Shadowbolt vs. Drain Soul as the filler

[Deleted]

Let's settle this.

Feel free to say why.

[Sederath]

I love Drain Soul thematically, but I knew that so long as it healed for more than a pittance, it wasn't going to be kept going forward.

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

I'd prefer Malefic Grasp make a comeback, but I don't mind Shadow Bolt, either.

[Wondercrab]

Both, since it would be easy to switch them out via talents. Drain Soul is thematically cool and has a lot better basic usability when you have to interrupt casting a lot, but Shadow Bolt feels a lot more impactful. I hope there's a choice given in BfA, since it sucks to be stuck with one or the other.

[iru]

Give me both. Shadowbolt for filler, Drain soul for execute.

[xskarma]

I started in TBC, but didn't even get my warlock to max level and only really started playing Affliction late Wrath. Even though I grew up with Shadowbolt as my filler (and Drain Soul sub 35%), Drain Soul just always FELT better.

Maybe it was the fact it was an execute that did more damage or the fact that I gave up casting Shadowbolt during leveling to wand things to death instead cause by the time I finished casting Shadowbolt things were nearly dead and it just meant having to lifetap and drink for mana/health during leveling if I used it, but Drain Soul always felt better even in the early days. Combine that with the obvious gameplay advantage of channels vs casts (moving) and it's easy to vote Drain Soul.

There's also the visual aspect (Drain Soul always looked cool as hell compared to Shadowbolt) and the idea of draining your target's very soul and grabbing chunks of it for Soul Shards being more compelling than "It's a bolt. Made of Shadow. It hurts, trust me. Not sure why though."


HAVING SAID THAT, I don't mind a return to/of Shadowbolt. I've been a Warlock so long now (recently returned to raid main after a long stint as a Guardian raid main) that I honestly don't care so much as long as it's fun to play. I'd prefer a drain, but if the designers want to try Shadowbolt again, then sure, why the hell not. Just make it something I don't mind playing for god knows how many hours next expansion and it's fine.

[PickleballAce]

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.

[Thrif]

Drain soul. Consistent healing, less button spam, better thematically.

[Volitar]

Shadowbolt and then Drain Soul Execute filler.

[Julmara]

when we get those awesome looking triple shadowbolt glyph i woud defenetly goin shadowbolt

[Omedon]

Shadowbolt is much more pro-movement, but drain soul will always be my thematic favorite, going right back to the Julian Sands movie "Warlock," which the current spell graphic reminds me of!

If they give us both I can see using drain as a potentially petless (for trash mobs), soloing Voidelf that can't be interrupted through damage, but then having shadowbolt be the main filler for movement based PVE. I have a gap in my 1-5 after I swapped out the fireball trinket legendary, I have room for both. I have very fond memories of "Drain tanking" in vanilla!

I'm just glad they didn't give us some kind of felfire nuke. Affliction has to stay shadowy for life!

[Feali]

Don't really like channeling. But I could live with Shadowbolt as filler and Drain Soul as execute.
Just don't bring back Malefic Grasp. It was the reason I benched my Warlock in MoP.

[SpikeySquad]

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

[Maleific]

Shadowbolt filler with Drain Soul execute.

- - - Updated - - -

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

'I like being overpowered' kinda explains some of the forum posts we've been seeing recently and is inflating the DS side of things lol.

[Gnarilex]

I've been maining/main alting a warlock on and off since late TBC. Shadowbolt is fine and everything, but I definitely prefer drain soul. Maybe it has something to do with my stint as a shadow priest main for awhile back in MoP. Channels just feel nicer to me.

[Gaidax]

Let's see... a filler that heals truckloads and gives shard on death vs just some plain weakass nuke. Tough choice there.

[Ooshraxa]

Thematically, drain soul. It fits so damn well in the affliction scheme of things.
Nerf the crap out of (or remove) the healing, but make that the filler with nightfall shadowbolts as procs. I'd love that.

When you have 4 warlocks + Blood DK doing 20+ Mythic pluses, you know that the healing needs a swift kick in the ass.
I've abused it a ton in Legion, but it was bound to go away.

[Vohl]

Like others have said, Shadowbolt filler, Drain Soul execute would be my perfect choice. Basically the way the spec worked in Wrath/ICC era was by far my favourite play style by a country mile.
If we were to be stuck with one or the other, shadowbolt.

[Keltas]

Drain soul feels both gameplay and thematically better to me, BUT it needs to not heal at all.

It drains souls, so make it generate soul shards.

[Maleific]

Just to expand on my reasons for liking SB filler DS execute.

I like specs using the spells of the other specs with a twist that makes the spell work in that spec (Shadowbolt and Shadows Embrace). And using drain soul to finish off a weakened and vulnerable enemy feels so much better than just SB spam or just DS.

Honestly, I would be ok if DS replaced Death's Embrace as our execute talent, appropriately tuned ofc.

My 2c

[Astromedes]

Drains have always "felt" better than the bolts. Shadowbolt, in the history of warlock was never "fun" to cast. If you played from Vanilla forward, specifically BC, the last thing you want is to return to the days of endless Shadowbolt spam. Now I doubt it will be as bad as it was in BC, but it doesn't change the fact that I found drains WAY more interesting with Malefic Grasp being one the single best feeling abilities I have used in the game to date. The real crippler with these types of changes has been watching more and more of my toolset that I have become intimately familiar with for over a decade just vanish or worse... core abilities becoming talents. Just look at Shadowburn... Destruction hasn't been the same for me since.