New to warlock raiding, what should I kill them with first?

[FangoTehmango]

let me say up front, that I am a total noob when it comes to casters. All of my 80s are either melee or tank, or in some cases both. i have been lvling my warlock on and off for the last couple years when I get bored. I did a little looking, and from what I gather affliction is the best spec. Ok, sounds good, since I started using that at 40 and never had an issue since. However, a comment on one of the sticky threads says that the saved affliction info is sadly outdated. And none of the warlocks i run with are affliction, so either I have no one to take the lead from, or I am wrong that affliction is best. I also gather that rawr is broken at the moment, which kills another tool at my disposal. So if there is anyone out there that won't mind a little hand holding while I learn to sit in the back and fire my lasers, I would be most appreciative.

[Savara]

Well I only raided for a short time in the beginning of WotlK as affliction and only recently upgraded my affliction tree in dualspecc, because blizz is buffing all warlock specc.


Atm I use this as affliction tree:
http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-ta...afheid&group=1


My rotation would be: Haunt, UA, corr, CoA, SB, SB, Haunt if it's off c/d again and start all over. It's pretty chaotic to keep up all your spells so I advice you to take ForteXorcist that can be found on Curse. It keeps a good track of your spells and c/d's.


I'm not sure if I'm 100% correct, because I don't really raid as Affliction, but I think it's a good start.

[FangoTehmango]

Well it's a start. I'm trying to dig through the stuff over at Elitist jerks too, but it seems some of the main posts are from 3.2, so they may be off just a bit.

And it already seems I've found one little glitch in my spec. I went with CoE, thinking that the additional damage taken would be more than what CoA could put out.

At this moment the main thing i'm trying to figure out is which pet to use. Imps are squishy and for destro locks if I remember right. EJ is saying doomguard and infernal are awesome now, which is nice. but for regular use it comes down to felhound or succubus. Sadly, i stopped using the skank a long time ago, so I'm more biased to my bog scary guard dog.

[BombeNissen]

Im not mr. perfect on the affliction spec, but I do raid with it now and then...

What I normally do is: Open with lifetap -> SB -> Haunt -> UA -> Corruption -> CoA, and then spam Shadowbolts until its time to refresh Haunt or any other dot.

The key rule is not to clip the dots - you cant prevent Corruption to be clipped because of SB and Haunt refreshing it, but the other dots should be refreshed the second they run out to get the last tick out of them.

[Shapeshiftr]

I'd recommend Destruction, delivers decent DPS and doesn't require you to keep a lot of buffs up.

http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...r%C3%A4ttelsen

Start off with Curse of Elements > Immolate > Conflagrate > Chaos Bolt > Incinerate - Push as many Incinerates you can into the rotation until either Conflagrate/Chaos Bolt is off cooldown, and remember to always keep Immolate up.

I love it. You can also add a Corruption in between, but not really helpful unless it's on a boss.

[Ethanius]

I'd recommend Destruction, delivers decent DPS and doesn't require you to keep a lot of buffs up.

http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...r%C3%A4ttelsen

Start off with Curse of Elements > Immolate > Conflagrate > Chaos Bolt > Incinerate - Push as many Incinerates you can into the rotation until either Conflagrate/Chaos Bolt is off cooldown, and remember to always keep Immolate up.

I love it. You can also add a Corruption in between, but not really helpful unless it's on a boss.

I am raiding as destro, but some things are known even to me First - your pet of choice is felhunter. For that simple matter that you as affliction have some nice boost to his dmg in your talent tree. Second - since 3.3 there is a glyph that makes your corruption ticks scale with your haste. AFAIK that one is now considered mandatory for affli locks. And if there is no boomkin or other warlock using CoE, you should use it instead of CoA.

[Cirque]

On that matter I'd like to add that Curse of Elements is a waste of your time if there's a moonkin or unholy death knight in your raid, since Earth and Moon and Ebon Plague provide the same debuff without a loss of dps for them (Earth and Moon is applied when the moonkin casts his regular spells and Ebon Plague is automatically applied in the same way, whereas warlocks sacrifice a portion of their dps for CoE that is especially quite a chunk as demo or affliction).

Furthermore I'd advise you to read up on elitistjerks and stuff especially if this is your first caster, and in the end just trial and error, which is the only thing that makes a warlock a good warlock.

As Affliction it is advisable to start with Shadowbolt for the Shadow Embrace debuff. On that matter it must be noted that Shadow Embrace is currently bugged if there is more than 1 aff lock in the raid: the first lock applying SE will benefit from the debuff, while the other aff lock will permanently lose out on the effects of this buff.

As for the "most dps spec"; demo is currently lowest, but all specs are really rather close. Sure, in theoretical dps, one spec might win out over the other, but in the end theoretical dps is just that: theoretical. The fight mechanics and type of fights will determine which spec yields higher dps. A somewhat outdated but probably known example for you would be the locks in Ulduar, where Destro was the theoretical best dps but on certain fights (like Yogg(+0)), locks would respec Affliction.

Thus it becomes just a matter of your personal preference. That said, in the next hotfix all warlock specs are expected to be buffed, so we will see which spec wins out then.

[gherkin]

Kindness.

[gruxxar]

I'd recommend Destruction, delivers decent DPS and doesn't require you to keep a lot of buffs up.

Start off with Curse of Elements > Immolate > Conflagrate > Chaos Bolt > Incinerate - Push as many Incinerates you can into the rotation until either Conflagrate/Chaos Bolt is off cooldown, and remember to always keep Immolate up.

I love it. You can also add a Corruption in between, but not really helpful unless it's on a boss.

As Far as I heard, a Corruption in a Destro rotation results always in a dps loss , except when you're moving or are unable to cast any other spell.

Also, i was wondering, since there's always a tiny gap between casting immolate and being able to cast conflagerate ( since it takes a small amount of time for the server to receive & send the info ), is it better to just wait for conflagerate or throw a small cast in between like, I don't know, uhm incinerate?

[FangoTehmango]

So far i've managed to get a few pretty good tips. been trying to get SB up first for the debuff, etc. Seems to be working fine thus far, but truth be told my toon isn't even 80 yet. But despite the fact that i usually try to learn my class as I go, casters and the stats that go with them are new to me in a big way.

But even if I don't learn everything right now, i think i've picked up enough to start doing a bit better as affliction ( already starting to top charts in randoms, which is nice ), and maybe even get a destro offspec when I pick up the gold, just gotta stop disenchanting every pretty green that drops into my bags.

[Lordcrimmeh]

As Far as I heard, a Corruption in a Destro rotation results always in a dps loss , except when you're moving or are unable to cast any other spell.

Also, i was wondering, since there's always a tiny gap between casting immolate and being able to cast conflagerate ( since it takes a small amount of time for the server to receive & send the info ), is it better to just wait for conflagerate or throw a small cast in between like, I don't know, uhm incinerate?

Yes. Immolate has an invisible missile of sorts, so between that and the server lag, there is time. In the beginning of a fight, i tend to fill this with chaos bolt (starting rotation life tap rank 1, CoE or CoD, immolate, chaos bolt, conflagrate, incinerate spam) because you get more of a cast time reduction using incinerate than chaos bolt. As the fight progresses and CB and conflag stagger in CD, i just fill with an incinerate if chaos bolt is on cooldown, or a life tap if i need the mana or the buff.


As for affliction, i was fairly impressed last night... with little experience at it, and with rather low haste for it (~700 buffed) i ended at 8.4k on festergut. 9k would probably have been possible had i not borked the execute period (only got maybe 10 ticks of drain soul off, but managed to screw up my DoT rotation and let my Nevermelting ice crystal buffed corruption fall off) . I was #3 behind a hunter and a DK (guild has no rogues). Locks definitely still need a buff :P

[FangoTehmango]

So for this " execution phase", are you supposed to keep dots up and drain instead of shadowbolting in between refreshes of dots?

[Lordcrimmeh]

So for this " execution phase", are you supposed to keep dots up and drain instead of shadowbolting in between refreshes of dots?

Yes, under 25%, you keep up DoTs, shadowbolt every 30 seconds or so to keep up the debuff (improved shadow bolt), and fill with Drain Soul, because it will tick upwards of 14k, i've had some as high as 20k repeatedly.

[Hammerbeard]

Destruction Warlock (0/13/58)

Destro is the typical boom boom pew pew caster, similar to Mages in the way they deal damage. Destro offers both high sustained dps as well as powerful burst damage with both high crit rates and crit values. Destro also deals the most damage of the three warlock specs independent of gearing. What this means is that a poorly geared destro lock will do more damage than an affliction or demonology warlock in the same gear; for this reason, Destro is preferred among players who have just reached level 80 and have not yet built a solid gear set.

Glyphs

• Glyph of Life Tap
• Glyph of Conflagrate
• Glyph of Incinerate

Pet of Choice: Imp

Rotation
The destruction spec, like many other classes and specs at this point in WotLK, does not follow a rotation, but rather a priority system, which is as follows, descending in order of priority:

• Life Tap
• Curse of Doom
• Immolate
• Conflagrate
• Chaos Bolt
• Incinerate

Special Notes:

• With regards to the short delay after Immolate and before Conflagrate, it is beneficial to wait the half a second or less for Conflagrate to become available. Casting something else in lieu of waiting for Conflagrate will interfere with your ability to get two Conflagrates per immolate, and will ultimately hurt your DPS.

Affliction Warlock (56/0/15) or (55/0/16)

Before we begin: You may have noticed that I listed two Affliction specs above. With the changes to the Glyph of Life Tap in 3.3 and the high spellpower on Tier 10 content gear, Dark Pact has become superior as it not only provides the Life Tap buff 100% of the time on use, but also returns more mana to the caster, and at no health cost. While the (56/0/15) is superior at higher gear levels, it is advisable to use the (55/0/16) spec until the caster's raid-buffed spellpower is at least 4 times greater than his/her raid-buffed spirit.

Affliction is the iconic Warlock spec, relying heavily on damage dealt by spells over an extended period, or DoTs. Affliction has a longer ramp-up period than Destro and lacks much of the burst power of its sister spec; for these reasons, Affliction is less popular in Heroic dungeons, where mobs die too quickly for Affliction to show its power, and among people who like to see big crit numbers exploding across their screen. However, Affliction scales much better, meaning that as your gear improves, Affliction will benefit from stats more and more. At Tier 9 level content and beyond, Affliction outperforms Destruction.

Glyphs

• Glyph of Life Tap
• Glyph of Haunt
• Glyph of Quick Decay

Pet of Choice: Felhunter

Rotation
Once again, Affliction follows a priority system rather than a set rotation. The difference between the two priority systems is that while Destro is about casting the best spell available, Affliction is about maintaining 100% uptime of all your debuffs on the target, without recasting them too soon; if they are recast too early, you will "clip" the DoT, which will negatively impact your DPS.

• Dark Pact/Life Tap
• Haunt debuff
• Corruption
• Unstable Affliction
• Curse of Agony
• Shadow Bolt/Drain Soul

Special Notes

• The opening rotation does not exactly follow the priority list, as it is necessary to apply two stacks of shadow embrace before applying DoTs. For this reason, the opening rotation is modified to Dark Pact/Life Tap > Shadowbolt > Haunt > Corruption > Unstable Affliction > Curse of Agony.
• When all dots are applied and do not need to be refreshed, fill the gaps with Shadowbolts. If the boss is below 25% health, fill these gaps with Drain Soul, Shadowbolting only once every 30 seconds to maintain the Improved Shadowbolt debuff.
• If the Felhunter has its line of sight to you obstructed or if you move too far from it (or if it dies), you will be unable to Dark Pact, and must either move closer or resort to Life Tap.
• NEVER CLIP DOTS. EVER. This will result in a HUGE DPS loss over the course of a fight.
• ALWAYS BE CASTING. ALWAYS. Remember, DoTs have high DPCT, but low DPS. This means that refreshing your DoT a second or so after it falls off won't be much of a DPS loss. If you have one second left on your Curse of Agony, start casting a new Shadowbolt or fit a clever Dark Pact/Life Tap in there if you can. Refreshing dots before their time is much more of a DPS loss than refreshing it a second late.

[FangoTehmango]

This is the exact kind of post I was looking for, thank you

[DreamOfTheRood]

Kindness.

You're terrible. I love it.

[Honzi]

Destruction Warlock (0/13/58)

Destro is the typical boom boom pew pew caster, similar to Mages in the way they deal damage. Destro offers both high sustained dps as well as powerful burst damage with both high crit rates and crit values. Destro also deals the most damage of the three warlock specs independent of gearing. What this means is that a poorly geared destro lock will do more damage than an affliction or demonology warlock in the same gear; for this reason, Destro is preferred among players who have just reached level 80 and have not yet built a solid gear set.

Glyphs

• Glyph of Life Tap
• Glyph of Conflagrate
• Glyph of Incinerate

Pet of Choice: Imp

Good post. But at some point Glyph of Immolate overcomes Glyph of Lifetap since the ICC Gear doesnt really focus on spirit. Also the Immolate Glyph provides you with more burst damage which is very usefull for the constant target switching.

Also: Even though the damage potential of affliction is about 1k dps more than destruction (with icc BiS gear), destro is still played by most warlocks because the style of play in ICC favours destro. Affliction has a weak burst and if its about nuking an add (for example: lady deathwhisper or sarufang), affliction is pretty much useless.

If you wanna keep yourself posted http://elitistjerks.com/f80/ is always a good adress to do so. It's actually a forum without trolls and flamers. But more importantly it provides very good discussions and results.

[Hammerbeard]

Good post. But at some point Glyph of Immolate overcomes Glyph of Lifetap since the ICC Gear doesnt really focus on spirit. Also the Immolate Glyph provides you with more burst damage which is very usefull for the constant target switching.

Also: Even though the damage potential of affliction is about 1k dps more than destruction (with icc BiS gear), destro is still played by most warlocks because the style of play in ICC favours destro. Affliction has a weak burst and if its about nuking an add (for example: lady deathwhisper or sarufang), affliction is pretty much useless.

If you wanna keep yourself postet http://elitistjerks.com/f80/ is always a good adress to do so. It's actually a forum without trolls and flamers. But more importantly it provides very good discussions and results.

I had read something that mentioned the Immolate becoming superior, but I wasn't sure if it was accurate or at what gear level that would occur (probably once you're pretty close to being BiS). But this post is correct; the style of ICC fights so far favors destruction's burst damage greatly, and there are more fights (Dreamwalker?) which have yet to be released which also focus on add DPS, where Destruction will be preferable for its ability to more easily switch targets.

In conclusion: Destro/Affliction dual spec, switch between them based on fight parameters.

Edit: My post so good that Honzi felt compelled to make a forum account just to respond to it! ;D

[Goatonlb]

The 3.3 Compendum's a good place to start for Info on any of the specs, with some pretty up-to-date information for your choices. Slightly discusses the Change from LT to either Imp or Immo glyphs for Destro too.

http://elitistjerks.com/f80/t87413-3_3_compendium/