Has Chaos bolt been removed from the destro rotation?

[smokieazgalor]

After reviewing some of the top destro lock parses on Warlord Zonozz and Ultraxxion I noticed the top locks only use chaos bolt about 4 times during the encounter while still finding time to get in anywhere from 50-69 incinerates. Has anyone read or heard that chaos bolt is no longer prioritized when it comes off cooldown? I'm aware it's not supposed to be used during blood lust because of the global cd but do we forego using it all together?

[Mortalislol]

Not quite removed but in the Simcraft action priority list Chaos Bolt is only above Incinerate when the cast time >0.9 seconds.

In reality from a personal perspective I only cast CB if i'm not under the effects of Backdraft and not at all during Bloodlust.

[silverhatred]

I cast it while waiting for my soulfire to hit since I dont give a shit about its damage.

[Kildragon]

I cast it while waiting for my soulfire to hit since I dont give a shit about its damage.

You don't time your Soulfire casts so they land right as the buff ends?

In reality from a personal perspective I only cast CB if i'm not under the effects of Backdraft and not at all during Bloodlust.

It's what most people end up doing, even though it is a DPS increase to cast it on CD when the cast time is >.9 seconds.

[Rathmorne]

As mana pools get higher, and the combination of Mana Feed and Soul Leech from Soul Fire along with replenishment and the like offer enough mana return that spending a global cooldown lifetapping is no longer an issue, I can understand players no longer prioritizing Chaos Bolt. With haste ratings at points making it finish before the GCD, along with the soul leech proc no longer being of as much benefit as it might have been at earlier gear levels, it just becomes an uneccessary cooldown spell to manage. I personally still use it since I still need to lifetap in some situations where I don't get any Impprocs for a while and my mana runs low, but I can imagine that heroic geared warlocks don't find it to be an issue. Just my thought though, I'm no psychic.

[gakpad]

In reality whether or not you use chaos bolt only when its cast time is above .9 seconds or just drop it completely is a dps neutral issue. Technically its a small dps gain to use it whenever it's above .9 but realistically we won't be able to precisely know beforehand whether or not to drop it or not. The dps loss from dropping it completely is well within the margin of error most people have in their rotations in regards to skipping chaos bolt below .9 second cast times so really do whatever you're more comfortable with.

---------- Post added 2012-01-31 at 07:42 PM ----------

As mana pools get higher, and the combination of Mana Feed and Soul Leech from Soul Fire along with replenishment and the like offer enough mana return that spending a global cooldown lifetapping is no longer an issue, I can understand players no longer prioritizing Chaos Bolt. With haste ratings at points making it finish before the GCD, along with the soul leech proc no longer being of as much benefit as it might have been at earlier gear levels, it just becomes an uneccessary cooldown spell to manage. I personally still use it since I still need to lifetap in some situations where I don't get any Impprocs for a while and my mana runs low, but I can imagine that heroic geared warlocks don't find it to be an issue. Just my thought though, I'm no psychic.

The mana return has nothing to do with it. We could get away with dropping chaos bolt and not having to life tap months ago, it's a miniscule part of your mana return over the course of a fight. Its simply an issue of whether or not you can accurately manage it so that you only cast it when its DPET is higher than incinerates (i.e. when its cast time is above .9 seconds)