[5.4] Affliction Warlock and Encounter Specific Guides

[Shauni]

Amp is very, very good but have it's downsides (like proccing during Nazgrim defensive stance) plus being entirely dependant to your gear.

KTT, on the other hand, is less "theorically" powerfull but much, much more reliable

[Deleted]

Also from my own experiences (and those of quite a few others), amp has a habit of not proccing on the pull (or even within first 10 seconds) a bit too frequently. As affliction this can swing your dps massively when it fails to line up with 10 stack BBoY/Wush/LMG.

[Deleted]

Amp is very, very good but have it's downsides (like proccing during Nazgrim defensive stance) plus being entirely dependant to your gear.

KTT, on the other hand, is less "theorically" powerfull but much, much more reliable

what I dislike about Amp is that if it procs on pull then it lines up with Dark Soul, and if you're using Archimonde's Darkness you can very easily end up with the Amp proc never actually lining up with Dark Soul for the rest of the fight, whereas KTT procs so often it's (as you said) much more reliable.

[Deleted]

Does anyone have the numbers for the single target dps bonus we gain from the 2pc bonus (maybe 4pc, too)? I'm just wondering, because my ilvl is ~561, my guild mates' are close or a little higher (562-563, melees witch HC weapons +4pc).
I kinda have the feeling that in pure single target situations, I lack in dps output. I'm not talking about huge numbers, but a little.

So basically what I'm trying to figure out is, if it may be the dps gain from the 2pc/4pc I'm missing, or if it's my playstyle that needs to be optimized.

[Shauni]

Short answer : Simcraft.
Long answer Siiiiiiiiimcraaaaaaaaaaft.

Srlsy : for me it was a 9% gain to actually DOWNGRADE my stuff in order to obtain the 2P. The 4P, on the other hand, is not so good.
We can't really provides "numbers" like you ask, it's too much dependent of your stuff.
Try simcraft with your toon but, as a fellow warlock, if you are not in the top5, you are doing something wrong

[Deleted]

Short answer : Simcraft.
Long answer Siiiiiiiiimcraaaaaaaaaaft.

Srlsy : for me it was a 9% gain to actually DOWNGRADE my stuff in order to obtain the 2P. The 4P, on the other hand, is not so good.
We can't really provides "numbers" like you ask, it's too much dependent of your stuff.
Try simcraft with your toon but, as a fellow warlock, if you are not in the top5, you are doing something wrong

I'm playing 10M, so it's pretty hard not being in the top 5, even if you played a rogue without daggers
But I get what you're trying to say. Yeah, SimC would've been the obvious choice, but I don't really trust SimC these days, dunno why. Got me some strange results recently. But I'll do it anyway.
I didn't really hope for someone to post and say: "Yes sir, the 2pc bonus is exactly x% dps gain for every WL in the world", I was rather hoping for something like you said, someone telling me if it is a barely noticeable, or a good dps increase.

[FurtyIRL]

Another thing worth noting is amp almost devalues itself in a way. It will obviously be strongest on fight lengths just over each 2 minute mark (assuming it procs within 5-10s of coming off CD). So while amp is strong in near BiS gear on a 6-7 minute sim, most of us in BiS gear won't take 6-7 mins to kill a boss. Towards BiS a lot of the bosses will be dying in 3-5 minutes where you will get 1-2 amp trinket procs at best but at least double that (and perhaps more if you're lucky) from the RPPM trinkets.

Worthing noting. There will be fights where I use amp in place of KTT once I have access to all three trinkets but the vast majority I expect to be favoring BBoY and KTT.

[OokingDooker]

I'm playing 10M, so it's pretty hard not being in the top 5, even if you played a rogue without daggers
But I get what you're trying to say. Yeah, SimC would've been the obvious choice, but I don't really trust SimC these days, dunno why. Got me some strange results recently. But I'll do it anyway.
I didn't really hope for someone to post and say: "Yes sir, the 2pc bonus is exactly x% dps gain for every WL in the world", I was rather hoping for something like you said, someone telling me if it is a barely noticeable, or a good dps increase.

The 2 piece is about 3% dps increase for me, affliction wise.

[Deleted]

So what are we looking at for trinkets? Excluding Heroic BBoY since progression is over by the time you can get it, what is the best combo? ilvl wise it would just be H amp+H KTT but the proc on amp seems so much weaker and less frequent than even normal BBoY. Does the amount of Haste/Mastery it gives outweigh the superior BBoY proc? amp+KTT, BBoY+amp or BBoY+KTT. Can't really decide.

In any case, BBoY normal is the best of the three. The proc is just insane, and in the end that's the most important thing for Affliction. The passive haste is also not bad.

Personally I would prefer KTT as second trinket. Like you said, the proc on Bindings is horrendous, and I think that's enough to make it the worst of the trinkets you mentioned. Assuming you play properly, trinket procs are such a huge boost to Affliction DPS that I just don't believe passive stats can make up for that. Besides, the passive and proc on KTT are both pretty good, so it's not like you are getting a shitty trinket just for a better proc.

One more thing is that Bindings is very good for many other casters. It should be passed until no other class wants it IMO. On the other hand, BBoY is most beneficial by a decent margin on a warlock, so I think any good loot council would give you priority on that. KTT is middle of the road in that sense, so it should probably go to whomever is replacing the worst trinket.

[OokingDooker]

Another thing worth noting is amp almost devalues itself in a way. It will obviously be strongest on fight lengths just over each 2 minute mark (assuming it procs within 5-10s of coming off CD). So while amp is strong in near BiS gear on a 6-7 minute sim, most of us in BiS gear won't take 6-7 mins to kill a boss. Towards BiS a lot of the bosses will be dying in 3-5 minutes where you will get 1-2 amp trinket procs at best but at least double that (and perhaps more if you're lucky) from the RPPM trinkets.

Worthing noting. There will be fights where I use amp in place of KTT once I have access to all three trinkets but the vast majority I expect to be favoring BBoY and KTT.

What about you expect the dps difference to be between Amp + Bboy and KTT + bboy combo in a 6 - 7 minute fight? Assuming you're just swapping between the amp and ktt.

[Deleted]

Does anyone have the numbers for the single target dps bonus we gain from the 2pc bonus (maybe 4pc, too)? I'm just wondering, because my ilvl is ~561, my guild mates' are close or a little higher (562-563, melees witch HC weapons +4pc).
I kinda have the feeling that in pure single target situations, I lack in dps output. I'm not talking about huge numbers, but a little.

So basically what I'm trying to figure out is, if it may be the dps gain from the 2pc/4pc I'm missing, or if it's my playstyle that needs to be optimized.

2pc is 2-3%. 4pc is bad, simply because you have to use crit pieces for it. Obviously it's still better than ToT gear, but I would take haste/mastery/hit off-pieces over it any day.

The weapon is way more important, if you have 561 ilvl with a regular HC ToT weapon you will do far less damage than the same spec with 561 ilvl and a HC WF Siege weapon.

[Deleted]

2pc is 2-3%. 4pc is bad, simply because you have to use crit pieces for it. Obviously it's still better than ToT gear, but I would take haste/mastery/hit off-pieces over it any day.

The weapon is way more important, if you have 561 ilvl with a regular HC ToT weapon you will do far less damage than the same spec with 561 ilvl and a HC WF Siege weapon.

well chances are you'll have to take crit pieces anyway, as there are not many haste/mastery pieces, afaik there is only helm, bracers, gloves, boots, legs and ring that is mastery/haste, any other option has any combination of stats other than mastery/haste but i do agree with you, that 4pc setbonus is pretty bad and prolly not worth going after in the long run.

[EvreliaGaming]

Four set is 3%, two set is about 8-9%. Both are worth having.

[OokingDooker]

Four set is 3%, two set is about 8-9%. Both are worth having.

8 - 9% on a single target fight right? with about 50% malefic grasp up time?

Also, Do you agree with the majority here that KTT + BBOY is the best combo? Or is bindings + BBOY the best? Whats your opinion?

I think when your gear gets to 565+ you should be using BBOY + Bindings (heroic). Plus that combo has better synergy with Destro.

KTT will provide constant, steady, reliable damage. Bindings is fairly consistent with its proc mind so it's not like you're gonna have to seriously suffer with RNG on that either though.

That was my thought process as well (more gear = more stats from amp trinket). Bindings greatly benefit destro, as I can line up dark soul with it (most of the time at least), pool up ambers and fire off 3 - 4 chaos bolt.

[EvreliaGaming]

I think when your gear gets to 565+ you should be using BBOY + Bindings (heroic). Plus that combo has better synergy with Destro.

KTT will provide constant, steady, reliable damage. Bindings is fairly consistent with its proc mind so it's not like you're gonna have to seriously suffer with RNG on that either though.

[tret]

If we have a constant steady flow of shards ( norushen comes to mind) is it better to spam haunt rather than channel mg? I'm curious as to the dpct of haunt vs mg ticks. I believe haunts is higher...but what about high haste periods with high Intel procs such as an opener?

[Rustjive]

KTT sims out better w/ BBoY than Bindings w/ BBoY in the latest SimCraft, for what it's worth. Factor in the reliability and it's not that close.

[OokingDooker]

KTT sims out better w/ BBoY than Bindings w/ BBoY in the latest SimCraft, for what it's worth. Factor in the reliability and it's not that close.

Could link or post those sims here? I'm just curious as to the actual difference between the two combos

[Deleted]

If we have a constant steady flow of shards ( norushen comes to mind) is it better to spam haunt rather than channel mg? I'm curious as to the dpct of haunt vs mg ticks. I believe haunts is higher...but what about high haste periods with high Intel procs such as an opener?

Haunt DPCT is higher regardless of haste. It's true MG benefits more from haste, but it will GCD cap before overtaking Haunt. If you have unlimited shards, you should always prefer Haunt.

The only way this could potentially change is if your dots have insane procs, while you don't have any intellect procs currently.

[Rustjive]

Could link or post those sims here? I'm just curious as to the actual difference between the two combos

Check my signature.

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Edit: Disclaimer, I am currently doublechecking my work.
Edit 2: Rerunning some things for accuracy. I doubt that rankings will change. The profile is T16H, by the way.
Edit 3: I was wrong. Deleted the old post.