[BETA] Destruction Warlock Discussion

[Deleted]

A good player will get more than a bad player out of every spec in the game. Your perception that this is a rare phenomenon is just not grounded in reality.

wait wait wait wait wait. I didn't even say that to begin with. Look at my post I said "I haven't tested it yet since frozen account".

I was referring to the two posters above me

I am a pretty good player with numerous #1 in world of logs back in my days, but if a rotation is super boring then I don't really wanna play it. Hence why I am asking. I hope that clears your confusion up

[bio347]

Fun is subjective, friend.

[Avikur]

i'm assuming my Destro lock feels so tanky/tough because I have 91% mastery (even after geming/enchanting haste) which is reducing damage I take? Or are they just generally pretty tanky feeling?

[Smog]

i'm assuming my Destro lock feels so tanky/tough because I have 91% mastery (even after geming/enchanting haste) which is reducing damage I take? Or are they just generally pretty tanky feeling?

All three lock specs are pretty tanky now, compared to most casters.

[Gaidax]

i'm assuming my Destro lock feels so tanky/tough because I have 91% mastery (even after geming/enchanting haste) which is reducing damage I take? Or are they just generally pretty tanky feeling?

Warlocks are tough as nails really, passive Demon Skin and various resistances like Mastery for Destruction or Soul Link for Demo or Drain Life filler for Aff make us super tanky for DPS.

Then Destruction uniquely has Unending Resolve on 1 min CD on top of that.

[janzy]

Is there a way to track roaring blaze with TMW or WA? Also, i remember reading that if you use your green fire you don't get new spell animations.

[Deleted]

Is there a way to track roaring blaze with TMW or WA? Also, i remember reading that if you use your green fire you don't get new spell animations.

I don't think tracking Roaring Blaze is necessary. You will cast 2x Immolate into 2x Conlagrate. After 24sec both Stacks of Conflagrate will be up again und you do the same again. Make sure you don't clip your Immolate and waste its last tick. You can use Havoc as well.

[Averrix]

So, it destro going to be a good spec to be? Or will demo be the top spec at 110? I was doing a heroic hellfire with a couple of demo locks and they were up around 100k the whole time while I was doing around 70k. Of course, they had their 4 piece and I don't, that probably had something to do with it, but I've just never been very fond of demo and always like destro.

[Deleted]

So, it destro going to be a good spec to be? Or will demo be the top spec at 110? I was doing a heroic hellfire with a couple of demo locks and they were up around 100k the whole time while I was doing around 70k. Of course, they had their 4 piece and I don't, that probably had something to do with it, but I've just never been very fond of demo and always like destro.

sadly people can't answer that question yet.

I'd rather play destro or affliction aswell, but the usual answer right now is "wait for 110 and wait for artifact weapons because that changes a lot".
Blizzard is also going to tune again at 110 (hopefully). Other than that if you want high dps then you have to roll mage, because they always are #1 and magically never underperform

[Baconeggcheese]

Are all 3 warlock specs boring and bad in terms of skill level/fun etc. ? Or is it just destro. I've heard that the demo rotation is pretty dull. What about affliction?

It seems a lot of classes are complaining about LEGION streamlining the game too much and make it "too easy". Are there any real good specs left that require players to be good and give them a slight advantage if they are good/better than avg ?

Fun is subjective, so that's up to you.

Skill wise its how its always been, the streamlining complaints are a load of hyperbole for most classes / specs. There are legitimately specific specs that have been pretty thoroughly gutted / streamlined, if a warrior complains I can agree its a legitimate complaint. Any warlock making that complaint is full of shit.

[Gnarilex]

So, it destro going to be a good spec to be? Or will demo be the top spec at 110? I was doing a heroic hellfire with a couple of demo locks and they were up around 100k the whole time while I was doing around 70k. Of course, they had their 4 piece and I don't, that probably had something to do with it, but I've just never been very fond of demo and always like destro.

A decent amount of posters in the warlock threads here have said demo is nothing more than a gimmick spec. Demo is only OP in pre-patch because of the class trinket and t18. It currently plays nothing like it will at 110, even with the artifact. That's not to say it can't be a good single target spec. If tuned right its damage could put it at the top of the meters on some fights. However destro definitely seems like it'll be the way to go. Its kit is just more capable of dealing with a wider range of situations than demo or affliction. It might not beat out affliction on add heavy fights, though. Affliction's artifact makes it stronger with each death. We have yet to see the final tuning that will be in place once raids and mythic+ launch, so it may end up that destro falls behind one or more of them or all three are magically competitive with each other and other dps specs.

[Coldfire989]

I don't think any tuning that comes at this point is going to change much unless some crazy drastic thing happens.

[carcrashcripple]

Has anyone got a link/image that outlines the route we should take as Destro on our artifact?

[Deleted]

Has anyone got a link/image that outlines the route we should take as Destro on our artifact?

So far, most people would go Lord of Flames + Impish Incineration -> Dimension Ripper -> Conflagration of Chaos -> leftovers

I think Furty was looking at going the CoC -> DR route, but he seemed to be the minority.

[Deleted]

So far, most people would go Lord of Flames + Impish Incineration -> Dimension Ripper -> Conflagration of Chaos -> leftovers

I think Furty was looking at going the CoC -> DR route, but he seemed to be the minority.

I haven't kept up to date with this, so sorry for the basic question, but why is LoF preferred? Does it change the way we use our Infernal (e.g. making it replace Doomguard, instead of being used for 3+ sustained aoe targets)?

[Gaidax]

Well to be honest it ultimately does not matter, you will unlock everything soon anyway.

For me Lord of Flames is nobrainer because it is a short path filled with great stuff and LoF itself is solid, besides that it saved my ass in Suramar plenty when you get spotted in a bad location and have 500 guards charge at you. It is also good for dumping on elite mob world quests to make them go down faster.

[Deleted]

Well to be honest it ultimately does not matter, you will unlock everything soon anyway.

For me Lord of Flames is nobrainer because it is a short path filled with great stuff and LoF itself is solid, besides that it saved my ass in Suramar plenty when you get spotted in a bad location and have 500 guards charge at you. It is also good for dumping on elite mob world quests to make them go down faster.

I also think that Lord of Flames (LoF) is definitely the strongest of the 3 "Elite" traits. That unfortunately says more about the other 2 than actually that LoF is strong
What I have not yet figured out if the 10 minute thing resets on boss wipes or not. Would be a horrible flash into the past (welcome to the old 10-minute CDs on our special demons) if it did not, but at this point, I would not put anything past Blizzard any more.

[Deleted]

So, it destro going to be a good spec to be? Or will demo be the top spec at 110? I was doing a heroic hellfire with a couple of demo locks and they were up around 100k the whole time while I was doing around 70k. Of course, they had their 4 piece and I don't, that probably had something to do with it, but I've just never been very fond of demo and always like destro.

Demo in current live is hilariously overpowered if you have the 4-piece and class trinket, though less so than it was a few days ago - they nerfed the chance of random demons being summoned by imp firebolts from 8% to 2% but couldn;t be bothered to put this change into the patch notes

Demo in liv eis nothing other than spam Shadowbolt, Hand of Guldan and Dmeonic Empowerment and coast at the top of meters. It is nothing like that in Legion.

The rotation is more complex, since you cannot ignore Dreadstalkers. Also, if you want burst or AOE then afaik Implosion is pretty much mandatory

Demo is fun to play but it's very weak, mediocre damage at best and it has really poor tools to deal with raid encounters because it's either just plain sucky at some things like target switching or cleave, or to do decently at others like aoe you have to jump through a bunch of hoops, when other classes just don't, which is a disadvantage particularly in progress because you have more things to distract you or to get wrong than your team-mates do

I doubt very much if demo in it's current state would be considered a progression raid spec.

Destruction simply has better tools and outperform sit on everything, perhaps due to destruction not being changed much

The artefact really does not change this. There are no magical artefact powers that suddenly make demo great, and it would suck if there were, because gear crutches are bad, particularly gear crutches that are locked away in a levelling process.

We're only about a month from Legion going live. If they want demo as a viable progression raid spec it needs some fixes fast, otherwise raider are just not going to take it - and probably not affliction either. Destruction is just better than they are. And destruction itself is a middle of the pack at best, except at cleave where you can abuse Havoc (which will probably get nerfed because it's so good)

As things stand fire mages and MM hunters are going to beat destruction all the time, probably DK's will as well

[Deleted]

Can anyone tell me the cast time of chaosbolt we can expect in Legion 110 gear? Without any talents?

[Gaidax]

I also think that Lord of Flames (LoF) is definitely the strongest of the 3 "Elite" traits. That unfortunately says more about the other 2 than actually that LoF is strong
What I have not yet figured out if the 10 minute thing resets on boss wipes or not. Would be a horrible flash into the past (welcome to the old 10-minute CDs on our special demons) if it did not, but at this point, I would not put anything past Blizzard any more.

From my testing the following seems to be the case.

Lord of Flames resets if:
1. You die. (However Summon X may still be on cooldown).
2. Raid boss dies.

Lord of Flames does not reset if:
1. Dungeon boss dies.

I am not sure if it resets if raid boss encounter ends prematurely like those prepulls to reset CDs, I suspect it does.