Shadowbolt vs. Drain Soul as the filler

[jojoushi]

Drain Soul all day every day, I don't feel like a hardcast filler fits Affliction.

[Elysia]

SB filler, DS execute. I stopped loving Affliction (and warlock in general) when they moved away from that rotation. I know I'm an outlier though as my favorite point in the game for Aff was tier 7 when immo and siphon life were still individual dots.

[Deleted]

Drain soul with malephic graps visual

[Dyra]

I wasn't around for the days of SB Warlock, so this playstyle will be new to me. Can't hurt to try it.

The cynic in me can't help but feel it 's a little bit of an excuse to make a shiny new version of shadow bolt and say hey Locks. Here's your new casting animation. I shall miss funnelling all those purple ghosties into my hand though.

[Feali]

SB filler, DS execute. I stopped loving Affliction (and warlock in general) when they moved away from that rotation. I know I'm an outlier though as my favorite point in the game for Aff was tier 7 when immo and siphon life were still individual dots.

I'm so with you 100%.

[Deleted]

Should of had a choice for don't mind either, cant vote cause i'm genuinely on the fence.

I'm no friend of uncertainty.

[archon951]

Drain Soul.

Because I had enough shadowbolts need to be canceled mid-cast in Wrath to fill a lifetime.
At least with DS; if I can finish 80% of a channel, I get 80% of the damage.

[Kyoda]

Drain Soul has self-healing. Shadow Bolt doesn't.

[Seezer]

I don't hate either, but for me, Affliction was really Affliction that brief time in Cata when it was Drain Life filler and Drain Soul execute.

Drain Life was never a filler in Cata. People just forced themselves to use it by sacrificing better stats for mastery.

- - - Updated - - -

How is smooth and polished gameplay ever a bad thing? Are you a masochist?

Have you played affliction lately? It's a bore. That's why it's a bad thing.

[Cathbadh]

Drain Soul. I like that it is more movement friendly than Shadow Bolt, especially as I think of some M+ affixes. I think the idea of sapping/draining your enemy also fits the class fantasy of afflicting your target more.

My real vote though would be for the old MG that did mini-DoT ticks.

[Firedemon]

SB with DS filler as we had in Wrath and of course with the old Nightfall proc is more interesting, however full time DS is more practical, and of course better, especially in pvp since SB can be LoS'd before the cast finishes.

[Arainie]

I like being able to stand in bad and heal thru it and just generally not have to rely on the healers so much.

This is the sheer indication that Drain Soul is stupidly broken atm, and I'm farily certain that the drain soul healing trait won't be carried over to BfA regardless, at least not in it's current shape.

A mixture of both would be my preference, just like in the past.

[asil]

This is the sheer indication that Drain Soul is stupidly broken atm, and I'm farily certain that the drain soul healing trait won't be carried over to BfA regardless, at least not in it's current shape.

A mixture of both would be my preference, just like in the past.

I really don't understand why affliction having strong self healing is "broken."

Why? Are demon hunters broken as well? Because I mean, they have absurd self-healing as well. My guild puts me and our other affliction warlock and a demon hunter on our own add on mythic kin.

The DH does more healing than we do, and unlike him both me and the other affliction warlock can die while refreshing dots, he just keeps doing his rotation.

[SpikeySquad]

This is the sheer indication that Drain Soul is stupidly broken atm, and I'm farily certain that the drain soul healing trait won't be carried over to BfA regardless, at least not in it's current shape.

A mixture of both would be my preference, just like in the past.

It is OP, I don't disagree with that. Time will tell if it remains or not. It does add a bit to the class of knowing what and when you can and cannot stand in something. As said above Kingaroth is a very good example of this.

I personally see SB as a Demo spell at the moment. I actually like that each spec has it's own filler/builder.

I can't remember much from past expacs. Did you fill with SB and still have to snipe with drain soul? Doesn't sound like fun to me.

[Xanatas]

Sb filler and drain soul for execute phase

[Arainie]

I really don't understand why affliction having strong self healing is "broken."

Why? Are demon hunters broken as well? Because I mean, they have absurd self-healing as well. My guild puts me and our other affliction warlock and a demon hunter on our own add on mythic kin.

The DH does more healing than we do, and unlike him both me and the other affliction warlock can die while refreshing dots, he just keeps doing his rotation.

What's OP about it?
DHs have great self healing during Metamorphosis only since it provides a high amount of leech. Warlocks have on demand healing at any time from Drain Soul, trickle healing from Corruption and a relatively decent shield from Soul Leech. You can, in enough gear and a suitable situation with several targets, do something like 1M HPS on yourself and then use a very powerful healthstone if you happen to dip low. I mean, if you don't see the problem here a continued discussion is pointless.

Add to that being the overall best dps spec atm (with only WW even coming close) with extremely few weak points.

I can't remember much from past expacs. Did you fill with SB and still have to snipe with drain soul? Doesn't sound like fun to me.

You filled with SB (or at some points ignored everything but casting SB I believe? fun!), executed with DS and sniped shards with DS.

[asil]

What's OP about it?
DHs have great self healing during Metamorphosis only since it provides a high amount of leech. Warlocks have on demand healing at any time from Drain Soul, trickle healing from Corruption and a relatively decent shield from Soul Leech. You can, in enough gear and a suitable situation with several targets, do something like 1M HPS on yourself and then use a very powerful healthstone if you happen to dip low. I mean, if you don't see the problem here a continued discussion is pointless.

Add to that being the overall best dps spec atm (with only WW even coming close) with extremely few weak points.


You filled with SB (or at some points ignored everything but casting SB I believe? fun!), executed with DS and sniped shards with DS.

You know that DHs with tier 21 are often in meta, right?

http://www.wowhead.com/spell=213410/demonic



There is no problem here. The self healing is pretty irrelvant tbh. I can think of 2 examples of warlock self-healing being relevant in high end raiding in the last 2 tiers.

A) I was able to leave the spirit realm on DH and self sustain without changing to the other side of the room.

B) Mythic kin.

The idea warlock self-healing is broken, game-breaking in any way, or even relevant 95% of the time is absurdist bullshit. Mainly repeated by people that don't know what they're talking about, kind of like how you tried to bring up the fact DHs only have high self-healing in meta because you didn't know what demonic was.

[Portus]

Shadowbolt + drain soul execute. Always felt appropriate when you're starting a fight you're pretty much going all out with "pew pew", then as it nears the end and desperation sets in for both sides you're trying to drain a boss of his remaining health.

[Gaaz]

Drain Soul all the way. It does not hurt movement as much as SB and fits better thematically. It is also more forgiving when there is a need to cancel things mid cast, as you still will be able to get some damage in. IMO returning to SB filler spam is a stupid move.
Also, I do not agree that affliction self healing needs to go. For many, including myself, it was THE selling point of the spec. Not damage output, not multidot ability, but actual survival and ability to self sustain. It is as if BM hunter would suddenly lose ability to shoot on the move or fire mage losing burst. It already loses multidot strength in BfA for council fights, loses shield strength talent (as well as regen for it is halved) and does not get anything in return. Basically worse mobility, weaker survival, weaker multidot, no AoE or ranged pet (doggy would be standard). Unless ST damage is going to go through the roof (which is doubtful), coupled with long ramp up time, affliction does not look good for BfA so far.
PS. Also, I would not be surprised if mastery would stay the same and only affect dot / channel spells in BfA, making SB even weaker option thematically.

[einaschern]

Aff had far too much passive survivability and throughput. Anyone with any experience in remotely high-end content will agree.
.

This is accurate. Fights like chronomatic mythic you could just stand in spot and drain and ignore mechanics (aside from the time bomb).
Combining this with our awesome cooldowns was a bit much. You could soak for days.