Ready, Set, Raid - Raid Stacking

Stacking up - making a full raid

Alright, so I decided to address this issue, because, people seem to have quarrels over trivial things like, which buff is superior to another buff of the same type from another class, and who is on refreshment duty. Couldn't say people are not entitled to their own opinion, but for the sake of the article, let's pretend that not everyone knows of every buff/debuff out there

What is this stack you speak of?

So, we all know, that in a 10/25 player raid, some classes give out party or raid wide buffs...some give +10% to attack power, some give melee or caster haste, and some increase spell damage on a target, with an occasional increase to critically striking the target. But what really makes a good raid stack? Pure melee with melee buffs? Or does a caster party sound more your style?

When raid stacking, the first thing to understand, is not bringing in too many of one class/buff. For example, bringing in four balance druids does give a 5% critical hit increase, and gift of the wild...but in the end, you only need one balance druid to get the same job done. Same goes for shamans providing Bloodlust. But on the other hand, having multiple of the same class gives out more buffs, like paladins, that can give blessing of might, an increase to attack power, and blessing of wisdom, an increased mana regeneration buff, and also give out blessing of kings, a +10% to all stats buff. All three at once, with no hassle. In fact, each of those three paladins could be a different spec, meaning in a raid you could have a protection paladin for tanking, a retribution paladin for dps, and a holy paladin for healing the tanks.

All in all, raid stacking is making sure your raid gets the most out of the classes played, making the raid easier and lets all the players bring something to the raid other then their classic role.

Different name - same effect

Sometimes it just happens that some buffs overwrite, or cancel out other buffs. A shamans mana spring totem can negate the blessing of wisdom from a paladin, while a warriors battle shout can overwrite a paladins blessing of might, and a death knights horn of winter can be overshadowed by a shamans totem of strength. There is almost no way around this, as some stacking of buffs would make the player able to be reliant on themselves and skill, and just buff every buff they can, in order to clear content.

Just because some overwrites others, doesn't mean that a warriors battle shout should always be used over a paladins blessing of might. What happens if the warrior dies? The paladin would be able to continue giving a raid buff, with a minimal dps loss and no buff loss. Sometimes having another class with a similar buff can prevent a dps, or mana return loss.

Buffing - Making good, better

Buffs a critcal to making a raid just that much better, from a fortitude buff, to a Paladin's Kings buff, everythiing improves with raid wide buffs, and it wouldn't be fair to name off raid wide buffs given out during a fight if I didn't name buffs given out before it all goes down. So, here are the buffs that can be given out to the raid.

There are thirty or so different categories into which buffs and debuffs fit. Here you will find a comprehensive list of the changes made broken down by category and which spells/talents are in that category.

• Armor Debuff (Major): Acid Spit (exotic Hunter pet), Expose Armor, Sunder Armor
  
• Armor Debuff (Minor): Faerie Fire, Sting (Hunter pet), Curse of Recklessness
  
• Physical Vulnerability Debuff: Blood Frenzy
  
• Melee Haste Buff: Improved Icy Talons, Windfury Totem
  
• Melee Critical Strike Chance Buff: Leader of the Pack, Rampage
  
• Attack Power Buff (Flat Add): Battle Shout, Blessing of Might
  
• Attack Power Buff (Multiplier): Abomination's Might, Trueshot Aura, Unleashed Rage
  
• Ranged Attack Power Buff: Hunter's Mark (only Hunters benefit, so no need to exclude against other class abilities)
  
• Bleed Damage Increase Debuff: Mangle, Trauma
  
• Spell Haste Buff: Wrath of Air Totem
  
• Spell Critical Strike Chance Buff: Moonkin Aura, Elemental Oath
  
• Spell Critical Strike Chance Debuff: Improved Scorch, Winter's Chill
  
• Increased Spell Damage Taken Debuff: Ebon Plaguebringer, Earth and Moon, Curse of the Elements
  
• Increased Spell Power Buff: Focus Magic, Improved Divine Spirit, Flametongue Totem, Totem of Wrath, Demonic Pact
  
• Increased Spell Hit Chance Taken Debuff: Improved Faerie Fire, Misery
  
• Percentage Haste Increase (All Types): Improved Moonkin Aura, Swift Retribution
  
• Percentage Damage Increase: Ferocious Inspiration, Sanctified Retribution
  
• Critical Strike Chance Taken Debuff (All types): Heart of the Crusader, Totem of Wrath
  
• Melee Attack Speed Slow Debuff: Icy Touch, Infected Wounds, Judgements of the Just, Thunderclap
  
• Melee Hit Chance Reduction Debuff: Insect Swarm, Scorpid Sting
  
• Healing Debuff: Wound Poison, Aimed Shot, Mortal Strike, Furious Attacks
  
• Attack Power Debuff: Demoralizing Roar, Curse of Weakness, Demoralizing Shout
  
• Stat Multiplier Buff: Blessing of Kings
  
• Stat Add Buff: Mark of the Wild
  
• Agility and Strength Buff: Strength of Earth Totem, Horn of Winter
  
• Stamina Buff: Power Word: Fortitude
  
• Health Buff: Commanding Shout, Blood Pact
  
• Intellect Buff: Arcane Intellect, Fel Intelligence
  
• Spirit Buff: Divine Spirit, Fel Intelligence
  
• Damage Reduction Percentage Buff: Grace, Blessing of Sanctuary
  
• Percentage Increase Healing Received Buff: Tree of Life, Improved Devotion Aura
  
• Armor Increase Percentage Buff: Inspiration, Ancestral Healing
  
• Cast Speed Slow: Curse of Tongues, Slow, Mind-numbing Poison.
  

In each category, you can only benefit from the most powerful spell granting that effect. For example, Fel Intelligence grants spirit and intellect, both weaker than Arcane Intellect and Divine Spirit. If a player has Fel Intelligence and receives a stronger Arcane Intellect buff, he will gain the intellect value from Arcane Intellect and the spirit value from Fel Intelligence.

In most cases, fully-talented players will have exactly equal power on the strength of these buffs and debuffs. Fel Intelligence is an example of where one ability is weaker than others. The buffs in the "Increased Spell Power Buff" category are also not all the same potency, as they scale and grow in radically different ways. In virtually every other case, however, the buffs are equal. This means, for example, that fully-talented Battle Shout and Blessing of Might now grant the exact same amount of attack power.

As for Mana Batteries, each time they trigger the mana regeneration effect, 10 people in their raid group will receive a buff which causes them to regenerate 0.25% of their maximum mana each second. This buff, Replenishment, will be given preferentially to raid members with the lowest mana, but will re-evaluate which raid members receive it each time it is fired. Replenishment is provided by Shadow Priests, Survival Hunters, and Retribution Paladins.

Finally, there is Heroism and Bloodlust to affect the entire raid. However, all affected raid members will be unable to cast or benefit from Bloodlust/Heroism for 10 minutes after the intial use (unless there is a wipe, in which case, it's a 5 minute cooldown on the cast itself).

Complete turnaround

When making a raid, composition is key, making sure you don't end up missing buffs while still filling 10/25 spots can be hard, but that's what part of raiding is about, making the raid work, fluently, and when that happens, going into progression content is that much easier. So remember, bring the player and the class, and you can reap the rewards when players get extra damage in, don't run out of mana, and live that much longer. With that...

-pwrtoppl

-out