[Cata] Warlock builds

[Singularity]

a lot of things will probably change, but can't hurt to theorycraft or play around with talents.
As Destruction I came up with this
http://www.wowtal.com/#k=kBw4t20E.9sm.warlock

*I have no idea what the damage of Searing Pain will be, but with Improved Searing Pain it can be a nice Execute.
*Nether Protection or Backlash? An instant Incinerate is always nice (especially for leveling), but a 15% reduced magic damage taken can be a life-saver.
*No Soul Link since it will be a trainable ability
*Improved Life Tap is a must imo. Since mana regen will be less powerful in Cataclysm, I think having a powerful Life Tap is win.

If we take Improved Soulfire we'll have to weave in Soulfire in our rotation when the target is above 80% HP
On live my rotation is: Immo, CoD, Conflag, CB, Incinerate, Incinerate, etc
In Cataclysm if our target is above 80%: Immo, CoD, Conflag, CB, Soulfire, Soulfire
In Cataclysm if our target is below 80%: Same as on live but with Soulfire when Empowered Imp procs?
In Cataclysm if your target is Below 50%: Searing Pain in our rotation? Will Searing Pain be a part of our rotation then or will it replace another spell?

Like to hear your thoughts and some constructive feedback!

Thanks

[Solace]

Searing pain will only be a situational or pvp usage spell. Not a part of our rotation.

[Deleted]

I think that we will, once again, have to wait 2 seasons to fill up our resilience so we start pvping :P
wotlk was nice cause you could global ppl as they global you. but now with the high health pools we will stand there and eat sh!t from melees ;(
I like succubus knockback but i would prefer if they removed ALL knockbacks from the game! (or make fear sheep etc making ppl fall of the edges!) :P

[Runc]

Improved Life Tap is a must imo. Since mana regen will be less powerful in Cataclysm, I think having a powerful Life Tap is win.

Destro shouldn't need to life tap that much, with 2 points in ISL, so I don't think these 2 points will make much difference. Mind you, whatever you spend these last 2 on will be pretty situational.

If we take Improved Soulfire we'll have to weave in Soulfire in our rotation when the target is above 80% HP
On live my rotation is: Immo, CoD, Conflag, CB, Incinerate, Incinerate, etc
In Cataclysm if our target is above 80%: Immo, CoD, Conflag, CB, Soulfire, Soulfire

Aside from Imp.Imp procs, I expect Incinerate to remain better DPCT than Soul Fire, so Incinerate would still be the filler of choice over 80% except when the Imp.SF buff is off cooldown (30 secs). I'd see the cata >80% rotation being...

Soul Fire, Immo, Conflag, CB, Incin, Incin, etc. Then another Soul Fire 30 seconds after the first if the boss is still over 80% health.

Left banes out as there's too much I don't know about them atm. BoHavoc looks to be the Destro preferred option.

[Deleted]

why would you do any builds atm knowing next beta build will change a lot for us, like making SL trainable, and placing new talents?

[Singularity]

why would you do any builds atm knowing next beta build will change a lot for us, like making SL trainable, and placing new talents?

I didn't put a point in SL, because it's a trainable ability now.
While I am aware we're still in beta, I do not think the Destruction tree will be changed much (judging from the lack of Destruction updates from the last two weeks I think Blizzard is either "done" with the destruction tree or is planning some major changes in the near future)

[ComputerNerd]

why would you do any builds atm knowing next beta build will change a lot for us, like making SL trainable, and placing new talents?

You could use that arguement every single time a new build comes out, since there are potentially changes to come after that.
Nothing is final regarding talents, nor could it maybe be come the release.
All we can do is work with what we have, try to see what works to give us ideas as to what our options may be.

[Aesahaettr]

I was planning a similair build, but it might be worth investing 2 points into Doom and Gloom. I still don't know if we can use Bane of Havoc on single targets (seen nothing to suggest otherwise, but not heard we can either), and even then not sure if it would be better than Bane of Doom, especially with BoD being able to summon guardian demons. Also, might be a tooltip oversight, but the summon Doomguard and Infernal attack the target afflicted with Bane of Doom or Agony.

And would Soulfire yield better DPCT than Incinerate? not sure it would. I'll probaby be looking to cast an instant SF using Soul Burn at the start, then just rely on Imp procs.

And yes, I'm aware things are open to change, but can still dream.

[Jessicka]

Soul Link might be being removed, but what's coming in it's place? It's that that makes this a pretty hard thing to weigh up.

I'm thinking ISF would be a nice talent for most specs though - combined with SB: Soul Fire it would be nice at the start of the fight, and for cheesing off adds rather like Decimation later on once the cooldown is up. It's actually talents like that I want to see a lot more of.

[ComputerNerd]

I cannot honestly see bane of havoc working as a straight damage increase on single target, since as someone stated previously that beacon of light does not work in similar fashion single target, despite it not specifically stating otherwise.
Because it does not say so, does not mean it won't happen, particularly since that would be rather OP.

[Singularity]

I cannot honestly see bane of havoc working as a straight damage increase on single target, since as someone stated previously that beacon of light does not work in similar fashion single target, despite it not specifically stating otherwise.
Because it does not say so, does not mean it won't happen, particularly since that would be rather OP.

I see Bane of Havoc being useful on encounters where you have to deal with adds. Just put it on the boss and DPS down the adds. We can basically DPS two different targets at the same time. They might buff it up to 30% (but with a 'cannot be cast on a player' limitation perhaps. On the flipside, casting Bane of Havoc will override Bane of Doom which may not be such a good idea, especially because of Bane of Doom's nature. I guess the 15% damage will make up for it?

I read the tooltip of Soul Leech again. Didn't notice it also gives 10% mana back, making Improved Lifetap not worth it.

[Malphass]

I was think more along these lines, having a 20 yards all-round CoE seems pretty nice
http://www.wowtal.com/#k=Bq67ajQ.9sm.warlock

[Singularity]

I was think more along these lines, having a 20 yards all-round CoE seems pretty nice
http://www.wowtal.com/#k=Bq67ajQ.9sm.warlock

Mhh, for an AoE CoE you skip Demonic Aegis, which is a pretty big boost to our spellpower.
That's my opinion

[allforone]

Life tap: Eh, 20% more mana per life tap still means 20% less life taps. Would just come down to whether that is a bigger dps boost than improving BoD by 10% or Corr by 8%.

BoH: Frankly it belongs where all locks can get at it. It would be best used on aff locks, who could drop their dots on everything, then drop BoH on the boss. Or for trash with one mob that has to die fast, BoH one, SB SoC it then SoC spam. Putting it in deep destro, the one lock spec that has the least ability to use it's potential is frankly just stupid.

Imp soul fire: Again, for for add or trash fights this is an awesome ability. Combine this with SB and shadowburn to get a nice uptime on it(shadowburn ensuring you have soul shards to use SB)

On Jinx: Honestly any build I use it on is only going to drop one point in it, I'll put the other point into CoEx. 40 yards would really only be useful for pulling massive amounts of mobs to wipe raids or parties. Though could be interesting for AoE grinding mobs in conjunction with a shammy(pref ele) hunter or Frost mage.
-CoE a field of mobs
-run/teleport back behind a choke point w/frost trap/earthbind totem/blizzard
-SB SoC+AoE
-Profit.

[ComputerNerd]

Though from discussion, it appears not be be a direct application of CoE to all within range, but more a damage taken debuff.
Maybe as an aura emanating from the original target.
A mass curse application would be godly in pvp against dispellers, but with the increased costs of dispells, that is not a likely option.

[Dhrizzle]

I'm looking at a similar build to the OP, took Backlash over Nether Protection because it can cause a lot of carnage and I put a couple of points in Aftermath - the daze effect coupled with Shadowfury has saved my life in many a heroic.

In demo I chose Fel Synergy rather than Demonic Embrace, I'd rather not waste the shard on an insta-summon. With the obvious damage increases (Dark Arts and Demonic Aegis) this leaves me one point.

At the moment I'm torn between Improved Life Tap and Mana Feed. With Soul Leech now being better for the 'lock but a lot worse for the pet I think the imp will have more mana problems than I do.

[allforone]

Though from discussion, it appears not be be a direct application of CoE to all within range, but more a damage taken debuff.
Maybe as an aura emanating from the original target.
A mass curse application would be godly in pvp against dispellers, but with the increased costs of dispells, that is not a likely option.

Even as an aura wouldn't it still aggro mobs? Blizz might make it not apply, which would make sense with how they're dumbing down all the classes.

[ComputerNerd]

I do not think it will aggro still.
Hunters mark can be applied to a single target without aggro, so I do not see why a similar mechanism could not be introduced there.
Since the effect will be emanating from the target, instead of from you then aggro may not be an issue anyway.

[allforone]

yeah true I forgot about hunter's mark, haven't played my hunter in ages lol.

[Gnarwhale001]

For destruction I was thinking something like this.

http://cata.wowhead.com/talent#IbZf0bZIrbfMbuGk

Imp Soulfire because with the instant soulfire we're apparently getting, this will be a nice dps boost for the first 20% of the fight.

Affliction:

http://cata.wowhead.com/talent#IrGr0hsGsdcZI

Demo:

http://cata.wowhead.com/talent#IZIdbcourRroIMb

These specs are so easy to make.