5.4 Demonology Tips and Quirks

[Zagam 1,982]

Mastery has a higher impact than Intellect pretty much anywhere over 490 ilvl. They're close enough that the difference is very small, but it feels more powerful to see higher Mastery than Intellect.

[Omaric 246]

I'd just like to point out that with the Pre-pot/Shadowbolt opener I'm pulling over 600k pretty commonly without bloodlust, but with service/Doomguard.

Attempt 12 on H Iron Qon, unless bugged, shows me at over 1 million DPS out of the gate:

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-zh27060lch5dhnje/sum/damageDone/?s=5262&e=5489

Just saying it's working for me, lol.

[obleak 10]

Their damage isn't increased whether or not you're in demon form. They update dynamically based on your current buffs and mastery.

castings imps outside of meta means you're spamming spells in meta that actually increase your dps :)

Until it's off a global it should be handled this way :)

[Omaric 246]

castings imps outside of meta means you're spamming spells in meta that actually increase your dps

Until it's off a global it should be handled this way

Oh I'm fully aware. I was answering Twinkielock's question. He was confused that people weren't using Imp Swarm in Meta form, probably assuming that they do more damage if you cast it while in Meta form, which isn't the case.

[obleak 10]

castings imps outside of meta means you're spamming spells in meta that actually increase your dps

Until it's off a global it should be handled this way

I know sir :) You're prob way more knowledgeable than myself. I was adding on to the information you gave :P

[Omaric 246]

Carry on!

[dev 0]

What's the best spell to use when my legendary meta gem procs its 30% haste? Just continue in caster form normally? Popping meta only seems to make sense to spam Soul Fire since ToC doesn't benefit from haste, but that's probably not a terribly good use of MC stacks and resources.

Related question, what should I do if we pop Bloodlust at the end of the fight and I don't get any trinket procs? Again going meta makes not much sense, but it feels like so much waste to just spam shadow bolts during bloodlust.

[Zagam 1,982]

Regardless of Haste procs, perform the same rotation. Change nothing for procs because as Demo, you won't see many. Haste does benefit ToC slightly in that it decreases the GCD. Both results are very minor at best (30% haste reduces Soulfire/Shadowbolt by 0.1 to 0.2 seconds).

[Nytemare 2]

what should I do if we pop Bloodlust at the end of the fight and I don't get any trinket procs? Again going meta makes not much sense, but it feels like so much waste to just spam shadow bolts during bloodlust.

I would love to know that answer too.

So I played pretty much since Van, only got to play for 1st month of Cata - I was always demo, came back in MOP and couldn't play the spec for anything with the new changes, needed something so I went Destro(only one of the 3 I manage to get anywhere with), now I looking to go back to my roots, I am currently 515 LFR(and some world boss like Nalak)

Q: Is it me or does Demo now aday seems to require good gear and awesome trinkets to do any real damage

Q2: Also maybe I just miss read but it also seems Demo is a Proc relying spec - if stuff doesn't proc you are screwed

Q3: For some reason I get lag in raids from time to time, like big lag spikes (0/3fps) is this a spec that can be played if you get even lag once? I know back in the day lag didn't really hurt until you was just not doing anything for like 30+ sec,

[Twinkielock 15]

Q3: For some reason I get lag in raids from time to time, like big lag spikes (0/3fps) is this a spec that can be played if you get even lag once? I know back in the day lag didn't really hurt until you was just not doing anything for like 30+ sec,

Make sure recount/sekada (sp?) is up to date. There is a bug with the hunter spell stampede.

[Zagam 1,982]

A1: All the specs scale incredibly well with gear. My Enhancement Shaman upgraded from a 471 weapon to a 502 weapon and instantly gained 15k DPS. To answer bluntly, yes, gear helps.

A2: The spec is heavily dependent on Unerring. I've suggested to new Warlocks they go Destruction until they acquire the trinket. I've done this as to not deter them from the spec. If they were to try to learn Demo while seeing poor numbers, they'd become discouraged. Think of it as a fatherly Warlock role. You wouldn't tell your 16 year old to hit on the high school prom queen with a 1989 Chevy Cavelier, would you? Maybe if you let him show up in your BMW, he feels a hell of a lot better about his chances (yes, this is materialistic, please consider it for the point only). If you get Unerring and know how to use it, Demo blows up. Otherwise, it's pretty lacking.

A3: If you're seeing bumps like that, something tells me it's either horribly outdated addons or poor computer performance. If you're unsure, turn Skada/Recount off. If you let Recount and Skada behave on its own, it will use up so many resources, you wouldn't believe it (usually 10x more than your UI takes). Reset often and frequently. Lag is going to hurt a lot of specs, but it's going to hurt any caster. If you ain't casting, you're violating rule number 1 for casters: ABC. Always Be Casting.

[Maevisten 0]

You might also consider turning off the tracking in Skada and/or Recount that isn't relevant to you. If you don't care about Healing meters, you can turn them off if you haven't already done so.

[Nytemare 2]

A1: All the specs scale incredibly well with gear. My Enhancement Shaman upgraded from a 471 weapon to a 502 weapon and instantly gained 15k DPS. To answer bluntly, yes, gear helps.

A2: The spec is heavily dependent on Unerring. I've suggested to new Warlocks they go Destruction until they acquire the trinket. I've done this as to not deter them from the spec. If they were to try to learn Demo while seeing poor numbers, they'd become discouraged. Think of it as a fatherly Warlock role. You wouldn't tell your 16 year old to hit on the high school prom queen with a 1989 Chevy Cavelier, would you? Maybe if you let him show up in your BMW, he feels a hell of a lot better about his chances (yes, this is materialistic, please consider it for the point only). If you get Unerring and know how to use it, Demo blows up. Otherwise, it's pretty lacking.

A3: If you're seeing bumps like that, something tells me it's either horribly outdated addons or poor computer performance. If you're unsure, turn Skada/Recount off. If you let Recount and Skada behave on its own, it will use up so many resources, you wouldn't believe it (usually 10x more than your UI takes). Reset often and frequently. Lag is going to hurt a lot of specs, but it's going to hurt any caster. If you ain't casting, you're violating rule number 1 for casters: ABC. Always Be Casting.

I have the LFR version(2/2 upgrade) for the trinket, also got Valor trinket(one that gives haste), have the legendary meta gem, have normal Light of Cosmos(1/2 upgrade) I am destro right now as like I said when I cam back in MOP week before launch I just couldn't get Demo to do anything good - well I was doing ok in single target but in AOE where stuff dies fast or slow I was better off ding single target attacks, or not doing anything at all.

I have Shakda and tell it to reset on every new group - is there some other options I should be doing? like made disable some of the addons for it?

IN WOTLk I had 60+ fps even in Dalaran at peak, for the month I did play cata I had 60+FPS, minute I download the 5.0.4 patch that changed everything to MOP and so on, I get 22fps at shrine, and get 0-3 fps in LFR, and in Normal I can usually keep 8 and do ok, but if I get the lag spikes that when I go to 0-3 which keeps me from doing anything, in a 10 sec window without lag I can get off 3x Chaos Bolt and Immolate (using eng tinker), with the lag I only able to get 1 CB off, and with the trinket only at 4sec window that makes me wonder if I not going to be able to go back to demo. I did an LFR yesterday and it only pro once in the whole Horridon fight and only 1 in the elder fight - so far proc doesn't seem to be what you suggested saying it go off by the time you get HOG 2nd time and pop into met. - bringing me back to Q2 saying Demo seems to be proc base spec - and if you getting bad RNG your screwed 6 ways to Sunday

[Nytemare 2]

You might also consider turning off the tracking in Skada and/or Recount that isn't relevant to you. If you don't care about Healing meters, you can turn them off if you haven't already done so.

Oh kk I did turn off CC, Debuff, and few of them but I look at turning more off.

[Syntii 2]

If you don't need much more than DPS/Damage Done and HPS/Healing done you could try TinyDPS instead of Recount/Skada. It works perfectly and takes almost no Resources.

[Nytemare 2]

If you don't need much more than DPS/Damage Done and HPS/Healing done you could try TinyDPS instead of Recount/Skada. It works perfectly and takes almost no Resources.

I will look into it

Edited June 26, 2013 by Nytemare

[Zagam 1,982]

Demonology guide is under a heavy rework and overhaul for 5.3. Please disregard messiness as I update it.

[Darthsoul 3]

Yipee hoping to find anything that will pick up a little dps!!!

[Zagam 1,982]

I've got TONS of new stuff and I think it's going to open the door for those who found Demo hard to understand as well as giving a place to dive into some better theorycrafting. Hoping to get some of you excited about the math so that when new trinkets, set bonuses, etc. come out, we can figure it out!

[Aegnor 0]

Zagam - I am PUMPED to see your updates on Demonology. You've been my MAIN GO TO whenever I've had Warlock questions in MOP. I can't thank you enough for your time and excellence! Keep it coming.

[Zagam 1,982]

10 sections done, 3 more to go, then some bonus stuff I haven't thought of until I put this together. This is going to be one packed guide. I'm going to build it to adjust to 5.4, as well, so when 5.4 data comes in, I'll just plop it in.

[Zagam 1,982]

Alright, updated. Still going to add BiS gear profile and various things. Let me know what you guys think of the new guide model and if I should do the same for Aff and Destro or keep the old method. I feel this doctored it up so it looks better as well as partitioning the information in smaller chunks to digest easier.

[Omaric 246]

Looks great! I would like to throw out that I hold onto fel/wrathstorm a little longer in the opening to make sure all of my buffs are out. You'll get 2 storms off before your next Dark Soul either way, so I like to make the 1st one count.

[Zagam 1,982]

Fel/Wrathstorm snapshot with Perfect Aim. Not sure you can get better procs than 100% crit.

[Cruzan 71]

Looks great! A couple of things.

1. Table of contents doesn't match the actual contents towards the end. Not sure if that's intended

2. Would it be worthwhile to mention where Imp Swarm fits in to both listed openers?