Going from "ok" to "great" as Aff/Destro

[brnz 0]

The short version:  I'm not sure I'm living up to my potential as a warlock.

For T16, I'm playing Aff/Destro depending on the encounter.

 

You can find lots of all my raids here: http://www.worldoflogs.com/guilds/22622/

 

Normally, I'd post my epeenbot results but they seem to be in a time warp back to Firelands.  Yikes.

 

I don't want to focus on stats too much, since I think I'm basically following procedures correctly and I think my issues are more to do with execution.  I forge towards Mastery , since I tend towards Destro, though I am going towards the soft Haste cap around 9800, ish.

 

The things I think I'm doing wrong:

 

Destro:

 

Havoc - not using it enough, I think, and I'd like some constructive feedback on how to think about Havoc and execute it mechanically.  

 

I just don't know how folks execute a havoc/shadowburn situation smoothly, given that we're asked to quickly land two different spells on two different targets.

 

I currently pre-ordain a havoc target using a focus macro, which feels clumsy. Do I need a stopcasting in with Havoc, so I can quickly pivot to a havoc/shadowburn scenario?  I currently just use havoc on focus with target as a fallback and use a stopcasting shadowburn macro to make sure I don't miss those squishy adds.  

 

ROF - I de-emphasize this in single target rotations and rarely use it unless I know I'm getting 2+ adds.  That way I know I'll get a good number of hits with it.  I find it's easier to hurt my dps in the single target scenario than help it.  Feedback?

 

Aff:

 

Probably I need to revisit the guide on this, because what I'm fuzzy on is when should I hardcast dots?  I'm tending towards hard casting any time I don't have my UVLS or other major procs up, so that I have the spare shards up for UVLS, Meta, moments etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Zagam 1,982]

So it sounds like you've at least recognized some opportunities of gain...that's really good!  For Havoc, you really want it bound to a mouse over macro.  In any fight where another target exists, you want to be using it on CD.  With the buff to Chaos Bolt, it should ALWAYS be used on Chaos Bolt or Shadowburn if possible.

 

The way you line it up is to simply mouseover click the target you want to Havoc and then CB/SB another target.  For a fight like Norushen, the Amal will always be up but adds will be coming in.  If you don't want to use a mouseover, you can pre-anticipate the fight by making a focus macro where you set the Amalgam as your focus and have a macro like this:

 

/tar focus

/cast Havoc

/targetlasttarget

 

This will be clumsy since you couldn't optimize this until targetting an add.  It's a lot better to just pre-determine where Havoc will happen.  For Norushen, for me at least, I anticipate an add coming, cast Havoc on the Amalgam, then target an add and fire a Chaos Bolt.  For a fight like Heroic Immerseus where lots of little adds are out while you're fighting him, you can Havoc the boss and Shadowburn 3 small adds to duplicate that damage to the boss.  Havoc is the reason Destruction holds its ground in multi-target situations.

 

As for Affliction, you should be hard casting your DoTs almost all the time unless you're swimming in Soul Shards or you have a sub 2 second window to maximize your DoTs (Wush + UVLS up at the same time).  Otherwise, your shards should be used for Haunt.

[Errinkel 9]

One thing that helped me with Havoc is setting up a quick WeakAura to let me know when it's available. Putting it in my face like that helped me to use it a lot more than I had been, and I noticed the improvement in DPS (granted, I am an LFR player, but I still want to do my best in any situation).

[brnz 0]

Definitely appreciate the advice Zagam.

 

The mouseover havoc idea is something I had considered but haven't implemented.  I actually think it is sitting on my UI to-do list, so I'll get that one done.

 

I already have a TellMeWhen timer on havoc (and I think it may now come with Affdots, which I'm a fan of for most rotational tracking needs....

 

One issue I've always had with heavy offensive mouseover targeting (and offensive click targeting, to a lesser degree), is that of nameplate behavior on 5760x1080 displays.  The 3 methods of nameplate movement coded by Blizzard all behave poorly on a display that's three times as wide as is normal.  I've been playing using Nvidia Surround since early Cataclysm and it's always been bad.

 

The three options are:

overlapping - who wants to click through a rat's nest of nameplates.

stacking - this is a common one I think that most people pick but in Surround it triples the distance between nameplates, effectively stacking them up to the moon.

spread - this is another obvious pick for normal resolutions but for some reason this function results in hyperactivity on Surround displays because I think they move laterally three times as far in the same amount of time as is typical.

 

The sad truth may be that the benefits of surround, (great peripheral awareness) may not outweigh the costs (buggy  nameplates).  Suppose I can chalk this up as a pretty solid #firstworldproblem?  

 

Thanks again!

.

Edited September 18, 2013 by brnz

[chrisdux 0]

I've got a problem somewhat similar to what I've read here: I'd like to use Havoc more often in combination with Shadowburn, but with many adds I often have problem locating targets with below 20% health. Is there some way to setup TidyPlates to display these nameplates always on top or some other addon to help me?

Thank you all for any suggestions.

[Killerjoe 1]

I use the following macro for havoc and seems to work well for me. 

 

#showtooltip Havoc

/cast [@mouseover,harm] Havoc; [harm] Havoc

 

set primary as focus so that you can just mouseover the focus bar. I find this much easier than always trying to find boss or focus targeting macros. When using with shadowburn on a large group just tab target the adds quickly spamming sb. 

 

Killerjoe SWC-US

[Havoclord 0]

Here is another macro for Havoc. I set the boss to focus . Works beautifully for me 

 

#showtooltip 

/stopcasting

/cast [@focus,exists][player,exists] Havoc

[chrisdux 0]

So there is no way to make TidyPlates or another addon highlight nameplates od those mobs that are below 20% health? I thought it might be possible since TP with ThreatPlates can highlight those mobs on which is the tank losing aggro...

[Zagam 1,982]

ElvUI makes those plates turn red for me.  Red = Dead, so I Shadowburn the shit out of them.

[Wolland 1]

So there is no way to make TidyPlates or another addon highlight nameplates od those mobs that are below 20% health? I thought it might be possible since TP with ThreatPlates can highlight those mobs on which is the tank losing aggro...

 

It is possible to setup TidyPlates to change the HP bar color according to the HP of the mob. I don't remember the name of the setting, you'll have to look it up, it is easy to find.

[chrisdux 0]

I lnow that you can change the color based on health, but if you are in a fight with many adds like Galakras, oozes on Dark Shamen etc. it's still not so easy finding those for Shadowburn when all you see is a lot of healthbars floating around. ThreatPlates can bring the nameplates of mobs you are losing threat on to top and highlight them for you, so it´s real easy to spot and react to it. I wondered if the same can be done based on the health of the mobs, not just the threat.