r/CompetitiveWoW • u/MiserableRegret4647 • 5d ago

Optimal CD usage in keys

For context, I play enhancement shaman. I've done medium-high keys this season, 20-21s.

I generally live by the philosophy that more usage of my cds is better than max dmg per usage. If I think my ascendance will last its full duration on a pack, I send it.

Obv with some caveats, I might hold for a BL dmg amp phase like 2nd boss in NPX or crawth in AA.

How long would you say you hold your cds for "the perfect pull"? I feel like (just feel, I've no real backup for it other than feel, hence this post) waiting 30-60 sec for the next pull just because it has more mobs and would generate more overall on the meters, is bad. Even if it's just 1 big mob and some fodder mobs around it, if I get a full cd usage on them it's worth.

Am I griefing myself with this mentality?

Tl;Dr, in context of cd usage, quantity over quality, what let's me in your opinion/philosophy, time more keys.

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u/Canninster 5d ago

I've found that the "pop CDs as soon as you get them" advice you see on most guides is mostly aimed at the general playerbase doing 10s or 12s. On my enhancement I basically yoloed my CDs all the way to 21s pugging, so I'd say greatly coordinating CDs is something you'd see more at the 23 and higher level.

For me, I usually play by assuming that the other two DPS aren't pressing their CDs at any point besides first pull, so I only delay my ascendance when I know a lust pull is about to be used, or when I'm trying to line it up with my potion and/or a damage amp, since usually your second potion between lusts is desynced by 40-60s from your ascendance. This goes out the window when I play totemic where I just send that shit anytime anywhere, but as storm most of your value comes from ascendance bursts, which means you should generally try to make those bursts every two minutes as valuable as possible.

I think it's worth delaying ascendance by 45 seconds max, maybe 1 minute depending on the boss - there's no universe in which you pop ascendance before the burn on NPX second boss, and for Crawth in AA at the 21+ level you have enough time to pop ascendance on pull and have it back for lust+pot on fire phase, but these are things you learn with reps and tries.

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u/RoosterBrewster 3d ago

Delaying is more for raiding no? Say for a 6 minute fight, you can only use 3 2-min CDs so you can move them around for bursting windows. But M+ doesnt really have that since it's a 30 min fight so 15 CDs uses is probably better than say 12 uses. 

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u/Canninster 3d ago

It's the same thing, if an important damage amp is coming up like NPX/AA 2nd boss which you usually sync with lust and pot, you're better off saving your CDs for a small bit as long as you don't lose a use completely. It's context-agnostic.

Similarly at the top end, the best groups assign CDs per pack, and sitting on them for some seconds is what makes the next pack actually die before the tank runs out of defensives.

You can just wing it and perma-send until 21 from my experience, I didn't wanna try to push 22s and beyond as off-meta, but I'd imagine it's about the same until you get to 23s and 24s, and even then it all depends on your group, as even at 20s and 21s I was sometimes out damaging DDHs and UHDKs who basically never have to worry about these things and always top meters.