Shadowcleave 5.2

[Natixsphere]

So im trying to decide what comp im goin gto run in 5.2as a warlock obv im excited about RLS but id have to say my all time favorite comp has always been shadowcleave I ran it to 2650 highest arena rating and loved it. With the buffs to UA and UH dks do you guys think shadowcleave will be a viable comp in 5.2? Thanks!!

[Nicola]

The buff to UA is just the same thing as they did in cataclysm, making it always crit and giving it a small dmg buff. People will still dispel it when they feel like dispelling it.

As for the comp, while unholy will be harder to kill, warlocks lose a very strong CC. Compared to cataclysm, warlocks are extremely squishy and even with the buff to unholy, they will still die quickly to big burst.
You can give it a try, but I can tell you now already it will be nowhere as good as it was in cataclysm, mainly due all the warlock nerfs and the affliction revamp.

[Natixsphere]

Hmm I see are they nerfing our defenses? I feel like I can live for awhile even as aff with dark regen pet sac health stone and death coil its a large amount of self healing. Guess we will just have to wait and see. If it turns out not being any good than ill just run RLS or MonkLS lol.

[Stormspellz]

unholycleave > shadowcleave

[Deleted]

Im seeing unholy dk/shadow priest/mistweaver monk being pretty badass in 5.2. Replace shadow priest with affliction lock and you will
get a slightly less viable comp but still very good if played correctly.

[Nicola]

Hmm I see are they nerfing our defenses? I feel like I can live for awhile even as aff with dark regen pet sac health stone and death coil its a large amount of self healing. Guess we will just have to wait and see. If it turns out not being any good than ill just run RLS or MonkLS lol.

Yes, and what if they just tunnel you all game long, which is going to happen if you play shadowcleave in 5.2?
And tell me, what are you going to do with those healing cooldowns when a druid can just clone it or when a rogue is going to nerve strike it to non existent healing?

In the yaspresent tournament, it was very clear that teams either ignored the affliction warlock all game long, or tunneled him all game long, depending on the map.
Affliction warlocks are nothing more then weaker shadowpriests right now >.>

[Schirmy]

Would be fun again to try some oldschool Scleave with a Resto Druid but the only heals I know of right now is a Shaman. Although, I think Unholyplay would be infinitely better

[Yvaelle]

The biggest downside to Unholy/Affliction/Healer is going to be that affliction isn't a tank spec anymore - before you used to let your lock stand out in the middle of the room and hope the enemy tried futilely to burn through 25% damage reduction and 20% bonus healing (and an LoS teleport if you ever actually threatened us), because any swap to the lock was a swap off the dk and healer who were actually killable - but letting the lock stand in the middle of everyone and free cast was too dangerous to ignore sometimes.

With warlocks playing more like mages (running and kiting) than shadowpriests, you are going to be a lot more dependent on the DK peeling for you than you were in the past. Even after the warrior nerfs I suspect Warrior/Affliction/Healer (probably Hpal) would be stronger than uh/affliction/healer (probably also Hpal actually), just because of the multitude of stuns - with that said - unholy/affliction could prove to be unhealable pressure through the combination of the only real dot cleave still in the game and unholy's good dot cleave and necrotic stacks.

Have everybody stack resilience IMO to like 65%, it could work out beautifully with that kind of pressure going out - but just remember you're all different than you were before - so you will need to play it a little different. Having a healer with spammable CC would be a boon for you guys because it would up your effective pressure a lot, but a shaman is never the wrong call this season so it could work as well. Good luck

[Ranaas]

dont ever run arena with a dk in mop (unless that dk is like a god or something)

period

[Ieft]

Shadowcleaves biggest weakness is that warlocks lack the tools to babysit a dk, when shadowcleave was a strong comp dks we're stable defensively, but thats not the case anymore.

So like an above posted said unholyplay > shadowcleave.

[Yvaelle]

dont ever run arena with a dk in mop (unless that dk is like a god or something)

period

DKs are just as well represented as priests this season if you include RBGs, in arena's they aren't great - but they're not terrible either.

http://worldofwargraphs.com/stats-cl...0-0-0-0-0.html

Edit: Struggling to explain this well enough. I'm not saying DKs are in a great position in arenas, DKs who probably should be at a gladiator rating are at like 2200-2400 right now - that clearly sucks. But there are so many DKs at high ratings in RBGs, because DKs are so good at RBGs, that it balances out. In a lot of ways, being good for RBGs is a lot better than being good at 2's or 3's or 5's - so I don't feel too bad for DKs right now.

[Nicola]

DKs are just as well represented as priests this season if you include RBGs, in arena's they aren't great - but they're not terrible either.

http://worldofwargraphs.com/stats-cl...0-0-0-0-0.html

Yes, but the game is balanced around 3s.
Also, RBG representation is just flawed, some classes have a lot higher representation then they should have because they have an ability that's just necessary to have for most setups/certain maps; aoe grip comes to mind, or howling blast to defend flags;

[Syh]

"dont ever run arena with a dk in mop"

That last bit is the most important bit of what you said. In MoP? So, you're saying to disregard any buffs that they're getting and never run any DK teams? I'm sorry but you're likely to see more DKs in 3s next season, period.

[Schirmy]

"dont ever run arena with a dk in mop"

That last bit is the most important bit of what you said. In MoP? So, you're saying to disregard any buffs that they're getting and never run any DK teams? I'm sorry but you're likely to see more DKs in 3s next season, period.

I think we'll see more Unholy DK's which will be a nice change; albeit a lot of the innate problems DK's have will still exist =/

[rzy]

So im trying to decide what comp im goin gto run in 5.2as a warlock obv im excited about RLS but id have to say my all time favorite comp has always been shadowcleave I ran it to 2650 highest arena rating and loved it. With the buffs to UA and UH dks do you guys think shadowcleave will be a viable comp in 5.2? Thanks!!

YES!! I really think it will be amazing, i deffo will be playing it in 5.2 on my dk!

[Demetrion]

If you play a lock get a shadow priest and go Shadowplay. If you play a DK get a shadow priest and go Unholy play. If you play any other class, get a shadow priest and go XYZ play.

P.S.: Still waiting to see the change to SW:I. Knowing blizzard it will be stupidly overpowered or utter shit, but since it's utter shit already they can't make the same mistake twice.