The Lightning Capacitor

• The Lightning Capacitor
• Binds when picked up
• Unique
• Trinket
• Requires Level 70
• Item Level 115Disenchants into:
   [Void Crystal]: 1-2
• Equip: Template:Spelllink
• Sell Price: 9 11 60

The Lightning Capacitor is an epic trinket for DPS casters.

Source

This item drops from Terestian Illhoof in Karazhan with an estimated drop rate of 7% - 13% (Armory: Low (14% -25%)).

Mechanic

The way, this trinket works is quite complicated and on most sites fairly misunderstood. First of all, the bolt emitted by this trinket is not affected by +Spell damage anymore (since Patch 2.1), it can however crit/be resisted and is affected by the characters Nature Spell crit and hit chance, the crits of the bolt do not produce a charge, but any spell-like critical hit inflicted by your character will produce a charge, e. g. [Molten Armor], [Lightning Shield], etc. and of course single target direct damaging spells and AoE spells.

The effect of this trinket is badly expressed as +Spell damage, but rather as a flat crit-damage bonus and can easily be calculated as dps-gain, as the calculations below will demonstrate.

Because it is nature damage it can be partially resisted, but this is not considered in the following calculations, as most PvE encounters are either completely nature immune or do not have noticeable resistances at all. These calculations refer to single target direct damage casting. The italic lines are examples with 30% nature crit, 94% hit chance and [Scorch] spamming (34% scorchcrit, same hit, 1.5s casting time). It has to be noted, that [Arcane Missiles] have to be considered as 1s casting time, as every missile can crit and thus produce a charge, 5 missiles in 5 sec is 1 missile / sec.

Terms used:

-hit(n): hit chance against the current target with nature spells as factor (e. g. 0.83 as 83%)

-hit(m): hit chance against the current target with your main spell school as factor

-crit(n): crit chance with nature spells as factor

-crit(m): crit chance with your main spell school as factor

-crit(b): The critical damage bonus as factor, e. g. 0.5 for normal crits, 1.1 for ignite crits as a fire mage.

-cast(t): time to cast your spell in seconds

The average bolt damage would be:

( ( 694 + 806 ) / 2 * ( 1 + crit(n) * crit(b) ) ) * hit(n) = Bolt(d)

( ( 694 + 806 ) / 2 * ( 1 + 0.3 * 0.5 ) ) * 0.94 = 810.75

1/3 ot Bolt(d) is a flat addition to your crit damage. 270.25

The average time it takes to produce 3 crits with your main spell school and consequently producing a bolt is:

( 1 / ( crit(m) * hit(m) ) ) * 3 * cast(t) = Bolt(t)

( 1 / ( 0.34 * 0.94 ) ) * 3 * 1.5 = 12.44117647

The dps-gain is now easily calculated by:

Bolt(d) / Bolt(t) = Bolt(dps)

810.75 / 12.44117647 = 65.16¯

You can now calculate yourself, how much bare +Spell damage you would need with your main spell(rotation) to gain an equivalent dps boost. For [Scorch] it would be 153 with the given hit/crit chance, as the following calculation states (assuming 800 Spell damage and fully stacked Fire Vulnerability):

( ( 305 + 361 ) / 2 + 800 * 1.5 / 3.5 ) * ( 1 + 0.34 * 1.1 ) * 0.94 * 1.15 / 1.5 = [Scorch](dps) = 669.231039428571

It has to be noted, that there are several talents and multiplicators missing in this calculation; they are left out for simplicity and because these calculations are exemplarious, they differ largely for every class and spec.

Now the same with [Scorch](dps)', which is the result above plus the dps gained from The Lightning Capacitor and resolved to the unknown amount of Spell damage (x):

( ( 305 + 361 ) / 2 + x * 1.5 / 3.5 ) * ( 1 + 0.34 * 1.1 ) * 0.94 * 1.15 / 1.5 = 734.397706095238

( 333 + x * 0.4286 ) * ( 1 + 0.34 * 1.1 ) * 0.94 * 1.15 / 1.5 = 734.397706095238

( 333 + x * 0.4286 ) * 1.374 * 0.94 * 1.15 / 1.5 = 734.397706095238

( 333 + x * 0.4286 ) * 0.990196 = 734.397706095238

329.735268 + x * 0.4243980056 = 734.397706095238

x = 953.49750176875

The respective calculation with crit(m) as variable and constant spell damage:

( ( 305 + 361 ) / 2 + 800 * 1.5 / 3.5 ) * ( 1 + x * 1.1 ) * 0.94 * 1.15 / 1.5 = 734.397706095238

( 333 + 800 * 0.4286 ) * ( 1 + x * 1.1 ) * 0.94 * 1.15 / 1.5 = 734.397706095238

( 333 + 342.88 + 366.3 * x + 377.168 * x ) * 0.94 * 1.15 / 1.5 = 734.397706095238

( 675.88 + x * 743.468 ) * 0.7206¯ = 734.397706095238

492.26593¯ + x * 535.7926053¯ = 734.397706095238

x = 0.45360645753176

So you would need 953 +Spell damage or 45.36% Spellcrit to achieve the same +65 dps boost, thus The Lightning Capacitor is theoretically adding 153 +Spell damage or 11.36% Spellcrit (251.056 Spell Crit Rating). This +Spell damage or Spellcrit is unaffected by the base Spell damage in the calculation, but it is scaling with base Spellcrit and nature critical strike chance, of course, the more crit, the more dps-gain and therefore more required Spell damage or Spellcrit to compensate it. The dps-boost is largely affected by cast(t), the caststime of your main nuke spell, shorter casts will result in more frequent procs. The Lightning Capacitor is thus one of the rare trinkets that scale directly with the subsequent equipment of its wielder and the effective circumstances.

Additional Notes

You do not need to face the mob, which is supposed to be hit by the bolt.

The Lightning Bolt does not have a max-range, as long as you can crit the mob, the bolt can reach it. The Bolt is also unaffected by LoS-mechanics. Think of the following situation: You have 2 charges and you cast a fireball on a mob, while the fireball is in mid-air, the mob runs behind a wall or some LoS blocking obstacle. The fireball crits, giving the 3rd charge and thus releases the bolt; even though the mob is not hittable by your spells, the bolt will fly right through the obstacle and hit the mob. The same applies to silencing effects, after the later-to-crit spell has been fired, the bolt will fly even if you are silenced, basically there is nothing that could unable the bolt from beeing fired after 3 crits.

The Lightning Bolt always hits the mob which received the last crit that stacked the 3rd charge and released the bolt, even though you may not have targetted it. Furthermore, multiple crits with one cast can produce multiple bolts, e. g. [Arcane Explosion] hitting 12 mobs critically would emit 4 bolts.

The electrical charges are displayed as a stackable, typeless buff on you. This buff has an infinite duration and even persists if you unequip The Lightning Capacitor or logout. It does not persist through death, however.

It can proc from any ability that is considered a spell, which includes [Flametongue Weapon], [Frostbrand Weapon], [Firestone] attack and [Molten Armor]. Wand crits are not considered spell crits and hence do not produce charges.

There is no internal cooldown on this trinket. Spamming [Scorch] or any other 1.5s cast or instant spell while critting nonstop will fire a bolt every 4.5s.

The damage of the Lightning Bolt is affected by debuffs (e.g. [Stormstrike], Misery) and talents (e.g. [Arcane Instability],  [Molten Fury]) which improve all, or at least nature spells. However, talents which specifically mention their affected spells do not improve it. Furthermore, even the Shaman's talents which improve Lightning Bolt do not affect it, as these only affect the Shaman's spell; these include [Concussion], [Elemental Mastery] and [Elemental Fury]. Especially in raid environments, where many buffs and debuffs are in effect, the dps boost provided is slightly higher.

As the rank of your nuke spell is irrelevant, it is possible to spam rank 1 spells while beeing oom and still sustain quite a bit of dps. While normally it is probably better to stay out of the 5 second rule, in combination with specific abilities (e.g. [Judgement of Wisdom],  [Insightful Earthstorm Diamond], Clearcasting), spamming a rank 1 spell (for example, [Scorch]) might increase your damage by more.

The proc of this trinkets appears in your combat log as "Your Lightning Bolt hits/crits %t for %d.", just like the Lightning Bolts fired by Shamans.

External links

• Wowhead
• WoWDB