[6.1] Affliction Warlock Guide

[Count Zero]

If the last corruption you casted is not on the target you drain soul on, you're not going to have 5% increased chance to proc nightfall. And I think that's what you did on iron maiden, you cast corruption first on you target and then on the other 2. Make sure to cast the last one on your target and it will be fine.

... how sure are you about this

[Jetjaguar]

Follow-up question regarding SB:Haunt vs DS.

I want to try fiddling around with Affliction to try and get used to the spec (haven't played it since ICC outside of pvp).
It was said before that item level and boss duration factor into which of the two is better, I'm currently at 681 and Gruul takes roughly 5 minutes off the top of my head.

Due to shitty RNG however, I don't have a single tier piece yet. Considering I don't have any of the tier bonuses, would it be better to use SB:H or DS?

DS probably

[uhhwateva]

Can anyone knowledgeable or versed in Affliction answer this question for me?

I was under the impression that Soul Swap as is, costing a shard is not worth casting and is only a minimal GCD save. It's better to use Shards on Haunt. It has a niche but it's not used a lot.

This new guide on Summon Stone, a site ran in large part by Mid Winter, has Soul Swap glyphed a majority of the time, and even advocates using SB:Soul Swap. For reference, here is the guide.

Which would be optimal? Information seems conflicting.

[Taalyn]

If the last corruption you casted is not on the target you drain soul on, you're not going to have 5% increased chance to proc nightfall. And I think that's what you did on iron maiden, you cast corruption first on you target and then on the other 2. Make sure to cast the last one on your target and it will be fine.

That doesn't make any sense.

[Deleted]

That doesn't make any sense.

It makes complete sense.

Nightfall we know is programmed to only proc off of your most recently cast Corruption.

So people are speculating (and I think correctly from a few bosses I did last week as Affliction) that the 4pc bonus only works when you are channeling on said Corruption.

The solution is to make sure that the target you are Drain Souling has the most recently applied Corruption.

[Deleted]

It makes complete sense.

Nightfall we know is programmed to only proc off of your most recently cast Corruption.

So people are speculating (and I think correctly from a few bosses I did last week as Affliction) that the 4pc bonus only works when you are channeling on said Corruption.

The solution is to make sure that the target you are Drain Souling has the most recently applied Corruption.

I have never thought of this before. o_O

[uhhwateva]

Can anyone knowledgeable or versed in Affliction answer this question for me?

I was under the impression that Soul Swap as is, costing a shard is not worth casting and is only a minimal GCD save. It's better to use Shards on Haunt. It has a niche but it's not used a lot.

This new guide on Summon Stone, a site ran in large part by Mid Winter, has Soul Swap glyphed a majority of the time, and even advocates using SB:Soul Swap. For reference, here is the guide.

Which would be optimal? Information seems conflicting.

Bumping for an answer.

[striderZA]

Bumping for an answer.

The guide suggests that there's a threshold of targets at which it becomes better for you to use Soul Swap over SB:Haunt, and it translates into saving a lot of GCDs when you have more than 3 targets. The usage of SB: Soul Swap makes sense, but it's only ever in the opener. Considering the amount of haste you have in the opener from DS, trinket and in most situations bloodlust, saving GCDs on applying DoTs and in stead having a full DoT line with two sets of trinkets is perhaps the main reason.

[uhhwateva]

The guide suggests that there's a threshold of targets at which it becomes better for you to use Soul Swap over SB:Haunt, and it translates into saving a lot of GCDs when you have more than 3 targets. The usage of SB: Soul Swap makes sense, but it's only ever in the opener. Considering the amount of haste you have in the opener from DS, trinket and in most situations bloodlust, saving GCDs on applying DoTs and in stead having a full DoT line with two sets of trinkets is perhaps the main reason.

I appreciate this, I didn't think of this being the case. I imagine with all the procs your haste being so high you can probably regain shards quick enough to justify dumping all 4 (2 on SB:H, and 2 on SB:Soul Swap).

In the case of a fight like Maidens, in which you have 3 targets on pull, I was instead hard casting all of my dots, and throwing Haunt on all 2 or 3 targets depending on Nightfall procs. Instead, I guess it'd be better to get DoTs quicker and not have 2-3 Haunts out at the same time?

[striderZA]

I appreciate this, I didn't think of this being the case. I imagine with all the procs your haste being so high you can probably regain shards quick enough to justify dumping all 4 (2 on SB:H, and 2 on SB:Soul Swap).

In the case of a fight like Maidens, in which you have 3 targets on pull, I was instead hard casting all of my dots, and throwing Haunt on all 2 or 3 targets depending on Nightfall procs. Instead, I guess it'd be better to get DoTs quicker and not have 2-3 Haunts out at the same time?

Yeah if you can convince your guild to do a 25 sec timer, you can have the free shard in the opener which should help quite a bit. I don't know about maidens, I though, I assume that you would manually recast DoTs since the glyph is used for either the boat boss or the turrets. The glyph, in general, gives you a lot of freedom with Soul Swap and can be really beneficial when you can properly anticipate when priority targets spawn, since it saves a lot of time re-dotting and allows you to save a full duration DoT line for an extended time.

Take this with a grain of salt though, I'm just giving my own interpretation of what Xyronic wrote.

[Xyronic]

Yeah if you can convince your guild to do a 25 sec timer, you can have the free shard in the opener which should help quite a bit. I don't know about maidens, I though, I assume that you would manually recast DoTs since the glyph is used for either the boat boss or the turrets. The glyph, in general, gives you a lot of freedom with Soul Swap and can be really beneficial when you can properly anticipate when priority targets spawn, since it saves a lot of time re-dotting and allows you to save a full duration DoT line for an extended time.

Take this with a grain of salt though, I'm just giving my own interpretation of what Xyronic wrote.

You actually nailed it on the head.

[Darkheart]

But seriously it's mostly 70 to 100 DPS difference between all these. Blizz did a solid job balancing racials. Personally, I'm going Troll.

I have a question regarding the best time to use "Berzerking" for trolls.

Due to diminishing returns, should we use it inside or outside of bloodlust? And what if bloodlust was used at the end of the boss encounter (e.g. mythic beastlord), or at the beginning (e.g. Mythic Gruul), does it make a difference when to use it?

I am 691 ilvl undead now, but thinking of rerolling troll for the added dps. I know the difference is only 400 or so dps according to sims, but that is factoring a 10000 iterations fight. I am thinking that if I time "Berzerking" properly and have some luck as well, the difference might be even more, like 600 or so dps, which would be decent, or maybe I am wrong.

Appreciate your advise, and thanks.

[SpikeySquad]

Well you're not wrong in whether or not you think it is decent. For me though the difference between say 40,700 and 40,100 dps would not be enough for me to become a troll/roll another race. Of course you are also having fights with differences of say 200 dps. How well does Berserking scale with gear? Will you be playing other specs as well? Haste for Destro for example I think will be quite poor come the new 2 set.

I once race changed my old main back when Goblins were severely overpowered and I still regret it to this day so hence I am a little biased. If you haven't yet I would definitely recommend playing for a bit as your new race before you make the choice.

[MycantrumX]

I have a question regarding the best time to use "Berzerking" for trolls.

Due to diminishing returns, should we use it inside or outside of bloodlust? And what if bloodlust was used at the end of the boss encounter (e.g. mythic beastlord), or at the beginning (e.g. Mythic Gruul), does it make a difference when to use it?

I am 691 ilvl undead now, but thinking of rerolling troll for the added dps. I know the difference is only 400 or so dps according to sims, but that is factoring a 10000 iterations fight. I am thinking that if I time "Berzerking" properly and have some luck as well, the difference might be even more, like 600 or so dps, which would be decent, or maybe I am wrong.

Appreciate your advise, and thanks.

Generally, stacking your CDs as much as possible will result in the greatest DPS gain, instead of spreading them out. In addition, Berserking gives a flat Haste rating increase, whereas Dark Soul gives a percentage. Stacking the two actually means you get 30% more Haste out of Berserking.

Like Spikeyshadow said though, the racials are so balanced that its not worth it to change IMO. It was a different situation in previous expansions with snapshotting, but with the removal of that, everything is much more in-line.

[Darkheart]

Generally, stacking your CDs as much as possible will result in the greatest DPS gain, instead of spreading them out. In addition, Berserking gives a flat Haste rating increase, whereas Dark Soul gives a percentage. Stacking the two actually means you get 30% more Haste out of Berserking.

Like Spikeyshadow said though, the racials are so balanced that its not worth it to change IMO. It was a different situation in previous expansions with snapshotting, but with the removal of that, everything is much more in-line.

Every time I check my logs, "Touch of the Grave" is like "0.3x%" of my DPS. Some "50k" damage or something. Utter crap.

I can't help but think that practically speaking (not SIMs) Berzerking will do significantly more on fights on which I get lucky.

[MycantrumX]

Every time I check my logs, "Touch of the Grave" is like "0.3x%" of my DPS. Some "50k" damage or something. Utter crap.

I can't help but think that practically speaking (not SIMs) Berzerking will do significantly more on fights on which I get lucky.

Like I said, with the removal of snapshotting, Berserking and all the other OP racials lost a lot of their value. You likely won't get more than a few extra ticks on your dots over the course of a fight. You only get the haste buff while Berserking is up, not for the duration of your dots. I am sure it might give you a bit more DPS at times, but its not at all as significant as you might think. You're better off learning how to optimize your play, rather than suggesting that a racial is going to make the difference. The only reason I would ever race-change is for a different character model.

[striderZA]

Every time I check my logs, "Touch of the Grave" is like "0.3x%" of my DPS. Some "50k" damage or something. Utter crap.

I can't help but think that practically speaking (not SIMs) Berzerking will do significantly more on fights on which I get lucky.

Significantly more is a gross overstatement.

[Darkheart]

I stand corrected.

[Werst]

All the racials are balanced to be within the "noise" of RNG and against each other. So its what you like best for other factors. Aff may love its haste and the short 3 min troll racial has its place BUT so do other racials. Probably if I had to pick the best overall race for both now and 6.2 I'd say orc. Unless something major changes on the PTR we will all be aff/dest next expac where troll isn't so hot for dest while orc still will be. UD is good all around, has my favorite casting animation, and is nice for pvp. Goblin has a bit of haste but more importantly the goblin jump which can be a lifesaver in raids to avoid hazards. Offensively play orc...defensively goblin. Keep in mind...we have been running around mostly as demo so no more demo leap when the spec sunsets so goblin leap jumps in value...

Still hoping for some 6.2 mechanical fixes but I highly doubt it.

[krille20]

Hello. I just dinged 100 on my warlock and I've been leveling as demonology because it has good dps and was easy. But, I'm really more of a DOT kind of guy. I watched some 2 months old affliction warlock guide and he said you need about 850 haste for affliction to be good and if you have low item-lvl it was better to go demonology instead.

How true is this? I really don't know much about warlocks as this is the first one I've leveled up to max-level.

I don't raid seriously besides brf normal and hm hc and such.

I'm so sorry if this has already been answered as I'm writing this in a hurry. I appreciate all help!