[5.4] Affliction Warlock and Encounter Specific Guides

[varren]

H.Garrosh aff just isn't as well suited to beyond boss damage or if you run a kite strat a glyph'd coex to help your kite tank. Breaking MC's without using dots is problematic though your weapon damage is usually pretty good and KJC makes for easy peasy mobility. Flip side is that destro w' havoc isn't far behind on weapon damage, burst aoe's/breaks MC's infinitely better, and can usually beat aff's boss damage if you use havoc intelligently w' shadowburn. You also have ember tap for panic moments. Siegecrafter is another one where managing mines, esp F&B aoe on the move, is extremely helpful.

I know this is an aff thread but for Garrosh Destro is Mastery>Haste better or Mastery>Crit? I really want to play Aff on this fight when I eventually get there but Destro just seems a lot better.

[Xyronic]

I know this is an aff thread but for Garrosh Destro is Mastery>Haste better or Mastery>Crit? I really want to play Aff on this fight when I eventually get there but Destro just seems a lot better.

The difference between the two is pretty negligible. Focus on your gameplay. Unless youre 99.9% perfect at the spec you won't see that much of a difference. That being said; haste is better for aoe, which will be your first progression on the fight; crit is better for cleave/single target, which is where the main meat of progression is.

[Werst]

You can play around with haste vs crit reforge plots but there seems to be a not so awful rule of thumb of once mastery is maxed keeping your crit and haste roughly equal. Granted this is a very minor gain (if any) compared to a M > H > C setup (the aff offspec setup) so its a bit of hassle for gains that are most likely within the "noise" of RNG.

[Thelm]

Anyone having issues with Soul Swap Exhale? Lately, I'll see the animation go out, but the dots don't go on the target.

[Wildcherry]

Anyone having issues with Soul Swap Exhale? Lately, I'll see the animation go out, but the dots don't go on the target.

Could be a hit cap thing. If you're at 14.95% hit rating, for example, I think the exhale won't work if it misses, but I cannot be sure.

[Count Zero]

Could be a hit cap thing. If you're at 14.95% hit rating, for example, I think the exhale won't work if it misses, but I cannot be sure.

I was under the impression that for the exhale it actually counts as applying each dot separately. Back in t14 when I tried underhitcap-Afflic for a bit, I would sometimes get just one or two of my dots applied, although it was usually all three.

[rijn dael]

I was under the impression that for the exhale it actually counts as applying each dot separately. Back in t14 when I tried underhitcap-Afflic for a bit, I would sometimes get just one or two of my dots applied, although it was usually all three.

believe this is correct^

[Deleted]

Now that I am starting to get a bit more haste on my gear I'm planning a switch for affliction.

But, how do you guys deal with multitarget fights where the targets aren't stacked? Protectors for example.

Is it benefitial to keep all your dots up on all targets at all times? Even when Gloom, Sorrow, Misery spawns? I find myself doing nothing but soulswapping my dots to keep them all up.

Or, should I keep my dots up on a couple of targets and then move on to MG? While waiting for my procs, spread awesome dots to everything and the MG?

OR! Should I start out the fight with huge dots on all targets and the move on to hardcasting dots when they expire? Like not actually soulswapping. UA comes to mind.
Since UA has a shorter duration than Agony, refreshing it with soulswap everytime is kind of a waste? Or?


Kind of confusing post overall.. But yeah, I am a bit confused over the multitarget portion of the spec.

Any kind of help or tips on this topic is appreciated!

[Ordreasife]

Anyone having issues with Soul Swap Exhale? Lately, I'll see the animation go out, but the dots don't go on the target.

I was having this problem this morning on the Timeless Isle. Hit cap isn't the problem (I'm over 15%, the mobs were 91 anyway). I use a mouseover macro for the exhale, but it can't just be an issue of the macro failing - the exhale animation plays, but the target gets ZERO of the DOTs.

[Shauni]

Now that I am starting to get a bit more haste on my gear I'm planning a switch for affliction.
But, how do you guys deal with multitarget fights where the targets aren't stacked? Protectors for example.
Is it benefitial to keep all your dots up on all targets at all times? Even when Gloom, Sorrow, Misery spawns? I find myself doing nothing but soulswapping my dots to keep them all up.

Short answer : Yes.
Long answer : Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees.
The more uptime, the better your DPS. My advice : on pull, Prepot, Haunt, SB:SS MGx2 (or 1 if you are lucky with procs) SB:SS again. Then, SoulSwap the other two protectors. By now your procs are about to fall. SB:SS for maximum bufffed DoT duration (and a free haunt if you had a nightfall proc) then SoulSwap your dot again on everyone, for maximum pewpewnage.
Then, when the first protector is about to leave, refresh UA and corruption (NOT AGONY) on another protector. The first will dissapear and you will be able to SoulSwap the newly adds with fully buffed and lasting DoTs. For even more PewPewAwesomeness.

Now, it is only a matter of refreshing your DoTs when you have strong procs and SoulSwapping them. MG should be used only if you don't need to SoulSwap.
I repeat myself, the more uptime on the more target, the more you will DPS (not sure this is grammaticly correct...anyway)

Since UA has a shorter duration than Agony, refreshing it with soulswap everytime is kind of a waste? Or?

NEVER EVER EVER do a SB:SS just to refresh UA. It's bad. Harcasting your DoTs allows you to send Haunt into 3 target in the same time (if you are lucky with nightfall, of course). You should only refresh your DoT via SB:SS if multiple procs comes at one and you will not have the time to hardcast UA and agony (corruption, with its suboptimal DPS, is not to be prioritize when refreshing)

I hope I'm not too hard to understand (and I'm not saying pure stupidity)

[warlockSTAR]

Anyone know about what Ilvl should we be using PBI over KTT?

[Deleted]

Anyone know about what Ilvl should we be using PBI over KTT?

I believe it depends on your exact stats (did you manage to get lots of haste/mastery pieces, or did you have to take some crit items), and the rule of thumb was "hc gear", which is anything above 570 really. As always, the best possible answer would be "sim it".

[Wildcherry]

Now that I am starting to get a bit more haste on my gear I'm planning a switch for affliction.

But, how do you guys deal with multitarget fights where the targets aren't stacked? Protectors for example.

Is it benefitial to keep all your dots up on all targets at all times? Even when Gloom, Sorrow, Misery spawns? I find myself doing nothing but soulswapping my dots to keep them all up.

Or, should I keep my dots up on a couple of targets and then move on to MG? While waiting for my procs, spread awesome dots to everything and the MG?

OR! Should I start out the fight with huge dots on all targets and the move on to hardcasting dots when they expire? Like not actually soulswapping. UA comes to mind.
Since UA has a shorter duration than Agony, refreshing it with soulswap everytime is kind of a waste? Or?


Kind of confusing post overall.. But yeah, I am a bit confused over the multitarget portion of the spec.

Any kind of help or tips on this topic is appreciated!

There is a hard technique, but basically, you can maintain your initial burst / max dot damage by juggling the inhale of the soulswap with the exhale part. If you go to a training dummy and do the following:

1) get as much power and full durations on dummy A
2) inhale from A, wait 2 seconds, exhale onto B
3) inhale from B, wait 2 seconds, exhale onto C
4) inhale from C, wait 2 seconds, exhale onto A
5) repeat parts 2-4

Keep doing this as long as you can, and you will notice you will be keeping up your dots for a stupid amount of time, without actually consuming any soul shards.
The hard part is being able to utilize those 2 seconds, by filling with haunts/MG, without letting the soul swap buff run out (2 second window)

Imagine your dots all had 20 seconds remaining, After the inhale, and waiting to exhale, you won't lose dot duration, so when you finally exhale, the dots on the next target will all have 20 seconds remaining, whilst your original target will have about 17 seconds. Hopefully you see my point.

Once you can do this, you can pretty much keep haunt up on all 3 targets and it won't be till about 1 minute and a half into the fight when you will actually have to recast your dots again, by that time, your trinket procs are back. The technique is quite a high skill cap, so don't expect to be doing it perfectly first time.

[Deleted]

.

Ah yeah I see.

I'm gonna go ahead and try this out for a while and see what happens.


Thanks for the tips though!

[Werst]

I basically did the prepot single target opener to max out dot strength (PB/KTT/DS/Troll/prepot/lust/lightweave/jadespirit/etc) SB:SS renew/refresh to get pandemic extended dots > soulswap around > any spare gcd's into MG'ing/haunting the kill target. From there its just renewing dots with max power when you have CD's/procs up and swapping those power dots around with spare gcd's of haunt/MG into your kill target. Haunt secondary prime targets as shards allow. AD is highly recommended for this fight btw. Then again by now its not progression for anyone really and just kinda of a cheesefest. The only time I'd use SB:SS as a UA refresh is when I had multiple powerful buffs expiring soon (say 2 sec) so as to milk the snapshotting teet as long as possible.

[Count Zero]

Then again by now its not progression for anyone really

Speak for yourself ... only about a third of raid guilds have even killed Garry normal ... actually, just checked, it's up from around 33% to around 36% since last I checked. So, yeah, some of us are still tryin' to do work :P

[Cervios]

Hello all,
Curious if my stat setup is proper with my gear + gems + enchants. If any got a way to optimize my gear please let me know =) Feel like i should be able to get slightly more mastery than i have at the time being. As i would enjoy to stick With affliction on most fights that it's Worth taking it.

Here is my armory: eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/alakir/Mitch%C3%AC/advanced

Another thing, would you suggest to play affli on garrosh With my gear? We may be able to have a rooster With two Warlocks. One destruction and one affliction.
We are progressing Garrosh at the time being.

Thanks beforehand
/Mitchì

[Bonkura]

@Cervios: What you're doing seems fine. Stepping down to 9778 haste at your ilvl is fine too (doesn't matter really). Affli is alright on Garrosh. I tend to usually play it if the other lock is Destro to let him Shadowburn cleave more.

[Cyberthug32]

Anyone test out and see, is it worth keeping 4piece for affliction?

the set bonus is kinda hit and miss and really doesnt seem to help haunt uptime.

[a C e]

Hey guys,

I am 564 and I am thinking of trying out affliction on protectors and gen naz grim heroic. I also have BoI, KTT, BBoY normal.

Will I have a dps increase, any thoughts or tips ??
And which haste cap should I aim for? My current reforges I have 17 k mastery and 10.5k haste
Thank you