[5.4] Affliction Warlock and Encounter Specific Guides

[Deleted]

It's basically what's been discussed the last few pages. You get your strongest dots up on one target then spread them to all four, after that you keep soulswapping but wait with the exhale on a target that already has dots on it. A lot of people like to use a global for Haunt/MG before they apply the soulswap exhale.

Hi Bonkura, thanks for your answer. Yes i have seen these last post talking about this. but i have the same doubts. i'm try to explain. when pulls start i go with prepot, precast haunt and SB:SS, then MG and all trinkets and enchants pop up. i have Black Blood of Y'Shaarj and Kardri's Toxic Totem.
when i finish MG first time i have BBoY with 3 or 4 stacks and KKT running.

In this moment, have i to spread dots with Soul Swap to all targets without MG or Haunt until all targets are doted?
Should i remain with MG in the first target until BBoY grow to 10 stacks and then SB:SS again to snapshot dots and begin to SS every target?
Should i SS inhale on main target and SS exale a second target and then wait for 10 stacks on BBoY in second target and then SB:SS and SS all targets?
Is better spread all dots to all targets the first time without MG or Haunt and when all targets are doted begin to soulswap with haunt or MG between inhale and exale?

[Deleted]

Zarach - when you get your 3-4 stack BBoY etc dots up, you immediately Soul Swap these dots to all targets. Shortly after you will hit 10 stack/meta gem/zerking falling off and you want to Soulburn Soulswap these new fully empowered dots onto a target.

From here you proceed with Inhale - MG/Haunt - Exhale

[Bonkura]

Yeah, that's what I usually do as well. I hold my Berserking until the 2nd SB:SS to make sure it's up for 10 stacks of BBoY. Most of the times you're just waiting for the 10xBBoY at the 2nd SB:SS so you can use that time to spread your current dots and refresh Haunt if you have at least 2 soul shards.

[nsgid]

I was reading a few pages back and I saw that a guy was running the 18,337k haste breakpoint. what os the benefit of that instead of the 13.7k breakpoint? how many more dot ticks does ut give? also, if I have the hwf PBOI what amount would I need to reach that since id have the 9% amplifier? I couldn't find a dot table guide foe that trinket with that amount of haste :/

[Glurp]

I was reading a few pages back and I saw that a guy was running the 18,337k haste breakpoint. what os the benefit of that instead of the 13.7k breakpoint? how many more dot ticks does ut give? also, if I have the hwf PBOI what amount would I need to reach that since id have the 9% amplifier? I couldn't find a dot table guide foe that trinket with that amount of haste :/

http://www.askmrrobot.com/wow/gear

[nsgid]

http://www.askmrrobot.com/wow/gear

it takes the trinkets amplification into account? I had no idea

[Bonkura]

I was reading a few pages back and I saw that a guy was running the 18,337k haste breakpoint. what os the benefit of that instead of the 13.7k breakpoint? how many more dot ticks does ut give? also, if I have the hwf PBOI what amount would I need to reach that since id have the 9% amplifier? I couldn't find a dot table guide foe that trinket with that amount of haste :/

I'm personally doing it because the lowest I can get my haste without reforging into crit is ~17k. It's nice that it hits two breakpoints at the same rating, but I wouldn't go for it if I wasn't already at 16-17k haste after maxing mastery. I'm a firm believer in keeping haste and mastery close to eachother (and if anything grab more mastery than haste).

[gynshon]

I tried the 18k breakpoints and didn't like it. I felt it paled to Mastery setup, but then again I am not close to full BIS either so....

[Deleted]

Yeah I've been wondering how much haste you "can" go, without losing out on dps. I can quite comfortably hit 18k haste with my gear without sacrificing socket bonuses etc.
But if I do that I'll end up on roughly 14.5k mastery.

I doubt it's worth it. Especially not since I'm swapping to destruction on so many fights. But still, it'd be fun to try it out just for the hell of it.

[Unknowndiv]

I'm disappointed that this topic (it's first page) is outdated or does not have full coverage about Affliction. I'll leave some questions here, if you don't mind:
1) First of all T16. 2p16t gives 15% to MG and DS damage additively, accounting "bonus" DoT ticks? 4p16t has 8%(? WoL redirects to wowhead.com/spell=145159) chance to refound Soul Shard on Haunt expire, does it work on "refresh"?
2) Trinkets list states Totem HC is better than Blood N. What about Blood wfN. Personally I find DoT stats snapshoting really abusive for affliction, especialy if One can refresh DoTs on 9-10th stack. It's hard for me to compare Totemic MS proc dps gain and Blood's 2232*1.09 (HC Bindings), but here is my napkin math:
Blood's 2432 haste gives about 2432*6.9=16780 dps (yes, 6.9 is haste stat weight for my char) - that's according to simcraft's statweights with standart APL. Totemic MS dps should be about (353140 (dps with Blood trinket)-16780)*0.05(find it about 5.3% of overall damage)=16818 - again, simulated dps with Blood trinket which makes my math rediculous XD. At least I've tried.
That's all about single target fight - Jagger? Others are multidot.
3) Should I break 4p16t? I have Hit+Mastery wfHC shoulder and Crit+Haste HC tier shoulder
Armory - eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/gordunni/Саммон/advanced should be 18461 haste in affliction, experimented with demonology, but failed :'(

[OokingDooker]

I'm disappointed that this topic (it's first page) is outdated or does not have full coverage about Affliction. I'll leave some questions here, if you don't mind:
1) First of all T16. 2p16t gives 15% to MG and DS damage additively, accounting "bonus" DoT ticks? 4p16t has 8%(? WoL redirects to wowhead.com/spell=145159) chance to refound Soul Shard on Haunt expire, does it work on "refresh"?
2) Trinkets list states Totem HC is better than Blood N. What about Blood wfN. Personally I find DoT stats snapshoting really abusive for affliction, especialy if One can refresh DoTs on 9-10th stack. It's hard for me to compare Totemic MS proc dps gain and Blood's 2232*1.09 (HC Bindings), but here is my napkin math:
Blood's 2432 haste gives about 2432*6.9=16780 dps (yes, 6.9 is haste stat weight for my char) - that's according to simcraft's statweights with standart APL. Totemic MS dps should be about (353140 (dps with Blood trinket)-16780)*0.05(find it about 5.3% of overall damage)=16818 - again, simulated dps with Blood trinket which makes my math rediculous XD. At least I've tried.
That's all about single target fight - Jagger? Others are multidot.
3) Should I break 4p16t? I have Hit+Mastery wfHC shoulder and Crit+Haste HC tier shoulder
Armory - eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/gordunni/Саммон/advanced should be 18461 haste in affliction, experimented with demonology, but failed :'(

1. The 15% to MG and DS increases all damage effects of MG and DS as stated in the set bonus. This means both ghost ticks of dots as well as the damage of MG and DS themselves. If the haunt is due for a refund chance, then it will have a chance to refund, meaning if you overwrote a 2 second left haunt with a new one, in 2 seconds, you will have a % chance for a refund.

2. Stick with wf bboy. Soulburn soulswap your dots at 10 stacks.

3. I would not break 4 set to swap a wf hc for a hc tier. However for affliction, if you have another wf hc non-tier piece to replace another hc tier, then swap out both for the non-tiers.

[nsgid]

so any heroic version KTT over any normal BBOY?

[OokingDooker]

so any heroic version KTT over any normal BBOY?

I'd only replace normal non-wf bboy with a wf hc KTT.

[EvreliaGaming]

I'm disappointed that this topic (it's first page) is outdated or does not have full coverage about Affliction. I'll leave some questions here, if you don't mind:

It's not outdated at all. It's a guide, not an in-depth mathematical discussion. Stat weights are not static and gear choices vary dependant on your other stats, you can't possibly expect every single variable to be covered. Video in the thread tells you not to break four set, and to use two set. If you want the math on how every single ability works, you'll need to look elsewhere.

[FurtyIRL]

It's not outdated at all. It's a guide, not an in-depth mathematical discussion. Stat weights are not static and gear choices vary dependant on your other stats, you can't possibly expect every single variable to be covered. Video in the thread tells you not to break four set, and to use two set. If you want the math on how every single ability works, you'll need to look elsewhere.

Probably the only thing I can think of that could potentially be added that is actually useful on progression:

For situational AoE, SB:SoC onto a target, then a normal SoC, then immediately SB:SS and inhale. Swapping around the full dots and the 2 SoCs makes for very strong AoE damage on some fights where spamming SoC isn't feasible anyways (e.g. Thok, Immerseus).

[nsgid]

quick question on openers for multi target fights like protectors, do you all pre-pot, sb:ss(wait for procs+bboy to get 4 stacks) then swap to everything? or do you cast haunt right before the first sb:ss then begin the inhale/exhales? also, for inhale/exhale, is it better to cast haunt or mg in between inhale/exhale? Obviously haunt when at 3+shards. last question, for inhale/exhale type of fights, does haunt increase the damage of the dots even without casting mg on it?

[Plwmar]

quick question on openers for multi target fights like protectors, do you all pre-pot, sb:ss(wait for procs+bboy to get 4 stacks) then swap to everything? or do you cast haunt right before the first sb:ss then begin the inhale/exhales? also, for inhale/exhale, is it better to cast haunt or mg in between inhale/exhale? Obviously haunt when at 3+shards. last question, for inhale/exhale type of fights, does haunt increase the damage of the dots even without casting mg on it?

Haunt between exhales you might miss the exhale timer if you mallefic grasp and you get caught on gcd.Haunt increases the general damage of dots on the target.Mallefic Grasp causes them to tick while channeled+increased damage from Haunt.You sb:ss on pull grasp a couple of times to get all procs up,pop cds recast sb:ss swap them to the 2nd boss while haunting before exhaling and move them to the 3rd boss.and from then on play along with them.what I usually do is I recast sb:ss right before a major cd is about to fall off (berserking eg on 1 second left on the cd) and start swapping those around everything.haunt and mallefic grasp afterwards accordingly.If I am wrong here someone correct me please.

[Xyronic]

I've explained openers about 20 bazillion times on my stream - For multitarget, the optimal opener is to pre-pot, pre-haunt, Sb:SS, wait for BboY to proc, pop CDs, Sb:SS again, swap those dots around while bboy is stacking, Sb:SS at 10 stacks one more time, then swap those dots around.

[cabana]

Probably the only thing I can think of that could potentially be added that is actually useful on progression:

For situational AoE, SB:SoC onto a target, then a normal SoC, then immediately SB:SS and inhale. Swapping around the full dots and the 2 SoCs makes for very strong AoE damage on some fights where spamming SoC isn't feasible anyways (e.g. Thok, Immerseus).

I'd agree with this for those who have outstanding computers but if you have any input lag those soc's will pop before you can inhale. If you have a laggy computer I'd swap dots on all bats and unending resolve myself and spam soc.

To add on to Xyronic's post don't forget to beg for Tricks from 3 rogues to get 22% uptime of it.

[Xyronic]

I'd agree with this for those who have outstanding computers but if you have any input lag those soc's will pop before you can inhale. If you have a laggy computer I'd swap dots on all bats and unending resolve myself and spam soc.

To add on to Xyronic's post don't forget to beg for Tricks from 3 rogues to get 22% uptime of it.

Yes, because as a trial "begging" for tricks is a great way to make an impression. Or, it could be the fact that the rogues in the guild are smart and are tricksing the player doing the most damage on that encounter. Nice constructive statement.

Regardless, if you ARE getting tricks, unless you get REALLY shitty trinket RNG, the only real time you are going to get any real benefit out of it is on the pull. Make sure you let the rogues know that.