New to 6.x Warlock - Can I get an overview?

[TeamC 6]

Hey all. I'm straying into uncharted territory for me by taking up a DPS character when I've been 100% tank for 90% of my WoW career.

 

I've read the various IV guides, which is what got me to this point. Now, I'm looking for a few answers (or any other commentary) related to the Warlock.

 

My Armory: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/windrunner/Vaella/advanced

 

It's a character that basically sprang to "life" the day 6.2 came out. As such the bulk of the gear has come from Tanaan Jungle, so no T17 4pc, alas. And the one raid I did with my guild this past week I saw no tier pieces drop, as we run personal loot on Normal content.

 

With all that in mind:

 

1) Is Charred Remains still the best route to go talent-wise? It FEELS the best to me, if only because it generates more Embers that become Chaos Bolts, rather than endlessly spamming Incinerate with the remaining two level 100 talents. But would something like Demonic Servitude end up better?

 

2) I have a Belt and Shoulders of the Merciless at 695, too. As well as a 685 version of the alchemy trinket, and a 695 Int/Haste trinket from Tanaan Jungle available for alternative gearing. Would something like Affliction (or even Demonology w/ Demonbolt) end up getting me more bang for my buck? Throughout the LFRs in BRF I did to accumulate Elemental Runes for the legendary, I felt like I was habitually getting better results with Affliction than Destruction, but have found the opposite to be the case in Hellfire Citadel. Both were done in 6.2, though obviously there'd be some differences between LFR BRF and Normal HFC.

 

3) I assume the lack of a T17 4pc is going to mean any similar ilvl DPS is going to more or less pants me in output, is that going to be the case? If so, is it worth bargaining with the GM to make the occasional foray into HM BRF to shoot for those pieces? The guild has cleared all of HMs in both raids in WoD, but recent personnel issues have caused them to be doing Normals only so far. Should I just stick it out for T18 4pc?

 

4) I definitely make a point of lining up Dark Soul with trinket procs and such, but are the procs from 715 legendary ring looked at in the same way as say the proc from the Desecrated Shadowmoon Insignia, or the Sandman's pouch? Is that proc perhaps a better spot to be lining up a Dark Soul/CB dump? or worthy of any consideration at all?

 

5) Lacking set bonuses as I am, does that change the way to look at the use of Chaos Bolts any? I will definitely cast one if I'm at 3.5 embers, of course, but with CR replenishing embers fairly quickly, is it perhaps better to fire off something like 2 in a situation like that, assuming trinkets have both cycled through recently. This is where I find Destruction a bit perplexing as a new player to the spec/class, because throwing 1 CB around 3-ish Embers, then "idling" for a bit with Incinerates seems to be throwing a rather middling spell at the enemies, particularly on single target bosses/phases where the Ember gains are slower. Or does it end up being a kind of "six of one, half dozen of another" if I spent more CBs at a time (say 2-3) in trinket downtimes, and then used Incinerates to replenish fully?

 

I appreciate any advice/help you guys have to offer. :)

[Puns 3]

1. Grimoire of Sacrifice + Charred Remains for every situation with your gear and mastery. Anything else is a dps loss.

 

2. Use Desecrated Shadowmoon Insignia and Stone of Fire over Sandman's Pouch. Average INT gain from SoF far outmatches SP in AoE/cleave/ST even if you play destruction full time. Remember, intellect is your primary stat and mastery/crit are secondary.

 

3. T17 set still has some use in HFC, particularly demonology and to a lesser extent affliction. T18 set is okay for destruction, weak for affliction and situational for demonology (in most cases, this depends on your trinkets as well). Your spec will depend on your role and/or raid composition and its needs. For example if you need burst aoe on kormrok hands then t17 demonology is a clear winner.

 

4. Line it up with SoF and/or DSI procs if your Dark Soul has about ~20secs left before refreshing (with Archimonde's Darkness talent). Otherwise save it for when boss takes increased damage: feast of souls phase on Gorefiend, sub 40% HP Velhari.

 

5. On single target situations hover around 3.5 embers and dump one of them at a time with an enchant proc. During major INT procs you want to dump as many CBs as possible, but keep in mind that you still want to have 3-4embers before using DS. In AoE/cleave situations you will be using havoc+chaos bolt and havoc + shadow burn a lot.

 

 

[TeamC 6]

Thanks, Puns. That helped me fill in a lot of the blanks I found myself pondering, particularly questions #1 and 2. 

[TeamC 6]

Actually, one more thing for Puns or anyone that can shed some light on something. AskMrRobot is suggesting that the 685 Sandman's Poach is +100 over the 685 Stone of Fire. Above, Puns suggested Stone of Fire over the Sandman's Poach. I'm looking to scale one of them to 715 just to round out my trinket selection moving towards Archimonde kills. Just want to make sure I get the right one. 

[Zagam 1,982]

Puns is a top 1% player progressing heavily in Mythic content.  AMR is a program that tries to put a mathematical application to a trinket's value despite the trinket having different values and applications in various encounters.  

 

I'd trust Puns.  

 

The other thing to consider is that the DPS variance between the trinkets is arguable, which means the delta between the two is likely pretty small (less than 5%).  The greater impact on your DPS is getting better at your class.  Gear always does better in the best of hands.