[5.4] Affliction Warlock and Encounter Specific Guides

[Gades]

Does anyone know a good dot timer that shows dot ticks? (preferably one that isn't Forte)

i use Need to Know to track my dots.

[Deleted]

i use Need to Know to track my dots.

I'd advise you Tellmewhen or Weak Auras

[Xandy]

I'd like to point out that SB:SS makes Glyph of Soul Swap completely irrelevant for all situations since the advantage of placing all DoT's in one CD already exists at the cost of a Soul Shard; and we also get extra Shadow Trance (Nightfall procs) from the added Corruptions, granting us some of those lost Shards back anyway.

It is also worth noting that SB:SS does not reset your stacks of Agony, therefore making it a prudent choice even during single target execute phase (Drain Soul) when you have either gained 4 Soul Shard or all 3 DoT's are about to fall off.

[Kinjin]

Thanks for the information on dot refreshing. It seemed strange to me that Blizzard would change dot refresh mechanics for only one class under level 90. Since the patch dropped I'm seeing the extra tick on Fortexorcist when I refresh. I asked the question to begin with because I wanted confirmation that info in the guide wasn't an assumption based on how Everlasting Affliction refreshed dots at level 90 with extended time, that the actual dot mechanics and thier basic function hadn't changed (and I had no visibility either way to tell). I understand it can be difficult to make guides this early when everything is changing and fluctuating so I think the OP used the best information they had available at the time. Please update the guild to reflect the proper dot mechanics.

SB:SS
SB:SS doesn't reset stacks of agony on your current target. But it still only puts a one stack agony on a new target. So when they fix the bug that incorrectly triggers the CD it will still be more beneficial to do a normal (glyphed) SS and land it with 10 stacks of agony on a new target instead of one (since you can't get agony to 10 stacks in one gcd by SB:SS to a new target). We will just have to wait for the bug fix on that.

The unglyphed SS will/can still be beneficial even when they fix the bug whenever you need to control dps. Taking your dots off of a talon or Deathwings head on the final platform on DS where you want to make sure you don't push the target under a specific health point for example.

[EvreliaGaming]

I'd like to point out that SB:SS makes Glyph of Soul Swap completely irrelevant for all situations since the advantage of placing all DoT's in one CD already exists at the cost of a Soul Shard; and we also get extra Shadow Trance (Nightfall procs) from the added Corruptions, granting us some of those lost Shards back anyway.

It is also worth noting that SB:SS does not reset your stacks of Agony, therefore making it a prudent choice even during single target execute phase (Drain Soul) when you have either gained 4 Soul Shard or all 3 DoT's are about to fall off.

It's not irrelevant at all. In its current (bugged) state, that is correct, since Soulburn: Soul Swap is triggering its cooldown. However, once that is fixed, any situation where you simply need to apply dots to two targets, you would simply Soulburn: Soul Swap one, and then Soul Swap to the other. This saves you a Shard to use for an extra Haunt. And, like Kinjin says, you could use it to transfer a 10 stack Agony from one target onto another - you can't do that with Soulburn.

The part about the execute phase is already written in the guide.

[Xandy]

Oh yeah I meant with the bug it's irrelevant, if SB:SS didn't put SS on CD I would totally use the Glyph.

any situation where you simply need to apply dots to two targets, you would simply Soulburn: Soul Swap one, and then Soul Swap to the other.

On a fight like Gunship where there are a lot of adds coming up, I'd still SB:SS both initial melee adds since it takes time to reach full stacks of Agony and then Glyphed SS one of the drakes

[kaamila]

quick question. on execute phase when i use sb:ss to refresh my dots, am i using sb:ss when UA is about to fall off(since thats usually the first dot to fall) or just refresh it manually and use sb:ss when corruption/boa are about to fall?

[n0n3]

It's not irrelevant at all. In its current (bugged) state, that is correct, since Soulburn: Soul Swap is triggering its cooldown. However, once that is fixed, any situation where you simply need to apply dots to two targets, you would simply Soulburn: Soul Swap one, and then Soul Swap to the other. This saves you a Shard to use for an extra Haunt. And, like Kinjin says, you could use it to transfer a 10 stack Agony from one target onto another - you can't do that with Soulburn.

The part about the execute phase is already written in the guide.

This is fixed on beta, i have one question about Dark soul with bloodlust.
It's good to use Dark Soul during bloodlust or we should ask leader to BL after DS fades ?

[Deleted]

This is incorrect on live. Simple enough to test: with the haste I have on atm (2,703) my corruption lasts 18.16 seconds and ticks every 1.65 seconds. First tick occurs 1.65 seconds after corruption is applied. So I get 11 ticks:

00.00 Corruption applied
01.65 First tick
...
16.51 Tenth tick
18.16 Eleventh tick

If you re-apply corruption when there's less than 1.65 seconds left you don't clip the last tick, just like before the patch. You will get 22 ticks of corruption. It does increase to 19 seconds momentarily if you refresh it just after the 10th tick. In Cata dots ticked less frequently so there was more leeway to land the refresh between the penultimate and final tick, but mechanics wise nothing has changed with the refresh mechanic.

This is more obvious with doom from demo.

OP seems to have missed this post. Dot refresh mechanics have not changed, just faster ticking dots make it less obvious and give a smaller window. Appendix in first post should be updated to reflect this.

[EvreliaGaming]

OP seems to have missed this post. Dot refresh mechanics have not changed, just faster ticking dots make it less obvious and give a smaller window. Appendix in first post should be updated to reflect this.

Quite right, I'll update that now. In practical terms however it doesn't change much - you'd be hard pressed to be able to refresh Corruption in such a small window without stopping casting.

[Jenerena]

I refresh my dots before the final tick if I can catch it in time. I presume you must do this for Agony. I do have to cancel my MG cast to do this however, sometimes even clip it after the first MG tick. Am I wrong doing this?:

[smegdawg]

I have a question regarding MG channeling.

I feel like I am clipping MG when I channel it back to back. Should I wait for the channel to complete and then recast? Or should I recast before the channel is complete?

[EvreliaGaming]

I have a question regarding MG channeling.

I feel like I am clipping MG when I channel it back to back. Should I wait for the channel to complete and then recast? Or should I recast before the channel is complete?

You can't clip MG, it has the same extension mechanics that DoTs do. Back to back channel all you like.

---------- Post added 2012-09-04 at 07:48 PM ----------

I refresh my dots before the final tick if I can catch it in time. I presume you must do this for Agony. I do have to cancel my MG cast to do this however, sometimes even clip it after the first MG tick. Am I wrong doing this?:

Nope, you're not.

[Tresdallah]

I have a question regarding MG channeling.

I feel like I am clipping MG when I channel it back to back. Should I wait for the channel to complete and then recast? Or should I recast before the channel is complete?

MG works just as a DoT would since it is technically a "channled DoT" so feel free to clip it near the end.

[Deleted]

Seeing how close MoP affliction is to Cata shadow priest, it could be that also MG refreshing is working like it has been working for spriest during cata: its preferably to ALWAYS clip MG just after second last tick or even earlier ticks if casting some other spell than MG next. Use Gnosis or other cast bar which shows ticks properly, cast bar needs to update itself for channels where there is more ticks than usual. Reason for this is that chaining MG's allows to not lose time between invidual MG casts. And as other spells have higher priority, MG should be clipped by other spells as fast as possible right after next possible MG tick.

[EvreliaGaming]

Seeing how close MoP affliction is to Cata shadow priest, it could be that also MG refreshing is working like it has been working for spriest during cata: its preferably to ALWAYS clip MG just after second last tick or even earlier ticks if casting some other spell than MG next. Use Gnosis or other cast bar which shows ticks properly, cast bar needs to update itself for channels where there is more ticks than usual. Reason for this is that chaining MG's allows to not lose time between invidual MG casts. And as other spells have higher priority, MG should be clipped by other spells as fast as possible right after next possible MG tick.

It's actually a tiny DPS loss to interrupt MG with a different spell before its finished casting. There's always a certain degree of latency/human error attached to casting a different spell after a channelled spell, as its impossible to perfectly interrupt instantly after a tick. It's better to get 4 ticks for that price than it is to get 2 or 3. With that in mind, a lot of the time you can't help it - you still don't want your DoTs to fall off - I'm just saying it's more ideal to get the entire channel off.

[Skullcan]

It's actually a tiny DPS loss to interrupt MG with a different spell before its finished casting. There's always a certain degree of latency/human error attached to casting a different spell after a channelled spell, as its impossible to perfectly interrupt instantly after a tick. It's better to get 4 ticks for that price than it is to get 2 or 3. With that in mind, a lot of the time you can't help it - you still don't want your DoTs to fall off - I'm just saying it's more ideal to get the entire channel off.

Hi guys, long time follower just registered to point something i'v been using since Firelands and its very helpful to assist with Channeled ticks and when to interrupt the cast.

There is an Addon called Drainsouler, found on Curse.com, that tracks ticks of channeled spells like Malefic Grasp, Drain Soul, Harvest Life/Drain Life.

I used it since Firelands to help only with Drainsoul, but now it has updated and cover most of the channeled spells.

I think it worth a try!

Great work on the guide btw!
Keep work!
Thanks.

[Deleted]

It's actually a tiny DPS loss to interrupt MG with a different spell before its finished casting. There's always a certain degree of latency/human error attached to casting a different spell after a channelled spell, as its impossible to perfectly interrupt instantly after a tick. It's better to get 4 ticks for that price than it is to get 2 or 3. With that in mind, a lot of the time you can't help it - you still don't want your DoTs to fall off - I'm just saying it's more ideal to get the entire channel off.

Not really. Important thing to note is that there is no automatic spell queuing between channeled spell and other spells like there is between two of non-channel spells. Spell queuing meaning, you can start casting next spell bit too early and it wont stop previous spell cast if that previous cast is almost done. Of course it could be that spell queuing works now with channeled spells but I doubt it, havent seen any mentions about it.

As MG's last tick comes at end of channel, letting whole channel cast to end can lead player to either cast next spell too early (losing whole last tick of MG, worst case) or too late after channel, losing bit time between channel end and new cast so after all there is no difference at all between clipping and letting channel finish. So better to clip MG and cast new spells right when they come available (after next MG tick) as they are higher priority anyway and should be cast as fast as possible. This is very very small dps increase but it should be increase.

[EvreliaGaming]

Not really. Important thing to note is that there is no automatic spell queuing between channeled spell and other spells like there is between two of non-channel spells. Spell queuing meaning, you can start casting next spell bit too early and it wont stop previous spell cast if that previous cast is almost done. Of course it could be that spell queuing works now with channeled spells but I doubt it, havent seen any mentions about it.

As MG's last tick comes at end of channel, letting whole channel cast to end can lead player to either cast next spell too early (losing whole last tick of MG, worst case) or too late after channel, losing bit time between channel end and new cast so after all there is no difference at all between clipping and letting channel finish. So better to clip MG and cast new spells right when they come available (after next MG tick) as they are higher priority anyway and should be cast as fast as possible. This is very very small dps increase but it should be increase.

Nope. Common sense tells you that if you're going to suffer a short period of wasted time (which will occur after interrupting at ANY point in a channeled spell) then it's better to get 4 ticks of MG for that price than it is to get 1 or 2. This is particularly true at level 90 when you get a very long window of time in which to refresh your DoTs, so you can easily refresh them in-between entire MG casts.

[Deleted]

Nope. Common sense tells you that if you're going to suffer a short period of wasted time (which will occur after interrupting at ANY point in a channeled spell) then it's better to get 4 ticks of MG for that price than it is to get 1 or 2. This is particularly true at level 90 when you get a very long window of time in which to refresh your DoTs, so you can easily refresh them in-between entire MG casts.

Your common sense fails then. It does not matter if you refresh after cast ends or midcast after tick, its exact same. You have exact same wasted time there. Either you look cast bar and try to press next spell just after bar ends, or you watch cast bar and try to press after tick marker.