5.4 Demonology Tips and Quirks

[Hawkmune 2]

Really great job on this Zagam. Just taking your advice resulted in a much greater improvement on 5 minute target dummies. I used to even out at about 69k for 5 minutes but now I'm consistently ending at 76k or so (no Doomguard, no pots, just the basics). Yes, I know. It's a target dummy and much of it is anecdotal. But it's great practice before 5.2 launches.

It looks like Affliction will still be viable in 5.2. And hopefully we can now play with two specs.

Keep up the great work. Nice to see someone take up the initiative after Elitistjerks sort of dying on the vine.

[Sifon 25]

It really sounds like you haven't played Demo to a high level when trying to solo. I find it far easier and I highly doubt I'm terrible at Destruction or Affliction. If you want to test your theory, go try the Brawlers Guild as Destro or Aff then try it as Demo using a Voidlord to tank for you. It will be so different that you'll change the whistle of your tune.

I'm rank 8 at brawler's guild all the way with affliction but brawler's guild isn't the best place to test because expect 2-3 fights there is not much single target damage. I'm new at demo yes but I know mechanics, with high damage single target I mean like firelands. I've only done aly and beth on firelands due to laziness and aly isn't an example for pets but on beth'tilac fight I have to use drain soul as filler to keep my voidlord alive. I can't imagine how a demo lock can keep his pet up on high single target damage.

[Bozzley 4]

Glyph of Demon Hunting will completely change you play style as it allows you to tank, although not as well as a tanking class.This glyph teaches you Dark Apotheosis, which is a battle stance that grants you damage reduction and increased threat generation. The damage reduction is further enhanced by your Mastery,which makes you a viable off tank in a pinch or if one tank dies until they can be battle rez neither Aff or Destro can do that.The mastery you have the more effective DA becomes the more survivability you have w/o relying ET,DL,SL also w/o sufficient shards your survivablity is greatly reduced Demo doesnt have that problem.Another thing that niether Aff or Destro can boast is the buff so to speak that your pets getsby just being Demo plus add in the talent Grimoire of Supremacy replaces your minions with more powerful demons that deal 20% more damage.Again warlocks in genral have great survivablity and just because you cant play Demo or just dont like it dont discount it.Learn more about the spec and what it can bring rather than bash it i enjoy all 3 specs and ive found that Demo is best for soloing and extreme soloing

[Sifon 25]

Glyph of Demon Hunting will completely change you play style as it allows you to tank, although not as well as a tanking class.This glyph teaches you Dark Apotheosis, which is a battle stance that grants you damage reduction and increased threat generation. The damage reduction is further enhanced by your Mastery,which makes you a viable off tank in a pinch or if one tank dies until they can be battle rez neither Aff or Destro can do that.The mastery you have the more effective DA becomes the more survivability you have w/o relying ET,DL,SL also w/o sufficient shards your survivablity is greatly reduced Demo doesnt have that problem.Another thing that niether Aff or Destro can boast is the buff so to speak that your pets getsby just being Demo plus add in the talent Grimoire of Supremacy replaces your minions with more powerful demons that deal 20% more damage.Again warlocks in genral have great survivablity and just because you cant play Demo or just dont like it dont discount it.Learn more about the spec and what it can bring rather than bash it i enjoy all 3 specs and ive found that Demo is best for soloing and extreme soloing

I might be wrong when personal survival is bad because I wasn't expecting someone linking dark apothesis and writes tons of stuff I already know, when you take glpyh you do 0 damage, I solo KT25 with affliction but this week tried with DA glyph and fight was a year long. I would like to see if you do a hard hitting boss with demo and keeping pet alive. Because pet's health is all that matters while soloing.

Edited March 3, 2013 by Sifon

[Bozzley 4]

actually when you take the Glyph of Demon Hunting it teaches you Dark Apotheosis and glyph Demon Training which gives your felgaurd 20% more health which helps with your pets survival and ive soloed same instance but didnt go into DA but stayed in caster/meta form when DF was high enough and had no problems.Also the two other specs in my experience dont have the single target or aoe burst dmg that Demo brings could be that im just more familiar with it.On a side note ive soloed everything from old school MC to Ruby Sanctum as Demo had some issues yes but pet dying wasnt one of them, that was more of learning fights as a solo player but downed them all,also tried with other two specs where i couldnt get it done again not because they not viable but im not as familiar with them,so i wouldnt discount there abilities to do so which more or less was what Zagam was saying

[Mummer 1]

Should not be using a Shadowbolt/Soulfire before Dark Soul and Meta. Imp Swarm is a personal choice.

But wouldn't you be going into Meta with too little DF with the opener you've listed?

[Jonnyb 0]

I feel like I lack lots of DF during this opener, and if I meta for every single double HoG I have hardly any DF throughout the fight.

Is the idea to only meta to refresh corr, amplify the dps of HoG and to do increased dps?

[Maevisten 0]

Great breakdown. Can't wait to try a few things differently.

[Zagam 1,982]

Modified original post. It is a DPS gain to use Soulfire during Metamorphosis ONLY if you have Dark Soul up. The damage buff from the combination of Molten Core, Meta, Dark Soul, and the 22% buff that Soulfire got in the patch makes Dark Soul-Meta Soulfires an excellent damage source. Please be sure not cast it without Molten Core charges OR using it (40 DF) will make you run out of Demonic Fury before Dark Soul wears off.

[Zagam 1,982]

I feel like I lack lots of DF during this opener, and if I meta for every single double HoG I have hardly any DF throughout the fight.

Is the idea to only meta to refresh corr, amplify the dps of HoG and to do increased dps?

I feel like you're not doing your rotation correctly if you find yourself out of Demonic Fury. I find in most fights that I have some I have to dump before Dark Soul comes back up and that's with the T14 4pc making Dark Soul come up 40 seconds sooner that it will with T15 pieces. Make sure you always have Doom running, always have Corruption running, use your Molten Core procs on Soulfire (Soulfire generates more DF than Shadowbolt), and use your Hand of Guldan charges appropriately.

[Adam 0]

I did 7 bosses yesterday and switched between meta and affliction for bosses. If you have any questions about them ask. I should finish clearing the rest of the instance tonight.

[bangorme 0]

I'm having some real issues with this AOE advice:

1) Apply Corruption to all mobs

2) Use Hand of Guldan twice

3) Pop Meta and use Void Ray twice. This will extend the duration of each Corruption by 8 seconds.

4) Apply Doom to all mobs

5) Use Void Ray 6 times. This will extend the duration of Corruption to its maximum.

6) Spend excess Demonic Fury on Immolation Aura and continue to use Void Ray.

**Always use Felstorm on CD.

So let's say we have five mobs pulled together by the tank. I'm ok until step three. Void Ray doesn't appear to be extending corruption to all the mob, so each one has to be targeted and hit twice by Void Ray (which eats up the eight second gain). The same with step 5.

Additionally all this tab targeting can get messy with other mobs in the vicinity and you end up pulling a bunch of them.

Tell me I'm missing something before tonight's raid please!!!!!

[Cruzan 71]

I'm having some real issues with this AOE advice:

1) Apply Corruption to all mobs

2) Use Hand of Guldan twice

3) Pop Meta and use Void Ray twice. This will extend the duration of each Corruption by 8 seconds.

4) Apply Doom to all mobs

5) Use Void Ray 6 times. This will extend the duration of Corruption to its maximum.

6) Spend excess Demonic Fury on Immolation Aura and continue to use Void Ray.

**Always use Felstorm on CD.

So let's say we have five mobs pulled together by the tank. I'm ok until step three. Void Ray doesn't appear to be extending corruption to all the mob, so each one has to be targeted and hit twice by Void Ray (which eats up the eight second gain). The same with step 5.

Additionally all this tab targeting can get messy with other mobs in the vicinity and you end up pulling a bunch of them.

Tell me I'm missing something before tonight's raid please!!!!!

I've been having similar issues with Void Ray as well. I can't always tell if my Corr's are updating on adds that I don't have targeted until I mouse-over the nameplates (using ElvUI nameplates). I've been experimenting with strafing about 90 degrees around the adds if they're grouped together nicely and that seems to catch them all, but occasionally one slips through. Also just strafing 10 yards directly left and right without turning the camera seems to work, just make sure the furthest target isnt out of range.

I've personally been messing around at target dummies getting used to using it. I enjoy having a "skill-shot" ability. The spell effect could be a little more pronounced though in my opinion.

As far as pulling additional mobs, keep in mind that Void Ray only extends 20 yards in a line, so as long as your tank isn't flirting with an unpulled group of mobs 20 yards away you should be fine.

Edit: If you have a scrolling combat text add-on you could probably configure it to give you a total number of adds hit each time you use Void Ray. That might be more technical, but the best way to be sure you're making contact.

Edited March 7, 2013 by Cruzan

[Zagam 1,982]

Void Ray is a tight little line and it is obnoxious to try to get everyone hit by it. The alternative, if you have trash grouped up loosely, is to tab-Touch of Chaos. This will do good damage and extend Corruption by 6 seconds. You can do decent AoE to loosely-packed trash by running Immolation Aura and tab-ToC'ing.

[bangorme 0]

Void Ray is a tight little line and it is obnoxious to try to get everyone hit by it. The alternative, if you have trash grouped up loosely, is to tab-Touch of Chaos. This will do good damage and extend Corruption by 6 seconds. You can do decent AoE to loosely-packed trash by running Immolation Aura and tab-ToC'ing.

Actually, Touch of Chaos seems a bit more dangerous (longer range) and doesn't really resolve the problem, which is having to re-target each mob member individually three times during the opening rotation. I was hoping that something would extend Corruption on all the mob without having to re-target each one each cast rotation. I know... too good to be true.

With a previous (5.1) Demo build, I did pretty good AOE damage by just using Immolation Aura, but it burns Demonic Fury like heck, and you are back to step one trying to build it back up again. I'm thinking about skipping the void ray/touch of caos and just keeping corruption, HoG, doom up, burning Demonic Fury with Immolation Aura, then repeating. Have you tested something like this?

Last night I led a practice LFR in dps using your recommendations on single targets, but did very poor AOE damage.

[Zagam 1,982]

Last night I led a practice LFR in dps using your recommendations on single targets, but did very poor AOE damage.

I don't know what this means. You lead a group and did top DPS or lead a group as in you were the leader? Saying the single target rotation was good but the AoE wasn't? How are you doing bad AoE by using Wrathstorm, Hand of Guldan x2 (Shadowflame), and Immolation Aura? These alone make you do crazy good AoE. BTW, what AoE are you gauging this on? The only time my AoE strat really comes into play is a fight like Wind Lord when you have 6+ targets for a substantial amount of time (Doom ticks >2). For short periods of burst, you need only rely on Wrathstorm, Hand of Guldan, and Immo Aura + Void Ray. Void Ray still does damage and it should be your AoE filler if you can hit 4+ targets. For substantial AoE, make sure you use Dark Soul when applying Doom. This will make a huge difference.

[bangorme 0]

I don't know what this means. You lead a group and did top DPS or lead a group as in you were the leader? Saying the single target rotation was good but the AoE wasn't?

Sorry, I meant that I lead the group with top dps among casters. I will try your recommendations.

Edited March 7, 2013 by bangorme

[Zagam 1,982]

It's all situational. The rule of thumb is to only apply Doom if it will tick at least 2 times. Corruption generates Demonic Fury, so the more Corruptions you maintain on mobs, the slower your DF will decay while doing more AoE. Typically what I do in sustained AoE pushes is set up 3 Corruptions, Hand of Guldan, 2 more Corruptions, 2nd Hand of Guldan, Meta, Grim:Service, Wrathstorm, Void Ray, Void Ray, Immo Aura, Void Ray spam until I have two Hand of Guldan charges. Drop Meta, fire Hand of Guldan twice, pop back into Meta, commence Void Ray spam. This allows you to generate even MORE DF while in Meta form increasing its uptime.

[Seldric 0]

Modified original post. It is a DPS gain to use Soulfire during Metamorphosis ONLY if you have Dark Soul up. The damage buff from the combination of Molten Core, Meta, Dark Soul, and the 22% buff that Soulfire got in the patch makes Dark Soul-Meta Soulfires an excellent damage source. Please be sure not cast it without Molten Core charges OR using it (40 DF) will make you run out of Demonic Fury before Dark Soul wears off.

Does this also apply during the execute range where you get constant molten core procs? I am not sure if I should Meta Soulfire at this point in the fight or not. It goes through fury so quickly and I find myself often low on both fury and mana as I try to get a lot of Soulfires in at the end.

Am I doing it wrong? Should I bank more fury for execute range so I can Meta Soulfire? Should I use Touch of Chaos if I don't have much fury during decimation? Hope this isn't a dumb question, I am not sure the right answer since Soulfire eats up so much fury.

[Glorn 1]

Is it a significant DPS loss to use Sup except service?I just got used to Sup and dont want to change it to mess up with all my priorities when DPSing.

[Zagam 1,982]

Is it a significant DPS loss to use Sup except service?I just got used to Sup and dont want to change it to mess up with all my priorities when DPSing.

Define significant. It's not significant in my book (+/- 1,000 DPS).

[Mummer 1]

Is it a big deal if my ToC > SB? Or does it even out because ToC is instant?

[Azazoth 1]

ToC has a higher amount of damage and Sb is realy just a filler for when you dont have any MC proccs. The less SB you use the better for your dps ;)

[Zagam 1,982]

Touch of Chaos should be your biggest source of damage every time with proper Metamorphosis utilization. After that, it should either be Doom or Soulfire. Shadowbolt won't be up there with the big boys during proper play.

[Mummer 1]

On my character ToC hits for 35k, SB hits for 40k unbuffed.