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    Exclamation [6.2] Demonology Warlock Guide

    This guide will always be a work in progress as things change quite often! Discussion is always encouraged.


    Table of Contents

    Frequently Asked Questions
    Stats and You
    Perks
    Gearing
    Picking a Race
    Talents
    Glyphs
    Rotation
    Mechanics
    Changelog


    About me
    I'm known here on MMO-Champion as Woz (it's an old name that I thought was cool back when I started using forums) but I normally go by the name of Not. I've been around the Warlock community for the past 3 expansions but only recently started contributing with the start of Mists of Pandaria. I've played WoW itself since AQ40 but didn't raid seriously until Burning Crusade. I've played many classes as a main; Warrior in BC+start of WotLK, Shaman and back to Warrior again in WotLK into Cata (I did play Warlock in WotLK as a main alt and cleared all the content on it as well), played Warrior in Cata until the Maloriak wall and swapped to Warlock for the remainder of the expansion and have stuck with it since though thick and thin I just really enjoy the class as a whole. Taking on this guide in the shadow of Zinnin is a daunting task and there will probably be some growing pains along the way but I am very much happy to be here. Let's get on with it already!

    Welcome to the darker side of Warlock, enjoy your stay...
    If you're looking to play a more distinct and varied spec to play in the new expansion than this is the spec for you! It not only offers a unique single target rotation but also a unique way of AoE. This guide will provide you with this basics of what you should be doing for Demonology in a PvE setting. If there are any mishaps in the guide of course please leave a post and I'll get it updated accordingly.

    Demonology has been changed somewhat in Warlords of Draenor as opposed to what we left off with in Mists of Pandaria. Where we left off was a spec with a large portion of control as to when and how you deal DPS to a spec where you still have control but it is slightly less convoluted. The best thing about Demonology is that it still provides you with an insane amount of movement over the other specs which is simply advantageous over the other specs as there isn't much of an option for movement DPS with either Affliction or Destruction.


    Q: I'm actually about to freak out, what's changing in 6.2?!
    A: Demo got knocked off it's perch for 6.2 with a number of changes coming in. First off a few spell adjustments;
    • Mastery: Master Demonologist has decreased in effectiveness by 4%.
    • Chaos Wave now deals 25% less damage.
    • Doom now deals 25% less damage.
    • Hand of Gul’dan now deals 25% less damage.
    • Soul Fire now deals 25% less damage.
    • Touch of Chaos now deals 25% less damage.
    • Mastery: Master Demonologist - Increases all damage done by you and your demon servants by 10%, up from 7.7%. Further increases the damage of your Touch of Chaos, Chaos Wave, Doom, Immolation Aura, and Soul Fire while in Metamorphosis by 20%, up from 15.4%.

    Secondly there are some new set bonuses;

    Thirdly a nice little spec specific trinket off of Archimonde, Fragment of the Dark Star;
    • Demonology: Hand of Gul'dan has a 60(Normal)/70(Heroic)/80(Mythic)% chance to also summon 3 Wild Imps.

    Lastly a nice quality of life change;
    • Dark Soul should now have its cooldown reset at the end of a raid encounter for all Warlock specializations.

    Q: 6.2 is here, WHAT DO I DO?!
    A: It is mostly status quo for Demonology in 6.2, nothing really has changed in terms of rotations or what talents to take. Overall including the Archimonde trinket effect you'll be in the clear to take either GoSyn/Demonbolt or GoServ/DServ for single target and two target situations with GoSyn/Cataclysm taking over in the normal circumstances. Demonology is pretty much a very niche spec wherein if you need snap AoE burst (CW, Cata, Immo Aura) it does very well and the same goes with single target burst (Demonbolt).

    Q: Is Glyph of Dark Soul still a thing I should always use?
    A: Yes and no. In simulation Glyph of Dark Soul edges out not glyphing it for Demonbolt in terms of raw DPS, however it may be worth it to not glyph since it will give you more movement and more opportunity to not have to turret for 8 of every 60 seconds. In terms of the most extreme cases of DPS unglyphed (ultimately) will be the best thing to run, but it will depend on how comfortable you are at planting your feet and casting for 8s at a time without getting hit by mechanics.

    Spoiler: 
    Quote Originally Posted by Woz View Post
    Patchwerk:


    Glyphed: 41 casts of Demonbolt.
    Unglyphed: 40 casts of Demonbolt.

    Helter Skelter:


    Glyphed: 36 casts of Demonbolt.
    Unglyphed: 35 casts of Demonbolt.

    Light Movement:


    Glyphed: 39 casts of Demonbolt.
    Unglyphed: 37 casts of Demonbolt.

    Heavy Movement:


    Glyphed: 27 casts of Demonbolt.
    Unglyphed: 26 casts of Demonbolt.

    Overall you'll still get the same number of casts off (roughly) while trading off some of the turret playstyle for minimal(ish) DPS. The difference between the two is fairly negligible in terms of what you get out of not glyphing it.


    Q: What's better; Demonbolt, Cataclysm or Demonic Servitude!?
    A: They all have their niches but in general you will want to use Demonbolt (in combination with Grimoire of Synergy) for Single Target, Cataclysm with Grimoire of Synergy for Multi Target for the most optimal results. You can however still use Demonic Servitude on Single Target and do fine.

    Q: What race should I pick!?
    A: It really doesn't matter long term, Blizzard has done a remarkable job at balancing the races so there's not really any one race that will edge out over the others.

    Q: Is Imp Swarm still a thing I should use?
    A: It's become a much more situational glyph to use now as you will have much more steady Fury generation not using it throughout the whole duration of a fight compared to a quick burst of Fury and damage.

    Q: How do I DEMONBOLT!?
    A: It's fairly cut and dry at this point with Demonbolt. As of 6.2 you continue to use the 4 Demonbolt methodology.

    Q: How does I WarcraftLogs?
    A: This is a bit of a loaded question but the best way to analyze either yourself or someone else is to follow this post that I've recently made:

    Quote Originally Posted by Woz View Post
    There is sort of a way to do it with pins but it's really not the greatest way and still requires some work on your part.

    Code:
    &pins=0%24Separate%24%23244F4B%24casts%240%240.0.0.Any%240.0.0.Warlock%24true%240.0.0.Any%24false%24104027%5E0%24Separate%24%23909049%24casts%240%240.0.0.Any%240.0.0.Warlock%24true%240.0.0.Any%24false%24103964%5E0%24Separate%24%23a04D8A%24casts%240%240.0.0.Any%240.0.0.Warlock%24true%240.0.0.Any%24false%24124916%5E0%24Separate%24%23DF5353%24casts%240%240.0.0.Any%240.0.0.Warlock%24true%240.0.0.Any%24false%24113861%5E0%24Separate%24rgb(78%25,+61%25,+43%25)%24auras-gained%240%240.0.0.Any%240.0.0.Any%24true%240.0.0.Warlock%24false%24177046%5E0%24Separate%24%23a0a0a0%24auras-gained%240%240.0.0.Any%240.0.0.Any%24true%240.0.0.Warlock%24false%24177081%5E0%24Separate%24%23F43F5B%24auras-gained%240%240.0.0.Any%240.0.0.Any%24true%240.0.0.Warlock%24false%24177176%5E0%24Separate%24%23244F4B%24auras-gained%240%240.0.0.Any%240.0.0.Any%24true%240.0.0.Warlock%24false%24177051
    You just have to add this pin code to the end of the WCL URL and hit Enter.

    Is a pin code for everything you'd analyze in a Demo Locks logs but it will show them for ALL Warlock so you'd still have to do some work regardless.
    Firstly it doesn't show what the actual ability is but it shows you the spellID, for example in this pin it goes (top to bottom):
    1. Soul Fire (Meta)
    2. Touch of Chaos
    3. Chaos Wave
    4. Dark Soul: Instability
    5. Howling Soul (GSR proc)
    6. Molten Metal (BMC proc)
    7. Archmage's Greater Incandescence (Ring proc)
    8. Instability (DUT proc)

    Now in a log where you have multiple Warlock sources it will show you them all in the pins, which can be helpful but it can also suck if you want to analyze one persons log and not all the Warlocks.

    What you have to do is select the Warlock you want to analyze in each of the abilities pin so it filters out the other Warlock(s) and what you'll be left with is one Warlock that you want to analyze. To see the Fury usage during these spells I would highly recommend going to the Resources tab and selecting Demonic Fury as well since you will see the ebb and flow of Fury during these procs/spell usage.

    The basics of gearing in WoD has changed slightly but isn't as complicated as it sounds. Our stats can still shift depending on a variety of things but we are looking at something like this overall:

    • Intellect
    • Mastery
    • Haste / Crit / Multistrike
    • Versatility

    100% pure single target Haste edges out the other stats and multi-target Crit edges out over the others, otherwise they are all fairly equal and you should aim to have your stats relatively equal to one another.

    Stat weights are all relative to your character depending on your other stats.

    If you have 1500 Mastery, 1300 Multistrike, 1310 Crit and 500 Haste in a sim you'd see:

    Mastery >= Haste > Crit=Multistrike

    And contrarily if you have 1500 Mastery, Crit, Multistrike and Haste in a sim you'd see:

    Mastery > Haste=Crit=Multistrike

    The only stat that is the clear outlier as the best is Mastery, everything else you want as close as possible to each other.
    Intellect
    This is our primary stat, everything we do scales with it.

    Crit
    Increases your crit chance by 1% every 110 rating. Soulfire now crits 100% of the time, and gains a damage increase based on your crit percentage, which makes this slightly less RNG then it used to be. Also, whenever Doom critically hits you spawn 1 Wild Imp that does good damage and will generate 50 fury over its duration.

    Mastery
    Increases basically all of our pets damage and increases the damage of metamorphosis by a solid amount. Also increases the damage while we are in caster form by a small amount. Unlike Mists of Pandaria, in Warlords of Draenor none of our abilities snapshot mastery.
    1% Pet damage: ~110 Rating
    1% Caster form damage: ~110 Rating
    1% Metamorphosis damage: ~36.66 Rating

    Multistrike
    Multistrike grants two chance to deal 30% extra damage per hit. The chance is based on rating. It takes 66 rating to gain 1% multistrike.

    Haste
    Haste rating increases the speed we cast, the rate our DoTs tick, how fast our Primary pets gain energy, and also decrease the cooldown of Imp Swarm, Demonic Calling and Demonbolt. Touch of chaos is at a 1s GCD and is not effected by haste. You will need 90 rating for 1% haste.

    Keep in mind that in 6.0 our DoTs no longer snapshot haste and update their tick duration after every tick.

    Versatility
    Versatility is purposefully designed to be a weaker DPS stat, however it does give you some extra utility in terms of extra healing via Drain Life, other % personally healing, and damage reduction.

    It takes 130 rating to gain 1% damage and healing, and 260 for 1% damage reduction.

    Enhanced Corruption
    Your Corruption generates 1 additional Demonic Fury each time it deals damage.

    Empowered Doom
    Your Doom has an additional 20% critical strike chance.

    Empowered Demons
    Grants your demon pets an additional 10% haste and 10% critical strike chance.

    Empowered Drain Life
    Health gained from your Drain Life grows by 10% each time it heals you.

    BiS Raid gear:
    Slot Piece of Gear Who Where
    Head Demon Prince's Ascendant Crown Archimonde Hellfire Citadel
    Neck Vial of Immiscible Liquid Xhul'horac Hellfire Citadel
    Shoulders Deathrattle Shoulderpads Xhul'horac Hellfire Citadel
    Cloak Shawl of Sanguinary Ritual Kilrogg Deadeye Hellfire Citadel
    Chest Deathrattle Robe Mannoroth Hellfire Citadel
    Bracer Contemptuous Wristguards Tyrant Velhari Hellfire Citadel
    Gloves Deathrattle Gloves Soulbound Construct Hellfire Citadel
    Belt Demonbuckle Sash of Argus Archimonde Hellfire Citadel
    Legs Deathrattle Leggings Gorefiend Hellfire Citadel
    Feet Dessicated Soulrender Slippers Trash/AH Hellfire Citadel
    Ring Nithramus, the All-Seer Quest Legendary Questline
    Ring Loathful Encrusted Band Tyrant Velhari Hellfire Citadel
    Trinket Fragment of the Dark Star Archimonde Hellfire Citadel
    Trinket Desecrated Shadowmoon Insignia Hellfire Council Hellfire Citadel
    Main Hand/Staff Edict of Argus Archimonde Hellfire Citadel
    Offhand N/A N/A N/A

    If you can get an open socket rolled on any of these pieces it is even better. Speed also isn't a terrible tertiary stat if they rolls it.
    Orb of Voidsight is not BiS over these trinkets even against a Demon, reference is here if anyone cares to see the results against a demon.

    Raid Trinket Comparison (Simcraft version: 620-01)


    Gems, Enchants and Consumables
    Neck: Enchant Neck - Gift of Mastery
    Rings: Enchant Ring - Gift of Mastery
    Cloak: Enchant Cloak - Gift of Mastery
    Weapon: Enchant Weapon - Mark of Bleeding Hollow

    Flask: Greater Draenic Intellect Flask
    Potion: Draenic Intellect Potion
    Food: Sleeper Sushi

    Gems:
    Immaculate Mastery Taladite
    Greater Mastery Taladite

    Results as of Simcraft version 620-01:

    T18 Mythic:


    It does vary depending on the gear you'll have but the difference between them is extremely small.

    Level 75 Talents

    Grimoire of Supremacy
    As it did in MoP, Grimoire of Supremacy has taken on a role of passive DPS, since the fury gain was buffed it's a viable option for those who don't necessarily want to rely on a proc based Grimoire or a cooldown based Grimoire.

    Grimoire of Service
    Has the same role in WoD as it did in MoP, providing a solid burst every 2 minutes and gives you the option of having another cooldown you can line up for fights.

    Neat macro so you don't have to have multiple macros depending on your spec:
    Code:
    #showtooltip [talent:7/1] Grimoire: Felguard; [talent:7/2] Grimoire: Felguard; [talent:7/3] Grimoire: Doomguard
    /cast [talent:7/1] Grimoire: Felguard; [talent:7/2] Grimoire: Felguard; [talent:7/3] Grimoire: Doomguard

    Grimoire of Synergy
    Since this is the new talent around the block I'll go a bit more in depth for the talent choice. With the idea of simplicity in mind, Grimoire of Synergy is a great option to take for AoE situations and is an great option for single target. For the most part this talent is all about RNG and making the best out of your proc. Grimoire of Synergy actually has great synergy (go figure) with Demonbolt (Level 100 talent) since the proc rates are fairly in line with the cooldown of Demonbolt. This talent is a fabulous choice and can certainly be even more powerful than the others if you get good procrates or if you are able to make the most out of your proc(s). In general I'd say Grimoire of Synergy is going to be our go-to choice for this talent tier. The actual formula for this ability is RPPM, and it is as follows: 1.333 RPPM + USP (unlucky streak prevention).

    Grimoire Comparisons (Simcraft version 620-01)

    1 Target:


    2 Target:


    Grimoires tested with the item set above. In terms of what talent to take for single target they all break even (as Demonbolt) without the Legendary ring while Grimoire of Service edges out once you get the Legendary ring.

    Once you come into any kind of sustained target DPS scenario you will always take Grimoire of Synergy and likely it will be with Cataclysm unless there is an underlying circumstance where you still have 1 super high priority target in which case you take Demonbolt.

    Level 90 Talents

    Archimonde's Darkness
    Archimonde's Darkness makes our Dark Soul cooldown have two charges. The main strength of the this talent comes from the fact you can now sit on a charge of Dark Soul and not get penalized for not using it until it hits its second charge. You 'can' just use it back to back, however I find that isn't optimal in most situations.

    Kil'Jaeden's Cunning
    This talent gives a 35 second cooldown ability to cast while moving, on some fights if our cooldowns repetitively line up with movement phases it may be ideal to take this talent. However if movement phases are random and/or don't line up with our cooldowns Demonology has high mobility through use of ToC and can get away with not taking this talent.

    Mannoroth's Fury
    Mannoroth's Fury is supposed to be our main AoE talent. It gives us a 1 minute cooldown that increases the damage of Hellfire and Immolation Aura by 100% and also increases their radius by 500%.
    Since most if not all fights are not caster-in-melee-friendly this talent isn't going to be picked often if at all.

    Level 100 Talents


    Macro for talent swapping:
    Code:
    #showtooltip [talent:7/1] Demonbolt; [talent:7/2] Cataclysm
    /use [talent:7/1] Demonbolt; [talent:7/2] Cataclysm
    /petattack

    Demonbolt
    Ah yes, Demonbolt. This spell has gone through many many changes since it was introduced and we have been graced with a spell that changes our rotation drastically. It started with never being used, then being used all the time.
    From there it went to being used only two times per cooldown and then to four and now we are left where you simply fire off as many Demonbolts as you can when your cycle restarts itself after the debuff expires.
    As of current build (6.2) with Demonbolt doing 238.1% of Spell Power you will be casting 4 Demonbolts per cycle.
    Since this is a purely single target talent there are upswings and downswings to using it; the upswing is that it's a fantastic tool to use if you can use it to it's max potential, the downside is that you are confining yourself to a strict guideline for your time in Meta that basically has to be planned out.

    Cataclysm
    Another very fun spell that has gone through many changes. It is the bread and butter of AoE talents for this tier and is pretty much strictly confined to just that. For the most part you're going to be using this talent for on-demand burst in AoE situations where there is 4 or more mobs to AoE. The interesting part about this spell is that it has dual components for Demonology. If you cast it in caster form it will apply corruption to all the targets it hits and if you cast it in Meta you apply Doom to all targets. To get max use of Cataclysm (if used during Meta) ensure any Doom applied to a target stays alive for 15+ seconds so you get the benefit Doom crits for Wild Imps.
    You should be looking to line up Dark Soul with Cataclysm as well since it does benefit from the Mastery gain from Dark Soul -- but it does not benefit from the extra Mastery from being in Meta.

    As a general rule since 6.1 you will be using Cataclysm for any fight where there is more than 1 target or where you need snap burst.

    Demonic Servitude
    This talent allows you to have your big demons out 100% of the time (in place of your other normal pets). Doomguard and Infernal can become permanent pets, not much else can be said!
    As of 6.1 Demonic Servitude is actually a viable option for single target but on AoE or cleave it's pretty bad (RIP Infernal).
    Glyphs


    Imp Swarm
    As of right now the same rules apply for Imp Swarm going forward in Warlords of Draenor as they did in Mists of Pandaria:
    Without the Glyph of Imp Swarm you will passively gain the Demonic Calling buff every 20s, which will spawn one Imp. This will grant you 6 Imps / 2 minutes.

    With the glyph you will passively gain the Demonic Calling buff every 24s. This means you get 5 Imps / 2 minutes. You also have the option to use Imp Swarm which instantly spawn 4 Imps, but then make it so you cannot gain the Demonic Calling buff for 2 minutes. This means by using the glyph you are instantly losing 1 imp / 2 minutes by glyphing it. Actually using the Imp Swarm ability lowers this by another 1. However due to the fact that the cooldown of Imp Swarm is snapshotted the instant you cast it, you can 'game' the ability to some degree using it during haste procs. The glyph is a overall DPS loss but a burst DPS gain, the same rules we applied to it in MoP.
    In general if you have any kind of haste proc (Bloodlust/Heroism, trinket, whatever) you'll want to cast Imp Swarm then since it snapshots the CD based on your current haste.

    Glyph of Dark Soul
    This glyph has changed significantly from MoP where it was a definite DPS loss to use it it's now in the mix to be useful. The glyph itself now reduces both the cooldown and the duration of Dark Soul by 50%. So instead of having Dark Soul every 2 minutes for 20 seconds, you're getting it every 1 minute for 10 seconds which enables the glyph to be extremely useful for various aspects of Demonology play.
    As of 6.1 taking this glyph won't be a requirement for any spec whatsoever.

    Other Glyphs

    Glyph Of Shadow Bolt
    This glyph is NOT a DPS increase. It is also NOT a DPS loss. It is simply a cosmetic glyph.

    Glyph of Demonic Training
    This glyph doesn't suddenly make your Imp do a bunch of DPS, that is just your recount being shit. Still a very nice boost to your Sac Pact cooldown if you decide to use that talent.

    Glyph of Unending Resolve
    On any fight where you need a faster cooldown on interrupt immune, or a faster cooldown on damage reduction this is viable.

    Glyph of Eternal Resolve
    Provides you with a basic 10% extra damage reduction, can be useful for any fights with static raid damage.

    Glyph of Strengthened Resolve
    On any fight where you may need a delayed cooldown for the extra benefit of 20% more damage reduction. The glyph is new in WoD and so far I've yet to see a major use for it.

    Glyph of Life Tap
    This glyph will allow you to Tap indefinitely on fights that you cannot receive healing due to a shield mechanic.

    Glyph of Life Pact
    This glyph allows you to not ever be able to cast Life Tap and in return lowers the mana cost of all your spells by 30%. In penalty your health will drop by 1% per second but cannot go below 75%. This glyph simply put is a very bad choice. Not only will you not have enough mana to sustain your rotation for any reliable amount of time but also cuts your effective HP by 25% by default.

    Glyph of Metamorphosis
    Gives no DPS benefit but gives you wings when you enter Meta instead of fully transforming you into a demon, purely cosmetic.

    Single target


    I'll go over some basic rotations/openers you can use;

    Demonic Servitude


    Opener:
    • Prepot
    • Precast Soulfire
    • Grimoire of Service
    • Dark Soul / Racial ability / On Use Cooldowns
    • Hand of Gul'dan
    • Corruption
    • Shadowbolt
    • Hand of Gul'dan
    • Metamorphosis
    • Doom
    • Soulfire (with Molten Core) or ToC (if no Molten Core) until no Fury is available
    • Corruption
    • Shadowbolt
    • Shadowbolt
    • Metamorphosis
    • Soulfire (with Molten Core)

    Notes:
    - Only used for single target and you summon a Doomguard
    - Used primarily with Grimoire of Service: Doomguard
    - Can use Grimoire of Service: Felguard for burst AoE DPS every 2 minutes instead
    - Glyph of Dark Soul is NOT USED

    Post opener in caster form:
    Hand of Gul'dan (2 stack) > Corruption > Shadowbolt > Soulfire (with Molten Core)*
    *Only cast Soulfire post opener in caster form if you know you'll have extra Molten Core procs going into Metamorphosis.

    Post opener in Meta:
    Doom > Soulfire (with Molten Core) > Chaos Wave > ToC

    Spend your Fury on any type of proc (that isn't Haste) or Dark Soul. This primarily applies to Soulfire and sometimes Chaos Wave, rarely ever on ToC.
    Demonbolt


    Opener:
    • Prepot
    • Precast Soulfire
    • Doomguard/Terrorguard
    • Hand of Gul'dan
    • Corruption
    • Shadow Bolt
    • Dark Soul / Racial ability / On Use Trinkets
    • Hand of Gul'dan
    • Metamorphosis
    • Doom
    • 2x Demonbolt

    Notes:
    - Glyph of Dark Soul is used
    - Any Grimoire can work, Synergy is best
    - Past the opener you are looking to line up Demonbolt with Dark Soul as often as possible, otherwise casting 4 Demonbolts per cycle and the remaining Fury on either Soulfire or Touch of Chaos.

    Post opener priority with Demonbolt:
    Hand of Gul'dan (2 stack) > Corruption > Soulfire (with Molten Core) > Shadowbolt

    Post opener priority in Meta with Demonbolt:
    If Dark Soul is available and Demonbolt debuff is completely worn off
    Demonbolt 4x > Doom > Soulfire (with Molten Core) > ToC
    Cataclysm


    Opener:
    • Prepot
    • Precast Soulfire
    • Dark Soul / Racial ability / On Use Cooldowns
    • Hand of Gul'dan
    • Corruption
    • Shadowbolt
    • Hand of Gul'dan
    • Metamorphosis
    • Cataclysm (for Doom)
    • Soulfire (with Molten Core)
    • ToC

    Notes:
    - Glyph of Dark Soul may or may not be used (situational)
    - Most commonly used with Grimoire of Synergy

    Post opener in caster form:
    Hand of Gul'dan (2 stack) > Corruption > Shadowbolt > Soulfire (with Molten Core)*
    *Only cast Soulfire post opener in caster form if you know you'll have extra Molten Core procs going into Metamorphosis.

    Post opener in Meta:
    Doom > Soulfire (with Molten Core) > Chaos Wave > ToC

    Spend your Fury on any type of proc (that isn't Haste) or Dark Soul. This primarily applies to Soulfire and sometimes Chaos Wave, rarely ever on ToC.
    AoE Priority


    1. HoG on as many targets as possible, double stacking HoG
    2. Corruption on all the targets (keeps your chance to refresh HoG charge high)
    3. Doom if the targets will live past the first tick (or apply them all via Cataclysm)
    4. Hellfire/Immolation Aura

    As of 6.2 and the change of how our Mastery works, Hellfire/Immolation Aura got quite a significant buff making it more worth casting in AoE situations if you can get in range of the mobs.


    DoT damage
    Damage from DoTs now do dynamically update every tick. Regardless of what buffs you have when you cast the spell every tick of damage will be different according to what buffs you currently have active on yourself.

    Refreshing DoTs
    Unlike MoP we got Pandemic lifted from us but instead we have it baked into everything we do....only slightly different (not even only us, but all classes with DoTs).

    The new mechanic in place works the exact same way Pandemic did but instead of being able to refresh at 50% duration, we can now refresh at 30% and not lose time on your DoT. For example: Corruption has a base duration of 18s which means you can refresh at under 5.4s (just take it as 5s) and it will go to a maximum duration of 23.4s.

    Unlike most classes one of our fillers, Touch of Chaos, can refresh a DoT (Corruption) but it's currently not worth casting Touch of Chaos outside of when there is a need for movement. You are better off refreshing all your DoTs manually (all 2 of them!).

    Hand of Gul'dan - Shadowflame Stacking
    The 'correct' way to use Hand of Gul'dan is to wait until there is less then 6s until you get 2 charges of Hand of Gul'dan. You then want to use one charge, cast a few spells, and then clip shadowflame right before it runs out so you have ~5s of a one stack Shadowflame, then 8s of a 2 stack Shadowflame. Once you get 4P for T17 if you're in caster form you should have extremely high uptime on Shadowflame since you have 3 charges of Hand of Gul'dan.

    The best way to describe how to use Hand of Gul'dan properly is this:
    • Hand of Gul'dan has 4 or less seconds to recharge to a least 2 stacks
    • Cast Hand of Gul'dan
    • Cast either Soulfire or Shadow Bolt
    • Cast Corruption or Life Tap
    • Cast Hand of Gul'dan

    If you are on the move you can cast 2 instant casts of any kind - Corruption, Life Tap, Shadowfury, Mortal Coil, a couple ticks of Hellfire - in between each charge of Hand of Gul'dan.

    Soul Fire - Molten Core
    Using MC stacks correctly is a big part of making sure you are optimizing your damage as much as possible. You should only be casting Soul Fire outside of Meta when you have high stacks (>8) or if you are under 30%. The goal is to make sure you have no MC stacks when you hit 25% so that none were wasted.
    If you are using Demonbolt you should be using your Molten Core procs to generate Demonic Fury so you have the amount needed to dump 4 Demonbolt casts.

    Overall the proper use of Soul Fire stacks is incredibly important to how you deal damage. If you're playing anything but Demonbolt, you will want to use your Molten Core stacks during most trinket procs but most importantly during your Dark Soul.

    Choosing the right pet
    Choosing the right pet is all about your talent choices and for the most part will go something like this:
    If you're using Grimoire of Supremacy with Demonbolt or Cataclysm, you choose Wrathguard - if you're using Grimoire of Supremacy with Demonic Servitude you choose Terrorguard.
    If you're using Grimoire of Service with Demonbolt or Cataclysm, you choose Felguard - if you're using Grimoire of Service with Demonic Servitude you choose Doomguard.
    If you're using Grimoire of Synergy with Demonbolt or Cataclysm, you choose Felguard - if you're using Grimoire of Synergy with Demonic Servitude you choose Doomguard.

    Doomguard and Infernal

    Doomguard does gain benefit from haste and Bloodlust/Heroism, using Doomguard during that time is very beneficial for the fury gain. There are two ways you can use it, and either might be better.

    The first option is to use it right on the pull, you are guaranteed to have all of you trinkets and cooldowns effecting it on the pull so you will have the most consistent Doomguard with this option. The other option you have is using it sub 20%, I would only recommend this if the sub 20% phase is going to last at least a full minute and you'll use Dark Soul at some point during that period. It is a lot harder to time this well and will give you more inconsistent results, however if you time it right it may give more damage then just using it on the pull.

    The majority of the damage that you will get from Infernal is from Infernal Awakening. In general you won't actually get much damage from the Infernal itself, maybe 200-300k. The damage of Infernal Awakening is buffed by Metamorphosis so you want to make sure you are in Meta when you cast it. If you have DS up you need to hit ~7-8 targets to equal the damage of Doomguard, if DS isn't up you will want ~15 targets.

    Fury Generation


    - Cataclysm bug has been fixed, guide updated to reflect the fix.
    - Added 6.0.2 stat weights as of 10/10/2014
    - Redid race sims w/ new SimC build
    - Removed level 90 specific information in prep of WoD release
    - Added questions to FAQ
    - Cleaned up some sections
    - General maintenance of talent sections
    - Added trinket comparisons for pre raid
    - Added trinket comparisons for post raid + BiS list
    - Cleaned up some 6.0.3 changes and released an alternate opener
    - More rotation notes
    - Updated trinket/race sims, added sims for Grimoires, general maintenance
    - Cleared up some confusing rotational information
    - Updated trinket sims
    - New graphics!
    - 6.1 updates
    - Simcraft v.610-02 update
    - General maintenance
    - Formatting, Demonbolt information, more in depth opener for DServ
    - Starting to add in 6.2 changes, Simcraft lists to be updated when 6.2 launches
    - Updated mostly everything for 6.2
    - Added fancy table of content with jumpto's!

    Last edited by Woz; 2015-12-02 at 12:52 AM.

  2. #2
    Bloodsail Admiral Santoisms's Avatar
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    First! Amazing shit Not, so happy to finally see it done and happy that you and the rest of the Warlock community has put in so much work to make it solid.
    Last edited by Santoisms; 2014-10-09 at 11:04 PM.

  3. #3
    Excellent, will give it a proper read-through after I've had some sleep.
    Last edited by striderZA; 2014-10-09 at 11:07 PM.

  4. #4
    Excelente guide, for now I want some argument and points about some Quick-Questions:

    - Imp Swarm: How good it's using it to buff out our burst vs reliable dps ove the fight ?
    - Synergy vs Supremacy: Which one scales better with more targets/cleave. Synergy tends to scales better than Supremacy with haste since it's an RPPM based on ours and our pet attacks?
    - Racials: How much it's a DPS increase using Berserking focusing on Imp Swarm + 4 Demonbolts every 3min vs Orc/Goblin/Belf?
    - Glyph of Dark Soul: With this glyph AD tends to lose some value, still worth take even with few possibilites of using MF ? Or maybe still worth it since make it a "no-dps loss thing" delaying Dark Soul for Demonbolt.
    - Demonbolt: Worth delay DB to line up with Dark Soul or better delay Dark Soul to line up with Demonbolt?
    Last edited by JV Chequer; 2014-10-10 at 12:01 AM.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by JV Chequer View Post
    Excelente guide, for now I want some argument and points about some Quick-Questions:

    - Imp Swarm: How good it's using it to buff out our burst vs reliable dps ove the fight ?
    - Synergy vs Supremacy: Which one scales better with more targets/cleave. Synergy tends to scales better than Supremacy with haste since it's an RPPM based on ours and our pet attacks?
    - Racials: How much it's a DPS increase using Berserking focusing on Imp Swarm + 4 Demonbolts every 3min vs Orc/Goblin/Belf?
    Imp Swarm is a finnicky flower...On one hand you get the benefit of the burst fury however in terms of an opener you can still squeeze out 2 Demonbolts with or without Imp Swarm. Over a longer fight I don't think it will sway one way or the other with or without Imp Swarm until we get higher haste levels to lower the CD.

    I think that the glyph has a huge benefit to burst, as it always has, and will have its place there regardless of the outcome long term.

    As far as Synergy vs Supremacy....I'd say Synergy will outscale Supremacy longterm - short term though it's kind of up in the air because as you said Synergy is RPPM based. In personal tests it was about equal overall damage as far as sims go for actual comparison (since test dummies are locking you in combat not really able to give an accurate representation) I'll look more into it though I'd image Synergy will edge out even in short term simply because of the 15% damage gain for yourself when your pet procs it for you.

    As far as racials go; all that Berserking is going to realistically do for you every 3 min over the other races is give you a shorter Demonbolt CD and allow you to maybe be able to cast a few Soulfires (depending on how much fury you went into that Demonbolt cycle with) during Dark Soul. It really won't be a huge impact even taking Imp Swarm into consideration.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Woz View Post
    The caveat to casting it in Meta is that for every target it applies Doom to you are looking at a 60 Fury cost per application so you could potentially go from 600 Fury to 0 in a matter of 1 cast.
    This behavior is definitely a bug. It was confirmed by Celestalol but never fixed ...
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  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by luckydevours View Post
    This behavior is definitely a bug. It was confirmed by Celestalol but never fixed ...
    Yep! There's a link to the bug report a bit further down the guide though I should probably move it up to the talent itself.

  8. #8

  9. #9
    Bloodsail Admiral Santoisms's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JV Chequer View Post
    Excelente guide, for now I want some argument and points about some Quick-Questions:
    - Glyph of Dark Soul: With this glyph AD tends to lose some value, still worth take even with few possibilites of using MF ? Or maybe still worth it since make it a "no-dps loss thing" delaying Dark Soul for Demonbolt.
    - Demonbolt: Worth delay DB to line up with Dark Soul or better delay Dark Soul to line up with Demonbolt?
    Woz (Not) already answered a few of your questions and I'll post some feedback on the others:

    Dark Soul glyph: Taking this with AD does indirectly nerf the talent by 50%, you apply Mannoroth > AD with the same rules in 5.4, 3 or more targets Mannoroth / Cataclysm syncing them with every Dark Soul is very strong burst something like 200k open. To compensate for the indirect nerf to AD from Dark Soul glyph they should give us 3 charges.

    Demonbolt is definitely worth delaying, this is where the whole Haste > Crit or Crit > Haste argument comes into play. Having more Haste is giving you more DF and a shorter Demonbolt CD, you still cannot have high uptime on Demonbolt because of not having the fury + not having a Dark Soul to scale the damage since Demonbolt damage is also scaled by Mastery. The stats will have to be tested more in depth but I personally don't see Haste being better especially in the first tier.

  10. #10
    Just want to note about doom, it is better to let it fall off than refreshing it. the last partial tick, you get (which you wouldn't if you refreshed) can generate an imp if it crits.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Woz View Post
    Hand of Gul'dan - Shadowflame Stacking
    The 'correct' way to use Hand of Gul'dan is to wait until there is less then 6s until you get 2 charges of Hand of Gul'dan. You then want to use one charge, cast a few spells, and then clip shadowflame right before it runs out so you have ~5s of a one stack Shadowflame, then 6s of a 2 stack Shadowflame. Once you get 2P for T17 if you're in caster form you should have 100% uptime on Shadowflame since you have 3 charges of Hand of Gul'dan.

    ...

    Refreshing DoTs
    Unlike MoP we got Pandemic lifted from us but instead we have it baked into everything we do....only slightly different (not even only us, but all classes with DoTs).

    The new mechanic in place works the exact same way Pandemic did but instead of being able to refresh at 50% duration, we can now refresh at 30% and not lose time on your DoT. For example: Corruption has a base duration of 18s which means you can refresh at under 5.4s (just take it as 5s) and it will go to a maximum duration of 23.4s.
    Does the new universal Pandemic style DoT mechanic not apply to Shadowflame? I'd been assuming it would, and that instead of trying to clip at the end we'd aim for the 2s mark to get an 8s duration 2-stack Shadowflame.

  12. #12
    Bloodsail Admiral Santoisms's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ComaCanadian View Post
    Just want to note about doom, it is better to let it fall off than refreshing it. the last partial tick, you get (which you wouldn't if you refreshed) can generate an imp if it crits.
    How so? Any math behind this?

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Kirroth View Post
    Does the new universal Pandemic style DoT mechanic not apply to Shadowflame? I'd been assuming it would, and that instead of trying to clip at the end we'd aim for the 2s mark to get an 8s duration 2-stack Shadowflame.
    Yep yep yep. Proof reading is hard, thanks for catching it. It would be 8s.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by DesireKT View Post
    It's fixed...
    Updated the guide to reflect the fix. There's pretty much no argument for DB in a AoE scenario with anything 4+ mobs.

  14. #14
    The conflict comes in when you try to decide whether or not Caster or Meta is worth it based on how long things live.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Santoisms View Post
    How so? Any math behind this?
    I have to imagine you'd have to refresh quite literally immediately after the partial tick for it to be a dps gain. I think it'll wind up simming higher but in practice being a loss.

    edit/update

    Actually, I don't even know enough about the timing of Doom's partial tick to speculate as much as I have
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  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by DesireKT View Post
    The conflict comes in when you try to decide whether or not Caster or Meta is worth it based on how long things live.
    Pretty much. Addons like TimeToDie are going to be very much worth using in WoD.

  17. #17
    Bloodsail Admiral Santoisms's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DesireKT View Post
    The conflict comes in when you try to decide whether or not Caster or Meta is worth it based on how long things live.
    Most annoying thing is the second fury building cycle, and also casting Doom in between cycles.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Count Zero View Post
    I have to imagine you'd have to refresh quite literally immediately after the partial tick for it to be a dps gain. I think it'll wind up simming higher but in practice being a loss.
    From what I understand of the mechanic it likely won't even be worthwhile to do as Demo unless you have a trinket that is on use for Crit rating. Correct me if I'm wrong but this is how it was explained to me;

    letting dots kind of sync up and expire around the same time and popping CD's at the end of it then refreshing them as they expire to get slightly more dmg from them via haste/onuse/etc
    So unless you were able to delay Doom and game your fury dump to allow you some extra fury for Doom and pop your trinkets right before the dot expires it's going to be more hassle than its worth and very easy to mess up.

  19. #19
    Well even if you are off by 1 second reapplying Doom it would take 16 minutes to lose out on a tick of Doom and 8 minutes if you delayed by 2 seconds. However Celestalon said that if it became a common thing and/or a proven DPS gain that they would nerf the proc rate or disable the proc chance on partial ticks. I meant to see if someone could sim it out but forgot to ask.

    It's basically is 1-2 ticks of doom lost over 16 minutes worth more damage than potentially 15 Imps and the fury they generate.

  20. #20
    Bloodsail Admiral Santoisms's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DesireKT View Post
    Well even if you are off by 1 second reapplying Doom it would take 16 minutes to lose out on a tick of Doom and 8 minutes if you delayed by 2 seconds. However Celestalon said that if it became a common thing and/or a proven DPS gain that they would nerf the proc rate or disable the proc chance on partial ticks. I meant to see if someone could sim it out but forgot to ask.

    It's basically is 1-2 ticks of doom lost over 16 minutes worth more damage than potentially 15 Imps and the fury they generate.
    Can you show us some math on this idea?

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