[Affliction] When should I use SB / DL?

[Deleted]

Hey there,

i recently specced Affliction (was Destro before) since they buffed Affli pretty hard, and i wonder when to use Shadowbolt and when to use Drain Life. Right now I'm just using Shadowbolt as a filler since it provides the +Dot Damage Buff on the target (which of course is also reapplied by Haunt), but I dont see a real need for casting Drain Life.

Also i wonder on what to use my Soulburn at Boss fights? At trash i use it for SB: Seed of Corruption but i dont see any real need for it at a Boss fight.

Armory: http://eu.battle.net/wow/de/characte...k/naire/simple

PS: Any advice to improve my warlocks dps according to my armory is welcome.

Thanks Guys

[Fifty Snakes]

Cool fact: Affliction that uses shadowbolt as filler and affliction that uses drain life as filler are two different specs. Neato!

[Emanuel095]

I play with double affliction, one for SB and one for DL. Play SB affliction on multitarget fights like Valiona, Omnitron, Magmaw, Ascendant council and Dl on singletarget fights, Chimaeron, Cho'gall, Atramedes.

You should also gem your gloves, waist and feet with pure spellpower.

[Deleted]

I usually only raid in 10 man PuGs, in which I guess the SB Affli Spec is better since i'm providing the 5% crit debuff, right?

On fights like V&T, Omnitron etc. I thought of going back to destro since Bane of Havoc might be the better dps increase instead of soulswapping (also BoH doesent cause the shield to go down at Omnitron)

[vkei]

aff-SB : when DoTs are up haunt is CD
aff-DL : when DoTs are up haunt is CD and NF proc

[Deleted]

aff-SB : when DoTs are up haunt is CD
aff-DL : when DoTs are up haunt is CD and NF proc

dont get it. right now i'm casting shadowbolt whenever all my dots are up and haunt is on cd (i cast haunt on cd according to elitistjerks).

is there a definite answer on which spec (=which filler spec) does more damage in raids?

Also, is there any use for shadowburn on boss fights as affliction?

[Deleted]

I don't think you'll get that many points in destruction to even reach shadowburn. It's 6 points (shadow and flame + bane) for the SB spec and just 3 (shadow and flame) for the drain spec.

If you mean shadow flame, yes, but only if you're not required to move around a lot to use it.

[wolfwood888]

I haven't seen any numbers recently, but last I checked they were near identical in theoretical dps. If you have high latency I would stick to shadow bolt, because drain life specs are heavily affected by latency, otherwise, DL spec is probably slightly better, simply because it heals you. Although on multi target fights, SB is somewhat better to get your embrace stacks up more quickly.

[Voidgazer]

Dude, I understand why people want to change specialization after major class changes, but why would you try to find out which simple filler spell in the same spec "does more damage in raids"? It was said that on a static target you'd do more damage with DL, but it won't be THAT much. It all is pretty much depends on the mechanics of the encounter, your latency and many more factors. You may even (and often will) have different results with those fillers on the same fight, maybe because you got off on the wrong foot that day. Just use what YOU think you should and try to figure out something without outside help.

[Deleted]

I don't think you'll get that many points in destruction to even reach shadowburn. It's 6 points (shadow and flame + bane) for the SB spec and just 3 (shadow and flame) for the drain spec.

If you mean shadow flame, yes, but only if you're not required to move around a lot to use it.

sorry, i meant soulburn

[Koishi]

\ drain life specs are heavily affected by latency

No. You can now clip drain life instead of using nochannel macro.

[Deleted]

The definitivee answer is:
If there is 1 target, and it stays on the ground, then Drain Affliction will (currently) do more damage.
If there is more than 1 target, or there is an air phase (so you'll be using the succubus instead of the felhunter) then Bolt Affliction will (currently) do more damage.

The reason is that Drain Affliction's strength comes from buffing shadow bite and haunt. In a singlet target fight, where shadow bite can keep hitting the entire time, Drain Affliction will provide better numbers.
In a fight with an air phase your felhunter will not be able to hit the boss. Because of this you will either be switching to the succubus for the entire fight or soulburn-summoning her for the air phase. In either case I would highly recommend Bolt Affliction over Drain Affliction.
In a fight with more than 1 target you can increase your damage substantially by keeping up 3 stacks of shadow embrace on all the targets you can. With Drain Affliction you probably won't have time to cast a Drain Life because your Shadow Bolts will be so slow, so I'd suggest going with Bolt Affliction for multi-target fights. This doesn't apply to AoE phase fights like Maloriak though.

If you are Bolt Affliction, and trying to figure out when to use Drain Life as that spec, then the answer is: Only when Soulburned (so it's faster) and only while your felhunter's demon soul is active.

thanks, that was by far the most helpful post in this entire thread!

[god of lock and pala]

if your MS is good go for drain life, because drain life is more damaging, but if you have a higher ms you loose time by doing nothing where you can spam your SB button. you cant with drain life. so if your ms is low u start casting the second you press, but if there is going like half a second you loose half a second of dps, and if fight is 5mins its a lot of time wasted doing nothing!

so it all depends on your connection really. but easy to keep 3stack debuff up with haunt only, + you get that nightsomth buff so your shadowbolt get instant for your next cast, so easy to keep that up!