Quick Questions about warlocks in pve.

[Deleted]

Am i big pvp warlock using destruction, mostly affliction as well.

And i noticed all the big pve warlocks are destruction and not affliction or demo can any one tell me why ? Because when ever i play destruction in pve it just seems extremely boring casting about 5 spells over and over again and moving left and right a few times.

Also can any one show me a or tell me a place to show all the good pve gear from heroics ?

sorry for bad grammar and thanks

[Agallochh]

Affliction is what? 6 spells? Haunt, Corr, BoA, UA, Sbolt, soul swap, MAYBE drain life? (Not including Soul Fire because this was NEVER in the Aff rotation until Cata and won't be in the next patch.)

Destro is - Soul Fire, BoD, BoH, Immo, Conflag, Incin, Corruption, Chaos Bolt.

Seems to me that both cast about the same amount of spells over and over again.

[Deleted]

Yeah but affliction you have to keep the dots up and swap between targets and all that jazz, aflic just seems like you do more.

[Agallochh]

Yeah but affliction you have to keep the dots up and swap between targets and all that jazz, aflic just seems like you do more.

A good warlock as Destruction is doing the same thing, keeping immo/corr on both targets as well as Bane's. As Affliction it almost seems easier with multiple targets because you can use 1 GCD to put all your dots on a different target rather than 2 (Immo/Corr). Sure, you're managing more DoT's but you also have more ways of refreshing those dots without recasting them than a Destro lock does.

[Onorvele]

A good warlock as Destruction is doing the same thing, keeping immo/corr on both targets as well as Bane's. As Affliction it almost seems easier with multiple targets because you can use 1 GCD to put all your dots on a different target rather than 2 (Immo/Corr). Sure, you're managing more DoT's but you also have more ways of refreshing those dots without recasting them than a Destro lock does.

Don't you need 2 GCDs (Inhale/Exhale)?

[Agallochh]

Don't you need 2 GCDs (Inhale/Exhale)?

I suppose that's true.. Homogenization at it's best.

[Lockula]

That is only true if you have soul swap glyphed. Otherwise the first targets UA, Corr, and BoA will be removed. I do believe it is 2 GCDs that are instant cast.

Otherwise play what you want to play. I like affliction personally trying to learn destro before the patch.

[Agallochh]

That is only true if you have soul swap glyphed. Otherwise the first targets UA, Corr, and BoA will be removed. I do believe it is 2 GCDs that are instant cast.

Otherwise play what you want to play. I like affliction personally trying to learn destro before the patch.

Do PvE aff locks not pick up that glyph? I only PvP as Aff.

[Pwekl]

As an active PvE lock, I can say it's much easier to pull good numbers as destro. This would explain some, but not all, of the destro locks around. Destro's also predictable, which is nice when there's more than just your spells to think about, and provides nice self healing, mana regen, and a group buff. That said, I think most locks play Destro primarily because it's the easiest of the specs. Affliction is currently sitting in the almost impossible to get perfect on a target dummy range, thanks to ISF. (And I for one will be glad when that's gone) Demonology has a lot more to worry about than destruction, given that unless cooldowns and procs are used properly, demo is terrible. It's not impossible, but it's not the kind of thing where if you miss a proc or a cooldown, your DPS will be OK in the end. Destro doesn't punish you for missing things as much as affliction or demonology tend to.

Of course, to go back to the earlier stuff in this thread, as a warlock it's not how many spells you use. It's how well your filler fits into the important spells. The difference in affliction between the filler and the important stuff is enormous. In Destro, it's a much smaller number. I don't know the demo numbers off the top of my head, but that's a cooldown based spec anyway, and so it doesn't compare in the same way. I suspect Demo's dots, especially Immolate, more closely relate to Aff than Destro, though.


PvE aff locks do indeed pick up soul swap provided we're facing a fight where we can use it. In Cata raid content this includes every fight in Bastion, the first two in Descent, Nefarion, Conclave of the Winds, and Al'Akir. Probably more on heroic. Glyph of Soul Swap is never a bad choice, provided you actually use that button. If you're facing Omnotron, be sure to soul swap early. It's not like you HAVE to hit one while a shield is up. Ever. Even with a Glyphed Bane of Agony. Against Magmaw, be sure to soul swap your dots ONTO the head, not off of the head. You'll net more DPS that way.


Now, trying to learn destro is pretty simple.
1. Keep ISF up.
2. Keep Immolate up.
3. Bane of doom/havoc, whichever is more effective on the fight.
4. If you can conflag, do that.
5. If you can Chaos bolt, do that.
6. Incinerate
If you spec for searing pain execute, then that would be both 5 and 6 in the above list during the execute phase. I think. Haven't really tested that.

[Horcrux]

It varies from fight to fight, but generally yes pve warlocks take the glyph of soul swap. The only reason to not use it is that some fights (like Omnotron Defense System) require you to completely stop doing damage to a target and that makes glyph of soul swap a bad choice.

The only target you shouldn't have dots on during a shield is Magmatron. All dots applied before a shield will not cause a tick.

[Partipooper]

* Improved Soul Fire (Keep this buff up!)
* Demon Soul
* Immolate
* Conflagrate
* Bane of Doom
* Corruption
* Shadowflame
* Chaos Bolt
* Shadowburn (Sub 20% HP)
* Incinerate
(and shadow bolt to keep the debuff up is no one else is)
Keeping that rotation going in messy encounters is anything but boring., having to check your imp soulfire duration everytime you get and instant proc from the imp to see if you can use it to renew the buff or getting and instant proc when you are about to hard cast soul fire making it land to early etc.

But affliction works as well, its actually slightly higher on single target dmg, Demo is for fights where you have to do alot of ae dmg or if you miss the spell power buff.

[Onorvele]

I play Demo as PvE. The AoE aspect of Demo is being nerfed in 4.0.6 to a certain degree, but it's still going to be OP - and this is why you see Demo DPS as top of the charts only on the multiple-add Maloriak encounter. As earlier poster indicated, Demo is CD based rotation, but when those CDs are available it's great fun to save a PUG from a trash-wipe with

1. Soulburn + SoulFire to get ISF up
2. Meta + Demon Soul to get defense and more spell haste
3. Immo Aura for starting some DPS
4. HoG for the snare, occasional stun, and increased demon crit chance
5. FG Felstorm + Summon Infernal to get things really going
6. Shadowflame
7. Hellfire

Swapping between 6 and 7 until other CDs come up, more than decent DPS. Soulshatter is your friend as Metamorphosis fades, but the heals may get upset. At least, if anything is still alive after 36 seconds of ~15k DPS. Also, makes up for all the DPS loss you feel due to managing 2 different CC targets