Post by silverd
I've been trying to decide which version to get but can't decide which is really better.
http://ptr.wowhead.com/?item=50048 would be the obvious answer I guess, but I know haste isn't so great.
http://ptr.wowhead.com/?item=50049 on the other hand is more towards hunters but also has ArP, but no STR only about half of the equivalent AP.
So which comes out on top?
Post by Aadramelekh
0.2 attack speed really is a
huge difference. That alone is reason enough to never ever even think about taking the second sword. Take the first one and enjoy your stronger attack skills.
Or, even better, just raid ICC and sell the hilt for a fortune. There are way better drops that don't cost any gold and ICC, at least in 10man, is far from hard.
Hmmmm I think that factoring in the
Normalization for instant attacks based on weapon damage (which most Death Knight instants are) makes the difference between these two weapons smaller than you think.
Indeed, melee swings will hit for a little more with the strength weapon, but after this, attacks such as Plague Strike, Blood Strike, Heart Strike, Obliterate, Frost Strike or Scourge Strike will be normalized using the default 2H weapon speed (3.3 seconds). The higher AP of the strength weapon will provide a little more oomph for magic attacks based on AP (like Icy Touch, Howling Blast, Death Coil), but that's all.
On the other hand, the Death Knight gets 0.016 crit per agility point. So 144 agility = 2.3% crit. The agility weapon will provide 197 AP and 4.46% crit along with 7.39% ArP, while the strength weapon gives 328 AP and 2.16% crit along with 2.78% haste. These numbers are before talents. Of course, one could argue in favor of the strength weapon with the fact that the Death Knight (blood and unholy especially) has talents and also the Rune of the Fallen Crusader that increase strength. They are pretty much tied. But for a Blood DK that goes for ArP, the agility sword could be better. For a Frost or Unholy DK that don't get so much benefit out of ArP, the strength version would be nicer I guess.
But there is no real 'huge' difference between these two weapons.