Soul Fire

[Figoment]

Bored in TotC like I usually am I started wondering If I magically came up with a shitload of soul shards (And I mean a literal Shitload) would I do better dps spamming soul fire instead of shadowbolt as demo.

[Aliadra]

Because of the insanely long casting time I'd say no, but since my lock is like 53 I can't really tell. I'll simply say: Try it out, won't hurt.

[Mix]

I don't think soulfire is worth casting unless under decimation. So, seeing as you are demo, cast soulfire as an execute as it is designed to be.

[Figoment]

Well that's what I thought at first but then I started paying attention to how much damage I was doing with each spell and soul fire is usually around twice as much

[Knuffelbert]

That's just not true. Soul fire does not do twice the damage (unless of course you compare crit soulfire to shadow bolt noncrit). It does more damage, especially if your CoA or Corr procced, but I doubt even 50% more (never felt that much to me, and I play demo in our TotGC25 raids). But you could also use incinerate instead of shadow bolt when that happens.

[Gahouf!]

Yeah I'll have to agree with Knuffelbert. Though I'm not a pro Demonologist, Soul Fire just doesn't feel like twice the damage. Possibly 1.3~4x a normal Shadowbolt (my SB crits are round 11k, SF around 15k).

[Nangz]

I don't think soulfire is worth casting unless under decimation. So, seeing as you are demo, cast soulfire as an execute as it is designed to be.

or as a puller if your shadowbolt kills the target before you can soul fire

[Figoment]

That's just not true. Soul fire does not do twice the damage (unless of course you compare crit soulfire to shadow bolt noncrit). It does more damage, especially if your CoA or Corr procced, but I doubt even 50% more (never felt that much to me, and I play demo in our TotGC25 raids). But you could also use incinerate instead of shadow bolt when that happens.

I actually just decided to test this self buffed on the dummy(not the best test but a test). According to recount average shadowbolt was around 5.2k and crit 10k when soul fire was around 9-10k and 17-19k crits. It was around twice as much. This did prove to me to be a very small dps increase. Like 50-100 dps but not worth it for the amount of shards I would need for a raid. Will I do it in ICC on a progression kill maybe but for now no

[Nangz]

well you can hold max of 32 shards.....

a what 4 sec castx32
just over 2 mins of casting

anubarak is a 10 min fight
icecrown won't longer than that i believe but still every toc fight is over 2 mins valks is the quickest with speed kill only...

sure add in dots and others you'll be out of shards before 50%

[Figoment]

Ah I forgot about the new limit on shards. I just use my 28 slot bag so I never reached it it just slipped my mind.

[gherkin]

You don't compare by damage per spell, but by Damage divided by Time. Time is the universal constant for dps - you don't get more of it. Therefore you compare all spells against each time to see which comes out ahead.

Soulfire hits for 15k on average (factoring in Crits at 45%) and Shadow Bolt hits for 10k on average.
With zero haste, 15 / 4 = 3, and 10 / 2.5 = 4

Shadow Bolt > Soul Fire.

[Gerian]

In before someone claims haste affects long casts more than short casts. :

[Figoment]

You don't compare by damage per spell, but by Damage divided by Time. Time is the universal constant for dps - you don't get more of it. Therefore you compare all spells against each time to see which comes out ahead.

Soulfire hits for 15k on average (factoring in Crits at 45%) and Shadow Bolt hits for 10k on average.
With zero haste, 15 / 4 = 3, and 10 / 2.5 = 4

Shadow Bolt > Soul Fire.

First I already accepted that I can't do this. Second Using the damage that I found Soul Fire > Shadow Bolt