Affliction at 526 Item Level... Still stack Mastery or are we going for Haste now

[Blaizze]

Quick question with regards to Affliction at a 526 and upwards item level. Last tier it was clear to stack Mastery for the most part after reaching the haste breakpoints but I have read some discussion about going for a Haste build now instead.

Wondering if I could get some insight from the Warlock community about this.

I've been going Affliction for the majority of fights with the occasional fight as Destro mixed in as required.

I also know a lot of Locks are going Destro / Demo and wonder if this is the route to go as opposed to Affliction.

Currently 7/13 Heroic so I do like to play the spec / build that will provide the greatest benefit overall.

[Deleted]

You should stack haste. Not only does haste makes you channel malefic graps faster, but it also increases the proc rate of RPPM trinkets/enchants/gems

[JV Chequer]

If u have 2 RPPM variables - LMG or both trinkets - just stack Haste like hell.

[Deleted]

Indeed - you have to get as much haste as possible. It's all to do with meta and rppm trinkets.

As for specs - it really depends on your raid. You're more than likely going to be asked to play demo on Lei Shen unless your guild has a few locks to spare. Until Lei shen you can get all specs to work and tactics will outweigh your spec.

Mace

[Werst]

Luckily the two best stats for both demo and aff are haste/mastery so its not much of a stretch to reforge a bit between specs depending on what your guild has you min/maxing for. Demo likes haste to 8097 then mastery (esp w' the lei shen trinket)...aff basically can never get enough haste.

[Blaizze]

Thats what I figured. Thanks for the responses and Simcraft does show a nice DPS increase when plugging in a Haste > Mastery reforge. Spent awhile tweaking it.

I will definitely be expected and needing to go Demo for Lei Shen. Appreciate the replies

[Deleted]

I have a somewhat unrelated question, but thought it's not worth its own thread. Hope you can help

I too am at 526 item level and play mainly destro. We plan to do Council on heroic next though and switched to Affli today after a long time.

Now here is the case: I replaced my mastery heavy gear with a haste heavy gear and all, but Simcraft still shows me a whopping 17k DPS difference

164k in Destro and 147k in Affli.

Is that to do with the fact I dont have UVLS or is something wrong with Simcraft? As far as I have witnessed, it is not rare to actually pull better numbers as Destro than Simcraft tells you, and I have also heard Affli should be at least a tiny bit better than Destro on single target (esp in higher gear). Plus the T15H spec results show that too.

/puzzled

[Kilma]

/puzzled

Keep in mind that simcraft is calculated with minute amounts of error. Your skill, gear and latency become bigger factors when maximizing either your afflic or destro DPS. If you have been playing Afflic for a while you are probably used to even small changes in how you dps compared to destro. Destro is also somewhat RNG spec to play sometimes you might get lucky on embers from crits ect.

Right now if you are looking at doing Council on Heroic, I'd strongly suggest getting UVLS and running Demo with a high mastery build. The idea of this with UVLS, you multi-dot doom on every target when trinket procs and you'll get a Truckload of Wild Imps to do the dmg for you.

Affliction is still very good for that fight since you can multi-dot pretty much everything reliably.

[Deleted]

Keep in mind that simcraft is calculated with minute amounts of error. Your skill, gear and latency become bigger factors when maximizing either your afflic or destro DPS. If you have been playing Afflic for a while you are probably used to even small changes in how you dps compared to destro. Destro is also somewhat RNG spec to play sometimes you might get lucky on embers from crits ect.

Right now if you are looking at doing Council on Heroic, I'd strongly suggest getting UVLS and running Demo with a high mastery build. The idea of this with UVLS, you multi-dot doom on every target when trinket procs and you'll get a Truckload of Wild Imps to do the dmg for you.

Affliction is still very good for that fight since you can multi-dot pretty much everything reliably.

Thank you for the reply. I really want to get my hands on the Lei Shen trinket as fast as possible. The opportunities it opens are vast! And there I was, unable to kill it last reset and the raid DEd it

I am aware of most you said the first paragraph, though, so I am still baffled as to how Simcraft tells me I would do 10% less DPS as affliction on single target with the same gear (except haste-heavy instead of mastery-heavy), especially considering how much higher it ranks Affli on the overall T15H chart. These 2 things don't seem to connect at all.

[Aaldarius]

I'm at 506 ilvl and I stacked haste until I was close to the 9778 haste cap then went mastery till about 55-56% mastery unbuffed. I got the 522 Breath on and a non-RPPM trinket and no legendary meta. Simcraft showed that it was 6-8k DPS increase for going to the 9778 haste breakpoint and then mastery, .6 advantage for haste over mastery - when I simmed my character a couple weeks ago.

Hopefully, my guild should start Lei-shen this week and I wanted to know if I should re-gem/re-itemize for heroic modes + Lei-Shen.

I might go Demo for Lei-Shen, if full mastery makes a big difference on helping my group.

Thanks

[Blaizze]

UVLS is not good for Affliction compared to Breath Hydra and Wushoolays correct?

[Werst]

All the aff sims I have run haste keeps coming out on top. When you get near a haste breakpoint it spikes up crazy high then still sits slightly ahead of mastery even when you just inch past a breakpoint. Just keep in mind simC is only a tool and only is relevant in the capacity of dps in a fairly sterile environment. Each spec is a toolkit which has its perks for various fights. The big gains you see on simC from crossing a breakpoint come from it freeing up more time/gcds to MG/DS with. Haste consistenty stays the strongest stat...especially with RPPM trinkets/meta.

You can play aff on the early heroic modes though demo also has its uses but again only with the UVLS. If your guild struggles at all on lei shen having a demo offspec will make life easier. If you are talking about h.lei shen then yeah...need to be demo.

[viciouss]

I apologize for going slightly off topic but I keep trying to find an answer and cannot for the life of me. What is so good/ does demo so good that makes it so beneficial on lei shen? We had a full pulls last night and have all monday night on him and anything I can do to help I would appreciate.

[Seezer]

UVLS is not good for Affliction compared to Breath Hydra and Wushoolays correct?

No, UVLS is better for afflic than Hydra since you can put 3 dots up easy in the 4 second window, and maybe even a haunt if you're fast enough.

[Baconeggcheese]

I apologize for going slightly off topic but I keep trying to find an answer and cannot for the life of me. What is so good/ does demo so good that makes it so beneficial on lei shen? We had a full pulls last night and have all monday night on him and anything I can do to help I would appreciate.

Burst aoe, mobility, and it's also the highest single target spec once you have UVLS.

[Werst]

Pretty much what Bacon said... You have good aoe that is mobile. You can leap to get to or away from raid hazards. The biggest danger being the ball lightning a demo lock can double chaoswave with a felstorming pet and just melt them. You can take KJC if your raid is good at grouping adds up or you can take MF if they aren't so much and demo still has the mobility to function during winds.

[Boticha]

As affliction I would go for Haste=Mastery but priority to haste to reach a breakpoint. If you can't reach one then stack mastery until you can.

[Banawani]

As affliction I would go for Haste=Mastery but priority to haste to reach a breakpoint. If you can't reach one then stack mastery until you can.

Haste > Mastery when you have 2x Rppm trinkets and Meta

[Bonkura]

No, UVLS is better for afflic than Hydra since you can put 3 dots up easy in the 4 second window, and maybe even a haunt if you're fast enough.

You mean you can cast UA, Corruption, Agony AND Haunt during a 4s interval? You may be the new god among Warlocks (sorry Evrelia T_T).

[Deleted]

You mean you can cast UA, Corruption, Agony AND Haunt during a 4s interval? You may be the new god among Warlocks (sorry Evrelia T_T).

Soulburn? Or am I missing something?