHISKERS ROTATION-B-GON.

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