Theorycrafting: Execute vs. Raging blow

[VerneAsimov]

A lot of Internet guides recommend using Execute on targets in place of the normal Raging Blow. For fury, it is not as simple as that. These two are quite different in many ways that make each beneficial in different situations. Keep this in mind when you enter combat: the decision to use either is your choice but one choice is better.

 

The first factor is simple rage spent per damage dealt. Raging Blow wins hands down. It has one third the cost of Execute. However, since fury saves up rage to burst anyway rage isn't a huge factor. Secondly, both spells are fundamentally different. Execute uses attack power and a small amount of base damage; Raging Blow is pure weapon damage which is a combination of your weapon's damage and speed and your attack power. Raging Blow uses attack power far less than Execute. Because of this, Raging Blow tends to be better when your weapon is nearly the same power as your armor. Execute tends to be better when you have procs related to attack power or your gear is significantly better than your weapons. The procs include trinkets, Dancing Steel, etc.

 

Theorycrafting: The second factor can actually be watered down to a simple equation to determine which is better at the moment of calculation. First, start with the complete equations of both spells. Note that I will use average weapon damage. The idea being that it's not really possible to predict what weapon damage the game decides to use so we take the safe, average route.

• (1.9*[MH_min+MH_max]/2+1.9*[OH_min+OH_max]/2)*Mastery*Enrage = 2.55*AP*Mastery*Enrage

Now, I really hate convoluted equations that have too much fluff. Let's water this down.

• 1.9*MH_avg+1.98*OH_avg = 2.55*AP
• 1.9*(MH_avg+OH_avg) = 2.55*AP
• (1.9/2.55)*WEP = AP
• .7451*WEP = AP

Note that we don't need to include the off-hand bonuses and penalties because the character sheet already calculates them for you. I double-checked. Now we have an interesting quip of math that neatly lays out a ratio between the base elements of our two attacks. In order for Raging Blow to be equal to Execute, our average weapon damages combined need to equal 74.51% of attack power. Here's an example from my warrior:

• .7451*[(29324+38666)/2+(23885+31338)/2] > 41406
• 45903 > 41406

Raging Blow is slightly better than Execute. This is with no buffs or procs. With a 10% AP buff:

• .7451*[(30388+39370)/2+(24784+32237)/2] > 45547
• 47232 > 45547

Still better. What if both of my trinkets proc (an added strength of 21244)? I used a special spreadsheet I made to calculate this. Don't worry, it's accurate plusminus just 2-3 points.

• .7451*[(33106+40558)/2+(40252+49592)/2] < 83894
• 60915 < 83894

Execute wins by a mile. One last note: it's difficult to say that a certain amount of attack power makes Execute better than Raging Blow because weapon damage uses attack power for its calculation:

• WEP = WEP_base+(SPEED*AP/14)

How to do this in-game on the fly? I don't know. There needs to be handy addon for this because this is important for those who want to utilize their GCDs to the fullest. For now, keep an eye out on trinket procs and use Execute then. Otherwise, Raging Blow is your best bet.

[VerneAsimov]

I can't edit my post. My math is slightly wrong: Execute has 6886+2.55*AP. (6866/2.55 = 2700.)

• No buffs: Raging Blow still wins
• AP buff: Execute is slightly ahead
• Trinket proc: Execute is still miles ahead

I also wanted to add that Raging Blow is actually weaker than it should be. It should be 228% weapon damage, which means that a simple AP buff isn't going to cut it to make Execute better but huge procs from trinkets still make Execute better.

Edited April 1, 2016 by VerneAsimov

[VerneAsimov]

I think this should WeakAuras addon I wrote should work for seeing what to use based on your current stats:

 

Quote

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It tells you which to use based on two criteria:

• Is the target's health above 20%? If yes, Raging Blow always.
• If below 20% health, is (raging blow formula) greater than or equal to (execute formula). If yes, Raging Blow. If no, Execute.

Raging Blow is 2.28*weapon damage and Execute is 6886+255%*AP. Any issues, let me know because I don't know jack about LUA. 

Edited May 29, 2016 by VerneAsimov

[VerneAsimov]

Updated the math. Mastery was incorrectly calculated as multiplied by 1.1 rather than add .1 from Enrage.

 

Quote

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