Loading ...Shattering Throw: The Best Ability you’re Not Using
With Patch 3.1, Warriors got a new treat in Shattering Throw. What I’m finding is a lot of Protection Warriors don’t realize this isn’t just a PvP ability nor is it even merely a DPSer ability either.
But, it’s only usable in Battle Stance
True.
And, it’s got a 1.5 Second cast
True.
And, it’s not like it stacks with Sunder anyway
FALSE.
Shattering Throw does stack with Sunder Armor.
Sunder Armor is the best way in the game to increase your raid’s Physical DPS so it shouldn’t come as any shock that having even 10 seconds of Double Sunder Armor is huge.
But, a 1.5 Second cast in Battle Stance…
…is not exactly something you want to use while a very angry mob is beating the crap out of you. True, (didn’t we already go over this?) but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still opportunities to use it even while you’re Main Tanking.
Two fantastic examples early in Ulduar are both the Razorscale and the XT-002 fights. Both have some pretty tight enrage timers and you’ll need all the DPS you can get to pull them off. What’s great though is both have times when you aren’t getting nuked by a boss where you’ll be able to use your Shattering Throw. (Razorscale’s pre-50% landings and XT-002’s heart phases) Even better, it’s very possible you’ll be able to use it during Bloodlust/Heroism.
Getting really Fancy
Where this ability gets even more interesting is that while, it’s foolish to just use it while you’re getting nuked… it’s not impossible. If you’re finding that your raid is struggling with the DPS of a fight, but that your healers aren’t struggling with keeping you alive then consider blowing Shield Wall and then using Shattering Throw. (and make sure this is during Bloodlust/Heroism) I can’t emphasize enough though that I don’t recommend doing this every fight. It is a calculated risk that you should only use when it’s clear that your DPS needs it and you do not.
April 20th, 2009 at 1:24 am
Once again:
Thank you Vene for a very good idea!
Had some 18 tries on XT-002 yesterday, regularly getting to 5-10% when he enrages after 6 Minutes. With some more damage through the heart phases we should be good to go.
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Veneretio reply on April 20, 2009 7:38 am:
One thing to note too, it would seem that this buff actually does stack with itself. (ie. 2 Warriors can throw it at the same time) Which means if there’s only a couple Warriors in the raid, it’s not the end of the world if you don’t coordinate with each other when you use it. However, if you’ve got like 4, it’s probably worth taking a moment to say over Ventrilo when you’re done and when the next person should go just so you don’t have 4 of these up at the same time effectively wasting a portion of the benefit. (There’s other abilities other than Sunder Armor that reduce armor by a percentage)
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Kavtor reply on April 20, 2009 8:47 am:
It depends how much ArP most of your raid is running. I’m guessing that outside of warriors, not many are, so you’re probably better off stacking a few of the effects. ArP is more effective the more of it you use.
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Veneretio reply on April 20, 2009 9:25 am:
Agreed, it’s nice to have 2 of them up at once, but I think even once you hit 3, it’s very possible part of the effect is wasted. (certainly something I’ll have to research to be certain about though) I’m still surprised that multiple Shattering Throws do actually stack.
April 20th, 2009 at 4:49 am
This is a good ability to dust off your old charge macros you no longer need.
/cast [nostance:1] Battle Stance
/cast Shattering Throw
/cast Defensive Stance
Will switch you into Battle Stance (unless you’re already in it), cast Shattering Throw and then put you back in Defensive stance. Takes 3 clicks (2 if you’re already in battle stance), but does the whole deal.
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Bent reply on April 20, 2009 5:22 am:
Yeap I use a 3 click macro like the above. My main problem has been having the rage to use it after switching stances if I’m not being attacked.
I don’t really see what the problem is stance dancing on certain bosses. If you switch to Battle stance your lose what 5% damage reduction now?
Last I checked if you use shield wall, recklessness, etc and switch stances it removed the buff. So you cant’ shield wall and switch to battle stance.
It not like your taking off your shield or something. All you lose is your ability to hit shield wall while in battle stance. Sure if your at 50% life you not going to want to switch. But if your healers have you and the choice is to take a risk or hit the enrage go for it. I used it on just about every boss in naxx last week, we weren’t melee heavy but bloodlust+ST burns through life.
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Yakra reply on April 20, 2009 5:41 am:
You lose 10% damage reduction (physical and magical), and you can’t block/dodge/parry while casting.
And I’m 99% that shield wall, recklessness, and retaliation stay up when you switch stances.
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Bent reply on April 20, 2009 6:09 am:
Yeah just ignore me. Your right on all accounts. My brain is stuck in some alternate PTR build from months/years.
April 20th, 2009 at 8:02 am
Does anyone have a macro for stance dance shatter throw??
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Veneretio reply on April 20, 2009 8:20 am:
Due to the rage cost of Shattering Throw, (25) a stance dance macro that you mash is only going to result in you switching back and forth between Battle and Defensive Stance. The fact that you need to either melee a bit or get hit in order to get the rage to use the ability is part of why it’s so dangerous to use without Shield Wall if the boss is attacking you at the time.
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Meatgazer reply on April 20, 2009 8:42 am:
Didn’t they change stance swapping to drop a set amount of rage (20 or so), rather than setting your rage at 10 (without stance mastery)?
If that’s true, you should be able to dance in and out if you have at least 45-50 rage before starting.
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Veneretio reply on April 20, 2009 9:46 am:
This never made it live and I’m actually not sure if it even was ever tested on the ptr. I think it was just one of the things they mentioned might happen.
Kazuma reply on April 21, 2009 1:31 am:
This makes me wonder if it would be the good idea to add tactical mastery to our unrelentless assault spec.
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Rhoche reply on April 21, 2009 9:26 am:
Well now they have make it not cost rage so no worries on specing any different if you dont want to
April 20th, 2009 at 8:16 am
I’m ashamed to say, it’s the best ability I haven’t even trained.
and my dual-spec is arms.
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April 20th, 2009 at 8:21 am
I think a lot of tanks…ok, ME, but I’d be surprised if I was the only one…get stuck in a sorta trap when working on progression. The “Maximize Survivability Trap”, where as long as dps isn’t pulling off you, you focus on everything possible to keep yourself up for longer into the fight.
The reason it’s a trap is because sometimes you focus on it so hard you can lose site of other objectives or things you should be doing. Often progression ends up in one of two categories. 1) Survivability/Coordination and Execution or 2) DPS Test/Gear Check.
For the 1) type encounter you’re fine and already focused on what you need to be…for 2) well…while often while a DPS Test also has a strong survivability/healing component (think Brutallus pre-nerf) you’re doing your raid a disservice if you don’t also consider everything you can do to push your guild “over the hump”.
This is a really good tip Vene, and one that all tanks in Ulduar would be wise to consider.
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April 20th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
There is also prime opportunity on Kologarn if you are not starting the tank rotation. We blow heroism within a few seconds of the pull which is plenty of time to fully Sunder the target and Shattering Throw the moment Heroism pops.
I was not aware that the debuff stacks with itself, so we will definitely be stacking these on the first and third Heart phases of XT.
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April 22nd, 2009 at 9:20 am
Great tip, Vene. Going to give it a go tonight on Malygos. I’m thinking if I can get ST on him right as he lands I should be able to get back into DEF stance before he gets to me, which would give the DPS ST/SA on top of the Spark buff and our Bloodlust. Should really put the hurt on ol’ Blue.
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Urago reply on April 23, 2009 6:50 am:
No luck. Tried 3 times and never could get the timing down just right while Maly was still in range..and then we went and killed him so I didn’t get to do anymore testing… darn it!
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Veneretio reply on April 23, 2009 7:14 am:
Ya, Malygos is one of those fights where you’ll probably only get to use Shattering Throw effectively if you Shield Wall to put it up. As the post says though, this isn’t something to do without putting a lot of thought into essentially wasting your best defensive cooldown.
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April 22nd, 2009 at 1:52 pm
I just noticed that sunder armor changed from a fixed amount of armor reduction per stack to 4% armor reduction per stack.
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April 24th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I tried using Shattering Throw last night in Naxx. I didn’t notice it stacking with sunders, it has an “instant cast”. I also didn’t have to stance dance to use it. I can’t help but wonder if I’m missing something.
I liked the damage and the other benefits of it and would continue using it.
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Veneretio reply on April 26, 2009 5:57 pm:
You were using Heroic Throw. Shattering Throw has the same icon, but is only usable in Battle Stance, has a 1.5 Second cast and reduces armor.
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Hollybrynn reply on April 27, 2009 10:53 am:
AH. Thanks!
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April 25th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
I’ve used it successfully on Razor, Deconstructor’s Heart and Mirmiron when tanking as well as on many bosses when I’ve been DPS. Probably best to save your Bloodrage until you have changed into battle stance unless you have tactical mastery.
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Jacob reply on April 27, 2009 6:46 am:
Yes, Bloodrage plus a melee swing gets me enough rage to do the throw.
For example, when XT-002 drops his heart:
/cast Battle Stance
/cast Bloodrage
(wait 1.5 sec for GCD after casting Bloodrage, a melee swing or two will probably land during this time)
/cast Shattering Throw
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April 29th, 2009 at 7:46 am
Another thing that could be added to that: while you are in Battle Stance, on some occasions, it might be good to cast Retaliation before popping back to Defensive Stance, for added threat and dps.
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Veneretio reply on April 29, 2009 10:41 am:
Very cool point especially relevant on the Razorscale encounter.
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April 30th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Just thought I’d throw out that in the next patch (3.1.2), Shattering Throw will not have a rage cost, making it even more viable.
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May 1st, 2009 at 5:46 pm
This may be remarkably stupid but given that it requires Battle Stance I’m wondering if it would have a use for pulling mobs? I mean, you have ample time to cast without stuff hitting you and it could be followed up with Charge without changing stance. Then hitting Retaliation before switching stances could be great for grabbing aggro on a bunch of mobs before the DPSers arrive guns blazing.
Bloodrage > Shattering Throw > Charge > Retaliation > Defensive Stance?
(And before you ask, I like to save Heroic Throw for any trash that does a runner.)
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