One of my guildies posted this posty thing. I asked him if I could post it here and he graciously acquiesced. Here is a treaty on Heroism and cooldowns.
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The correct timing of heroism is crucial to pushing our raid DPS up through the roof. I am always mindful of when it should be hit, and so are our RLs. Between us 3 the call is usually made at just the right time, and when it happens its a beautiful thing.
As an individual raider, Heroism can be a tricky thing. The ideal situation is for Hero to be popped, and then all your cooldowns blown in time with it to maximise its effect. However, there are times when it may be better to blow your cooldowns independently when you feel that the extended spread of your abilities over heroism outweigh the spike DPS of blowing them in sync. This would be most obvious in fights where Hero is saved for an Enrage timer (I blow my CD's at the start of the KT fight, and save the second and third round for the 40% burn down); but also in fights like Malygos, with external effects (power sparks and Vortex's). This means that in some fights there will be times when your cooldowns are up, but you should not use them. The time spent saving these cooldowns is referred to me as dead space, and is where your DPS will be at it's most inefficient. However the reward for saving these cooldowns can sometimes be greater than the loss you suffer through the dead space (see Malygos below).
Heres what I mean about Overall benefit vs Burst Benefit, and your "dead space":
Kel'Thuzad
Saving Cooldowns for the 40% burn
Fight Start 40% Heroism
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{cooldowns--------}
{---------Dead-Space----------} ~60% (Not good lulz)
Using Cooldowns at the beginning and then saving for Heroism
Fight Start 40% Heroism
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{cooldowns-------} {cooldowns--------}
{-Dead-Space-} ~20% But with Added Burst in
the early stages of
the burn phase
Constantly using Cooldowns when they're up
Fight Start 40% Heroism
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{cooldowns-----}{cooldowns-------}{cooldowns----}
No Dead Space, but less syncronisation with heroism.
It is up to you to decide which cooldown method will be the best to maximise your DPS in any particular situation. Know the length of the fight, know whether to save for Heroism and how many times you can use Cooldowns in a fight. The difference between a 6 minute fight and a 7 minute fight is massive when considering how to engineer your cooldowns. If a fight is only long enough for one set of cooldowns (3 or 4 minute fights for most classes) then save it for Hero.
Of course not every fight will be as straightforward as KT, so this is why we always emplore you to research every aspect of an upcoming battle. With Malygos, for instance, we blow heroism when we have two sparks on the ground and right after a Vortex. This is a fight where it is a good idea to leave some "dead space" at the start of the fight, and blow all your cooldowns when the Hero comes up. The combination of two power sparks buffing your damage, and the time to use all of heroism, makes up for the extra DPS you may have gotten at the start and end of phase 1. This is a good example of how important knowledge of the fight mechanics is in regards to maximising your DPS.
I'll end by saying that all shammies should be particulary concerned with how Heroism works in a fight, and how crucial the timing can be. It is your ability after all, and you are the ones who push that magic button.
