So, I am having a little trouble with understanding something regarding these 2 talents.
I am currently using MoC, I have used Steel Trap in the past and I do like it, but a buddy of mine recommended changing into MoC because it did more damage, so I did trusting him. However, recently I decided to try running some sims with some changes here and there in Soulbinds and also Talents to try and optimize my DPS, and I found something interesting.
So, when I read the tooltip for both of those talents this is what I have:
Steel Trap - 4,398 dmg over 20 seconds;
Murder of Crows - 7,874 dmg over 15 seconds.
Now, on paper it seems obvious that MoC does deal more damage, it is dealing a bigger amount of damage over a shorter time, however in the sims I did, and I re-did them several times just to be sure, and all of them give me a DPS increase with Steel Trap talented in comparison with having MoC talented. Mind you the sims were made in single target, which is what I care more about because of PvP, for Mythics Bloodseeker wins, and it makes sense.
So, the question I have for anyone who understands the subject is, what exactly is going on? Why is the talent that on paper gives me less DPS, actually giving me more DPS instead?
Could it be because of the Focus cost? MoC costs 30 focus, while Steel Trap costs nothing. Could that be enough to impact the whole rotation? In a way that MoC despite giving more dmg, due to the Focus cost hinders the rest of the rotation, while Steel Trap doesn’t and hence improves the overall DPS? I can’t see any other explanation.
I think it’s because you can fit 2 Steel Traps (400% AP) into one Crows CD (368% AP), thanks to it’s CD being halved.
Unless you can reliably get your target do die while affected by Crows, so it’s CD is reset. It’s hard to sim complicated abiliites like this.
Your enemy might not step into the Steel Trap (or have a CC immunity CD on in which case I think all traps are popped but do nothing) so Crows might be better. If you can get Crows target to die and reapply it to second target, then Crows win as a talent.
TBH as a PvE player I feel like both options are bad compared to Bloodseeker, but I guess for PvP I’d go with Steel Trap, cause that at least has some utility ouside of the damage it deals.
That’s my thinking, and why I like it, but then ideia behind Crows is that it provides more burst for a stun -> trinket+CA -> Crows -> Death Chakrams. Which I do quite frequently, doesn’t always translate into a quick death, but does indeed quite some burst. However, I might go back to Steel Trap just to see how it feels overall.
Also, regarding this.
According to my sims, (which, again, I always repeat to be sure of the sort of values I get), Bloodseeker does win in AoE situations, and makes sense, specially if you have a Guardian Druid which spams a AoE bleed, or someone else on the party with that sort of ability. However, when it comes down to single target Steel Trap is the winner, it does provide some more DPS than Bloodseeker.
Edit:
I forgot to address this point in the original reply. I think Steel Trap still applies the bleed, despite the CC immunity. At least in regards to bosses, which are immune to CC, still get the bleed, so I don’t see why it wouldn’t be the same for players.
It depends almost entirely on the comp you’re facing. Warriors, Rets, Rogues, DKs… use Steel Trap, the damage is equally important to the CC it provides.
