Majordomo HC - does Demo burst at start mean anything? Or go Affli?

[Deleted]

So hey. We had very few tries on Majordomo HC 2 weeks ago or so and I remember there was a question who should stand behind him 1st scorpion. I know it's been nerfed to oblivion and all and it probably doesn't even matter anymore, but I am curious.

At first they had arcane mage stand behind the boss for burst damage but I asked to try demo, curious about the result. I actually beat the mage for about 10-15k DPS in this burst phase (I mean the mage out of scorpio in try before, not mage 0 buff and me full, ofc) and sustained a respectable DPS later. Then they decided to put mage there again because someone said demo is not the single target spec and I would suck afterwards not being Affli. It surprised me enough so that I didn't argue But we decided to go normal before pull (lack of faith in our abilities xD ) so cba.

Anyway, then I went to raidbots and saw that Affliction is actually better parsed than Demo for this fight. Why is that so? Lack of shadowflame and immolation aura later? Because, I guess, I shouldn't pop meta on Scorpion unless I could stay behind the boss again (which isn't likely, unless the nerf will allow it)?



Or should we, after all, have the mage stand behind the boss instead? (and why)

[Kragtik]

Back when I used to play I would prefer running Affliction for that fight. The damage might be better because of the movement you have to do to dodge fireorbs, cat jumps and whichever strategy you're using.

First scorpion we had everyone stand behind him, meaning we started the fight in scorpion, with one pally tank and a shadow priest in front.
We would spread into positions after the second scythe (which came pretty fast).

[Logbc]

I think Affliction might be generally better for Domo because you'll probably get in more boosted attacks while at full concentration than a demo lock probably would. In 5 seconds an afflock stacking haste will probably have several Dot ticks and 2 shadowbolts whereas a Demo Lock stacking mastery will have a few less dot ticks and probably 1 shadowbolt. This is my stupidly unfounded theory.

[Defai]

Having a full set of dots rolling with full conc is godmode. And execute with a full conc bar is....so good...

[Harsesis]

Affliction is better for this fight with all the moving that goes on. Also since you can't be in melee during cat phase.

[Dundebuns]

Why are you taking Scorp cleaves? Spread out at 80% scorp energy and take 7/8 cat leaps per turn. You'll kill Staghelm just before or just after the second flame orbs.

[Deleted]

We did, at first, not have the first scorpion, but later it was decided we should take it with 1 healer and 1 DPS outside of it. I don't really remember why we did that but it was a tactic someone brought and it didn't work all that bad afair.

Dundebuns, do you mean not take scorpion cleave ever? Or only the first time?

[Penguin FTW]

Doomguard (read: the only reason Demo is competitive) doesn't benefit from concentration and you lose a sizable chunk of damage off that.

Not to mention the inability to stand in melee like Demo requires for optimal dps

[Eec003]

prolonging that phase as long as possible is decent. though prolonging the cat phase is better. but it really doesn't matter dps anymore. slow and steady wins this race, esp. after nerfs.

[Reolac]

Just HS whilst your guild clears Staghelm trash and optimize for Affliction, its so worth it.

[avengingbt]

Affliction is definately a superior spec for Staghelm Heroic. There are a couple of reasons why:

1) Doomguard doesn't benefit from concentration
2) No Shadowflame
3) No Immolation Aura

It's also somewhat difficult to pet-swap effectively as demonology with all the cats flying around. It can be done, but it won't be as easy as on most fights.

If your guild really needs the extra dps and you have someone else to cover the spellpower buff then you should really be going affliction for this fight.

[Neyzio]

Doomguard isnt jesus mode on this encounter is the #1 reason

[fearmemortals]

Your pets don't get the conc bonus. Our lock is Demo and usually tops the meter on any burn fight but her best on hm domo has been middle of the pack

[Neyzio]

Your pets don't get the conc bonus. Our lock is Demo and usually tops the meter on any burn fight but her best on hm domo has been middle of the pack

Negative. Pets DO benefit from the buff (after I spent a week complaining about it on the forums and getting it fixed :P) however, GUARDIANS (aka doomguards) do not.

[Deleted]

Feel free to ignore everything I say, I don't play warlock, I play shadow priest.

However, I would imagine that aff lock would shine here on heroic due to being able to put up dots with 100% concentration, and those dots will continue to tick after you lose the concentration (until they expire ofc). This means if you aren't confident in avoiding all the cat leaps you can refresh just before the leap. If you are hit, you still have a full dot duration at 100% increased damage after you've been hit.

Also, do pets scale with the concentration buff?
also, with all the leaping around your melee pets aren't going to have much uptime on the boss, this i imagine will hurt demo more than affliction.

Each time the cat leaps out of your range you'll have dots rolling as aff.

Any and all self healing on this fight can be very nice.


Good luck with the kill.

[Deleted]

Thanks a lot guys, all's clear now

[DraconusIX]

Affliction is TONS better single-target on every fight in comparison to demo. You get conc aura too many times for the burst at the start on domo to matter more then the dps loss based on spec.

[Zheryn]

I'm not sure about 25m, but on 10m there is no reason at all to take any cleaves, since you will easily kill him before second set of orbs anyway, and you can't skip the first one even if you take cleaves. The orb phase is the only one where you could actually wipe if you're doing the 0 cleave tactic, since you won't really take damage anytime else during the encounter. Also, it will then be whoever manages to keep up their concentration stack best who'll do the most damage (altho your mage can just block both seeds for a 95% uptime on legendary concentration and 50k dps, so he'll probably do more damage than you anyway :P).

[kushlol]

Affliction is TONS better single-target on every fight in comparison to demo. You get conc aura too many times for the burst at the start on domo to matter more then the dps loss based on spec.

Assuming no legendary I'm very sure demo trumps affliction single target.

[nocturnus]

Assuming no legendary I'm very sure demo trumps affliction single target.

Well, they're pretty close in theory. Demo only provides better single-target dps than aff if;
1. The doomguard is available
2. The demolock has the MWC
3. The demolock can stand in melee range
4. There is none, or little movement in the fight

Anyway, aff is obviously better at major due to the nature of the fight. Lots of movement, the inability to constantly stand at melee range, etc...