Elemental assault.
Elemental spirits
Does more damage on long raid fights and aoe is not that bad compared to Meta.
Why we even call DW a meta?
“Meta” means what guilds who are chasing world firsts on pushing +20 keys use. It’s meta because it’s the best way to squeeze the most damage out of a class.
That doesn’t mean that Wolf Bones or Frost Witch aren’t also viable depending on the player and the content. (I saw a dps increase for myself switching from Doom Winds to Frost Witch because the rotation is less janky). But viable isn’t the same as meta.
DW/Ascendance is great burst but in between i was always rotation starved.
I am only at 17% haste so rotation was clunky. Then again i miss the burst.
Need at least 2 legendaries to feel complete.
I’m guessing you’re basing this on sims?
Because it does not do more damage.
Single target at best wolf bones will be equal to doom winds (if you have 100% uptime). There’s almost no boss that you have 100% uptime on, and due to doom winds burst window, lower uptime doesn’t matter as much, and therefore does more overall damage.
If you’re comparing your own dps from 1 raid to another, that’s not really a valid test because likely you have maybe an extra conduit slot, or higher ilevel conduit, different stat weights, maybe a different comp, different kill time and so on…
If you look at averages, i think there’s only 1 or 2 wolf bones in the top 100, and they out gear people that are above them with doom winds. There’s no frost witch (not last i checked anyway).
They’re not really viable, because Shaman itself is considered not viable anyway. So unless you’re coming with that absolute best damage you can (which is still often not enough), it’s not worth taking you.
Gear helps massively of course, but 1 for 1 comparison with the same gear, doom winds will be better in raid.
Never said our damage is fine or on par.
I ran some tests on a dummy then went to raid then did mythic + with new spec.
Miss frost shock aoe but other then that rotation seem smoother with less cds. Wolves are up every fight ,or worst case sceanrio every other fight. Dont need to watch for totem every min.
Its not that better but better on single target and aoe with 3 or less mobs.
I prefer wolf bones over doom winds myself… Running ele blast hot hand and doing a more crit/mast build is starting to get more viable with more gear
The rotation is smoother for sure, because of maelstrom generation. You can even generate when you’re out of range if wolves are up. But once you get to about 20-25% haste, you don’t really have issues with maelstrom when using dw either.
You asked why it’s the meta. I answered. But in summary, it does more damage, both single target and aoe, whilst also having better burst, than any of the other legendaries.
This may change over time, as wolf bones has caught up based on 100% up time (st only), and deeply rooted is pretty close too. It’s gear dependent, and in 9.1 i wouldn’t be surprised if none of the current top legendaries turn out to be our top.
Bone Wolf AoE is straight trash. If you’re equal on AoE with Bone Wolf to DW then you’re playing with DW wrong. [quote=“Faesobee-thrall, post:7, topic:852021”]
This may change over time, as wolf bones has caught up based on 100% up time (st only)
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Wolf Bone is 100% ahead on ST where there isn’t real downtime. CN has downtime on every ST boss so WB has no area to shine.
In dungeons on tyrannical week, BW should pull ahead because there’s barely any dungeon boss where you have actual downtime.
Anything with more than 1 target makes AB immediately worse though.
I’ve been running Frost Witch and the damage seems comparable to DW. Really, outside of those meaty burst windows, Doom Winds just doesn’t feel that good.
I’m really hoping we get two legendaries. Frost Witch and Wolf Bones would synergize so well with each other.
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