Kaeaskavi
11-14-2008, 01:13 PM
Cobra Reflexes, along with Avoidance, are new pet spells courtesy of Patch 2.1. But whereas Avoidance is pretty cut-and-dry, CR is a little vague as to how it works. Naturally, there are some people who write to us asking for a more complete explanation of how it works and why it should be trained or not. That’s why we’re here, so let’s do it.
But first, there are two concepts we wish to understand completely in order to fully explore the Cobra Reflexes spell: Damage per Attack and Damage per Second.
Damage per Attack. When you pet strikes a single time, it does damage. The amount of damage is variable from a minimum to a maximum, less armor mitigation, plus any buffs, crit modifiers, etc. The basic concept is that a single hit is just that.
Damage per Second. Simply, DPS is the rate at which your pet does damage. Basic math, but math nevertheless, let’s make it very pretty so we can examine it.Notice how proportional everything is. If we increase the damage a single attack inflicts, we increase our DPS. If we decrease the interval between attacks, we increase our DPS. Likewise, if we were to increase the Damage per Attack by 10% and simultaneously increase the time between attacks by 10%, our DPS would remain the same. Wanna see?
Let’s assume our pet hits for 300 damage per hit, and hits once every second:
Now, let’s increase our pet’s damage per attack by 10% and increase the time between attacks by 10%:What do you know, the math works out. Let’s apply this to Cobra Reflexes.
Now the CR tooltip says, “Attack speed increased by 30%, but damage done is reduced.” And when it says increased, it means the rate at which your pet-attacks are increased; the attack speed number is decreased.
But by how much is the damage reduced? Well, it doesn’t say damage is reduced by 30%, does it. if it were reduced by exactly 30%, we know from our previous example that our pet’s DPS would remain the same. But what would happen if the damage-reduction did not mirror the attack speed modification exactly? Obviously, our DPS would change.
Guess what. The damage-per-attack mitigation does not mirror the attack speed change. Lucky us, it works out in our favor; Cobra Reflexes actually increases our DPS as it lowers our damage-per-attack.
Proof? Here ya go. Stolen from the vaults of the fine folks at Petopia, their research into Cobra Reflexes:By their research, by just training Cobra Reflexes your pet will receive a net DPS-increase of 10% or more. That’s spiffy! So why does BRK not recommend Cobra Reflexes for everybody? Because Marksman and Survivalist hunters require different things from their pet than Beastmaster hunters do:
The Primary Function of a Beastmaster hunter’s pet is DPS.
The Primary Function of a Marksman/Survivalist hunter’s pet is to hold aggro.
MM/SV want their pet to hold aggro so they can unleash their high-RAP and high-Crit attacks. They will train their pets with the highest-aggro generating spells possible. In terms of importance, it is more desirable for their pets to have Bite, Lightning Breath and Screech than Cobra Reflexes. If a MM/SV hunter wants to max their pet’s health, grab Avoidance, and maybe a resistance or two, they may run out of talent points before they reach the point where they could train Cobra Reflexes. And in these situation, BRK can easily recommend they not worry about CR.
Beastmaster hunters, on the other hand, want their pets to generate damage. We don’t worry about pulling mobs off our pets as it just doesn’t happen. So Cobra Reflexes is a given for us for the extra damage alone.
But wait, there’s more!
Frenzy gives your pet a 30% increase in attack speed for 8 seconds when your pet crits. The more frequently your pet crits, the more frequently Frenzy will proc. So Cobra Reflexes will cause Frenzy to proc more often, which is more pet-damage, which is more Goodness.
But wait, there’s even more!
When your pet crits, Ferocious Inspiration will cause all the members of your party to have their damage increase by 3%. More crits means more Ferocious Inspiration, which means more pet/hunter/party-damage, which is even more Goodness.
“Now wait a d@mn minute, BRK. You’re telling me that Cobra Reflexes increases my pet’s DPS just by being trained, and if I’m a Beastmaster hunter it’ll make Frenzy proc more which will increase my pet’s DPS AGAIN, and it’ll make Ferocious Inspiration proc more which will increase the DPS of my pet, me, and every member of my stinkin’ party?”
Yes, that’s exactly what we’re saying. You graduate.
http://www.bigredkitty.net/2007/06/15/cobra-reflexes-and-why-we-love-them/
But first, there are two concepts we wish to understand completely in order to fully explore the Cobra Reflexes spell: Damage per Attack and Damage per Second.
Damage per Attack. When you pet strikes a single time, it does damage. The amount of damage is variable from a minimum to a maximum, less armor mitigation, plus any buffs, crit modifiers, etc. The basic concept is that a single hit is just that.
Damage per Second. Simply, DPS is the rate at which your pet does damage. Basic math, but math nevertheless, let’s make it very pretty so we can examine it.Notice how proportional everything is. If we increase the damage a single attack inflicts, we increase our DPS. If we decrease the interval between attacks, we increase our DPS. Likewise, if we were to increase the Damage per Attack by 10% and simultaneously increase the time between attacks by 10%, our DPS would remain the same. Wanna see?
Let’s assume our pet hits for 300 damage per hit, and hits once every second:
Now, let’s increase our pet’s damage per attack by 10% and increase the time between attacks by 10%:What do you know, the math works out. Let’s apply this to Cobra Reflexes.
Now the CR tooltip says, “Attack speed increased by 30%, but damage done is reduced.” And when it says increased, it means the rate at which your pet-attacks are increased; the attack speed number is decreased.
But by how much is the damage reduced? Well, it doesn’t say damage is reduced by 30%, does it. if it were reduced by exactly 30%, we know from our previous example that our pet’s DPS would remain the same. But what would happen if the damage-reduction did not mirror the attack speed modification exactly? Obviously, our DPS would change.
Guess what. The damage-per-attack mitigation does not mirror the attack speed change. Lucky us, it works out in our favor; Cobra Reflexes actually increases our DPS as it lowers our damage-per-attack.
Proof? Here ya go. Stolen from the vaults of the fine folks at Petopia, their research into Cobra Reflexes:By their research, by just training Cobra Reflexes your pet will receive a net DPS-increase of 10% or more. That’s spiffy! So why does BRK not recommend Cobra Reflexes for everybody? Because Marksman and Survivalist hunters require different things from their pet than Beastmaster hunters do:
The Primary Function of a Beastmaster hunter’s pet is DPS.
The Primary Function of a Marksman/Survivalist hunter’s pet is to hold aggro.
MM/SV want their pet to hold aggro so they can unleash their high-RAP and high-Crit attacks. They will train their pets with the highest-aggro generating spells possible. In terms of importance, it is more desirable for their pets to have Bite, Lightning Breath and Screech than Cobra Reflexes. If a MM/SV hunter wants to max their pet’s health, grab Avoidance, and maybe a resistance or two, they may run out of talent points before they reach the point where they could train Cobra Reflexes. And in these situation, BRK can easily recommend they not worry about CR.
Beastmaster hunters, on the other hand, want their pets to generate damage. We don’t worry about pulling mobs off our pets as it just doesn’t happen. So Cobra Reflexes is a given for us for the extra damage alone.
But wait, there’s more!
Frenzy gives your pet a 30% increase in attack speed for 8 seconds when your pet crits. The more frequently your pet crits, the more frequently Frenzy will proc. So Cobra Reflexes will cause Frenzy to proc more often, which is more pet-damage, which is more Goodness.
But wait, there’s even more!
When your pet crits, Ferocious Inspiration will cause all the members of your party to have their damage increase by 3%. More crits means more Ferocious Inspiration, which means more pet/hunter/party-damage, which is even more Goodness.
“Now wait a d@mn minute, BRK. You’re telling me that Cobra Reflexes increases my pet’s DPS just by being trained, and if I’m a Beastmaster hunter it’ll make Frenzy proc more which will increase my pet’s DPS AGAIN, and it’ll make Ferocious Inspiration proc more which will increase the DPS of my pet, me, and every member of my stinkin’ party?”
Yes, that’s exactly what we’re saying. You graduate.
http://www.bigredkitty.net/2007/06/15/cobra-reflexes-and-why-we-love-them/