Most "useful" warlock raiding specs

[Daetur]

My warlock is about to hit 85. I am trying to decide what my two specs should be.

I assume that a good single target spec (affliction?) and a good AoE spec (demo?) would be the best choices, but I really want some input from more experienced locks.

1.) Which specs have the most utility in raids? Are certain specs best for certain fights, or is there one spec that "trumps" the others?

2.) I really enjoy playing Demonology, but I hear it's the lowest single target spec right now. Is this true, and is it too far behind at the moment for me to have a hope of using it in raids?

3.) Should I just go with Destruction and Affliction as my two specs because they share similar stat priorities, meaning my gear will be fairly optimal for both specs, or is Demo/another spec better for utility?

What are your suggestions and why? Thank you so much for your time.

[Sealbinder]

Hard to beat demo for aoe. metamorphosis + immolation aura + hellfire + felguard bladestorm = irritable tank

You just put out a ton of damage. Also demo is great for questing and doing TB. Makes it a breeze.

Though in the end the most important thing is what spec do you like and feel comfortable with. Affliction is supposed to be the highest dps spec but if you do not feel comfortable with it your damage is crap. Play what you enjoy and what you feel most comfortable with and you will always do better then what the "experts" say.

I know you wanted more then this wishy-washy answer, but it is the truth. Trust me.

[Deleted]

i personaly have affliction ( <3 affli) and i use it for most bosses... it's really good but you need some time to get into the routine...demo is idd good for aoe fights.. but it's your choise if you wanna use.. or your guild's.. best fights for demo are definitely. maloriak hc and cho'gall. you can also use it on halfus but i don't do it.

[Logbc]

You can raid as demo and be competitive. In a hardcore raiding guild you won't top meters much, but you can raid demonology perfectly fine at entry level.

[Ulfric Trumpcloak]

demonology for AOE, and even though affliction is kinda boring and destro is really fun, affliction does more dps if you know how to play it.

[Daetur]

Thanks very much! I'm not a huge fan of Destruction, so I'd like to use Aff/Demo or primarily Demo. It is an alt after all, so I'll raid what's the most fun if I'm not gimping myself severely.

[Deleted]

demonology for AOE, and even though affliction is kinda boring and destro is really fun, affliction does more dps if you know how to play it.

I believe the exactly opposite...affliction(i know how to play it maybe that's why i enjoy it) is the most fun spec to play imo and destro is simply boring..kinda like a mage.BORINNGG :P

[vizzle]

Demo is definitely the most useful raiding spec, especially in a 10man environment where you need everyone to be able to do something specific.

[Daetur]

Well, fun is and always will be relative, so that was a question I made a point of not asking.

[Deleted]

I keep a demo spec for AoE fights such as Maloriak and soloing. The functionality is ofc the AoE dmg and the 10% spell power buff to the raid. Affliction is according to sim the highest dps, but the difference isn't much. Affliction can bring Jinx (just awesome), Curse of Exhaustion and Fel Intelligence buff from the pet, plus you can soul swap and copy your dots to another target (the hard part is to keep shadow embrace stacks in more than 1 target). Destruction is a burst specc, you have blood pact from the pet buff, replenishment, Bane of Havoc (imba!) and Nether Ward which is very useful. Both affliction and destruction got good survivability (Siphon Life, Haunt and Soul Leech).
It all depends on your raid setup and the fight. You should play the specc that suits you and your raid better. I personally love affliction and I stick to it, except on AoE fights, but I noticed for example that I go oom much more than with destruction. I also don't like the imp soul fire, it hurts me when I let it fall.
If you keep demo just for AoE you could just have some spare mastery gear for those fights like Theralion's Mirror for example, you don't need to do a whole re-gemming for just some fights. Destro and afflic got the same stats prio and the mastery for demo is mostly great when you pop meta only.

Here is the latest report of Simulationcraft:



As affliction your stat priorities are generally:
Int > Hit (to cap) > Haste > Crit > Mastery

As demonology your stat priorities are generally:
Int > Hit (to cap) > Mastery > Haste > Crit

As destruction your stat priorities are generally:
Int > Hit (to cap) > Haste ~= Crit > Mastery

[Ozteck]

Affliction: Int > Hit (to 1742) > Haste > Crit > Mastery
Demonology: Int > Hit (to 1742) > Mastery > Crit > Haste
Destruction: Int > Hit (to 1742) > Haste > Crit > Mastery

For Demo/Another dual speccing I go with: Int > Hit (to 1742) > Haste (to reach another DoT tick) > Haste = Mastery > Crit

This is the absolute best piece of information you can have. I was a full time demo in my 25 for all of normal content and did very well for myself, always near the top of the charts and was always the last to die because of demo bonuses. I stacked mastery like there was no tomorrow.

However, now that we're pushing heroic content, soon to be 6/12 HM working on the double dragons, I can't justify focusing on demo for progression since we have plenty of raid buffs. Therefore, I have to loose all the mastery I was stacking.

I do my best to get to 25% raid buffed haste for additional corruption ticks on affliction, and then I regem and reenchant my gear to get my mastery as high a plateau as I possibly can for those aoe fights as required for demo. Again, this is probably not necessary for farm content, but it fulfills my OCD nature to be as min/maxed as possible.

You'll do fine to focus your gear toward affliction, and make slight adjustments for demo. You cannot gear for demo and be successful at affliction. If you want/need to be full time demo, you have to unapologetically go all in for mastery.

[kushlol]

This is the absolute best piece of information you can have. I was a full time demo in my 25 for all of normal content and did very well for myself, always near the top of the charts and was always the last to die because of demo bonuses. I stacked mastery like there was no tomorrow.

However, now that we're pushing heroic content, soon to be 6/12 HM working on the double dragons, I can't justify focusing on demo for progression since we have plenty of raid buffs. Therefore, I have to loose all the mastery I was stacking.

I do my best to get to 25% raid buffed haste for additional corruption ticks on affliction, and then I regem and reenchant my gear to get my mastery as high a plateau as I possibly can for those aoe fights as required for demo. Again, this is probably not necessary for farm content, but it fulfills my OCD nature to be as min/maxed as possible.

You'll do fine to focus your gear toward affliction, and make slight adjustments for demo. You cannot gear for demo and be successful at affliction. If you want/need to be full time demo, you have to unapologetically go all in for mastery.

Going to have to disagree with the last statement I've been playing demo with my destruction reforge and I finish top 5 in raids and pull great parses. I just don't have the chance in between bosses and not knowing when bench is getting swapped in or out to constantly reforge everytime. However I would probably get slightly better numbers with more mastery

[Ozteck]

Going to have to disagree with the last statement I've been playing demo with my destruction reforge and I finish top 5 in raids and pull great parses. I just don't have the chance in between bosses and not knowing when bench is getting swapped in or out to constantly reforge everytime. However I would probably get slightly better numbers with more mastery

I think we agree.

You can play demo aoe and get acceptable results with an affliction or destro gear set up.

I would not recommend gearing as hard core demo and trying to off spec as affliction or destro. My haste unbuffed while stacking mastery to 19.5x was around 8%. That would be bad news as affliction.

[Hellfury]

With the imp glyph "bugged" and affdrain nerfed its just about personal perference, Aff is great overall, Destro good for quick damage and survability, demo for raidbuff and aoe

[FredMaHead]

Demolology

[Deleted]

i think its all about what you like playing... i love the concept behind the warlock, but i have never really played one cause everybody went "go affliction" or "go demo specc" but i found them boring so i stopped playing after 20ish lvls, but i tryed destruction for once and loved it... power leveled my warlock and is now my main, because i find it to be so much fun to play.

my piece of advice is... go what you like

[cakeisalie]

Definitely go with you like / are more comfortable with. The bonuses that you'd see (especially entry level raiding) are easily washed out if you're not at ease playing the spec.

For me, Demonology has made sense. My warlock is an alt and is just getting into raids. I'm more comfortable with the spec, and the caster heavy groups that I raid with really benefit from the 10% bonus spellpower. Beyond that, a lot of the starter epic gear that I've encountered through rep, craftables, and BoEs is Mastery heavy, which is really nice for Demonology.

[Monkeyy4]

Demonology.

Why? Because you enjoy it.

[Jessicka]

I really, really wouldn't recommend Demonology right now if you're serious about raiding. Unless your RL demands it of you for the 10% SP buff, it just really doesn't cut it outside of it's one-trick pony routine on AoE packs. Nor does it provide anything else useful other than that 10% SP. It lacks mobility, multi-dot and single target damage where Affliction absolutely wipes the floor with it. If you consider "competative" DPS to be mid-table, then it's passable, but it's not in it's current state ever going to top meters alongside serious players anywhere outside of that microscopic niche.

If it's damage and utility you want, go Destruction for Shadowfury and Replenishment.

[Morath]

I like all three builds, bud I play Demo now, it is best for raid, you bring to raid 8% spell damage taken, 5% crit on target, 10% spell power and buff from Felhunter (Intelect and Spirit I mean). But if you have someone who bring that buffs in raid, play what you like, Demo is very close to other specs in single target, but most of fight is about multitarget damage or range AoE, in that combats is Affliction and Destruction better.

Demonology - 10% spell power, best AoE when you can stay near targets, usable single target damage, good when you need some zerg phases (Meta), you will use most of your demons (I use Felhunter for single, but Succubus for Air combats and Nefarian, Felguard for AoE)
Destruction - replenishment, fast nuke (adds that must die in 10 seconds or something like that), stupid AoE (not weak, just stupid), easy switching mobs without big DPS lost, Shadowfury (AoE stun), Bane of Havoc - free 15% damage, Nether Protection (super strong defense spell)
Affliction - best multitarget from all three specs, usable AoE (not that stupid like Destro), best survival (you can Drain Life in bad situations with minimal DPS lost), strong execute damage (under 25% HP), instant AoE fear option (for fight like Chogal), multi-target CoE option

it is not every + or - of specs, but some of them that I mean is important