Warlock as of Patch 4.3?

[lolcatabeta]

Hey. After leaving my warlock on the sideline since ICC, I was thinking of starting up my warlock again in formes of PvE.

My most concern is the specc? I read a whole post about Destruction in 4.3 http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...-A-Guide-(4-3)

Tho after seeing some hardcore warlocks on the armory, I noticed they are mostly Demonology/Affli.

So what specs are recommended? Im guessing people switch between specs adjusted to the fights or will this fuck up with mastery?

I really need help here, seing my warlock hasnt been used for a loooong time!

Thanks in advance.

[Deleted]

On a flickwerk fight, its demo>destro>affli, but there are some fights where its not really worth playing demo in 10man hc. In those fights I prefer to go affli or destro.
You can play demo/destro quite well with a tempo/mastery built. Although i´m on demo/affli atm, because the bosses got that much nerfed that i´m just concentrating on spine (demo) & madness (affli). I need to reforge at least once per raid that way, but its worth it.

[Szemere]

As for which spec is best on which boss:

http://www.methodwow.com/board/showt...Soul-4-3-GUIDE

All specs seem equally viable, altho on Spine heroic, all warlocks suck (Demo is better than the other specs tho, but still bad), and on certain fights, Demo really isn't viable because of tons of moving and multi-dotting IMO (ship for example)

[Xylter]

Demonology at the moment does have the highest single target but there are a few multi dot and movement fights where afflic really shines. As the Szemere said above me all the specs are very viable at the moment. I personally play demo for my 10 man and switch to afflic for gunship heroic and heroic Zon'ozz. That is the only reason I have that spec at the moment. I'd try them all out see which you like best.

[Bullarkie]

You're seeing Demo/Affliction because Demo is the best burst spec for Heroic Spine although it doesn't really matter now since the nerf. Affliction is best for Heroic Blackhorn and Heroic Madness of Deathwing.

I'm personally playing Destro/Affliction now until we have a solid shot at downing a tendon in one lift (like the Koreans).

[Deleted]

As for which spec is best on which boss:

http://www.methodwow.com/board/showt...Soul-4-3-GUIDE

All specs seem equally viable, altho on Spine heroic, all warlocks suck (Demo is better than the other specs tho, but still bad), and on certain fights, Demo really isn't viable because of tons of moving and multi-dotting IMO (ship for example)

Well, that is not totally true, a finely tuned demo spec is definitely one of the top specs for tendon damage. Sadly, it doesn't seem to be considered so.

[Deleted]

Well, that is not totally true, a finely tuned demo spec is definitely one of the top specs for tendon damage. Sadly, it doesn't seem to be considered so.

Only time I've seen demo as a top spec is when you're lucky enough with procs. I'd say it's a fair assesment that it's lacking compared to other burstspecs. I'd love to see some logs to prove me wrong though!

[Harsesis]

I personally play destro for every fight. Sure it's not the most optimal spec on a fight by fight basis but it still gets the job done. There are some really useful spots for Havoc in DS including Morchok clone, Goriona, and the last Madness platform.

[Count Zero]

Only time I've seen demo as a top spec is when you're lucky enough with procs. I'd say it's a fair assesment that it's lacking compared to other burstspecs. I'd love to see some logs to prove me wrong though!

Well, I haven't done Spine on heroic, but on normal, when I go through our parses to see how much damage folks did to the tendons (and only to the tendons -- actually, to be specific, I'm looking at the page that lists how much damage the tendons took), as Demo I'm right up there with other bursters -- sometimes I've been at the top, but usually I'm just near the top.

At least before the nerf got to 15%, I would always have meta up for each tendon, and I'd have Doomguard for the 1st and 3rd. Plop my portal right next to where the tendon is going to be before the amalg dies, pop meta and doomguard just as amalg is dying, and then I tear it up

---------- Post added 2012-04-08 at 06:22 AM ----------

I personally play destro for every fight. Sure it's not the most optimal spec on a fight by fight basis but it still gets the job done. There are some really useful spots for Havoc in DS including Morchok clone, Goriona, and the last Madness platform.

Mind if I ask how progressed your guild is ?

Because it's been my contention that even for folks doing heroic modes, the vast majority of players are far from being min/max-ers and that even a few percent difference in theoretical performance really doesn't mean much except for a tiny, tiny fraction of players. I just think it's easy to have a distorted view on how hardcore the rest of the populace is if you're in a high-end raid guild, and also folks on mmo-c here represent a disproportionately-high ratio of high-end players.

[Deleted]

Tbh right now it's up to your personal preferance because the gap between each spec is very low. There are some fights that certain spec is definitely better than the other 2 but that doesn't mean playing the other will be "really bad" for your progression. I saw many good warlocks in the top guilds like Acrylic Qtica Firesnake stayed Destro permanently even before they down Heroic Madness(They got sat on Spine I assume). Afflliction is still the best overall spec since there are many multitarget fights in DS. Destro and Demo however can still do a high dps on such multitarget fights but you might have to work harder to get high number. Warlock is in a very good place right now in terms of the balancing of the specs. Go to World of logs and check it out.

[Deleted]

Only time I've seen demo as a top spec is when you're lucky enough with procs. I'd say it's a fair assesment that it's lacking compared to other burstspecs. I'd love to see some logs to prove me wrong though!

I can't give you pre-nerf tries since the reports have expired, and since I have changed my spec and reforges post nerf to be more useful on the remainder of the fight, numbers are quite lower that what you can accomplish as demo (150-200k ish, was usually between 1.7 and 1.9M). I'm far from saying I'm perfect either, I often miss the rotation and you probably can get a lot higher than that (my guess is a little bit over the 2M mark) :

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/r...&s=1275&e=1336

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/r...8117&target=21

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/r...&s=6048&e=6300

[Harsesis]

Mind if I ask how progressed your guild is ?

Because it's been my contention that even for folks doing heroic modes, the vast majority of players are far from being min/max-ers and that even a few percent difference in theoretical performance really doesn't mean much except for a tiny, tiny fraction of players. I just think it's easy to have a distorted view on how hardcore the rest of the populace is if you're in a high-end raid guild, and also folks on mmo-c here represent a disproportionately-high ratio of high-end players.

We are 8/8 H. I was not in for our first H Spine kill since we went with the best comp we could to get the kill and locks are obviously not very good on that fight. I do not deny being carried on that one. On our H Madness kill I was in for the first one and ranked #103 for Destro at the time. All 10M btw.