Languish - Moonkin 4PT10 5 comments
posted 17th of Feb 2010
by Aeiedil
WoW v.3.3.2
With Languish Blizzard have added a new mechanic to the Moonkin through our set bonus. In the long run it increases the value of our crits. Its actual effect is a bit more complex than that though. The best way I can think of to describe Languish is that it fills in the gaps where our DPS drops a bit. Confused? Stay with me for a little.
Introduction, Moonkin DPS variance
Moonkin DPS is heavily reliant on Eclipse. There's no way you can argue that. The periods during which a Moonkins DPS lowers is when they are applying DoTs, and when they are outside of an Eclipse.
If Blizzard had intended to simply increase our crit damage by 7% then they could have done that much more easily by doing just that. Instead they opted to implement Languish, and I think the reason is to try and reduce those DPS low-points without increasing the DPS high-points where we are chain critting.
Languish - DPSing so you don't have to
Ok so not so you don't have to. If you crit repeatedly back to back then an ICC geared Moonkin with Starfires casting faster than every 2 seconds will see no Languish ticks. What will happen is that the damage bank of Languish (more on this here) will keep increasing indefinitely.
As soon as you either stop critting, or maybe break to refresh DoTs or just simply move, Languish will then step in. It will boost your DPS during the periods of non-crit by discharging that stored damage over the course of 4 seconds. It not only increases your damage, but also increases your overall DPS as it is stepping in adding damage in the periods which previously would have reduced your DPS.
To put it another way, instead of having the crit-frenzy high-dps segments and the lower crit lower DPS segments, we still have the crit-frenzy high-dps segments but then a kind of middle ground, where for 4 seconds the extra damage stored in Languish discharges. We are still creatures of RNG, but this helps soften out the extremes. All being well windows of non-crits for more than 4 seconds will be limited.
Enough talk, what does it do for my DPS really?
In the fights that I checked logs on this week I saw Languish account for approx 3-5% of my DPS. The value of ticks appeared to range from a few hundred up to about 6k. Languish helps increase the value of crit, as the more you crit the more Languish charges up.
It changes your DPS variance. Due to the fact it never actually ticks while you are chain critting (which is when you will get your highest DPS anyway), and the fact it discharges when your crits dry up, it helps bring together your max and min DPS over the course of a fight. It increases your average DPS, but not your maximum DPS.
How Languish actually works
First of all, Graylo has put up a nice explanation of the mechanic. You can read his explanation here.
Graylo describes Languish as a bank. His analogy works quite well. The key to understanding Languish is to understand that every time you crit, the DoT duration resets to 4 seconds. Every time you crit an amount of damage equal to 7% of the damage of the crit (i.e. for a 20k crit 1.4k damage will be added) gets added to the damage inside Languish.
If 2 seconds pass without another crit, half of the damage stored within Languish hits the target. If a further 2 seconds pass without another crit, the rest of the damage stored within Languish hits the target.
For further details of this look at Graylos post. Just remember that the Languish damage is not affected by any damage modifiers. The original spell that critted was already affected by any spell damage modifiers etc. that you may have, and so the 7% took that into account. If Languish also was affected by spell damage modifiers, then it would be getting a double bonus.
Secondly, remember that no damage put into Languish is lost. The only time damage is lost is when the creature that Languish on is dead (or if Languish ticks while the enemy is shielded, or the spell is dispelled, that kind of thing).
In conclusion
I like Languish. It increases our total damage and therefore our average DPS but without increasing our peak DPS, which was already quite nice. Even though it is based off crits, inherently an RNG factor there, it actually helps reduce the variance in our DPS through the course of a fight. I'd like to think that in Cataclysm a Languish-like effect becomes a permanent part of our talent tree instead of just being a set bonus. Time will tell on that one.
Comments
Hey hoy Aeie!
As usual, great post and precisely what I was after... I'm currently stuck with 2 x t10 and soon buying the 3rd (bear into mind I don't raid 25 mans at all) so getting close. I hadn't thought about Languish in the way you've described it: a "bank" of awesomeness you charge with funds during the "awesome dps" crit streaks and that you can unload whenever you're low on credit - read, dps.
Nice read as ever!
Great post, I've read explanations on other blogs but this one was the most helpful for me right now. The idea sounds brilliant on Blizzard's part now that I understand how it works and the reasoning behind it.
Whether or not the way I described it is how Blizzard intended it I don't know, it's how it seems to work though definitely. Unfortunately it is probably too much to hope that any further adjustments to Balance as a spec will be done in this way.
I know we lose damage if the mob dies (buy hey its dead) but do we also lose a portion of the languish damage on Blood Prince?
We do when the active Prince changes, however considering my highest Languish tick is about 7k then you're most likely looking at less damage than 1 Starfire crit. The Blood Princes aren't really a DPS race anyway though as much a "don't stand in xxx" fight, so this isn't a major worry.