[5.4] Affliction Warlock and Encounter Specific Guides

[Bellenia]

Hello. I'm relatively new to Affliction, as my Guild got a late start in TOT and we just finished clearing normal. I'm currently sitting at 530 ilvl with the Meta, Breath and Wush. My stats aren't great, as I haven't been lucky with haste drops, but I'm working on that. I believe I have the single target rotation/opener down pretty well, and do a decent job of keeping my empowered dots up as long as possible. I just have a couple of questions concerning a few fights where I think I could get more DPS.

First of all, on Jinrokh, is going all out haste preferred, as it's single target, or would going 9778 plus mastery be the better route on this fight seeing as the increased dot damage may give more burst in the pools? I've tried it both ways, and didn't really notice much of a difference, just wondering if there's a universally accepted preferred method for this fight.

My second question concerns both Horridon. I've mainly been playing Destro for Horridon, but would prefer to play Affliction. I understand you want to keep dots rolling on Horridon, especially as he gains the damage debuff, but for the adds, should I just be using SB:SS/SB:SOC to dot them and then channeling MG/Drain Soul when they get to 20%, or should I hard cast dots when I run out of shards on the adds that live long enough to get a good amount of ticks in? My thought process would be to dot up as much as I can with SB:SS, channel MG on the dotted one lowest in health, and then dot 4 more after Drain Soul then rinse/repeat (while keeping dots rolling on boss), but since I've never played it I figure it can't hurt to ask some of the more experienced Affliciton locks what they find works the best for that encounter.

Lastly, with Council, I have a similar question as I do for Horridon. I've played Affliction here the last few weeks, and I'm having trouble deciding on an opener. We use Hero on the pull, and I pop Dark Soul, and usually both trinkets will proc along with meta. I can't decide if it's better to get all four of the bosses dotted during this time, or just dot up Sul/Frost King, then haunt and MG Frost King, dotting the other two after DS/Meta but still during hero. Seems to me like this would net more DPS on the pull, as MG with Meta/DS/Hero does a lot of damage, but the other way, dotting all four with the empowered dots seems pretty good as well. Again, just looking for some guidance from those with more experience.

This is my first post on here so I'm unable to link my armory, but it's Bellenia at Sargeras. I think I'm reforged full haste right now, but I do reforge between fights when needed and usually run around 9800 haste with the rest going into mastery. My DPS isn't too bad really on Jinkrokh and Horridon, but I think I'm pretty far off on Council from where I should be (can't post logs as I cant link, but last week I was at 233k, 208k,and 168k on these three bosses respectively, 10M N), just trying to see if I can squeeze out a little more damage as we just downed Lei Shin for the first time last week and are going to start on HC this week. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Deleted]

Since Jinrokh is purely single-target, stacking haste as high as you can is the way to go. It simply deals more damage on single target fights, the reason we normally prefer mastery is that almost every other fight has some kind of multi-dotting. Still, it your stats don't make that much of a difference, like you noticed. Don't forget to save your DS for the first pool. On heroic, the fight is basically the same. You should be able to DPS during the storm phase without any issue, as a warlock you have enough defensive options that the KJC slow doesn't really matter (you will catch a few balls prly because of it).

On Horridon, you will never be able to compete with destruction. The way you are doing it is fine, just dot everything you can with SB:SS (not SoC) and Drain Soul as many mobs as you can to get more shards. If you do run out, dotting mobs that will live long is better than using MG. You can also cheat a little and MG Horridon, especially on later doors, but I wouldn't recommend that if your guild is not very comfortably killing it. On heroic, make sure you focus on the adds, but it really is worth it to keep dots up on Horridon. Honestly destruction is so much better here that you are doing your guild a favor if you swap to it.

You will get better results on Council by keeping dots up on all 4 from the start. Again, it depends how comfortable your guild is on this boss. Spreading your damage out like that will make the transitions slower, so if there is any risk of wiping you probably shouldn't do it. During heroic progress, I definitely wouldn't go for all 4 bosses. Just focus on Sul+Malak at the start, with dots on both and only haunting the one you will MG. Make sure to Drain Soul all of the adds, both the spirits and the twist of fates refund shards.

[Asrialol]

At what gear/haste level is Affliction > Destro for most peeps these days?

[Deleted]

At what gear/haste level is Affliction > Destro for most peeps these days?

Single target? With Meta, and prob 520+.

But no fight is really single target in ToT Par Jinrohk and Normal Durumu.

[FurtyIRL]

Single target? With Meta, and prob 520+.

But no fight is really single target in ToT Par Jinrohk and Normal Durumu.

This - affliction takes the lead over destro on just about every fight except Primordius and possibly Horridon after you're 520 w/meta. Doesn't mean destro isn't viable though.

[Werst]

Destro gets trampled by aff come legendary meta and 530'ish ilvl. Destro works best when it can do lots of ember consumer spells. EG horridon, durumu walls, primordius "spraying"/sburn sniping, etc. Destro also craps out the more haste you get or if you are forced to use the shado pan assault meta (haste proc gcd caps). Meanwhile that haste drives aff ahead.

Just get familiar with affdots and some castbar mod. I like drainsouler for the audible tick but use what works for you...

[veiledy0]

Can Affli beat Destro single target w/o the LMG at around 535 ilvl if played flawlessly (armory in signature)?

[Deleted]

Can Affli beat Destro single target w/o the LMG at around 535 ilvl if played flawlessly (armory in signature)?

It sims 175k affliction vs 178k destruction.

[Jetjaguar]

if you have uvls and something to soul swap you'll do considerably more damage as aff

[lydude]

So I've been playing Demo for the past few weeks to get acclimated to the spec. Now that I'm comfortable with it, I'm gonna start switching up on fights where Affliction might be more viable. So I have a few questions..

I have UVLS and Wush, should I still use the Glyph of Everlasting Affliction as Aff?

Is UVLS BiS for Affliction? Or is it better to use two RPPM trinkets like Hydra + Wush or Hydra + Cha'Ye?

[Deleted]

You should never use Glyph of Everlasting Affliction as affliction.

Wushoolay, Breath and UVLS are very close in value, but a combination of UVLS+Wushoolay can be very RNG. If you have all, I would go with Breath+Wushoolay, but if you have any of the 3 on higher itemlevel then you should probably use that.

[veiledy0]

It sims 175k affliction vs 178k destruction.

Ye, I've simmed it myself as well, but was wondering about an experienced opinion. Hate destro :/
Thanks tho. Hopefully I get UVLS at least.

[Deleted]

Ye, I've simmed it myself as well, but was wondering about an experienced opinion. Hate destro :/
Thanks tho. Hopefully I get UVLS at least.

Destruction looking garbage, Affliction looking strong next patch + your guild seem to have everything on farm, so stick to Aff!

[Shauni]

You cannot use simcraft to decide wich spec is the best for your gear.
Simcraft is ONLY usable to simulate "light variation" for different set (one or two boss, burst phase, with or without adds etc).
Simcraft is currently unable to mimic "skill" for each spec. Like using pandemic to keep supercharged dots or using Doom on UVLS procs so NO, simcrafting your char will NOT give you your perfect DPS.

Simc never lies, but people tends to misinterpret the results

[Deleted]

Like using pandemic to keep supercharged dots or using Doom on UVLS procs so NO

Simc never lies, but people tends to misinterpret the results

You seem to have trouble interpretting the program yourself...

[Deleted]

You cannot use simcraft to decide wich spec is the best for your gear.
Simcraft is ONLY usable to simulate "light variation" for different set (one or two boss, burst phase, with or without adds etc).
Simcraft is currently unable to mimic "skill" for each spec. Like using pandemic to keep supercharged dots or using Doom on UVLS procs so NO, simcrafting your char will NOT give you your perfect DPS.

Simc never lies, but people tends to misinterpret the results

You might want to try downloading the latest version (or the 5 before that even).

[Deleted]

The simc modeling is very solid, and certainly does account for the things you mention (pandemic, UVLS). The real reason it is not 100% accurate is that you always have fight mechanics to deal with: movement, adds, downtime all have impact.

To answer the question: I would just go affliction now, it is such a small difference that it doesn't really matter. Having more experience with the spec that is looking strongest next patch could be far more valuable than a tiny bit of damage on farm bosses.

[dahri]

Lastly, with Council, I have a similar question as I do for Horridon. I've played Affliction here the last few weeks, and I'm having trouble deciding on an opener. We use Hero on the pull, and I pop Dark Soul, and usually both trinkets will proc along with meta. I can't decide if it's better to get all four of the bosses dotted during this time, or just dot up Sul/Frost King, then haunt and MG Frost King, dotting the other two after DS/Meta but still during hero. Seems to me like this would net more DPS on the pull, as MG with Meta/DS/Hero does a lot of damage, but the other way, dotting all four with the empowered dots seems pretty good as well. Again, just looking for some guidance from those with more experience.

It is very important to DoT up everything on council. Make sure you SB:SS all the bosses on the pull when you have both trinkets, meta, ds, hero and pot, also reapply the dots again right before all procs are falling off. Make sure you drain soul the add that spawns so you get shards back.
When you dont have strong procs just make sure agony doesnt fall off, and when you get some procs again and have weak dots on the targets reapply dots to all targets again.

Depending on how strong DPS your group has you may need to cut down on multidotting a little and do more single target DPS. So that you can kill Sul before he gets empowered and also so you can push all the bosses so they dont stay on 100% energy for to long.

[Shauni]

You might want to try downloading the latest version (or the 5 before that even).

My bad, stayed on old version, but I keep thinking that simcraft is NOT A WAY of knowing wich spec is better for you.

ToT fights are not easily simmable, skill and experience matters. For that, simc results must be taken without context or analysis.

[Deleted]

My bad, stayed on old version, but I keep thinking that simcraft is NOT A WAY of knowing wich spec is better for you.

ToT fights are not easily simmable, skill and experience matters. For that, simc results must be taken without context or analysis.

You're entirely correct, but for me at least, I find it to be a valuable tool in comparing minor changes in gear within a constant set of parameters.

For the most part though, affliction wise it is quite reliable; it's destruction where you just need to think logically about where your damage is coming from and reforge/gem appropriately in contrast to what simcraft can simulate (sniping low hp adds etc).