Spellstrike and FSW - when to break the sets?

[Arizza]

I've read the guides but honestly am overwhelmed by the amount of information.

I am affliction with no desire to go destruction. I'm using the FSW, Spellstrike and a Belt of Blasting.

The group I'm running with is clearing Kara and Gruul's.
In looking at the T4 set, I'm just not seeing it as upgrades for my current pieces and have been passing on it. Am I making a mistake in doing this?

I guess the simple question is - at what tier level should I start looking for upgrades over the FSW, SS and BoB?

[ydnandrew]

I've been in your shoes and chose to stick with the SS set. The 2pc proc on T4 is better but the individual pieces of SS make up for it IMO.
The SS Hood will probably be your best bet till you get T5 or the Hood of Hexing from ZA. The head from VR is also pretty nice.

[Barclande]

While the FSW set is nice, it really isn't that great, and the set offers no +Spell Hit(except for socket bonuses, which you really shouldn't go for). IMO, the Tormented Demonsoul Robes are ALOT better that FSW chest, and T4 Shoulders are better than FSW. The boots are good, I still wear mine, but the other pieces should be replaced ASAP.

As for the SS, I personally never got it, used T4 in those spots instead for the 2pc bonus. Though having 2pcT4 and 2pcSS set bonuses would be really nice. If you have SS, I wouldn't break it unless you get some really good pieces to go in those spots. I can't think of too many pants, and really, before Cowl of the Grand Engineer or Hood of Hexing, not much reason to replace the head.

[Necronomis]

By the time you reach content where gear drops that's better than SS/FSW you want to go destro anyway.

I wouldn't break the SS set unless you got the helm off VR or Hexlord.
The FSW set bonus is kinda weak. I would use the T4 gloves (yes, I know they suck but hear my out) and combine them with the T4 shoulders. You get the T4 and SS set bonus procs and keep the FSW robe and boots. That should last you well through most of SSC/TK. Past that destro is what you'll have to do and all your gear will change.

[Arizza]

Thank you for the input, everyone.

Originally Posted by Necronomis

By the time you reach content where gear drops that's better than SS/FSW you want to go destro anyway.

I wouldn't break the SS set unless you got the helm off VR or Hexlord.
The FSW set bonus is kinda weak. I would use the T4 gloves (yes, I know they suck but hear my out) and combine them with the T4 shoulders. You get the T4 and SS set bonus procs and keep the FSW robe and boots. That should last you well through most of SSC/TK. Past that destro is what you'll have to do and all your gear will change.

I won't be going Destro. I'm toying with an afflic/destro build but the day I have to respec full destro is the day Arizza retires to Shatt bank to spend her days jewelcrafting and tailoring.

Thanks for all the info tho I have to admit I'm a bit more confused than ever . Some of the pieces recommended are an increase in base stats but would yield a loss in spell damage.

[Malevevely]

SS pants will last you until T6 or a BT equivalent, the hood should be replaced with hood of hexing from hexlord or the cowl from VR, fsw robe should be replaced by torment from badges, shoulders should be replaced by T4 along with the T4 gloves for the proc. The T4 bonus should be broken only when you get a set of badge gloves AND T5 shoulders. fsw boots will last until either the badge boots or boots of blasting. Belt of blasting can last until T6 or can be 'side graded' during BT if you have an abundance of hit.

Hope that helps :D Its all in various threads around on the forum as well but those are the general rules to follow if you doubt an upgrade spreadsheet it for your personal situation.

[Winter]

So generally the T4 Shoulders are in fact better than the FSW Shoulders? I may have to enchant mine then, I've had them for a while but just got it for the aesthetic value.

Also I have both the T4 Gloves and the S2 Felweave Gloves, I was thinking of using the T4 Helm (when it drops) and the t4 Shoulders to get the set bonus. I think the stats aren't as good on the gloves, think I should go for the t4 bonus with the Shoulders + Gloves or Shoulders + Helm? (No spellstrike, don't want to waste gold on something that'll be replaced soon).

Also FSW Robe vs the Robe in H MgT, should I try go for it or wait for now?

[Malevevely]

T4 head only has one good aspect to it and that is the meta gem. Everything else about it generally sucks really bad. Spellstrike is vastly superior to T4 unless you have an abundance of hit(If this is the case in T4 content you're not balancing stats very well). SS head is a great piece and the chance of replacing it is actually very small when you look at the demand for a good caster head. Every mage/spriest/lock will want the hood of hexing when it drops, and you probably have even less of a chance of getting the VR head as around that point in T5 there are more important upgrades to spend dkp on(T5 shoulders[great upgrade to anything before it], solarians wand[best in slot until sunwell], vashj robes[use them until sunfire robe or muru robe], vst[for demo lock or pvp piece]). SS mats are fairly cheap with the ease of gold farming with dailies.

Generally gloves and shoulders are the best setup you can get for the 2pt4 bonus.

HMgT Robe is much better then fsw, torment from badges is a little better then both of them if you have the badges to spare but HMgT is a good alternative if you need the badges for other slot upgrades.

[badkarma138]

I replaced all of my FSW gear in t5 content. You can get either boots of blasting (SSC Trash) or boots of shifting nightmare (lurker or hydross in SSC, i cant recall which). Chest you can pick up the robe of hatefull echoes (hydross in SSC) which is a slight upgrade (maybe even a sidegrade. i took it cause I was tired of the FSW robes heh) or - and I would suggest this instead - grab the robes from heroic magT or the tormented demonsoul robes for 100 badges. Shoulders I used the t4 voidheart shoulders (gruuls lair) just for bosses and the FSW for everything else until i picked up the t5 corrupter shoulders (Void Reaver in TK).

As for spellstrike, We are in early BT / mid hyjal, and I still wear them both. but only because I have not been lucky with ZA drops and I keep passing on the engineers cowl because the hexlords hood is better.

As for a demonic sac/destro build...yeah it is mashing 1 button, but its not as bad as it seems. Back to back 8k+ crits are pretty fun no matter how ya slice it. When I get bored running destro I just switch over to a utility build for a few raids. I am pretty sure I can justify running a utility build through most of the content, especially now that CoS and CoE have been merged.

[Valimir]

I broke the FSW set really early because the bonus just wasn't worth keeping. Shoulsders went first for the Fel-Tinged Mantle and T4 Mantle, then I swapped the robe for the heroic MgT robe (which is definitely worth farming, I think it is slightly better than the badge robe because of the extra sockets which give you more versatility). I'm only just toying with the idea of replacing spellstrike. It has served me well but I'm kind of bored seeing it on my character sheet.

The FSW set is loaded heavily on spell damage but you will need other stats, mainly Hit if you are Affliction and it is worth starting to stack some Crit as well because you will want to go destro later on.