PVP affliction lock questions

[Deleted]

1. Whats the correct order for max dps of spells? Curse of elements/corruption/agony/unstable/haunt

2. Does curse of elements affect dots? Does it affect spells at cast or while duration.

3. Is it worth binding shadowbolt to your dps spells, so you kinda automatically use it on nightfall proc? (does that even work?)

4. How do you guys manage devour?

5. Im a human lock and currently have the 2 spellpower pvp trinkets 1 on proc 1 on use
Which do you guys favor? i.e. when i get the epic pvp trinket next, i can chose the same, hence i.e. have 2 x (not simultaniously used) 20 sec 1600+ spellpower trinket.
Or should i just have the 2 x on proc (300/340 resi) trinkets for best overal damage?

6. Im at work right now so cant check but, is curse of elements on GC? (suppose it is)

7. Im now base 10% haste, ive read like 2-3 diffirent post. SOme say i need 9% base, other say i need 10% as human. any idea? And how does shaman totem of wrath stack with
all of this? Will it make my haste go to 15% or 5% of the haste i have? so 18% haste with dark intend?

8. Does nightfall talent + glyph stack? Since seems to do kinda the same thing?

9. Is it worth soulswapping (glyphed) on cooldown over first getting haunt and maybe curse of elements up on target?

Thanks in advance for helping out!

[Khadjid]

I'm rather terrible at PvP, so I won't give any advice there to avoid spreading bad information.

2. Does curse of elements affect dots? Does it affect spells at cast or while duration

CoE will affect any dots applied before and after the application of CoE for as long as CoE is on the target. Debuff multipliers on the target are calculated on each tick, while buffs on you are calculated on spell cast.

3. Is it worth binding shadowbolt to your dps spells, so you kinda automatically use it on nightfall proc? (does that even work?)

That won't work.

6. Im at work right now so cant check but, is curse of elements on GC? (suppose it is)

CoE is on the GCD.

7. Im now base 10% haste, ive read like 2-3 diffirent post. SOme say i need 9% base, other say i need 10% as human. any idea? And how does shaman totem of wrath stack with
all of this? Will it make my haste go to 15% or 5% of the haste i have? so 18% haste with dark intend?

Haste stacks multiplicatively. With 10% haste from gear, totem and DI your total haste is 1.1*1.05*1.03 = 1.18965 which is approximately 19% haste. As affliction there are no value of haste that you really need, at some points of haste you will get an additional tick on some spell over its duration, however that won't increase your damage by any large margin. You can see when they gain an additional tick and how much haste rating is required for those threshold here.

The talk about getting exactly 10% haste is mostly directed at destruction, at 10% haste immolate gains an additional tick and will directly increase conflagrate's damage considerably. Affliction has no similar mechanics to worry about.

8. Does nightfall talent + glyph stack? Since seems to do kinda the same thing?

Yes, they stack.

9. Is it worth soulswapping (glyphed) on cooldown over first getting haunt and maybe curse of elements up on target?

That would depend on the importance of immediately getting high damage on the target. If you're in an arena team whose tactic is to go for the healer first and get as much damage on him immediately, I would get your damage amplifying debuffs up first. If you're in a battleground and are standing in the back of a large battle, I'd focus on getting dots on everyone first.

[Deleted]

Maybe could make a 1-2 cast sequence for the instant shadowbolt? or will it force me to fully cast it then should nightfall be not on?

[Deleted]

1. I assume you're fighting a healer since you're talking about maximizing your dps. Curse of the elements comes first, naturally. If you cast corruption or one of the banes there's a chance that your opponent will instantly dispel it. So always start with Unstable Affliction. Whichever you cast next is up to you. I personally prefer Bane of Doom followed by corruption. Why Bane of Doom? It has a "bursty" behavior, can crit for 20k+ and causes more damage in total. Test it on a dummy and see for yourself.

3. Again, if you're fighting a healer, shadow bolt is your main filler. Just tap it twice when you get a nightfall proc. No need to bind it to every single spell.

4. I track its cooldown with MSBT (Mik's Scrolling Battle Text). Since it can't be put on auto-cast anymore I bound it to my old Drain Mana key.

[Deleted]

Maybe could make a 1-2 cast sequence for the instant shadowbolt? or will it force me to fully cast it then should nightfall be not on?

[Khadjid]

Maybe could make a 1-2 cast sequence for the instant shadowbolt? or will it force me to fully cast it then should nightfall be not on?

You can't make an intelligent macro that would cast Shadowbolt (or any other spell) on procs and otherwise cast a different spell.

Just key bind Shadowbolt and press that key when you get the proc, it's as simple as that.

[Glnger]

if you have shadowbolt on on your mousewheel you'll often use the nightfall proc without even thinking about it simply by continuing to scoll as the first shadowbolt is being cast. however, you should want to use your nightfall procs more intelligently than this

[Meejum]

stuff

1. Your curse should be situational. CoElements isnt necessarily always the best choice. Curse of Tongues can be helpful, and CoExhaustion, even in its weakened state, also has its uses. But yeah, I put CoElements up first, in general followed by UA, dots and then haunt.

2. covered.
3. covered.
4. Annoying now, but yeah, just find a keybind for it.
5. Whatever gets you more resil, use those.
6. covered.
7. Stacking haste is one way to go, its gets your fears/haunts out faster, and certain points give you more ticks on your dots. 10%, on your character panel with buffs, gets you an additional tick of UA and is quite reasonable to shoot for. After that, mastery is a very good stat for affliction pvp, since quite a lot of your damage will be dots. You wont be hardcasting SBs that often, since you risk getting interrupted, unless you are doing mostly BGs, so haste, beyond certain breakpoints, loses some value.
8. It "stacks". It's doesn't end up being 8%, because there is a chance of a proc on top of itself, but it's something like 7.84%.
9. I CoE first because of Jinx. Affliction is burstless, so the damage difference of spending one GCD to CoE before spreading dots around I find to be of no consequence. Affliction doesn't burst people down, you spread pressure with dots and then CC.

[Deleted]

1. Whats the correct order for max dps of spells? Curse of elements/corruption/agony/unstable/haunt

First of all, stop thinking pve and get into a pvp mindset (you no longer want to dish out high dps... you wont anyway; you want to slowly melt your targets while kiting them and staying alive). now i know they nerfed UA to a 4 sec silence when dispelled.. but it will still be your opener.
Always have UA up since it "protects" your other dots from being dispelled.. or atleast give you a 4 sec window to reapply them (healers will now dispell anyway...... but atleast it gives you 4 secs worth of casting and a few ticks) just keep reapplying when needed and eventually you'll oom the healer (be prepared to take your time).
after that corruption, and either BoD or BoA (as affl BoA does more dmg..).
Haunt is very important! use it on cd, but you can apply it after other dots (especially UA) otherwise it'll just get dispelled.
get a fear, howl of terror in there.


2. Does curse of elements affect dots? Does it affect spells at cast or while duration.
FORGET about CoE in arena setting and only use it when fighting a boss in bgs..... youll want to use curse of tongues for catsers, curse of exhaustion for kiting, even curse of weakness is better in some settings.. (youll keep switching between these depending on the situation)

3. Is it worth binding shadowbolt to your dps spells, so you kinda automatically use it on nightfall proc? (does that even work?)
as said not possible.. just use addon that tells you to use SB immediatly.. good dps boost

4. How do you guys manage devour?
that you should bind to / macro to a dmg spell.., i put it on haunt (yes youll sometimes use it on a target that doesnt have anything to dispell.. but it makes it a forget spell)

5. Im a human lock and currently have the 2 spellpower pvp trinkets 1 on proc 1 on use
Which do you guys favor? i.e. when i get the epic pvp trinket next, i can chose the same, hence i.e. have 2 x (not simultaniously used) 20 sec 1600+ spellpower trinket.
Or should i just have the 2 x on proc (300/340 resi) trinkets for best overal damage?

thats personal preference... proc - luck dependant....i actually use the trinket of the alliance / horde and volcano deck (not a pvp trinket but imo BiS)


8. Does nightfall talent + glyph stack? Since seems to do kinda the same thing?
YES.., for pvp too.. youll want both
now SB does alot of dmg but is probably only the filler of choice when standing still and being left alone.., (unless ofcourse nightfall procs)
drain life is a better filler (selfheals ftw)


9. Is it worth soulswapping (glyphed) on cooldown over first getting haunt and maybe curse of elements up on target?
easy answer yes..., Soulswap (SS) on cooldown!
.. reasons;
1 most important; corruption on 2 targets = twice the self heal
2 more dmg output, put haunt on whichever target you want to nuke first... but always make sure ALL your targets are dotted first and the dots are kept up (that includes pets.. especially those pesky mage pets.., if he blinks out of range/ sight chances are his elemental is still in range = free dot charges for SS, selfheal, kill for soulshards, less dps output.
if the pesky mage / hunter still ants to be out of range (your dots will tick anways.. let them... pull your pet back and start healing yourself and regenerating soulshards, make another HS.. you get the idea) <-- but im getting off subject.. i just love to share how to kill mages..., especially frost ones..
3 more dots = more dots to dispell, now this doesnt cost as much mana (to the healer) as youd hope but still enough to drain the healers mana plenty also silencing him for every UA he casts., he casts a heal afterwards use your spelllock from fellpuppy to silence him again.. fear etc..., dots will keep ticking and suddenly he has multiple targets on 70% health (after one dot round) he has to heal like crazy using mana intensive heals and using up alot of mana while spirit cant keep up with mana regen


10. ill add a few things here

soulshards:
prioritylist:
- insta pet if pet is targetted (dont forget soul link)




- being pound on hard and healer needs time to heal you? (he's being CC or LoS) healthstone
- need to get distance between you and that horrible warrior / DK: demo circle
- need self heal quick? drainlife
iow only use it for soulburn when you dont need them for anything else!
(again enemy pets are your friend here in arena; you get free soulshards off em)

11.
DEMO CIRCLE IS YOUR BEST FRIEND... learn to use it wisely
also demon soul on CD.., but i suppose you got that

[Deleted]

Thanks alot for all the useful replies and thank god you guys advise to not use curse of elements.... really didnt feel right and a waste of global :P

Played my first arena night yesterday playing rogue lock shaman and went 14-12 or so at 1800 mmr, nothing amazing, but not too bad for a first night i think since playing warlock in season 1

[Deleted]

Nightfall talent + glyph stack multiplicatively, so there is only a ~7.4% chance on a procc.