Nerd Culture Podcast

As promised, here is another patch 5.2 revised spec, this time it’s the new version of my Assassination Rogue spec Face Ripper!

This spec was created to kill Horde foes left and right, and a special thanks to a post by Zendfrim, which suggested this spec.

Click here to see the Talent Spec on WoWHead

For this specialization, I recommend a high amount of Haste and Mastery, to allow dots to trigger and poisons to deal more damage. However, to make it viable for PvP, there needs to be more forms of utility and survivability.   Combat Readiness, Leeching Poison and Dirty Tricks will help you to keep onto your life as long as possible, while your utility comes from Nightstalker, Cloak and Dagger and Marked for Death.

The main thing to keep in mind for this spec, is to keep all of the DoTs you can on your opponent(s) at a time. This is also the reason for Dirty Tricks. Keeping your DoTs up will allow Venomous Wounds to constantly keep  more damage on your enemy and a decent flow of energy returning to you.  Also, Slice and Dice should be kept up for yourself, and if the enemy is highly armored, Glyph of Expose Armor is very handy.  Also, Marked for Death can give you an instant 5 combo points to be able to rake your foe over the coals.

As for enemy casters, Cloak and Dagger as well as Glyph of Garrote will be invaluable tools. This way, you can close in the space to get to them, and silence them as soon as possible, then lay into them with Mutilate.

As for the case of all enemies, Glyph of Debilitation will allow you to prevent an enemies escape, allowing you to continue stabbing them with your daggers to your heart’s content!

Hi WoW Yoda fans!

I apologize for not having any more specs since December 1st, but I was waiting for the new 5.2 patch to come out in order to fully revise all previous specs and begin creating more. To that end, I start anew with the Paladin spec – Holy Slam; for the casting class lovers that want a Pally that isn’t Ret or Prot spec.

Click here to see the talent spec on WoWHead

Surprisingly, not too much has changed on how this spec works, and in fact, its damage output is highly increased due to this patch. Sadly, Inquisition is no longer available to Holy spec, which does make sense since it isn’t supposed to be doing damage anyway, however Glyph of Harsh Words makes up for this in allowing a nice damage ability. This time, the main offensive spells will be Denounce, Holy Shock, Judgement, and Word of Glory. I recommend Seal of Truth still, due to Judgement causing the Censure effect. As for rotation, Denounce will be your baseline spell, casting whenever your others aren’t available, Holy Shock will give you the holy power necessary to cast your Word of Glory, then the talent Divine Purpose will give you a 25% chance to cast another time, and can actually proc on itself constantly. Glyph of Holy Shock will also allow you to deal more damage with your Holy Shock, while Glyph of Denounce gives the Holy Shock a chance to make your next Denounce to cast more quickly.

As for protecting yourself, Selfless Healer allows your Judgements to allow your Flash of Light to cost less, take less time to cast and heal for  damage time. However, if you can wait for your third Judgement, then your Flash of Light will be free, instant, and empowered. Also, Unbreakable Spirit will allow a more frequent use of your bubbles and Lay on Hands.  Then for the necessary movement for PvE or PvP, Pursuit of Justice will have you covered, especially if you have 3 holy power to move 30% faster.  Also, you can easily build up long lasting holy power by casting Holy Shock while not in combat.

One thing to be sure of, when starting combat with a single melee opponent, be sure to cast your Denounce first, followed by Judgement (to allow Burden of Guilt to slow them down) and then Holy Shock. For ranged opponents, it can be the other way around so you will build your holy power faster.  Sadly, this spec doesn’t have much in the way of AoE, so Holy Prism will cover for you. The one main thing to remember, is that you will need to target yourself first, so that your enemies will be burned. Also, your heals will give you a protective shield due to Mastery, so whenever you self heal, you will be protected, especially whenever Lay on Hands is cast.

I hope you enjoy the newly revised Holy Slam. Check back tomorrow for another revised WoW Yoda spec!

Hail Storm is designed to keep your enemies in the cold, while you shatter them into tiny pieces with barrages of ice and frost. The main purpose for this spec is to keep enemies frozen or chilled at all times to allow for better targeting, damage, and survivability.

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#my\N|kmozR0

This Frost spec should have an easier time with adds and group pulls due to the total of 3 Frost Nova types of attacks, being Frost Nova, Ice Ward, and your Elemental’s Freeze spell. With these, it is far easier to single out a large mob from a group, or hitting them all with Blizzard, Cone of Cold, and/or Frozen Orb.

As for the damage aspect, all of these freezing abilities allow for the use of a more powerful version of Ice Lance (4x normal damage) or Deep Freeze (5 sec stun). Also, due to Fingers of Frost (passive) your Frostbolt, Frostfire Bolt, Blizzard, and Frozen Orb all have a chance to make your next Ice Lance or Deep Freeze act as though your enemy was frozen. Invocation will also keep damage up by 25% so long as its used every 40 seconds, easily enough time to dispatch of your foes.

Survivability will be increased not only due to the fact that you are slowing or rooting your enemies, but also due to Ice Barrier and Presence of Mind. The reason why I included Presence of Mind is due to the face that it allows for a split second reaction for a just in case situation. One such situation for me was a point when I had a few adds on me in the Jade Forest, I used Presence of Mind to cast my Frost Bomb on a mob. Yes, it may have only a 1.5 sec cast time, however, when you are near death from having fought several enemies and was interrupted by the current mob from replenishing HP and MP, an instant cast for a few second to an explosion that slows enemies is very handy. Especially when it’s followed by an Ice Barrier then Frost Nova and AoE damage galore!

GLYPHS
For Major Glyphs, I chose 2 for damage, and 1 for utility. Cone of Cold and Ice Lance increases the damage of 2 of the main 2 instant cast damage spells that will be used with Frost spec. Frost Nova is a keystone for this spec, so a reduced cool down time is very beneficial. For Minor Glyphs, Momentum is great for gaining more distance from frozen enemies, so long as you make sure there are no enemies in the area you are going. Loose Mana is not a requirement for this spec, but there may be some moments where gaining mana a little slower could be useful, especially since having Invocation, which reduced mana regeneration by 50%.

ROTATION
Try to make sure Ice Barrier stays up at all times along with your Invocation bonus (if you are level 90 that is). Your go to spell will always be Frostbolt. It places up to 3 stacks of vulnerability for a total of 15% to a few of your main spells, and that of your Water Elemental as well.  After you have your stacks, or if you feel your enemy is too close, feel free to use Freeze from your Elemental, or go for Frost Nova. I recommend keeping Ice Ward for just in case situations. Then when they are covered in ice, you can go for a Deep Freeze, or If that’s on cool down, go straight for a barrage of Ice Lance and Cone of Cold. Also, be sure to use Ice Lance whenever you have a proc from your Fingers of Frost (or Deep Freeze if necessary). As for groups, be sure to put in a Frost Bomb as early as possible. Then try to get the group of enemies clustered together, so you can freeze them with one of your 3 options from above, then Blink and us Frozen Orb and Blizzard.

Welcome to a special audio WoW Yoda!

This was originally recorded for inclusion in our last podcast but cut for length. But I didn’t want it to be lost forever so I am posting it here for you all to enjoy.

So for all you WoW Yoda fans, here is the man himself! (well his voice at least :))

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Running Time: 24 mins

Stick it to ’em is a Marksman spec for Hunters. This spec allows the hunter to wail on their foe(s) from the safety of any distance farther away than melee… which is exactly where all hunter’s should stay.

The main talents to assist in keeping enemies away from you are Binding Shot and Narrow Escape. These will hold your enemies in a certain area to allow for heavy AoE such as Lynx Rush, Multishot and Barrage. Thrill of the Hunt is a great passive for these situations for you to really throw more damage around, no matter if you are hitting a single target or a group. To further assist with survivability, Aspect of the Iron Hawk is also added in for those few situations where you may have an enemy slip through the cracks and get to harm you. Under these situations, be sure to remember your Disengage 1st, then your traps if your Disengage happens to be on cool down.

As for the major glyphs, I have selected Distracting Shot, Chimera Shot and Mending.  Distracting Shot and Mending are there to help keep you and your pet alive and well, keeping threat on the pet, and healing it over time. Chimera Shot will be the Hunter’s own form of mending.

Minor glyphs of course are always just for fun, but in some cases there can be a few for each class that can be of a lot of assistance.  Two examples of this are shown in Revive Pet and Tame Beast. Revive Pet is not frequently used, but is for those just in case scenarios where you may have gotten your pet killed and need to revive while you are still under attack.  (Don’t forget traps and Binding Shot for this emergency 1st before you start to revive). Tame Beast allows the taming to go a little faster so you can get back to questing, or whatever you were originally doing. As for Glyph of Fetch… pure entertainment… but I guess if your enemy dies in a spot where you are unable to loot, it could come in handy.

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#hx]n|chMMzq