Destruction Warlock. When to cast Chaos bolts?

[Zeyqs]

Hey guys,
I just have some thoughts regarding the best decision to make upon casting chaos bolts and I would like to hear what others think.

Scenario 1:
You are generating embers, because your Dark Soul will be up on CD in like 15 seconds. You currently have 3 embers.
At least 2 of intellect trinket/tailor/etc procs.

1.Wou spend those 3 embers on casting chaos bolts with stacked int procs and have 0 embers upon the Dark Soul CD being up?
or
2.Would you just cast 1 or 2 to make sure you take some advantage of the int procs + not to waste any embers when you have 4 + and to make sure you will have 3 and more than half embers going into Dark Soul CD reset?

I personally go with 2.

Scenario 2:
When a warrior puts down Skull Banner (Your crit dmg increased by 30% = Dark soul ONLY FOR CHAOS BOLTS since CB always crits. Am i right?),

1. Would you cast Chaos bolts immediately regardless of your incoming ICD/Dark Soul CD/Current embers?
or
2. ...?

I dunno what to put in No.2 because I think #1 option is the best way to go but it will be different when the boss has 20% hp since we will be using Shadow-burn instead of CB. Come to think of it,

Scenario 3:
-Boss has 20% hp or less-
A warrior throws down a Skull Banner,

1. Would you cast CB(Chaos Bolt) or Shadow-burn?

I think casting CB makes the most sense.
Let me update this thread when I come up with other scenarios.

Oh 1 more,
Would you Rain of Fire when there are 2+ mobs? or 3+?
I personally do 2+.

[Sabsy]

well i think it depends on if your trinkets will be up soon after DS is ready... i usually try to maximize DS and only use it when one or two procs or skull banner is up... if DS is going to be off cd just as your procs are running out, it's probably better to use a few CB's during the high int procs and just delay DS a bit.

as for chaos bolt vs shadowburn... i don't think it's ever worth using CB over SB, my SBs hit for much much more than CB ever has, even with skull banner

and for RoF i use it when there are 2+ targets, even on 1 target sometimes when I am wanting my trinkets to proc faster (sometimes the elegon trinket won't proc for 20+seconds unless i RoF)

[Deleted]

Calculate it.
Take Chaos Bolts scaling factors and find out whether the Dark Soul proc or the trinket procs are higher.

Should give you a conclusive answer

[Grizelda]

I sat in front of a dummy with a warrior friend and made a note of what buff situations were optimal for Chaosbolt.

1 trink
2 trinks
weapon enchant + trink
weapon enchant + 2 trinks
DS
SB+DS
etc.

That helped me to figure out what situations were priority to use embers

What I didn't do was figure out damage per execute time to see if and when Chaosbolt should ever over ride SB (Non cleave situation, SB up. bloodlust up, haste proc etc.) My guess is never but I didn't do the math to back it up. Yet.

[Deleted]

I always use RoF on 2 targets as RoF is really good. Both damage and ember wise.

I never ever use Chaos Bolt under 20%. Shadowburn is much better, beign instant.

I cast a Chaos Bolt when I hit 3 out of 4 embers or so. Maybe I'll delay it a little tiny bit or cast it earlier depending on what procs and stuff is up or are about to come up in the next seconds.
I almost always make sure I am at 4 embers when Dark Soul is ready, unless I really need to burn something down as fast as poissble before the Dark Souls is up.

I also use RoF on 1 target every 45 sec to proc my Light of the Cosmos.

And as for the scenario 1, I would just continue casting Incinerates and conflags even though I have all my trinkets up. And then use my Dark Soul with 4 embers.

Skull Baner is kinda tricky though... If it's up and the CD of my Dark Soul is like 30-40 seconds away I will shoot as many Chaos Bolts as I can within the Skull Banner.
I have no idea if that will yield the highest DPS/damamge though.

What I do know is that Chaos Bolt shouldn't be used below 20%.

[Gohzerlock]

I always use RoF on 2 targets as RoF is really good. Both damage and ember wise.

I never ever use Chaos Bolt under 20%. Shadowburn is much better, beign instant.

I cast a Chaos Bolt when I hit 3 out of 4 embers or so. Maybe I'll delay it a little tiny bit or cast it earlier depending on what procs and stuff is up or are about to come up in the next seconds.
I almost always make sure I am at 4 embers when Dark Soul is ready, unless I really need to burn something down as fast as poissble before the Dark Souls is up.

I also use RoF on 1 target every 45 sec to proc my Light of the Cosmos.

And as for the scenario 1, I would just continue casting Incinerates and conflags even though I have all my trinkets up. And then use my Dark Soul with 4 embers.

Skull Baner is kinda tricky though... If it's up and the CD of my Dark Soul is like 30-40 seconds away I will shoot as many Chaos Bolts as I can within the Skull Banner.
I have no idea if that will yield the highest DPS/damamge though.

What I do know is that Chaos Bolt shouldn't be used below 20%.

Is it honestly worth it to use RoF on 1 target just to proc a trinket? I don't destro pve..

[Brusalk]

Is it honestly worth it to use RoF on 1 target just to proc a trinket? I don't destro pve..

It's a DPS increase to use RoF on one target if the target is in the RoF 100% of the time. You introduce more waiting time into the rotation due to the increased mana cost, however the extra ember gain and damage is worth it. The reason most people don't is A) Because for whatever reason the person who is in charge of the warlock Simcraft APLs doesn't want to include it because it makes the APL too "complicated", and B) It has the stipulation that the target is in the RoF for it's full duration, which in most fights is hard to guarantee, so people take the easy way.

[Zeyqs]

It's a DPS increase to use RoF on one target if the target is in the RoF 100% of the time. You introduce more waiting time into the rotation due to the increased mana cost, however the extra ember gain and damage is worth it. The reason most people don't is A) Because for whatever reason the person who is in charge of the warlock Simcraft APLs doesn't want to include it because it makes the APL too "complicated", and B) It has the stipulation that the target is in the RoF for it's full duration, which in most fights is hard to guarantee, so people take the easy way.

Hmm, what if you run out of mana because you've been keeping up the RoF the whole time? Like, you will be just standing still for lie 0.5 second every 4 second or so because you dont have the enough mana to cast incinerate?

[Brusalk]

Hmm, what if you run out of mana because you've been keeping up the RoF the whole time? Like, you will be just standing still for lie 0.5 second every 4 second or so because you dont have the enough mana to cast incinerate?

You stand there and wait for the mana to cast something. The point being that the increased ember generation/damage from RoF compensates for the time you're just standing there.

[Gohzerlock]

It's a DPS increase to use RoF on one target if the target is in the RoF 100% of the time. You introduce more waiting time into the rotation due to the increased mana cost, however the extra ember gain and damage is worth it. The reason most people don't is A) Because for whatever reason the person who is in charge of the warlock Simcraft APLs doesn't want to include it because it makes the APL too "complicated", and B) It has the stipulation that the target is in the RoF for it's full duration, which in most fights is hard to guarantee, so people take the easy way.

Good to know, ty for the info