# The Blinding Vale +12 — TIMED 25:39 · +1, 15% under the 30:00 par · 1 death · Tyrannical, Fortified, affix 147 *2026-09-08 · 20:05 · `WoWCombatLog-090826_181739.txt`* > **AI-WRITTEN ANALYSIS** — The numbers come from the combat log. The verdict and notes were written by an AI reading them, and can be wrong in ways the numbers cannot. Written by Claude (Opus 5), from the combat log and the archive. **Tip:** Once your bubble is spent, press Divine Protection ## Ret Paladin's lead is 63 extra Holy Power spenders, not better proc use - Hyporock actually wastes fewer Divine Arbiter procs than he does. Timed by four and a half minutes with one death. Ret Paladin's A (89) is the best grade of the night, Hyporock's B (80) is solid, and because they are the same specialisation running **75 of 76 identical talents** in the same pulls, the gap between them is measurable in a way it almost never is. **This analysis has been corrected twice and this is the version that survives checking.** An earlier draft blamed Blade of Justice for the damage gap; a second blamed Hyporock for spending Divine Arbiter procs carelessly. The second was wrong in the opposite direction - measured, **Hyporock spends only 4-8% of his single-target procs on Divine Storm against Ret Paladin's 13-24%.** He is the more disciplined of the two at matching spender to buff. Across the three keys they played together **Hyporock out-damaged Ret Paladin in two of them** (+2.7%, +3.5%, then -3.2% here). Raw output is level. The grade gap is **deaths** - Hyporock died in all three shared keys and Ret Paladin in one, a flat 5 composite points each time. The damage gap in this one key decomposes cleanly, and it is about volume. **One correction to the machine-generated half.** The sheet flags "Divine Shield asked for 3x and refused" on Hyporock's death, which reads as a missed press. He did not have it. **What to change** 1. Hyporock: press Blade of Justice more often - not faster. Your median gap already matches Ret Paladin's; the loss is fifteen separate stretches over twenty seconds where it stops being pressed. 63 more spenders is worth more than the entire gap in this key. 2. Hyporock: ignore any advice to 'steer Divine Arbiter into Final Verdict' - you already convert those procs better than Ret Paladin does (4-8% wasted against his 13-24%). 3. Hyporock: nothing to change on Divine Storm, Hammer of Wrath or Crusading Strikes. You lead him on all three in every key and out-damaged him outright in two of the three. 4. Hyporock: on the death, stop reaching for Divine Shield once you have spent it. Divine Protection was the only thing coming and it arrived two seconds after you asked for it. 5. Ret Paladin: nothing to change. 42 interrupt stops against 21 expected, 16% Holy Power waste and no deaths is the best sheet of the night. 6. Resto Shaman: Wind Shear again - 4 stops against 26 expected, nothing after 18:20 - and add Purge on the Spineshield Beetles. ## The run | | | |---|---| | on the clock | **25:39** — 23:44 fighting | | deaths | **1** — timer agrees (1.02 implied) | | party damage taken | **252,456,843** — 177,349/s while fighting | | enemies killed | **124** | | interrupts | **123/151** — 81% | | dispels | **22/30** — 4,259,860 came through | ## Players | player | spec | role | ilvl | DPS | HPS | taken/s | deaths | grade | |---|---|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|:---:| | Doryhunky | Veng DH | tank | 317 | 104,057 | 37,370 | 71,586 | 0 | **C+** 71 | | Resto Shaman | Resto Shaman | heal | 316 | 28,028 | 106,790 | 21,931 | 0 | **B+** 82 | | Ret Paladin | Ret Paladin | dps | 318 | 206,710 | 4,151 | 23,425 | 0 | **A** 89 | | Hyporock | Ret Paladin | dps | 317 | 199,970 | 4,454 | 24,511 | 1 | **B** 80 | | BM Hunter | BM Hunter | dps | 291 | 168,039 | 2,618 | 23,283 | 0 | **C+** 69 | *Gear and M+ score are from Raider.IO. No Warcraft Logs percentiles: not on warcraft logs (nobody uploaded this key).* ### Doryhunky — Veng DH — C+ (71/100) *M+ score 3,203* **Where the points went** - **-12 utility** — scored 0: 0 used of ~4 the kit offered - **-8 interrupts (rank)** — scored 70: 37 stops vs 42 expected - **-6 damage (rank)** — scored 67: 104,057 dps, 54% of the average DPS
All axes - **survival− 100** [no charge] — 0 death(s) - **mitigation 95** [w 27%] — 99% uptime of the 100% this kit can hold, 100% of worst windows covered - **damage~ 67** [w 18%] — 104,057 dps, 54% of the average DPS - **mechanics− 100** [no charge] — 0% of intake was damage comparable players did not take - **interrupts~ 70** [w 27%] — 37 stops vs 42 expected (group stopped 93% of what it could reach, not scored here) - **activity 90** [w 15%] — 98% engaged while alive in combat - **utility 0** [w 12%] — 0 used of ~4 the kit offered - _never pressed: Darkness, Imprison_ - _not counted as button presses (procs, ticks): Demon Spikes, Felblade, Fracture, Soul Cleave, Soul Fragment, Throw Glaive_
### Resto Shaman — Resto Shaman — B+ (82/100) *M+ score 2,740* **Where the points went** - **-13 interrupts (rank)** — scored 13: 4 stops vs 26 expected - **-3 activity** — scored 79: 91% engaged while alive in combat - **-1 response** — scored 94: put back 50% of the 77,297,641 that landed in the party's worst windows
All axes - **survival− 100** [no charge] — 0 death(s) - **throughput 97** [w 29%] — covered 92% of the 169,292,035 that needed an outside heal (36% of the party's intake was self-covered or overkill); 15,633,872 absorbed - **response 94** [w 21%] — put back 50% of the 77,297,641 that landed in the party's worst windows - **mechanics− 100** [no charge] — 0% of intake was damage comparable players did not take - **interrupts~ 13** [w 15%] — 4 stops vs 26 expected (group stopped 93% of what it could reach, not scored here) - **dispel 100** [w 14%] — 22/22 of what one dispeller could reach (30 landed; the rest overlapped a debuff already being cleansed) - **activity 79** [w 12%] — 91% engaged while alive in combat - **utility 100** [w 8%] — 29 used of ~18 the kit offered - _never pressed: Purge_
### Ret Paladin — Ret Paladin — A (89/100) *M+ score 2,883* **Where the points went** - **-8 damage (rank)** — scored 81: 206,709 dps, 111% of the other damage dealers' median - **-2 activity** — scored 92: 97% engaged while alive in combat - **-1 interrupts (rank)** — scored 96: 42 stops vs 21 expected
All axes - **survival− 100** [no charge] — 0 death(s) - **damage~ 81** [w 42%] — 206,709 dps, 111% of the other damage dealers' median - **mechanics− 100** [no charge] — 0% of intake was damage comparable players did not take - **interrupts~ 96** [w 32%] — 42 stops vs 21 expected (group stopped 93% of what it could reach, not scored here) - **activity 92** [w 26%] — 97% engaged while alive in combat - **utility 82** [w 0%] — 5 used of ~75 the kit offered - _never pressed: Blessing of Protection, Lay on Hands_ - _not counted as button presses (procs, ticks): Crusading Strikes_
### Hyporock — Ret Paladin — B (80/100) *M+ score 3,190* **Where the points went** - **-8 damage (rank)** — scored 80: 199,970 dps, 109% of the other damage dealers' median - **-5 survival** — scored 72: 1 death(s) - **-3 activity** — scored 87: 96% engaged while alive in combat
All axes - **survival− 72** [−5.0 pts] — 1 death(s) - **damage~ 80** [w 42%] — 199,970 dps, 109% of the other damage dealers' median - **mechanics− 95** [−0.9 pts] — 1% of intake was damage comparable players did not take - **interrupts~ 92** [w 32%] — 33 stops vs 21 expected (group stopped 93% of what it could reach, not scored here) - **activity 87** [w 26%] — 96% engaged while alive in combat - **utility 88** [w 0%] — 16 used of ~74 the kit offered - _not counted as button presses (procs, ticks): Crusading Strikes_
### BM Hunter — BM Hunter — C+ (69/100) *M+ score 1,745* **Where the points went** - **-16 damage (rank)** — scored 63: 168,039 dps, 82% of the other damage dealers' median - **-10 interrupts (rank)** — scored 68: 7 stops vs 13 expected - **-5 activity** — scored 80: 95% engaged while alive in combat
All axes - **survival− 100** [no charge] — 0 death(s) - **damage~ 63** [w 42%] — 168,039 dps, 82% of the other damage dealers' median - **mechanics− 100** [no charge] — 0% of intake was damage comparable players did not take - **interrupts~ 68** [w 32%] — 7 stops vs 13 expected (group stopped 93% of what it could reach, not scored here) - **activity 80** [w 26%] — 95% engaged while alive in combat - **utility** — n/a. no utility cooldown with a measured recharge yet - _overcapped Focus: 1,687 of 9,646 generated (17%)_ - _never pressed: Binding Shot, Tranquilizing Shot_
*Axes marked ~ are ranked against the other players in this key, not measured on their own. Someone is always in the middle.* ## Deaths 1 death. ### Death · 2:56 · Hyporock · dps **2:56 · Hyporock · dps** — killed by **Lightmaw Beams** for 116,293 from Overgrown Hydra took **915,114** · in **4.0 s** · health at the start **85%** · before the last hit **7%** | when | what | damage | |---:|---|---:| | 3.9s before | Lightmaw Beams | 125,047 | | 3.4s before | Hunting Leap | 181,067 | | 3.0s before | Lightmaw Beams | 123,796 | | 1.3s before | Hunting Leap | 91,809 | | 0.4s before | Hunting Leap | 158,308 | | at death | Lightmaw Beams (killing blow) | 116,293 | | | 2 smaller hits | 118,794 | **no defensive pressed** · 60,594 healed · Ret Paladin, Resto Shaman ## Where the time went | | seconds | | |---|---:|---| | combat | 1,424 | 23:44 | | routing | 98 | 1:38 | | death penalty | 15 | 0:15 | | lead in | 10 | 0:10 | Costliest pulls — *Cost is the time the pull lost: a wipe loses the whole pull, a pull that held loses only its deaths.* | pull | at | fighting | enemies | deaths | taken | cost | |---:|---|---|---:|---:|---:|---:| | 1 | 0:10 | 5:06 | 45 | 1 | 50,882,676 | 0:15 | ## What the group left up **Casts that could have been interrupted and were not** - Seed Shot: 23 of 70 got through - Warden's Wrath: 3 of 7 got through - Disorienting Screech: 1 of 26 got through - Light Bolt: 1 of 23 got through **Debuffs that could have been dispelled and were not** - Toxic Spew: 6x, up for 50s in total, 3,396,001 damage - Spore Spines: 1x, up for 16s in total, 177,747 damage - Bloodthorn Roots: 1x, up for 8s in total, 686,112 damage **Damage one player took that similar players did not (check the raw hits before acting on this; a spell only one role can take looks the same)** - Hyporock: 421,170 (mostly Ruptured Earth) **Party damage eaten by shields on the enemies: 3.9% of what was dealt never landed (not graded)** - 43,609,045 absorbed of 1,083,171,728 landed - Spiny Shield: 38,831,841 - Lightbloom Pollination: 4,777,204 - on: Spineshield Beetle (38,831,841), Lightgorged Lasher (4,777,204) **Hit most of the party (not graded: everyone took it, so nobody is charged for it)** - Oozing Xylem: 5/5 players, 231 hits, 23,147,743 (9% of party intake) - Spouting Floret: 5/5 players, 148 hits, 23,084,417 (9% of party intake) - Lightcrazed Frenzy: 5/5 players, 179 hits, 8,393,078 (3% of party intake) - Grievous Thrash: 5/5 players, 93 hits, 6,789,238 (3% of party intake) - Bedrock Surge: 5/5 players, 109 hits, 6,719,963 (3% of party intake) - Toxic Spew: 5/5 players, 58 hits, 5,787,556 (2% of party intake) ## Notes ### Where the 10.2 M actually went Split this key's damage into the Holy Power spender lane (Final Verdict + Divine Storm + the Divine Arbiter proc damage they carry) and everything else: ``` spender lane everything else total Hyporock 99,033,518 207,597,167 306,630,685 Ret Paladin 117,422,346 199,370,410 316,792,756 difference -18,388,828 +8,226,757 -10,162,071 ``` **Hyporock is ahead on everything that is not a spender** - Divine Storm, Hammer of Wrath and Crusading Strikes all lead, by +9%, +45% and roughly level. The entire deficit is inside the spender lane, and it is two things multiplying: **Volume.** 608 spenders against 671. Those 63 extra presses at Hyporock's own per-spender rate are worth **+10.3 M on their own** - more than the whole gap. They come from Holy Power, and the Holy Power comes from Blade of Justice: 141 casts against 193, with 411 of 1,718 wasted (24%) against 282 of 1,741 (16%). **Value per spender.** 162,884 against 175,000. This is the Divine Arbiter form mix - the proc damage (id 1306923) rides almost entirely on the single-target form and pays a stable ~350,000 a proc. Ret Paladin spends 237 of his spenders with that form up; Hyporock spends 152. ☠ **But that is not a discipline problem, and the obvious advice is wrong.** Hyporock converts the procs he gets better than Ret Paladin does. He simply gets fewer single-target procs, because he casts more Divine Storm, because these are AoE pulls - and his Divine Storm damage genuinely leads. Whether the loop is steerable at will is **not settled by this data**, so the honest recommendation is the volume one, not the mix one. ### What is NOT the difference, and this took checking **Per-cast damage is identical.** Final Verdict paid Hyporock 74,092 a cast against Ret Paladin's 73,469; Divine Storm 196,672 against 198,258. Neither is playing a better-geared version of the same button. **It is not the build.** Decoded from each player's own COMBATANT_INFO: 76 talents each, **75 shared**. Hyporock has Punishment where Ret Paladin has Sacrifice of the Just. **It is not proc handling** - see above; Hyporock is better at it. **Blade of Justice is what is left, and the shape of the loss matters.** The **medians are nearly identical** (8.35 s against 7.8 s), so it is not slower hands. It is a tail: **fifteen stretches over twenty seconds** where the button stops being pressed, against Ret Paladin's three - 359 seconds of accumulated idle time above a 12-second reference, against 99. That is an attention lapse, not a rotation error, which matters for how you fix it. **Where Hyporock is ahead and should change nothing:** Divine Storm (+9%, +13%, +23% across the three keys), Hammer of Wrath (+45%, +25%, +36%), Crusading Strikes, and the group support - Lay on Hands, Blessing of Protection, Blessing of Sacrifice and Freedom all appear on his sheet and largely not on Ret Paladin's. ### The death, corrected Hyporock died at 2:55, killed by Lightmaw Beams from an Overgrown Hydra - 915,114 taken over 4.0 seconds, split Lightmaw Beams 483,930 (Holy) and Hunting Leap 431,184 (Physical), with 60,594 healing received. What he actually had, measured against the tightest recharge he managed all key: ``` Divine Shield last cast 156.2s ago tightest 368.0s NOT available Lay on Hands last cast 148.5s ago tightest 220.8s NOT available Divine Protection last cast 66.2s ago tightest 64.0s available, by ~2s Blessing of Protection never cast, Forbearance clear 118.5s available ``` The sequence, to the tenth of a second: he asked for **Divine Protection 4.0 seconds before death** - about two seconds before it came off cooldown - and was refused. He then asked for **Divine Shield three times** between 1.2 and 1.0 seconds before death, which was never going to work; he had spent it at 0:19. When the global cooldown cleared 0.25 seconds before he died, the button that went out was **Divine Storm**. He asked for Divine Protection again 0.07 seconds after dying. He was reaching for defensives the whole time; he just reached for the two that were gone and asked for the live one two seconds early. Blessing of Protection was up and unused, though only a partial answer - it blocks Physical, which is 47% of what killed him. ### The other three **Doryhunky - C+, 71.** Mitigation 95 with 100% of the worst windows covered, activity 90, and 37 interrupt stops. The C+ comes almost entirely from **utility 0** - he pressed neither Darkness nor Imprison all key. Both are situational crowd control and skipping them is frequently correct; that axis prices a Vengeance Demon Hunter's kit on two buttons, so read the zero as "no crowd control was needed" unless you remember otherwise. His damage axis is again a rank against his own damage dealers, not a standard. **Resto Shaman - B+, 82, her best of the night.** Throughput 97 (covered 92% of the 169.3 M that needed an outside heal) and response 94, both near the ceiling, plus dispel 100 on 22 of 22. Then **interrupts 13** - 4 stops against 26 expected, her worst of the three keys, with the last Wind Shear of the run at 18:20 of 25:39. Third key in a row with the same finding. One more for her: the party lost **38,831,841 damage** into Spiny Shield on the Spineshield Beetles. That shield is a Magic buff - **Purge strips it** - and Purge was cast **zero times** this key. All 35 shields expired on their own. **BM Hunter - C+, 69, his best of the night.** 168,039 damage, 82% of the other damage dealers' median, which at 291 item level against 316-319 is respectable. No death. Interrupts 68 and Focus overcap 17% are the open items, and Binding Shot and Tranquilizing Shot went unpressed again. **Hyporock's over-exposure line** - Ruptured Earth six times against a peer median of two, 421,170 damage - is real but small, about 0.9% of what he took. ## Method Each axis is scored 0 to 100 against what this run allowed, not against a fixed target. A player is only scored on things their spec can do. An axis that does not apply is left out and the other weights are scaled up. 100 means nothing was missed; a solid, even key usually lands near 75. Survival and mechanics carry no weight of their own: they start at 100 and take points off when something went wrong. *Generated 2026-09-08T22:23:40 · schema 7 · written analysis: Claude (Opus 5), from the combat log and the archive*