at my current AP which is around 1200, through conc i can pump my dot up to 150 and if i use expert str pots it goes up to 170, this is with aura blade lvl 1. so it does 1500-1700 dmg every 20 secs. Doesn't sound much but that is 120%+ dmg every 20 seconds. If i had aura blade lvl 5 i should have +8% boost on it too, maybe around 125%+. I have yet to try with str boost pots.
And for some strange reason i can go up to 179 in RHDs.
Considering lvl 5 shield cannon 2x dmg on crits (assuming you dont take battle tactics from another post you made), that's around 176% dmg. Say you have 100% crit rate, adding aura blade and str pots on it should boost it up to atleast 200%, to make it safe say 220%.
OR you can ignore all my rumbling there and look at skills instead.
HC 5/5 - constant 10% every 2 sec - 100% every 20 sec - 300% per min.
Cannon 5/5 - 88-175% every 30 sec - 176- 350% per min
Now why would "I" pick HC over Cannon... lets see.
Cannon animation takes long, in that time i can aura strike + one bash which has a chance to let me aura strike again.
Damage wise that's 88-176% vs 45-90%+ 25-50% = 70-140%, aura + bash lost but in return i gain 1 aura + aura mastery chance for extra 45-90% damage.
HC's damage is constant so long as you keep dishing out AS and not let other warrior overwrite your dot with weaker one. Cannon's damage is inconsistent. depending on crit% which possibly cant hit 100% full time on a knight.
Once HC's DoT is in, no amount of dodge or parry will stop the damage. Cannon's damage can be migitated by said 2 defense stats.
20sec dot vs 25 sec (30 in my case) cd. without enough dps gears for 15% cd reduc that'd be 3 HC vs 2 Cannon.
For 3 HC, within that 60 sec spam id have 2 extra bash and 2 extra aura strike in due to the long animation issue compared to 2 cannon. Considering HC doesn't need to be recast 2 of the HC can be replaced with 2 bash or conc.
Skill Damage wise, Cannon wins unless all 3 hits didnt crit. But that's considering skill only.
I thought about getting max cannon, but there's just too much uncertainty for me to sink 4 points into it. I got lvl 1 though for said situations where you gotta just burst and bail.
One thing that sold me was the cooldown. In a mob pull i can tab and headcrush a different target, which basically means in 1 min time i could "do 2 Cannons on every single mob i can get my hands on."
For reference sake, Cannon 1/5 - 66-132% per 30sec, 132-264% per min
Well in reality , counting human error and 3sec cd, i can effectively headcrush a different mob every 5 seconds, meaning under 40 sec(+ 20sec duration) i have effectively rank 1 shield cannon'd +-4 mobs.
TL:DR Shield Cannon is burst, Head Crush is dot. Damage-Per-Second wise Head Crush isnt losing damage by alot unless you have 50%+ crit and fighting one mob at a time.
Edited by Yoruno, 09 July 2013 - 08:33 AM.