5.4 Affliction Tips & Quirks

[gabbergob 0]

I've tried to set up just the mastery proc of windsong on fortexorcist but cant seem to make it work. All my other procs from trinkets etc that i set up in the same section work great. Can someone tell me how to set this up as i'm obviously doing something wrong! Thanks

[Synnical 0]

http://us.battle.net...nnical/advanced

http://worldoflogs.com/guilds/168335/

I know this is very very vague, but I need help overall. I feel like my dps is NOT where it should be at considering my ilvl and what not. Any help would be great! I've recently rerolled lock as my new main so I am really lost right now (only been playing new main for about 2 weeks now). Things to note also in the logs I've recieved my gloves, dmc trinket, chest and helm since those numbers so they might change if I do those encounters right now.

What I'm really looking for is help judging stat weights and what I should be going for (2nd haste breakpoint and pure mastery or a hit build)

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: reading through these forums and used wowreforge to optimize stats and whatnot and I've reforged so I'm at the 3043 haste rating breakpoint and a lot closer to hit cap which seems to be favored here. Was I wrong to try to get 4717 haste 6300~ mastery but only like 8% hit ?

Edited November 5, 2012 by Synnical

[Zagam 1,982]

http://us.battle.net...nnical/advanced

http://worldoflogs.com/guilds/168335/

I know this is very very vague, but I need help overall. I feel like my dps is NOT where it should be at considering my ilvl and what not. Any help would be great! I've recently rerolled lock as my new main so I am really lost right now (only been playing new main for about 2 weeks now). Things to note also in the logs I've recieved my gloves, dmc trinket, chest and helm since those numbers so they might change if I do those encounters right now.

What I'm really looking for is help judging stat weights and what I should be going for (2nd haste breakpoint and pure mastery or a hit build)

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: reading through these forums and used wowreforge to optimize stats and whatnot and I've reforged so I'm at the 3043 haste rating breakpoint and a lot closer to hit cap which seems to be favored here. Was I wrong to try to get 4717 haste 6300~ mastery but only like 8% hit ?

Your damage looks fine to me. You're in a group with really good DPS, so your DPS won't get as much time in execute phase as Warlocks in groups with lesser raid DPS. The more time in execute phase you spend, the more damage you do. Your DoT uptimes look good, your knowledge of mechanics in fights looks solid. Be prepared for your DPS to go up slightly if you are aware of your buffs and debuffs. They are fixing an issue with Pandemic with 'smoothing' of DoT spells. Apparently all the advice I've given about keeping empowered DoTs up has been at a loss because they let the damage drop off when things weren't snapshotted correctly. Prepare for Affliction's DPS to go up slightly if you play to a high level and maintain knowledge of when your procs are happening.

As for your stat priority, you have to decide how you want to play. You can push more Mastery and Haste and ignore Hit, but this will require a different playstyle. You'll want to refresh your DoTs early to get a high duration and then spam MG more. You need to apply them early and use Pandemic because you don't want a 10 stack of Agony falling off because you waited to reapply until the end. You also might lose out on some Haunt hits. This is where I feel not hit capping causes the biggest negative consequence. I raid at 14.7% hit, and a lot of Warlocks who are 6/6 Heart of Fear (indicating they know what they're doing) raid at about 14% hit. I've seen some Warlocks reforge out of all hit and raid at 6%, but a 9% miss chance on Haunt is too drastic for me. I hope that a <1% chance gives me the opportunity to miss something like a Corruption reapplication instead of Haunt. It's really up to you and what you'd rather worry about.

[hildchen 0]

Hi,

I got one questions about haste.

Dark Soul: Misery

Means, you receive more haste to your absolute Haste-Value. So, isn't Dark Soul Misery stronger, the more haste you have ?

Other question is: Is there a Haste-Cap you should need to reach for an additional Tick. I found different posts in different forums about that. I would try to reach this Cap (With the Glyph) and then I would spend everything into Mastery.

[Zagam 1,982]

Hi,

I got one questions about haste.

Dark Soul: Misery

Means, you receive more haste to your absolute Haste-Value. So, isn't Dark Soul Misery stronger, the more haste you have ?

Other question is: Is there a Haste-Cap you should need to reach for an additional Tick. I found different posts in different forums about that. I would try to reach this Cap (With the Glyph) and then I would spend everything into Mastery.

Yes, Dark Soul: Misery is multplicative. This means it won't just add 30% haste, but will instead multiply your current haste by 1.30. The more Haste you have, the more powerful this is, but not by any major value.

If you were to push Mastery before Haste, you would see at most 10% haste right now. Assuming raid buffs, you'd be at 1.1 x 1.05 x 1.30 = 1.5015 or 50.15%.

Let's say you decide you want more Haste and can get to 15% before raid buffs. I think that's pretty much the ceiling at this gear range, but you get the point. Here, you'd have 1.15 x 1.05 x 1.30 = 1.56975 or 56.98%. You're looking at an improvement of about 2% haste with your CD while losing a ton of Mastery in favor of 5% Haste. Your call, but in my opinion, it's a bad one.

As for your glyph comment, don't you dare glyph Dark Soul: Misery! It's an awful thing to glyph. Don't do it. Ever.

There are Haste thresholds, but none that you really need to worry about past the 3043 rating. (Less if you're of the Goblin sort).

[damagepy 1]

I just found and read your "tutorial" and I must add 2 small note:

1. Using Fel Flame sometimes better than reapplying dots to increase dot durations!

2. If the target is under 20% health, Drain Soul is better, but not as much as it seems, compared to Malefic Grasp :)

Explanation:

1. As I tested, fel flame adds 6 second to both corr (corruption) and ua (unstable affliction) and does damage, but triggers a global cooldown (gcd). I can shot 2 fel flame in 2 second (instant + 1 sec or less gcd). Reapplying ua + corr + corr's gcd takes exactly the same time (ua cast time is longer but can then instantly apply corr and the gcd after corr is short). So basically doing ua+corr takes the same time as shoting 2 fel flame. I'll count this 2 second to the durations (and I actually tested this on dummies).

Lets see the same example as the opening post, where there is 6 second left from Corruption, and UA is at 2 second left.

- Reapplying ua adds 13 second, but while casting it it loses 1 second, at the end it adds 12 second

- Reapplying corr adds 17 second, but with the gcd after it is 16 second.

Of course UA adds a bit less since its more than 1 sec casttime and corr adds a bit more since the gcd is less than a second, but applying both of them takes 2 second.

So compared to the time when I start to reapply the dots, at the end, the timers will be:

- UA +11 second, corr +15 second, meaning corr will be at 21, ua will be at 13

Using fel flame, each shot adds 6 second, but with the gcd after they lose 1 second, so basically it gives +5 +5 to both. After 2 second:

- UA +10 second, corr +10 second, meaning corr will be at 16, ua will be at 12

So with reapplying, its +5 second more on ua and +1 second more on corr, but no extra dmg. With Fel flame, its less, but 2x felflame dmg.

On my lock, dots tick around every 1.5 sec. UA ticks 7k, thats 23k dmg in 5 sec (3.3 tick). Corr ticks 6k, thats 4k in 1 sec = 27k

Fel flame does 22k dmg, thats 44k for 2 sec.

So reapplying dots, I gain 27k dot dmg (ofc the dots will do the same dmg, but can count the extra 5 and 1 sec duration as I dont need to reapply them more often, so I save some time)

Using fel flame, I may need to increase their duration a bit more often, but it adds an extra 44k dmg plus I can run meanwhile (or just stand) and tracking the dots is easier, since both duration will decrease at the same speed, and will increase at the same "speed". So dont forget about the instant Fel Flame's extra dmg that worth some dot tick.

2. Drain Soul vs Malefic Grasp under 20% HP:

Malefic Grasp ticks dots for an extra 75% dmg, but makes it 2x more often than drain soul.

Drain Soul ticks dots for an extra 150% dmg, but half often.

So basically the dot ticking dmg thingie is the same on both! For example if a dot usually tick 100, and malefic grasp ticks it every 1 sec, in 2 second, it will tick the dot an extra +75 +75 . With Drain Soul, it tick every 2 sec, and will tick the dot an extra +150. 75+75 = 150. The "ratio" always stays the same, for example on my lock Malefic Grasp is 0.91 second tick, Drain Soul says 1.83, so yes, malefic grasp activates 2x more often.

Lets compare their own dmg:

On my lock, Malefic Grasp is 21.152 in 3.65 second = 5795 dps

Drain Soul ticks 6835 every 1.83 sec = 3734 dps

But under 20% HP it does 100% more dmg, so = 7468 dps

To sum it up, they will not affect dots, only their own dmg will be different, in my case its 1.67k extra dps.

If you use a macro for channeled spells (/cast [nochanneling:Malefic Grasp] Malefic Grasp) the precise timing of the new cast cant be an excuse (can spam the macro and will start the new channeling when the other ends, will not cut it before it could end or lose much time starting a new one, I use it on priest's MindFlay as well). So yes, using drain soul is better, but not as much better as it sounds with the +75% vs +150% dot tick, because MaleficGrasp does it 2x more often, the description can be misleading. In Cataclysm, DrainSoul increased the dot ticks (the haste) so the effect was far more obvious and visible, and in my opinion, it was more effective. It should increase the dot dmg more, or should tick as often as MaleficGrasp (and then could add a soulshard every 4 tick instead of every 2 to remain the same).

I hope my calculations were not that bad or too wrong, correct me if I missing something. :)

Edited November 7, 2012 by damagepy

[Zagam 1,982]

I just found and read your "tutorial" and I must add 2 small note:

1. Using Fel Flame sometimes better than reapplying dots to increase dot durations!

2. If the target is under 20% health, Drain Soul is better, but not as much as it seems, compared to Malefic Grasp

Explanation:

1. As I tested, fel flame adds 6 second to both corr (corruption) and ua (unstable affliction) and does damage, but triggers a global cooldown (gcd). I can shot 2 fel flame in 2 second (instant + 1 sec or less gcd). Reapplying ua + corr + corr's gcd takes exactly the same time (ua cast time is longer but can then instantly apply corr and the gcd after corr is short). So basically doing ua+corr takes the same time as shoting 2 fel flame. I'll count this 2 second to the durations (and I actually tested this on dummies).

Lets see the same example as the opening post, where there is 6 second left from Corruption, and UA is at 2 second left.

- Reapplying ua adds 13 second, but while casting it it loses 1 second, at the end it adds 12 second

- Reapplying corr adds 17 second, but with the gcd after it is 16 second.

Of course UA adds a bit less since its more than 1 sec casttime and corr adds a bit more since the gcd is less than a second, but applying both of them takes 2 second.

So compared to the time when I start to reapply the dots, at the end, the timers will be:

- UA +11 second, corr +15 second, meaning corr will be at 21, ua will be at 13

Using fel flame, each shot adds 6 second, but with the gcd after they lose 1 second, so basically it gives +5 +5 to both. After 2 second:

- UA +10 second, corr +10 second, meaning corr will be at 16, ua will be at 12

So with reapplying, its +5 second more on ua and +1 second more on corr, but no extra dmg. With Fel flame, its less, but 2x felflame dmg.

On my lock, dots tick around every 1.5 sec. UA ticks 7k, thats 23k dmg in 5 sec (3.3 tick). Corr ticks 6k, thats 4k in 1 sec = 27k

Fel flame does 22k dmg, thats 44k for 2 sec.

So reapplying dots, I gain 27k dot dmg (ofc the dots will do the same dmg, but can count the extra 5 and 1 sec duration as I dont need to reapply them more often, so I save some time)

Using fel flame, I may need to increase their duration a bit more often, but it adds an extra 44k dmg plus I can run meanwhile (or just stand) and tracking the dots is easier, since both duration will decrease at the same speed, and will increase at the same "speed". So dont forget about the instant Fel Flame's extra dmg that worth some dot tick.

2. Drain Soul vs Malefic Grasp under 20% HP:

Malefic Grasp ticks dots for an extra 75% dmg, but makes it 2x more often than drain soul.

Drain Soul ticks dots for an extra 150% dmg, but half often.

So basically the dot ticking dmg thingie is the same on both! For example if a dot usually tick 100, and malefic grasp ticks it every 1 sec, in 2 second, it will tick the dot an extra +75 +75 . With Drain Soul, it tick every 2 sec, and will tick the dot an extra +150. 75+75 = 150. The "ratio" always stays the same, for example on my lock Malefic Grasp is 0.91 second tick, Drain Soul says 1.83, so yes, malefic grasp activates 2x more often.

Lets compare their own dmg:

On my lock, Malefic Grasp is 21.152 in 3.65 second = 5795 dps

Drain Soul ticks 6835 every 1.83 sec = 3734 dps

But under 20% HP it does 100% more dmg, so = 7468 dps

To sum it up, they will not affect dots, only their own dmg will be different, in my case its 1.67k extra dps.

If you use a macro for channeled spells (/cast [nochanneling:Malefic Grasp] Malefic Grasp) the precise timing of the new cast cant be an excuse (can spam the macro and will start the new channeling when the other ends, will not cut it before it could end or lose much time starting a new one, I use it on priest's MindFlay as well). So yes, using drain soul is better, but not as much better as it sounds with the +75% vs +150% dot tick, because MaleficGrasp does it 2x more often, the description can be misleading. In Cataclysm, DrainSoul increased the dot ticks (the haste) so the effect was far more obvious and visible, and in my opinion, it was more effective. It should increase the dot dmg more, or should tick as often as MaleficGrasp (and then could add a soulshard every 4 tick instead of every 2 to remain the same).

I hope my calculations were not that bad or too wrong, correct me if I missing something.

To be as blunt as I can be, you're wrong on both accounts. You either completely ignored my thorough analysis of Pandemic and why Fel Flame should only be used if 1) you're moving and 2) you're above 80% mana or you don't understand the mechanics. Also, in no way, shape, or form is Malefic Grasp better than Drain Soul sub 20%. I'll address both briefly, but you can see all the details of this somewhere in this thread.

Fel Flame adds 6 seconds to only two DoTs, Corruption and Unstable Affliction. It costs a TON OF MANA. It does not add anything to Agony. 1 Fel Flame adds 6 seconds to Corruption and Unstable Affliction. 2 Fel Flames would add 12 seconds to each, and 3 Fel Flames would add 18 seconds to each. In the time it took you to use 3 globals for Fel Flame, you could have recasted each DoT to gain 16 seconds of Corruption, 14 seconds of UA, and 24 seconds of Agony. Pandemic also allows you to extend durations of buffs which I have gone over as well. Fel Flame can only add 6 seconds of an extended powerful DoT right before the trinket/proc duration wears off. This is a terrible way to manage your DoTs. Using Fel Flame also initiates more uses of Life Tap and Life Tapping more than loses this DPS you think you found. Just trust me...Fel Flame should be the VERY last thing you should be doing. With the 5.1 change to Kil'Jaedan's Cunning where we only suffer a movement penalty and no casting penalty while moving, you might as well forget Fel Flame exists. You'll be using Malefic Grasp, Drain Soul, or casting Unstable Affliction while moving with no DPS loss.

In summary, QUIT USING FEL FLAME.

2) Your Drain Soul argument has absolutely no bearing on several things. The first, is Drain Soul hits way harder than Malefic Grasp. Here is a log of a Gara'jal kill (he most closely simulates a target dummy) for examples:

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/bbi3arqrpcdx9h3s/details/4/?s=2709&e=3040

Here, you can see the following:

Average Malefic Grasp tick: 9181

Average Malefic Grasp crit: 20729

Average Drain Soul tick: 49250

Average Drain Soul crit: 117352

Now, you did note that DoTs tick during this as well. MG ticks the DoTs for 75% damage while DS ticks the DoTs for 150% damage. I'm not even touching this issue because you can see right there that the ticks of MG and DS are not even remotely comparable. I'm not sure what logs you're using to think that using MG in execute phase is viable, but it is not at all by any stretch of the imagination. All of this is conclusive without also pointing out that using Drain Soul generates a Soul Shard every 2 ticks. This enables you to instantly apply DoTs with Soulburn: Soul Swap and maintain 100% uptime with Haunt. I hope my math has shown you the reality of these two situations.

[damagepy 1]

On Malefic Grasp vs Drain Soul, I only analyzed their description, so if Drain Soul does more damage, then the spell's description must be bugged or misleading, since DS ticks for 2x more but every 2 second when MG ticks every second, and you completely ignored this. DS's own dmg of course is 2x more, so now I definetely think the tooltip of the spell is wrong, can't possibly tick for more than 4x. (I wrote what I wrote based on that)

You also ignored that refreshing ua and corr will not refresh agony, so after 2 soulburn or ua+corr you need to refresh agony anyway. Also refreshing ua+corr does 0 damage and you ignored the 2 fel flame's dmg. Of course its more mana, and I only use fel flame while moving (otherwise can only refresh corr while moving, and agony that u need to refresh anyway) and also gives time to lifetap once (you cant do anything else). Anyway, tick damages mean nothing, if I say that something ticks for 100 every second or ticks 1000 every hour, will not make the second one stronger, even if it ticks for 10x more

Malefic Grasp: Every 0.9 sec, when Malefic Grasp deals damage, it causes all of your other periodic Affliction damage effects to instantly deal 75% of their normal periodic damage.

- so every 0.9 sec its 75% extra tick on dots

Drain Soul: If the target is at or below 20% health when Drain Soul deals damage, it deals 100% additional damage and causes all of your other periodic Affliction damage effects to instantly deal 150% of their normal periodic damage. (DS deals damage every 1.8 sec)

- so every 1.8 sec its 150% extra tick on dots

If a dot does 100 damage per tick normally and if with spell haste MG/DS ticks happen to be at 0.9/1.8 sec:

- MG: every 0.9 sec the dot deals an extra 75 tick

- DS: every 1.8 sec the dot deals an extra 150 tick

With spell haste the timer can be different, 0.8 vs 1.6, or 1.0 vs 2.0 sec, but DS's time will always be 2xMG time.

So based on the description, the dots will stay the same. Correct me if I'm wrong, and tell me where this calculation is bad. So if a dot ticks more than 2x with DS, it means the description is wrong, or DS actually makes the dots to tick for even more, and not just for 100% of their damage.

Now about their own damage, MG ticks 2 times while DS ticks 1 times (MG 2x faster). But as I tested, DS's damage is more than its description tells. I know that DS actually does more dmg, but if their description is correct, it shouldn't. On my warlock:

MG: Binds the target in twilight, causing 23260 Shadow damage over 3.6 second.

DS: Drains the soul of the target, causing 7493 Shadow damage every 1.8 sec...

DS: 7493 every 1.8 sec = 2 x 7493 every 3.6 sec = 14986 every 3.6 sec. 23260(MG) vs 14986(DS).

HP<=20%: its doubled, so 14986 x 2 = 29972 every 3.6 sec. 23260(MG) vs 29972(DS).

So I'm actually trolling their descriptions, because they are wrong obviously. Their effect on dots should be the same and their own damage shouldn't be that different, but real tests proving these calculations wrong. I hope blizz will fix it

Edited November 9, 2012 by damagepy

[Zagam 1,982]

While your thoughts and calculations seem well thought out, I'm a numbers guy. Theorycrafting is only legit if it can be backed up by numbers. I think the language in Drain Soul's tooltip is vague when it says it does 100% extra damage. It's just hard for me to possibly think MG and DS are remotely close when I can sustain about 70-75k single target from 100-20% and then do 300k+ from 20% to 0% by only changing Malefic Grasp to Drain Soul. Either the tooltip is completely bogus or we're not interpretting the language correctly.

As for your continuing support for Fel Fire, use at your own peril. While you may not believe me at this point, you are truly holding yourself back by employing this in your rotation as a means to extend your DoTs. I can't really say anything other than what I've already laid out about Fel Fire and Pandemic.

[Faesrol 0]

It is commonly said that one should Fel flame while moving. However, say you just refreshed your DoT's with your empowering buffs on you, and they ran out and you now have to move. Do you still fel flame, or do you run with MG and get the Kil'jaeden's cunning debuff?

[Zagam 1,982]

It is commonly said that one should Fel flame while moving. However, say you just refreshed your DoT's with your empowering buffs on you, and they ran out and you now have to move. Do you still fel flame, or do you run with MG and get the Kil'jaeden's cunning debuff?

If you're managing your DoTs power and you realize Fel Flame will overwrite them, just Life Tap. You'd have to do it at some point anyways, so just do it while running. In 5.1, you won't have a casting debuff with Kil'jaedan's Cunning. You will be completely able to cast everything with no penalty other than a 30% movement penalty. Fel Flame should never be used again.

[Incendax 0]

Apparently there is currently a bug in the game that causes damage 'smoothing' between normal and empowered Corruption. The only way to get full damage is to either update Corruption with Fel Flame or allow it to fall off completely and then get re-applied. This is supposedly being fixed in 5.1.

[Faesrol 0]

Apparently there is currently a bug in the game that causes damage 'smoothing' between normal and empowered Corruption. The only way to get full damage is to either update Corruption with Fel Flame or allow it to fall off completely and then get re-applied. This is supposedly being fixed in 5.1.

..or repeatedly casting the DoTs with your buffs up. That is however of course not a viable option for Corruption and UA; I'm wondering with Agony though.

[vladMTL 1]

hi there guys

is there anyone having troubles with the macro that instantly applies dots on a target ? meaning it simply doesn't sometimes and ofc you tend to push it twice thus losing a second shard ?

also regarding this very same issue beyond 20% when trying to reapply the dots through sb+ss aka the macro dots get removed from the target but not reapplied with a new refreshed timers which result in having to manually apply them thus losing dps to the point of frustration when all u should be doing is sb+ss and do 4 ticks of ds rinse and repeat etc etc ...

thank you !

br

vlad

[wisredz 3]

If you're managing your DoTs power and you realize Fel Flame will overwrite them, just Life Tap. You'd have to do it at some point anyways, so just do it while running. In 5.1, you won't have a casting debuff with Kil'jaedan's Cunning. You will be completely able to cast everything with no penalty other than a 30% movement penalty. Fel Flame should never be used again.

Well, I can't agree with this, Fel Flame can be "the" spell to use at certain times.

[Macavity 0]

is there anyone having troubles with the macro that instantly applies dots on a target ? meaning it simply doesn't sometimes and ofc you tend to push it twice thus losing a second shard ?

I have had this issue myself and I have noticed that in some raid boss fights there is a fog that is cast that prevents me from seeing the target in respect to my character and they cannot cast the spells. This is rather annoying and I have yet to figure out how to get around this. Also if your hit is not that high there is a chance that you will miss, since SW with connection to SB is a single cast spell it stands the same chance to miss like any other spell you have.

[Ouic 1]

Well, I can't agree with this, Fel Flame can be "the" spell to use at certain times.

Sure, but only if there's nothing else to hit or those DoTs are about to fall off for whatever reason while you're moving. Otherwise, no.

is there anyone having troubles with the macro that instantly applies dots on a target ? meaning it simply doesn't sometimes and ofc you tend to push it twice thus losing a second shard ?

I think this is more an issue of the GCD, from what I've noticed. Soulburn is not on the GCD, but Soul Swap is. So if you've hit something that triggers the GCD, then use your macro, Soul Swap isn't available yet but Soulburn is. So it's safer to get into a "GCD rhythm" when using it.

There could be more to it, but in testing that is the best I could come up with for when that would happen, and it hasn't happened since adjusted the way I use it to be more aware of that GCD.

[vladMTL 1]

thanks for your inputs ! will try to check the gcd or even do some tests at the dummy ... btw i am hit caped http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/kazzak/Vladimirov/advanced so missing is not an option !

thanks ! o/

[Kravn 5]

I'd like to point out that Fel Flame is still a useful, albeit situational tool. On fights that have a spell hit gimmick, like Feng the Accrused during Epicenter, you would ideally have all of your DoTs fully refreshed before the ability is cast...But it does occasionally happen that you may have UA or Corruption about to expire when Epicenter begins.

In this event, I'll use Fel Flame to extend UA and Corruption because I only need one hit to keep the DoTs ticking rather than manually recasting both spells which will likely miss anyway. :)

Again, this is nothing like a normal or optimal rotation, it's just a tip that can sometimes spare the inattentive warlock from the embarrassment of having his short duration DoTs fall off.

[Zagam 1,982]

I'd like to point out that Fel Flame is still a useful, albeit situational tool. On fights that have a spell hit gimmick, like Feng the Accrused during Epicenter, you would ideally have all of your DoTs fully refreshed before the ability is cast...But it does occasionally happen that you may have UA or Corruption about to expire when Epicenter begins.

In this event, I'll use Fel Flame to extend UA and Corruption because I only need one hit to keep the DoTs ticking rather than manually recasting both spells which will likely miss anyway.

Again, this is nothing like a normal or optimal rotation, it's just a tip that can sometimes spare the inattentive warlock from the embarrassment of having his short duration DoTs fall off.

This can be avoided by having DBM timers and paying attention to when Epicenter is about to be cast and refreshing DoTs prior. You can also take the useful route I've found by refreshing all DoTs prior to Epicenter and starting a Drain Soul channel before Epicenter begins and letting it recharge all of my Soul Shards until Epicenter is finished. Fel Flame, STILL, should not be used.

[spin 5]

Hey, there guys,

I was just wondering if theres any minimum amount change in spell power or that would make you not recast dots?*

Thanks a bunch,

Spin

Sorry I left out a key word... I meant "Hard cast dots". Aff dots goes blue at a 10 % increase and I hard cast my dots if i dont have a shard. Is that the right thing to do?

Edited November 16, 2012 by spin

[Zagam 1,982]

Hey, there guys,

I was just wondering if theres any minimum amount change in spell power or that would make you not recast dots?*

Thanks a bunch,

Spin

Sorry I left out a key word... I meant "Hard cast dots". Aff dots goes blue at a 10 % increase and I hard cast my dots if i dont have a shard. Is that the right thing to do?

What I do with Affdots is I actually look at the SP increase. If the color is blue but my current SP is like 340 for Agony and the SP of my current Agony is 338, I'm not wasting a global refreshing a DoT like this at all. Same goes for other situations. The only colors on Affdots you should ALWAYS listen to are red and green. Yellow is just a warning your mega DoT is about to wear off and blue is just telling you you've got more SP than you did when you applied that DoT. Just take a peek and see if it's worth overwriting.

[Morgaliel 2]

Hi everyone.

I am wondering, should I recast Haunt before it ends considering its cast time (and travel time when you cannot be near the boss) to aim for 100% uptime of Haunt ? Or should I MG till the very end of Haunt, and recast it after that.

I've read that clipping MG to refresh dots during Haunt uptime is a dps loss, so I am leaning towards the second option and refresh dots before recasting Haunt, then MG 100% of Haunt. But I'd appreciate another point of view.

[Zagam 1,982]

Hi everyone.

I am wondering, should I recast Haunt before it ends considering its cast time (and travel time when you cannot be near the boss) to aim for 100% uptime of Haunt ? Or should I MG till the very end of Haunt, and recast it after that.

I've read that clipping MG to refresh dots during Haunt uptime is a dps loss, so I am leaning towards the second option and refresh dots before recasting Haunt, then MG 100% of Haunt. But I'd appreciate another point of view.

You NEVER want to overwrite a Haunt with another. It is, indeed, a DPS loss to break your MG while Haunt is up. This is why you make sure your DoTs have sufficient duration before you apply Haunt so you can channel MG 3 times before having to reapply a DoT, likely Unstable Affliction. You cannot ever get even close to 100% Haunt uptime. My best performance to date is 58.3% on Gara'jal which was purely a DPS burn with no moving or adds for me. You want good uptime, but don't strive for 100% because you'll never get close.

[damagepy 1]

I'd like to point out that Fel Flame is still a useful, albeit situational tool. On fights that have a spell hit gimmick, like Feng the Accrused during Epicenter, you would ideally have all of your DoTs fully refreshed before the ability is cast...But it does occasionally happen that you may have UA or Corruption about to expire when Epicenter begins.

In this event, I'll use Fel Flame to extend UA and Corruption because I only need one hit to keep the DoTs ticking rather than manually recasting both spells which will likely miss anyway.

On epicenter, when I see him casting it, and if all dots are up, I also like to use Drain Soul, for extra damage and also its a chance to gather some shard, and it lasts for the epicenter duration, unlike malefic grasp.