Simulationcraft - how to use it

[TeaLeaf]

Most WoW raiders have heard of it, not many have actually used it, so what is Simulationcraft (or SimC as it is often called)?

What is SimC?
In essence, SimC is complex mathematical model of the maximum dps that your character can achieve with its current gear and abilities.   Fortunately someone else has done the difficult bit of creating the model and all you need to do is to download the file and run it.   So let's download it now from here:

http://code.google.com/p/simulationcraft/downloads/list
(choose the version that works for your computer and extract it to a local folder)

Run the file SimulationCraft.exe and you get the welcome screen.

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At the top of the screen click on the Import tab and at the bottom enter the full armory url for your wow character,
e.g. http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/aszune/teaell/simple

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Then click the Import button at the bottom right and you will be moved to the Simulate tab and a new sub-tab will have been created with a summary of the character that has been imported.

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Now at the top of the page click on the Options tab and you will be on the first sub-tab, Globals.

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Use this tab to set your typical:
Iterations - this is the number of simulations used to calculate the expected outcome of the model.  I use 10,000, but 1,000 is probably sufficient and is a lot quicker to run!  
Lag - I set mine to Low
Fight length - 450 secs is 7.5 minutes which is about average.   Vary the length to suit the fight being modelled.
Fight Style - this tells SimC what type of fight it is trying to model.    
   Patchwerk - this describes a zero movement, stand still and pure dps fight.
Ultraxion - is a zero movement pure dps fight with a predictable interval periodic invulnerability
Helter Skelter - is a fight with regular movement or stuns/periods of invulnerability.
Light Movement - is a fight with some, but not a lot of movement.
Heavy Movement - models a fight with movement 40% of the time
Threads - set SimC to use more cores if you have them so that the simulations run faster!

There are more options you can edit, but generally leave them set to their default value until you get to know SimC a little better!

Go to the sub-tab Buffs/Debuffs.   Make sure all relevant buffs are selected (in almost every raid you will have ALL buffs, so tick all of them!

Now go to the sub-tab Scaling and select your relevant stats.   For example, for my shadow-priest I ticked:

Analyze Intellect
Analyze Spirit
Analyze Spell Power
Analyze Hit Rating
Analyze Crit Rating
Analyze Haste Rating
Analyze Mastery Rating

Now go to the bottom right corner of the window and click Simulate!


When the simulation has finished running you will get a new page with lots of data on it.   These are the results of the simulation and provide you with an estimated maximum dps for your spec and current gear in a fight of the type & duration specified.

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[TeaLeaf]

So know you have run SimC for the first time, what do the results say?    But before that, don't forget to save the results by giving the model results a name and then hitting Save! at the bottom of the screen.

The top of the page gives you a maximum theoretical DPS in this 'perfect' fight.   It also gives you a table of scale values for each stat and their relevative weight (i.e. how beneficial they are to you compared to other stats).  

Damage Per Execute Time - this table tells you amount of damage you can do per cast time.   In general, it means the priority casting order of your spells.

DPS Timeline - tells you what the shape of your dps should look like if you are using your abilities 'on time'.   Compare it to the DPS timeline shown in the raid logs at the worldoflogs.com website and look to see if it is similar (and if not why not).

The rest of the data is a bit more detailed and potentially of less relevance to most people.



Best In Slot (BIS) lists & PP Values
Most classes have BIS lists posted on class websites and almost all of these use SimC to provide them with various stat weightings.    The stat weightings tell you how valuable 1 point of Intellect is compared to say 1 point of Mastery and therefore the comparative values of different items.   This total item value is usually referred to as the 'Psuedo Points' (PP) value.  

Example:
If the Normalized Scale Factor (table shown at the top of your results page) for your character shows Intellect as 1.00 and Mastery as 0.50 then which of these 3 items is best?

Item 1:   100 Intellect + 50 Mastery
Item 2:   50 intellect + 100 mastery
Item 3:   90 Intellect + 75 mastery

The answer is Item 3 as it has the highest PP value.

Item 1:   100 Intellect + 50 Mastery - PP Value = (100*1) + (50*0.5) = 125.00
Item 2:   50 intellect + 100 mastery - PP Value = (50*1) + (100*0.5) = 100.00
Item 3:   90 Intellect + 75 mastery - PP Value = (90*1) + (75*0.5) = 127.50

So you can now use your own stats to create your own BIS lists (or continue to use those from a website!) and tweak them to let you figure out what works best for you.    

You can also use SimC to calculate theoretical dps levels for different talent builds in different fights.    For example, one of the best shadow priest websites (warcraft.twintop-tahoe.com) has this page which sets out the different stat values depending on whether it is a 2 or 2 target fight and also dependent upon the amount of movement needed for the fight.    The following graphs (linked from that page) show the differing results from the SimC model for shadow priests.     Use SimC to understand which build and which stats are best for you for different fights!

I hope this helps people explore their dps capabilities more thoroughly!   Find your best class websites (warcraft.twintop-tahoe.com and howtopriest.com are recommended for shadow priests) and use SimC to increase your dps and understand your class better!

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