[6.2.3] Affliction Warlock Guide

[zvvl]

Your BIS Legs point to an ilvl 700 piece from well of eternity O.o

They are from Hellfire Citadel. Looks like an error on wowdb?
http://www.wowdb.com/items/124164-le...r?bonusIDs=567
http://www.wowhead.com/item=124164/l...oner&bonus=567

I am still learning Affy and starting to run it more due to just the stupid buffs it got. I have a few questions regarding multi target fights. For Mythic Reaver as example, when bombs are out, should i just Agony them all and then go back to focus on the boss? Of course during air phase, just focus down bombs. My main question is really how many dots do you cast per target when X number of adds are up before focusing on the main target. Similar to shadow priest dot style, dot it all and DP everything in site due to the mass procs . I never see this detail in any guides so figured i'd bring it up for the new to affy folks like my self.


EDIT: Council as another example, do we just cast all 3 dots across each target the entire fight and only DS when we can, while keeping Haunt up?

For Iron Reaver I'd just tunnel the boss and snipe Soul Shards from bombs by drain souling when they are at like 5% HP (or less if you're faster). For Air phase you can just DoT as many bombs and snipe shards. Not really much to do as Aff there because everything should be dying fast. You could find a bomb out in Africa I guess and focus it by yourself.

For Council you just maintain DoTs on all 3 targets. Drain Soul on the priority target. Your last Corruption should be applied to the target you are going to Drain Soul from. You don't really want to Haunt all too often on Council because you target swap a lot. Just keep SB:Haunt up 100% and try to maintain close to 100% DoT uptime on all 3 targets. Until it's time to burn one of them like Bloodboil sub 30%. Then I would just hit Dark Soul and tunnel him, letting DoTs fall off the others. For that fight Dark Soul usage isn't anything special, so the Dark Soul usage section of the guide should cover it.

[Cyberthug32]

One thing and there has been an argument about sims previously, but the Piston (Mythic) with all the stats it has compared to just the Heroic Class trinket will be a better option, especially if you combine the DSI with it.

With the buffs to Drain Soul you will want to not cast your dots as often on any fight.

And even if you look at the trinket sims, it shows the Piston Mythic is better dps wise than Heroic Class Trinket.


Aside from that great information always good to see it being updated.

[kamuimac]

i have maybe a nooby maybe stupid question but wtf is soul prism simming so high ? does the secodnaries on it really outwight the int loss from hc trinkets ?

[Restitution]

They are from Hellfire Citadel. Looks like an error on wowdb?
http://www.wowdb.com/items/124164-le...r?bonusIDs=567
http://www.wowhead.com/item=124164/l...oner&bonus=567


For Iron Reaver I'd just tunnel the boss and snipe Soul Shards from bombs by drain souling when they are at like 5% HP (or less if you're faster). For Air phase you can just DoT as many bombs and snipe shards. Not really much to do as Aff there because everything should be dying fast. You could find a bomb out in Africa I guess and focus it by yourself.

For Council you just maintain DoTs on all 3 targets. Drain Soul on the priority target. Your last Corruption should be applied to the target you are going to Drain Soul from. You don't really want to Haunt all too often on Council because you target swap a lot. Just keep SB:Haunt up 100% and try to maintain close to 100% DoT uptime on all 3 targets. Until it's time to burn one of them like Bloodboil sub 30%. Then I would just hit Dark Soul and tunnel him, letting DoTs fall off the others. For that fight Dark Soul usage isn't anything special, so the Dark Soul usage section of the guide should cover it.

Thanks for the response. I'll be taking this knowledge to farm fights to get that practice in!

[Deleted]

Hi There,

this may be stupid but uncertainty has gotten the better of me with set bonuses, i know i need to aim for them ASAP i have t18H helm but all other set areas (chest/legs/shoulders/gloves) i have HC and HCWF items in and no chance of getting hc tier until next reset, is it worth taking a hit to ilvl and a stat drop to get normal tier for the bonuses or do i stick with the HC items until i can get the HC versions of tier if i am lucky enough?
Nooby question but help would be appreciated!

If armory is needed its Thock on Vek'Nilash

[cabana]

thanks for taking it over, the kid is working to hard out here in chiraq to pay attention anymore, thanks a ton brotha

[zvvl]

Hi There,

this may be stupid but uncertainty has gotten the better of me with set bonuses, i know i need to aim for them ASAP i have t18H helm but all other set areas (chest/legs/shoulders/gloves) i have HC and HCWF items in and no chance of getting hc tier until next reset, is it worth taking a hit to ilvl and a stat drop to get normal tier for the bonuses or do i stick with the HC items until i can get the HC versions of tier if i am lucky enough?
Nooby question but help would be appreciated!

If armory is needed its Thock on Vek'Nilash

I personally think the normal tier is worth it.

thanks for taking it over, the kid is working to hard out here in chiraq to pay attention anymore, thanks a ton brotha

no problem!

[Deleted]

Why the SB: Soul Swap start ? SB: Soul Swap apply dots instantly, which means you literally have to wait to cast it after the pre-cast haunt. You'd end up with only one less GCD than you otherwise would have by manaully dotting, because you could be pre-casting UA during that time. Losing two haunts which can easily crit for over 100k each for a single GCD does not sound like a good deal at all.

[Cixxpak]

Hey guys, not sure if this is the appropriate place to pose this question but I will anyways. So for HFC there are some fights that Affliction will do far better that Destro and visaversa. My question is if affliction is Haste>=Mast and Destro is Mast>crit>haste would I be better served going Mast>everything else and putting the right trinkets in for each spec? For example, Destro gets crit trinkets affliction gets haste. I want to pull good dps on each boos encounter and keep gear switching to a minimum. Until they make affliction good for AoE situation i really see no other option here.
Thanks for the responses.

[Cyberthug32]

Hey guys, not sure if this is the appropriate place to pose this question but I will anyways. So for HFC there are some fights that Affliction will do far better that Destro and visaversa. My question is if affliction is Haste>=Mast and Destro is Mast>crit>haste would I be better served going Mast>everything else and putting the right trinkets in for each spec? For example, Destro gets crit trinkets affliction gets haste. I want to pull good dps on each boos encounter and keep gear switching to a minimum. Until they make affliction good for AoE situation i really see no other option here.
Thanks for the responses.

Thats correct Mastery > all so you can swap specs easily and just move trinkets accordingly.

[zvvl]

Why the SB: Soul Swap start ? SB: Soul Swap apply dots instantly, which means you literally have to wait to cast it after the pre-cast haunt. You'd end up with only one less GCD than you otherwise would have by manaully dotting, because you could be pre-casting UA during that time. Losing two haunts which can easily crit for over 100k each for a single GCD does not sound like a good deal at all.

Why would you cast 2 haunts after casting SB: Haunt?

[Deleted]

I've just had an idea. Why not precast Haunt and UA and then still use SB: SS. Saves a GCD and gets a full pandemic UA up. Not like you need shards in the opener anyway.

[SpikeySquad]

Why would you cast 2 haunts after casting SB: Haunt?

The Haunt debuff is irrelevant in this case. It's about getting the most damage out of soul shards (when you are drowning in them) in that opening time frame. I guess I may need a maths person because I also cannot make it right in my own head yet how so few DoT ticks and their instant ticks and Drain Soul>Haunt x2 (and not necessarily doing them together). Or perhaps has anyone crafted a APL for this situation?

[Deleted]

I guess what you're asking is if Haunt does more damage than the equivalent time spent casting Drain Soul.

I know in SoO Haunt spam in execute was popular, but back then we had unlimited shards and recently DoTs and MG got a sizeable buff.

Also you're losing potential Dark Soul uptime from the set bonus.

[SpikeySquad]

Yeah basically Liquidsteel but also doing Haunt x 2 instead of SB: SS so it is soul shard neutral so to speak. Ah yeah the set bonus will be affected as well; I did not consider that. I know I am most likely 99% wrong but I just don't know how/why yet and that is what bugs me!

Oh and speaking of which I find the 4 set (and even 2 set) odd to play with. Perhaps just an experience thing and the timings will not seem so weird soon.

[zvvl]

I've just had an idea. Why not precast Haunt and UA and then still use SB: SS. Saves a GCD and gets a full pandemic UA up. Not like you need shards in the opener anyway.

A Warlock in my guild does this, it makes sense but I haven't really play tested it.

[Wvvtayy]

I use sb:SS once at the start of the fight and thats it. But is it ever worth using to spread your dots to long lived adds?

[xuros]

ALways thought since WoD hit that Soul Swap was frowned on due to the cost. If you are using it then when are you using it? Would think that saving SS's for SB:Haunt for the misery buff would be prefered. If not, can someone give me an example of how they are using it with a cast by cast?

Would be appreciated!

- - - Updated - - -

ALways thought since WoD hit that Soul Swap was frowned on due to the cost. If you are using it then when are you using it? Would think that saving SS's for SB:Haunt for the misery buff would be prefered. If not, can someone give me an example of how they are using it with a cast by cast?

Would be appreciated!

OK nm, didnt notice this was a new guide lol. Nice work. I got the information i needed off the OP. Too bad I'll never be able to get my guild to give me a 22sec countdown.

[Deleted]

ALways thought since WoD hit that Soul Swap was frowned on due to the cost. If you are using it then when are you using it? Would think that saving SS's for SB:Haunt for the misery buff would be prefered. If not, can someone give me an example of how they are using it with a cast by cast?

Would be appreciated!

- - - Updated - - -



OK nm, didnt notice this was a new guide lol. Nice work. I got the information i needed off the OP. Too bad I'll never be able to get my guild to give me a 22sec countdown.

I usually use Soulswap when i have a target that needs to die ASAP and there is not enough time for me to apply my dots manually and wait for Agony to stack to 10. Something like the Crushing Hand on Kormrok Mythic (yes, i play affliction on Kormrok). Make sure you get your shard back though, otherwise it can hurt your Haunting spirit uptime.

[Zerach8]

Soulswaping to any add that needs to die asap is always advisable since ull get a shard back anyway via drain soul...Examples on archimonde heroic: doomfire spirit, Deathcallers and Living Shadows all need to die fast and they give back a shard once they die and u drain soul them...u could do the same with infernals but its hard to "snipe" shards from the with all the stuff going on in the last phase.