Comparing Healing Gear (Part 2)

The next step to calculating your theoretical healing output is to determine the maximum number of spells your character is able to cast during a fight based on available mana reserves (this includes both his or her initial mana pool plus any mana gained or regenerated throughout the course of the battle).

Of the two halves of the healing output equation, this is purely theoretical as it's based on an ideal situation where you do nothing but stand still and spam heals as often as possible. While this is obviously never going to happen, it is still a good basis for comparison.

Maximum Spells Cast
This calculation is much more complicated due to the wide variety of mana regeneration sources:

(Starting Mana Pool + "On Use" mana sources + ((Base Mp5 * I5SR) + (Base OOC regen * O5SR) + Additional Mp5 sources) * 60/5 * Length of Fight) / Mana cost per cast

Key: Mp5 = Mana per 5 seconds; I5SR = Percent of fight inside the 5-second rule; O5SR = Percent of fight outside the 5-second rule; OOC = Out of Combat

• Starting Mana Pool is equal to your tooltip Mana pool plus additional Mana gained from buffs. With Mark/Gift of the Wild, Arcane Brilliance and Blessing of Kings, the additional mana equals: (59.4 + 10% * tooltip Intellect) * 15 * (1 + 1% * ranks of Ancestral Knowledge talent).
• "On Use" mana sources includes a wide variety of items including Mana Tide Totem, potions, and trinkets.
  • Mana Tide restores 24% of your starting mana pool and has a 5 minute cooldown. I'm typically able to use it twice in a 7½ minute fight.
  • The average mana gain from a [Super Mana Potion] is 2400. The average gain from a [Major Mana Potion] or [Major Combat Mana Potion] is 1800.
  • If you use any other on-use mana restoring trinkets such as [Figurine - Talasite Owl] or [Warmth of Forgiveness], add in their average effect: Mana Restored * Length of Fight / Cooldown.
• Base mana/5 and Base out-of-combat regen are both obtained from your character sheet. Estimate the amount of time you spend inside the 5-second rule (i.e. casting spells less than 5 seconds after your last cast). If you're uncertain, there are mods such as the RegenFu plugin for FuBar that can help you estimate your I5SR and O5SR. For my typical casting habits, I run about 20-25% O5SR, but for the purposes of this analysis, I will use 10%.
• Addition mana/5 sources includes Blessing of Wisdom (41 mana/5), [Flask of Mighty Restoration], [Superior Mana Oil], and [Blackened Sporefish].
  • Assuming that you place a Mana Spring every time it runs out, it provides the equivalent of 50 mana/5, multiplied by (1 + 5% * ranks in Restorative Totems talent). The 2-piece Cyclone Raiment (Tier 4) bonus increases its effect by 7.5 mana/5.
  • Water Shield currently provides a negligible amount of mana return for most fights. However, as of patch 2.3, it will provide the equivalent of at least 50 mana/5 if it's applied every time it expires, more if you take damage during the fight. I have not included it in this analysis, but it's certainly an important consideration when calculating your values going forward.
  • I'm usually in our melee group to provide Windfury goodness, but if you're usually grouped with a shadowpriest, be sure to include the amount of mana their Vampiric Touch gives you. You're on your own here, but I've heard estimates of as much as 200 mana/5 equivalent from well-geared shadowpriests.
• Mana cost per cast is equal to: Base cost * (1 - 1% * ranks in Tidal Focus). Be sure to also include effects such as [Totem of the Maelstrom] or the Cataclysm (Tier 5) and Skyshatter (Tier 6) 2-piece bonuses (all of which affect the base cost before the Tidal Focus reduction).
• Although technically a mana restoring effect, [Insightful Earthstorm Diamond] is best represented by reducing the mana per cast by: 300 * 2% (2% is the proc rate for the effect).

Example
Assuming a 7½ minute fight, the buffs and consumables I mentioned earlier, and my current gear:

• Starting Mana Pool: Base Mana + Bonus from buffs = 10823 + (59.4 + 10%*543) * 15 (I do not have Ancestral Knowledge) = 12,529
• "On Use" mana sources:
  • Mana Tide: Starting Mana Pool * 24% * # of times used = 12529 * 24% * 2 = 6,014
  • Potions: Average gain * # of times used = 2400 * 3 = 7,200
  • [Figurine - Talasite Owl]: Average gain * # of times used = 900 * 2 (5 minute cooldown) = 1,800
  • [Pendant of the Violet Eye]: Average gain * # of times used = 500 * 3 (2 minute cooldown, mana gain based from Elitist Jerks forum) = 1,500
  • Total "on use": 16,514
• Base regeneration: Base Mp5 * I5SR + Base OOC Regen * O5SR = 135*90% + 234*10% = 144.9
• Additional Mp5 sources: Mana Spring (including 2-piece Tier 4 bonus) + Blessing of Wisdom + [Flask of Mighty Restoration] + [Superior Mana Oil] + [Blackened Sporefish] = (30*(1+25%)+7.5) + 41 + 25 + 14 + 8 = 133
• Mana Cost per cast (weighted average): (HW*5% + LH*5% + CH*85% + ES*5%) * (1 - 1% * ranks in Tidal Focus) - [Insightful Earthstorm Diamond] effect = (720*5% + 440*5% + 540*85% + 900*5%) * (1-5%) - (300*2%) = 527.9

Plugging these numbers into:

(Starting Mana Pool + "On Use" mana sources + ((Base Mp5 * I5SR) + (Base OOC regen * O5SR) + Additional Mp5 sources) * 60/5 * Length of Fight) / Mana cost per cast

Gives:

(12529 + 16514 + (144.9 + 133) * 60/5 * 7.5) / 527.9 =102.4 theoretical maximum casts

Multiplying this number times an average of 4,490 healed per cast, the theoretical total output with my current gear is 459,776 health over a 7½ minute fight (or a bit over 1000 HPS). (A brief caveat: There are a lot of assumptions made when calculating this "ideal world" number. You shouldn't expect your real-world performance to match it.)

Continue to Part Three (Stat Valuations) Go back to Part One (Average Healing Amt.) Skip to Part Four (Refinements)