5.2 challenge mode destro specced

[Druzader]

since 5.2 has been live for some time now, i wanna continue my CM gold pursuit, but wanna make sure that i have the right reforging done.

my question to you theorycrafters, and after the awesome post by made by Brusalk (http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...-100-more-pets) and the countless of interesting chat that went there. i wanna ask a particular question regarding challenge mode in 5.2 as destro (and no, i refuse to play another spec which i dont find neither fun nor fulfilling as desto)

during the discussion and as simcrafts showed that GoSac is a no-go for single target DPS, and is replaced by GoSup/Serv. and that reforging is mainly now with GoSup/Serv Haste==Crit > Mastery (for single target).

but the thing is that during challenge mode, the problem is not whether u can down a boss fast rather then how fast can u get the trash done with, which means trash>boss.

and as Sinj results show in that same thread on page 4, AoE (8 targets + during fight) Mastery >>> Haste > Crit

so the question that arises is the following:is it safe to say that for challenge mode in 5.2, GoSac with mastery reforge is the way to go coz the fights mainly consists of burning large amount of trash rather single target boss?

thank you

[Alaira]

Unfortunately, no. GoSac does not apply its bonus to spells modified by FnB. You are still better off taking GoSup/GoServ because the pet will at least be attacking a target, where as GoSac's bonus is lost when you cast AoE spells.

Just pick a pet grimoire, stick it on a priority target, and follow the AoE stat priority for reforges if you're going to focus on that.

[Chrispotter]

GoSup Observer for interrupts or GoSup Imp for dispells or GoSup Shivara if you need a knockback/cc. Go High mastery build... profit. GoSac is good too cus you will be shadowburning ALOT in CM's. Its really just choice at that point its not going to make or break your run if you use GoSup or GoSac. Just stack mastery and when things hit 20% hp you can 1 shot them with shadowburns.

[Multiabuse]

since 5.2 has been live for some time now, i wanna continue my CM gold pursuit, but wanna make sure that i have the right reforging done.

my question to you theorycrafters, and after the awesome post by made by Brusalk (http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...-100-more-pets) and the countless of interesting chat that went there. i wanna ask a particular question regarding challenge mode in 5.2 as destro (and no, i refuse to play another spec which i dont find neither fun nor fulfilling as desto)

during the discussion and as simcrafts showed that GoSac is a no-go for single target DPS, and is replaced by GoSup/Serv. and that reforging is mainly now with GoSup/Serv Haste==Crit > Mastery (for single target).

but the thing is that during challenge mode, the problem is not whether u can down a boss fast rather then how fast can u get the trash done with, which means trash>boss.

and as Sinj results show in that same thread on page 4, AoE (8 targets + during fight) Mastery >>> Haste > Crit

so the question that arises is the following:is it safe to say that for challenge mode in 5.2, GoSac with mastery reforge is the way to go coz the fights mainly consists of burning large amount of trash rather single target boss?

thank you

I did all but the first AoE trash pull in SPM as destro 9/9 Gold. Our last run, SSB, came the day after 5.2 went live. I kept my 5.1 reforge (although I did have to regem for hit as at that point CM hit was being scaled down unfortunately). If I did it over again, I would stay Destro for all of it, GoSac+Mastery build. DPS on trash packs was huge and I was able to pull 120k+ with hero and 2 pots on boss fights.

The only time I felt a little bit lacking in damage was on packs of 4 mobs, as there aren't enough targets to spam AoE and a single target w/ havoc rotation fell behind a little bit. There aren't too many places where you are only pulling 4 mobs in gold runs, so it was pretty negligible and I felt the burst AoE, sustained AoE, and single target power overshadowed this slight drawback.

The other thing, which would have made life so much easier, is the 5.2 fix of shadowburn. 8/9 runs I did felt like I had to camp low health mobs to get killing blows in to keep embers high enough to keep damage high. With the change, I could shadowburn spam multiple targets in a row and stay at 3 or 4 embers constantly. I played with a touch of death happy Monk, which often caused me many lost embers that I really didn't have to worry about post 5.2.

Stack Mastery, pull big, and get your golds. You can sac a felhunter for an interrupt or a succubus for a knockback and not only contribute damage, but utility as well. I almost wish I could do CMs over again as Destro. I felt like as the red-headed stepchild of Warlock classes, I really had to prove to my group that switching my spec was not our issue (my group was filled with rankings slaves who kept telling me I should be AFF/Demo for CM). Any of the 3 specs is perfectly viable, but like you, I prefer Destro. You will do a lot better in challenge modes as the spec you normally play as opposed to switching to an unplayed offspec because it sims out higher in certain cases.

[Deleted]

Unfortunately, no. GoSac does not apply its bonus to spells modified by FnB. You are still better off taking GoSup/GoServ because the pet will at least be attacking a target, where as GoSac's bonus is lost when you cast AoE spells.

I wouldn't exclude GoSac so fast. I have limited experience of Challenge modes but from what I have seen you don't AoE that much, and when you do, a pet won't do much damage anyway. CMs involve a lot of ember burns with Chaos bolts & Shadowburns that will let you benefit a lot from GoSac.

[Deleted]

Pick gosac because on almost any challenge mode using invis potion is a great deal of help. Having a pet out will only screw you over and pull extra stuff while you are invis and run past mobs. That and the excessive use of havoc'd shadowburns/chbolts in CMs. Some CM trash is way harder than actual bosses (since you should be pulling as much as you can at a time).

Edit: and remember that Gosac improves your survivability a lot with double absorb sac pact (or soul link), and last stand (even though i found the silence to be very very helpful on most of the challenge modes). So it's not only about dmg done.

[Zevoa]

Pick gosac because on almost any challenge mode using invis potion is a great deal of help. Having a pet out will only screw you over and pull extra stuff while you are invis and run past mobs.

Dismiss pet. Don't be the Unholy DK I ran with once. Good times.

[Alarinth]

I wouldn't exclude GoSac so fast. I have limited experience of Challenge modes but from what I have seen you don't AoE that much, and when you do, a pet won't do much damage anyway. CMs involve a lot of ember burns with Chaos bolts & Shadowburns that will let you benefit a lot from GoSac.

Basically what the man said.

Also, you'll be using your havoc on cooldown for almost all the time, so that's an even bigger bonus to gosac. And also, the times when you're gonna aoe, you will spec into demonology anyway (CM aoe is a bit more niche-oriented, as most of the time it'll be very short fights with a very high amount of mobs (12-15), which won't do you much good as destro, since you'll need the initial burst Hand, Immo, Voidray and Wrathstorm provides).

If you're the only execute class in your group, you can communicate that to your other DPSers aswell - when they see an add at 15-20%, they can leave it to you, that'll actually do you much more good than it initially sounds like; You'll get free embers, your group gets to move on faster (neglecting the last 20%), overall dps gets higher -> faster run.

[Woz]

I wouldn't exclude GoSac so fast. I have limited experience of Challenge modes but from what I have seen you don't AoE that much, and when you do, a pet won't do much damage anyway. CMs involve a lot of ember burns with Chaos bolts & Shadowburns that will let you benefit a lot from GoSac.

There are a ton of AoE packs in CM's but it's only trash pulls. That said - I agree with what you said here however since they fixed the whole respec taint bug you could easily swap between the two if you really wanted to.

Also going to leave this here since you can basically apply any AoE logic I give from Demo to Destro: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...nge-Mode-Guide