[ Affl/Demo] AoE questions.

[Deleted]

Hello everyone!

I am kind of a warlock newbie here, rolled one a week ago and managed to get him at 74 for now (stuck, because I hate Northrend so much I can't get myself to quest in there). I have always been Demo during instances for the sheer amount of awesome AoE dps it has (hello 5k dps at level 70?) but my secret love has and will always be affliction so I wanted to try it out when i got Seed of Corruption.

Now, what I was wondering about is: since Corruption and Seed of Corruption don't stack, what's the point of the Soulburn talent? From what I've understood from the spell, I am supposed to spam it on every target possible and have them explode from the damage of the rest of the group, but since the cast time of seed isn't long or anything the corruption given when soulburned will tick for like... two times at best, depending on the number of mobs. I know I am not losing anything by doing that, but really... is that how it is supposed to be? Because it doesn't feel very strong.

Also, about Demonology's Hellfire... I remember reading very back then that they were going to remove the backfire damage from it... how come they didn't do it? I can't count on my hands how many time I was soon to die because of lazy healers before getting Soulshatter, and to be honest, it feels like it would be veeeery annoying at max level for some healers in randoms or in healer-intensive fights. If they kept it as a way to "balance" it because Demo AoE is too strong etc... well, that's one crappy way to balance stuff, IMO.

I might just be babbling because the damage at this level is just a bit less than what it does to mobs, maybe it becomes more negligible at max level?

Thanks in advance!

[Deleted]

You simply don't spam SoC on every mobs.
SB:SoC and start casting SoC on one target only. Sure that target will not be affected by corruption, but every1 else will.

Don't really have a opinion on Hellfire, but can't say I've ever noticed i take too much dmg from it.

[Deleted]

You simply don't spam SoC on every mobs.
SB:SoC and start casting SoC on one target only. Sure that target will not be affected by corruption, but every1 else will.

Woah, why didn't I think of that. Makes sense. Thank you!

Don't really have a opinion on Hellfire, but can't say I've ever noticed i take too much dmg from it.

Glad to hear that. I can't say I've ever died from just using it (aside from maybe when getting aggro from bad(?) tanks) but I could notice my health go low fast. But yeah, maybe it's just a low level thing.

[Deleted]

I only use demo on halfus hc to kill the adds faster cause if i pop everything my peak was around 134k dps and the only thing i have to do to survive is a well timed soul shatter to get the adds off me as long as i manage my threat well the dmg from hellfire isnt that bad plus healer shouldn't complain about healing its there job =P

[Theleklol]

The self-inflicted damage was reminiscent of the classic Warlock design. Life Tap, Health Funnel, Hellfire and Doomguard summoning showed that Warlocks were basically satanic masochists.
However, Hellfire is still useful for activating stacking damage trinkets that require spell damage to be done, before a fight starts.
Useless bit of trivia.

Afflic AoE should consist of one soulburn SoC and then tab-dotting (or in reverse, if you'll have threat problems) with Bane of Agony and Unstable Affliction, and then top it all off with a Shadowflame.

Back to Hellfire: at lower levels, it can kill you if you're in combat. It's a great spell for quick packs with low health and does more damage per mana than Rain of Fire by a lot. The damage is sort of a penalty for frontloading quick damage as opposed to area-focused damage with low threat.

[Penguin FTW]

However, Hellfire is still useful for activating stacking damage trinkets that require spell damage to be done, before a fight starts.

It's not worth it if you have anything that procs off casting spells though

Afflic AoE should consist of one soulburn SoC and then tab-dotting (or in reverse, if you'll have threat problems) with Bane of Agony and Unstable Affliction, and then top it all off with a Shadowflame.

Only BoA if the target are going to live the full duration, which is almost never. (black phase on Maloriak being the only exception that comes to mind)

if the mobs are going to live a moderate amount of time its worth tab dotting UA, soulburn seed is always amazing though

[frester]

as for the self-damage, at 85 it hit's you for nothing so you don't have to think about that and can enjoy 20k dps on almost every trash pack while still in blues :P