Few questions about shard management and unstable affliction

[HorrorCosmic]

So, a few questions about UA in legion.

This is all provided you do not take contagion.

Does the compound damage still happens with UA, where you cast UA on top of itself to increase its damage? If so at how many shards should I start to spam UA? I've heard 4 to avoid missing a proc and I've heard 5 then spam it.

Is it best to time your UA refreshes or just burn through your shards as fast as possible?

And (my biggest question), if you get a SS proc while UA is still on the target after exhausting all of your shard, do you recast UA to keep it up a little longer or just reserve it until you get another 4-5 shards so you can spam it again?


As far as shard management goes, if taken GoServitude is it best to use Doomguard or the grimoire felhunter first? or wait for a second SS proc to summon both at the same time? Whens the best time to use these CD's (outside of burn phase obviously), Example: Using that Stock SS on the Doomguard at the beginning of the fight so you may have DG again later.

[Roberek]

If you spec into Contagion you are working towards 100% uptime. Otherwise, it doesn't really matter how you tackle it unless you are trying for a burst during a vulnerability window.

When you refresh it, the remaining damage is spread out evenly throughout the new-full duration (source). So, as long as you don't waste shard procs, casting it at four is considered the safest option, you will never lose out on DPS. Saving up to 4/5 leaves you with room to do some nuke-damage during a vulnerability or proc window.

Every rotation I've seen prioritized Doomguard then grimoire felhunter. They also always say to use both cooldowns immediately as the fight starts. When it is off cooldown you are losing potential DPS (assuming the fight won't end before one cooldown cycle).