[6.0] Brusalk's Destruction Warlock Guide

[Brusalk]

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

Use Sup/Serv if you're taking DServ.
Use Sacrifice if you're using Charred Remains.
Use Cataclysm if there is occasional burst AoE phases that line up with the CD
Use Charred Remains if you need to sustain AoE for more than ~10 seconds and you're not using Cataclysm
Use DServitude if you're not picking one of the other talents.

[ZaneBusby]

RoF still worth using while running if you don't have any charges of conflag? My guess would be yes, but the nerf is so big it almost feels like it's a waste of mana more than anything... But then again I guess we won't be mana starved anymore cos we won't be using RoF in the single target rotation. Heh.

Edit: Also, will this change the stat weights at all? Because crit was valued so strongly as it was effectively the only stat that increased mana regen, now without needing the mana regen it would reduce the value of crit?

[The-loon]

RoF still worth using while running if you don't have any charges of conflag? My guess would be yes, but the nerf is so big it almost feels like it's a waste of mana more than anything... But then again I guess we won't be mana starved anymore cos we won't be using RoF in the single target rotation. Heh.

Edit: Also, will this change the stat weights at all? Because crit was valued so strongly as it was effectively the only stat that increased mana regen, now without needing the mana regen it would reduce the value of crit?

Hard to say at this point until the sims have all been completed but I still think Crit will be the number one stat (excluding int). I think Mastery will remain number 2 and haste will stay 3rd but have a higher coefficient than it currently does, making it almost equal to mastery.

I say this because I believe GoSac/CR will now be better than GoSup/service. Crit is extremely important for those CB's. Mastery buffs the damage and haste will let you build embers even faster for even more CB's with CR.

Edit: At this point RoF isn't even worth the GCD to cast even in AoE situations assuming youre running CR

[ZaneBusby]

I don't see how Blizz struggle with it so much. I've been saying it since back in MoP when they first said they don't want RoF in the ST rotation, and nerfed it to try and remove it. All they fucking need to do is make it so it doesn't generate embers below 3 targets. If it's hitting 3 or more targets, generate ember bits. Easy. Anyone with half a brain could work that out. Why the fuck did they ever fire that one class dev who frequented the mmo-champ lock forums, at least he fucking understood the class. :|

[Deleted]

guess its time to petition for the removal of rain of fire in exchange for fel flame lol.

i do hope they realize that its a rather significant loss in ember generation for aoe and will give it back through immolate, having generate 1 ember bit pr tick and 2 on crits, i cant really see any way other than that as a compensation.

[ZaneBusby]

Also will this mean that Shadowburn is now a DPS increase below 20% again, due to not being mana starved? Man this throws everything up in the air lol.

[Erolian]

Also will this mean that Shadowburn is now a DPS increase below 20% again, due to not being mana starved? Man this throws everything up in the air lol.

Has anyone from Blizzard even decided to comment on this whole situation? I'd think that it shouldn't even be a question someone would have to ask.

[Killface1]

So honest question:

I'm not set on the spec, and I'm going to play whatever spec will give me the best results. I haven't been playing a lock for the past million years, and this isn't a big personal issue for me.

However, I'm pretty comfortable in the destro spec at this point. Been playing it the past couple months and its finally coming together to the point where I'm quite comfortable playing it. It takes me a long time to learn a new spec. Is right now the time to cut my losses and walk away and start playing demo? I'm pretty ok with single target on my lock, but it seems to me like with the destruction of RoF, either my single target will be bad and my aoe mediocre, or my single target will be mediocre/ok and my aoe terrible.

Should I cut my losses and run, and start playing a new spec? I should add that spec changes are not like riding a bicycle for me other then tanking, which is easy on all tanks. I'm not great at managing multiple DPS specs at once, so whatever I play I'll probably want to stick with that and not bounce back and forth (in addition to the simple fact of gearing).

I'm leaning toward yes even if it means getting sat for some mythic prog while I'm learning demo, because it seems like destro is in a pretty rough spot with that nerf our AoE and the fact that so many fights are multiple targets/aoe/movement.

Not trying to be emotional about this, it is what it is, just wondering what others thoughts and opinions are on this.

[Deleted]

Not trying to be emotional about this, it is what it is, just wondering what others thoughts and opinions are on this.

I'd just suggest trying demo out, though demo is kind of horrible in 5mans after you get used to destro and trying to get a good hold of it atm is hard since raids aren't open yet.

In general I'd suggest, since we're talking about a pure DPS class, adjusting your attitude more towards "I'm a warlock" rather than "I'm a destruction warlock". It's ok to want to play the spec that suits you the best, but you mentioned mythic raiding where everything counts. You should always play the optimal spec (which demo looks to be, but the buffs/nerfs are still pretty fresh).

I thought about waiting for a bit, but destro feels so horrible now that I just said fuck it and went demo. I'd say in a few days we'll have an answer how much better and how much worse demo and destro have become (more than in just numbers on paper) so you could wait a few days and then decide which colour you wanna all in on.

[ZaneBusby]

Has anyone from Blizzard even decided to comment on this whole situation? I'd think that it shouldn't even be a question someone would have to ask.

Ummm... Have you looked at the front page at all? It's taken direct from the hotfix notes.

[Belmorn]

I keep simming my gear and no matter what I do , I keep having 4 piece mythic SoO gear beating any other combo of 630/640 gear I can get my hands on.

Intended due to 4 piece being too strong and metagem or simulationcraft not yet accurate / bugged on this part ?

If bugged, at what point do people generally start replacing their full int gemmed SoO tier ?

[Erolian]

Ummm... Have you looked at the front page at all? It's taken direct from the hotfix notes.

Yeah, sorry, where on the front page did they comment on shadowburn/mana regen issues? Ctrl F only seems to turn up with an 8% gain on SB damage which also applies to CB and the rest.

[Novx]

Yeah, sorry, where on the front page did they comment on shadowburn/mana regen issues? Ctrl F only seems to turn up with an 8% gain on SB damage which also applies to CB and the rest.

They didn't comment but it has been a known issue for quite some time.

[Deleted]

RoF still worth using while running if you don't have any charges of conflag?

Should be, purely due to lack of other options.

[Liz Lancaster]

Yeah, sorry, where on the front page did they comment on shadowburn/mana regen issues? Ctrl F only seems to turn up with an 8% gain on SB damage which also applies to CB and the rest.

Think Zane was referring to RoF causing mana issues prior to this hotfix. Now that it's worthless, Shadowburn gets to see the light of day again.

[Deleted]

Lore ‏@CM_Lore
@Nagassh_twit It was intended as an AOE nerf.

hah.... Meanwhile Elemental shamans spams their buffed chain lightning whilst their totems spew out a shitton of lava for 50K DPS on 4 targets..

[Deleted]

Really surprised to hear that it's AOE being targeted.

FnB already seemed hard to keep up WITH ROF's ember generation, I'm curious as to what size pulls they're seeing that make it so destro AOE needs nerfing.
If anything needed hammering, I'd have thought it'd be
a) Destro's SB cleaving, which is strong and seems to contribute to most of our "AOE" output in dungeons
b) ROF being in the ST rotation, since that's obviously not intended

Instead it's c), which seems baffling, since even in my relatively decent gear at this point, I don't feel like I have enough crit to be AOEing efficiently, and with ROF gone I'm curious as to how much gear is needed to hit the point where it's sustainable again, and even more worried about what that means for challenge modes where your gear is capped, it just pushes more of a reliance on SB cleaving to keep up, which I'd have thought was BAD if anything since it's an over reliance on one strong ability keeping you afloat.

Then, when we hit high gear levels, weren't we at a point in SOO where ROF wasn't even worth using in the AOE rotation if you were able to generate enough embers to avoid spending a GCD on it, it was better to stick to FnB because the raw output was better if it was sustainable. I'd have presumed the same applied pre-nerf, if destro AOE is so strong it needs nerfing wouldn't nerfing the ROF component be avoiding the root of the problem, since eventually ROF is the part that gets phased out?


Maybe I'm completely off the mark on this and someone with a more in depth understanding of the numbers / behind the scenes functioning of destro can set me straight, but I'm shocked to hear destro AOE was the target, and surprised to see them go about it by nerfing ROF to address it.

[Deadmansl]

I am under the impression the damage Nerf to RoF was due to the single target/FnB buff than just being AE but it hurts in the bigger picture of things because of loss of RoF ember generation. I guess we have CR. :/ It is an odd scaling issue for the comparison you bring up with SOO end-expansion gear.

[Killface1]

I'd just suggest trying demo out, though demo is kind of horrible in 5mans after you get used to destro and trying to get a good hold of it atm is hard since raids aren't open yet.

In general I'd suggest, since we're talking about a pure DPS class, adjusting your attitude more towards "I'm a warlock" rather than "I'm a destruction warlock". It's ok to want to play the spec that suits you the best, but you mentioned mythic raiding where everything counts. You should always play the optimal spec (which demo looks to be, but the buffs/nerfs are still pretty fresh).

I thought about waiting for a bit, but destro feels so horrible now that I just said fuck it and went demo. I'd say in a few days we'll have an answer how much better and how much worse demo and destro have become (more than in just numbers on paper) so you could wait a few days and then decide which colour you wanna all in on.

Yeah man I hear what you're saying, I'm just being realistic - I'm not a pro, I'm not going to be raiding with method any time soon. It takes me a while to master a spec, and switching back and forth will probably mean my damage in both specs will go down. The things that carry me are that I have really good raid awareness and knowing how to handle mechanics, not my ability to minmax my button hitting ability.

Plus, since you typically want crit crit crit/multistrike/haste (and I see that being even more prevalent now that speccing for any sort of AoE as a lock is a lost cause) and you want mastery/haste for demo, with only so much gear to go around while doing prog, it'll be more beneficial for me to plan on doing one or the other as my main spec, and only switching if we need some particular benefit the other spec grants.

It's not that I mind switching at all, it's just that I'll be more beneficial the less I bounce back and forth.

Anyway I guess I'll stick with destro since I'm leaving for thanksgiving break tomorrow and wont have time to play much until we start raiding.

[Thelm]

Should be, purely due to lack of other options.

Is the (lack of) damage worth a quarter of your mana though?