5.4 Demonology Tips and Quirks

[Darthsoul 3]

I have recently been trying a haste heavy build going over 14000 haste and now can get 4-5 SFs off but still not more then that. Sac still seems to be worthless to me barring pet despawn problems. But does Drain Life ever overtake Void Ray with more haste?

[Jenaye 9]

No, for a few reasons. First, if it's a fight where mobs for up for any length of time worthy of using corruption, It is refreshing your duration on that, which just adds to your Demonic Fury generation. Second, since you're in meta form, the damage you're doing in comparison well... doesn't really compare.

[Darthsoul 3]

Sorry I put drain life instead of Harvest Life which does work in meta.

[Crozekiel 0]

Regarding Unerring Vision of Lei Shen...  How much better is it than the other trinkets?  For example, I currently have TF Wushoolay's and reg Breath of the Hydra (normally run destruction, but have been trying out Demo because I get the feeling I will be better off come 5.4).  I also have the LFR Unerring trinket.  Is the proc game changing enough to warrant the change from a 522/528 down to the 502?  I normally rely on Mr Robot for questions like this, but I wasn't sure if they are taking into account how good the proc is for demo on this trinket or not.

 

Thanks

[JvChequer 43]

The 502 UVLS it's better than any other Heroic Thunderforged trinket in ToT for Demonology in most fights.

[Nytemare 2]

Been following PTR for warlock and I don't think I going to like all these changes. EA Glyph going bye,bye. Seems unless I am missing something Demo is going to get hurt with the changes they making. Just

when I started to get the hang of it on my alt I leveling

[Jenaye 9]

We've Killed Lei Shen 5 times.  The trinket has dropped 3 times.  The rest of the guild is livid.  myself and my new lock = laughing

[Darthsoul 3]

I've been testing on a dummy and it seems like HoG is not benefiting from switching into meta is anyone else noticing this? I'm not talking about PTR btw.

[Omaric 246]

I've been testing on a dummy and it seems like HoG is not benefiting from switching into meta is anyone else noticing this? I'm not talking about PTR btw.

 

The initial HoG damage portion of the spell is unaffected because you technically cast it from caster form.  The Shadowflame effect, however, *is* increased if you enter Meta form before HoG actually lands.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Omaric

[Juloroh 0]

I don't know why, but i'm still thinking Demo will be the top spec raiding regarding all those nerf closely followed by Afflictio(maybe they will be equal) with Destruction following from far(we don't know though, they could be the best)

#1 EA glyph is gone, it's not that bad anyways, you can still manage to pull off 100 % crit doom without glyph, and if you do so, it could be a DPS gain...Sad part, it's all about luck...so more RNG into the spec.

#2 Demo 4pc bonus bug, it still cast Chaos Wave when you'r in Meta. If they manage to fix this, we could see  more 2 stack buffed shadowflame uptime, and that's a large DPS gain and fury gain, unless it is intended that Chaos Wave is casted in Meta. For me, Demo 4 pc is the largest DPS bonus gain when compared to other warlock spec but i could be wrong.

 

  With 5.0, you could only see affliction warlock, at 5.2, 90 % of destro warlock, 10 % of other spec, and now it's demonology 70 % just because of lei shen trinket  so i'm quitte happy ,we will have less demonology warlocks, i will still play demonology, even if we are last on Number rankings, just like my twin brother will play his affliction warlock, even if they nerf them bad.


 

[Brown 14]

Depends on uptime of 2pc as well. Free HoG would be amazing, free CW is meh but oh well, damage is damage.

 

And because Ghostcrawler is a marine biologist who should have been put in charge of designing models for Vash'jir and any other underwater zones instead of being made lead designer, mages will continue to be top. I don't really foresee us falling that far, barring some massive "let's just nerf warlocks to be below Holy Priests" decision. The nerf/buff wheel will keep spinning because that's just how it goes.

[Crozekiel 0]

I don't get why everyone seems to think demo is going to be hurting in 5.4.  Is there something I am missing?  As far as I can tell from the patch notes, the only nerf demo is getting is the EA glyph, which is only a dps increase while you have the lei shen trinket.  Surely the new trinkets coming in SoO are going to be upgrades making that point moot.  On top of that, they are buffing dark soul for demo, couple that with the talent change that gives dark soul 2 charges, which to me seems like a clear choice for demo since you can pop meta and cast on the move already.  All in all, it seems like demo is getting buffed at the end of the day.  At the same time, they are definitely nerfing affliction (from all the numbers I have seen anyway) and destro is mostly being left alone with a slight nerf to rain of fire ember generation (I haven't seen numbers on exactly how "reduced" the chance for RoF to produce embers is, so i don't know how big of a nerf that actually is.  My guess is they are wanting to make it unattractive to cast RoF on single target encounters, so I can see it costing you a CB under dark soul on occasion.  Not a huge nerf, but as its the only real change (relative to other specs) they are probably going to fall a bit.)

 

So, is there something I am missing that is really gonna hurt demo?  Seems to me its pretty much getting left alone.

[Omaric 246]

Demo will be alright, but not for the reasons you've skimmed on.  You've got some reading to do, way too many assumptions.  Until the RPPM trinket change, we would have been keeping UVoLS throughout the next tier easily.  It's currently THAT good.

[Crozekiel 0]

You say "Until the RPPM trinket change, we would have been..." which indicates that its no longer the case, which makes the point moot.  What am I missing?

 

Not trying to be rude, I honestly don't understand the point you are making.

[Omaric 246]

As far as I can tell from the patch notes, the only nerf demo is getting is the EA glyph, which is only a dps increase while you have the lei shen trinket.  Surely the new trinkets coming in SoO are going to be upgrades making that point moot.

 

Well you say as far as you can tell that the EA glyph is the biggest nerf, when the biggest nerf by a long shot is UVoLS not proc'ing nearly as much.  Before that recent change on the PTR, we would have kept the UVoLS.  That trinket took us from an average DPS spec to an insane DPS spec.  We're being compensated it seems in other areas, but I haven't had a chance to test it all out.

 

I went a little far in what I said to you, my apologies, annoying day.  :P

 

From what you quoted of me, I was referencing when we hit 5.4.  The RPPM trinket change hasn't hit yet, and it will affect everyone, but Demonologists even moreso because of our reliance on UVoLS to pull amazing numbers.

[Crozekiel 0]

Oh ok, I missed the part in the patch notes that was changing the rppm trinkets coming down the line.

 

I am guessing its this bit?

 

 

• Trinket, enchant, set bonus, and legendary meta-gem effects whose triggered effect benefits from haste no longer also have their chance to trigger the benefit from haste. Activation chances for those effects have been adjusted to compensate.

 

Which, to be honest, I still don't completely understand what they are meaning by that...

 

Thanks for the clarification :P

[JvChequer 43]

I really don't see Demonology beating affliction next tier.

 

Well, we'll have more changes till the launch, but, nowadays, Affliction sounds quite better.

[Zagam 1,982]

It's going to depend on player skill and their adaptation to fights.  Great Demonology Warlocks can beat mediocre to good Affliction Warlocks on fights where Affliction should beat the snot out of Demonology.  It's always in the players hands, not the spec.  The best way to put it is what is going to be the easiest spec that will give good damage, not the best spec.

[JvChequer 43]

But when you play equally good in all specs, you just want to play which one is better on each fight.

[Zagam 1,982]

Maybe that's how some people are.  I personally play the spec I love, even if another is "better."  I haven't played Destruction on any heroic Horridon kills ever.  I always played Demonology.  Affliction beats Demonology on Tortos, but I stayed Demo.  I couldn't imagine changing specs to gain 1-2% on each fight.  Granted, there are exceptions (can't play Destruction competitively on Council), but the way things have been going in terms of fight design, there is no enrage check.  Most of the fights are mechanic checks and demands for good DPS at certain windows.  What was the closest we had to an enrage fight, heroic Twins?  Iron Qon was supposed to be a DPS race with a 10 min enrage, but they made it 12 mins and a joke. 

[JvChequer 43]

I know, but that's valid on this tier because most of fights we got 2 specs pretty even on dps, like Horridon and Tortos, but when one spec skyrocket like affliction was on 5.0, it's just impossible for anyone doing heroic progression change goes another spec just because u like it a little more.

I love demo, and I "like" affliction, but if affliction in 5.4 overdestroy anything, I'll quit demo, it's sad, but, it's how i play. hahaha

Edited August 6, 2013 by JvChequer

[Nytemare 2]

I hate affliction its so boring - I like Destro and Demo and stick to destro right now as I have not

been able to fully master Demo since the whole gut/revamp crap blizz did.

I agree, when you got one spec that way better than everything affliction in 5.0 you lose the choice

to play the spec you want if you want to be taken as the group will want the better spec to be able

to down crap, thus making it not fun.

If I had it my way the top 3 spec would be Destro - Demo - Affliction(with this one being the weakest

by alot) Now Destro/Demo would be equal or only 1-300dps off. And of course those spec would also be

the top spec in overall DPS as well, while mages go back where they belong and that under Warlock in

DPS - before GC and the rest of blizz played favorites and made them the top dog. That just my opinion

Also I think I would undo some of the revamps or I should say gutting the lock got - I loved locks

in Cata and before, still not favorite of this revamp they did. I like some of it, but most of it

is crap

[Zagam 1,982]

How was getting the full revamp and a unique feel for each spec crap?  We have amazing damage, amazing survivability, and essentially 3 different classes rolled into one.  Stuff changes...you've gotta adapt.  Warlocks in MoP >>>> Warlocks in Cataclysm.  You'd agree if you remember having to maintain WAY more things in all three specs than you do now.

[JvChequer 43]

Demonology on Cataclysm....was a terrible beggining experience for me as a newbie player.

Almost 15 buttons with 4tp bonus on rotation, to do same dmg than the fuckin' 2-button arcane mages an less dps than Rogues with Legendary daggers.


I hate 4.3 with all my fel energy.


Btw, I think Destro it's very boring, I don't feel like an warlock playing as Destro, don't like it at all..

[Zagam 1,982]

Destruction in 4.3

 

Improved Soul Fire every 20 seconds (sometimes proc'd from Imps, sometimes you had to hard cast)

Demon Soul on CD

Doomguard/Infernal when appropriate

Immolate

Conflagrate

Chaos Bolt

Burning Embers

Corruption

Shadowburn

Bane of Havoc/Doom

force casting with your Imp

Curse of Elements

Shadowflame

Dark Intent proc monitoring

Fel Flame while moving

 

15 things to watch for, monitor, and react to.  Ouch.

 

Destruction in 5.3

 

Chaos Bolt

Incinerate

Immolate

Conflagrate

Rain of Fire

Dark Soul

Curse of Elements

Doomguard

Shadowburn

 

9 things to watch or monitor

 

And honestly, let's be realistic...easier to maintain a watch on your Embers in 5.3 or monitor your ISF buff in 4.3?  Anyone who raided as Destruction back then remembers that super irritating Imp proc that came as you were hard casting Soul Fire.  There was also that irritating Immolate bug where you couldn't recast Immolate if a better version of it existed.  That was joyous.  Don't even think about talking about the differences in Demonlogy.  I got one thing to say about that: pet twisting.