Step-by-Step Guide to Obtain Your Character’s Actual Stat Weights
Sites like AskMrRobot and WoWReforge make reforging much easier than trying to figure it out on a napkin. But, how accurate are their stat weights for your character? Playing my Warrior in Cataclysm, I noticed that while both sites are fairly accurate that their stat weights versus the actual weights were substantially far apart at certain times and for certain things. For example, haste finally caught up to mastery in FL heroic/normal mode DS gear, even surpassing it, but AskMrRobot did not catch this. Simulation versus formulation is a whole discussion in itself, so I shall leave it alone in this post. If you are interested in learning more about this, then here is an article comparing and contrasting the two methods from the good people over at SimCraft.
This is my guide to determining your individual character’s stat weights using SimulationCraft (or SimCraft). Once you have done this, you can adjust the stat weights on AskMrRobot, WoWReforge etc. and then happily use those sites to your hearts delight. Or at least until you get to follow these steps all over again because of another gear upgrade… or patch… 🙂
Thankfully, doing this is easy. Here’s how.
Step One
Download the latest version of simcraft here.
The top file is for Apple and the bottom one is for Windows.
Step Two
Once you have unzipped it, open the SimulationCraft application inside the folder (icon is a black circle with “SC”).
Step Three
The application should have navigation tabs at the top which say (Welcome, Options, Import, Simulate, Overrides, etc.).
Step Four
Select the Import tab and a second navigation tab will open beneath the original which should have these options: Battle.net, Chardev, BiS, and History. Skip any advertisements from Blizzard.
Step Five
Make sure that Battle.net is selected (it is by default) and search for your character’s name on the Armory.
Step Six
Once you have found your character’s page, then select Import at the bottom, right corner. A new page will automatically open up showing your character’s data under the Simulate tab.
Step Seven
This is the new page which automatically opened up. Don’t let it freak you out! Ignore it and go to step eight.
Step Eight
Select the Options tab on the navigation bar at the top. You will see a new navigation bar open beneath it with tabs named Globals, Buffs, Debuffs, Scaling, Plots, and Reforge Plots.
Stay on the Globals tab for right now.
Step Nine
Change the default Iterations from 10,000 to either 25,000 or 50,000, depending on the accuracy you want. 50,000 is more accurate, but the simulation will take longer for your computer to complete.
Step Ten
Go to the Scaling tab. Select only the stat weights which are relevant for your character’s gemming and reforging decisions (i.e. a Warrior doesn’t need to scale Intellect). On my Mage, I selected Intellect, Hit, Crit, Haste, and Mastery (you could add Spirit, Spell Power, Stamina, etc… but it will take MUCH longer to simulate).
Step Eleven
Select Simulate at the bottom, right corner.
Step Twelve
Your work is done. Woot! Sit back, relax, and wait on the progress bar to finish simulating and scaling.
Step Thirteen
When it finishes, the simulation results will open up in the Results tab. Scroll down to the stat weights and write them down so that you can plug them into AskMrRobot or WoWReforge.
Skillherald 