[5.4] Affliction Warlock and Encounter Specific Guides

[Expandus]

I use it on all fights where we don't use spread SoC with MF (like Tsulong and Unsok). Haven't touched AV since MSV.

The 30% snare is a bigger difference than I expected though. I no longer feel safe to channel MG while dancing at Zorlok. However for Lei Shi heroic I was able to channel through a full Get Away even without the use effect and it was one of the reasons I was able to compete with our hunter and DK on the DPS. A lot of people seem to go Demo for that fight but I don't think it's needed.

A funny note regarding new KJC is that it made me bind back my S key because backpeddling actually becomes useful lol.

On Zorlok just activate burning rush when he starts attenuation, then it's easy to dance, and unless you are bad and get hit a lot the little lost health shouldn't matter

[Bonkura]

On Zorlok just activate burning rush when he starts attenuation, then it's easy to dance, and unless you are bad and get hit a lot the little lost health shouldn't matter

Thanks for the tip but I use Unbound Will for that fight to make getting me down in MC easier.

[Rio]

So... someone may have already answered this before... But we don't use Drain Soul AT ALL above 20% right? If we have zero shards, we just keep using MG as a filler and wait on a Nightfall proc?

[Bonkura]

So... someone may have already answered this before... But we don't use Drain Soul AT ALL above 20% right? If we have zero shards, we just keep using MG as a filler and wait on a Nightfall proc?

We never drain above 20% no.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the tip but I use Unbound Will for that fight to make getting me down in MC easier.

you should try sacrificial pact, u get out of mc instantly when u use GoSac!

[Deleted]

you should try sacrificial pact, u get out of mc instantly when u use GoSac!

Wow, thanks for this

[Bonkura]

you should try sacrificial pact, u get out of mc instantly when u use GoSac!

wow cool I'll try it next week.

[Moggie]

So color me confused. Been running my toon through sims this AM and get a couple very different results with 393 ilvl:

1st sim w/25000 iteration, patchwerk style:
Hit: 1.86
Crit: 1.56
Haste: 2.20
Mastery: 2.33.

This, according to wowreforge put me at like 3822 haste rating (8.99%) and 7245 Mastery (62.23%) with an overall dps of 102396. Fine...sorta even though I was always under the impression single target would mean haste is better and multi-target would be where mastery shines...

Ran it again under the reforges wowreforge did...
DPS: 101586

Hit: 1.76
Crit: 1.54
Haste: 3.04
Mastery: 2.25

This is obviously going to change (yet again) my reforges quite a bit, especially when Haste abruptly pulled out so far ahead of the other stats. I could understand it trying to get back to the 4717 breakpoint or w/e the exact number is, but even the dps went lower...sooo what am I missing? I realize I haven't had my morning coffee but this seems a tad odd. Makes me think my original reforges were better than either of these two gives, would give.

[Tresdallah]

So color me confused. Been running my toon through sims this AM and get a couple very different results with 393 ilvl:

1st sim w/25000 iteration, patchwerk style:
Hit: 1.86
Crit: 1.56
Haste: 2.20
Mastery: 2.33.

This, according to wowreforge put me at like 3822 haste rating (8.99%) and 7245 Mastery (62.23%) with an overall dps of 102396. Fine...sorta even though I was always under the impression single target would mean haste is better and multi-target would be where mastery shines...

Ran it again under the reforges wowreforge did...
DPS: 101586

Hit: 1.76
Crit: 1.54
Haste: 3.04
Mastery: 2.25

This is obviously going to change (yet again) my reforges quite a bit, especially when Haste abruptly pulled out so far ahead of the other stats. I could understand it trying to get back to the 4717 breakpoint or w/e the exact number is, but even the dps went lower...sooo what am I missing? I realize I haven't had my morning coffee but this seems a tad odd. Makes me think my original reforges were better than either of these two gives, would give.

Unless I missed an update, Simcraft does not properly update with the new Jade Serpent enchant. So I haven't been looking into it much, as it's been giving wonky numbers.

[Deleted]

Just out of curiosity, does everyone sim using Patchwerk Style?

[EvreliaGaming]

Given that we have 5% extra haste now from hunters, does anyone have new thresholds in rating format to reforge to?

[kaamila]

Given that we have 5% extra haste now from hunters, does anyone have new thresholds in rating format to reforge to?

bug or intended? doesnt seem right

[Moggie]

bug or intended? doesnt seem right

Intended. Sporebats give spell haste.

[Calz]

Intended. Sporebats give spell haste.

Yes, but surely it can't be intended that it stacks with shadow/moonkin/elemental 5% haste buff?

[EvreliaGaming]

Yes, but surely it can't be intended that it stacks with shadow/moonkin/elemental 5% haste buff?

It's a bug.

[Deleted]

Hi there, big fan of your guides.

Recently switched to Affli Warlock, and I'm having a few issues.

From what I'm reading and understanding, the big damage on a single target fights comes from Malefic Grasping while Haunt/DoTs are all up on your target. Therefore it's optimal to make sure you've got enough time left on DoTs when you Haunt, so that you will not have to stop MG'ing for the entire duration of that haunt ro refresh anything.

Am I getting this right? That's what I've been striving for and it's giving decent results... decent, not great.

I am struggling BIG time on fights with more than 1 target. I'm not talking about packs with numerous adds that would make SoC a valid choice, lets just say a council type boss fight where you're facing 3 targets.

What do I do then? I've read you should manually refresh DoTs, while focusing to keep a single target rotation going on the main target?

Ok but... how in the world do I achieve that? I hardly get the time to MG, and lining up Haunt/DoTs/MG on the main target it's nearly impossible, as I'm constantly forced to refresh DoTs on other targets.

Should I just drop the idea MG should be used for the full duration of the Haunt?

Help!

[EvreliaGaming]

Hi there, big fan of your guides.

Recently switched to Affli Warlock, and I'm having a few issues.

From what I'm reading and understanding, the big damage on a single target fights comes from Malefic Grasping while Haunt/DoTs are all up on your target. Therefore it's optimal to make sure you've got enough time left on DoTs when you Haunt, so that you will not have to stop MG'ing for the entire duration of that haunt ro refresh anything.

Am I getting this right? That's what I've been striving for and it's giving decent results... decent, not great.

I am struggling BIG time on fights with more than 1 target. I'm not talking about packs with numerous adds that would make SoC a valid choice, lets just say a council type boss fight where you're facing 3 targets.

What do I do then? I've read you should manually refresh DoTs, while focusing to keep a single target rotation going on the main target?

Ok but... how in the world do I achieve that? I hardly get the time to MG, and lining up Haunt/DoTs/MG on the main target it's nearly impossible, as I'm constantly forced to refresh DoTs on other targets.

Should I just drop the idea MG should be used for the full duration of the Haunt?

Help!

Depends on the fight. I suppose you mean Stone Guard. In which case, unglyphed Soul Swap is pretty nice. Thats the only fight I can think of where you have to maintain DoTs on two targets right now. You've got the right idea about Haunt and MG but it's not a hard rule. Don't refresh your DoTs when they don't need refreshing just to break that rule or you'll be worse off for it. The idea is that, since your Haunts are limited anyway, you should get the most out of them. Same goes for re-applying DoTs with higher amounts of Intellect - refresh them at the earliest moment that they are needed, but don't stress over it too much. Fel Flame can be used situationally for both these purposes.

[Ridcully]

Given that we have 5% extra haste now from hunters, does anyone have new thresholds in rating format to reforge to?

I think you just remove 5*423 from known haste breakpoints to get the new values.

[Deleted]

Depends on the fight. I suppose you mean Stone Guard. In which case, unglyphed Soul Swap is pretty nice. Thats the only fight I can think of where you have to maintain DoTs on two targets right now. You've got the right idea about Haunt and MG but it's not a hard rule. Don't refresh your DoTs when they don't need refreshing just to break that rule or you'll be worse off for it. The idea is that, since your Haunts are limited anyway, you should get the most out of them. Same goes for re-applying DoTs with higher amounts of Intellect - refresh them at the earliest moment that they are needed, but don't stress over it too much. Fel Flame can be used situationally for both these purposes.

Makes sense, thanks!

Wasn't thinking of a particular encounter... even on the training dummies, I seem to get a very small dps increase from actively DoTing 2 targets.

Assuming the encounter doesn't favor the use of the Soul Swap glyph, should I just focus on manually keeping DoT uptime 100% on 2-3 target fights?

Saying manually because I assume shards are better used for Haunts, rather than lazy DoT refreshing with SB:SS.

[Ridcully]

Saying manually because I assume shards are better used for Haunts, rather than lazy DoT refreshing with SB:SS.

I personally prioritize SS:SB over Haunt when my current stats are better by 20% or more. Haunt essentially squeezes 10 seconds of damage into 8, recasting manually takes two more gcd's, so more than two seconds. Haunt duration - 8 seconds, Pandemic dots - a lot of seconds, more overall damage if shard is spent on dots I believe. Lining them both is even better.