[Legion] Terryn's guide to Affliction Warlock

[App]

Did the questline on the PTR a few days ago to unlock the new traits, however it would only let me continue in Destruction. I tried switching to other specs after completing the quest, however no new traits appeared in Aff/Demo. Have they put the new traits up yet? Just want to make sure I'm not wasting my time doing this questline again.

[Liirin]

I already saw a video that like when you get your weapons in the first place each weapon will have its own questline. Not sure if that will stay in place obviously ptr can change etc.

[ctrlaltdleet]

So, Haste... does it not effect the ammount of shards we generate now?

[Kirroth]

So, Haste... does it not effect the ammount of shards we generate now?

More Haste means more Agony ticks means more Soul Shards. So yes, there's a positive effect. It's just a relatively small effect and tends to get drowned out by the innate RNG element of Shard generation. Compared to the positive effect of, say, having Agony on multiple targets or getting the 4pc bonus it's hard to notice the effect of a few percent Haste.

Still, it's enough that Haste shouldn't be a complete dump stat.

[erinthea]

More Haste means more Agony ticks means more Soul Shards. So yes, there's a positive effect. It's just a relatively small effect and tends to get drowned out by the innate RNG element of Shard generation. Compared to the positive effect of, say, having Agony on multiple targets or getting the 4pc bonus it's hard to notice the effect of a few percent Haste.

Still, it's enough that Haste shouldn't be a complete dump stat.

The problem is that haste also shortens the duration of UA unlike other dots (and since UA is no longer snapshotted) this should be changed If they are taking away the thing that made UA like a direct damage cast, just extended damage, then they should make it affected by Haste exactly as other dots are.

[Kirroth]

The problem is that haste also shortens the duration of UA unlike other dots (and since UA is no longer snapshotted) this should be changed If they are taking away the thing that made UA like a direct damage cast, just extended damage, then they should make it affected by Haste exactly as other dots are.

I think the problem is that doing it that way would make Haste way too good. An extra 20% or 30% UA damage from Haste would be massive. So instead Haste just gives UA more burst and otherwise only benefits it via the Agony SS generation. Which is why it's roughly the third ranked stat for Afflic, because there's no easy middle ground to land on for it.

[Deleted]

I think the problem is that doing it that way would make Haste way too good. An extra 20% or 30% UA damage from Haste would be massive. So instead Haste just gives UA more burst and otherwise only benefits it via the Agony SS generation. Which is why it's roughly the third ranked stat for Afflic, because there's no easy middle ground to land on for it.

Yes, this is the same reason why Demo benefits way too much from haste. Double dipping in casting time and dmg per cast.

[Orwell7]

I think the problem is that doing it that way would make Haste way too good. An extra 20% or 30% UA damage from Haste would be massive. So instead Haste just gives UA more burst and otherwise only benefits it via the Agony SS generation. Which is why it's roughly the third ranked stat for Afflic, because there's no easy middle ground to land on for it.

???
There are sooo much double-dipping in this game this argument is only for those who doesn't play anything but warlock.
Only Warlocks have this "be 100% strict with the rules OR ELSE" mentality...

Crit for Fire Mages is the most iconic example on how a stat is "too good". But let's talk about Shadow with Voidform stacks and how it interacts with haste/mastery, Elemental with crit, etc-etc.
Double dipping is all over the place, and blizzard CAN balance around it properly.

It's just silly how with BL+trinket procs you can't use all your shards properly and drain those UA's.
Every spec "speeds up" with more haste. Hunters get more passive focus regen, as well as even more focus regen via abilities, and they can spend it faster with reduces cast/cooldown times.

Affliction tho generates more shards, but +40% haste does not mean +40% shard gen. Also you can't spend them as effectively (the gain is non-linear) as anyone else. So yeah it's just a typical hindrance just because Warlock.

[shintorg]

Maybe I missed it on the starting post or in these past 42 pages, but I'm looking for some info on what to do for a fight start when you have 1 reap stack. Say like when you've wiped on a progression boss and you know they're heroing on pull. For now I just pre-pot, throw up dots, drain and refresh till I get a few reap stacks. Not sure how many I should shoot for. Likely fight dependent, but I just seem to have a rough time ever catching up when I go into things with no reap.

[Kirroth]

There are sooo much double-dipping in this game this argument is only for those who doesn't play anything but warlock.

Honestly? I see my guild's Fire Mage passing up anything without Crit, and our Balance Druid passing up anything without Haste, and I'm glad not to have a double dipping god stat. Basically anything without heavy Vers is an upgrade for me, so my ilvl is higher and my DPS is higher than the people with the super narrow upgrade tracks. Maybe they'd beat me if we were a focused raid guild doing heavy farming to get them their perfect double dipping itemization. But we're not, so I'm usually at the top of our raid's DPS charts.

[Fearzigdots]

So i have a stat-related question. So far i am currently geared with the following stats:
Int: 46910
Crit: 17,20%
Haste: 14,53%
Mastery: 125,05
Vers: 2,13%
I have the T19 4-set and i have the Gul'dan Trinket and the Helya Int/Mastery trinket and i have two worthless Legendarys in terms of direct dps increase (Pants, Boots)

I have simmed a lot of setups, including switching with Trinkets like Star Gate, Pheramore Grimoire etc. But i always end up with this setup being the strongest, although the difference is always only like 2-6k dps in SIMC. But i have the idea that my Crit and Haste are a bit low compared to a lot of Highprogress Guild Warlocks that have over 20% Crit. Should i keep this setup or maybe try to aim for more Crit and Haste at a loss of Mastery?? Your advise would be much appreciated.

[Raxle]

So i have a stat-related question. So far i am currently geared with the following stats:
Int: 46910
Crit: 17,20%
Haste: 14,53%
Mastery: 125,05
Vers: 2,13%
I have the T19 4-set and i have the Gul'dan Trinket and the Helya Int/Mastery trinket and i have two worthless Legendarys in terms of direct dps increase (Pants, Boots)

I have simmed a lot of setups, including switching with Trinkets like Star Gate, Pheramore Grimoire etc. But i always end up with this setup being the strongest, although the difference is always only like 2-6k dps in SIMC. But i have the idea that my Crit and Haste are a bit low compared to a lot of Highprogress Guild Warlocks that have over 20% Crit. Should i keep this setup or maybe try to aim for more Crit and Haste at a loss of Mastery?? Your advise would be much appreciated.

Sim your scaling values and go by that. I'd imagine that yours will favor crit and haste a bit over mastery as it stands right now, but for the most part, ilvl will win out unless it's a minor ilvl upgrade that's heavy with versatility.

[Fearzigdots]

Sim your scaling values and go by that. I'd imagine that yours will favor crit and haste a bit over mastery as it stands right now, but for the most part, ilvl will win out unless it's a minor ilvl upgrade that's heavy with versatility.

Well that is the point, I already took into account the best scaling for my spec and simulated that in Simcraft and everytime the setup I described in my post comes out the best with 615k dps (albeit with really small margins when compared to other setups I simmed). I have the following ratio:
Mastery 1.21
Haste 1.19
Crit 1.19
Spell 1.00

And still it feels like I have too little Crit compared to other Affliction Locks.
By the way, the best setup is only 894 itemlvl and simmed 615k dps, the highest itemlvl setup I got is 899 and that simmed only 582k dps. So highest itemlvl wins is a bit overrated I guess, that is a dps loss of 35k!!

[SpikeySquad]

Well that is the point, I already took into account the best scaling for my spec and simulated that in Simcraft and everytime the setup I described in my post comes out the best with 615k dps (albeit with really small margins when compared to other setups I simmed). I have the following ratio:
Mastery 1.21
Haste 1.19
Crit 1.19
Spell 1.00

And still it feels like I have too little Crit compared to other Affliction Locks.
By the way, the best setup is only 894 itemlvl and simmed 615k dps, the highest itemlvl setup I got is 899 and that simmed only 582k dps. So highest itemlvl wins is a bit overrated I guess, that is a dps loss of 35k!!

If people are stacking crit (especially compared to haste) they are likely to have Perdition relics.

[Raxle]

By the way, the best setup is only 894 itemlvl and simmed 615k dps, the highest itemlvl setup I got is 899 and that simmed only 582k dps. So highest itemlvl wins is a bit overrated I guess, that is a dps loss of 35k!!

That's why I said 'for the most part'. I'm in the same boat cause I use an 860 Arcanocrystal still.

[Fearzigdots]

If people are stacking crit (especially compared to haste) they are likely to have Perdition relics.

Okay, so it's not bad that i 'only' have like 17% Crit (although i also have a Perdition Relic)?? And what would be the minimum Haste i need to keep up a decent rotation?

- - - Updated - - -

And another question; i just got a 900 Titanforged Obeliskt of the Void Trinket from my Class Hall Chest. Never seen this trinket before, but would it be an upgrade to swap it with my 865 Helya Int/Mastery trinket??

[SpikeySquad]

Recently, with the last two builds I have used, I have started simming higher on ST with MG, Cont, SH and SE. This is only for a 6 minute fight though so a longer one would favour AC eventually.

Is this the same for anyone else? If so have you tried it in practice? I do see SH logs doing better on the statistics on the whole though ranking wise they are not coming up that often yet. How does it work out on multitarget as well?

I also only have a 5k difference (so not even 1%) between an AC-SE build and Cont-SC build while others can have 30k+ or so. My Sim version is 715-02 though not the most recent so perhaps I should get last nights and recheck. I do have the belt, 4 set and 22% haste (but only 110% mastery) which means I am drowning in shards. Naturally people with the helm would favour SE.

[tglode420]

So this focus effigy thing. I got this today.
#showtooltip
/cast Soul Effigy
/target Soul Effigy
/focus target

Hope that helps some people

[Deleted]

Recently, with the last two builds I have used, I have started simming higher on ST with MG, Cont, SH and SE. This is only for a 6 minute fight though so a longer one would favour AC eventually.

Is this the same for anyone else? If so have you tried it in practice? I do see SH logs doing better on the statistics on the whole though ranking wise they are not coming up that often yet. How does it work out on multitarget as well?

I also only have a 5k difference (so not even 1%) between an AC-SE build and Cont-SC build while others can have 30k+ or so. My Sim version is 715-02 though not the most recent so perhaps I should get last nights and recheck. I do have the belt, 4 set and 22% haste (but only 110% mastery) which means I am drowning in shards. Naturally people with the helm would favour SE.

The SE+AC build is more forgiving.

[Lucrece]

Quite honestly, in a any multitarget fight you're better off not trying to juggle Siphon Life together with soul effigy. Siphon Life is such a marginal gain. In fights like Gul'dan and Elisande where tank placement can screw over your SE renewals, you're also free to go SC and barely notice the difference.