Top DPS Spec in 4.2

[Finbiz]

Destro has crazy burst and can switch targets very easily. Destro scales well at higher lvls and may sim higher becuz of increased haste increasing our dot ticks therefore increasing our conflag damage.

um? Conflag is 60% of total immolate dmg, faster ticking dots affects that in no way.

[Mavett]

um? Conflag is 60% of immolates periodic damage (not total), faster ticking dots affects that in no way.

Extra Immolate tick, increased Immolate periodic damage = more conflagrate damage.

[Penguin FTW]

There is one important factor to take into consideration, not everyone person can play a spec at the same level as everyone else.

Right, but for those of us that can we need to know which one is actually better.

[mistuhbull]

4.2 will welcome us to a new experience of being a one-spec-class.

Because ToC and t6 never existed?

[ungar]

http://stateofdps.com/

Is this as is now? or once 4.2 hits?

at the top right it says "only 4.0.6 data" if I'm reading and understanding that correctly. I'm not familiar with that site. I use world of logs.

Where are the rogues? Seriously rogues should be top 5

http://www.mmo-champion.com/forums/275-Rogue

[Ashkente]

Destro should be competitive with affli again once you have gear to support extra immolate tick without sacrificing too much hit...

Looking forward to it, I don't like being forced to play affli...

[Sabaka]

i hope destro and afflic are even next patch... friekin hate playing afflic bc of SE, which is prob the stupidest talent in this game

[Urgganzish]

This tier has been wonky for destruction, especially when we have to reforge everything to haste to get close to the threshold we suffer from lack of crit / mastery. Tier 12 is a different story, blizzard finally took their head out of thier BUM and added hit /haste items galore (Tier12 has 4 peices haste / hit/mastery). This will help us reach our Haste threshold easily (and hit too) so any excess haste gets converted to Mastery or Crit...this will only help destruction scale.

Plus destructions main nuke is a lot faster as compared to shadowbolt, I expect more incinerates between the 4 Peice PROC time window for Tier12 compared to shadowbolts.

Again this is idle speculation remains to be seen.

[Micke]

Plus destructions main nuke is a lot faster as compared to shadowbolt, I expect more incinerates between the 4 Peice PROC time window for Tier12 compared to shadowbolts.

actually you can just check simcraft details for number of filler casts used

destro: 159 incins/SFs
demo: 152 sbolt/SFs
aff: 166 sbolt/DS ticks (dont actually know if they count DS ticks or just the entire cast)

so all specs should benefit the same

[Tokens]

All specs will be viable, which is absolutely awesome.

Many people blindly assume Affliction is the top spec based on 4.1 logs and the tiny bit of information you get from SimCraft ranks. What you seem to forget is that these numbers are based on 450 sec fight lengths with Patchwerk-conditions.

Affliction and Destruction pulls ahead of longer fights, where Demo pulls ahead on shorter fights. This is because of the number of Metas you get and how much of an impact Doomguard has on Demo DPS compared to Aff/Destro. I.e my SimCraft gives me 1.2k DPS more in my Demonology spec on a 350 sec fight than both Destro and Afflic. My SimCraft also sims Destruction higher than Affliction (allthough by a small margin). SimCraft finally fixed the issues with Demonology in which Doomguard was simmed wrongly.

4.2 will have fights like Baleroc and Staghelm with Patchwerk-conditions (one target, very stationary). In addition it also has Shannox and Ragnaros which both also seem very stationary, with certain gimmicks in which you need to move, whereas T11 didn't have any.

Probably a bold statement; But I'm gonna go ahead and say that for atleast Baleroc and Staghelm good demonology warlocks will be the best spec. The moonwell with on-use-mastery will be absolutely insane (because Meta snapshots mastery).

I currently hold the rank 1 Warlock (all specs) on 10m heroic Chim with 29k DPS as Demo in which I used Theralion's Mirror to pair Meta and Doomguard (along with all int procs at the start) with the trinket proc. Doomguard did a whopping 1.1M damage. I've also had a 1% whipe while doing 30k. This is the only T11 fight (that matters) that somehow resembles Patchwerk-conditions. Source: http://www.worldoflogs.com/rankings/...aeron/10H/dps/

This video I made from the test dummies also displays the potential of Demonology with mastery trinkets on stationary and relatively short fights. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p3eIz32cCY

Unfortunately Theralion's Mirror is very RNG dependant due to the low proc chance and bad Impending Doom RNG. With the on-use function the Moonwell will be a must-have for all demo locks. I can also only imagine the kind of numbers your Doomguard will put out if you use both Theralion's Mirror and the Moonwell. Staghelm and Baleroc will both be fights where this is possible.

As much as I prefer Destro I'd say that Demonology will, in general, be just as good as any other spec in 4.2.

[Subetei]

Probably a bold statement; But I'm gonna go ahead and say that for atleast Baleroc and Staghelm good demonology warlocks will be the best spec. The moonwell with on-use-mastery will be absolutely insane (because Meta snapshots mastery).

assuming you are in a guild that makes the fight really short. the shorter the fight the more meta uptime and the fewer soul drain ticks. that's not doing to make it a better spec. arcane blast is getting nerfed too so i wouldn't count on that.

[Penguin FTW]

I currently hold the rank 1 Warlock (all specs) on 10m heroic Chim with 29k DPS as Demo in which I used Theralion's Mirror to pair Meta and Doomguard (along with all int procs at the start) with the trinket proc. This is the only T11 fight (that matters) that somehow assembles Patchwerk-conditions. Source: http://www.worldoflogs.com/rankings/...aeron/10H/dps/

Misses are serious business lol

[Tokens]

Misses are serious business lol

http://www.wowhead.com/spell=88916

assuming you are in a guild that makes the fight really short. the shorter the fight the more meta uptime and the fewer soul drain ticks. that's not doing to make it a better spec. arcane blast is getting nerfed too so i wouldn't count on that.

Yes, like I said. I however believe that Demo will be stronger regardless due to that mastery trinket.

[Rawtoxins]

why do you say, that affli is the most scaling spec?
i would rather say, that demo will surpass affli and destro in singel target between 4.2 and beginn 4.3(or wichever the next major content patch is), because of Impending Doom and haste (casttime of the impending doom proccing skills). with a bit random-luck we will have a new meta every minute (till now it happens twice, that i got meta ready the second my already active meta went off).

That right there is some of the best grammer I've ever seen in my life.

[Penguin FTW]

http://www.wowhead.com/spell=88916

Umm... yeah, that.

[nocturnus]

Destro should be competitive with affli again once you have gear to support extra immolate tick without sacrificing too much hit...

Looking forward to it, I don't like being forced to play affli...

Honestly, destro already is pretty competitive. Granted that you really need 30% haste (raid buffed) and that it's a pretty tedious job achieving those values. Nevertheless, aff and destro are very close.

Obviously you're going to rub my nose into the stateofdps statistics. True, aff is superior in this content. But that's mostly because fights in current content favour multi-dotting a lot. That's why aff locks, spriests and moonkins are rated so highly. I haven't delved into firelands just yet, but Blizzard will probably continue designing fights in the same fashion, since it's probably the only way they can make encouters challenging: "Hmm, this fight is too easy, what shall we do?" "Ah, just add a bunch of adds every X seconds and we're set"

[Deleted]

Not sure what it will be like in full heroic tier 12 gear, but the premade I had on the ptr, the gear it gave me was pretty bad stat wise.
Had double int trinkets, and no where near the 30% haste raid buffed I have on retail. I think with this in mind, Destro will be the better spec to start out with, not to mention all the places you can abuse Bane of Havoc (just about every encounter in firelands). Whether the heroic gear sets / BiS will have alot more haste on (like 600-700 extra haste over ilvl 378 gear set), I can't see Affliction over-taking Destruction :s
That's my opinion at least.

[Szemere]

um? Conflag is 60% of total immolate dmg, faster ticking dots affects that in no way.

Don't talk bullshit. Faster ticking DoT is more ticks is more conflag damage.

[Spoiledkid]

This tier has been wonky for destruction, especially when we have to reforge everything to haste to get close to the threshold we suffer from lack of crit / mastery. Tier 12 is a different story, blizzard finally took their head out of thier BUM and added hit /haste items galore (Tier12 has 4 peices haste / hit/mastery). This will help us reach our Haste threshold easily (and hit too) so any excess haste gets converted to Mastery or Crit...this will only help destruction scale.

That makes no sense. If items have evenly distributed secondary stats, they have exactly same amounts of hit/haste/crit/mastery. Even if you have haste+hit pieces, you won't get more crit/mastery.

[Boyiee]

Just how much better is affliction right now over destro? I can see its on average ~2k dps better on stateofdps and such, I see simcraft puts it a ahead by a little... but people are just bashing destro and calling others dumb to not play affliction and I just don't see why.

I haven't played my warlock really since 4.1 has released. I played destro mostly until we cleared the content, then hopped on my mage and shaman and have only been getting on my warlock again this week. I play destro really well, I've ranked on several fights on wol, and I just really like how it plays. Affliction on the other hand I don't really like that much outside of arenas. I'm sure I could rank on wol if I wanted, but I just don't like it as much.

How much would I realistically be hurting myself and/or my raid by staying destro as we try to carry a few alts through nef and jump into 4.2 bosses?