Affliction?

[Deleted]

Hey! My guild has cleared SoO normal now a few times and are feeling ready to begin HC progressing. I've got 563 ilevel right now, and started wondering if I should be ready to switch to Affliction? I know it is better than Destruction on some fights, but is that due to HC mechanics which are in favor for Affliction, or is it solely based on gear? If so, around when should I consider Affliction a better option than Destruction on certain fights?

Thanks in advance!

[Betrayerx]

It isn't better than Destruction for any fight except protectors and you have to be very aware of your dots and keep the strongest possible dots rolling for as long as you can on all 3 targets. You're better off staying Destro if you need to carry the group and if that is not the case just play what you like.

[Deleted]

especially when your guild just started HC progression, I would suggest to stick to destro on all fights besides protectors HC. The higher survivability will be better for your guild then the 10k DPS you could possibly gain from a affli-heavy bossstrategie

[Deleted]

It isn't better than Destruction for any fight except protectors and you have to be very aware of your dots and keep the strongest possible dots rolling for as long as you can on all 3 targets. You're better off staying Destro if you need to carry the group and if that is not the case just play what you like.

especially when your guild just started HC progression, I would suggest to stick to destro on all fights besides protectors HC. The higher survivability will be better for your guild then the 10k DPS you could possibly gain from a affli-heavy bossstrategie

Alright, thanks alot guys

[evertonbelmontt]

Afflic for protectors and norushen.

Norushen adds are too much annoying and multidot is more fun.

[yoloswagginz]

It isn't better than Destruction for any fight except protectors and you have to be very aware of your dots and keep the strongest possible dots rolling for as long as you can on all 3 targets. You're better off staying Destro if you need to carry the group and if that is not the case just play what you like.

thats just not true

[Woz]

thats just not true

I'd have to agree, even though he was pretty vague. Certain fights cater to both specs and you should be prepared to swap as needed (if at all). During progression months ago I was a different spec for almost every fight.

[striderZA]

It isn't better than Destruction for any fight except protectors and you have to be very aware of your dots and keep the strongest possible dots rolling for as long as you can on all 3 targets. You're better off staying Destro if you need to carry the group and if that is not the case just play what you like.

There are a lot of fights (besides protectors) where Affliction performs really really well.

[Gohzerlock]

There are a lot of fights (besides protectors) where Affliction performs really really well.

I find affliction better on heroic spoils, mogu side especially. could just be my guilds particular strat/comp.

[yoloswagginz]

aff is better on protectors, norushen, sha is debatable (since destro dmg is about the same but is much more centered on aoeing therefore much less useful), iron jugg, dark shamans, nazgrim, malkorok, spoils is debatable(if you open boxes fast aff is miles better), thok and siege depends on the strat you're using (lots of mines will make destro better). http://raidbots.com/dpsbot/Sha_of_Pr...all/14/60/p80/ for the most accurate info. I prefer to use the 80-90th percentile to exclude the cheesing. Just remember to take destro parses with a grain of salt since they tend to be way more focused around aoeing.

[Deleted]

Those are farm fights though.

For progression Destruction is a lot more useful in terms of survivability and offering burst dps when necessary. More so in 10 man, admittedly.

[Valq]

Affliction is better on Protectors for obvious reasons. Also probably better for norushen in dealing with adds, if your guild decides to do iron juggernaut with stacking during p2 and healing, then affliction is probably also the way to go. Nazgrim you can get your dots up in defensive and you can do decent damage to adds with aff. Dark shamans really depends on how fast slimes die, if you've got loads of damage on them then aff is probably going to be a better spec too.

I mean ultimately, both speccs work on all fights pretty well, just choose whichever you are more comfortable with and play best and you'll get the best results out of that.

[Jessicka]

Hey! My guild has cleared SoO normal now a few times and are feeling ready to begin HC progressing. I've got 563 ilevel right now, and started wondering if I should be ready to switch to Affliction? I know it is better than Destruction on some fights, but is that due to HC mechanics which are in favor for Affliction, or is it solely based on gear? If so, around when should I consider Affliction a better option than Destruction on certain fights?

Thanks in advance!

If you haven't already been playing and getting used to Affliction, Heroic progression is absolutely the worst time to start practicing - you -will- hold your guild up with your noobish screw ups and it doesn't perform so significantly better that you'll notice any improvement, especially through those mistakes. Destruction will perform more than adequately on every encounter, and given you're already clearly used to it, that makes that doubly true for you.

Honestly don't get where this idea that 'play this spec until X, then switch to Y' even came from, because no classes' specs are so far apart these days; really you should be going for the spec you intend to use from day 1 to make sure you're damn good at it when you reach Y, rather than have to learn everything over again.

[Deleted]

I played Affliction in all HC Fights for Progression, exept Immerseus, Sha, Klaxxi, sometimes Blackfuse (if we lacked a elemental shaman) and Garrosh HC.

But we started with a lot less iLvl and the first 1-3 Weeks Affliction was a bit stronger and so got nerfed realy fast. But it stays relativly strong on Protectors, Norrushen (God of add damage, if you roll the dots right), Galakras, if the Adds tend to life quite long, kolossus, shamans, if you don't part them. Nazgrim if you have problems killing all the adds, Malkorok, spoils, Thok anyway. Blackfuse if you have to bring lots of Bossdmg (affli seems for me to get that a bit better, but varys on try and shadowburnluck (our shamans are a pain in the a... on the mines here, so less luck with good SB)

[Nivrax]

It depends on 25 v 10 man a lot. Norushen adds on 10, yeah nice dps. How about Destro and blow them up in 5 sec each? Shaman, you'd be better loosing some opening burst with ability to solo slimes (unless you fight both shaman in range), Nazgrim look nice on paper, but on practice, Destro will burst Shaman adds rather than padding damage on fight with no enrage time (unless you let heal off), although 70% slow on assassin is nice, Malkrok Destro selfhealing is amazing in clearing orbs after cds run out and let healers prioritize other people, Spoils is best spec for sparks and can get tons of embers with shadowburn. On 10 man I would seriously go for Destruction for every fight bar Protectors (but it's completely doable with Destro) and maybe-ish Scorpie (but that's very minor gain, compared to Protector difference).

[Xandy]

If you haven't already been playing and getting used to Affliction, Heroic progression is absolutely the worst time to start practicing - you -will- hold your guild up with your noobish screw ups and it doesn't perform so significantly better that you'll notice any improvement, especially through those mistakes. Destruction will perform more than adequately on every encounter, and given you're already clearly used to it, that makes that doubly true for you.

THIS so much. I hate seeing Warlocks in my guild who decide to play Affliction just because they see me doing well or maybe they are bored with Destruction... and then after a week of not doing so well they go back to Destruction. What a waste of time and effort! If you want to practice learning a new spec don't do it during raids or at least, for the love of god, don't do it during progression.

[Scathbais]

Nazgrim look nice on paper, but on practice, Destro will burst Shaman adds rather than padding damage on fight with no enrage time.

This is the problem I have with Affliction and topping the meters, especially in 10-man. When my RL says burn the Shaman, I burn the shaman. Multi-dotting =/= burning down the shaman even if it does result in awesome dps.

Lastly I haven't encountered any dps checks yet (11/14H) so my advice is to play whatever spec you are most comfortable with. As Jessicka said above, heroic progression is the wrong time to learn a new spec. Your raid awareness/effectiveness might hurt your raid.

[Santoisms]

thats just not true

You tell em Yolo.

- - - Updated - - -

All of the fights on Heroic:

Immer: Demo
FP: Aff
Norushen: Aff
Sha: Destro
Gala: Destro
IJ: If your guild has a fast kill time go Aff if not go Destro
Shamans: Same as IJ
Nazgrim: Aff
Malk: Aff
Spoils: Same as IJ
Thok: Aff
Siegecrafter: I played Aff on it but Destro makes more sense.
Klaxxi: Aff for extending, if not go Destro
Garrosh: Destro

Hope this helps a bit, good luck on heroics!