How to read your sim results
A sim hands you one big number and a ranked list. The number gets all the attention and deserves the least of it. Here is what each part of the result actually tells you, and the two traps that catch almost everyone's first sim.
The headline DPS is a ceiling, not a forecast
The big number is your mean damage per second across thousands of simulated fights, played with perfect execution against a stationary target. No movement, no mechanics, no latency, no mistakes. Your real performance will be lower, and that is fine: the number exists to be compared against other versions of your character, not against your combat log.
That is the core mental shift: sims answer relative questions ("is item A better than item B for me?") far more reliably than absolute ones ("what will I do on this boss?").
Deltas and noise: when an upgrade is real
Every sim carries random variation from procs, crit streaks, and trinket timing. The error margin on the result describes that wobble. Reading the upgrade list:
- Deltas larger than the error margin are real. Equip those, spend rolls on those, no second-guessing required.
- Deltas inside the error margin are ties. Pick by other criteria: durability of the upgrade (will you replace the slot next week anyway?), set bonus progress, or simply what looks better.
- Trust the order more than the magnitudes. The gap between rank 1 and rank 5 is meaningful; the exact decimal on any single row is not.
The ability breakdown
Below the headline number you get each spell's share of your total damage. Two practical uses: sanity-checking (if an ability you barely press dominates the chart, the sim profile or your talent import is off), and priorities (abilities contributing the most are the ones where execution mistakes cost you real DPS in game).
What sims deliberately leave out
SimulationCraft models your character's throughput, not the fight around it. Out of scope: movement and downtime, encounter mechanics, target swapping you would do in a real pull, raid utility, defensives, and your own execution. A spec that sims 3% behind another can still be the better pick for a fight where its mobility means more uptime.
This is also why the trinket leaderboards on this site are flagged as starting points: they rank standard profiles, not your character. The tier list goes the other way and uses real logged parses instead of sims. Your character, your gear, and your fight are what a personal sim is for.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my simmed DPS higher than what I do in raid?
The sim plays your character perfectly: no movement, no mechanics, no deaths, every cooldown on schedule, against a target that never goes immune. Real fights have downtime. A simmed number is your ceiling under ideal conditions, not a prediction of your next log.
Is a 1% DPS upgrade worth chasing?
Usually yes if it is free (a bag item or a guaranteed drop) and usually no if it costs a bonus roll or days of grinding that could go to a larger upgrade. Rule of thumb: act on the order of the list more than the size of any single delta.
What does the error or confidence interval on a sim mean?
A sim repeats the fight thousands of times with random variation (procs, crits) and reports the mean. The error figure describes how far that mean could move if you ran it again. Two items whose deltas overlap within the error are statistically tied.
Do more iterations make a sim more accurate?
More iterations shrink the random error of the mean, making rankings between close items more stable. They do not fix model accuracy: if SimulationCraft models a spec mechanic imperfectly, a million iterations converge on the same imperfect answer. Default iteration counts are enough for gear decisions.
Why did my DPS change when I re-simmed with nothing different?
Two reasons: run-to-run randomness inside the error margin, and weekly SimulationCraft updates. The engine tracks live tuning hotfixes and spec model fixes, so the same character can sim differently after a patch. Compare items within one report, not headline numbers across weeks.
Keep reading
- How to sim your WoW characterInstall the Simulationcraft addon, type /simc, paste it here. From zero to a shareable DPS result in about a minute.
- What is a Droptimizer?How loot simming works: one sim per potential drop, ranked by DPS gain, so you know which bosses are worth your lockout.
- What is a /simc string?The plain-text character export behind every sim: what each line means, how to generate one, and what it does not contain.
Ready? Run your first sim.
Paste your /simc string, pick a sim type, and get a clear DPS number in about a minute.
Start simming