Step 1. Get Simcraft. Here is the download site. At the time of writing, the nightly build is considered the best choice.
Step 2. Get the Simcraft addon. Curse Page.
Step 3. /simc in game and paste it to simcraft
B. Step 3 In detail with Pictures:
a) Start simcraft software on the desktop
b) You can edit the global options but it's not required. The default options are very popular. 5min fight (300sec) on 1 Patchwerk on 10k iterations (iterations = how many times the simulator will pretend a fight is happening, the more they are the more reliable the results).
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/4K41mIY.png)
If you need something more special you can see what happens on 2 X Patchwerk or 4 with the "Num Enemies" option or instead of 10k iterations to target a low error that will automatically determine iterations with "Target Error". You can also add periodically spawning adds but that would need extra code in the profile mentioned next.
c) In the game run /simc. It will also bring up the artifact page. That is normal. It needs it to get data.
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/EVoF8MZ.png)
d) Copy paste what you see in a new tab into the Simulate tab of the Simcraft software
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/7ANhcSz.png)
e) Now simply run the software with "Simulate!" at the bottom right
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/wpBrRSE.png)
tada! you got results
C. In more detail:
To compare 2 items very quickly you can simply paste underneath the first mage actor you pasted a second one you got from /simc in-game after you had a equipped a new item. You can also (and should) rename the "mage=" name at the top for readability.
For example, I will see if a particular new 870 waist without socket beats a particular 845 with socket.
The profile page will look like this
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/V0sA22T.png)
A profile that basically represents two different mage actors hitting the same Patchwerk simultaneously in the same fight(s).
On the results page you can directly see a comparison on the top
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/0eUHkdb.png)
The 870 waist won. But if the differences you get are small you could make sure they are not within the error margin by changing the iterations or the target error from the global options. You can see the results-error near the top of the results of a particular mage actor.
The way we pasted the second mage actor with the new waist right underneath the first mage isn't the most proper. But it was a quick way as the title suggests.
To do it more properly you can just copy the first mage actor and then edit only the line needed. Like this:
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/huPYxil.png)
The results would be similar since the input is in practice identical. Be careful that if you do this, a 3rd mage actor added with the same method will retain the new waist, so you can simply use a "waist=" line again with the original waist, if that is desired.
There are methods to input arbirtary gear, methods to make more complex encounters, and many other things on simcraft but it's beyond the scope of this quick guide.
Update:
How to input gear from wowhead: https://www.altered-time.com/forum/view ... 371#p27285" target="_blank
How to quickly compare relics: https://www.altered-time.com/forum/view ... 371#p28371" target="_blank