Afflic or Destro?

[Nition]

well thanks everyone for the advice. I've actually been playing shadowbolt affliction (also the rotation I find the easiest) and been getting much higher numbers now than with destro.

[psdew1813]

demo has better aoe for all the lock specs. destruction is the best single target spec for locks. affliction from what iv read is probably the worst spec for locks right now so if you want aoe= demo single target= destro

[kvarn]

how bout BoH vs Soul Swap with SE

[zugzug]

affliction from what iv read is probably the worst spec for locks right now

Reading random things that pop up in your head doesnt count. Don`t confuse ppl even more.

[Deleted]

Reading random things that pop up in your head doesnt count. Don`t confuse ppl even more.

Everyone reposts this, but isn't this just a patchwerk style fight sim, not current content style fights. Affliction should do the best damage single target and possibly on two target fights, but not all fights are that style at the moment and therefore Affliction can't be the overall winner. Just how I see it tbh.

[kushlol]

So many people keep writing off demo as an "aoe" spec when it does phenominal single target dps when played properly even better than destro or affliction

[eErike]

Everyone reposts this, but isn't this just a patchwerk style fight sim, not current content style fights. Affliction should do the best damage single target and possibly on two target fights, but not all fights are that style at the moment and therefore Affliction can't be the overall winner. Just how I see it tbh.

Affli should do much better than destro on fights with heavy movement aswell as your dots allways will remain on the target

[Morath]

So many people keep writing off demo as an "aoe" spec when it does phenominal single target dps when played properly even better than destro or affliction

Yes but problem is... how much really single target fights we have? If it is single target, we have still some difference like Atramedes air phase (affli better).

Magmaw - multi
Omnotron - multi (you can refresh DoT before shield)
Chimareon - single
Atramedes - single (but heavy movement fight - that mean affli is better than long cast Demo)
Maloriak - most of fight is AoE, ideal fight for Demo
Nefarian - multi

Halfus - multi/AoE
Valiona - multi
Council - multi
Chogal - single, but bad for melee AoE

Conclave - single (but you can use BoH on another pillar boss)
Alakir - single (but it is bad when Demo cant use 1/3 of combat demons)

That mean yes, we (I am Demo lock) are good ins single target combat, but there is only few of them

And topic answer: It is really about your playstile in that two specs, on most fights is better Affli because healing and multidot, BUT Nether Protection for AoE spell phases or Shadowfury for AoE stuns, or Bane of Havoc on target that you cant attack in range (Conclave, or tweaks like head of Magmaw) priorize Destruction on some combats. But really, play what you want Destro is more like mage, Affli is more like SP (or they are more like we :P ) and if there is combat where is one of that specs better because some ability, use it.

[Firedemon]

Hey, with the new drain life nerf, whats now considered the highest dps spec? Afflic or destro. Ive been trying out both on the dummy and been pulling pretty much the same numbers, but I'm very rusty on my destro rotation. Not to mention my gear is shocking. Anyone been testing this extensivly that can point me in the right direction?
Cheers.

Dummy dps is useless, you're missing buffs (especially DI's 9%), you're missing the DS execute phase etc. Anyway to your question Affliction is still superior but only slightly 300-600 dps, so it's basically what you enjoy raiding with or what your guild needs for specific encounters. Also Demonology isn't that far behind either, the difference is under 1k.

[Maeco]

I cannot speak for Demonology, but as for Affliction and Destruction: The actions-per-minute (APM) for Affli seems to be lower then Destro (just my personal observation).

When I dps with Afflic, you only are busy executing the routine at the ramping up parts of a fight, when you are dotting up targets. After that has done, you are pretty much biding your time with filler spells (be it Drain Life or Shadowbolt) until you need to refresh Unstable Affliction or do another Soul Swap. During that time you can enjoy seeing guildies working.

It doesn't feel that way when I am Destro. I am always stressed by keeping Immolate, Improved Soul Fire and Corruption up (that aren't refreshed by some spells like DL refreshes Corruption), whilst cramming as many Incinerates into the rotation. On top of that, it feels counter intuitive to hard cast Soul Fire, just to keep that +8% SP buff up.

I recently simcrafted my toon and it turned out that the APM of Affliction lies somewhere around 30-40 where Destro is 50-55. I imagine if you primarily play as Destro, you can memorize the rotation as to know exactly how many times you can cast incinerate before you do the next thing, but I found this much easier with Affliction.

[Voidus]

I've recently ressurected my warlock and am having difficulty landing on a spec. I like Destro, but balancing 3 different critical cooldowns (Imp SF, Conflag and Chaos Bolt) is pretty freakin tedious. But if you don't do it's a significant dps loss.

At the same time Affliction has been frustrating me since the nerf to Drain, and it's less fun because the burst damage is about as low as it gets.