5.4 Destruction Tips and Quirks

[Zagam 1,982]

Here are some notes on how to better play your Destruction Warlock. Be sure to read through these series of posts to find other players' thoughts and ideas. I've done my best to summarize here.

 

 

 

Table of Contents

1) Nukes and You

2) Destruction's Feel and Nature

3) Destruction's Resources

4) Opener and Execution

5) Burning Embers Management

6) Chaos Bolt & Shadowburn

7) Incinerate, Immolate & Conflagrate

8) Dark Soul: Instability

9) Rain of Fire & Fire and Brimstone

10) Stat Priorities

11) Empowered Chaos Bolts and maximizing your Warlock

12) Pandemic and Fel Flame and Doomguard...OH MY!

13) Talents and Glyphs

14) Tier 16 Bonuses

15) Trinkets

16) Math and Theorycrafting

 

 

1) Nukes and You

 

Destruction has a very nuclear feeling about it. You deal damage in huge bursts with very little DoT damage to worry about. You'll maximize damage by making your nukes hit as hard as possible while keeping your resources managed properly.

 

 

2) Destruction's Feel and Nature

 

As a Destruction Warlock, you will be on fire...quite literally. Destruction is very fast paced as you deliver hard nukes while keeping one DoT up and running. You'll be casting Incinerate with high frequency, Conflagrate on cooldown, and winding up a large cast time for each mega Chaos Bolt you dish out. Destruction requires quick thinking on your feet as to the next spell you cast as well as how to safely plant your feet for a 2 to 3 second Chaos Bolt cast.

 

 

3) Destruction's Resources

 

Destruction has two resources: mana and Burning Embers. Mana is largely inconsequential thanks to Chaotic Energies which VASTLY increases your mana regeneration. As long as a proper rotation is performed, mana issues will not arise.

 

Mastering your Destruction Warlock focuses around its primary resource, Burning Embers. Burning Embers are generated through Incinerate, Conflagrate, and Immolate and are spent using Chaos Bolt and Shadowburn. Burning Embers are composed of 10 emberbits

 

 

4) Opener and Execution

 

Your opener as Destruction depends largely on what trinkets you have. If you have Intellect stacking trinkets such as Black Blood of Y'Shaarj or Wushoolay's Final Choice, you'll want to perform your rotation like this:

 

Curse of Elements - Dark Soul: Instability - Immolate - Conflagrate - Conflagrate - Incinerate x 4 - Chaos Bolt x 2. If you lack the Haste to get off two Chaos Bolts before a 10 stack of your trinkets wear off, cast Incinerate 3 times and consume 3 charges of Backdraft with a Chaos Bolt to ensure both Chaos Bolts are affected by your trinket.

 

If you have more static Intellect based trinkets such as Purified Bindings of Immerseus or Kardris' Toxic Totem, then your opener should not include consuming Backdraft charges for Chaos Bolt. Just make sure you get off as many Chaos Bolts as possible before your trinket procs wear off.

 

For Execution, replace Chaos Bolt with Shadowburn. It's that easy.

 

 

5) Burning Embers Management

 

Burning Embers management will prove to be the difference between good and great Destruction Warlocks. You'll want to build Burning Embers to maximize the number you have to spend during procs that boost Chaos Bolt and Shadowburn. Follow these guidelines for when to spend Burning Embers:

 

>3.5 Embers and no procs? - Cast Chaos Bolt

<3.5 Embers and no procs? - DO NOT cast Chaos Bolt

>1.0 Embers and procs? - Cast Chaos Bolt

 

Basically what this means is cast Incinerate, Immolate, and Conflagrate when you don't have big procs up as long as you don't have 3.5 or more Burning Embers. At that point, just cast a Chaos Bolt so that you don't hit the cap of 4 Burning Embers.

 

Spells that generate Burning Embers:

Incinerate - 1 emberbits

Incinerate Critical Hit - 2 emberbits

Immolate Critical Ticks - 1 emberbits

Fel Flame - 1 emberbits

Fel Flame Critical Hits - 2 emberbits

Conflagrate - 1 emberbits

Conflagrate Critical Hits - 2 emberbits

Killing a target with Shadowburn - 20 emberbits

 

Spells that consume Burning Embers:

Chaos Bolt - 1 Burning Embers

Shadowburn - 1 Burning Embers

Ember Tap - 1 Burning Embers

 

 

6) Chaos Bolt & Shadowburn

 

Chaos Bolt and Shadowburn are your major nukes as a Destruction Warlock. Both consume 1 Burning Embers and deal massive damage to your target. Follow these guidelines for these spells:

 

Boss HP > 20% - Cast Chaos Bolt

Boss HP < 20% - Cast Shadowburn

 

Shadowburn is unable to be cast until your target is below 20% HP. At that point, no more Burning Embers should be spent casting Chaos Bolt as the DPET (Damage Per Execute Time) is far higher with Shadowburn.

 

Chaos Bolt should be your highest damage source. You accomplish this by casting Chaos Bolt at opportune times such as large Intellect procs from trinkets or potions. Chaos Bolt requires a large cast time of around 2.5 seconds depending on your Haste, so proper positioning and planning is required before Chaos Bolt can be cast. Chaos Bolt's damage is always a critical hit and is increased in damage by your Critical Strike chance. Havoc allows for Chaos Bolt to hit 2 targets at once at the cost of all 3 charges of Havoc.

 

Shadowburn is a unique execute-type spell that deals massive damage at the cost of one Burning Embers. Shadowburn leaves a debuff on the target for 5 seconds. If the target dies while the Shadowburn debuff is applied, the caster will receive 2 Burning Embers. If the target survives the Shadowburn debuff, the caster receives 15% of his maximum mana back. Shadowburn is incredible to use against adds in boss fights because each time you kill an add with Shadowburn, you gain an extra Burning Embers back! This can be used to repeatedly kill smaller adds below 20% and maximize your Burning Embers. Havoc allows for Shadowburn to hit two targets at once at the cost of 1 charge of Havoc per Shadowburn.

 

 

7) Incinerate, Immolate, & Conflagrate

 

These spells are the potatoes of the Destruction specialization that support the meat and vegetables that are Chaos Bolt and Shadowburn. Incinerate should be casted as your filler when Conflagrate is not up and Immolate does not need to be refreshed. Havoc allows for these three spells to hit two targets at once at the cost of 1 charge of Havoc per cast.

 

Incinerate is a hard hitting spell that will be spammed when nothing else should be cast. Incinerate consumes charges of Backdraft at a rate of 1 per cast, decreasing the mana cost and casting time by 30%. Incinerate should ALWAYS be used to consume charges of Backdraft.

 

Immolate is a medium strength attack that leaves a powerful DoT behind. Immolate's uptime should be as close to 100% as possible.

 

Conflagrate is a powerful, instant cast spell that generates 3 charges of Backdraft. Conflagrate is on a 2 charge system that regenerates slowly.

 

 

8) Dark Soul: Instability

 

Dark Soul: Instability (DSI) is a 2 minute cooldown that increases the Critical Strike chance of all your spells and abilities by 30% for 20 seconds. Because Chaos Bolt always Crits, it increases the power of Chaos Bolt by 30%. Chaos Bolt should be a priority spell during DSI, and you will generate more Burning Embers during DSI because of the increased emberbit generation when you critically hit with your filler spells. DSI should be used on cooldown or timed for periods of high DPS demands.

 

 

9) Rain of Fire & Fire and Brimstone

 

Destruction's AoE is very powerful.

 

Rain of Fire is a ground targetted AoE spell that does Fire damage over time and has a low chance to generate Burning Embers. Rain of Fire should always be applied when 2 or more targets will be hit by it. Rain of Fire should be applied to one target when that target will stand in Rain of Fire for the full duration and you have some Haste proc such as Bloodlust, Berserking, or Tempus Repit.

 

Fire and Brimstone is the bulk of Destruction's AoE capacity. Fire and Brimstone enables your Incinerate, Immolate, and Conflagrate to hit all targets within 8 yards of your primary target at a penalty of a slight reduction in power. Fire and Brimstone is an aura-type buff that you can turn on and off at will with no cooldown. It transforms your three primary spells into Fire and Brimstone versions of themselves. Each cast with Fire and Brimstone active consumes one Burning Embers. If you generate at least 10 emberbits through Rain of Fire, Immolate, etc., you will not lose Burning Embers. This requires a fair number of targets to hit. If you generate less than 10 emberbits per Fire and Brimstone cast, you will slowly drain of your Burning Embers. You should always open up with Fire and Brimstone: Immolate and then Fire and Brimstone:Conflagrate twice. Fire and Brimstone:Incinerate benefits from Backdraft just as normal Incinerate does. Keep Rain of Fire up while performing your normal rotation to maximize DPS.

 

 

10) Stat Priorities

 

Stat priorities are largely dependent on the fight, strategy, and talents you take per fight, but there are a few solid conclusions about Destruction's stat priorities...

 

1) Mastery is king. Gem it, enchant it, have it on every piece of gear. Mastery increases the damage you deal with Incinerate, Immolate, and Conflagrate by a certain amount while it increases Chaos Bolt and Shadowburn by 3x that amount. Mastery also increases the healing received from Ember Tap.

 

2) Crit and Haste are close, but Crit tends to win out after Mastery for single target. Destruction doesn't benefit from Haste very much thanks to Backdraft and relatively short casts of Incinerate and Immolate. Conflagrate and Shadowburn are instant cast, so Haste has relatively little effect. Criticial hits double emberbit generation and increase the power of Chaos Bolt significantly, so Crit is the desired stat after Mastery.

 

3) Haste is ok, but it has a ceiling. Remember that Incinerate has its base casting time reduced by Backdraft. With Tempus Repit, Bloodlust, and Berserking, it's easy to have a plethora of Haste effects that reduce the cast time of Incinerate below 1.000 seconds. This is not ideal because any time leftover after the cast is absorbed by the global cooldown, thus giving you 'queue time' or time spent waiting to execute your next action.

 

4) Hit capping is an absolute must. If you're going to decide on 14.95% hit or 15.05% hit, take the 15.05%. You absolutely do not want any spells to miss.

 

 

11) Empowered Chaos Bolt and Maximizing your Warlock

 

Empowering Chaos Bolt is the process which you cast Chaos Bolt with large Intellect procs up such as a 10 stack of Wushoolay's Final Choice or Black Blood of Y'Shaarj. Learning to time your Chaos Bolts with large Intellect procs is the key to maximizing your Chaos Bolt damage and your overall damage. Chaos Bolt should always be cast with a large Intellect proc up and delayed in casting if there is no proc up, unless of course you're at 4 Burning Embers.

 

For Wush and BBoY, you'll want to start casting a Chaos Bolt to ensure that you get it casted before the trinket effect wears off, preferably with the full 10 stacks. Chaos Bolt's damage is calculated when the cast is executed, not when it hits the target. Travel time is a non-point for Chaos Bolt, so keep that in mind when preparing your big nuke launches.

 

 

12) Pandemic, Fel Flame, and Doomguard...OH MY!

 

Pandemic is less impactful for Destruction than it is for Affliction, but it is still important nonetheless. Pandemic allows for 50% of a DoTs duration to be added to the original duration. Immolate is Destruction's only DoT, and calculations look something like this:

 

Immolate base duration: 15 seconds

Maximum additional duration: 7.5 seconds

 

If you cast Immolate twice in a row, you'll only get the additional 7.5 seconds added. If you have 7 seconds remaining on Immolate and you cast Immolate, you'll get the entire 15 seconds added to your duration! This is how to maximize Immolate duration as Destruction via Pandemic. Try not to cast Immolate until it has 7 or less seconds or if you have a very large Intellect proc.

 

Fel Flame is a very solid spell to cast while moving if you do not take the Kil'Jaeden's Cunning talent. Fel Flame should only be used after Conflagrate has been used and Rain of Fire has been casted.

 

Doomguard should be casted when you need more damage. He is not worth his 10 minute cooldown and only does between 1 and 1.5M damage. He does 20% more during execute, but it's almost always more beneficial to ensure you get the maximum number of casts in during combat, which is 18. He updates dynamically with your stats, so casting him at the beginning typically outweights the worry of not getting in all your casts at the end of a fight.

 

 

13) Talents and Glyphs

 

Talents and Glyphs are largely dependent on a fight by fight basis in terms of need and benefit. Check out the T16 Normal and Heroic Warlock Specific Tips guide for information on which talents and glyphs you should take.

 

 

14) T16 Bonuses

 

2pc T16 bonus has a 20% chance on Conflagrate Critical Hits to increase the Critical Hit chance of Immolate and Incinerate by 10% for 10 seconds. This bonus is lackluster and hardly worth talking about. It's RNG embedded in RNG which is based on your Crit chance, another RNG effect. Its uptime is low and barely worth anything in terms of DPS.

 

4pc T16 bonus has a 100% chance to grant you 15% increased Critical Strike effect when you fill a Burning Embers. This effect has an internal cooldown of 10 seconds making its maximum uptime be 33%. It is still a powerful set bonus that gives a decent DPS increase.  Acquire this as soon as possible, even at the cost of dropping a few item levels on a certain piece.  Utilizing this set bonus involves using it with Chaos Bolt (+15% damage) or Immolate in order to snapshot the bonus crit, thus returning more embers for the duration of Immolate.  Since you always want to capitalize on buffs with Chaos Bolt, the 4pc bonus does well as a last resort if you're about to cap embers and don't have a trinket proc or Dark Soul available.

 

 

15) Trinkets

 

1) Purified Bindings of Immerseus is BiS for all casters. It's incredible...pick it up.

2) Kardris' Toxic Totem provides an incredible proc with Multistrike

3) Black Blood of Y'Shaarj gives an incredible stacking Intellect proc capable of super charging your Chaos Bolts.  This trinket can be better than KTT if properly utilized.

4) Cha-Ye's Essence of Brilliance gives a strong buff that scales with Crit chance

5) Wushoolay's Final Choice gives a smaller stacking Intellect proc than BBoY, but it is still a solid choice

6) Breath of the Hydra gives a decent Intellect proc

 

See more in the trinket guide on the Warlock forums.

 

16) Math and Theorycrafting

 

Note the chart below on when spells go below their 1.000 sec GCD cap with Haste levels. These cells are highlighted in yellow. For example, with 5% Raid Haste, having 35% personal Haste and Backdraft up will give you a 0.988 second cast. I know the chart says Backlash...it should say Backdraft.

 

[Guzzi 0]

awesome guide again Zagam, u truly are god among warlocks :)

[Azazoth 1]

i like your destro guide zagam but please if you use the demo guide and replace the things for destro. read it again.. :s a lot of errors in the text..

[Gravyspasm 70]

i think they changed soul leech. it's now a mini bubble, right?

[Dking 0]

Hello, which pet should I use?

Demon Training glyph is an option?

[Azazoth 1]

@ Dking Observer

[Zagam 1,982]

i like your destro guide zagam but please if you use the demo guide and replace the things for destro. read it again.. :s a lot of errors in the text..

Yeah the problem with making a new guide is using the old format for continuity but finding all the similar words. Proofreading comes in steps for me. I've done a 2nd edit...I'm sure other errors are in there.

[Zagam 1,982]

i think they changed soul leech. it's now a mini bubble, right?

Soul Leech is now an absorb...it's not mini at all. It builds as you deal damage, continues to stack up to some maximum HP (not sure on value) and is only used when you take damage. Take a look a look here at this log: http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-gjqui4b6lwkzyvib/details/80/?s=1315&e=1790

Soul Leech was only a 9.8% overheal and absorbed 815k worth of damage. Pales in comparison to Sacrificial Pact, though. 2.5M damage absorbed via Sacrificial Pact...SO GOOD!

[Zagam 1,982]

Hello, which pet should I use?

Demon Training glyph is an option?

Pet wise, use the Felhunter if you use Service or the Observer if you use Supremacy. Statistically speaking, you could use a Voidlord and see such a small variance you wouldn't notice it (less than 500 DPS). Just don't use a Fel Imp. He sucks, and will continue sucking, until they lower his Fel Energy cost on Fel Bolt to an appropriate level.

Glyph choices for Destruction are extremely relaxed. Soulstone for battle res, Conflag for instant slow, and Soul Leech are my personal favs. Getting healed via your Observer's special ability might be nice, but I don't see it being impactful...not that the Conflag glyph really is, either. There really aren't many choices to improve your DPS.

[Dking 0]

Pet wise, use the Felhunter if you use Service or the Observer if you use Supremacy. Statistically speaking, you could use a Voidlord and see such a small variance you wouldn't notice it (less than 500 DPS). Just don't use a Fel Imp. He sucks, and will continue sucking, until they lower his Fel Energy cost on Fel Bolt to an appropriate level.

Glyph choices for Destruction are extremely relaxed. Soulstone for battle res, Conflag for instant slow, and Soul Leech are my personal favs. Getting healed via your Observer's special ability might be nice, but I don't see it being impactful...not that the Conflag glyph really is, either. There really aren't many choices to improve your DPS.

Thanks!

Felhunter + Service > Observer?

[Zagam 1,982]

Thanks!

Felhunter + Service > Observer?

That greater sign isn't really...accurate. They're all incredibly close. Service + Felhunter will give you good single target burst. Supremacy - Observer will make it so you have one less CD to manage with no real DPS loss.

[Omaric 246]

So.... the reason you use Shadowburn over Chaos Bolt under 20% is that you have more time to cast ember generating abilities? I just feel like I get owned in the damage department if Shadowburn decides to not crit.

I'm talking in a strictly single-target boss mob scenario.

Also, in regards to Rain of Fire. Do you cast multiple versions of them over the same mobs or does it not stack how I think it stacks?

[SeraphSix 1]

So.... the reason you use Shadowburn over Chaos Bolt under 20% is that you have more time to cast ember generating abilities? I just feel like I get owned in the damage department if Shadowburn decides to not crit.

It does suck when it doesn't crit, but you're also casting it far more often. Keep in mind that it also restores mana to aid in your incinerate spam (which would account for the regen during the cast time of your chaos bolts). Execution phase is very fast paced and bursty compared to the slow build up and drastic explosion of the other 80%. I find my dps increases in those last moments, depending on the fight.

P.S. - Thank you for posting the destro guide, Zagam! Despite the fact that I'm already playing like this, it's nice to see some destro love. MoP Affliction is actually fun, now, but destro will always be my favorite.

Edited March 14, 2013 by SeraphSix

[Nekkrosis 2]

I tried destro tonight and after some tweaks I ended up being top dps and overall damage on the first boss of ToT. It was fun, but it felt weird since I'm used to demo and all the micro-management. Also, I did some pet tests and the shivarra was coming out a few hundred dps higher than the observer, which struck me as odd because everything I've read says floating tentacle monster is the highest dps pet for destro. Is the difference so small between the two that it just comes down to personal preference?

[FellintoOblivion 2]

Thanks for the guide, it's really helping me in my transition from Affliction. I have two questions:

1. Assuming the interrupt isn't needed what's the best way to use Observer's Optical Blast? Since it doesn't trigger a global CD should I macro it to another ability like Conflagrate or assign it to it's own binding?

2. Regarding stat weights, wouldn't it be beneficial to reforge into crit since it would generate more embers or is the "default" crit high enough that it's generating enough shards? If it's not worth it to reforge into crit is there a number one shouldn't fall below when reforging lest we gimp our ember generation?

Edit: Found a typo, it's Unbound Will not Unbinding Will. Regarding this talent, is the cost (20% health) completely irrelevant as long as you use it smartly?

Edited March 14, 2013 by FellintoOblivion

[Zagam 1,982]

So.... the reason you use Shadowburn over Chaos Bolt under 20% is that you have more time to cast ember generating abilities? I just feel like I get owned in the damage department if Shadowburn decides to not crit.

I'm talking in a strictly single-target boss mob scenario.

Also, in regards to Rain of Fire. Do you cast multiple versions of them over the same mobs or does it not stack how I think it stacks?

You use Shadowburn because it has a higher DPET (Damage Per Execute Time) which coorelates to higher DPS. Also, remember that if you have ANYTHING to cleave in execute phase, you can Havoc THREE Shadowburns instead of one Chaos Bolt. You can spike over 1M DPS with Dark Soul live during this monster (achieved during Heroic Stone Guard, Heroic Will of the Emperors, etc.)

With Rain of Fire, if the area effect of one Rain of Fire overlaps another, only one damage stream will hurt it. For example, let's say you form a figure 8 with Rain of Fire with just part of them overlapping, kinda like a Venn diagram. If your target is in both target reticles of your Rain of Fire, it will only take damage from one. I typically don't put Rain of Fire up unless I'm moving and can't afford the slow from KJC. I don't make it a staple part of my rotation because of the darn clunky targetting reticle. If it was just on a target like Hand of Guldan, then we'd be talking. For now, I just choose to hold off unless I can hit 2+ targets.

It does suck when it doesn't crit, but you're also casting it far more often. Keep in mind that it also restores mana to aid in your incinerate spam (which would account for the regen during the cast time of your chaos bolts). Execution phase is very fast paced and bursty compared to the slow build up and drastic explosion of the other 80%. I find my dps increases in those last moments, depending on the fight.

P.S. - Thank you for posting the destro guide, Zagam! Despite the fact that I'm already playing like this, it's nice to see some destro love. MoP Affliction is actually fun, now, but destro will always be my favorite.

Personally, I think all the Warlock specs rock. They're all fun, but like anything, if you do it enough, it turns out to feel less exciting. Personally, I'm married to Demonology...I always find myself floating back to it, but I do like to have brief encounters with Destruction. Demonology felt our relationship pushed to the limits with my tier long affair, but it welcomed me back briefly in T15 before I decided to try Destruction again. Demonology will always be waiting for me in the end. Glad to hear my guides are beneficial...that's the only reason I write them!

I tried destro tonight and after some tweaks I ended up being top dps and overall damage on the first boss of ToT. It was fun, but it felt weird since I'm used to demo and all the micro-management. Also, I did some pet tests and the shivarra was coming out a few hundred dps higher than the observer, which struck me as odd because everything I've read says floating tentacle monster is the highest dps pet for destro. Is the difference so small between the two that it just comes down to personal preference?

Being "top DPS" is very objective...you could be playing with some bads and just out-performing them or you could be super awesome beating peers of equal calibur. Fortunately, on Jin'rokh, there are no gimmicks to employ other than careful manipulation of fight mechanics...fancy way of saying 'pop all your CDs while standing in a puddle.' Destruction is by far easier...I believe I had 7 damage sources when I ranked #3 Destro on Durumu...it's such an easy spec to play. As for your pets, it's really difficult to compare one pet to another after a single test, or even 10 live tests. This is where Simcraft shines, when you want to compare relatively small things with thousands of iterations. Hell, I had a Voidlord out DPS my Observer on one test, but that's because they're actually designed extremely well for you to change them based on situation except for the Fel Imp...for some reason, they refuse to make him viable (Blizz, seriously, lower Fel Bolt from 40 energy to 30, or even 35). If you're into that Shivarra though, have fun with her. I find her sounds more annoying than the Observer noises, but since I stand 40 yards away, I enjoy tormenting the Rogues, DKs, and Retadins with the awful pet sounds! ;)

Thanks for the guide, it's really helping me in my transition from Affliction. I have two questions:

1. Assuming the interrupt isn't needed what's the best way to use Observer's Optical Blast? Since it doesn't trigger a global CD should I macro it to another ability like Conflagrate or assign it to it's own binding?

2. Regarding stat weights, wouldn't it be beneficial to reforge into crit since it would generate more embers or is the "default" crit high enough that it's generating enough shards? If it's not worth it to reforge into crit is there a number one shouldn't fall below when reforging lest we gimp our ember generation?

Edit: Found a typo, it's Unbound Will not Unbinding Will. Regarding this talent, is the cost (20% health) completely irrelevant as long as you use it smartly?

Thanks for the typo catch...I write these guys under duress and end up proof reading many times later and catching mistakes...any other help in finding these to ensure the integrity of these guides is greatly appreciated!

1) You should NOT be using Optical Blast unless you intend on interrupting something. It has a 20 energy cost and this will lower it's ability to use its special ability which has a higher DPET than Optical Blast.

2) Stat weights are close for Destruction and don't really separate themselves. Crit = higher Chaos Bolt damage (minor), higher chance to crit with all spells, and higher Ember generation due to higher crit chance. Haste = faster Chaos Bolt casts, faster Incinerate casts, and faster mana regeneration. Mastery = higher damage overall, higher scaling of Chaos Bolt and Shadowburn.

Haste is unique in this tier in that it will help scale RPPM trinkets and the new legendary meta helm socket. Spec inclusive, with proper play, you should never have mana issues. If you find that you're going OOM, either tighten up your rotation or get more Haste. I'm performing just fine with 4k Haste rating and never having mana issues. However, when I acquire an RPPM trinket (I'm looking at you, Cha-Ye's Essence of Brilliance) and the legendary Meta gem, I'll likely switch from Crit = Mastery > Haste to Crit = Haste > Mastery. They're close enough, however, that you could do Mastery = Haste > Crit to keep Affliction as your off-spec, if you wanted.

[FellintoOblivion 2]

Thanks for the typo catch...I write these guys under duress and end up proof reading many times later and catching mistakes...any other help in finding these to ensure the integrity of these guides is greatly appreciated!

1) You should NOT be using Optical Blast unless you intend on interrupting something. It has a 20 energy cost and this will lower it's ability to use its special ability which has a higher DPET than Optical Blast.

2) Stat weights are close for Destruction and don't really separate themselves. Crit = higher Chaos Bolt damage (minor), higher chance to crit with all spells, and higher Ember generation due to higher crit chance. Haste = faster Chaos Bolt casts, faster Incinerate casts, and faster mana regeneration. Mastery = higher damage overall, higher scaling of Chaos Bolt and Shadowburn.

Haste is unique in this tier in that it will help scale RPPM trinkets and the new legendary meta helm socket. Spec inclusive, with proper play, you should never have mana issues. If you find that you're going OOM, either tighten up your rotation or get more Haste. I'm performing just fine with 4k Haste rating and never having mana issues. However, when I acquire an RPPM trinket (I'm looking at you, Cha-Ye's Essence of Brilliance) and the legendary Meta gem, I'll likely switch from Crit = Mastery > Haste to Crit = Haste > Mastery. They're close enough, however, that you could do Mastery = Haste > Crit to keep Affliction as your off-spec, if you wanted.

1. Ah ok that "free" damage and no GCD was appealing!

2. OK that makes sense, is there a floor for crit though? It's terrible for Affliction so I reforged out of it for mastery and have just under 3K, is that enough for Destruction?

[Zagam 1,982]

Meh, you'll see smaller Chaos Bolts and slower Ember generation, but you'll be firing off bigger and faster Conflagrates and Incinerates. Should come close to the other effect.

[Omaric 246]

Meh, you'll see smaller Chaos Bolts and slower Ember generation, but you'll be firing off bigger and faster Conflagrates and Incinerates. Should come close to the other effect.

Thanks for the info regarding Shadowburn and Rain of Fire. I was definitely wasting GCD's on Rain of Fire, haha.

[Rhonsaur 0]

Question about Shadowburn; During either execute or with Havoc is there a benefit in terms of the mana regen to casting Shadowburn every 5 seconds rather than say 3 in a row on GCD? I've always dropped in Shadowburn as fast as possible and have never had much of an issue with mana anyway but just wondered about whether the mana return stacks for general info.

[Zagam 1,982]

Mana is never going to be an issue for you in execute phase. I time my Shadowburns for Dark Soul being up or any trinket proc. I tend to hold off on using it until I have some proc go live or if the boss is sub 1%. I try not to end the fight with any Embers...but you won't see any mana issues as long as you continue to use Conflagrate during execute phase.

[Mode 0]

Hello,

I have a question about how to do mass dmg with destro?

I am able to do 108+k dmg for example to "Jinrok the Breaker" but when time comes to do mass dmg i only do about 50k. So my question would be how to do mass dmg, the basic rotation.

I always try to use the rules what Zagam wrote:

1) Apply Rain of Fire

2) Apply Fire and Brimstone:Immolate

3) Apply Fire and Brimstone:Conflagrate[

4) Use Fire and Brimstone:Incinerate

but this does not help me..

Edited March 15, 2013 by Mode

[Cruzan 71]

Jinrok is a single target fight. You'll never need to use Fire and Brimstone. FnB is your AoE ability and if you're using it on single targets you're wasting embers! Stahp!

I haven't tried destro for Jin'rok, but my first suggestion would be to line up your CDs/Ember burners with periods of time where you are standing in pools of water.

[Mode 0]

Jinrok is a single target fight. You'll never need to use Fire and Brimstone. FnB is your AoE ability and if you're using it on single targets you're wasting embers! Stahp!

I haven't tried destro for Jin'rok, but my first suggestion would be to line up your CDs/Ember burners with periods of time where you are standing in pools of water.

mm... you did not understand me....

The real question would be how to deal with trash in Horridon encounter? This referes to my question how to keep up building my mass dmg with destro in any encounter where trash should be killed first and comes in mass.

[Cruzan 71]

Ah ya misinterpreted mass damage as, "How do I do more dps on Jin'rok"

Beside those 4 things listed, do what he says here:

Spam FnB:Incinerate on everything until Immolate wears off and replenish that. Keep Rain of Fire running at all times and use FnB Conflag for high burst and Backdraft charges. When mobs hit 20%, use Shadowburn on them with a secondary target Havoc'd if possible.

Keep in mind that FnB only has a 10 yard radius now (which is still decently large), so if adds are running wild and aren't grouped up closely you might not be getting the most benefit out of your FnB casts.

A quote from his Horridon tips post here: https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/1594-t15-normal-mode-warlock-style/#entry16887

(DESTRO) - Use Fire and Brimstone to AoE the adds while keeping Rain of Fire up 100%

(DESTRO) - Use Havoc on Horridon and Shadowburn low health adds

(DESTRO) - Use Havoc on Horridon when 2nd boss comes down

Sorry if I'm just parroting (repeating) what he has already said, but if the basics that he's laid out still dont help then maybe he can chime in with more specifics for ya.

Best of Luck!

Edited March 15, 2013 by Cruzan