When do I use my ember moves?

[Zantos]

I have looked and looked and I keep getting mixed answers. When do I use my ember moves? So far what I have heard is that I use them during certain conditions.

1)Never with 3 or more backdraft
2)When im about to cap my embers
3)When I have my cd active or their are other cds like warrior banner, bl
4)When I proc something for tons of Int or Crit

Now, my question comes in with the cds. Do I use All of my stored embers, or do I just always save one? Also, do I ever use life tap? or should I use a chaos bolt /shadowburn for mana instead? My mana issues may be better on a fight when using Rain of Fire isn't so appealing.

My rotation is the same as the one on icyveins for what I use. Its just those darn embers that are tripping me up.

[roflwaffle]

1)Never with 3 or more backdraft
2)When im about to cap my embers
3)When I have my cd active or their are other cds like warrior banner, bl
4)When I proc something for tons of Int or Crit
.

exactly this.

just make sure you have some saved up for when major CDs are going to be up. i.e. dont spend all four with 15seconds left till your CDs are up


if it's a really high damage fight you can save one ember if you think your going to need the heals but it'll be a good chuck of dps gone

[Arcanist]

I'm curious as well, and I'll add 5)Do I use Dark Soul on CD or do I wait for an int proc/haste proc/external cooldowns?

What I do now is:

1)I never cap embers. Will cast without procs if I have to, but I try to stay close to 4 until cds/procs.
2)I try to line up Dark Soul with a trinket proc/external cds and blow all embers
3)Never cast chaos bolt with 3+ backdraft.

[Vulcanasm]

The problem with that list -- from Icy Veins, right? -- is that the priorities are exactly backwards, i.e. 4) is your top priority if it's about to expire, even if 1) gets violated. In fact you can usually ignore rule 1. In fact if you're stacking mastery and running Demonic Sacrifice, then I suspect you *should* ignore rule 1, if not do the exact opposite -- though I haven't worked through the exact algebra of that situation so don't treat that as gospel.

[Zantos]

Its not a list of the priority system for it. Its conditions to watch when using them. Thanks for the info though. cleared up a few things.

[Mozez]

A good place to look if you haven't already is at the guide written by Brusalk.
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...+warlock+guide

[Zantos]

A good place to look if you haven't already is at the guide written by Brusalk.
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...+warlock+guide

I read it and it just brings up confusion about stat priority. I heard crit=haste>mastery where his says haste=mastery>crit. I use the talent to upgrade my pets.

[Sakpoth]

I read it and it just brings up confusion about stat priority. I heard crit=haste>mastery where his says haste=mastery>crit. I use the talent to upgrade my pets.

The reason for confusion around stat weights is that there is no set of stat weights that are better than all other stat weights. There are stat weights that are better for this fight and there are stat weights that are better for that fight. If you're just looking for some stat weights that you can plot into your reforge tool as a fire and forget, then I'm sorry, because there is no such thing. If you read more into Brusalk's guide, he explains how the stat weights relate to different situations. You can choose to understand the weights and optimize on a fight by fight basis, or you can pick one way and stick with it. If you choose to stick with one setup then you're left with more choices, would you prefer to be optimized for single target, cleave, AoE or some middle ground which pretty much means you'll never be optimized 100% for any fight?

[ati87]

I'm curious as well, and I'll add 5)Do I use Dark Soul on CD or do I wait for an int proc/haste proc/external cooldowns?

What I do now is:

1)I never cap embers. Will cast without procs if I have to, but I try to stay close to 4 until cds/procs.
2)I try to line up Dark Soul with a trinket proc/external cds and blow all embers
3)Never cast chaos bolt with 3+ backdraft.

It kind of depends on the situation.

If the fight last like 7 mins and 30 sec (your record kill) then you could get away with not using it right after it comes off cooldown since your max use is 3 times anyway, you could easly wait 15 secs each time for a proc.

A exception would be if their is some sort of mechanic that will prevent you from using the full duration of your buff, then its just best to wait or use it right away.

Personally I try to wait for either my hydra trinket proc or my weapon and cloak enchant procs (only if they are both up) since waiting those few seconds is the difference between 490k (which is max for me with just Dark Soul buff) hits and 510+ hits

[Xorn]

I have looked and looked and I keep getting mixed answers. When do I use my ember moves? So far what I have heard is that I use them during certain conditions.

1)Never with 3 or more backdraft
2)When im about to cap my embers
3)When I have my cd active or their are other cds like warrior banner, bl
4)When I proc something for tons of Int or Crit

Now, my question comes in with the cds. Do I use All of my stored embers, or do I just always save one? Also, do I ever use life tap? or should I use a chaos bolt /shadowburn for mana instead? My mana issues may be better on a fight when using Rain of Fire isn't so appealing.

My rotation is the same as the one on icyveins for what I use. Its just those darn embers that are tripping me up.

I wanted to address this with an example. Say you have about 3 embers and you get a massive Int proc, however DS is coming off CD soonish. Use as many embers as you think you can regenerate before DS comes off CD again. DS will typically be our biggest and baddest CD so we want to make sure we always have close to 4 embers going into with (with Immolate and RoF filling the rest while we cast CB). This is especially true with the 2 piece T15, as we'll want to almost always get in all 5 CBs within the duration of DS without having to delay using it (unless the fight dictates it).

[Slonah]

Just addressing the Life Tap question. Destruction has no "Life Tap" spell. Life Tap turns into Chaotic Energy when you choose Destro as your specialization and is a passive ability. Which is why you don't want those 3 Back Drafts going towards you Chaos Bolts. The time you spend casting Chaos Bolts is your mana regen time, and by the time you are done casting your 3 Chaos Bolts if you pooled Embers (or 4 if you are great with timing and lucky with Incinerate crits) you should be back to full mana and ready to go back into Ember Build-up mode, allowing you to more quickly generate Embers with the Back Draft proc.