The Fix-My-DPS thread (Warlords Edition) [READ FIRST POST]

[SpikeySquad]

You're welcome Alassiel. One thing the logs do not show are the number of MC procs so it is impossible to calculate how many people have. However, from timings I do believe that you went into execute with a lot as you only had one SF cast in the past 1:32 minutes. Boss HP is something that I still have to train myself to keep checking as well.

Not sure if you are aware but if you have an idea of how many DS you will use pre-execute then you can start dumping MC stacks much earlier. For example, for this fight you will have two DS in before execute. So straight after that you can start dumping all MC procs on your best buffs rather than getting to say 30% boss HP with say 6 stacks and not having a single proc come up. Of course with such a short fight length and being single target Gruul is much harder in some ways than any other fight.

You and I have the exact same haste yet you are also still sporting DuT and hence sometimes yes you will probably get more fury without actual MC procs to spend it on.

Don't get me wrong ToC is sometimes a justified choice and sometimes you will be silly unlucky and have to move a lot but just be aware that ToC should basically be your last resort. I didn't check but if you do have to dump fury whether on SF, CW or ToC then just make sure they are buffed with your best damage procs (and not with DuT).

Anyhow, good luck and hope the comments help.

[mauserr]

You're welcome Alassiel. One thing the logs do not show are the number of MC procs so it is impossible to calculate how many people have. However, from timings I do believe that you went into execute with a lot as you only had one SF cast in the past 1:32 minutes. Boss HP is something that I still have to train myself to keep checking as well.

Not sure if you are aware but if you have an idea of how many DS you will use pre-execute then you can start dumping MC stacks much earlier. For example, for this fight you will have two DS in before execute. So straight after that you can start dumping all MC procs on your best buffs rather than getting to say 30% boss HP with say 6 stacks and not having a single proc come up. Of course with such a short fight length and being single target Gruul is much harder in some ways than any other fight.

You and I have the exact same haste yet you are also still sporting DuT and hence sometimes yes you will probably get more fury without actual MC procs to spend it on.

Don't get me wrong ToC is sometimes a justified choice and sometimes you will be silly unlucky and have to move a lot but just be aware that ToC should basically be your last resort. I didn't check but if you do have to dump fury whether on SF, CW or ToC then just make sure they are buffed with your best damage procs (and not with DuT).

Anyhow, good luck and hope the comments help.

Yeah, I know that about ToC. From a number of guides I've read I can pretty much see that they agree on the ToC usage - when you're close to capping on fury then you should enter meta, spam ToC to dump 100-200 fury and then continue with whatever you were doing before. Otherwise I don't use ToC, unless I have to move a lot and I'm full or mana plus my dots are nowhere near to be refreshed yet. I guess that kind of ToC is justified.

Thanks for your help, again. Really appreciated. Eh, if only Demonology wasn't nerfed so hard in 6.2.

[BreaKerNZ]

Hi, fellow warlocks, I would like some insight into my destro dps i feel i could be doing more at my ilvl https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/3WBkbxq72HYydjXV, I am Tennshi thanks.

[Styxxa]

Mythic Iron Maidens...

Another lock in my raid, upwards of 50k+ sustained through the whole raid...chaos wave blowing me out of the water.

My log (I died at the end to blade dash lol) what is the deal?? Am I using HoG on this fight or am I using chaos wave? I just don't understand when to use which, it's literally my biggest problem right now. Am I saving all chaos wave stacks for all 3 bosses on platform? use HoG when only two bosses? Any help is greatly appreciated. I've been playing lock for a week, raid short a dps so I've been thrown in mythics, previously played a BM hunter with all 90%+ parses on 8/10M so I am definitely capable. Thanks guys.

warcraftlogs.com/reports/NWhtdmp67wyn3Pv8#fight=7[/url]

Yeah there's been quite the discussion about that since progression on that fight and to be honest - and this is just my opinion (and I'm not going to use any math to explain it either) - chaos wave is coming out on top for Iron Maidens. The basic theory of why HoG is better to cast than CW is (and it revolves around saving up resources to dump them under DS every 2 minutes) that it does more damage (over time) if you get the full duration of a proper 2 stack AND has the benefit of being a great fury and molten core proc generator (whereas CW uses fury and only provides 1 molten core proc per cast). But on a fight with 3 targets the theory holds less weight because your 3 x corruptions will be generating enough fury (and proccing addtional CWs with 4pc) - so if you can stay under the stack cap and use CW under a proc (think of when you'd use SF in Meta) you'll still have plenty of fury and molten core procs to be able to do your big dump every 2-minutes and in execute.

Some will certainly argue with me on this, but CW is totally viable as a full replacement for HoG on Iron Maidens.

Edit: Just checked the log in a bit more detail and the one defining point there is how much you were at or near 1000 DF whereas the other lock was hovering around 750 and still had plenty of DF to play with. Overall you were much more peaks and valleys (all or none) whereas he had a bit more of a constant rate.

- - - Updated - - -

Hi, fellow warlocks, I would like some insight into my destro dps i feel i could be doing more at my ilvl https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/3WBkbxq72HYydjXV, I am Tennshi thanks.

Overall, just checking through the logs, you seem to be doing quite good for your ilvl. Checking your damage on certain targets (i.e. Grasping Hands on Kromog) - and even a single-target fight like Gruul - you're doing what destro is supposed to be doing. You even had a great pull as Demo on Flamebender. You seem to be ranking in the 85th+ percentile for your ilvl on just about every encounter.

Is there anything specific you're not understanding or want help with?

[psgokhan]

Hello everyone;

My guild is struggling to down HC Blackhand (I'm the only warlock). Please provide feedback so that I can improve my DPS.

1) My opener is SF > Grimoire > HoG > Cooldowns > Corruption > Shadowbolt > HoG > Doom > Chaos Wave > Soul Fire > Touch of Chaos or Soul Fire depending on fury. I know that I screwed up a couple of times with my opener because A) The boss was not Distracted properly and moved out of range or B) Brain fart on my part.

2) I seem to have difficulty tracking my procs, even though I have Weak Auras blaring at my ear every time my trinkets/ring activate.

Does anyone have any feedback to give? Here is the id of the combat logs for last night's attempts: HJbG6mkyqtx43DvX (I can't post links as of yet)

[Darkheart]

Hi everyone,

Been practicing Demo on some Gruul PUGs with my 696 ilvl gear.

42.8k DPS (sadly my best try so far) --> https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports...pe=damage-done

Yes, I know I did some mistakes, like for example I accidentally activated dark soul before my grimoire serve was ready by like 6 seconds or so.

However, I am still doing way lower DPS than I should be doing with ilvl 696! If I run affliction on same fight with my ilvl 697 gear, I can go up to 46K or such. In fact, I think I just go lucky with the above 42.8K, as I had a good RNG in opener and stuff. So I must be doing something wrong.

I think the most problem I have, generally speaking, is that MC PROCS are so unreliable. Many times I want to enter Dark Soul with a lot of fury but few MC PROCS. GSR Trinket and Ring Procs usually take up most of my MC procs. If I save my MC PROCS then I will have to ignore the trinket/ring PROCS, or hope I get lucky!

My armoury --> http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...heart/advanced

Appreciate the help.

Thanks!

[mauserr]

Hi everyone,

Been practicing Demo on some Gruul PUGs with my 696 ilvl gear.

42.8k DPS (sadly my best try so far) --> https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports...pe=damage-done

Yes, I know I did some mistakes, like for example I accidentally activated dark soul before my grimoire serve was ready by like 6 seconds or so.

However, I am still doing way lower DPS than I should be doing with ilvl 696! If I run affliction on same fight with my ilvl 697 gear, I can go up to 46K or such. In fact, I think I just go lucky with the above 42.8K, as I had a good RNG in opener and stuff. So I must be doing something wrong.

I think the most problem I have, generally speaking, is that MC PROCS are so unreliable. Many times I want to enter Dark Soul with a lot of fury but few MC PROCS. GSR Trinket and Ring Procs usually take up most of my MC procs. If I save my MC PROCS then I will have to ignore the trinket/ring PROCS, or hope I get lucky!

My armoury --> http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/characte...heart/advanced

Appreciate the help.

Thanks!

I'm no expert at demonology, however the DPS you did I do at 684, so I guess I'm not that bad, at least not on single target. Anyway, here's what I've noticed just by looking at the damage done tab:

- Corruption uptime is 90%, way too low.
- Doom uptime is 93%, you applied it late or let it drop for some time.

Both of these dots should be having 96% uptime at least, corruption usually being 98%. It is generally a good idea to refresh your Corruption right before you enter your DS dump phase so you don't have to use ToC to refresh it or let it drop.

Another thing I've noticed when reading your post is that you spend too many of your molten core stacks on ring/trinket procs and then you have nothing for DS. Your DS is the highest damage increase that can be paired with MC procs. Use a few on ring/crit/multistrike trinket, but don't use too many. I usually fire off 1-2 soul fires during procs in meta and that's it, I'm back to spamming shadowbolt.

You used your 2nd potion during execute, that's good. It was even paired with Dark Soul, so that's even better, however you also lost a shitton of damage by not using your Grimoire of Service right at 20% (17,5kk hp in this case I believe), you used it when the boss had 5,6kk HP which I believe was right on the 4th minute of the fight. That's a ton of damage there.

Both your Servitude doomguard and Grimoire doomguard hit much harder when the boss is at 20% health, paired with DS and 2nd pot it's just a damage fest. You should save your last DS & Grimoire & 2nd pot for when the boss has only 20% left, this will definitely bring your DPS by at least 2k. With fights as short as those, and even shorter(3-2 minutes) you should just save your second grimoire for the execute phase, using it earlier is not worth it as the damage from execute + ds+ 2nd pot is way, way higher than using it before that.

Post opener your next DS & Grimoire were used 10 seconds apart. That's also a lot of damage lost. Just make sure to use them both at the same time.

I hope that helps.

Hello everyone;

My guild is struggling to down HC Blackhand (I'm the only warlock). Please provide feedback so that I can improve my DPS.

1) My opener is SF > Grimoire > HoG > Cooldowns > Corruption > Shadowbolt > HoG > Doom > Chaos Wave > Soul Fire > Touch of Chaos or Soul Fire depending on fury. I know that I screwed up a couple of times with my opener because A) The boss was not Distracted properly and moved out of range or B) Brain fart on my part.

2) I seem to have difficulty tracking my procs, even though I have Weak Auras blaring at my ear every time my trinkets/ring activate.

Does anyone have any feedback to give? Here is the id of the combat logs for last night's attempts: HJbG6mkyqtx43DvX (I can't post links as of yet)

1) Get your opener straight. Read this page and make sure to use that one.

Molest and harass the everliving shit out of your guild so they learn to pull the boss properly. It's so annoying when the pulltimer is too long or sent too late and results in fucking up your SF precast because the boss goes out of range or somebody pulls him as he walks by.

2) Don't use sound warnings for your Weak Auras. Use visual help like bigger icons near wherever you look most of the time. See if that helps.

[SpikeySquad]

Hi Psgokhan,

Yeah quite a few of your openers are off but that is to be expected until it is automatic and if your guild has pulling issues. Keep practising and pay special attention to only using 2 abilities on the GCD between your HoGs. Secondly you also want to jump back into Meta to empty fury just before DS is about to wear off. In addition to these forums also check out Summonstone.

Your second DS is used on a tank? That's fine if your guild needs that but I think that you need to watch the timings and hence plan your movement a little better as sometimes you are not getting many Meta buffed SFs off (sometimes though you will have had MoD). CWs can work here quite well too for when you do have to move.

Resource management: Seems like you capped fury quite a bit before your second DS. As you are holding off until the 2 minute mark then you can be more aggressive in your dumping before here when you have procs. However, for the fights that you got to your 3rd DS it looked like you were low on fury every time. You know it will be just after the 4th minute so start planning before and perhaps you will find that you cannot dump here on any other procs if you are moving around too much. It's all about learning the flow of the fight.

Probably too many caster SF casts pre-execute. Some of your meta SFs were not with your best buffs (aka the weapon enchant is a last resort, watch for your much stronger ones). Yeah like Alassiel says if sound WAs aren't working for you try something different or it will just be a matter of being more consciously aware of the nice and actively looking out for them.

Do you find Dark Regen that good? Most people on a fight where there is constant incoming damage will be using Soul Leech which absorbs a lot more than that 2 minute heal.

DoT uptimes: Slightly low so watch but to be expected on a progress fight.

Otherwise you are doing pretty good. Hope this helps and good luck

Disclaimer: There may be an error somewhere.

[psgokhan]

My guild does need help with the tanks. The first one launches the mortar pretty much 80% of the time. Also, I do make sure that I don't get marked before popping cds.

I will try to position my proc WeakAuras somewhere near the center of my screen (they are on the lower left of my screen atm).

I would use Soul Leech but I've died too many times when a single speck of healing would have saved me, so I use Dark Regen instead.

Also, should I spam Touch of Chaos to keep up DPS while moving to hide behind the tank when I get marked?

[SpikeySquad]

Fair enough on the Dark Regen thing. If I am about to die though it tends to mean the healers and/or the rest of the raid are dead already.

For my group phase 2 was never about DPS (unless you go upstairs for adds and sure you want the siege tanks down before they explode). Most important was to get people to stop failing on MoD so they wouldn't die and the metal tanks would actually die on time. So anyhow yes ToC is fine to use if you need to hide for the mark. I tend to be quite cautious on this fight and pretty much follow the siege tank around. I'll make sure I am close enough when the MoD is due then if it's not on me then I can have quite an interrupted nuke while watching timings and moving again just before the next MoD. However, find find out what works for you on this fight as everyone will be different. On your instant casts make sure you take advantage of them a move a few steps as needed and ideally try to avoid hugging anyone. Good luck and hope you get the kill soon.

[Blargn]

Hey everyone,

After looking through my logs for the night I saw that my dps is not where I would like it to be but I cannot figure out what I could do differently to increase my dps. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Armory: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...Blargen/simple

Warcraftlogs: https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports...pe=damage-done

[Nhairne]

Hello Warlocks,

I am the GM and Raid lead for my guild and I am looking for a hand identifying what is holding back the numbers of the Demo lock in my guild. He changed mains from Ele Shaman about halfway through BRF so I didn't worry too much about his numbers being lower compared to the rest of the dps while he was gearing up. Now that his gear is up to speed, He is noticeably behind and i would like to identify why. I am not interested in bringing the hammer down, just identifying major problems or missed opportunities. My thanks in advance.

www (dot) warcraftlogs (dot) com/reports/YpF9gLtb4x3Q6BkA

This is a full clear of Heroic BRF with 2 kills in Mythic BRF. Spookest is the warlock in question. While I am open to critique on the other two in the Heroic portion, I would prefer focus on Spookest.

[Styxxa]

Hey everyone,

After looking through my logs for the night I saw that my dps is not where I would like it to be but I cannot figure out what I could do differently to increase my dps. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Armory: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/characte...Blargen/simple

Warcraftlogs: https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports...pe=damage-done

You seem to be doing ok on Beastlord and Oregorger is really tough to analyze because it highly depends on you strategy - and since those bosses are dying anyway, then we'll say you're doing fine

On Gruul I took a look at one of your longer tries

Main issues:

-You only used Grimoire: Doomguard twice. Once at pull and again at 2:47.
-Your Dark Soul use was questionable. You used your extra charge quite early. You should always use it with Girmoire: Doomguard.

About these 2 points - and it's really important because I think it will make the biggest difference in your dps - is to line them up. For a ~6min encounter you'll want to use them together on pull; again at the 2-min mark; then SAVE THEM FOR EXECUTE (along with your extra charge of DS) - use them when the boss is <20% HP with your 2nd potion. You'll also want to save up ~800 Fury and 6+ MC procs for these moments - but I think you get the point about that, you seem to be doing well there.

-You should use MC procs in Meta during your Ring and Howling Soul procs. It seems you save them all for Dark Soul - be a bit more liberal with them.

-HoG Stacking needs some work. Nice job on getting the 2 stacks but I think it should happen a bit more often - aiming for a ~40% uptime whereas you're at 14%. Probably something to do with you using Chaos Wave quite a bit.

- - - Updated - - -

Hello Warlocks,

I am the GM and Raid lead for my guild and I am looking for a hand identifying what is holding back the numbers of the Demo lock in my guild. He changed mains from Ele Shaman about halfway through BRF so I didn't worry too much about his numbers being lower compared to the rest of the dps while he was gearing up. Now that his gear is up to speed, He is noticeably behind and i would like to identify why. I am not interested in bringing the hammer down, just identifying major problems or missed opportunities. My thanks in advance.

www (dot) warcraftlogs (dot) com/reports/YpF9gLtb4x3Q6BkA

This is a full clear of Heroic BRF with 2 kills in Mythic BRF. Spookest is the warlock in question. While I am open to critique on the other two in the Heroic portion, I would prefer focus on Spookest.

One thing to note, at least with M Beastlord kill, was that he went with a single target spec and did little to no damage on the pack beasts. He could have played it a bit better for sure, but he probably did more to help get the kill than if he went full whore on the pack beasts to be higher on the meters.

Anyway, let's take a look at H Gruul - nice single target encounter. You're right, he did pretty poorly. Doesn't seem to have the basics of the spec down. Lots wrong with the parse.

Ultimately you should be seeing lots of red lines (soul fire: meta) overlayed on top of the colors I've set for his important procs (ring, nightmare fire, dark soul). And the only time you see it is from 2:00-2:20. You should have seen something like that in the first Dark Soul from 1:15-1:35 (the fact that this was a bad time to use it is besides the point right now). But he's got a lot to work out in the meantime.

-First thing is he's used Shadowbolt and Touch of Chaos too much. Those shouldn't be higher on his list of damaging spells than Soul Fire in Metamorphasis.

-Doom uptime should by 95% or higher.

-He didn't use Dark Soul on pull and he didn't use a 2nd potion.

-He only used Grimoire: Doomguard once.

-He's got sub-optimal trinkets that will effect his results.

-His opener needs so much help. Check here. Also has good general gameplay advice that he should refer to.

-Only achieved 2 stacks of HoG three times with 8 single stacks. Those all have to be 2 stacks.

The basic idea for him should be to a) Get his opener straight and use Dark Soul with Grimoire: Doomguard on pull; b) Pop into Metamorphasis and burn some Molten Core procs with Soul Fire during important procs (Ring, Nightmare Fire); c) Save up 800+ Fury and 6+ Molten Core charges for the next Dark Soul/Grimoire burn where he'd pop into Meta again and burn MC procs.

For a fight length of 3:05, he should blow his cooldowns (DS/Grimoire) at pull, and then save them again for execute phase. Pop them again when the boss is <20% with his second potion. And save his extra DS charge for execute as well.

I don't know... he needs to pick up more of the basics.

[Xixillia]

Hello everyone!

I'm struggling with my warlock, I feel that I should be doing more than 15k (destro) single target on a training dummy @ ilvl 651 (with flask, food, and pre-pot). I want to make my lock my main again (after 6 years bench time.) What can I fix? Thank you in advance!

https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/2wt8ZM3jfqDyTC1J

My armory

[SpikeySquad]

Could you perhaps record some LFR fights Xixilla? It gives a far better picture than a dummy and then I can compare you to a similar timed log as well. Ideally a single target fight and then something with adds as well.

I would suggest that a big part of your issue could be the lack of a 4 set (any tier in your case) and GSR (which are pretty much said to be mandatory for GoSac-CR). Have you tried "regular" Destro? Other than that looking very very quickly you forgot your big pet, you have a unideal haste proc trinket and no ring proc yet, I think for a raid you will need to bank Conflags a little more and you have to take into account that dummies do not have an execute. Oh and you are not raid buffed so taking this all into account I think that you are probably doing ok to well.

[Xixillia]

Could you perhaps record some LFR fights Xixilla? It gives a far better picture than a dummy and then I can compare you to a similar timed log as well. Ideally a single target fight and then something with adds as well.

I would suggest that a big part of your issue could be the lack of a 4 set (any tier in your case) and GSR (which are pretty much said to be mandatory for GoSac-CR). Have you tried "regular" Destro? Other than that looking very very quickly you forgot your big pet, you have a unideal haste proc trinket and no ring proc yet, I think for a raid you will need to bank Conflags a little more and you have to take into account that dummies do not have an execute. Oh and you are not raid buffed so taking this all into account I think that you are probably doing ok to well.

Thank you so much for your reply, I'll try to get a LFR log in at somepoint. Quick questions - probably noobish - (I've played a DK since wrath at this point lol)
GSR?
"regular" destro?

Thanks again!

[SpikeySquad]

Hi Xixillia,

Thanks for the replty. Aye, sorry I didn't take into account how new again to locks you are, welcome back to the fold! GSR is Goren Soul Repository. A very sexy trinket from Oregorger in BRF.

Regular as in more traditional Destro would be with Demonic Servitude. It is a lot slower paced but that also means you need plan further ahead and make more decisions. I have to say I really do not know what is better for you; I am just going by what I have read. I did some "regular" Destro in Highmaul on Bracken and Imperator and it was strong but then Demo went ahead. Hence I never really played Destro again until recently when I was kitted out with nice gear, the 4 set and the trinket and CR-GoSac back in 6.1 had been buffed to be the strongest choice. Ultimately though with more gear and tier you should be CR-GoSac for best damage and at the moment that is also looking the strongest option for 6.2 as well so sticking with that may just be better.

Remember too that locks seem to scale very well. You should constantly be noticing a difference as you gear up more and once you throw in Havoc and some AoE on add fights your damage will be much higher.

[thenightowl]

Hello MMOC,

Wanting to ask for your help on how to up my dps up. Id like to see an increase of say 4-6k. On BH I compared myself to some other logs on WCL and am just not seeing the fail point. There are some other locks hitting 40k pretty easily it seems. For our last attempt on BH seen in these logs I have my Corruption and Doom dots at 95% and up and my shadowflame at 40%. I have always felt that I struggle on ST fights too though so any help will be nice.

WCL's here

Thanks again!

[R1stra]

Recently moved from Brewmaster to Warlock in order to RL better.
Played around with Aff in MOP but only in LFR.

Was wondering if someone would be able to look over my logs for Gruul.
I feel like my dps could be better.

warcraftlogs.com/reports/Azygc8fq9B4r2xkM#fight=13&type=damage-done&source=2 (Cant post links)

armory
us.battle.net/wow/en/character/caelestrasz/Tilath/advanced

I dont have 2p or 4 so I know that I am missing out.

Buff uptimes are good but I feel like I should be doing more.

Thanks in advance

[SpikeySquad]

Hi TheNightOwl,

You're doing ok but hopefully these pointers will help you do better.

Opener: This could be stronger as your burst is lacking. Check out the guide here or at Summonstone

DS: So you should know that DS is your nuke phase and you should be meta SF spamming +/- CWs. Looking through all of your logs there were many DS with not one meta SF in! I had a look at your fury management and that is also an issue. Many times you have gone into DS with like 400 fury so know when you DS you need to prepare more in advance. You want 850+ fury, 6-8 MC procs and CWs (if you using). So if DS is due in 30 seconds and you have only 300 fury then you can't be dumping it on procs like you were. Also during DS try to make it clean. No DoT refreshes, no caster abilities and ideally no ToC though sometimes you will have to move especially if you are DSing during the siegemakers.

During your wipes I'd suggest to try to pay a lot more attention to your fury and MC proc management. Get a feel for how fast it grows during each phase. Only once you have your DS burns as strong as they can be then you can see what is left over and how much you can afford to dump in between.

A few caster SFs pre-execute. Meta SFs buffed mostly but not always so watch this a little closer and calculate what are your best buffs. Do you remember to dump all MC procs pre-25%?

Grimoire: For the fight length you're often missing a use and it wasn't always synced with DS.

HoG stacking attempted. Sometimes good but sometimes you waited too long between them or just threw out single ones. Hog, caster ability, caster ability. HoG.

Talents & Glyphs: Do you feel like you really need Unending Resolve? 10% less damage the whole fight would make a lot bigger difference than one or two uses of that in my opinion.

Execute: Didn't really look into where you guys are having issues but if not on the balcony adds then personally I save the extra DS for execute. You seem to often use your potion right at the start of execute but sometimes DS isnt off cooldown. Below 20% you want DS, GoServ and your potion together. Quite a few attempts where you are still Shadowbolting past the 25% mark.

Good luck.