Simcraft Supplemental: Set Bonus Hackery

So I've talked about gem sockets, gear choices, and shoe polishing with Simcraft. What about set bonuses? Set bonuses are one of the big failing of gearscore systems, but they're also hinge points that our entire gear decision revolves on. They're also tricky to test, because changing the set bonus also changes your stats.

Well, turns out that somebody already thought of that, and thought up a solution. It is possible, and in fact pretty easy, to test set bonuses in a vacuum on simcraft. I'll even do all the work for the lazy reader.

Procedure
I'll be using the gear profiles used in the Elitistjerks simcraft thread, testing a standard affliction and meta/ruin build, and I'll be using 0/13/58 for the destruction test, being about average of the three with very similar scaling factors.

After importing a profile, head to the Simulate tab. There's some general information at the top, then the action priority list (a series of lines starting with "actions+=/"), but then the gear list is what we want.

When simcraft imports a profile, it does so in this format:

head=guldans_hood_of_triumph,stats=282armor_94crit_151sp_116sta_116int_86spi,gems=chaotic_skyflare_12sp_10spi_9sp,enchant=30sp_20crit

This isn't the only format Simcraft understands - you can give it item ID numbers and let it do the legwork itself, for example. This is the easiest one to work for with our purposes in mind.

In this format, Simcraft identifies sets and adds bonuses based on item name alone, it trusts you on stats. If you want to break a set bonus, just rename your gear. head=guldans_hood_of_triumph becomes head=nobonus_hood_of_triumph, and it no longer counts for the set, but you still have all the identical stats.

This also works going the other way. You can trick simcraft into thinking you have set bonuses you don't. Change guldans_hood_of_triumph to dark_coven_hood, and now it counts for the tier 10 set, but still has the tier 9 stats.

So, doing this for all the selected profiles:

Destruction
Tier 9
4pt9: 9712
2pt9: 9582 Loss: 130
0pt9: 9271 Loss: 311

Tier 10
0pt10: 9271
2pt10: 9431 Gain: 160
4pt10: 9780 Gain: 349

Affliction
Tier 9

4pt9: 10020
2pt9:  9758 Loss: 262
0pt9: 9663 Loss: 95

Tier 10
0pt10: 9663
2pt10: 9878 Gain: 215
4pt10: 10168 Gain: 290

Demonology
Tier 9
4pt9: 9848
2pt9: 9726 Loss: 122
0pt9: 9545 Loss: 181

Tier 10
0pt10: 9545
2pt10: 9767 Gain: 222
4pt10: 10129 Gain: 362


Set Bonus DPS Values
Tier 9
Two Piece
Destruction: 311
Affliction: 95
Demonology: 122

Four Piece
Destruction: 130
Affliction: 262
Demonology: 181

Tier 10
Two Piece 
Destruction: 160
Affliction: 215
Demonology: 222

Four Piece
Destruction: 349
Affliction: 290
Demonology: 362

So, when should you break your 4pt9 bonus?
Well, as you can see, the cumulative bonuses from tier 10 are better for all three specs. That 4 piece tier 10 bonus is absolutely amazing (the uptime is almost 40%, making it about a 4% dps increase).

2pt10, however, isn't quite so amazing. It's actually a loss for affliction of 47 dps that will have to be made up for in gear stats, but it is a gain for destruction and demonology, it's actually quite a strong bonus for demo.

By rough eyballing, dropping 4pt9 for 2pt10 is just a matter of having the set bonus and not losing stats - not an issue unless you're sitting on the ilevel 258 set. Affliction, however, will probably want to hold out for a trophy or two to make the difference.

However, once you have 4pt10, the bonus is amazing, and there's no question about itemlevels, it's better.