[6.0] Brusalk's Destruction Warlock Guide

[Tramzh]

snip

I think this post might just confuse people. It might be correct for boss fights but for CMs this doesn't really apply at all because there are no scenarios where you will be popping DS right off CD unless you are playing wrong or have some very specific timing to end the dungeon in. Backing up CM choices with math is very difficult because there are a lot more variables to account for.

It seems that in CMs that if you take GoSac/AD/Cataclysm, then you're relying on your compadres picking up the slack on boss fights. Cata is just godawful for single target, and even worse on movement fights where your doomguard can just stand there and cast unmolested Doom Bolts for the entire fight while you run around non-dying.

I think it really depends on the comp and your groups personal DPS. I'm still under the impression that you could probably do better with GoSup/AD/Demonic Servitude, but if you're going for gold and pullling big packs, Cata will surely pull ahead.

If you are there to do single target dps, there are like 10+ other specs that does that job better. You should be enhancing what you excel at: AoE burst and havoc+ sb sniping. GoSac/AD/Cata just as you mentioned becomes more effective the faster you go so if you don't aim for gold then the other talents could be taken into consideration though. Pets also become inconvenient when you start using invis pots and so on.

[FurtyIRL]

If you are there to do single target dps, there are like 10+ other specs that does that job better. You should be enhancing what you excel at: AoE burst and havoc+ sb sniping. GoSac/AD/Cata just as you mentioned becomes more effective the faster you go so if you don't aim for gold then the other talents could be taken into consideration though. Pets also become inconvenient when you start using invis pots and so on.

This is not entirely true. Locks greatest strength in Challenge Modes last expac and now is that they bring a decent amount of everything. Strong, consistent AoE, strong single target, good cleave, good burst for any adds that need to be burned down. If the rest of your group is doing reasonable boss damage then warlocks are generally up there if you're playing servitude, although if the fight drags on you make less and less of an impact. A lot of the instances are reliant on boss damage and I would not discount the importance of bringing strong single target. We do a lot of our fastest times using demonic servitude because you can break the instance down into only a few big pulls, where you can guarantee mage/hunter have their AoE ready. Even without Cataclysm your AoE is still extremely strong.

[Gaidax]

This is not entirely true. Locks greatest strength in Challenge Modes last expac and now is that they bring a decent amount of everything. Strong, consistent AoE, strong single target, good cleave, good burst for any adds that need to be burned down. If the rest of your group is doing reasonable boss damage then warlocks are generally up there if you're playing servitude, although if the fight drags on you make less and less of an impact. A lot of the instances are reliant on boss damage and I would not discount the importance of bringing strong single target. We do a lot of our fastest times using demonic servitude because you can break the instance down into only a few big pulls, where you can guarantee mage/hunter have their AoE ready. Even without Cataclysm your AoE is still extremely strong.

Indeed, we have a very good kit as Destruction in CMs, I personally go Cataclysm/GoSac as I find Cataclysm to be very good for clearing stuff fast - you can single-handily end adds phases on bosses in a matter of seconds or just push the group forward by blowing up trash, everyone can AoE, but only maybe 2 other specs can burst AoE like this and it's valuable. For example in UBRS CM with DS juiced Cataclysm you can kill 4th and 5th boss adds phase before the boss gets back into fight, making the fight MUCH easier (especially 4th boss, DS Cataclysm easily brings the huge swarm of whelps to 40% and then with a bit AoE you just Shadowburn the crap out of them and kill them all like 2 seconds after the drake lands).

Another thing which is brilliant there is of course Shadowburn rolling and Shadowfury, which is excellent for saving the tank/group on tricky pulls or stopping adds at boss encounters. Combat Rez is also very valuable.

Finally, with GoSac you have immense survivability and will be almost always last man standing and pretty much never one-shot to anything.

Basically, I'd say indeed Destruction Warlock is a great asset for CMs, exactly because we plug so much spots groups struggle at usually, such as burst AoE, Combat Rez, CC and range.

[The-loon]

Anyone have any sim results for best weapon enchants?

I'd assume Thunderlord is best but I'd like to know how often shattered hand is proccing, may out perform on certain fights.

[Santoisms]

Anyone have any sim results for best weapon enchants?

I'd assume Thunderlord is best but I'd like to know how often shattered hand is proccing, may out perform on certain fights.

You could just sim that yourself but changing the weapon enchant in the APL. The sims that I ran shows Thunderlord and by a lot too.

[Gaidax]

What's with all the reports of RoF not generating embers and doing less damage since today? Can anyone test it now?

[Santoisms]

What's with all the reports of RoF not generating embers and doing less damage since today? Can anyone test it now?

Obviously not because servers are down.

[Kromus]

Sorry for the delayed response. Those stat weights are the exact same ones as I'm using, so yeah.
And regarding getting it to show up in tooltips, these are the settings I've got it set to, and this is what my tooltips look like. (ignore the extra, seperate tooltip at the bottom- different addon lol)
The only other thing that I would suggest keeping an eye out for would be this. (Make sure you've "Copied" the pre-made version to be able to edit your own weights, too- then just untick "show scale in tooltips" for the default ones).


Edit: Also, regarding the stat weights, once you start raiding and start getting 665 gear, you can use the Simcraft addon to export your character to Simcraft directly from WoW (so no need to relog to update your armory or anything), set up a few different sims in your current gear (like what I did), and then find the weights of the stats with your current gear. The weights are forever changing due to how much of each stat you have and how they synergise with each other, so if you're in a higher end guild I'd recommend re-calculating your stat weights with every 2 or 3 new pieces of gear, but if you're not an expert with Simcraft, a general rule of thumb is that C > M > MS = H > V, and just stick to that lol.

Thanks for the information, was very interesting read.

And after the weekend I changed my mind, with secondary stats so close, I'm going to go with the following

Int > Crit > Multistrike.

Just have this feeling Multistrike is going to be really good to have.

[Deleted]

Does multistrike interact with havoc at all?

[Tramzh]

This is not entirely true. Locks greatest strength in Challenge Modes last expac and now is that they bring a decent amount of everything. Strong, consistent AoE, strong single target, good cleave, good burst for any adds that need to be burned down. If the rest of your group is doing reasonable boss damage then warlocks are generally up there if you're playing servitude, although if the fight drags on you make less and less of an impact. A lot of the instances are reliant on boss damage and I would not discount the importance of bringing strong single target. We do a lot of our fastest times using demonic servitude because you can break the instance down into only a few big pulls, where you can guarantee mage/hunter have their AoE ready. Even without Cataclysm your AoE is still extremely strong.

Certain Pulls are most likely impossible without Cataclysm, or at least a lot more difficult than they need to be. Examples that come to my mind right away are Auchindoun first pull (actually everything up to 3rd boss tbh) and the first pull in UBRS (which is not required but it really makes the rest of th dungeon faceroll on time.) "Breaking the instance down in a few pulls" is exactly what Cataclysm shines on. Any fight where you pull adds into the boss makes GoSac stronger on single target anyway. Pre Havoc boss, dps it for 10 seconds while waiting for adds to reach shadowburn hp, shadowburn 3 times, havoc again and shadowburn another 3 times is just insane.
That said, thats all assuming the embergain from rof will return, I literally did no damage today without it.

EDIT: ye rip destruction XD

[Santoisms]

Does multistrike interact with havoc at all?

In terms of what? For example if I havoc a target then SB the other and get a Multistrike does the Havoc target get the same MS? No I don't believe so.

[Drogotaar]

That said, thats all assuming the embergain from rof will return, I literally did no damage today without it.

Thank fucking god I wasn't the only one. So that's a thing now. Destruction nerfs of RoF instead of doing some sort of adjustments of Cataclysm so Warlock isn't full retard in CMs (which he isn't, Klosterbro is now playing without the lock and with a arms).

Cool. We fucking lost.

[Santoisms]

Thank fucking god I wasn't the only one. So that's a thing now. Destruction nerfs of RoF instead of doing some sort of adjustments of Cataclysm so Warlock isn't full retard in CMs (which he isn't, Klosterbro is now playing without the lock and with a arms).

Cool. We fucking lost.

Rejoice, buffs are here!

[Brusalk]

TL;DR:

• RoF is no longer in the single target rotation
• RoF may not be in the AoE rotation either
• Single target buffed by 8%
• Charred Remains mandatory for sustained AoE

[TheFuriousNoob]

TL;DR:

• RoF is no longer in the single target rotation
• RoF may not be in the AoE rotation either
• Single target buffed by 8%
• Charred Remains mandatory for sustained AoE

TL;DR:

Take RoF off of your bar boys.

Wonder if it's mandatory to spec CR for CMs now.

>...>

[Deleted]

So mannorths fury is out, and sac pet back in, leaving room for cataclysm, or the buff of the doomguard is still stronger than sac pet?

[Novx]

So mannorths fury is out, and sac pet back in, leaving room for cataclysm, or the buff of the doomguard is still stronger than sac pet?

Perma DG gains a lot of benefit on high movement encounters but I imagine we will likely be using Sac quite a bit more now.

[Werst]

AD now pretty clearly dominates the lvl 90 row unless you have some movement critical thing to KJC with. Gear probably will determine CR or DServ but early on like we are now and especially due to the movement factors Dserv with either service or superiority grimoires. Just my guesstimate. I'm going to try some charred remains 5 mans for giggly sh*ts and get back to you.

[Deleted]

i have litterally no idea when to use supremacy, sacrifice, charred remains, cataclyms and servitude. Is there some nice guy who could explain shortly which talents would be better for different kind of scenarios (single target, etc.) just overall.
Sorry for the noobish questions

[Kromus]

Some significant buffs to Demonology, wonder how thats going to play out. Buffs all round are nice though