Intro and History

Recently Blizzard has decided to implement a vendor that allows people to buy corruption with a currency. This has prompted a deluge of people asking about what corruptions they should buy, what full set up of corruption is best, and if there’s now “Best in Slot” list. So I decided to take a dozen hours or so and put in all the work to come up with a TRUE Best in Slot list(s) for Windwalker.

The concept of a “Best-in-Slot” list is one that has been around forever. People always want to know what to put their time into for the maximum benefit. However, for the past few years, since the introduction of Titan/Thunder/War-forging, there has been no practical point of making a true “BiS” list. For something to truly be “Best” in that slot, it would have to be at the highest available item level, with the best stats, and complement the rest of the gear well. Because of the way that random forging, sockets, reforging, corruption, and whatever other system that Blizzard implements, there has just not been any point to making a “true” BiS list that no one will ever attain. If, as it could in the past with exceptional luck, an item could proc 30 item levels higher than its base, is it really realistic to include something like that in a BiS list thats full of all those things that require statistically impossible luck? Generally the answer has been “no”, and with the advent of magical tools like RaidBots, there has been even less point in putting in the time and effort for such an unachievable goal.

But now that items can’t titanforge, sockets can be purchased from vendors, corruption can be purchased from a vendor, and you can theoretically get any dungeon item at 475 through you weekly box, it is now *technically* possible to achieve a true “BiS” setup.

Lingering Problems

Even with a BiS list being technically possible now, even achievable for many people, there are still many things that make just picking a “best” list functionally unrealistic.

• The path to that BiS list may yield less damage until you finally get the final puzzle piece to push it above anything else. Not everyone is willing to take slightly less damage now for slightly more damage later. Pursuing a BiS list may mean less damage in the meantime.
• It may take a LONG time to get, or require very perfect situations. As you’ll see with the setups that I used below, I used the maximum corruption resistance, which isn’t something that will be achievable till September.
• A BiS list for one situation is likely NOT the BiS list for another situation. This is especially prevalent in “single target” vs “AOE” situations or “raid” vs “M+”. We’ve also seen people talking about being very adverse to the RNG nature of some corruptions, so if they want to avoid relying on procs for damage, then that adds another situation for a different “BiS” list.

These problems are relatively major, in my opinion, and take the concept of BiS into something that I think is just not worth thinking about in any immediate sense.

The Lists

Settings

So to be fair to the combinations that I’m going for and the point that I’m trying to drive home, there has to be some requirements. These are entirely arbitrary and ones that I picked, some make sense, some are extreme, but its my sims and my article so get your own. If I am going to spend the time to make a “Best-in-slot” list then I’m gonna make sure that its truly “best”;

• Fight length and type are set – For “single target” sims are Patchwerk 300s. For “M+” or “AOE” I used DungeonSlice as a reasonable enough synthesis.
• All gear at its maximum item level – This means everything at 475 or above, and a Coral at 455.
• Everything has a socket – We can add sockets to all items, so any “best” list will have sockets on everything that can have a socket.
• Corruption resistance is set at 135 – This will happen roughly in September, giving us the maximum corruption we can equip at 125 plus another 10 from BotD.
• Max corruption is 79 – If you’re going to go all the way with a BiS list then why would Thing from Beyond stop you?
• Almost no mixing and matching – This one requires some explanation as there’s multiple reasons for this;
  • There are very few situations where mixing is worth it. If you’re looking to fill in spots to a corruption level, like maximizing Infinite Stars but have some leftover for Expedient 1 (as the sims below) then thats fine. But going half IS and half Expedient won’t be as useful as just going full IS.
  • For some set ups, like the ones focused on Stat% corruption, adding in RNG based corruptions doesn’t make sense since those sims are there to minimize the reliance on RNG. If you’re going to allow a little bit of the RNG corruption, why not allow it all?
  • I mixed Lash of the Void with Versatile in one set and Twilight Devastation in another because its weapon specific. This was the only time I found that actual mixing was better than sticking with one.
• No Stat procs – Although they *should* be slightly stronger and have higher corruption costs, the point of the Stat % setups are to remove as much RNG as possible, so using the corruptions that proc stats would defeat that purpose.

Corruption Chart

Matching Gear and Stats

The above sets were all done with an attempt at the best gear I could find. There will be some minor wiggle room since there are occasionally pieces from dungeons or Nyalotha that have the same type of stats but slightly different balances. For example Chitin and Sharkhide are both Mastery heavy with Vers as the smaller stat, just in slightly different numbers. Different corruptions benefit from stats in different ways, so depending on what corruption you’re going for, you want to pair it with the right stats for a true “Best in slot” experience.

• Maximizing item level is most important for corruptions that do damage, with the exception of Twilight Devastation which doesn’t scale directly with item level, just indirectly through your health.
• HOWEVER!! Even though Nzoth drops a 485 ring, if you are prioritizing Haste, then you want to get Overclocking and an accompanying ring like Recurrent. Other than using those two, you want to maximize item level and the necessary stats.
• Infinite Stars, Gushing Wound, and Twilight Devastation all scale with Haste, Versatility, and can Crit, so if you’re using a setup that focuses on those then you want to maximize those stats, with Haste being most important. So finding things that are set up like Mish’un are best. This means that if you have extra corruption budget as you are building this set up to the fullest level, you can fill it in with low ranks of Expedient until you’re able to go up to the next level of the damage corruption.
• Lash of the Void seems to be somewhat unique in that, even though it scales with Haste, Vers, and Crit, because you can’t stack it indefinitely (as far as we know), it will blend in with the rest of your sets and depend on the content.
  • So if you’re using Lash of the Void with Twilight Devastation then you aim for Haste > Vers > Crit
  • If you’re using Lash of the Void with Versatile for single target then you aim for Vers > Crit > Haste
  • If you’re using Lash of the Void with Versatile for multi target then you aim for Vers > Haste > Crit
• IT scales with Haste, but the damage from the additional abilities scale with other stats, so you’ll want to max Haste then find a balance, but likely still aim for Haste and Versatility.
• Twisted Appendages scales with Versatility and Crit, so you’ll want to maximize those stats where you can. This means that if you have extra corruption budget as you are building this set up to the fullest level, you can fill it in with low ranks of Versatile until you’re able to go up to the next level of the damage corruption.
• If you’re going with a Stat% corruption then you’ll want to do everything you can to maximize that stat.
  • If you’re maximizing Versatility then you’ll want to back it up with Mastery then Crit
  • If you’re maximizing Haste then you’ll back it up with Vers then Mastery
  • If you’re maximizing Crit then you’ll back it up with Vers then Mastery
  • If you’re maximizing Mastery then you’ll back it up with Vers then Crit
• For single target you’ll want to go with double Crawgs tusks, especially if you’re using a build that stacks Haste.

Choosing

Deciding which choice you want to take from the above can be difficult so I’ll try to simplify it;

• Are you OK with your damage being based on RNG? This will get you higher parse/ranking capabilities, but also put more variability with your damage.
  • YES: Stack Infinite Stars for pure single target or Twisted Appendages for fight with adds but still a single target focus. For M+ get two Lash of the Void and fill the rest of the space in with Twilight Devastation and Expedient if you can’t fit more Twilight Devastation
  • NO: Stack Versatile which has the added bonus of reducing damage taken. Its also the 3rd best overall single target and 3rd best overall for DungeonSlice.
• Do you want to just use one set for everything? This is a reasonable starting point as we go through the next few months until you can save up multiples of items to switch in and out.
  • YES: Stack Versatile with double Lash of the Void on weapons.
  • I don’t care: Get one set with max Infinite Stars for pure single target, another with max Twisted Appendages for fight with adds but still a single target focus and one for M+ with two Lash of the Void and fill the rest of the space in with Twilight Devastation and Expedient if you can’t fit more Twilight Devastation.
• Do you PvP?
  • YES: Stack Versatile.
  • NO: Then do any of the above.
• But Babs.. what about THE MEMES!!?!?! WHAT about Serenity?!?!?!
  • No. Just no.
  • If you try it out and genuinely enjoy this then absolutely play it, just understand its not going to do a lot of damage. Hitting more buttons doesn’t mean more damage when those buttons don’t do very much after you press them.
  • No amount of “OMGWTFBBQ I get to use ToD every 30 seconds” is going to make up for things hitting for less every time you use it.

My Recommendations

1. My first recommendation is that if you’re still progressing then ignore everything about this article, use RaidBots’s Top Gear tool to see what you should spend your Echoes on. Focus on helping your team kill the bosses and get through the tier before you start pursuing Best-in-Slot.
2. Start collecting every piece of 475 that you can get your hands on for building your sets. Pay attention to the stat balance and where you’re going to use it.
3. Decide which path you want to go down. Grabbing maximum Versatile will be a good base to start with. Your desired corruption level and resistance level will change how close you’re able to get to these BiS setups. The examples
4. You can either save up and gain damage in big chunks, or with smaller chunks that may slow down how long it takes to get to the end goal.
5. The less you have to change items the more efficient this is. In the long run it doesn’t matter since you’ll likely have enough time and Echoes to farm whatever you want on a long enough time frame, but if you put a corruption on an item thats not set up perfectly for what you’re trying to do, then you’ll just throw that item away and need to buy new corruption if you get a more “BiS” item to fit that setup.

Conclusion

I’ll personally probably start with stacking Versatile and hopefully grabbing two 475 Unguent from Ra-den to use as a base then start building sets based on other damage corruption, but there’s a real good chance that I may just pool Echoes for a month till the rotation starts over and decide then. Scurch was incredibly helpful throughout this process and put a lot of time into more practical solutions and answers to the “BiS” question.

But this whole thing is stupid. Having to spend almost 12 hours in two days doing this is stupid. Having all of this being sprung on us with no warning is stupid. Putting a short time limit so people are forced to look for answers in an incredibly short time frame is stupid. Having so many moving parts yet a “practical” use for BiS lists is stupid.

Stupid

Stupid

Stupid

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