Destro, is it viable in PvE?

[Deleted]

TSIA. I don't really like Affliction/Demo for PvE and I'm thinking about picking up my old warlock to play Destro.

Is it on par with Aff/Demo?
If not, can it pull decent numbers, enough to be viable to bring to a raid?
What are its limitations and downsides?
Does it bring anything unique or uncommon (10%SP for example) to the raid?

Thanks.

[Jahrastafari]

It's currently not on par with Aff/Demo, both in terms of simulation and actual performance.

If you play it well and aren't hardcore progression/min-maxer, you can still bring it. If you're in a 10 that needs replenishment it's still pretty useful.

Downside? Lower DPS, when compared to the other two trees, and it especially suffers in The Firelands due to a lack of BoH targets in most encounters. Rain of Fire is an especially poor AoE when compared to Soulburned Seed of Corruption or the suite that Demo brings. No real execution sub-25%. Forward-looking it simply doesn't scale as well with gear as the other two trees do and will continue to fall further behind, unless Blizzard makes changes.

Replenishment is about all it brings. Shadowfury is a nice stun, but if you really needs stuns then Demonology is the way to go.

Long story short, if you play it well or need replenishment and already have the 10% SP buff covered, it's still viable.

[Nicola]

Right now it's doing worse then both affliction and demonology.

It still can do a decent amount of dps but don't expect to top the meters with it. Destruction dps is balanced around having 2 targets for bane of havoc. In firelands, you really lack those secondary targets. Destruction unfortunally has the worst scaling of all speces and because of clunky mechanics it's just an annoying spec to play (imo)

Positive:
replenishment
shadowfury
Bane of havoc
nether protection

negative
lower dps
clunky
bad scaling
bane of havoc

Bane of havoc is both a good and a bad thing. If you can use it, it's amazing, if you can't use it, it really sucks.

[Morath]

Destro is ok if you need fast nuke low HP mobs or can good use Bane of Havoc (I mean that spec is ideal for Bethilac HM), you can BoH her at start and kill everything under web.

[Malefic]

It's nothing fantastic at the minute. I'm rolling with it as my off-spec for Ragnaros HC as I'm in a 10man guild and for our roster on Rag HC that's our only source of Replenishment. It has it's situational benefits, Nether Protection can be really beneficial on some Heroic Firelands encounters, Shadowfury is also nice for Ragnaros at least. Other then it's limited situational benefits it's a poor spec that, unless is a necessity for you to bring Replenishment, I wouldn't advise speccing it at all.

[Khargol]

I personally love destro. It does have it points better points for staying alive. It lacks an execute so will fall behind most other specs in damage. If you pug or play casually its a fine choice. If you plan to progress into hard modes consider other specs full time.

[Nicola]

It lacks an execute so will fall behind most other specs in damage. If you pug or play casually its a fine choice.

A lot of speces don't have an execute phase howevever they do have higher damage during the whole fight.
Even without executionphase a class can perform good. The problem with destro is just that they are balanced around using bane of havoc and they scale worse with stats then affliction and demonology ( well, probally because doomguard is bugged for demo).
If they make destruction less dependant on bane of havoc and fix the scaling, destro will again be a perfectly viable spec for raiding.

[Clearly]

I didn't bother to read the other posts and what I'm going to say is probably parroting some of them:

To answer the question in the title, yes it is absolutely viable as a DPS spec (if you're good enough at it, it is competitive but don't expect to top charts unless everyone else in your guild is bad).

Is it the best spec you can play as a warlock? No.
Demo sims the highest atm in BiS gear.
Affliction is not too far under that.
Destruction is trailing but it's not the worst DPS spec/class combo you could bring to a raid.

[voorshwa]

Am I the only one that read the Subject Line and thought about GI Joe Villains?

I really need to go to bed.

V

[Hoocha]

Just how important is replenishment in firelands raids?

In our 10 man group we currently have no source of replenishment, and I assume it would be beneficial to the raid.
At any given time the people in our group who would benefit from it are
The 2 - 3 non druid healers (Would their mana be saved just as much from the additional dps?)
Our 2 arcane mages (not sure how much benefit they would get- IIRC it sims at 200dps each)
Myself (warlock - minimal benefit)
Pally tank - (minimal benefit again I assume)

However though we also lack the 10% spellpower buff! I assume the extra 4% sp on top of the mage buff would be a better choice?

Most the time I just find myself playing affliction for the extra versatility but on H Baleroc our group will struggle to meet the enrage and I need to be squeezing out as much dps as possible, while also being progression friendly (doomguard every other attempt) because we will be wiping a lot...

[Xorn]

Due to its lower dps, it has been downgraded to a utility spec. If you can make good use of BoH, Shadowfury, and Nether Protection then it's amazing, if not, then it isn't ideal. Personally I run Aff/Destro seeing as the stat weights are similar and on fights where I don't need the utility I can go Aff. Even with its lower dps it still theoretically out performs a few dps specs. It's not ideal, but it is viable.

[Lockula]

Depends on your group if as others have said with replenishment buff if needed. Otherwise I have done 5/7 fights as destro. With the other fight being demo as old man ryltho (sp kind of drunk as I write this). Even then I have swapped out my demo spec for afficltion. Even then with the nerfs to that fight it is actually kind of easy on normal kind of surprised. Bane of havoc can be used effectively on some fights. On Ugly Betty (bethliac) use BOH on either the pull or if you are going up when you need to be sent down to help with adds. On Shannox on riplimb to help reduce his hp when your hitting rageface or shannox (depends on your group). Star fox boss (can't remember actual name) use it on the boss if your not going up otherwise on either of the hatchlings. Can't really use it on major dodo, old man Rylothe, Baleroc, and old Rag I guess.

[EuBloodSolder]

According to everyone's logic and world of logs.

Neither Afflic or Destro is since they are 1k apart at the top 5% and Demo is like 5-7k more.

[Mcshiz]

According to everyone's logic and world of logs.

Neither Afflic or Destro is since they are 1k apart at the top 5% and Demo is like 5-7k more.

Just...stop. If you dont know warlocks please dont talk about them. Affl is 100% viable and is still very strong. Yes demo is king on tankNspanks but not all fights require you to stand still and nuke.

OT: I wouldn't want a guildy running destro but if it were a pug, meh sure why not. In pugs you can have arcane mages effing up rotations and such, there's a good chance a destro lock would beat them.
(Full disclosure: out of all the specs I like destro the best. The skill required to play one well is what draws me in).

[Zelah]

If you need replenishment it's the best spec you could possibly pick, if you don't... not so much.

[Nicola]

If you need replenishment it's the best spec you could possibly pick, if you don't... not so much.

Healer mana is no longer a very big issue and most can go without replenishment.
It's nice to have but in 25man you normally have other people providing and and in 10man it isn't that neccesary.
Restodruids, shadowpriests and retpaladins are commonly seen classes in raids. The chances you'll have to go destro for replenishment are really low.

According to everyone's logic and world of logs.
Neither Afflic or Destro is since they are 1k apart at the top 5% and Demo is like 5-7k more.

Lol......Just lol.
Affliction is perfectly viable and has always been. Demonology is currently in a buggy state allowing them to do loads of dps on fights with minimal movement.

[Inactivity]

Destruction is OK but if you are lacking DPS for DPS-burn fights then it would be best to go affli/demo.

If done well it can be solid (not chart-topping) DPS and fairly good survivability. For Baleroc 10N I went destro to shard-soak (you can take up to 20+ stacks easily); for 10H I would say you want to go affli/demo.

Demo is probably the best all-around (AoE and tank/spank) spec right now for Firelands, Affli being a close second in single/two-target and a respectable second in AoE.

Destro is not too distant of a third for single/two-target fights; however, it just plain sucks ass (hard) for AoE.

[Deleted]

What inactivity said.

That's why most of top PvE warlocks are demonology (source : http://www.worldofwargraphs.com/stat...0---0-0-0.html)

[Lillah]

Define viable!

It's not 'bad' but serious locks aiming for performance aren't speccing it either.

[god of lock and pala]

its all about the player imo. but the specs are close to each other when it comes to pure dps.

but in firelands affliction got a bonus because of many fights have multiple targets where destro is a bit gimped since its more of a single target(i know... bane of havoc)

but personally demo is really OP, on baelroc im just below 30k, and as affli i cant reach that, but then im gimped when it comes to the crystal tanking.
as affli i can pretty much take 1 full crystal by myself becuase of the OP selfheal and shadow protection and soullink. ofc it kills my pet on every crystal. but well..

i would say that you should play the spec you feel like, beacuse all 3 specs are close to each other, but on some fights the 1 spec is better than the other.
you should imo have destro and affli as your specs since the gearing is pretty much the same, so its easy to switch, and you dont have to reforge for 300g each time u switch between that or demo