Hellfire Citadel Warlock Style - Normal, Heroic, and Mythic!

[Lockybalboa 618]

**More information coming soon**

[Zagam 1,982]

Allow me to fill in since it looks like this thread was neglected.

 

HELLFIRE ASSAULT

- Go Destruction (GoSac + CR)

- Shadowburn a LOT

- use Dark Soul on vehicles

- Havoc should be applied to Felcasters or Hulking Terrors and then SB Engineers and Dragoons

 

IRON REAVER

- Go Affliction (GoSac + SB:H) or Destruction once Fragment of the Dark Star is acquired

- Spec into Harvest Life and glyph Drain Life.  If you ever catch yourself low on HP during her AoE, use Drain Life.  It's wicked OP at keeping you alive through sustained damage.  

- Fill up on Soul Shards on bombs during air phase

 

KROMROK

- Go Destruction or Demonology (Cataclysm if your group sucks at AoE, CR/DB otherwise)

- if Destruction, Fire and Brimstone as hands are coming up, Conflag -> Chaos Bolt -> Incinerate and then start using Shadowburn prioritizing targets closer to the pool of death.  

- if Demonology, Cataclysm or just use 3 charges of Chaos Wave with Immolation Aura and Felstorm

- Burning Rush is helpful for getting to Explosive Runes and dodging Fel Waves

 

HIGH COUNCIL

- go Affliction (GoSupr with Imp + SB:H) 

- prioritize Agony > UA > Corruption on all 3 targets; use Drain Soul sparingly

- save one charge of Dark Soul + Terrorguard for Dia Darkwhisper burn.  As soon as she is the only target left around 60%, use your Terrorguard for full effect.

- use Teleport to get out quickly if you have Mark of the Necromancer as Reap is coming

 

KILROGG DEADEYE

- go Destruction (GoSac + CR)

- Havoc + Chaos Bolt every single Globule.  Shadowburn to replenish on Embers.

- Shadowburn all the things.  Focus on Bloodthirsters

- bank your Conflag charges for Death Throes so you can do damage while moving.  KJC isn't a terrible option, but not necessary with proper planning

- if you go inside realm, get paired up with a heavy cleave class such as Frost DK or Arms Warrior and snipe SBs on everything they wittle down.  Highest Chaos Bolt I've seen doing this is 850k.  Someone will hit 1M soon.

 

GOREFIEND

- go Destruction (GoSac + CR)

- Havoc the shit out of adds and Shadowburn the shit out of them

- high focus on Essences (most deadly)

- glyphed Conflag is useful for snaring adds

- set Teleport to get out of group for Mark of Doom

- bank all Dark Soul charges outside of opening burst for Feast of Souls.  Save Doomguard for 2nd/3rd Feast of Souls to benefit from 20% bonus

 

ISKAR

- any spec is fine

- Teleport set up for Fel Chakram/Winds

- do proper AoE with DPS focus on priority add during each phase (1 - Priest, 2 - Construct, 3 - Fel Raven)

- use Burning Rush to combat Winds debuff and to get out of group with Fel Chakram

 

SOCRETHAR

- go Destruction (GoSac + CR)

- standard single target rotation during Phase 1

- team up with an Elemental Shaman and nuke down the soul adds (10-20 players).  May need a 3rd DPS (Warlock, Spriest, Ele, Hunter) if you raid with 21-30.  Open up on adds with FnB Conflag (glyphed) to slow them.  Continue AoE using Shadowfury if needed.  

- set Soul of Socrethar as focus and use focus macro to apply Havoc to Soul every time souls get to 20%.  Cleave 3 Shadowburns onto Socrethar every time UNLESS there is a dominator up.  

 

FEL LORD ZAKUUN

- go Affliction (GoSac + SB:H)

- ST boss - go nasty

- use Teleport to escape with Seed of Corruption or to dodge shadow waves

- if your tanks die close to a kill, Soulshatter and keep those DoTs rolling

 

XHUL'HORAC

- go Destruction (GoSac + CR)

- Havoc one Imp, Chaos Bolt the other - EVERY TIME.  Shadowfury if the imps are close to casting

- Shadowburn, Shadowburn, Shadowburn.  

- save Doomguard for final phase burn

 

VELHARI

- any spec is fine

- perform two target rotation during phase 1 and phase 2 with an add up.  Phase 3 necessitates full damage on add.

- use Teleport to move during P1 with minimal movement penalty

 

MANNOROTH

- go Destruction (GoSac + CR)

- Havoc + Shadowburn abuse.  Imps will melt - put higher focus on Infernals

- someone mentioned Unbound Will might remove Gaze - need confirmation

- set Teleport in the center to return to position after his 3 series of knockbacks

 

ARCHIMONDE

- go Destruction (GoSac + CR)

- Havoc + CB Doomfire Spirits, Felhounds, and Infernals

- save Doomguard for final burn

- glyphed Conflag for Infernals and phase 3 creatures is good for snares - use Shadowfury, too

- don't bother with Teleport for knockup attack

[Liarparadox 5]

Been checking this every day for info. Thanks! This is greatly appreciated Zagam!

 

Wondering about Affliction and GoSac for Reaver. Go Sac even if we are still in 4pc T17 gear? Or should we be Grim Sup in that case? Or is there an ilevel threshold for ST where we should be going Sac, regardless of tier?

Edited July 8, 2015 by Liarparadox

[csnv2810 1]

 

GOREFIEND

- [..]

- bank all Dark Soul charges outside of opening burst for Feast of Souls.  Save Doomguard for 2nd/3rd Feast of Souls to benefit from 20% bonus

 

What do you prefer? Saving Doomguard for <20% or for BL?

[Zagam 1,982]

Been checking this every day for info. Thanks! This is greatly appreciated Zagam!

 

Wondering about Affliction and GoSac for Reaver. Go Sac even if we are still in 4pc T17 gear? Or should we be Grim Sup in that case? Or is there an ilevel threshold for ST where we should be going Sac, regardless of tier?

Yeah, I saw the view counter and was pretty surprised no one had filled anything in.  I'm feverishly busy with other stuff, but found a moment to contribute my point of view.

 

Tier is a DPS loss for Affliction when considering going from 4pT17 to anything T18.  The 2 set bonus is meh at best and the 4pc is really lackluster.  Using T17 is a good thing for Affliction, and you'll only play Affliction until you get your Dark Star - then Destruction's ST DPS will pass up Aff.

 

As for GoSac vs GoSup - I typically like to imagine what it is I'm doing on the fight.  If I'm targeted by a number of Barrages, fire, or people move into my area like derp derps, then the value of GoSac goes down and the value of GoSup goes up because your pet's damage is unimpeded by movement or mistakes of yourself and your teammates.  For Iron Reaver, it's probably advisable to use Supremacy because of all the junk you do.  Just make sure you put that beast on a leash during Phase 2 so it's not staring at Iron Reavers legs while you're doing bombs.

 

What do you prefer? Saving Doomguard for <20% or for BL?

Your Doomguard should ALWAYS be used when the boss takes increased damage.  In this raid tier, Tyrant Velhari and Gorefiend are prime examples of this.  When they're taking extra damage, Doomguard it.  

 

If your question is more vague about when to use it, if we're using Bloodlust at the start and our damage needs to get maxed out, I use Doomguard with it.  If execute damage is more important such as Zakuun, Xhul'horac, or Archimonde, I sit on my Doomguard.  For fights like Kilrogg, Kromrok, and Iron Reaver, there's no reason not to include Doomguard in opener.  This is particularly true if you have Desecrated Shadowmoon Insignia since it gives you a hefty Intellect proc that lasts 20 seconds, along with Dark Soul's 20 second duration, that makes your opening Doomguard benefit much more from these aligned procs than a simple 20% bonus at the end.

[Liarparadox 5]

Thanks for the reply. This is more or less what I was thinking. For me I think it's too early to be using Sac with affliction due to positioning issues: both my own and my guildies. I tried it last night and it didn't feel like I was really producing good numbers. That's not all Sac, some of it was me being unfocussed; but I like the consistency with Sup.

 

You mentioned that on Kilrogg we should use Doomy on opener. True even if we are picked for visions? Or does that buff not have any boost for Doomy? Personal dps skyrockets from a 20 stack, DS/pots and hopefully some procs and it's pretty sweet numbers.

 

Edit: Looking at my logs it looks like doomguard does considerably more dmg on the kilrogg fight (used just after exiting visions) as opposed to  other openers/execute range.

[Serial 0]

We are currently trying mythic hellfire assault, should I use fragment of the dark star on this fight? Since there is a bunch of short lived adds I cant stack the buff and I'm wondering if its not better to use my Mythic BMC instead. I have fragment NM.

[Zagam 1,982]

We are currently trying mythic hellfire assault, should I use fragment of the dark star on this fight? Since there is a bunch of short lived adds I cant stack the buff and I'm wondering if its not better to use my Mythic BMC instead. I have fragment NM.

You should be attacking high health priority targets since the mobs you refer to not living long enough being rather meaningless for this encounter.  Your entire focus is on vehicles, mini bosses, and the Felcasters, all of which have ample time to get the buff up on them to sustain higher DPS.  

 

This fight is much like Blast Furnace.  A group of players who think their DPS numbers need to be higher in place of prioritized single target burns will fail while wondering why other groups succeeded with "lower DPS."  This fight has the illusion of being an AoE fight while realistically being a situational ST fight.

[Soulzar 42]

We are currently trying mythic hellfire assault, should I use fragment of the dark star on this fight? Since there is a bunch of short lived adds I cant stack the buff and I'm wondering if its not better to use my Mythic BMC instead. I have fragment NM.

 

I tried swapping out my Fragment on our Progression and while it gave slightly better results during the initial split phase, it quickly fell behind once we collapsed at the 3min mark and went AoE ham.   You may not be able to get max stacks for your CB's on the prio targets, but you should have max stacks for cleaving the Shadowburns off them.

[Serial 0]

Thank you both for the reply, I'm focusing single with occasional cleave, but even on vehicles i couldn't stack 5 on time, my actual question needed to be more clear, I was thinking that BMC could be better than normal fragment with 2~3 stacks. Anyway you guys already answered it, thanks again =)

[grimzlock 0]

hey i got a quick question about GoSac as affliction. does it buff the extra ticks from drainsoul?

[Zagam 1,982]

hey i got a quick question about GoSac as affliction. does it buff the extra ticks from drainsoul?

Nope.  GoSac affects only the spells listed in the tooltip: Haunt, Drain Soul, and Drain Life.  Super easy to test.  Use Drain Soul with DoTs on target with GoSac enabled, then test it again without.  Observe.  

[grimzlock 0]

Nope.  GoSac affects only the spells listed in the tooltip: Haunt, Drain Soul, and Drain Life.  Super easy to test.  Use Drain Soul with DoTs on target with GoSac enabled, then test it again without.  Observe.  

okey ty

[Nytemare 2]

Since destro seems to be king, is T17 set bonus good or can 52pc/4pc be broken for non-tier while I wait to get luck and get T18 pieces? 

[Zagam 1,982]

Since destro seems to be king, is T17 set bonus good or can 52pc/4pc be broken for non-tier while I wait to get luck and get T18 pieces? 

It's dependent on what you possess in terms of trinkets.  If you have Fragment, it makes Destruction very powerful.  Without it, Affliction trumps Destruction single target.  

 

Affliction 3 target uses no tier.  It's detrimental to drop your item level for set bonuses you can't take advantage of while multidotting 3 targets.  If you treat the fight as single target, set bonuses are a minor gain.  

 

Destruction's 2pc is very nice.  The 4pc is ok.  Wouldn't drop T17 4p until you pick up 2 T18 pieces or get SIGNIFICANT upgrades (+40 ilvls for 2 pieces of gear).

[Nytemare 2]

It's dependent on what you possess in terms of trinkets.  If you have Fragment, it makes Destruction very powerful.  Without it, Affliction trumps Destruction single target.  

 

Affliction 3 target uses no tier.  It's detrimental to drop your item level for set bonuses you can't take advantage of while multidotting 3 targets.  If you treat the fight as single target, set bonuses are a minor gain.  

 

Destruction's 2pc is very nice.  The 4pc is ok.  Wouldn't drop T17 4p until you pick up 2 T18 pieces or get SIGNIFICANT upgrades (+40 ilvls for 2 pieces of gear).

 

Ah ok, yeah my team is only 6/13N, and 5/13H so gotten no tier pieces, or new trinkets. Currently using Heroic GSR and Mythic DUT as those are my own good trinkets right now.

 

Asking if it could be broken as I feel it bugged. Notice it 4pc procing even when I have no embers. Like after I burn all embers, I used an incinerate and had 4pc proc, despite not filling up an ember.

Edited July 16, 2015 by Nytemare

[Liarparadox 5]

I have the same 2 trinkets (wish I had Fragment) and just got 2pc T18 tonight. Simcraft shows this to be a minor increase in dps; but that's just patchwork anyway; I suspect in HFC it's a larger increase.

It seems to me you're correct about the bug in T17 set. The multi-strike (Chaotic Infusion) buff is sometimes coming up without any ember filling; sometimes it goes off just entering combat, even without any spell being cast, then procs again immediately after the buff is consumed, somewhat like trinkets are doing. I'm guessing Simcraft doesn't take this bug into account. And I think it'd be pretty hard to put a value on it, seems very RNG.

I would think the 2pc/2pc 17/18 would be better still, given the value it has in being a consistent boost, flexibility with mobility, and great for aoe bursts. But, I'm speculating because as I mentioned, I just got my 2pc tonight and haven't tried it yet.

[Nytemare 2]

I just feel with my current gear destro not going to be the best to do, thinking maybe should go back Demo until I can get 2 pieces of T18. Could try affliction I guess, but never been a fan of that spec, always felt it was so boring.

[Liarparadox 5]

Demo I think is pretty underrated right now for those who haven't gotten T18 gear. Remember, you don't have to decide to be just one spec, probably shouldn't either. You could swap; for example, I'm currently switching depending on the fight: Destro/Aff. Basically aff for ST and council, destro for the rest. For Iron R. it doesn't seem to matter what I do, during the air phase my dmg drops off big time. Every bomb gets blown up asap; almost impossible to snipe then.

[Curinir 4]

Demo I think is pretty underrated right now for those who haven't gotten T18 gear. Remember, you don't have to decide to be just one spec, probably shouldn't either. You could swap; for example, I'm currently switching depending on the fight: Destro/Aff. Basically aff for ST and council, destro for the rest. For Iron R. it doesn't seem to matter what I do, during the air phase my dmg drops off big time. Every bomb gets blown up asap; almost impossible to snipe then.

 

I agree that Demo isn't getting it's fair share of love at the moment. I've played it on almost every fight now and it feels great. Demonbolt has come back in a big way. If you have the 2pc for tier 18 then Demo becomes even more awesome. I really like the class trinket interaction for demo too. It ensures you get a lot of MC procs to maintain the 2pc buff. Essentially, it will never drop if you do it right.

[Tegri 1]

I agree that Demo isn't getting it's fair share of love at the moment. I've played it on almost every fight now and it feels great. Demonbolt has come back in a big way. If you have the 2pc for tier 18 then Demo becomes even more awesome. I really like the class trinket interaction for demo too. It ensures you get a lot of MC procs to maintain the 2pc buff. Essentially, it will never drop if you do it right.

i believe that demo with only the t17 4set can beat affli on high council(db) or even on zakuun, velhari(though i didn't tried it on the prev 2 but checked warcraftlogs and it seems pretty viable). good thing i didn't dropped demo for affli :P

[Stunlocked 8]

Given the recent Affliction and Destruction hotfixes, I am curious if anyone has changed their thoughts on which spec to use. I feel like some of the mechanics still favor Destruction, even if Affliction blows it away on single target.

[Liquidsteel 279]

All 3 specs are useful throughout the entire raid. Some decisions will be based on your individual group requirements. If you have a ton of AoE on Kormrok you might favour Affliction over Demonology, for example.

[shazor 0]

Hmmm, wow thats bad luck i guess. Rerolled my entire Crit/Mastery equipment to Mastery/Haste to play Affli for more Damage only to see here that Affliction seems to work only on 4 bosses. Will i lose much damage if i still play Affliction on the other Damage or is Affliction still fine?

[Lockybalboa 618]

Depends on your comp/progression goals. Normals and heroics if we arent carrying people I play aff on almost all of the bosses and just ignore adds and such. If you want to push progression or are having issues then you can't really just yolo it.