Strange affliction rotation and more dps

[Ravemstr]

Add-ons too, as i recently discovered!

[nocturnus]

Bakis mentioned quite a few reasons for being higher on the meters than similar warlocks. Mosty though, the reasons are either;
- DoT and debuff uptime (knowing your priorities - always having something to do)
- and itemizing (carefully looking at the stats of each piece and knowing the weight of each stat in YOUR setup, rather than looking at ilvls)

If you could paste your armory link and a combat log it would really help to further analyze your situation.

About rocking the meters, well, honestly I'm a dps whore. But what else should I do on farmable content? Most bosses on HC mode are pretty easy, especially with the 15% boost. Competing with guildies for the nr 1 dps spot is the only 'fun' factor that remains after having done the same shit zillions of times.

[Rosvall]

This exactly...

I did both last night =p

and btw no such thing as an affliction rotation.... its a set of priorities

Actually, after a sufficient numbers of casts the order repeats itself, technically making it a rotation. albeit a very long rotation, but a rotation none the less

[Lachdanan]

Hello all, i was in icc25 the other day with 3 aff locks, our gear was smilier not a big diff,
But this one lock was always 1-2k more dps then me and the other lock, so i asked him what rotations he used.
and he said, i always used corr - coa - ua - haunt - shadowbolt/drainsoul.
I dunno if it was cus his gear was abit better, or we were doing something wrong.

Do any of you know more about this, or maybe have done some tests?

That is probably just starting sequence as some others said. The reason to start with Corruption is to be able to overwrite it when the 4 piece t10 bonus procs without getting "more powerful spell is already active" and getting 10% boost for Corruption. UA early to get it proc early. I use Corr - UA - Haunt - CoA as starting sequence, then recast Corruption when t10 proc and at 35%.
As said, don't clip dots and if there is like less than second left on dot don't idle and wait but cast another SB and let the dot drop before reapplying it. Get Quartz addon and spam your buttons.

[Goatonlb]

That is probably just starting sequence as some others said. The reason to start with Corruption is to be able to overwrite it when the 4 piece t10 bonus procs without getting "more powerful spell is already active" and getting 10% boost for Corruption. UA early to get it proc early. I use Corr - UA - Haunt - CoA as starting sequence, then recast Corruption when t10 proc and at 35%.
As said, don't clip dots and if there is like less than second left on dot don't idle and wait but cast another SB and let the dot drop before reapplying it. Get Quartz addon and spam your buttons.

If you use Corruption first it will be missing out on other +crit buffs that get applied in the first few seconds. If 4pc T10 doesn't proc for the first 10-20% of a boss fight, then you see why making sure Corruption is as powerful as it can be all the time is important, even right from the beginning.

You can plan around the "More Powerful" error in a few ways. Expect it's going to happen and be ready with a Seed - but just looking at your current buffs is a good indicator. If you have a good SP proc trinket, like DFO and it WASN'T up when you first cast Corruption, and it is when you refresh - there's a good chance you won't get that error. The reverse is true, if it was up initially, and it's not when you need to refresh, you'll need to Seed it off, and you KNOW you'll need to.

If you can cast your Sbolt as the tank runs in, you can likely get a Corruption off before D.Pact takes effect. If you can do this, then a trinket proc (maybe Lightweave Emb.) is the only reason this error will even come up. Knowing what causes it and if that happened before you attempt to refresh will make the transition to dealing with it a lot smoother.

[Lachdanan]

If you use Corruption first it will be missing out on other +crit buffs that get applied in the first few seconds. If 4pc T10 doesn't proc for the first 10-20% of a boss fight, then you see why making sure Corruption is as powerful as it can be all the time is important, even right from the beginning.

That is assuming there is no other lock/mage applying the 5% crit buff. I've tried it every possible way and 5% crit for Corruption is not gonna make a huge difference at the start as you will also get a couple of extra ticks by starting with it. Most of the time I get t10 proc within the first UA. Also there is situations where you can't use Seed (Blood Council etc.).

You can plan around the "More Powerful" error in a few ways. Expect it's going to happen and be ready with a Seed - but just looking at your current buffs is a good indicator. If you have a good SP proc trinket, like DFO and it WASN'T up when you first cast Corruption, and it is when you refresh - there's a good chance you won't get that error. The reverse is true, if it was up initially, and it's not when you need to refresh, you'll need to Seed it off, and you KNOW you'll need to.

If you can cast your Sbolt as the tank runs in, you can likely get a Corruption off before D.Pact takes effect. If you can do this, then a trinket proc (maybe Lightweave Emb.) is the only reason this error will even come up. Knowing what causes it and if that happened before you attempt to refresh will make the transition to dealing with it a lot smoother.

I don't know why you are quoting me as I wasn't asking a question or tips... I will sure ask if I need to know basics like that you are telling.

[Goatonlb]

I would rather have 5-15 ticks of Corruption with at LEAST 5% extra crit on it, then cast UA 2.7 seconds earlier.

That's assuming you proc T10 early. Sometimes you will, sometimes you won't - I wouln't plan on RNG going in your favor everytime. Getting and keeping the best Corruption is the way you want to go, at all times - there's no point to gimp the spell willingly to pray for RNG.

I quoted you because you said the reason to start with Corruption is to avoid the More Powerful error - I suggested why that wasn't a big deal, or how it can be easily dealt with as a counter argument to why you shouldn't - just something that goes along with my first point of you're gimping your Corruption by casting it first to rely on something that may not come for the first 10-20% of a bossfight.

[Deleted]

If you can cast your Sbolt as the tank runs in, you can likely get a Corruption off before D.Pact takes effect. If you can do this, then a trinket proc (maybe Lightweave Emb.) is the only reason this error will even come up. Knowing what causes it and if that happened before you attempt to refresh will make the transition to dealing with it a lot smoother.

...but SP's contribution to corruption will be updated every time SB or Haunt hits, so there's really no way of controlling or managing the 'more powerful...' error unless you have some kind of substantial on-use SP proc you can use when you want to re-cast corruption, and there are no good trinkets with such a proc.

[Goatonlb]

I suppose the example I gave is the most common way I've been able to do it, which is the DFO proc and watching for it. Same idea as what you're saying but it's not On-Use, so it's more variable. It's such a leap in SP though, that it almost garantee's if you'll have to Seed or not depending on if it was up or not during either the initial cast, or the reapplication.

[wowremy]

In response to first post:

Do you realize startup rotation doesn't matter at all?
By the time 5 minutes have passed nothing is going to change your dps but your skill and gear.

In the middle of a fight. You are NEVER going to cast the same spells in sequence.
You should not be sitting there tryign to remember your "rotation"
rotation is absolute bullshit

you put your shit up. in order of shit that makes other shit better.
1. corruption. (haste bonus and insta sbolts)
2. UA. (if T10 4piece)
3. Haunt. (least important) Cast after dots are applied and minimally to refresh. "Learn travel time"
~~~Yeah i know. Shouldnt haunt be first and most important wiz?
WRONG

corr,ua,coa,haunt
VS.
haunt,corr,ua,coa

dots are your dmg. "The faster you start doing damage, the more damage you will have done."

Mid Fight: You should not waste time thinking of which is more important. Refresh when you need to. simple as that.
your better off casting that 2nd half of sbolt and letting a dot fall off. you dont want to "clip" your dots. The real skill is how fast you can refresh WITHOUT CLIPPING.

Do NOT stop a sbolt cast halfway through. Dont freak out about UA or CoA. Finish your sbolt. And try to learn if you could have done anything differently that would have resulted in perfect refreshment of the dot with filler spell surrounding.

[gherkin]

The rest of your advice is solid and not disputed, but please explain how startup rotation doesn't matter in regards to Crit rolling (i.e. shadow bolt 5% does not apply to corruption if corruption is cast first) and in regards to the T10 4PC bonus (also does not apply to corruption if corruption is cast first).

Either you have a method in dealing with it or do not know about it.

[Modez]

Do you realize startup rotation doesn't matter at all?
By the time 5 minutes have passed nothing is going to change your dps but your skill and gear.

I play destro mainly and I know this is wrong. Putting 'your shit up' willy-nilly is not optimization. You have a starting rotation, meaning your first spells cast in order for buff maximization, and then after that - yes - it is based on priority.