Please help with Affliction dots

[Blazingbones]

I was wondering if my trinket procs AFTER my dots are already on the target do i have to recast them or do they automatically update?

[Deleted]

They automatically adjust to the buff you got, since 4.0.1

[Impurath]

They automatically adjust to the buff you got, since 4.0.1

Actually only debuffs (Shadow Embrace, CoE) automatically adjust, so you still have to recast dots with your own buff procs, trinkets etc.

[Jeslis]

Both of you are wrong, and right, to an extent.. Let me explain.

Like the #3 post says, debuffs applied (like shadow embrace, CoE) automatically buff the dots, no problems there.

Your question regarding trinket procs and what not is harder --

ANYTHING that refreshes dots will take into account new procs -- for instance, Haunt refreshes Corruption, so if you get a proc, and cast haunt, that corruption will get updated with the new spellpower.
However, if you haunt, THEN the trinket procs.. you would not gain any benefit from the spellpower till the next haunt. If you are using the Drainlife filler rotation, then this is never a problem

For dots like UA and CoA, you would theoretically want to re-apply -- the exception being that sub 25%, your drain soul refreshes UA, and therefor would update the dot on any procs -- but for CoA its not always the case.. if your on those last 4 ticks (the hardest hitting ones), then you wouldnt want to bother refreshing (And likely when you re applied it after it ran out, your trinket would still be up anyway)

Hope this helped -- Good luck.

[Deleted]

Critial Mass and Shadow and Flame are still bugged. If you cast your dots before the +5% crit is applied, you have to refresh/recast them to get that +5%. So you should ALWAYS start with a Shadow Bolt (Following by Haunt imo, so the debuff is really applied before corr, BoD/A, UA is cast.

Edit: To make it very simple:
Buffs on you = Must recast/fresh
Debuffs on boss = Updated immediatly (exept the 5% crit)

[Norzaki]

Critial Mass and Shadow and Flame are still bugged. If you cast your dots before the +5% crit is applied, you have to refresh/recast them to get that +5%. So you should ALWAYS start with a Shadow Bolt (Following by Haunt imo, so the debuff is really applied before corr, BoD/A, UA is cast.

Edit: To make it very simple:
Buffs on you = Must recast/fresh
Debuffs on boss = Updated immediatly (exept the 5% crit)

I'm not quite sure this is correct about shadow and flame - I did naked test this friday on dummy with demo spec:
apply immolate (no other dots/buffs/debuffs/pets) and wait until it finishes.. repeat 10 times.
And after that:
apply immolate, cast shadow bolt and wait until immolate finishes.. repeat 10 times.

I definitely saw higher crit rate on immolate during second test.

Otherwise - the general DoTs/Drains mechanic is that:
All Buffs/Debufs on caster are checked at cast/refresh time and written down with the spell on target (note - that applies to any refresh, including HoG to immolate or haunt to corruption).
All Buffs/Debuffs on target are checked at tick time.

Sometimes Buffs on caster vs Debuffs on target could be quite difficult to distinguish from each other - ex Death Embrace is a buff on caster (also now); another ex. before 4.0, shadow embrace was also a buff on caster, but starting from 4.0, SE become debuff on target - hence its now checked during ticks.

[blecap]

well then, will it be a DPS loss to refresh DoTs for a proc? Honestly, speaking how many of you refreshes Dots when a trinket or whatever proc?

[Norzaki]

well then, will it be a DPS loss to refresh DoTs for a proc? Honestly, speaking how many of you refreshes Dots when a trinket or whatever proc?

When you refresh your DoT early - you loose either one GCD or the DoT Cast time (for non-instant dots). Let say its lowest GCD - 1 second. it means that you just used 1 second for reapplying the DoT while you could be casting a 2 seconds spell that gives you an average 30k+ (over hits and crits). Wasting 1 second for refresh means you just lost 15k+ damage for casting your main damaging spell. If the buff was 10% increased DPS, to compensate for early dot refresh you need a dot that will more than 150k damage on average without this buff. Additionally you may get extra DPS penalty because unexpected refresh of your dot will disrupts your rotation and may cause some of the debuffs fall from target, or you make longer delay before casting next spell because you may have to choose from several when more your abilities comes off CD.

From the other hand, if the buff is 100% increased damage, than even when DoT does 60k damage, lost GDC and disrupted casting rotation could be compensated by increased tick damage.

In most cases that means that unless encounter puts some crazy uberbuffs on you, its usually better to simply continue with your normal rotation/priority system, than trying to refresh your DoTs early when you suddenly get one or another normal encounter buffs/procs.

[Deleted]

@blecap: The only DoT that "could" be considered clipping is BoD when DS:Fel hunter is up. Tho, it's very easy to line up DS with you BoD's. But generally you shouldn't recast any dots if you gain a proc. Certain mechanics of a boss encounter is different. E.g Arcane pool on Omnomtron for example. Recasting High DPET COULD(!) result in a dps increase if done properly.

@hrensgory: What I've read (prior to 4.1) was that the CM and SaF debuffs were bugged, 99.99% accurate. Could have been fixed in 4.1.

[blecap]

Ah very nice info. Thanks Staffreak and Hrensgory.

[Xeviant]

From a shadowpriest's perspective, re-casting dots is a dps loss as opposed to using mindflay. You're self-refreshing dot's will update in real time, but ones that require a re-cast do not, and given how relatively short their period of buff is, it's a dps loss to recast after a proc. This is a big concern for spriests because of our ramp up and opening. For this reason, recasting dots to gain buffs (such as empowered shadow) is a dps loss if you do so before the dot is about to run out.