Affliction Help

[Grissle]

I need help. Pre WOTLK i was a Shadow Bolt spaming lock and loved the dps i was doin. Who would'nt it was easy thats why everyone and their mother made a lock. Now that blizzard has made all the different spec's more complicated you don't see the ass load of Locks anymore. Which is good. that means the only ones playing lock are the ones that want to be good at the class and are willing to learn. Which comes back to why i posted. I have been destro forever. And ever since Wotlk has come out i have been messing around with all kinds of specs hopein i would come across somethin that would give me that same burst damage i was craving. But unfourtunatly it's not posible with the gear i have. So it is back to Affliction but truth is i had'nt played it in so long it was a totally different class all together. I guess the questions i have are i see the posts of people posting big numbers on the boss fights like patchwork and others. But when i was trying affliction i just was'nt coming close to those numers. now i understand gear plays a big factor and i know i won't hit those exact numbers right off the bat. But my gear is'nt terrible i should be able to post more decent numbers then i was. So i am thinking Maybe i had something wrong in my rotation....now i know there is no set rotation for the Affliction spells cause they are so sparadic. but was just wondering if there was any pattern you guys followed? For boss fight and also trash mobs. i know affliction damage is based mostly on boss fights. But was just wondering if there was any tricks for those trash mobs. I'm gonna post my Armory just if you could take a look and tell me were i might be goin wrong stat and gear wise for affliction. Cause when i start going into Nax on a regular basis i wanna really be able to contribute. Workin on getting more of the gear out of the heroics first but before i started really pin pointing what i wanted to get. I felt i needed a better understanding of what helps make a good affliction lock. Thanks everyone for taking the time ...


http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...lune&n=Grissle

[cmolnari]

Well the spec you have seems to be about what everyone is going to after hitting 80. I have not done a re-spec yet only because i am testing to see what is best for the situations. The spec you are in usually is about 10 more into destro instead of demon. I love the spec i have set now and am going to find it hard to spec to destro tree.

[Nabbles]

I'll probably get shot for saying this, but your gear is pretty similar to mine. I was running the standard afflic spec from 80, and getting very poor results in 5 man heroics. haven't tried raids yet, but I doubt I'll see an improvent. Today I respecced to a destro spec and found a vast improvment. you can check out my spec and gear here

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-t...nnon&n=Nabbles

rotation is COE, Corruption, Immolate, Chaos bolt, Incinerate x 4, conflag.

I usually drop the corruption but it's an instant cast and procs more damage so can be worth while. I know that the theorycraft group will disagree on pure numbers, but I found that this has a bigger margin for error and still does good solid damage, more then I could get with afflic anyhow. plus it's nice seeing 7 or 8 k hits again

-Nabbs*

[drakath]

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=IfxRb0MAoVAoIstZE00V

There IS a rotation to affliction, and it will make your life a lot easier.

Shadowbolt -> haunt -> UA -> immolate -> curse of agony -> corruption -> siphon life -> shadow bolt -> haunt.

That will be your initial rotation always.

After that you you fill time that your not reapplying dots with shadowbolts. Always reapply UA and Immo together, becuase they'll always be coming off together. Corruption never needs to be reapplied. Haunt has a window of which it can be reapplied, be smart about this window. Generally you want to keep it seemless, as you'll get another shadowbolt out of it, but if your dots are coming down at the same time (often a ua/immo) you can reapply early to make sure you don't lose uptime. DON'T CLIP YOUR DOTS. Can not stress that enough. For trash you should be tab dotting. Or AoEing if your guild is good. More than 2 mobs = AoE.

If your having trouble, cut your rotation. Drop siphon life and switch CoA to Doom. when you get that down, add in siphon life, when you get that down, switch CoA back to doom.

[Mobook]

I agree in big parts with the post above, I'm just wanna poke at a few things

Shadowbolt -> haunt -> UA -> immolate -> curse of agony -> corruption -> siphon life -> shadow bolt -> haunt.

How much haste do you have when you get another SB in to your start up rotation? I most often use SL before CoA since it stays up longer but that is more or less just a matter of taste imo..

I was gonna poke at another thing but realised in time that I just missread.

@Grissle the fact that you can see ppl show off big numbers on patchwerk and such bosses with an affliction specc while you don't reach them or high enough on 5-mans is simply because in 5-mans your target goes down to quickly.. Your dots don't get the chance to do serious dmg(hardly even on bosses) I ran through UK yesterday with a mage who like to pop his mirror images and a retpaladin.. big fun did ok on the bosses but still a major dps loss on my side through the instance..

I saw on your armory that you have changed to deep demon and I hope that works for you, the only change i would do is to change the +hit trinket while on trash since you don't need as much on them.

[drakath]

I only have 176 haste (~5.5%) but it's important to note that you shouldn't be using haunt as soon as the CD is up, you want to use it just enough to keep the debuff on, so there's a 4 second window in which to place it, therefore 2.37 shadowbolt + 1.42 haunt = 3.79 seconds. Obviously these are my numbers and change from person to person. And often on boss fights where I'm standing further away I won't shadowbolt in startup to account for travel time. The more haste you have, the more leeway you have.

[Namon]

Affliction CAN be competitive in Raids, Heroix and trash. Depending on the situation you will need to tailor your spell chains for maximum dps. Try thinking of your skills in pairs or small groupings. Your gear certainly needs work but that will come in time.

Now i prefer a different method then the majority of other warlocks and i consistently do well using these methods.

1. On single target mobs whether boss or mobs that last long enough to get full dots up i use the following initial rotation:

Haunt, UA->Cor, SB->SL, Immo->Curse.

Refresh your dots using Haunt/SB. Try not to refresh dots too early. The point is you want to get your dots up quickly and as you do damage. The rotation i provided does just that. Wile your waiting for dots to be refreshed spam SB and interlace life taps, b4 refreshing haunt ofcourse, but any time you can get away w/ it. You dont want to be spamming life tap because your oom which will risk your life in a raid and fubar your dps. When you get haste proc's from eradication spam SB and wait to life tap. When the mob is below 35% health you can drop immo from your rotation IF you have a decent amount of crit, but its debatable even then. I would suggest getting a mod called "powerauras" it allows you to set up flashing indicators around your toon so when things proc you know and can take advantage.

2. On trash mobs or encounters w/ multiple targets i start w/ this grp of spells:

Haunt, UA->Cor.

2 to 3 packs: Get your text book Haunt, UA->Cor and start casting SB on skull and as it is casting tab to X. Cast UA->Cor on X and start casting SB, as SB is casting on X tab to Box. Cast UA->Cor on Box and cast SB, as SB is casting Tab back to Skull. The longer the mobs are up the more dots you can get on them. I use SB paired w/ anything that i can get up or that is about to fall off: UA, Cor, SL, Curse, etc. Basic premise is the longer they are alive the more dots you want to put up on them wile spamming your biggest nuke, SB.

4 to 5 packs: Haunt, UA->Cor. on main target and tab UA->Cor. on the remaining targets; anything more then 4 is more then I can personally handle. Apply SE to all the targets including the first using haunt/SB, either will be fine. Dont let UA->Cor fall off any of the mobs.

6+ packs: You have to use your discretion. If your in a heroic and they're mobs of 20k HP or less just start tabbing SoC on everything you can. Dont wait for agro just go nuts. You will probably pull agro but thats what deathcoil and Soul Shatter are for. Or you can go w/ 4 SoC or so then run in and Shadowflame them. In a raid where some packs last long enough to interlace dots you can do so. Once you get good at pairing your castable's w/ insta casts you can sneak in SL or your Curse. I some times open w/ Haunt, UA->Cor on the skull and then tab an SoC volley on the remaining mobs. Using SoC/UA->Cor combos on big packs will give you good results too. The better your competition the more your going to have to alter your rotations to do dps. Slow dps comp tab dot more, better dps use more SoC.

3. Generally you need to be thinking on your feet. If your running in w/ a tank or have to move cast insta cast dots like SL, Curse, or Cor. Always try and be right up there w/ the tank casting haunt right as he's charging in. UA->Cor is the most powerful dot combo a warlock has and Cor has a chance to proc all your aff abilities, esp Nightfall, so use it to your advantage.

4. Spec. Your spec is important. This is the one i use:

http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?warl...h=000000000000

There are some play points in the first tier of aff and some locks think more then 1 point in eradication is a pointless but i dont see any other places to put them that would have a huge effect on the end result, which is doing insane damage, so you can do what you like but at least get one in it. Same goes w/ shadowburn. Just make sure to get the important talents, im sure i dont have to spell it out.

5. Gear. With this spec you need 367 hit rating (14%) or if you want to go more talent heavy 288 (11%). Spellstone ofcourse is your friend. As far as what stats you want to to gem/go for its up to you. Some locks think haste is more important then crit but a Haunt/Ruin lock needs crit and the more you have the better damage you will do. I generally look at whether the gear has spirit on it first then go for crit where you can. They throw so much haste at you you'll end up w/ a bunch w/ out even worrying about it.

Make no mistake aff is the most challenging spec to playing in the game atm. But when played well you will do amazing damage. When compared to the other 2 spec's aff still is the best, atm; so if you take the time to learn it and push yourself you'll be happy w/ the results.

Cheers

[Bakis]

Shadowbolt -> haunt -> UA -> immolate -> curse of agony -> corruption -> siphon life -> shadow bolt -> haunt.

he use SB first to get the debuff from start on dots (haunt work as well but i prefer SB to open up the mayhem). since u can load the SB up during the pull u wont lose any initial damage if u make it hit 0,5 sec after tank pulled.
after that u ignore SB on a fixed positoin in ur cycle totally, u just cast it when all dots are up and u got time for it. some dots can and should be ignore to reapply at some ocations tho, skipping a few dots like agony or immolation if ur currently under a trinket hasteproc or bloodlust are such. never ever miss keeping corruption, UA, (haunt) up tho.

[Mobook]

he use SB first to get the debuff from start on dots (haunt work as well but i prefer SB to open up the mayhem). since u can load the SB up during the pull u wont lose any initial damage if u make it hit 0,5 sec after tank pulled.
after that u ignore SB on a fixed positoin in ur cycle totally, u just cast it when all dots are up and u got time for it. some dots can and should be ignore to reapply at some ocations tho, skipping a few dots like agony or immolation if ur currently under a trinket hasteproc or bloodlust are such. never ever miss keeping corruption, UA, (haunt) up tho.

Yes I agree on the first SB since I do the same, it was the second one right before the second haunt i was talking about and he answered to. my spellhaste is really really low.. have focused on dmg/hit/crit so far and haven't needed on any haste items above the guilds mages in heroics/raids since they make better use of them imo.

[Bakis]

wonder whats up with hit, due to being madly unlucky with drops and too lazy to cut just hit gems I ended up running 10man Nax (complete run) and with *rofl* 180 hit as lvl80 i had 12 misses on SB on the entire run. WTH... in the end I were lucky and got items with ~50 more hit.

I carried around Skull of Guldan and some other lvl70 hit items to swap into the gear when I got tons of resist but I were amazed when there were basicly no misses with the crappyass hitrating I got atm.